Spooked - Quince Años

Episode Date: April 5, 2024

Paola’s quinceañera will have sunflowers, dancing and a guest list that’s out of this world. Thank you, Paola González, for sharing your story with Spooked!Produced by Erick Yañez, original score by Doug Stuart, translation by Lou Arruti, artwork by Teo Ducot. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Starlight, star bright, and all that whispers in the night, I hope I don't, but no, I might, good and wrong. Not because I don't like tattoos, but because I can never make up my mind which tattoo to get. I'm not really the permanent, irreversible decision type of guy, and I tell you this. Because just a few weeks ago, walking down the street, sunny day, meeting a friend for lunch, this man, seated in a parked black SUV, starts screaming at me. Furious rage shouting that I touched his car that I'm going to pay. And it sets him off like the pin of grenade, fury, madness, spittle flying from his mouth. He's like, I'm going to kill you. and he's straining the climb out of the passenger's side window,

his door blocked by a light pole, and I notice, in addition to his other facial tattoos, he has two tattooed teardrops under his left eye. And I don't know if that means he's hurt someone else, but I've got kids, and I'm not about to find out going out like that. I am not about to be another tattooed tear drop on this man's cheek and as he's screaming the person, maybe his girlfriend, in the driver's seat, squeals it, floors it, down the road as he's shouting.

And just like that, it's over. Quiet. Sunny day by the lake again. My fingers now bawled into fists and I'm thinking of all the things I have left to do in this world All the things I need to do I better get my hurry on Now, you want to have her dream

Kinsnair party See, Mexico When a girl turns 15 Her parents throw a big party There's a ceremony, food And the girl performs up to four different Dances, it's beautiful Paola's Kinsera

It's just a little bit different Since I've been 14, my papas me said, what are you going to do you want to 15 years? The moment I turned 14, my parents asked me, so what do you want for your 15th birthday?

I really want my 15 years. So we start looking for banquet halls, decorations, the music. I want my party to be big and unforgettable. Full of yellow details, some flowers everywhere because I love some flowers. I want my kinsañera to look and feel cozy and rustic. I'd want my chambelanes

were my friends of my school. I asked some of my school guy friends to be my chambalanes. Chambelanes are like your court of honor. They perform a dance with you and keep you company throughout the party. I like Begg my best friend. friend to be one of my chamberlantis, even though he's shy and doesn't dance. He finally says yes. But what I'm most excited about is the dance with my dad.

We are going to dance to that song from the movie Ghost, Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers. We rehearse a lot because I'm a bad dancer. In January of the year, where I was to be my fiesta, we got to... So it's six months. before my 15 years and our family just learned that our uncle Felipe has cancer. He means everything to my dad. When my dad was nine, his father died and my uncle became his father figure.

He would take my dad and his siblings on vacation to soccer games. Every time we would visit, he would give us the biggest bear hugs. My uncle doesn't have much hair And he always wears this soccer jersey From the local team Toluca At that time and at that age I'm not like super close to any of my aunts or uncles But still I really like him

So I'm sad to hear about the cancer But we try not to worry We just hope for the best Now it's two months before my 15 years We are having dinner one night when my dad says Let's go visit your uncle tomorrow So the next morning we arrive early We walk into my uncle's house

And we opened the door to his room And I see a my tio My uncle is lying in his bed But he's not the person I've seen before He's incredible. thin. I'm in shock because I saw him a couple of months ago and he was chubby. My dad says, hey, how are you doing?

How do he feel? He sits next to him and chats as if nothing's wrong. I'm trying to act as normal as I can, but I'm clenching my teeth. Many memories of my uncle Run through my head Like when he took me to Acapulco For the first time I'm trying to make myself believe

That this is still my uncle Then my uncle looks at me and says My uncle My party's almost here His voice is still the same He even sounds cheerful I just say yes My papa

My dad asks My dad asked him, do you have your suit ready? And my uncle says, I do. I already have my suit. Then my dad stays with him some more, and my sister and I leave the room. The entire time, I'm feeling so sad thinking about my cousins.

I'm thinking... I'm thinking... I said, no. My tio ya... My tio not be able to be. I guess... I guess my uncle won't make it. A month later, we are home.

Everyone's asleep when the phone rings. My dad answers. After the call, he comes to a room and says, Your uncle Felipe has passed away. The next morning, we go to my uncle's funeral. We stay with our cousins for a few days, and then our lives just move on. One night, my sister and I are at home sleeping in the same room. then all of a sudden

the radio is on all of the volume the stereo turns on at full volume it's a song from the city that is permanently stuck in the stereo is to hear Shakira?

It's Shakira singing the chorus of this song where she's literally screaming Bruta Sia Sordomuda Torpedo I I jump out of bed and turn it off. I ran to my parents' room screaming.

They asked me, what's going on? The stereo turned on. They say, yeah, we heard, but we thought it was you. It wasn't us. My dad says, Oh, then it's just a power search. Two nights later, for some reason, I wake up again. It's still dark and my sister is asleep.

I'm lying in bed when I start to hear the sound of slippers on the floor. It sounds like the slippers are passing in front of my bed, moving towards the door and into the hallway. But my parents don't use the slippers and we don't have any guests. So I get goosebumps. I hide my face under the blanket, but leave a little hole so I can peep outside. I can't see anything. But I can still hear those footsteps.

Then I stopped hearing them. I get up, turn the lights on, and scream, Papa! My dad rushes in and says, What's wrong, Paola? I said, Papa, is that I just heard some passos. I told him, Dad, I just heard footsteps. No, that's not possible.

You must have been dreaming. My sister is awake now. My dad asks her, did you hear anything? She says no. He sends me back to bed and my sister tries to call me down. The following night,

I wake up again. I hear the same slippers in the hallway. But this time, Los Pasos entered from the door of my court. I hear the footsteps enter through my bedroom door and move across the gap between my sister's bed and mine. Finally, they stop right behind me.

I'm absolutely terrified. Then I hear... Paola. Paola. I don't recognize the voice, but it sounds like a younger man. Not scary, kind of sweet. But it's talking to me. It's not something that is physically there.

Then I hear... Still here with you. I'm completely frozen. I turn on the light and scream from the top of my lungs. Papa! My dad and my mom come running in. I said, I heard it. It spoke. I heard it. It spoke.

The sleeper stopped right by me, and then, it talked. My dad looks scared now. He says, are you sure? Yes, I'm sure. So the next day we call Dona Mari. Dona Mari is this woman who performs house cleansings. She comes over and we tell her everything.

She just goes, oh, okay, like she knows what's going on. Tomazus Aumero, she grabs a clay cup and puts incense, myr, and some peppers in it. She burns the mixture and starts smoking all the rooms in the house. Then she passes the smoke over us and we follow her to my bedroom. Just as she enters, she says, Something scratch me. And, effectively,

has a raean like a raeon on her hand is a small scratch as if a cat had done it. I get scared like something just attacked her.

But she says, it's okay, I feel like this scratch was not intentional. Then she says, I'm going to leave this soap with a dagger in this room. She pulls out this big bar of pink soap with an iron dagger stuck in it. It will help us find out if we are dealing with a good or bad spirit.

It always works. And if it detects that some spirit malignant, the jabon will recorrer. If this is a bad spirit, the dagger will move. If not, it will stay in place. Then, Doña Marie leaves our house and she says, I'll come back at night. So we just pray and wait for Dona Marie. But she doesn't show up.

We think, well, she's not coming. So we go to bed. Then around one in the morning, the phone rings. My dad goes to the living room, picks up the phone. I can hear him say, Buenaed an an an an an an an hour. My mom gets up and we follow her. We listen to my dad as he goes,

Oh, okay, si, si, si, si, is it fine. Okay, perfect. Okay, perfect. We'll call you. He hangs up. My dad says, Do Nya Mari told me she came by the house

and she saw who's here. Up to that point, we all thought she would come visit in person. But it wasn't that type of visit. Who is it then? Well, she described. a person who has a long nail on his pinky, jeans and slippers, very skinny, with curly black hair, and wearing a soccer jersey. As I hear this, I'm still connecting the dots. But then, my mom goes,

Is your co-na do, it's Felipe? Oh, it's Felipe. My dad says, no? My cunado was gordito. No, he had a belly. It can be him. He was bald. My mom says But he did have that long fingernail And you know he loved soccer And they buried him wearing his Toluca jersey Doña Mari comes back the next day She sees that the dagger is still in the same place

It hasn't moved an inch Then after she performs another cleansing My dad tells her My wife says that My wife says this could possibly be my brother-in-law But he was chubby He didn't look like the way you described him Then Doni Amari says that sometimes

Spirits come back in the shape they liked the most when alive Now my dad looks worried As if he's wondering why my uncle still here with us instead of with his daughters or my aunt. Doña Maris says, that there's a thing pendient that he has some unfinished business here. But my dad says,

I still want confirmation that it's him. Falta one for my 15 years. Now it's just one week until my 15 years. One week. And I wake up in the middle of the night.

Everything is quiet and dark. I sit up in bed, turn towards my door. And I see this huge light passing through the hallway. And I see this huge light passing through the hallway. It's a shapeless mass of light, like a small ball. It's floating. Senti much, much curiosity.

But I'm not scared. I'm curious. Is this gonna end? enter my room? But instead, it floats towards the dining room. Suddenly, I hear noise from the kitchen, as if someone's opening the kitchen cabinet drawer. Yeah, in that moment, I hear,

how they're going to the regia where they're the cubiartes? I hear someone lifting the cutlery tray, and then I hear it falling inside the drawer. Then, the drawer closes. That's it. Silence. I get up and slowly walk towards my dad's bedroom. He's already up, standing by his bedroom door.

I tell him, did you hear that? He said yes. Dad turns on the light and approaches the kitchen drawers. He opens the drawer, pokes around, and notices that under the cutlery tray, There's a photo of my uncle. It's a small square photograph with my uncle's smiling face. My dad says...

It's him. And I know why. My dad's covering his face as if he wants to cry. And then he says... On the day we visited him and he showed me he sued. I told me his suit. I promised to your uncle that he would dance with you at your 15 years. My dad told him, you're going to dance with Paola at her 15 years.

So get well. I'm sad and surprised by my dad's realization. I think for my dad it was just the way to tell him to get better. But I don't think he realized he made a life promise. And now how we're going to To complete the promise? So now I'm like, how are we going to fulfill this promise?

The day of the party, I wake up super early. I do my makeup and then we do a photo shoot in our garden next to this beautiful fountain. After that, we head to church for Kinsianera Más. Yeah, my chambelanes, yeah is all my family

I was waiting my chambelanes, my family everyone's there waiting for me I hugged my shy best friend who's there with the other chambelannes I entered the church walking hand in hand with my mom and dad after mass we head over to the reception

when I came to the salon me came marvellian of what precious that was As I entered the hole, I'm amazed at how beautiful it looks. All of the tables

have this beautiful bouquet of sunflowers. Everywhere I look, there's sunflowers. Everyone stands up and is cheering for me as I walk into the room. I go from table to table

greeting all my guests. We all have dinner. And finally, it's time for me to perform my dances. The master of ceremonies calls me to the dance floor. The first dance is with my Chambelanis, Avianese waltz. The second dance is a rock and roll song for which I do lots of periods. The third dance is with my dad. And finally, it's time for the final family waltz.

I'm prepared. I know what I have to do. I've prepared myself for this moment. I know I have to do this. The Master of Ceremony says, And now we ask Felipe Bernal to join Paola. I get to the middle of the room. I turn around and my cousin is sitting down on the dance floor,

facing me, wearing a gray suit. He stands up and wears. walks to me. As he's walking towards me, I notice he has a photograph sticking out in his front pocket. It's a picture of my uncle. The same picture we found in the drawer. When he takes me, cruzamos our mirada. Then my cousin takes me by the arm and we lock eyes. As if saying, this is it. We know who we are here for. Let's do this. As we danced the entire time, I'm staring at my uncle's size in the picture. I have this feeling that this isn't my cousin that I'm dancing with.

It's my uncle. I feel a lot of joy, a lot of peace, a lot of love. The entire time, I'm just talking to my uncle Felipe in my mind saying, Here is this promise. Here we are fulfilling our promise. You know, in life we go around making promises that we can't fulfill. Sometimes we don't realize how powerful words are when we say, Yes, I promise you this and that.

We don't even know if the other person is going to be around. So you've got to make sure to express your love in life, not dead. But even then, there's loyalty and there's loyalty and love. love even after death. My cousin spins me around one last time. The music stops and I think... It's done.

Everyone applauds. After that... We never more knew nothing of my uncle again. Thank you, Paola Gonzalez for sharing your story with the spooked. Paola's voice in English was by Lou Arruti. The original score was by Doug Stewart, and this piece was produced by Eric Yannes. Spook is a path we walk together, a search to push back the fabric of unreality, and there are some who say the interactions that bind us together can be manipulated.

If you know the perfect combination of ingredients, there are recipes for luck, concoctions for power, but what I'm looking for, spokesers, is someone with knowledge of the most elusive elixir of all, the potion for love, where supposedly you can draw your chosen beloved simply by consuming a specially concocted draft. Really? Really? Do you know of such a thing? Have you drank from this challenge yourself? It seems problematic. But holler at me. Spook at snapjudgment.org because there is nothing better than a spook story from a spooked listener. Boot is brought to you by the team that meaning of exactly what they would wear at their cantonera,

especially Mark Ristich, who after a lot of back and forth and soul searching, decided to go with the pink and white lace, imagine shoes. There's David Kim, Zoe Ferretto, Ann Ford, Eric Janience, Teo Decott, Marissa Dodge, Miles Lassie, Yari Bundy, Doug Stewart, Paulina Creaky, Elizabeth Vardou, Adity Umatu, Mutu Mutu Mutu Mutuatu, Jammima. The spook theme song is by Pat Massini Miller. My name is going to Washington. And time is a thief. Every single thing you have, every person you love, time will steal away, hide my perfect moments from her grasp. I love it here moments.

This now is perfect scenes. Let me have this. Let me stay here, knowing full well she devours everything. But time she snatches away the darkness. as well as the light, everything, because the single most powerful command, the universe, is that this too shall, shall. So at long last,

instead of running away from time's gaze, I decided I will turn toward it. As she will take all from me, I will steal from her. And since we know she hides secrets in darkness and shadow, decided to never ever, ever, ever, never, never, never.