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Monsters Among Us
S19 Ep25: True Terror from Texas: Chilling Tales from the Lone Star State (Sn. 19 Ep. 25)
01:03:26
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- [00:53]
Derek Hayes
Good evening and welcome to Monsters Among Us. I am your guide, Terracaze. How's it going, fellow spooksters? It is great to have you back with us here this evening for another deep dive into the unpredictable world of the paranormal. Now I have a doozy for you here this evening. A variety of calls, all stemming from one place in particular, albeit a huge place, but a place nonetheless. They call it the Lone Star State, and it's the second largest state in our union. And, you know, people love to say that everything is bigger down there as well. So we'll see if tonight's contributions prove that claim correct, because tonight we're headed to Texas as I present to you Tall Tales of Texas. And to kick us off tonight, we begin with a legend that is synonymous with the southern reaches of the state. Please welcome Isaiah to tonight's program.
- [02:09]
Isaiah
Hey, Derek. This is Isaiah from Dallas, Texas. I was just following with the story that it didn't actually happen to me, but happened to my dad. I heard someone on the podcast talking about a lechusa. It's kind of a Mexican thing. A lechusa is basically a witch that can transform into an owl. But of course, the owl is a lot bigger than just a regular sized owl. Now, my dad was raised in middle of the city, so there's no reason why there would be an owl. So it's the middle of the city, and he was coming home late. He used to visit my mom when they were dating in high school. He used to leave her house pretty late at night. And he was walking home at night and he walked up to his house. His house makes sort of a L shape. So as you're walking in, the entrance to the door is sort of in the corner of the L. And so right in front of him is the garage, and it's a low ledge, and there was two big, big, big. He said they looked like birds. He said they looked like an owl. But then when he looked at the face, the face of it looked like a person, he saw it. And at first he was in shock, but then he yelled for my grandma. He was like. And so my grandma comes out and it's really late at night. She comes upset, like, what's going on? You know, why are you yelling? You know, everyone's asleep. What's going on? And he said, well, my. Look, look. And he points at the birds and my grandma looks at him and, well, my great grandma was into white witchcraft. That's what they called it. But what happened was my grandma grabbed a broom and tried to hit the birds and the birds would not move. She hit the gutters a couple of times to try and shoo them away and they would not move until finally she started praying. And as soon as she started praying, that's when those birds or whatever they were took off. Ever since that day, my dad says that he will never ever forget that day because it was something that he had never experienced. You know, it was a bird, but it had the face of a person. And he said that the ledge isn't very high. The ledge is pretty low. It's probably about maybe 8ft up in the air. You know, at the most it's not very high at all. So as he's walking up, he sees it and he says that, you know, he was seven or eight feet from the bird so there was no mistaking it. Well, I just wanted to say thank you for the podcast. You do an awesome job, man. Love from Texas, man. Bye.
- [05:16]
Derek Hayes
Thank you. Isaiah La Lechuza we often hear legends like this from places like Texas, especially southern Texas, but also in parts of New Mexico, Arizona, California, and of course Mexico. A brujah or a witch with the ability to transform themselves into a bird like owl like creature, the fairy creature that our friend Isaiah here just seemed to describe. Now I find it a bit convenient that these very same owl like creatures are also associated with aliens and alien abduction, specifically the gray alien beings. It seems that some of these entities use owls as some sort of screened memory, possibly to help abductees forget all about the heinous, torturous experiments that they just gone through. But regardless of where these creatures stem from, it's always exciting when we hear about them. And we thank you for the call, Isaiah. Owls, at the very least, seem to be bigger in Texas now, folks. I'll be right back with more Lone Star Stories right after this. This message is sponsored by Greenlight. Remember summertime as a kid playing outside until the street lights came on, riding bikes, setting up a lemonade stand, and even learning to earn and manage a buck. With school out, summer is a great time to teach your kids real world money skills they'll use forever. Greenlight is a debit card and money app made for families that helps kids learn how to save, invest and spend wisely. Parents can send money to their kids and keep an eye on how they're spending and saving. Meanwhile, kids and teens build money, confidence and skills in a fun, accessible way that feels more like a game than it does a lesson. The Greenlight app also includes a chores feature where you can Set up one time or reoccurring chores, customize to your household and reward kids with an allowance for a job well done. My 9 year old nephew was just visiting us from Ohio and he was talking about Greenlight and how it's helping him learn to save up for a new computer. I wish something like this was around when I was a kid. I probably could have managed my hay baling money a lot better. Greenlight is the easy, convenient way for parents to raise financially smart kids and families to navigate life together. Maybe that's why millions of parents trust and kids love learning about money on Greenlight, the number one family finance and safety app. Don't wait to teach your kids real world money skills. Start your risk free Greenlight trial today@greenlight.com MAU that's greenlight.com MAU to get started again greenlight.com forward/mau22 in the collection of now one thing that Texas has a ton of is trucks and by default, truck drivers. So what do you say we take a call from someone in that profession? Jordan, welcome to the program.
- [09:15]
Jordan
Hi Derek, my name is Jordan.
- [09:17]
Isaiah
I'm from Fort Worth.
- [09:19]
Jordan
I'm not sure if you can really use this story, but I found it kind of creepy. I just found your podcast earlier this week actually, and I've been listening to it. I'm a truck driver, so I drive all around Dallas as a local, and one of the most popular warehouses I go to is the Miller Warehouse in Fort Worth, and I go there three times out of five days a week. So the security guard there, I'm really familiar with him and he's familiar with me. So the first day that I was listening to your podcast, it was a story of doppelgangers. It was about a guy who lived somewhere. I'm not sure, but somebody had stopped him and told him that they saw him in New York two days prior. So nothing really creepy. I mean, I've always believed that somebody has a twin somewhere. There's no way that you're just you. I mean, somebody else looks like you in the world. So anyways, I just got done listening to that podcast as I was pulling into Miller, and as soon as I walk up to the security shack, the first thing he says to me without even saying hi, you know, nothing like that. The first thing he says to me is, hey, did you know you have a doppelganger working here? And that just kind of threw me for a loop because I was just listening to a podcast about doppelgangers and the first Thing that the security guard says to me is, I have a doppelganger working at that warehouse. And I was like, wow, that really shook me. And that wasn't the only time there was a yard dog, a guy that moves around trailers in the yard for the company. I pulled into my door after having that conversation with the security guard and a yard dog that I'm also familiar with had come up to me and said the exact same thing. And it was very creepy to me knowing that, you know, I'm listening to this podcast and two people within the span of, I'd say about 30 minutes say the exact same thing to me of the exact same thing that I was listening to. So I love your podcast and I wonder if anybody else has that kind of experience of listening to it and, you know, having that type of coincidental experience that's a little too coincidental to be a coincidence. But okay, well, thank you for your time and keep doing what you're doing. Bye.
- [11:47]
Derek Hayes
Thanks, Jordan. Seems like the coincidences are bigger in Texas as well, but believe it or not, I've experienced something similar to this. Although I admit mine was purely coincidental. But a few years back when I was visiting my home range back in Ohio, I was driving from Sarah's mom's down to where both my parents live in my hometown, which is only about a two hour drive. So to pass the time, I popped in one of our friends podcasts, Shannon Legros into the Fray. I just selected a random episode I hadn't heard before. There was nothing in the subject matter that would allude to what I was about to hear. But just as I was driving past Salt Fork State park, there on I77, a known Bigfoot hotspot, Shannon and her guest began talking about Bigfoot experiences there. And the specific location that they were discussing was just a few hundred feet from where I was currently driving. So I get feels weird. It feels like you're being singled out and it feels like you're somehow connected to all of this. And maybe you are, Jordan, or maybe your doppelganger is. Either way, thank you again for taking the time to share the phone call. Now folks, if you have a spooky story you would like to share here on the show, a true story, give our hotline a call at 888-608-night. That's 888608 NIG HT. Or record your story on the voice memo app on your phone and email it to me at Monsters among us podcast@gmail.com. no matter how you reach out. We're dying to hear from you. And we're also dying to hear from this next scholar as well. Ismail, welcome to the show.
- [14:01]
Isaiah
Hey, Derek. My name is Ismail from Houston, Texas. I was driving down to 99, going towards the Woodlands area. If you're from Houston, you know exactly what I'm talking about. There's an airport right there, right? So I see airplanes all the time. Helicopters. I mean, I know exactly what they look like in the night sky. It was pretty dark out, and I noticed the car in front of me was pretty distracted, and he was kind of, like, swerving a little bit, and he had his phone out. And I was like, oh, gosh. Like, what is this dude doing? Thought he was just being a doofus. But I looked to my left, and there was five orbs, just orange, floating in the sky. And I just listened to season five, episode two of the podcast, and this guy Jeff from Maine was talking about seeing 12 orbs that flew up into a thunderstorm. And I had remembered that that day, it was earlier in the morning, so I don't know if there's any correlation at all, but I had seen the weirdest thundercloud ever. I mean, it was, like, yellow, and it was just humongous, just sitting by itself, like it wasn't even gonna rain that day or nothing. It was the weirdest weather phenomenon I think I've ever seen. It looks pretty cool, but I had no idea what it was. And I know I'm not the only one who saw it clearly because everybody in the left lane kind of slowed down to look at it and record it. But, yeah, I mean, that's all I wanted to say. Love what you're doing with the podcast. I listen to it every day. Have a good day, man. Take it easy.
- [15:31]
Derek Hayes
Thank you, Ismo. Now, it doesn't surprise me a bit that a resident of the Houston area would see something strange up in the sky, because here are the top ten cities in the state of Texas as far as UFO sightings are concerned, courtesy of stacker.com Number ten is Plano, Texas. Number nine, Katy. Eight is Arlington. Seven is Corpus Christi. Six is Fort Worth. Five would be El Paso. Then Dallas comes in at fourth. Third is San Antonio, and Austin at second. And finally, the place in Texas you're most likely to see a UFO in is the city of Houston. So it sounds like you're in good company, Ismail. And thank you again for sharing the experience here with us. Now, next up, we hear about a monster of sorts. Please welcome Jonathan to The program.
- [16:48]
Isaiah
Hey, Derek. Jonathan from Texas. So this is a black cat story that happens, I'd say maybe 10 to 15 years ago. This actually came up at my Thanksgiving dinner table and I was talking about your podcast. A lot of my family, they may not believe in the paranormal. So I had mentioned the fact that there were a lot of black cat stories and that that was very interesting to me as well. We're from East Texas. I actually showed them the video of the albino mountain lion taken in East Texas. So they all thought that was super interesting and then proceeded to tell me the story about how when we were at a family ranch down in Raymondville, which is in deep South Texas, if you're not familiar, it's kind of a mix between thick brush and trees, like mesquite trees and grassland, very flat. The ranch that we had down there was like 500 acres. Nobody out there. It was in the middle of nowhere. And we had one of those safari jeeps basically with like multiple platforms on it. So there's people sitting on the top platform. My uncle was driving. Three of the people at my Thanksgiving table were actually in the Jeep and witnessed this sighting. But they were driving down this dirt road on that 500 acre ranch when all of a sudden a giant black cat just walked across the road in front of them. And they all stopped. The cat seemed to pay them no mind. They all stopped and looked at each other and said, did we actually see that? None of them actually believe that they saw that black cat. They said it was definitely not a house cat. No house cats in the middle of a 500 acre ranch. They said the tail was super long. They said the cat was huge. My mom actually says that she took some pictures of his paw print. I guess they all thought that I was in the jeep with them and that I remembered seeing it. But I think I was off with my cousins riding four wheelers at the time. It was just the older members of my family that were kind of running around on this Jeep. They told one of the ranch hands, I guess, that lived at the ranch full time, that they had seen this black cat and he was ecstatic over the moon that somebody else had also run into this cat because he had seen it two or three times already and nobody believed him. But anyway, I wish I had been there for it. I was probably 14, 15 at the time. I was running around on four wheelers with my cousin. I wasn't on the jeep with the family, so that was kind of a bummer, but thought it was cool that 8 to 10 people all witnessed this together and they still were all doubting the fact that they saw it. Thanks for taking my call. Thanks for sharing all these stories and hope to hear it on the podcast soon. Thanks.
- [20:05]
Derek Hayes
Thank you, Jonathan. Now, I couldn't find the photos that Jonathan referenced, so if you're listening Jonathan, please send those in and I'll be sure to share. Now, it's worth noting that Texas is one of those unique areas in North America that could naturally have an abc. Though it's incredibly rare, sometimes jaguar make their way into the Lone Star State. Now for those unfamiliar, a Jaguar is a 6 foot long, 200 pound big cat that can often be found in the all black variety, but it normally has spots on its coat similar to a leopard. Now, these creatures roam most of south and Central America, but from time to time they venture into parts of Northern Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico, and the rumor is select parts of Texas. So maybe that's what Jonathan saw and perhaps those photos of the footprints will give us a better idea of what Cadit was until then. However, thank you again for the entry and we appreciate you calling in. Now before we go to our next break, a quick breakdown of some of the most infamous cryptids in the state of Texas. According to a site called Hangar One Publishing, Number seven is the Houston Batman. Number six is the Texas Blue Dog. Number five is the Donkey Lady. Number four would be the Ozark Howler. Number three, the Wampus Cat. Number two, the Lake Worth Monster. And number one is the goat sucker himself, Chupacabra. I don't know. I think the Goatman of Alton Bridge just might have a say in all of this. I'll be right back.
- [22:16]
Isaiah
Well, the Bible says they're going to come.
- [22:18]
Derek Hayes
They're inevitable. Now, not all monsters are covered in hooves, horns and hair. Some of them look just like you and me and sometimes we have brushes with these monsters. Just ask Moose. From where else but the state of Texas?
- [22:46]
Isaiah
Hi, you can just call me Moose. Located in Texas and this took place years and years ago. I'm one of four boys, me being the oldest. At the time it was just me and the brother below me. We're about two years in age difference. So I remember clear as day we used to live kind of like on a cul de sac. It wasn't exactly a cul de sac, but it was like the street took a 90 and so in that little corner it kind of rounded out. And this day me and my brother decided to go two houses down, so not very far to our Buddy's house to just hang out. It was just like any other summer day. My brother was about 5 or 6, so I was about 7 or 8 at the time. And it was a little chilly. But being in Texas, you know, that's not saying a lot, especially during the summer. Although my great aunt, we just called her Tia at the time, she was very protective and always made sure we had a jacket with us. You know, worst case scenario, we leave the house and we take, I don't know, 10 steps out the front door. I'm holding my little brother's hand and I don't know why, but I happen to be looking around, you know, and I see a older white pickup parked up a little ways down the street, across the street. And I remember this because it was a white pickup and it had like red painted flames on it. And I remember it grabbing my attention. I thought it was super cool looking. Well, a gentleman got out. Not in any hurry, but he got out. Kind of a heavier set, bigger guy, started walking directly towards us. Me being young, I didn't really think much of it, but I noticed he was heading directly for us. He wasn't going to a front door, he wasn't going to check his mail, nothing. He was heading directly towards us. I thought it was kind of strange, but you know, we were going two houses down. It can't be that bad. Well, he got probably 40 yards from us and then I heard my Tia call my name. And I turn around and look at her and she's telling me, you forgot your jacket, you forgot your jacket. So I turned around with my brother, walked back up to her, grabbed my jacket, and then started making my way back to my friend's house again. It wasn't much of a walk, but I was like, well, I wonder what that guy's doing. And I turn and look, and right when I see him in my sight, I notice he's getting back in the truck. So he turned around and got back in the truck and immediately started his engine and drove away again. Being young, I didn't really think anything of it, so he walked over. I ended up playing with my friends, played video games and whatever we did at that time a week later, I remember my mom and dad both read the newspaper at the time. My dad loved doing the crossword puzzles. We're like, oh, will you look at this? We lived in a pretty nice neighborhood at the time. It's kind of gone downhill, but it's like on the north side of Dallas. It's well known for the gaylord hotel, if that says anything. But you're like, wow, will you look at this? And in the newspaper was an article of a gentleman who abducted two kids who they found in his house. And it showed a picture of his face and his truck, which was a. A white truck with red flames. I remember telling my mom, and she was like, oh, no, you're imagining things. So I just kind of forgot about it over the years. And I brought it up to my mom. She doesn't really think anything of it. I brought up to my dad. My dad's like, oh, yeah, that didn't happen to you. But I know it happened. The fact that I remember exactly what the truck looks like, and I've looked up the article years ago. I remember finding the article. I mean, I've been told by many people that it's just, you know, your young brain coming up with stories in your head, and maybe that's the case. But anyway, I just wanted to call in and share my story. I appreciate the podcast. I just recently found it, so thank you, Derek. You have a good one. Bye.
- [27:25]
Derek Hayes
Thank you, Moose. Wow, that sounds like a near miss to me. Now, we typically don't play stories of a true crime nature here on the program, but one sneaks in from time to time. And I think it's easy to say why, because there's usually a fine line between the paranormal and true crime, and both can certainly make your skin crawl. But one could argue that this one did have a bit of a paranormal angle because something seemed to have intervened, putting a dead stop to a terrifying situation. Now, I shudder to think what might have happened if Moose and his brother weren't called back to the house. Thank you again, Moose, for taking the time to share the entry. Well, folks, there are just some places that seem spookier than others, and apparently Boyd, Texas, is one such place. Here with a rundown of all the activity is the following anonymous caller.
- [28:41]
Isaiah
Hi, Derek. I'm probably just gonna keep my name anonymous for now in case I know anybody nearby who might be listening. But I was listening to season 12 episode 12. It was the bonus call about the guy who found the weird colt kind of situation out in the woods. I think he was from Alabama. I'm not 100% sure. I knew it was out in the country because of his twang. I am from North Texas. I'm just outside of the DFW area, and I've grown up here. My entire life, I've lived out here, and I met a guy when I was 19 years old. So this was 13 years ago. And we went on a couple dates. And on the second date, he took me up to a place while I was letting him drive my car, which was really stupid, to a place called Deep Creek, which is in a town called Boyd. And a little bit of background on Boyd. It's a really small town. I think it's probably less than 5,000 people or something. Like, when they got a Sonic there, it was a big deal. And the thing about it was that town back in the day, these are things that I've been told through local lore I haven't actually researched on the Internet. But back in the day, there was a really large KKK presence in that town, and they had a really big rally. And that presence, I don't know if it still lingers. I don't know if there's any, like, clan meetings or anything like that. I have no idea. When he told me that on our date, it left me very uneasy. It was just really weird to me because, I mean, I know that that's out here, but it's still like, it's super sketch. So he took me out to this road and told me a story on the way there about this road. And it was. He had gone out there while he was still in high school. Him and a friend, they took a couple dates out there, and they said, okay, local legend is if you get to this bridge, your car is going to shut down or something. So I don't remember how far down the road it is. I think it's a few miles. And when you make it over this bridge, your car is going to shut down. Like, that's just what always happens if you make it that far. And so he said that they drove out there and made it to the bridge, and he drove an old pickup. And if I go into too much detail about how that pickup looked, people will definitely figure out who he is. If anybody in this area is listening to this podcast, they went out there and they said they got to the bridge and the car shut down. And he swears up and down that this is what happened. And I got stuck there for a few minutes. They're freaking out. And he described a feeling of being watched while he was out there on the bridge trying to get his truck started again. And granted, I'm aware it's an old truck. There is plenty of reason that it could have just shut down or quit working because it's old and wiring and things like that. But he swears up and down, he thinks it was the bridge. He says it didn't happen a lot with that pickup. So what happened was when we were going out there, I let him drive, and we were going down this road, and it's right off of 114, which goes through Voight. It's a dirt road. So we pull down this road, and he switched before we ever even made it to Boyd, he told me that animal sacrifices still happen out there. Like, people do them and they leave evidence in the road and blah, blah, blah. He's like, I bet we'll see a dead animal on the road. I'm like, this is the country. We're gonna see dead animals in the road. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. He's like, I bet you we see one anyway. Like, he was very adamant that we would. And so we were driving down a little bit, and we see something up in the road, and he pulled up to it, and it looked to me like a lamb or a goat, and it was wrapped up in like a tarp or something. It was really weird and it freaked me out. And I was like, get me out of here now. I mean, just to add to the story, the rumors are that the KKK still has a presence there, or there's like some kind of witchcraft going on. They can't figure out what it is because there's animal sacrifices and possible human sacrifices and blah, blah, blah. It's a lot of local lore, but that is pretty much all I have on that. I will say that the goat or lamb in the road, I mean, it had hooves, it was white, it was really fluffy, so it could have been more of a lamb, but that's just something that we saw, and it freaked me out and I wanted to get out of there, so I had him leave with me. And I don't think I've ever been back there since. I feel like I would remember if I had. That just terrified me. And I never really had the desire to go back. I guess I could now just to kind of face my fear. Who knows? It's growing so fast out here in this area. It's probably all developed land or something now. There's probably a bunch of new houses popped up and some little cookie cutter neighborhood now. But that's just the way you entertain yourself in small town Texas. You know, you hang out at Sonic and you go down Deep Creek and check that out and scare each other half to death. But I spread that, you know, lore to my friends that were still in high school at the time. I let them know, hey, man, I went out there. You should go check it out. There's so many teenagers after that that went out there after I went out there and they come back be like, oh my gosh, you're doing so scary. But I really love your podcast. Thanks for what you do.
- [34:01]
Derek Hayes
Thank you caller. Like I said, some places just seem spookier than others and perhaps void is one of them. Now we rankled up the top five most haunted places in Texas and surprisingly, Boyd was not listed. But the following list is from the Austin American Statesman, a major daily newspaper that survived since 1871. The Driscoll Hotel down in Austin, a hotel said to be haunted by the original owner and cattle baron Jesse Driscoll, along with a jilted bride and the ghost of a young girl. Then we have the Texas State Capitol, also in Austin, where there's said to be a mysterious lady in red who haunts the third floor of the Capitol dome. The USS Lexington, now retired in Corpus Christi, this famous World War II aircraft carrier nicknamed Blue Ghost. Visitors frequently hear and see strange things. Then we have the Presidio Lava in Goliad, constructed by the Spanish army in 1747. Legend has it a woman in white wanders the fort's courtyard, searching the graves for a name that can't be found. Then at number five we have the Jefferson Hotel, said to be located in one of the most haunted small towns in Texas. Guests of the hotel have experienced whispers from nowhere, knocks on the wall and headboard, and the smell of cigar smoke in the air. So what do you think of that list listener? Anything included that shouldn't have been? Was there anything left off? And doesn't anyone remember the Alamo? Thanks again caller for filling us in on Deep Creek Cemetery and the overall vibe down there. And by the way, I linked to a short video showing parts of that cemetery if you're interested. And there are also a dozen or so other links pertaining to tonight's program. If you'd like to further your experience, just visit monsters among us podcast.com and click the Show Notes tab or just check out the description for this particular episode. I don't know. But now not all haunted places are ancient hotels and run down battleships. Sometimes your everyday ordinary places can hold a presence as well. If you don't believe me, just ask James. Now there's a brief mention of suicide and the following call.
- [37:15]
Isaiah
Hey Derek, this is James from Houston. About seven or eight years ago I worked in the mall right around my side of town and I worked in the Spencer's Gift. If you Know, Spencer's. It's like T shirts, music, you know, edgy body jewelry, stuff like that. And our store was actually haunted. I think it was the whole mall, honestly. But our store had a lot of activity from talking to other stores. We figured out that a few years prior, there had been a girl that worked at a store in there that's no longer around one of the pet stores. And she had had a boyfriend. And one day her and boyfriend got in a big fight and they like broke up or something like that. And he had came to the store and killed himself in the store in the middle of the mall. And everyone in the mall thought that that was who was haunting the stores. And specifically in our store, some weird things would happen. We had one of our female managers. She said that when she was closing one night, there's no one in the store except for her and the other closing employee. And they were up in the front folding shirts, and she was in the back counting the registers. And she said she had felt someone, like, not tap on her shoulders, more like a push, but not like a violent push, you know, just like a nudge on the shoulder, I guess. And she looked up and she looked around, trying to see if she could see anyone. She couldn't see anyone, and it freaked her out. We actually watched the cameras, and on the cameras, you can see her, like, shoulder move a little bit, and you see her head go up and look side to side trying to see if there's anybody around her. And there wasn't. Another thing that happened is we'd close at night, and when you close, you'd have to straighten up the whole store. You know, pick everything up off the ground, make sure all the shirts are folded right. You know, do all that. And in the morning when we would come, there would always be merchandise on the floor. You know, sometimes things can happen. Maybe the AC kicks on and it hits just right and it knocks like a T shirt off of a hanger. Stuff like that happens. But it would be so consistent. And it would be something different every night. If it was like just the same T shirt every day you'd be like, oh, it's the whatever. But one day it'd be a hat, the next day it'd be a wallet. The next day it'd be a T shirt. You know, just a bunch of random stuff. And what was weird is, again, we watched the cameras because we thought someone was coming in and, like, going through the store and on the cameras, you would never see the thing fall on the floor. It would Just be there. We would watch it and we had to be there at like 7. And they leave it like 10. So you start the camera at 10, you'd watch till 7, and there would be a point in the middle of the night where it would seem like the thing would just appear on the floor. The camera wouldn't catch it moving from the shelf to the floor is what I'm trying to say, which was super weird. It was just like it kind of just appeared on the floor and, you know, a bunch of other small stuff like that. A few of the co workers said that they heard whispers and stuff, but the most compelling piece happened to the head manager of the store. You know how the mall stores, they have like a little gate that they close, you know, they pull down whenever it's closing time so no one can get into the store. Well, our store, the top half was like a chain link fence and the bottom half was solid. So if you were sitting on the ground or like squatting or something, you wouldn't be able to see through the fence. But then as you stood up, you could see through it. So my boss gets there in the morning and when you look through the fence, you can see all the way to the back of the store. And obviously there was nothing. We were closed. So she bends down and as she bends down, she gets to the part where she can't see through. So her vision is obstructed by the gate. And she unlocks the gate and she stands back up to pull it up. And she says that she stands up and looks down the thing. She sees a guy standing back there. He was like turned away, like looking at the shirts or whatever was in the back of the store at the time. And she described him as wearing maybe like a football jersey, like a green football jersey. Something really noticeable. Something really like eye catching. If you think you see somebody out of the corner of your eye, you don't think they're wearing a bright green sports jersey. You know what I mean? So something really, really noticeable. And so she was like, who the hell is this? She flips up the gate and again as she pulls it up, that solid piece goes past her face. So it blocks her vision. And as it goes up all the way, the guy's gone. And so she goes in and she looks all around the store. And the store is not that big. There's not any place for you to be able to hide. And you can walk the whole store in 45 seconds. So it's not like this guy was hiding from her. Like, there was nowhere to go. So she walked in and she walked around the whole store, and there was no one there. And again, she watched the cameras and there's no one. And you can see her, you know, come in the store and walk around looking for this person, but there's just no one there. The camera doesn't catch anything. And the last weird thing that happened in that store, I was closing one night. I was one of the closing managers at the time, and it was me and another employee. There's always two people close. There's a manager, another employee. So I'm doing everything I'm supposed to do when I close, the other employees doing whatever. And at the end of the night when we leave, I have to shut the gate, lock it, and then we have to. If you have like a backpack, you got to open the backpack. So they're the person that see in. And you've got to pull out your pockets to show that you're not feeling anything. And so I pull out, you know, my wallet and the person I'm with, like, opens up their bag and shows me inside. And I pull out my front pockets, like, where my phone and my keys are, and I pull out my keys and I notice my car key is bent at a 90 degree angle and not like at the base. Like, you know how some car keys have like the fob at the end and in the actual key part comes out of it. It wasn't bent, like, at the plastic part. That would make sense. The actual metal part of the key was bent in a 90 degree angle. And I don't know if you've tried to bend a key before, just like, with brute strength. That's hard. I feel like if I hit something hard enough to bend my key 90 degrees while it was in my pocket, I would have noticed. I can't explain how the key would have got bent like that. It doesn't make any sense to me. I can't physically think of something I could have done at work unconsciously that would have done that to my key. It was 90 degrees, like the letter L. Like, it was just ruined. And I tried to bend it back. I couldn't even bend it back because they're so thick. Keys aren't made to break because they're keys. So I don't know. I don't have any explanation for any of that. I love the podcast, like everyone says. All right, you have a good rest of your day.
- [44:34]
Derek Hayes
Thank you, James. Step aside, Uri Geller. There's a new metal bender in town now, check out the show notes if you don't get that reference. But if this call tells us anything, it's that we better pay attention to where we buy our novelty items. You just might get a ghost with your Glow in the Dark mushroom poster, if you know what I'm saying. So thank you again, James, for sharing that entry. And it certainly makes me wonder how many of the stores that we frequent day in and day out have their own strange activity going on after closing. Thanks again for the phone call. Now this next entry has us again looking up at the stars. Please welcome Jeremiah to the program.
- [45:34]
Isaiah
Hey, Derek. My name is Jeremiah. I'm from Houston, Texas. Today is September 20th. It's me and my wife this morning. She usually drives me to work. Drop me off. We went on the way we saw this. I saw this white light close to, like, the center of downtown. And I know, like, sometimes, you know, you talk about if it's an airplane in the distance, you know, it looks like it's hovering. And it did, but it didn't have the usual, like, green or red or blue and red signals that are usually on the plane. It was more of just this white light just hovering. And I was thinking, too, it could be a helicopter. But I looked at it for a while, and it wasn't like it was moving around. It was over one studio area. But then again, you know how helicopters will sit in one area, especially if they're reporting traffic or an accident. But, you know, I just thought I'd call this in. Really loved the show.
- [46:37]
Derek Hayes
Thank you, Jeremiah. You know, it sounds like you're seeing the same thing that my dad has been seeing back at his place in Ohio. He sent me a video of it just the other day, and I doubt he'd mind if I shared it. So check out the show notes and tell me if you think you know what that is. Now, Venus can look incredibly close sometimes, and I thought maybe that's what he was seeing, but my dad swears he saw it zoom off while the camera wasn't rolling. Go to monsters among us podcast.com and click the Show Notes tab to take a look. And maybe you should take a peek as well, Jeremiah, and let us know if that's the same thing that you saw. Thank you again for calling in.
- [47:37]
Isaiah
Produce more than 17 touchdowns in a season.
- [47:43]
Derek Hayes
Well, one thing that I know about Texas is that religion is really big down there. So it's only fitting that we work in a somewhat religious story into tonight's broadcast. So, Rob, the mic is yours.
- [48:03]
Ismail
Hello, Derek, my Name is Rob and I'm calling from Texas. I'd like to share an experience with you and possibly with your audience if you so desire. I feel that it's necessary to share some backstory on this to explain how I ended up in this situation. So in 2000 I relocated to the Dallas Fort Worth area and started a new job. One of my co workers invited me to his church and I attended. And right away the church struck me as a little intense. The services were really long, but I did enjoy was what you categorize as a charismatic, non denominational church. And to give you an idea of the size, the main sanctuary could accommodate about 1,000 people and that was generally packed on Sunday morning for their main service. So after some time of regular attendance, I decided to become a member of this church. Now usually church membership classes are around three to six weeks. This church's membership classes were eight months long. So after I started the classes, I found out that there was a weekend seminar that was strongly recommended for potential members. This was a Friday evening, all day, Saturday and Sunday morning seminar and it was a deliverance seminar. Deliverance is a modern day term for the exorcism of demons. And explain this. One of the church elders had an international deliverance ministry and had authored a book on the subject. And I will call him Dr. H for the purposes of this retelling and for those unfamiliar, an elder is pretty much just like a board member if it was a corporation. So your senior pastor is like the CEO. The board of elders will be the board of directors. So Dr. H was pretty influential in this church, but not in direct leadership. So as time went on, I participated in this deliverance seminar not once but twice. Each time there were lay ministers involved in the actual deliverance process. I saw a few people do what they called manifest. And that is to say they exhibited some strange behavior during the deliverance process. Some of the behavior could have been attributed to psychological problems, but I did see one lady in particular contort her face in such a manner that seemed not humanly possible. She kind of looked like the clown in the kid's bedroom in the first poltergeist movie. Her eyebrows raised up pretty high and her neck seemed too long to be naturally that long. That was the only thing I saw that couldn't be be explained away with some psychological issues. Some time went by and I ended up getting promoted into a teaching position and actually was involved in teaching one of the classes in the eight month long membership class. One day at a teacher's meeting, they announced that Dr. H was having a week long deliverance school. I didn't have any money and the school was pretty expensive. I casually mentioned that I would like to go, but I couldn't afford it immediately. One of the other teachers asked me if I would go if he paid my way. I said yes, not knowing exactly what to expect. And my job at the time was able to give me a week off with pay. I had a pretty good position with benefits, but I didn't have any extra money. So that's how I ended up going to this week long school for deliverance ministry. And at the end of the week long school, then I would be eligible to be a lay minister in this weekend seminar for other people. So like the first morning of the first day of school, we were told to get into groups of three. We were going to take turns taking each other through this deliverance process. So one person would be the minister, one person will be supporting the minister, and the third person would be, for lack of a better term, the patient. Although I wanted to let you know, we never use the term patient and nobody ever used that term. I'm just using it now for clarity. So I started working with these two guys at my table. I didn't know these guys. When we started casting out demons off of each other, which, you know, there weren't any, this was just an exercise. Within just a few minutes, I suddenly heard two or three women gasp loudly from across the room. Some chairs being shoved around. I turn around and see this guy on the floor. He's on his belly with his arms straight down to his sides and his legs straight back. His head is up at a right angle. Has this blank expression on his face and thinking actually maybe he looked a little bit terrified. And the guy was slithering across the floor like a snake. He's going very fast and I've never seen anybody move their body like this. I've been around athletics for my whole life. I was in martial arts for a while and I've seen people do some incredible things. I've never seen anything like this. I don't even know how it was possible. It was almost like watching one of those old fashioned movies where they play it a little bit faster than it actually happened. And he moved across the floor fast, okay? Like he was trying to get away from us or the people who are praying over him or whatever. In the corner of the room were a bunch of large folding tables leaned against the wall. And there was a space on the floor between the table and the wall that Floor formed a little dark place. This man slithered into one of those dark places and kept moving until he was out of sight. He just hid in there. So I'm freaking out. Everybody's freaking out. And I'm thinking they were going to clear out the gym and get the most experienced deliverance ministers to rally around Dr. H and confront this man. And we were going to see some real demonic activity. I had no idea what to expect. But instead Dr. H just stood up and told everybody, get back to work. So we did. All morning. He hid in there as we continued the lessons. Lunchtime comes and we all go into another part of the building to eat. Yeah, I'm sitting at a table. There are three other guys, and we're just making small talk. What church do you go to? Where are you from? You know, we're eating our food and after we're done eating, it's been a little bit. This guy walks in, the snake guy. He just looks like he's been in a deep sleep and he's looking around like he doesn't know where. Where he is. He comes over and gets a plate of food and he walks over to where we were and just sits down with us. And I'm like, okay. And one of the other guys is like, hey, where are you from? He says what part of the metroplex he's from. He tells us what church he goes to. And then we get up and go back into the room. He sits down in his chair. We're all kind of watching him. He's like, okay, we're going to get in groups of three again. I'm thinking, oh, no. We get in our groups of three. As soon as we started praying, this dude does the same thing. He's down on the floor, slithering like a snake. And it is the strangest thing I've ever seen. He's just moving so rapidly and right back into the same spot of darkness where he stayed until we all left for the day, which is about 5 o' clock in the evening. That's it. That's what happened. That's what I experienced. That's what I saw. The rest of the training was all classroom related and he was able to just blend in, apparently. I don't recall seeing too much of him after that. He was at the graduation ceremony and I don't remember much after that. He never showed up at one of the seminars to minister to people or anything. So anyway, that's what happened to me. All right, peace.
- [55:23]
Derek Hayes
Thanks, Rob. So what do you make of all that Folks, if I'm honest, it kind of makes me a little uncomfortable. Whatever it was, exorcism, behavioral issue, hypnosis, a joke of some sort or demons, whatever the cause, we can't thank you enough, Rob, for sharing with us. And folks, just like that, we've reached tonight's final entry from, of course, the State of Texas. Please welcome tonight's second anonymous caller.
- [56:03]
Jonathan
Hi, Derek, I'm calling from Texas. I'm withholding my name because of the circumstances surrounding this story. I am a deputy in Texas and I was listening to one of your podcasts, season 12, episode three, on one of my night shifts, which is one of my regular things. And I was listening to Scott share his story about premonitions. And it made me think about this very vivid premonition I had a little bit more than a year ago while I was working on duty. And I was daytime driving through one of the towns in my district and I happened to look at my computer screen and I saw my supervisor as well, assigned to a call that was very strange. I won't share any of the details about it other than it involved one male subject that was in this rural area. And the call was not dispatched over the radio, which was strange considering the circumstances. But I went over the radio and asked him, do you want me to go with you? Because it seemed like a high priority call. And he told me it was my discretion if I wanted to or not. So I was already assigned to a call on the other side of the county. I decided, you know what? I'll just go take care of my call. And before I even put the radio down, I had this very clear vision in my head of him fighting with a man in a field. And the physical descriptors I had of this man in my head were just so on point, it was crazy. So I picked my radio back up and I told him that I was going to be coming his way to help him, and I floored it and I went over to where he was, happened to arrive right when he arrived. And when we review the video, it's funny because when we're walking into this field where this person has gone back into this pasture quite some way, we're walking to him and I'm telling him about my premonition that I just had, thinking it was nothing at the time. I was telling him that I saw him fighting this man in a field. And we get up to the man and sure enough, it looks exactly like the man that I saw in my premonition. And we fought him for 20 plus minutes until other deputies arrived. And it was just really crazy. Blew my mind that I saw that happen before I went. And I can only think that it was something telling me, turn around, go help him. This is what he's about to get into. So just a few days ago, I'm on night shift working with him. There's about 10 of us on duty, so the chance of me experiencing this with another person statistically is pretty low. But he was assigned to check out this woman that was walking down the highway in the middle of the road. And it was way out of my district, but I heard him assigned to it, and I immediately saw him wrestling with this woman on the side of the highway. And I thought, I will have some involvement in this. And I really don't know why. I assigned myself to a totally different call. And I headed towards that call to look for a suspicious vehicle and cleared my call, turned around, he had cleared his call, couldn't find the woman, turned around on the highway, started heading back. I was on a phone conversation with another deputy, and all of a sudden I almost hit this woman in the middle of the highway. And it was dark out, and I pulled my car over and I tried to speak with her. And she was argumentative at first. And he showed up, and of all the people, he showed up and we started wrestling with her right there on the side of the highway. It's just strange. I've never experienced this any other time. I'm not sure what it's all about, but it's helped both of us out, apparently. But I really enjoy listening to your podcasts while I'm working. I recommend it to a lot of people. Thanks.
- [60:28]
Derek Hayes
Thank you, caller. And thank you for recommending the program not only to help us grow, but to bring in new calls as well. So we truly appreciate it. Now, as for these premonitions, it seems like there's no doubt that they're happening. If things went down as are caller said they did, that is. But the big question that I have here is this. Are these visions all encompassing or do they only pertain to the caller's colleague? Because the pattern would suggest that the connection only lies between those two. But regardless of any explanation, it's at the very least a wild coincidence. And we really appreciate you taking the time to share it with us here tonight, caller. And for God's sake, if you have the vision again, you better listen to it. And that's gonna do it for tonight, everyone. A huge thanks to all of tonight's Texas callers. And a big thanks to you, dear listener, for taking the time to tune in now. Monsters Among Us Podcast is written and produced by me, Derek Hayes, copyright Red Crow Media. Additional support is provided by Sarah Carter Hayes, Delaney Bowers and Connor Ryan. All media used in this production is done so under the protection of fair use. Give us a Like and follow on our social media pages, join our Discord server, give us a random review wherever that sort of thing is possible. And of course, give us a Like and follow on YouTube as well. Don't forget, you can catch the show every Saturday evening at 10pm Eastern on the Onaxed Digital Network. Just visit on xnetwork.com to tune in. And finally, tonight's score was provided by Iron Cthulhu, Apocalypse Co AG He Music and Carl Casey at whitepad Audio. Now don't forget to watch our film Shadows in the desert. Visit borregotriangle.com or check check out Tubi or Amazon prime to tune in. And the international screening announcement is coming up probably next week, so stay tuned. And lastly, don't forget to visit us in the beyond, the after show that we explore each and every Thursday. Just visit monsters among us podcast.com and click the Patreon tab to learn how you can sign up and I'll see you all back here on Thursday with a brand new installment. But until then, you'll keep it spooky and have a great night.