Spooked - Band-Aid Bandit

Episode Date: May 22, 2026

Maria thinks she’s landed the perfect gig, driving a friendly stranger from downtown Baltimore out to a Park ‘n’ Ride outside of the city. It’s the easiest hundred bucks she’s ever made. But she soon learns that there’s more to this job than she bargained for. Plus, a story about why the chicken really crosses the road. Band-Aid Bandit Maria thinks she’s landed the perfect gig, driving a friendly stranger from downtown Baltimore out to a Park ‘n’ Ride outside of the city. It’s the easiest hundred bucks she’s ever made. But she soon learns that there’s more to this job than she bargained for. Thank you, Maria, for sharing your story with us! Produced by Zoë Ferrigno, original score by Yari Bundy, scouted by Ashley de Coligny, artwork by Teo Ducot. Fire Chicken Remember that old joke, why did the chicken cross the road? Yvana and her uncle just found out. Thank you Yvana for sharing your story with Spooked! For more dark magic and Haitian Voodoo stories, follow Yvana @theemlle on Instagram or check out her Youtube, Chronicles of Zoe. Produced by Erick Yáñez, original score by Nicholas Marks, scouted by Paulina Creque. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Dog and bingo was his name old. The doggy liked to growl and bite Because the farmer said so. The pastor postman and his wife The plumber roofer all took flight. The neighbors hid by day and night. Because bingo bit that ass yo. You've crossed over dispute.

Stay. Just recently, even amid wars, wars and rumors of wars, as we tear each other apart. A miracle of sorts. For the first time in history, humans journeyed further into the dark than anyone has ever gone before, more people.

The best of us strapped into a tiny craft. And right before the most dangerous, most fraught leg of their trip, as they watch our spinning planet, our earth, setting over the moon's horizon, cutting them off from communication. On the dark side of the mystery, astronaut Victor Glover says this,

I would like to remind you of one of the most important mysteries on earth, and that's love. Christ said in response to what was the greatest command, that it was to love God with all that you are. And he also, being a great teacher, said the second is equal to it. And that is to love your neighbor as yourself.

and south. As we prepare to go out of radio communication, we're still able to feel your love from Earth and to all of you down there. We love you from the moon. Many different ways to show love. We're going to hear from a young woman whom we'll call Maria. It's in 1990s in downtown Baltimore.

And because we're talking about real people, real things happen. Since the listeners, please take care as the story references an act of suicide. Maria is in her early 20s. On our own for the very first time, learning to navigate adult life and working any odd jobs she can find to stay aflo.

I had so many jobs. I did waitressing jobs, and I delivered pizza, just whatever job I could get to make the rent and the bills. What little free time Maria did have between jobs, she spent with a group of friends she'd met in the neighborhood. Her closest friend in the group was a guy named Jeff.

And he introduced me to other people he knew, and then we ended up just being friends and hanging out. We were like huge anime fans, so we would hang out at my apartment or Jeff's and watch anime, and honestly, we all talk about how broke we are all the time. I went over to hang, listen to music. I was the only one with the car at the time. So Jeff was like, hey, are you interested in making like $100?

And I was like, well, yeah. He said it's kind of a little sketchy. So if you don't want to do it, I totally get it. But I know this guy who needs a ride out to the parking ride because in Baltimore, people would drive to the parking ride and then take the train into D.C. to work or vice versa. The reason he's going to the parking rides is because it's like a smorgas board of cars to steal. I wasn't thinking like, oh, great, that sounds fun.

I know that that's not the normal thing that people do, and it's dangerous and illegal. But I definitely want to make a hundred bucks. So I'm like, yeah, sure. So Jeff arranged a time for Maria and this guy to meet one day after Maria was done with work, just so that she'd feel more comfortable. I pulled up in my car and parked. And in Baltimore, there's stoop sitting.

People just sit on the stoop and hang out. So Jeff and this guy are sitting on the stoop of the apartment building, and I get out of the car, and I go sit on the stoop. He's average height, average build. He had, like, dirty, blonde hair. And he's like, hey, I'm Pete, nice to meet you. And I assume Jeff told you what I'm asking for.

And I was like, yeah. He's like, you're good with this? I'm like, you sure, you're willing to pay that much money? And he's like, absolutely. I was just a little wary on guard a little bit because, you know, I'm aware that it's maybe not the most kosher thing to do. but he was super normal and not at all scary in any way. Like just really normal, nice guy, easygoing.

He wasn't nervous, you know, so he just put me totally at ease. And he said, so if we can go on whatever day, and I'm like, sure, that sounds good. And he's like, all, I'll meet you here. And I was like, okay. It was kind of brief, and then I left, and they stayed on the stoop. A few days later, Maria pulled back up in front of that same apartment building. This time, it was just the guy waiting for her on the stoop.

No, Jeff. He got in the car, and they started driving toward the park and ride. He was really easy to talk to. The conversation was just kind of natural. There was no uncomfortable feeling at all. He told me about this woman that he was dating and I didn't know her, know her, but I had heard about her. And he was like really, really in love with her.

It was kind of sweet. Like he was so like she can do no wrong and she's just this light of my life. And I'm thinking, is this the same one that I know? But I didn't say any of that out loud. I just, you know, I'm just driving you, so I'll be supportive. And I had just broken up with this guy. I was dating forever. So I'd be like, yeah, I'm going through this.

Get there. I pull in and then just slowly drive through. And occasionally he'd be like, hold on a second. And I would stop and he would get out and like go check something out. And then he would get back in and say like, just drive up there a little farther. And so once he decides that he's got what he wants, he said, I'm all set. Thank you so much. and gives me a $100 bill.

And I was thrilled. And I was like, no problem. You know, call me if you need me again. And he said, thank you again so much. Have a great day. And I just left. Honestly, it was like the most fun $100 I ever made. I just get to drive somebody in chat and hang out.

So I thought I was great. How many times did you do this with him? Maybe three, four, somewhere. there. He would page Jeff and then Jeff would call me. Was there anything about doing this that felt exciting? I guess there was a small element where you're feeling like kind of a rebel. You know, I'm going out. I'm going to go do something I'm not supposed to do. But I didn't really feel uncomfortable. Somebody else might have been more nervous. or thinking like, oh, is there somebody watching me?

But it felt like just as if I was taking a friend to go pick up their car, and they were like, is that my car? Oh, no, let's keep going. That said, Maria was pretty careful to never bring up what they were doing during those long drives. I had that mentality, like your place is to just hang out and not ask questions.

So I just sort of avoided the topic. which is why it caught her off guard when he brought it up. I think he said something like, you know, so you're not going to ask the obvious question. I was like, well, you know, I don't want you to say anything you don't want to talk about or whatever. And he's like, no, I don't care. What are questions you have?

I said, don't you feel kind of bad, like, that these people are going to come out of work and, like, not have a car? And he's like, actually, I do feel bad. He said I always make sure to fill it with gas. And I remember asking, why do you do this? And he's like, well, I just don't have any other options. And so I feel sorry for him. It would have been at least several months since I had seen him.

I came home from work one day, and it's still daylight. I park the car, I get out, and I look up, and he's standing under this tree, which is maybe a car length away, having a cigarette, and he's got like one leg crossed over the other one, just leaning on the tree and looking at me. And it took me a minute to register that it's him, and I'm like, what hell is he doing here? but after like a couple of seconds, I realized he wasn't as solid as a normal person. He wasn't transparent, but he wasn't completely solid. My brain is trying to process that this is actually happening. And then he waves at me just sort of indicating like, see ya kind of thing. and then he literally disappeared.

He just is there and then he's not there. It was just very surrealistic. I felt shaky and my heart's racing and it just sort of set my whole nervous system like crazy. And so I just sort of ran to my apartment, closed the door, just breathe for a few minutes until my heart rate slows. And then I felt this sadness because he can't be alive and also show up here as a not really solid being.

But I feel like I need to know. So I call Jeff and say, like, have you heard from Pete? And he goes, oh, my gosh, so I just heard that this happened. He found out that the marshals or whatever were chasing. asing him had found him in this hotel room, and they surrounded him, and he shot himself, and he's gone. A few days later, I don't remember where I was going, but I see Jeff across the street. And so I go over, and he has this article about this guy who I thought was Pete, but it turned out his name was like Edward Brown, and that he was known as the Band-Aid Bandit.

The Band-Aid Bandit did not seem like the open, easygoing guy that Maria had been giving rides to. According to the article, he'd escaped from prison and had been robbing banks while running from the cops. He'd been on America's Most Wanted three times. Mr. Brown attempted to disguise his appearance by placing a Band-Aid on his upper left in chin, trying to obscure a positive identification of him by bank's surveillance. It was kind of eye-opening, I guess. Seeing it in print did make it so that I could see more realistically how the rest of the world saw him. But it didn't necessarily change my experience with him because that wasn't the person that I remember driving.

Yeah, okay, yes, he should not be robbing banks, but the world isn't so. set up black and white. Like, you know, a lot of people grow up in situations where they don't see another way out. And maybe that's why he showed up, because I had a normal conversation with him. That's probably a better reason than any other I could come up with. Maybe he just really needed that. You know, somebody that's just another human being that he can talk to that's going to treat him like anybody else

instead of like this fugitive from the law. He really needed to be normal. Thank you, Maria, for sharing your story is spooked. That story was scouted by Ashley Nicolini. The original score was by Yari Bundy.

It was produced by Zoe Frigna. For our next story, It's summer in New Jersey. It's time to meet up with friends and family. Enjoy the sunshine, right? Well, let's meet Ivana. Ivana's an elementary school. And like every year,

she's headed to spend a break with her cousins in Pennsylvania. Her uncle John always drives her. Sometimes they stop for snacks along the way. But this summer, the stop day, Meg. Oh, this is spooked. I come from school around 2.30, and I wait for my uncle to pick me up so he can bring me to Pennsylvania

really liked my uncle John. He was definitely one of my favorite family members growing up. He was the uncle that basically let you do whatever you want. If you want something, he would get it for you. So I was extremely excited. Finally, Uncle John comes. I get my bags, I put it in the car, and we start driving. The ride is pretty quiet, aside from the occasional house school, how's life.

It's very weird. Usually Uncle John is very jovial, but today he was very, very serious. He was very off, very strange, very quiet. But I didn't think anything of it. I just thought maybe he was having a bad day or something. At one point, I tell him that I didn't eat and I would love to stop for food. I was very hungry.

I wanted a cheeseburger and some French fries specifically from McDonald's because I loved McDonald's as a kid. All of a sudden, I noticed we're not taking our usual route to PA. I am not familiar with this road at all. You know, I asked him, I said Uncle John, where are we going? Why are we not taking our regular route?

He's like, oh, well, I have to go back to Long Island to get something at my place. So I'm like, listen, I'm hungry. And he's like, oh, you know, I'll get you food on the way. It's going to be cheaper. If I get it in this place, that place. I'm just like, whatever, as long as we stop by McDonald's or something, that's all I'd care about. Finally, we arrived to Long Island, and I know we're in his neighborhood because I start recognizing the houses, the street names. We are approaching his house, and I'm thinking, yes, hopefully I'll get some food.

But then he makes a left turn. And I am thoroughly confused because we just passed the house. I literally tell him like, hey, we just passed the house. but it's like he doesn't even hear what I'm saying. He just goes up the block. We're not going wherever we're supposed to be going. After some time, I realized that he had just circled the block. We're coming up on the house again.

So I'm like, okay, now I could finally get out of the car, stretch my legs, get some food, but no. He passes by the house. again. As I'm telling him, like, hey, you missed the house. Hey, he missed the house. He was like, oh, wait. Wait, what? And I'm like, yeah, like, you pass the house like twice. And he's like, oh, oh, okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. At this point, we are a few blocks away from his house. And we approach a stop sign. I'm very quiet in the car. because when I'm hungry, I get hangary.

All of a sudden, I look out the front and I see a row of maybe five or six brown and black chickens crossing the street and they're on fire, literally from their wings to their head. Just chilly. They're calm. It's not like they're running on fire. They're just crossing water lane in the street.

Like, just on fire. It was just strange. I kind of just froze. 9, 10, 11-year-old me is thinking, okay, the chickens escaped the farm or the slaughterhouse. That's what the only thing that would make sense because why are they on fire? Maybe they're trying to cook them and they ran away. I really thought something like that. I'm the one that points them out.

I was like, huh, how do chickens walk around with flames? And he's like, what chickens? And he looks, he's like, oh, no, no, you could say, oh no. Something's clearly wrong. My uncle is freaking out. And then he just does a complete mutine. He's looking at me like, Oh, my God. Oh, my God. We got to get out of here.

I said, I told you, your house is up the street. He said, no. We're too far now. We're too far. And I'm like, can we walk? No, no, no, no. We can't get out of that car. Didn't you see the burning chickens? And I'm like, okay. He's probably going 45 in the suburbs at this point. All of a sudden, he pulls his phone out, and he's making so many different phone calls. I didn't know who he was talking to.

But I can tell whoever he's calling, he's talking to people in Haiti, because he's speaking and swearing in grayal. This is absolutely crazy. I can't believe her. How dare she said anything after me? He's asking like, please do something. I have to bring my niece to Pennsylvania now. Like this cannot be happening.

After maybe 30 minutes more of circling around, He finally decides to get to the house. We park in front of the house, and he bolts right out of the car and into the house. Nobody was in the house at the time. It was just me and him. I head to the kitchen trying to find some food, but there's nothing.

No leftovers, nothing I can make, nothing. So I just go sit back down. after he makes a few phone calls, he seemed less afraid. And, you know, he just said, hey, okay, let's go. So we are finally about to head out. Uncle John opens the door, and he just starts screaming. I look through the screen door, and I see these burning chickens again. Some way, somehow they found us.

They were next to the car. They're like kind of guarding the car so that we couldn't leave. Uncle John is screaming. He is upset. He just throws me behind him and shuts the door. He closed every shade, every blind. At this point, I was scared. It was like, oh my God.

He's making it seem like we're going to die. He's like, you have to stay here. You can't go outside. I'm like, they're just chickens. Like, just, I don't know. Like, could we cook one of them so I can eat then? Because you have no food. All of a sudden, I hear a large, loud bangy at the door.

And screaming. It's a woman who starts cussing out John. And I realized it's Christine, my uncle's girlfriend. And she was very upset. I can't believe you. How dare you? You left me with no choice. I really had to get my spirits on you. How dare you reverse my magic? When she said that, I start to put two and two together.

Many people have told me, especially in my family, that Christine had dizzled and dabbled in black magic. She was a voodoo practitioner. So she more than likely did something to Uncle John because he was doing something bad. Eventually, Christine breaks down the door. And she just starts going crazy on him. I know you're cheating. I know you've been with other women. Do you think I'm stupid?

If I have to, I'll send those chickens again. I'm just sitting there like, okay? Lady, I'm trying to get out of here. Better yet, do you have food? Like, I'm just thinking, like, this is nothing to do with me. After her cursing out whatever for like five minutes, she ends up leaving. I didn't ask any questions. I was so tired, so hungry, so annoyed.

I sat there for a while. Like, I almost fell asleep until we were finally able to leave. And we head back out. There weren't any burning chickens at this point. They had left. Uncle John, he doesn't say anything. It was a very silent car ride. We eventually made it to PA.

And my cousin's father, aka Uncle John's brother, got us some Wendy's. I mean, it's not McDonald's, but it's something. And that was probably the best Wendy's I had in my entire life. I locked the story away in my head, never spoke about it with anyone until maybe a year or so ago. I was with a friend. And we started having a lot of conversation around spiritual things, Haitian voodoo, black magic, hoodoo, hudu, cintaria. I told them the story, and they were like, oh, yeah, the burning animals. saying like, yeah, you never want to see that

because that means somebody's trying to kill you and I'm like, wait, what? He explains to me that when it comes to Haitian voodoo or black magic, many of the spirits manifest themselves through animals. Depending on the spirit, it could be a message, and it could also be a straight-up attack.

It can be burning goats, burning frogs, or just random animals. Like, if you are in Times Square and you see a cow, not a good one, because something more than likely is targeting you. So my friend was like, yeah, like, you're not supposed to see that. Like, you can actually die.

And I'm like, oh, oh, snap. If the chickens were meant for my uncle, then why could I see them? And he's like, oh, maybe you saw the chickens because you were born with a veil. It wasn't until this very moment that I understood exactly what that meant. My family have always told me Mwet a Croix, which is Haitian translation for you're born with a veil. That's when the baby is born fully intact in their mother's amniatic sack. This friend starts to tell me that veil babies are born with a special gift. They're able to see spirits, communicate with spirits, feel spirits.

This is something I've dealt with my entire life. but I never understood why. My friend is like, also, veil babies are protected. If you or someone around you is being spiritually attacked, they have to get through you first. And nine times out of ten, they won't touch you because you're a veil baby. So your veil saved you and your uncle. I'm just like, wow.

that explains a lot. Having a veil has been very useful in my life. I've been able to help friends, other family, and I will say I'm very grateful for that. But I'm going to tell you one thing, having a veil is useless when you're hungry. Thank you, Ivana, for sharing your story with Spooked. Ivana, she's a dancer, a singer, a storyteller.

I can define more Haitian Hutu. and magic stories on our YouTube channel Chronicles of a Zoe. Leave the link in the description. That story was scouted by Paulina Creeky, scored by Nicholas Marks, and produced by Eric Yonyes. If you wander into the woods off a very particular shadow path, you may find an old forgotten well.

If you push back the rock covering the mouth of this well, you may look down, scream into the hole and wait for the echo, examine your rope, check your anchor. And you may even climb into the shaft of darkness. And when you do, dear listener, you may discover that no matter how long your rope happens to be, no matter how poorly a meager flashlight penetrates the gloom, travel as far as you dare, you will still not touch water. but know this one breath past where fear makes you turn back

there lies spooked to KQD in San Francisco please retreat immediately back to the path back to the daylight to the warm breezes and happy thoughts never seek to find it lest it seek to find you if you have a story from the Shattelland before you scurried back to safety

I would love to hear it let me know spooked and snapped judgment dot org. Because there's nothing better than a spook story from a spooked listener. If you see a creature with glowing highs,

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he's got the line on a guaranteed crypto-wellness, abundance, mindset, Alex Jones, treasure map. I'm skeptical. It's David Kim, Zoe Frickno, Eric Yanyas, Merceda, Regina Berlio, Miles Lassie, Taylor de Kott Paulina Krikey Elizabeth Z. Pardueu

Diumato. Yulhu Jemima. Doug Stewart, Nicholas Marks, the spooked theme song is by Pat McSilly Miller. My name is from Washington. And as the Artemis two astronauts rocketed into the darkness

on the far side of the moon which radio silence while the world waited hoping, hoping, fearing, hoping, hoping for almost 40 full minutes. Then a voice cut through the static. Christina Cole, as a ship emerged from shadow, she said, we will always choose Earth.

We will always choose each other. And she said it, I think I imagine, because she saw it. This tiny, completely impossible, fragile blue specks surrounded by the sea of darkness. She further away than any human has ever been. We will always choose Earth. We will always choose each other. And I wonder if we must fly far, far away, to finally understand where it is.

We belong. Never, ever, never.