The Confessionals - 16: A Native American's Paranormal Experiences

Episode Date: May 7, 2017

Episode 16 explores the life of Ashlee. A Native American who was born and raised on a reservation, she shares paranormal experiences that have occurred throughout her entire life. Website: www.theconfessionalspodcast.com Email: [e-mail] Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheConfessionalsPodcast Twitter: @TConfessionals Tony's Twitter: @tony_merkel Tony's Instagram: tony_merkel Tony's Facebook: www.facebook.com/tbmerkel

We work hard at being healthier. One, three. And what we really need is better quality sleep. The new sleep number 360 smart bed intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjust your comfort and support on both sides. This is not a bed. It's proven quality sleep. It's the biggest sale of the year where all beds are on sale. Say 50% on the new sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed, plus special financing only for a limited time.

To find your local sleep number store, go to sleep number.com. Special financing subject to credit approval. Minimum monthly payments required. See store for details. It's out until it's bright. Just another lonely night to sacrifice your life. Staying in in the shadows. It's called prolet for the rest of the way.

You guys hear that? Welcome to the show, everybody. I am your host, Tony Merkel, and I am really glad that you're here. And I'm really glad to be here. Today, me and Lindsay went to Philadelphia to have a tour of the Eastern State Pententuary. And I'll tell you what, that place is pretty darn creepy. You know, they didn't really tell many ghost stories. They'd more told the history of the facility, you know, when it started and when did it close,

and, you know, what was it like staying there? I got a lot of audio and some pictures that I'll be posting on the website for the members. And hopefully you guys enjoy it. Speaking of members, thank you for everybody who's been signing up to be a member on the website. I really hope you guys enjoy the experience that I'll be putting forward for you guys. Like I said, I'll be posting some of the pictures from today, and there'll be a lot more content coming out this week, so stay tuned for that. Now, tonight before we get into our interview, I'm going to be playing some audio from a video

off YouTube. Mr. Creepypasta has a very popular YouTube channel, and he has generously been kind enough to let me play some of the audio from one of his videos to kind of give you guys a sense of what his channel is all about. I think if you guys are into the creepy pasta thing, you probably heard of Mr. Creepypasta, And if you're not and you're thinking about maybe, you know, playing around the whole creepypasta thing and listening to these stories while you're trying to go to sleep at night or something like that, I highly recommend you guys check out Mr. Creepypasta's channel. Hit subscribe and be alerted every time he posts the video because they're awesome. So without any further delay, here's Mr. Creepypasta's YouTube video.

Look up in the skies. When I was growing up, I pretended to be a superhero once in a while. I didn't every kid. It was fun to daydream about accidentally. gaining superpowers, then imagine yourself flying around and shrugging off bullets while punching out bad guys. Unfortunately, when it actually happened to me? My powers didn't come from radioactive freak lab accidents or mutant genes.

No, it was the cape. The damn cape. The cape fell from the sky inside a meteor. Although nowhere near the scale of a dinosaur killer, the rock was still a big one. and even after smashing into the desert, it was surprisingly intact. My team went to investigate the site, and we had just started taking preliminary measures, and the meteorites split apart like an egg. There in the center was a scrap of cloth.

I can't explain why I tried to touch it. I just knew the cloth was calling to me, and as I reached out my gloved hand, the crackle of the Geiger counter faded away, and the warning cries from my teammates muted. like sounds heard underwater. Then the cloth pounced. In an instant, it curled around my wrist and pierced my hazmat suit, and time seemed to stop as I touched my bare skin.

I felt it rayed my memories, absorbing everything it found. Then it slithered up my arm, worming its way around my back and embedded itself into my shoulders. At that moment, I became the world's first superhero. It's been a pretty good gig so far. I've stopped thousands of criminals and saved many more lives. I tackled natural disasters and graduated to stomping out terrorists and warlords and evil dictators. The Cape's power is unlimited. Nothing can stop me.

But all along, the Cape was guiding my actions. Through our bond, I learned it was created billions of years ago by aliens who hope to spread peace throughout the galaxy and with me as its tool, it accomplished this goal here on earth. The trouble is. The cape is growing restless. Since its sole objective is peace and peace has come, its only option now is to broaden its definition of peace. For instance, the people of the city are currently throwing me a parade. But the cape thinks their noise is not peaceful. It longs to quiet them and that little girl throwing confetti, that girl is littering, littering is a crime. My burning eyes tell me to keep

hungers to slice her apart with my heat vision. Every day it grows harder to restrain the cape's urges. I would destroy the damn thing if I could, but I can't. It won't allow me. All I can do is smile and wave. While inside I'm thinking obsessively about the meteor which brought the cape to earth. The cape prevents me from telling anyone. But I know the truth. That chunk of rock was all that remained of the last world. The cape visited. Okay, that was some audio from Mr. CreepiPasta's video. Look up in the sky off his YouTube channel. If you're into the whole creepypasta thing or you're thinking about getting into the creepypasta thing, definitely go to Mr. Creepypasta's YouTube channel and check him out, hit the subscribe button because I guarantee you you're not going to be

disappointed. Now, tonight's guest is Ashley. Ashley's a Native American that has grown up on a reservation her entire life. She's experienced a ton of paranormal activity and she's come on tonight to share her experiences with us. I really hope you guys enjoy this interview because I certainly enjoy talking to Ashley. Okay, tonight we have a special guest with us, Ashley. She contacted me. She's living out on the west coast of the United States, and she is actually a Native American that was born and raised on a reservation. And she has some really interesting stories to share with us tonight. Ashley, how are you? I am doing great.

How are you? I'm doing really good. And we talked a little bit about some of the things that you want to share tonight, and I'm really intrigued. And I definitely want the audience to hear what you have to say. So I guess if you could just start talking to us about. your family history and where you come from and how this all kind of started in your life. Okay. I'm Ashley. I am Native American and I grew up on the reservation all my life. I'm 24 years old and I have a gift. I can sense things. I can feel all types of energy,

even some that I can't, you know, give a name to. I've seen Go since I was three years old. And the first one that I can recall seeing was an elderly man in a top hat. And he, I remember watching cartoons in the morning and seeing this elderly man watching watching me. I would turn to my left and see this man in a black top hat, a very long, dark colored trench coat, just standing there watching me. He didn't have shoes or feet.

I remember seeing him, you know, floating above, above the ground, no facial expressions. And he would watch me all the time, never moved, never said anything. And what's interesting about this, this spirit is that he would change. There was times when I'm watching cartoons by myself in the living room, I would turn and look to my left and see this six foot tall man looking at me. I don't remember, you know, details of the clothing or any facial expressions, but he was quiet. He never said anything. And he was the one that moved. Like I said, the elderly guy, he always did in one spot.

He was always watching me from the kitchen. But this guy, I'm not sure if it's, you know, the same space. spirit, but, you know, him, you know, showing himself at a younger age or what, but this six foot tall figure would watch me as I sleep. My brother and I are six years apart and we shared a bedroom together. It was a bunk bed. I was on top and he would sleep on the bottom. And I remember, you know, as I would say, good night. You know, it's my brother. I would always. look towards towards the

doorway. We had a night light on, so past the doorway, it was blocked. And I remember seeing the six foot tall man just watching me looking straight at me.

I've never seen him look down at my brother or even paid attention to him. I remember just watching, just watching me and I would be scared. I would think that you know, is this man going to touch me? Is he going to, you know, come close to where the bunk bed is?

And, you know, I really didn't know what to think. And so I would sleep my back facing the wall so that I can see him directly. I would pray every single night before I went to bed. And that's what put me to sleep. having a sense that I'm being protected by God and that this spirit will cause no harm. And to think about it, to reflect, it's a bit intimidating, you know, to only be, you know, seven, eight, nine years old. And this, you know, six foot tall man just watch me all the time. And it was every night for years.

And same with that elderly top hat man. He would watch me for years. And it wasn't, you know, until we moved from a specific location to somewhere else was when I stopped seeing them. And another thing that happened that I mentioned to you, Tony, was being touched by a spirit. And it was a different one than the other two. It was a male, looked around, you know, late 20s, early 30 years old, very short as well. I remember playing with my Barbie cash register in the living room by myself. I felt like I was being watched.

I remember turning around, looking into the living room and feeling. and feeling that someone is there, but in my head I didn't want to believe that someone was behind me, watching me play. And so I ignored it, didn't say anything, kept playing with my Barbie cash register.

And I felt this cold, this cold feeling press against my shoulder. And I turned around, and I see this this male spirit take a few steps back. And I turned back around towards my cash register and continue playing. I didn't say anything. I didn't turn to look back to see if he's still watching me. I just ignored it and acted like it never happened.

And that's what I do a lot of the times. When I'm experiencing something in a moment or I see something in the corner of my eye, I tend to just ignore it and continue with whatever I'm doing. And another thing that I remember is I moved into this new house with my parents. This was before going into high school. I remember watching TV at any time of the day. And this male had black eyes and had this evil grin on his face would peek out from behind the wall and smile at me. And he would play peekaboo on and off. And I would just ignore it.

I never said anything to anybody because we just moved into this new home. I didn't want to, you know, scare anybody. I didn't want anyone to, you know, feel uncomfortable, you know, with our new living space. And so I kept it to myself for several months until my father had mentioned seeing something. And so it was nice to, you know, have somebody in the family who saw something similar to what I've been seeing. you know, since we moved in. And he didn't see details like I did. It would play peek-a-boo with him too.

And he was the only other person who he said, you know, who saw that figure. And the one thing, too, that I really remember is my little brother, he never wanted to sleep in his bedroom ever. he would be so scared. He would beg my mom. Like, I don't want to sleep in my room. Like, can I sleep with you? And we, and so we thought it was, you know, maybe it's because, you know, he has a whole bedroom to himself now.

And, you know, he just needs to adjust to this new home and, you know, sleeping by himself that night. And what I honestly think that now that I look back is he felt that that man, maybe, that that man, you know, has done something to him, or maybe that he's seen him as well, but just never said anything. But to this day, you know, we don't talk about it. My brother hasn't said anything about, you know, living back at that house. So when your dad saw this shadow man peaking as well, what did he have to say about? Did you guys have any in-depth conversations about this since you both saw it. How we started talking about that figure being in the home was he would see figures where

he worked. And so he kind of, you know, wanted, I'm assuming one. I think he wanted to feel the waters with me to see if I would get scared or to see how I would react. So he would, you know, say a little things here and there. And then he, and he, I was interested. And so he. brought up the figure and I told him I saw it too.

And he believed me. He believed me, you know, the details that I had to say. And, you know, still to this day he's very, you know, supportive and believes me when I talk about things I see because he sees them too, but just not to the extent that I do where I do see details in a lot of spirits that I see. So that kind of opened up a line of communication between you two for you to be able to talk to him about this stuff. Yeah. That's good.

That's good. Before you move on with some other things here, I wanted to ask you, when you talked about the shadow guys and the guy with the top hat and the trench coat, you said they were expressionless on their faces. Was there detail with their faces? or was it just kind of like a blank shadow? It wasn't blank. I remember seeing eyes and a mouth and a small nose had very small facial features for the size of the head is what I remember.

It was very neutral. And with the taller one, it was the same. It was this neutral face. but the eyes appeared bigger with the six foot tall one. The mouth was bigger. The nose was bigger. I saw them clearly. And I think seeing them clearly, you know, intimidated me, you know, being so young

and seeing things that, you know, I couldn't really explain or, you know, understand. Yeah, I can understand. understand that. So you're fairly certain then that it was two separate spirits or entities. I think so. I mean, it's, I feel maybe it's a coincidence that they do stand and they have, they would stand in the exact same spot, but then, you know, the older one would watch me when I sleep. But I've never saw the spirit with that top hat and trench coat ever watch me or ever move. So, you know, thinking back at it, I do think it was two different spirits. Okay. Maybe they're connected somehow. Maybe they were related or maybe, you know, that was the

elderly man's son. I'm not sure. We work hard at being healthier. And what we really need is better quality sleep. The new sleep number 360 smart bed intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjust your comfort and support on both sides. This is not a bed. It's proven quality sleep. It's the biggest sale of the year where all beds are on sale. Say 50% on the new sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed plus special financing only for a limited time. To find your local sleep number store, go to sleep number.com. Special financing subject to credit approval, minimum monthly payments required. See store for details. Okay. Yeah, because it seems like they display similar characteristics on how they react to you. Yeah. So it just made me curious.

I wasn't sure. I mean, you're the one that experienced it. So I was just wondering if what your thoughts were on that. I didn't mean to cut you off, though. You were talking about your little brother. Oh, no, it's fine. And this other one that I was talking to you about was in the house that I live in now. There was, there still is, you know, a little boy who lives in that home, too. He stayed. in my mom's closet and he would come out at night. He was the most active at night, I should say. He would play with my youngest brother's toys. So I have two brothers, one who's six years apart and the other one were 14 years apart.

And he would play with the youngest one's toys. His toys were, you know, fire trucks, dumb trucks that would light up or you would press a button and these lights would come on and songs would play and they would go off that night. These toys, you know, were laying around in living room. Some of them would be laying around in my parents' room and they would go off in the middle of the night. And I was the first one who noticed the little boy. I didn't say anything because then again, you know, we moved in, you know, into a new home.

I didn't want to scare anybody or, you know, I wanted them to feel comfortable. So I didn't bring it up. up. And, and so until my mom started talking about how the toys would go off in the bedroom. And so I took that chance and I opened up to her that I seen this little boy who would hide behind couches when I would walk out in the middle of the night. He used to rest room. He's turned on the computer. He's, he's, that's, you know, that's the most things that I've seen him do was, you know, hide behind couches and play with the toys at night and turn the computer on. And there was this one time where I mistaken him as my youngest brother.

Me and the older one, we were watching TV this one afternoon and we were, you know, conversating, talking about what we were watching. And then I see this little boy walk by. He goes behind the couch, behind the one that we were sitting. And as he was walking by, I said, hey, like, why did you change your shirt? Did you spill juice on it? And my brother's sitting next to me turns and looks behind the couch and looks back at me and says, there's nobody there. He's in the bedroom.

room. And so I didn't, I didn't know what to say because I never really opened up to my brothers about my special gift. And I, because I never wanted to make them feel uncomfortable. And so I just like, oh, well, oops, you know, moving on back to talking about what we were talking about. And And this little boy looked exactly like my brother, same type of haircut, same type of skin complexion, same height. He just had different clothing on. And that day, my little brother, he had, you know, a dark colored shirt on. It was either green or blue and had some cartoons on it. And this little boy, he had a plain white shirt on.

And so that's why he asked, you know, why my brother changed his shirt when really it was, it was the little boy who was just walking by. Wow, that's really interesting. And did the little boy appear often? Not in the daylight. No, that was the one time that I've seen him, you know, in midday, just walk out like that. other times it was when he would, you know, run one, run quickly and hide behind the couch. And that was always late at night. Okay.

Now, I remember you talking to me about your mom finding a picture in the house? Could you go into? Yeah. I guess. My mom approached me one day. She said, do you know who this is? And it was an old, old picture. It was this, you know, little boy who looked, you know, about the age of two was, you know,

looked like he was walking towards the camera. He was smiling. And I remember seeing in the picture of him being in the living room. There was old, old, you know, patterned couches in the back. It had like an old carpet. It was a very old. picture and I didn't know who it was. I've never seen it before and my mom asked relatives if she if anyone knew who this little boy is. I even asked me siblings like you know who this is everybody

like who who is this little boy and I I think it is you know that little boy who lives with us I think that he wanted to feel included and wanted, you know, maybe more of the family members to acknowledge that he lives there with us. And, you know, it's, it's, I'm not sure where that picture is today, but I'm sure it's, you know, maybe somewhere around the house. Yeah, that's, that's very interesting. It does make you wonder, I mean, because I've heard stories of that before where people find pictures in their house that they have no idea who's in the picture and they have no idea where

the picture came from. It's just all of a sudden there. And it's curious. It makes you wonder where some of these things come from. Yeah. So after that whole situation, what happened next? Um, we, my, my mom, we know we, we just left it at that. Um, we didn't talk about it again. You know, we, you know, we as in myself and my parents acknowledge that, okay, you know, maybe it is, you know, this little boy who lives there. My other brothers, we didn't say anything to them. You know, they didn't bother to ask like, okay, so did you find out who this little boy was? No, nothing. And, um, when I do, go, you know, go home to visit. I do sense him still being in the house, but it's been a while since I've seen him. Okay. I remember you talking to me about hearing a little girl called, call you, I guess audibly. Could you talk about that? Yes, yes. I was, I would say five to seven years old. I was in the living room in the evening time and my grandmother had told me that it's getting late, go put your pajamas on. And so I ran into the bedroom. And as I'm pulling out my

clothes from the dresser, I heard this little girl laughing, Ashley, come play with me. Ha ha, ha, ha, ha, come play, come play. Ha ha. And she was young, very young. A very young, voice to her. And as I'm pulling out my clothes, I was scared to look because I have never, I think at that time, I've never heard a spirit talk to me before. And so as I turned to look, there was this little girl looking around five years old, jumping on my grandmother's bed. And the interesting thing about it was I could hear the bed creaking, but the bed was sinking in as if someone were actually jumping on the bed. And so I quickly put my clothes on, bolted out of the bedroom, and acted like it never happened. And I never saw that little girl

again. That seems like a pretty common MO for you to pretend it just never happened. Is that just something that is just naturally that comes out of you when it comes to this stuff? Or is that intentional? Is there a reason why you react that way? It is intentional because I don't want to feel afraid. I don't want any energies to feed off of me feeling scared. And so I feel like it's, you know, in a way, an instinct, you know, to block out what's happening or what I just experience so that I can, you know, continue on with what I'm doing and, you know, feel safe. Yeah, that makes sense. Absolutely makes sense. 100%. Now, I remember you telling me in the email about being out late one night and coming home and seeing something when you came in the house. Would you like to share that story? Yes. This one's a really good one. I will always remember. I was in high school. I was out with friends late one night. I remember unlocking the door and I was opening very slowly because the door was creaky and I didn't want to wake up my parents. And so I slowly opened the door. I remember I was looking down and I, for some reason,

looked up towards the living room and there I saw my great-grandfather sitting on the couch and as I took my step into the house he stood up he took one two steps forward and then disappeared and that told me that he was waiting for me to come home you know to make sure that I'm safe and that he can go back, you know, to heaven. And at that moment, I felt in my heart that my great-grandfather's with me. I always felt close with my great-grandfather. He passed away when I was a sophomore in high school. And when I saw him for the first time, I was a junior, I would say.

and ever since then I still feel close he comes in my dreams often and I feel his present sometimes and it warms my heart. Yeah, that's, I mean, I can totally understand how you feel that way, especially having that close relationship with him. Yeah. I wanted to ask you, back to the little girl that I was jumping on the bed, I forgot to ask you this. Now, was she transparent at all? Or does she look like a real little girl jumping up and down the bed just not making an imprint? She was more transparent. She was in, I don't know if I said this, but she was in a white dress.

I'm not sure it was more. It was very old school looking. I remember it wasn't something that, you know, without when I was about age. It was something that looked much older. It was kind of a puffy dress. It was a bit puffy in the shoulders, I remember. And it was moving with her as she was jumping, and she had this glowing look to her.

And looking back at it, it was a bit inviting, but yet it was intimidating because it was the first time I've heard, you know, a spirit talk to me in my head. And, yeah, I would say she was more transatlantic. parent than human looking. Okay, so when you heard her talking, now you're not the first person I've heard say this, and I tried to understand it, but it's hard.

So she was talking through your mind, but not audibly, like you couldn't hear her, but more in your head. Yeah, yes, it was in my head. It's hard to explain. I've been thinking about this for a while and how to explain, you know, hearing it in my head. and hearing, you know, this different voice I've never heard before. And, you know, this distinctive, playful laugh that she had. And it was interesting and it was very strange. And like I said, I never saw her again after that.

Wow. See, that's just, it's just so intriguing to hear that because I've heard other people describe that. And I just, I have a really hard time for me personally to, to, to I guess just comprehend the how that all works you know uh when when you heard and I even know if the right word is heard but uh for lack of better words I'll use that word when you heard her saying that to you was it like very clear or was it almost like a like a faint speaking does that make sense like I know in the movies in the movies sometimes that they give like a ghost when the ghost is talking they give the ghost like an echoey sound almost to kind of make it sound faint. Was it kind of like that or was it more like a very whole sounding thing?

It was very whole sounding. It was as if she was actually speaking to me. And yeah, it was clear as day. It was no echoey, nothing. Okay. I mean, because I'm sitting here thinking about it. And, you know, it does make sense in the way that when you hear somebody, talking and you hear it through your ears, all that is is sound waves registering in your

ear drum and then from there going to your brain where your brain actually decides what it's actually hearing. And so I guess in a sense when people tell me this, they're actually, whatever is talking to them is just maybe skipping that process of speaking through the ear and kind of just going directly into the head. That sounds weird to even say, but maybe that's what's going on. What do you think? Maybe. That makes sense. I mean, it's really hard to explain, you know, I'm only 24 years old and I'm still, you know, every day is a learning experience. And hopefully maybe someday I'll have an answer for it. Yeah. So do you think your family history with being Native American. And I believe you said about your family having a history

with medicine people. Do you think that has to play with your life so far and all the action you've had with this kind of stuff? Yes. I believe that my purpose is to help people and to protect my family. My great-grandfather was a medicine man and his family were medicine people. And so as my great-grandmother, her family was medicine people too. And I do believe that they passed on their gift to me for a reason. And I believe that it was given to me,

because I have the strength to handle it and maybe it's, you know, something else. But I feel that, you know, from learning all of this at such a young age, you know, I kept myself together. You know, I handled it the best way that I could even though I didn't understand. And even still to this day, I'm learning every day about, you know, why I meet certain people or, you know, why I had these past experiences is to help somebody else. And, you know, to maybe, you know, have some better insight to, you know, bring clarity to somebody's life. And now that, you know, we're talking about, you know, my spiritual background and, you know, staying with my family, I had talked to you in the email about. a ceremony I participated in. Yes.

And it had to deal with two very most important people in my life. And it happened June 2014. It was an all-night ceremony. And I don't want to go into too much detail, but what I do want to share is it took me to a very very very, very dark place. And I believe that that dark place was what people call hell. And how I got there, I choose not to say.

But what I remember seeing was and feeling was it was very, very dark. I remember feeling very, very tired, just so exhausted. And I was just walking in complete darkness. And I saw myself walking in complete darkness. And it felt like I was walking for years, like so much time has walked by. And I remember thinking that, like, will this end? And these questions that were coming in my head, I feel that it was a test that do that, that, you know, if I have true faith in the Lord that he will show me the light, I knew that that that was what I was looking for. I was walking, you know, straight.

I wasn't making any turns. I wasn't stopping. I kept this steady pace and I was walking and walking. And I was getting these questions out of nowhere that, you know, maybe you should stop. Maybe you should just give up. Maybe you should, you know, just accept what's going on and, you know, not find a light. And I didn't, you know, I didn't listen. And I knew it was the evil talking to me.

I knew that it, that, you know, it was testing my faith. And I knew, you know, I, I remember telling myself that, you know, you're strong, you have a purpose. You know, you're helping somebody that you dearly love find the light with you. And I remember walking, seeing myself walk so weak. I remember I was so low to the ground that I, it was like I was slouching, you know, I was so weak that I couldn't stand tall. And I kept walking and I was walking. And I remember, I remember praying harder and harder and harder and keeping my heart positive and telling myself that I will find the light. And when I did, when I did find the light, I saw my mother, it takes a lot out of me talking about it.

I can understand that. And, you know, reflecting back on it, you know, it tells me that, you know, there is good just as well as there is evil. You know, there is this dark place, you know, where evil is. And even though, you know, it was hard and I was so exhausted, it was rewarding in the end because, you know, with the people that I was with, we all stood together. The Lord was with us. And I knew that, you know, I knew that that was one of the reasons why I was blessed. with the gift that I have because if I didn't have that gift, I wouldn't have detected a very, very, very evil spirit. It was my gift that saved a life. It saved the life of a very important

person of mine. And like I said, even though it's very hard to talk about and, you know, to relive it did have a very rewarding. ending. We all felt closer and we felt more alive because, you know, we conquered, we conquered what was going on. And it was the help of my great-grandfather. He came. I saw him. I saw an angel who came. And that told me that, you know, the higher power, the Lord was there on our side. And he was going to help lead the way and he did. And that without a doubt of my mind, I knew that like, don't doubt yourself again. Believe in yourself.

Believe that, you know, when you see things or, you know, when things that you can't really explain come to mind, believe it, you know, but put it in back of your mind because later on you're going to, that experience that you had will make sense. It will have a purpose. It will have a significant meaning to it. And back to, you know, in the end, it's feeling rewarding. I never felt so alive in my life. I even know I was up for so long and it felt like I lost track of time.

I felt so alive, Tony, like it was such an amazing feeling. that, you know, that I did what I was meant to do and, you know, I conquered it with the people that I loved. I can't see that enough. And I remember having, you know, this big appetite. I remember I was like, man, I can go for a run right now. I feel great. And so did the people that I was with. They felt the same way. They had a big appetite. They were ready to go running. You know, we felt like we were on the top of the world. And I honestly think about the ceremony every single day because it brought so much meaning to it in a sense that, you know, me and the people I was with, we all had a purpose. And we all, you know, intertwined together in a way that it made us, you know,

very powerful together. We each had a specific position in that ceremony. And if, you know, one of them was out or, you know, it wouldn't have worked as well as it did. And that, you know, was one of the most, you know, intense and incredible experiences that I've had this far. and I feel honored to share it with you and your listeners because I hope that, you know, in the future it will help somebody. It will maybe bring an answer to something that they experienced or make them feel that they're not alone, that there is somebody who has had experience, you know, similar experiences in the past. And thank you, Tony, for, you know, allowing me to share some of the things. that has happened to me, you know, throughout my life.

Sure, absolutely. And thank you so much for sharing it. I clearly understand that it was hard for you to do so. And because of the sensitive nature of the experience, the following question I have, feel free to, you know, decline to answer. But I just wanted to ask you a question. When this whole thing happened, was it like an answer? out-of-body experience or was it something totally different than that?

It was both when it was both because when I was in that very, very dark place, I would go from out-of-body to being in the moment, if that makes sense. And I don't know if I did that on purpose or it just happened. And, you know, for the most part, that ceremony, it was not out-of-body experience. I was, you know, in the moment. And, yeah. Wow. Yeah, I'm not going to pry on that story at all.

I'm going to let you just leave it at that way. You know, wow, I just really appreciate you sharing that. to wrap things up here, I did want to ask you to maybe talk about one other thing here that you mentioned in your first email to me. And that is that you, and I think we talked about it a little bit before we came on the air here, you have the ability to sometimes predict the future. Is that something that's intentional or is that something that can be controlled or is it just random. It's all the above. And I say that because when I help people, it's intentional

because I'm trying to, you know, help them find answers or, you know, help them, you know, go into the right direction that they're meant to go. And there's other times when it's unintentional, it just happens. There's times when I felt very, very, you know, I felt very, uncomfortable while driving. And there's one specific occasion that I remember is I was driving on the railway from work, heavy California traffic. And I remember I was driving and this car pulled, came in my lane behind me. And I looked at my review mirror and at that moment I felt so uncomfortable.

And something in my mind told me to move out of the way. the way to just move out of the way. And I was thinking that maybe I'm okay. But then, you know, I trusted myself. And so I move into the next lane over. You know, just when I was getting those feelings, you know, I was approaching the turnoff to exit the freeway. And so as I'm, you know, going into the lanes to exit, something in me told me to turn and look. And so as I turned and looked, that car that was behind me, that made me feel so uncomfortable, rear-ended another vehicle that, yeah, rear-ended a vehicle. I don't know if that was a vehicle that was in front of me or, you know, a different vehicle

that had got into that lane that that car was. and I felt the presence of my great-grandfather being there with me, and I got emotional about it because, you know, there's instances like that where I feel so thankful for the gift that I have and, you know, for, you know, people like my great-grandfather looking after me and, you know, protecting me and, you know, preventing me from getting hurt. And there's other times, too, when I would touch things and, you know, I would come to find out that it doesn't work.

I remember I started getting these feelings when I was in college. So it was about three, four years ago when I really started noticing something different about me. Because one time I was about to check out some money. And so I approached ATM. am and I had this feeling that it's something's going to go wrong but I you know I went in head and put my card in entered my PIN number and then it tells me I have no cash and I thought oh wow you know something in me told me that something was going to go wrong and just that something went wrong it's kind of hard to explain it's not like a voice talking to me it's just something that's in me that

that tells me that you know, you're going to need a certain thing later on or, you know, something is it going to work the way that you want to? And it happens way too often for it to be a coincidence. Yeah. You know, actually, I totally understand what you're saying. That it's like a, it's just like another sense. It's, it's, that's something that I actually experience myself a lot. Yeah. I totally, I totally, I totally. I totally. totally get that. There's been several times, especially as of late, I mean, in my adult life, I'd say probably in the last three years, things will, like, Lindsay's no stranger to this. I will come home one day and just tell her, hey, this is going to happen. Just let you know,

so I have somebody as a witness that I called it. And sure enough, it happens. And it's, And it's interesting because I don't view it as, for me, for me, it's not a sense as much as a who speaking to me. I often feel that God is speaking to me in those times. And for whatever reason, sharing with me what is going to happen. And sure enough, I mean, once I actually learned that, because for me it was, I would have a feeling that I should either do something or something was going to happen and I wouldn't act on it. And then once I identified that, I identified that feeling as coinciding with what was happening. And I actually, I don't know how to

describe it other than I learned how to listen. And once I learned how to listen, I've been able to kind of fall in line with what I've been feeling or being told, however you want to describe it. But it's a very interesting thing. And for me, it's an ongoing thing. I don't talk about a whole lot. It's not that I keep it quiet. I just, it doesn't come up in conversation. But, yeah, I totally get that because I go through similar things.

That's amazing. And I feel like hopefully I'll be, you know, where you are now to where, you know, you're more in tune and listen to yourself. You know, there is times when I'm just like, no, like I think about what I'm going to do later on that day or, you know, in the next few days and I don't see myself doing something. And then next thing you know, you know, plans change or, you know, something does occur. And then I do need that thing. You know what I mean? Or, you know, what that. feeling that I had comes true. When I, when in a moment, I didn't think it was going to happen. It's very strange and it's interesting how, you know, to explain it so that other people can understand. And it's nice to know that, you know, you feel the same way and that, you know, you understand where I'm coming from. That's awesome. Absolutely. In fact, I just saw of it now. my earliest recollection of this happening. And it's so weird because it was so meaningless, it had no meaning whatsoever. But I was a kid and I was very young because we were living in one of the first places I can remember.

And I remember just having this feeling that the phone was going to ring. And I'm sitting in the living room. And I don't know where my mom was. I just remember my dad was in the living room because he saw this happen. I walked up, I got up just randomly, seemingly, right? I seemingly got up at random. I walked over to the phone. I reached out to pick up the phone and just before I picked up the phone, it rang. And I picked it up, I answered it. And it was somebody, I think, for my mom or something, because I remember giving it to my mom. And my dad just looked at me and he's like, did you know that was going to ring? And I just looked at him like,

yeah. And then I just sat down and we never talked about it. And to this. day, we never talked about it. But yeah, now that I'm talking about it, I should really ask him if he remembers that because I remember that. And it only happened one time. There's been times when I was a kid that I had that feeling that something was going to happen. And then it did, but not acting on it. But that was the only time when I was a kid that I acted on something and it actually happened and my dad witnessed it. That's so cool. Yeah.

Yeah. Now that I'm thinking about, I got to next time, I'm going to see him in two weeks. I'm going to have to talk to him about that. But yeah, it's very interesting. And I don't think it's a common thing. Like I definitely don't think a lot of people have that intuition. And whatever you want to call it. I mean, for me, I think it's more, for me personally, I think it's a God thing.

You know, I'm not saying that's the case. everybody. But as I've gotten older and closer in my relationship with God, it seems like that has been more of an active thing in my life. And so it's very interesting, very, very interesting. But go ahead. Oh, sorry. I was going to say, because that actually brings back to multiple times when I would know when my mom is about to call me. I always knew or sometimes she would call me about something and I would already know what she was going to talk to me about. And this would happen all the time, like not just, you know, with the phone calls,

but with the conversations, like my mom and I, we would finish each other sentences. Oh, we would think the exact same thing at that exact same moment. and it was one of us who would bring it up first. Yeah. And I don't know if that's, you know, a mother-daughter bond or I don't know if it happens, you know, a lot with other people. But I think that it's cool that, you know, my mother and I had this deep connection that, like, we kind of predict things about each other that's the same, if that makes sense.

Yeah, absolutely, totally. Yeah. I think there's a lot of things in this life that are left unexplained and that there's a whole other side of reality that most people don't explore. And it even comes down to little things. And I know I can't be the only one that you're driving in the car and you have a tune in your head. You turn on the radio and at that exact moment you're hearing that song play the exact moment you were playing in your car. your head. Oh my God. And I've heard, I've heard people, lots of people experience that. And it's like, what causes that? And those are questions that I have because like, if there's so,

because I know I've talked to other people that that has happened to them before. And you can, like, people who don't want to think about it too much. Like, we're different people. Like, we actually enjoy looking into this kind of thing and trying to ask the hard questions. But I think a lot of people, they don't want to ask those hard questions. And that's a big question in my mind is, what causes that? It happens too often for it to be at random now. And it's happened to me several times, a lot of times, more than I can count. And clearly it's happened to you. I know it's happened to several people. It's not just music on the radio, but it's things like that. And, You know, it's like, what is going on that people can sense these things or there's some kind of like parallel going on?

And it's just, I don't have an answer. All I know is it's a real phenomenon and it's left unanswered right now. Like, as far as I know, there is no real answer out there for this. And, you know, that's why we're here. We're talking about it. Yeah, wow. That is so cool. that you've experienced the same things I have too.

But, you know, it's, I don't talk about it with, with anybody because I, I don't want to sound crazy, you know. I don't want to sound like, what? Like, you're sure that happens to you? You know, I just don't want to be, you know, questions in that way. And that's awesome that you and other people you have spoken to have experienced that exact same thing. That is, that is really cool.

It's mind blowing too sometimes because it's like, how do I know? that, you know, like, well, why, why me? Sometimes, you know, I ask myself about, about certain things, but then, you know, I know that everything has its purpose. You know, you're given what you can handle and, you know, hopefully one day, you know, we will find the answer of why, why this is happening. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I just think, I think, um, the fear factor of talking to people about this stuff holds the whole topic at bay because the majority of people don't talk about it. And for instance, I'll give you a quick example and then we'll wrap things up here. But today I was at one of my deliveries and I'm very open and I talk to people about what I do.

I let people know I have a podcast and I let them know what's about. And once I tell people what I'm doing, their whole environment changes. and a lot of times like today the guy says well because I told him what the show is about what I cover on the show and he says to me well do you believe that stuff and I said absolutely and he's like oh okay well since you believe it I need to talk to you and we talked for like 15 20 minutes about his own personal experiences he had and I think that right there is a prime example as to why we're not getting a whole lot of answers and it's because guys like the guy I talked to today are scared to talk about it and until they know the person that they're talking to will not ridicule them. Like, he was not going to open up to me if I said, no, I don't believe it. I just, you know, do a show for whatever reason, you know? Like, I don't know why I would be doing a show if I don't believe it, but he, once I told him that I believe these things, his whole tune changed. And I think that's one of the biggest purposes for this show is to create awareness and allow people to share their stories.

so that other people can hear it and feel comfortable talking about it as well. And I think you're a prime example of that. I mean, you've been uncomfortable talking about these things or not talking about it at all. And hopefully, you know, talking to me, somebody who understands where you're coming from and isn't going to judge you, hopefully that helps you talk about it more. And I just think that people that are experiencing these things need to be a little bit more brave and not be so worried about what people think about them, but at least, but start talking about it. To at least people that you trust, you know, you might think it's a little

weird and stuff, but I think it's very important that people start opening up and talking to other people about their experiences. I think it will go a long way. I agree. I agree 100%. Well, Ashley, before we get out of here, do you have any... you know, closing remarks, any words of advice or, you know, closing thoughts that you'd like to share with us? Thank you for taking the time out of your day to listen to my story. And I hope that, you know, it maybe change your mind, you know, into maybe understanding better, maybe getting an answer to. And, you know, I, you know, I just hope that you take something positive. out of, you know, my experience. And I wish you all the best. And thank you, Tony, for having me

on your show. It's a pleasure. The pleasure's all mine. Thank you for coming on. I will talk to you later. And if you have any other things that you'd like to talk about, feel free to get a hold of me. Thank you. All right. Take care. Okay, that's the show, everybody. I hope you enjoyed it as always. And if you have not done so yet, please go to our Facebook page and give us a like and go to our Twitter page at T. Confessionals and give us a follow. If you want to get a hold of me and talk to me about an encounter you had or a story or an experience you've had, go ahead and give me an email. My email is the Confessionalspodcast at gmail.com or you can go to the website theconfessionalspodcast.com, hit the connection section and you can reach me that way as well. Either way works for me,

but as always, have a great week, friends. Take care. Was that too much?