Here's a highly strange one...

Summary

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High Strange – "Here's a highly strange one..."

Podcast: High Strange
Host: Tenderfoot TV & iHeartPodcasts
Episode Air Date: July 4, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode of High Strange serves as a bridge between seasons, offering listeners a chilling firsthand account of an unexplained and deeply unsettling event. The storytelling explores themes of lost time, possible abduction, and inexplicable phenomena that challenge rational explanations—all delivered with the show’s signature mix of curiosity and skepticism. The episode aims to highlight the unnerving similarities in experiences recounted by credible witnesses and to probe why rational explanations so often fail to stick.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction and Connective Tissue Between Shows ([01:57]–[02:32])

• The High Strange host addresses the gap since the first season, reassuring listeners that more content is coming.
• Listeners seeking more inexplicable stories are encouraged to check out Radio Rental, the podcast from which this episode’s central story is drawn.
• Emphasis is placed on challenging official narratives and pursuing stories to their truly strange ends.

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2. The Story: Lost Time and the Walk Back to Nowhere ([02:32]–[13:33])

Background and Setting

• The storyteller grew up in a very small town (pop. ~900), with little excitement and a deep familiarity with its geography.
• On the evening of the incident, the narrator (aged 16–17) and a friend choose a well-worn shortcut (taken "101 times") through a golf course and some woods to reach another friend’s house.

Leading Up to the Unexplained

• The route is filled with landmarks: "There's the sand trap on hole 15. A couple minutes later there's just like a utility shed..."
• The timing seems off: “We started at 5:30 or 6...sun setting around 6:30... but the more we walked... we still hadn't [reached the road].”
• They reach a thicket of trees, expecting their destination is just beyond.

The Encounter ([04:45]–[08:00])

• They spot multiple red, blinking lights: “like lightning bugs... fluorescent, like a Christmas tree bulb... coming almost like through the trees.”
• The lights increase in number; an eerie siren or alarm sounds:

  “This siren was so unlike anything I had ever heard before... a shriek, high pitched and so loud. Almost like a frequency like when you have tinnitus, like a ringing in your ears, but coming from someplace outside of you. It was all around us. It was consuming.”
  – Radio Rental Storyteller [06:50]

• Both are gripped by panic, overwhelmed by the lights and sound: "Fight or flight or freeze and we flew."
  – Radio Rental Storyteller [07:20]

Disorientation and the Impossible Return ([08:00]–[10:45])

• As they flee, still seeing the unnatural red lights above, they expect to burst onto the road by their friend’s house—but instead find themselves inexplicably back at their starting point:

  “We were standing looking at that small chain linked fence that we started walking on... At no point did we ever make a U-turn and start walking back. Even more significantly, we never crossed any other path.”

• Loss of time is discovered: "We noticed that it was nine o'clock at night. We had effectively lost three hours. Really was a walk that was from point A to point B. A straight line that really should have only taken 15, 20 minutes at tops."
• The journey was a familiar, simple walk—yet somehow, "we were back where we started. Like we had walked entirely around the circumference of the world."

Aftermath: Doubt and Repetition ([10:45]–[13:33])

• Both retrace their steps repeatedly in the following weeks—at all times of day—never able to replicate the experience, or find the lights/alarm again.
• The experience is validated by the fact it was shared:

  "It would be one thing if I was by myself and this happened. I experienced it with somebody else, which was just confirmation that something strange had happened."

• No rational explanation is found: “The thing that me and my friend both keep coming back to is that we were abducted.”
  • The elements—lights, siren, loss of time—match other abduction accounts.

  "Maybe these things abducted us and got confused about the location where they got us and they picked us up and dropped us off at the wrong place. That's like the thing that makes the most sense to both of us."

• The storyteller reflects on the uncanny similarities to other UFO/abduction cases and the uneasiness of this awareness:

  "I wish it weren't true. I wish it didn't make sense. But that's what I keep coming back to. That's the thing that makes the most sense in my mind. I truly believe that that night we were abducted and put back in the wrong place."
  – Radio Rental Storyteller [13:18]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Unmatched Strangeness:

  "This siren was so unlike anything I had ever heard before... a shriek, high pitched and so loud. Almost like a frequency like when you have tinnitus, like a ringing in your ears, but coming from someplace outside of you."
  – Radio Rental Storyteller [06:50]

• On Lost Time:

  "We noticed that it was nine o'clock at night. We had effectively lost three hours."
  – Radio Rental Storyteller [09:35]

• The Impossible Journey:

  "We were back where we started. Like we had walked entirely around the circumference of the world."
  – Radio Rental Storyteller [10:25]

• On the Search for Sense:

  "The more we talked, the more things didn't make sense, the more things didn't add up."
  – Radio Rental Storyteller [10:55]

• Most Rational Explanation:

  "Maybe these things abducted us and got confused about the location where they got us and they picked us up and dropped us off at the wrong place."
  – Radio Rental Storyteller [12:34]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Episode Introduction & Cross-Promotion: [01:57]–[02:32]
• Start of Story / Setting the Scene: [02:32]–[04:45]
• Lights and Siren Encounter: [04:45]–[08:00]
• Panic and the Return: [08:00]–[10:45]
• Processing and Aftermath: [10:45]–[13:33]

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Tone & Style

Throughout, the tone is conversational, incredulous, and unnerved—reflecting the confusion and shock of encountering the truly unexplained. The storyteller’s delivery is earnest, relatable, and skeptical, mirroring the show’s commitment to curiosity and not accepting easy answers.

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Conclusion

This special episode of High Strange revives the show's core questions: What happens when reality glitches and the official stories break down? By sharing a firsthand tale that echoes classic abduction narratives yet remains deeply personal and unresolved, the podcast amplifies its core message—most things, it seems, are not weather balloons.

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Transcript

[Podcast Host]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Ryan Reynolds]

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to [e-mail]

[Podcast Host]

Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month Required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees, extra fee full [e-mail] Lady Jennifer of Coolidge well, many thanks good sir.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Here is my Discover card.

[Podcast Host]

They accept Discover at Renaissance Fairs? Yeah, they do here. Discover is accepted at the places I love to shop. Geth with the times. With the times.

[Radio Rental Storyteller]

You're playing the loot.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Yeah, and it sounds pretty good, right? Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide, based on the February 2025 Nielsen report.

[Tenderfoot Podcast Announcer]

Hey Tenderfoot listeners, we want to hear from you. We just launched a survey and want to know about your favorite shows, your merch requests, and what you'd like to Listen to in 2026. Give us the gift of your feedback and you might be one of our winners. To get free merch and a $100Amazon gift card, head over to Tenderfoot TV Survey for more. Thanks again. Now here's the show.

[Podcast Host]

Hey High Strange listeners. It's been a while since High Strange's first season and rest assured, the team is working on more. But in the meantime, are you looking for another place to hear stories of unexplained and bizarre events? Maybe even possible UAP sightings? Because we've also got a show called RadioRental, where real life people share their most harrowing and inexplicable stories. And if you like UFO stories, you might like this story in particular. Check it out.

[Radio Rental Storyteller]

I grew up in a Small town, population was like 900. Obviously not a lot of exciting things happened growing up. By the time I was, I think 17, I had pretty much explored every square inch of that town. I really did, as cliche as it sounds, know it like the back of my hand. I was I think 16, 17. And every day trying to figure out something to do. I was with a friend of mine. We reached out to another friend and was just asking them what they were up to. They were like, yeah, come over, we're gonna watch some movies later tonight. And we were like, great. There were pretty much two ways to get to our friend's house. There was a long way through the town, but it ended up leading down a kind of precarious, sketchy path alongside of a. And there was another path that was almost like a shortcut that we had taken 101 times. So obviously we chose to do that. We started like we always would. It was just a couple minutes right up from my parents house where I grew up. The place we would always start was a very small kind of chain link fence. On the opposite side of the road was a little driveway that ran to kind of like a farmhouse that we're pretty familiar with. We'd been there a couple times. We started walking towards our friend's house and the shortcut was really kind of just through a golf course and a little bit of forest. But again we had walked it 101 times. It didn't take more than 15 minutes, 20 minutes tops. It was just a straight line from road A to road B. Started just seeing all those familiar landmarks. There's the sand trap on hole 15. A couple minutes later there's just like a utility shed and we're like great, we'll be there in no time. As we kept walking, you know, we started at 5:30 or 6. We're fully expecting to be there, you know, sun setting around 6:30. But the more we walked we noticed sun was going down, moon was coming up and we were like, okay, no big deal, maybe we walked later than we. When we thought when we were supposed to get there fully expecting to see that other road, we still hadn't. We saw kind of a thicket of trees. Right on the other side of those trees there's going to be the road that's right across the street from our friend's house. And at this point it was dark. We got to this thicket of trees and as soon as we did we started seeing these blinking red lights, multiple of them, almost like lightning bugs. And they were Flashing up in the trees above us. They were almost fluorescent, like a Christmas tree bulb, almost. They were coming almost like through the trees. Maybe we had trip a floodlight that people have outside their house. As we got closer, we started noticing that there was more of them appearing. It was accompanied by the strangest alarm, but it sounded more like a siren. This siren was so unlike anything I had ever heard before. Not like an alarm, not like an ambulance, like a shriek, high pitched and so loud. Almost like a frequency like when you have tinnitus, like a ringing in your ears, but coming from someplace outside of you. It was all around us. It was consuming. Still looking up at the trees, the lights were almost surrounding us. That just immediately said in a panic. We didn't know what it was, but we knew that it wasn't anything normal. It was completely unlike anything we had ever seen or heard before in that small town. With that, it was fight or flight or freeze and we flew. We ran out of there as fast as we could and it was hard to think about anything other than those lights and that sound. We ran and ran and ran. Still looking up above us in the tree line, still seeing those red lights flashing. We see a road ahead of us and we're like, okay, great, we're here. As we approached that road, we were standing looking at that small chain linked fence that we started walking on. We looked behind us, we looked in front of us again looking back at that chain link fence. What just happened? We were walking just a straight line. It was all start to finish, golf course, utility shed, everything that we had noticed in the past up until that line of trees. At no point did we ever make a U turn and start walking back. Even more significantly, we never crossed any other, any other path. It was all just golf course and forest. We kept trying to rationalize and the more we did, the more it didn't make sense. Who has red flashing light alarm system outside their house? At no point did either of us get lost. It was again a walk we had done hundreds of times. Crazier theories started to go through our head. Like maybe we walked through some sort of portal. But the weirdest part I think was after we calmed down, talked a little bit, we noticed that it was nine o' clock at night. We had effectively lost three hours. Really was a walk that was from point A to point B. A straight line that really should have only taken 15, 20 minutes at tops. A walk that we had done so many times before and even since then done that walk. Somehow we ended up back looking at that chain linked fence without ever turning around, without ever walking back, without ever crossing any other roads, that forest, that golf course, that straight line. And yet somehow we were back where we started. Like we had walked entirely around the circumference of the world. And the look on our faces said everything that we were both thinking

[Ryan Reynolds]

we

[Radio Rental Storyteller]

were walking back home. Because at that point we were just completely wiped out, Exhausted with fear, panic and anxiety. And the more we talked, the more things didn't make sense, the more things didn't add up. It would be one thing if I was by myself and this happened. I experienced it with somebody else, which was just confirmation that something strange had happened. Him and I both especially the following weeks, retraced our steps dozens of times, went back to that fence, started walking that same direction. We walked in the morning, we walked in the afternoon, we tried walking at night, but it was always road A to road B. It was never back to road A. It was totally normal. We even tried walking the opposite direction. We tried finding that patch of trees. And sure, there were forests and woods and trees and stuff, but we didn't see any, you know, floodlights or sirens or alarms or red lights. We never saw anything like that again. The thing that me and my friend both keep coming back to is that we were abducted. I think it explains the lights, the sounds and the loss of time. Losing time is a big factor in abduction. Maybe these things abducted us and got confused about the location where they got us and they picked us up and dropped us off at the wrong place. That's like the thing that makes the most sense to both of us. Nothing else really explains what happened that night. The more I listen to other abduction stories, the more that it makes sense, the more I have in common with these stories. I wish it weren't true. I wish it didn't make sense. But that's what I keep coming back to. That's the thing that makes the most sense in my mind. I truly believe that that night we were abducted and put back in the wrong place.

[Podcast Host]

Listen and subscribe to Radio Rental today. We're currently on our ninth season, so new episodes are dropping weekly right now. Hope you enjoy.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. It's stock up savings time now through March 31st. Bring in for store wide deals and earn four times the points look for in store tags to earn on eligible items from Oreo, Haagen, Dazs, Charmin, Tide Sparkling Ice, Reese's and Special K. Then clip the offer in the app for automatic event long savings stack up those rewards to save even more, Enjoy savings on top of savings when you shop in store or online for easy drive up and go, pickup or delivery restrictions apply. See website for terms and conditions.

[Vital Proteins / Hulu Advertiser]

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[Podcast Host]

Do you have an emergency?

[Radio Rental Storyteller]

I have a 16 year old daughter. Can't get a hold of her. I am scared to death. We wanted to talk to Skylar's friends. They're not telling the full story.

[Vital Proteins / Hulu Advertiser]

The truth is gruesomely horrific.

[Podcast Host]

How could you do this to your best friend?

[Radio Rental Storyteller]

There's a darker secret that's not been said.

[Vital Proteins / Hulu Advertiser]

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[Tenderfoot Podcast Announcer]

Hey Jennifer listeners, we want to hear from you. We just launched a survey and want to know about your favorite shows, your merch requests, and what you'd like to Listen to in 2026. Give us the gift of your feedback and you might be one of our winners. To get free merch and a $100Amazon gift card. Head over to Tenderfoot TV Survey for more. Thanks again. Now here's the show.

[Podcast Host]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.