Spooked - Hurricane Helpers

Episode Date: January 5, 2024

Brittnay and her family are trying to get out of the path of Hurricane Rita. But when they get stuck out on the road… all they can do is pray for a miracle. Thank you to Brittnay and her parents Steve and Cindy for sharing their story with Spooked. Produced by Zoë Ferrigno, original score by Doug Stuart, artwork by Teo Ducot Happy New Year, Spooksters! We are so grateful for all of you. Our spooky fam can’t wait to travel to the other side of the veil again with you this year. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

my soul inside a box safe and sound. So when I did the evil things, my soul was not around. When I grew old, I searched and searched the box I could not find, so I kept up my wicked ways. My soul, it didn't mind. Oh yes, you've crossed over to Scoot, Brew, Michigan. Steamy Summer Day, I'm seven years old. in this huge, cold, perfect pond, splashing around with a gaggle, neighborhood farm boys. And now we're going to play the, Who can touch that big red rock

at the other end of the pool first game. Carl Hollis, on your mark. You're set. We burst off in a spray of water and laughing and hooting and hollering, and I must think that I know how to swim. I must believe this

because I should be able to. scramble after them. Past the buoy, past the bright blue blow-up raft into the deep water, and it's not until first one foot,

and then the other does not touch dirt. And I inhale a big gulp of pond water that I understand with a shock. Do not know how. To swim, to be screaming, splashing races further and further away as I flail, thrash, too much water in my mouth to scream,

but I scream panic to the pond, to the murk, to the falling, I scream thrashing, kicking, falling, falling, my lungs set to explode, falling until finally, as the outside rises away, and everything in my world, everything in the universe rushes down, water turns away, each and every one of my grasp, my pleas gets smaller, the world gets darker. I thrashing. It slows. I'm all toward the light, and at the end of the path, I vomit. Pond water, air, and I gasp, and I choke, and I cry, and I choke, and I cough, until finally,

finally I bewude wet pieces of sky. I breathe, and I breathe, and I breathe. Then I see everyone else at the blashing playing another game now. Brittany is 18 years old. Her family, they are no strangers to hurricanes. Usually they just stay put, board up the windows, hunker down. But this time, this time feels different. Because just a few weeks ago, Hurricane Katrina hit.

And suddenly the family has a new understanding of just how bad a storm can be. folk are saying that Hurricane Rita could be the worst storm in Texas state history. So when the evacuation order comes, Brittany's parents make a decision. It's time to go. It was my brother Charlie's birthday. He was turning 12. I personally felt really bad for Charlie because everyone was in the front yard, trying to put everything into the cars. I remember my mom coming.

out of the house. She said, let's take a minute to sing to Charlie. And so we stood out in the front yard and sang happy birthday. And he got his first electric guitar that day. And then as soon as we finished singing, we gave him a hug and we put his guitar in the car and we just got back to business. My mom just kept telling him, we'll have a real party when you get back. The family really raided the cupboards for everything they could find. Chips, fruit, and gallons of water. They took all three cars. Charlie and Mom in one, Dad and Zeff in another.

And the two teenagers, Brittany and Jennifer, took the old Honda Civic. Even though everything was really stressful, my sister and I really loved being together, so we were having fun and telling stories, and we were listening to some heavy metal. In Mom's car, the vibe was a little different. I had the radio on Christian radio, trying to be light. But all of Houston was evacuating at the same time as the hurricane approached.

As the family's little caravan made their way out of town, the roads became clogged, and traffic was at a standstill. As far as I could see, there were cars. There was just a sea of cars. and I'm thinking, I don't know how we're going to get out of here. Inch by inch they made their way onto the freeway. They were trying to get to a friend's house in northeast Texas, but after four hours on the road, they were barely outside of Houston. Eventually, the girls needed to use the restroom,

so the whole family decided to pull off at the next exit. The only thing that was on that exit was a small subway, sandwich shop. There were 50 cars pulled in. Everyone was yelling. The doors were changed shut and the employees inside honestly looked quite terrified and they were telling people who were banging on the door, we don't have anything here for you. We're all out of everything. You need to move on. Scenes just like this one were happening all up and down the highway. There was a lot of tension and fear out on the roads. Brittany had never seen anything like it.

I tried to be very brave and strong for my sister because I knew she was very afraid. The further along we drove, the more what if she started throwing around, what are we going to do if we completely run out of water? And what are we going to do if we can't find mom and dad? And I didn't really have any answers for her. You know, I was just as scared as she was. If we cannot make it to someplace safe before the hurricane hits,

that could be devastating for all of us, sitting in those vehicles stranded, just like sitting ducks. But I just kept telling her, everything's going to be fine. and we'll figure it out. But the winds were picking up. The food was running out, and the whole family had been stuck in traffic for over 24 hours,

and they'd barely moved. By the time we were getting to the 32-hour mark, it was already nighttime again. I was finding it very hard to stay awake. I could hardly keep my eyes open. I could barely keep focus. on the road.

Brittany called her dad. She told him that she was exhausted and needed to pull over. By that point, mom also needed a place to take her breathing medication. There was a high school just off the road,

and they would all meet there. When we were pulling into the high school parking lot, I felt really relieved like we had finally caught a break and that we were going to be able to basically stand down

you know. Dad ran ahead into the school. It was crowded with hospital beds, full of elderly patients. He spotted a nurse and went over to her. I said, hey, I'm in the parking lot, my family's with me. We need to have some help. But she proceeded to tell me that the people in that high school gymnasium, they had been evacuated from nursing homes and medical units.

And so we couldn't stay there. And I told her, okay, but my wife needs to do a nebulizer treatment. The lady told me that she would allow her to come in and do her treatment, but then we had to go ahead and leave. When my dad came back out to tell us that we were not going to be able to stay, my siblings started to cry. We turned on the radio and found out that the storm, had turned and was coming right for us. It was like I'd lost control. I was just basically helpless.

My dad, who's incredibly strong, he was scared, so just felt really scary. It felt like we might not make it. In the middle of the parking lot, the family got into a circle and bowed their heads and started to pray. But then Brittany heard something. a man's voice.

She turned around and saw a guy walking towards them, waving his hands above his head. He had dark hair. He was just wearing a fishing shirt and jeans and work boots. I thought he was probably in his 30s. My dad went over to talk to him because we didn't know who he was or what he wanted. They were gesturing back to our vehicles, and then he was gesturing over to a house that was right next door to the high school.

He told me that his wife and him wanted us to get out of the parking lot and come stay in his house. And he felt like God had told him to do this. And Dad walked back over to the vehicles to tell us that they were going to take us in. I felt really relieved. However, it felt a little strange going into someone's house. we didn't know. But our only other option was to sleep in our vehicles. It was a ranch-style house with a gravel driveway and a big porch,

scattered with kids' toys. Inside, it was warm and cozy, with a lot of overstuffed furniture. The man's wife came out from the kitchen, and they both introduced themselves. The husband's name was Scott, and the wife's name was Allie. And they had two children. a young boy and then a toddler girl. Allie looked young like she was maybe mid-20s. Blonde hair, blue eyes, just so sweet and welcoming.

She asked my mom how she was feeling and got a seat for my mom so she could rest. She was just chatting with us, making jokes and trying to lighten the mood. trying to make us feel welcome. She put together a quick little dinner for all of us, a casserole with some mashed potatoes and some green beans. It was the best thing I had eaten in days. After dinner, Allie brought out a stack of blankets, and they all huddled together in the living room.

We started out by watching the television, but when the electricity went out at their house, we started listening to the battery-operated radio. And then at that point, the storm hits, and it's a long, wakeful night. Hurricane Rita was tearing through Southeast Texas, destroying houses, toppling trees, and flooding towns. I can hear the wind trying to rip the boards and shutters off that.

house. I can hear car alarms going off and tree branches breaking, trees falling, lightning. There were emergency vehicles and sirens going off. It really felt like a war zone to me. But I was grateful to be inside and I was grateful that my children had a roof over their head and then we were all together and safe. We went outside after the storm and the morning. morning. There were fallen trees and branches everywhere. There were roofs that were peeled back. There were shingles and siding all over the street. There was trees blocking the roadways and just debris everywhere. At Scott and Allie's house was, for the most part, untouched. Pretty soon,

mom and dad started getting messages from their friends back home. The storm had just skirted their house. It was undamaged and their power was still on. We were able to get packed up and fueled up and ready to leave. We asked Scott and Alley if their family would come back down with us because they didn't have electricity. They told us that they were going to go to their mother-in-laws a little further away. And they promised to call us the next day. I was dreading getting back in the car. I felt like I didn't want to drive another day in my life. But when we got in, the rain was gone and the sun was out.

The 32 hours that it had taken us to get to where we were during the storm, took us 45 minutes to come home. We were all very relieved and happy and just very grateful to have made it home. We ended up never hearing back from Scott and Allie. They didn't call us the next day. We had reached out, and even my grandparents had sent them thank you cards, telling them thank you for taking care of us and watching out for us. But we never heard back from them.

The cards my grandparents sent were returned. We were really worried about them. They had just taken care of us, and we wanted to make sure that they were safe. So one afternoon I was walking. to class. I get a call from my dad and he said, I'm calling you from in front of Scott and Allie's house. He says, you're never going to believe what just happened. Cindy and I were heading up to visit some relatives and we were driving through that area. We decided we were going to just make sure that they're okay because we'd never heard from them. We pulled up and Cindy and I both

looked over toward the house. I asked Steve, is that the house we stayed at? Because it looks so different. The house was falling apart. The roof was sagging, the siding was falling off, and many of the windows were broken. No one was there, and it looked like it had been abandoned for a long time. It felt weird.

Looking at that house, it didn't feel real. We left and stopped by a gas station and I asked a man about the house and the people that lived there. He knew the house I was talking about because it was right there close to where the gas station was at. But he told me that there hadn't been anybody lived there for quite a few years. I didn't know what to think of it. I know for a fact that we stayed there, but nobody knows they were there. It doesn't make sense. Sometimes I think that it was just God providing help, prayer answered.

I had prayed for an angel to help us. That's the only explanation I could come up with. The only other thing that is possible is that all of us were elusive. at the same time, and all of us saw basically the same thing and stayed inside a house that was falling apart. I definitely think somebody or something was looking out for us. I can't explain why those people that we stayed with, that we talked with, laughed with. We took care of each other, why it seems like they actually. never existed. But whatever freaky thing or miracle or luck or blessing that it was, I'm really

glad that it was because I think the story could have been a lot more heartbreaking than it ended up being for my family in particular. Brittany and her parents, Steve and Cindy, for sharing their story as spook. Brittany is a spook listener. We love to hear from the spook. listeners. The original score for that piece was by Doug Stewart was produced by Zoe Frignell. Understand. Spook deliciousness is meant to be shared. Have you shared your favorite spooked episode with someone? It's the only way we can make more. Thanks for going beyond the veil with spooked and spooksters. There are some things that in life you just don't do. Like, gay,

to the pieces of a broken mirror, walk underneath that open ladder. Most of you know better. But others have to learn the hard way. If you've ever disobeyed, the gods of superstition and lived to tell the tale, actually, if you've ever played with the laws of superstition,

bent them, change them, work them for your own advantage, please tell us, please tell me all about it. I promise I only reveal your story to the legions of spooksters walking the path of the shadow, let me know. Spoot at snapjudgment.org. Because there is nothing better than a spook story from a spook listener. Futes brought to us by the team that promptly obeys governmental emergency evacuation orders

except, of course, from Mark Ristich, who still thinks he can take on a Category 5 hurricane with Jesse's umbrella and a pair of galoshes. I know, I know. Write him, don't write me. And there's Davy Kim, Zoe Frigno, Anne Ford, Eric Yanez, Teo DeCotte, Marissa Dodge, Miles Lassie, Doug Stewart, Paulina Creaky, Elizabeth Z. Pardue,

Adityu Matu, and Lulu Jemima. The spoof theme song is by Pat Macedia Miller. My name is in Washington, I'm lucky. I've gotten to play with some of my friends' babies recently, and I don't know if there's anything better. than a chubby, chucking, that baby smile, a baby laugh.

And we think that babies don't know stuff, but they still remember the most important thing. They never doubt. They're made of light. Chunky roly-poly rolls of light. They expect the universe to bend around them and are not surprised if they know joy. Everyone around them feels joy as well.

It's only, later that the shadow strikes. And the shadow is a trickster who convinces light itself that it has no shine. Who would tell the sun that she is not beautiful. The sun knows better. She knows she is glorious. Babies know better. Not now and not later.

Never.