← Monsters Among Us
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- [00:53]
Derek Hayes
Good evening, and welcome to Monsters Among Us. I am your guide, Derek Hayes. Hello, folks, and welcome back to another gripping installment. Now, some folks like to get away, take a holiday from the neighborhood, hop a flight to Miami beach or Hollywood. But tonight, we're taking a gray out on the Hudson river line, because tonight, we're in a New York state of mind. That's right. Each and every one of tonight's calls takes place in the Empire State, a place full of history, people, and wilderness. The perfect combination to invoke paranormal activity, if you ask me. So let's not waste one more moment. Here with the first story of the evening is our Big Apple informant, Frank. Welcome back to the program.
- [02:02]
Frank
Hey, Derek. This is Frank from the Bronx. I'm calling for a story that happened to a friend of mine in amityville around maybe 10 years ago. I told him to call the podcast, and he said that he's not really comfortable telling it, so he told me to call and then tell the story. So him and a few of my buddies drove out to Amityville to check out the Amityville Horror House, which, by the way, is not haunted if anybody goes out to see it. I know that the owners of the home were not happy with people taking pictures of the house, but anyway, they went over there to check it out. They got lost in the neighborhood, which is actually pretty creepy at night, and they pulled over to ask this guy who was walking a dog for directions. He helped them out again. This is before, you know, there was GPS in the cars, so not even three seconds after they pulled off, they turned on and he was gone. And they were kind of, like, perplexed by it. You know, where the hell does this guy go? You know, he couldn't have gone, like, hide behind the tree or went back into his house. They were just like, you know, that's kind of weird. Two days later, my friend went to class, and there was this girl sitting next to him that was, you know, talking to her friend, and she did the same thing. They went out to Amityville to check out the house, and she was telling friends that they saw this guy walking the dog, and they asked him for directions. They said not even, like, less than five seconds after they drove off, they turned around and he was gone. My son was like, get the hell out of here. You know, I saw the same thing. You know, we ran into that guide. They both shared the same descriptions. You know, had a good laugh about it. If anybody from the area knows or have ever heard of that good laugh. Definitely like to hear more about it? Yeah, that's it. Thanks. Hope you can use it on your show.
- [03:54]
Derek Hayes
Thank you, Frank. Oh, yes, the Amityville house. And I agree with you here, Frank. Not haunted. A story fabricated by the money hungry. And it was eaten up by Hollywood and news media. It did make for a pretty good series of films, though, I will admit that. But for those of you unfamiliar, the hauntings are based on true events. November 13, 1974. Ronald DeFeo shot and killed six members of his family at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, there on the south shore of Long Island. He was convicted of second degree murder in November of 75. And in December of that year, George and Kathy lutz and their three children moved into the home. After 28 days, the Lutzes left the house claiming to have been terrorized by paranormal phenomena while living there. I won't go into it on this episode, but the entire thing is very fishy. But if I'm honest, so were the DeFeo murders. But either way, it's always great to hear from you, Frank. So thank you again for sharing the entry. Now I'm gonna do one more story before we have to take our first break. So in that case, please welcome Sarah to the platform.
- [05:31]
Sarah
Hey, Derek, this is Sarah from New York. I've got a story about a medium for you. This happened in October of 2024, so last year. So I guess a little bit of background. My grandfather passed away about six years ago. My grandmother is still alive and they were married for over 70 years. So it means a lot to her that he passed away. And obviously she's pretty distraught. A little bit more background. My mother and father and brother have also passed away. So my grandmother and I went to this medium together in hopes of communicating with any of those people. So when we started the medium, obviously I have my doubts about this, just like I know you do too. But the first thing the medium said is, I'm hearing a William, and William is my grandfather's name. Now, of course, the first thing I think is, well, she could easily just Google our names and see that my grandpa is deceased and that's his name. So of course that wasn't that impressive. But then the further she goes on, the more she tells us, the more that I can't explain how she would know. And I'm just gonna bring up one thing she said because I cannot think of any way to explain this. It's just so random. So she says that William, supposedly my grandpa said, have the milkshake and My grandma was confused and didn't know what that meant, but I immediately knew what that meant, and I didn't tell her until later. But I mean, that's just such a random thing to say. Have the milkshake. And now let me tell you why that's such a strange thing for him to say. So a few weeks prior to this medium, I have twins. I'm a stay at home mom, and I was getting cravings for chocolate milkshakes. So every morning, not every morning, but every few mornings, I would grab a chocolate milkshake. And then after a couple weeks of doing this, every few days I would.
- [07:17]
Victoria
I realized I was putting on a.
- [07:18]
Sarah
Little bit of weight, probably about five pounds. So I decided to myself, you know, I should stop getting those chocolate milkshakes. I'm gaining a little weight. Gotta stop it. So I hadn't told anyone that I was having chocolate milkshakes. Nobody knew this, only my twins, who were a year old at the time. So they can't even talk. They have no idea what's going on. And so the fact that he said, have the milkshake, it's like he was saying to me, don't worry about your weight.
- [07:44]
Victoria
Who cares?
- [07:44]
Sarah
You gain a few pounds. If you want a milkshake, have a milkshake. So I don't know if you've got any ideas about that, but that's just the most random thing ever. And I can't imagine how this medium would have known to say that. And it was so specific and so dead on for what I had just been going through, because just a week before, I said to myself, no more milkshakes. And you know what I did? The next day I went and got a milkshake because my grandpa told me to. So there's another story about a medium that I can't explain. I don't know. I believe the medium. After that, there was lots of other things she said that were pretty impressive too. But I thought that one was pretty fun. So thank you. Love the show. Yeah.
- [08:22]
Victoria
Have a great day.
- [08:25]
Derek Hayes
Thank you, Sarah. And you are right, I am very skeptical. And that's not to say that I think these powers don't exist out there somewhere, because they very well might. I just don't think these roadside psychics possess those powers. Not most of them, anyway. And I think I recognize some proof of that in your story there, Sarah. The medium first guesses the name William, a super popular name. That would be like guessing Robert or James or John. Of course you're gonna get a hit. We all know someone by each of those names. And that's what these cold readers do. They throw out a broad suggestion and if they get a bite, they begin to hone in on it and they start letting you give them the hints. And perhaps the chocolate shake reference was one of those exploratory phrases, a variation of the phrase live life to the fullest. Perhaps again a super basic message from quote unquote, beyond. So you can see how all of this might have been just a ruse, no matter how on point it seemed to be. But that said, the chocolate shake hit was a direct one and there seems to be an obvious correlation there. So I don't know, maybe the psychic got lucky, maybe I'm wrong in my beliefs. And maybe Sarah's grandfather reached out one last time. Thank you again, Sarah, for taking the time to share your message. What are we talking about here?
- [10:16]
Anonymous Caller
You know, aged in the cellar. Tell us.
- [10:22]
Denise
We have fibromyalgia, neck pain and low.
- [10:24]
Derek Hayes
Back pain, hips, knee pain. Now staying in the state of New York. This next one was submitted anonymously.
- [10:37]
Anonymous Caller
Hey Derek, this is gonna be an anonymous call. I live in upstate New York and our friends are down North Carolina, and they asked us to feed their cat. So today it was around just before 3. My brother had fed her and I was going to call them and just say she's fed, ask about anything else. But when I called, it rang for about 10 seconds before I could hear. It was sort of the answering machine, but it was very distorted. It wasn't like slowed down or sped up. It was like there was an interference, very like fuzzy. So it's kind of hard to describe, but immediately it just felt very, very warm. And immediately I just hung up, ran downstairs and got out of there. Yeah, I could only really see this as maybe an interference. I've been a long time listener and it is very entertaining to listen to everyone's stories. Thank you. Goodbye.
- [11:45]
Derek Hayes
Thank you, caller. You know, years ago, before I moved to California, I was asked to feed my friends cats while they were on vacation. And I did so for days with zero issues. Then one day when I was at their house in their finished basement, which is where the cats were fed and whatnot. And suddenly I had the worst pain in my head that I'd ever had in my life. The brain pain that I experienced was so severe that I sort of blacked out. I fell to my knees and just sort of slipped away there for a few seconds. Long enough to have the thought, oh great, I'll die here on the floor. And no one will take care of the cats. But then, as fast as it came, it all magically went away. A minute later I was standing and doing just fine. So who knows? To this day I still have no idea what happened. But I don't think there were any lasting effects from it. I think I'm about as normal as they come. But this story reminded me of that weird non paranormal experience and I thought I would take a moment to share. And speaking of sharing, if you have a story you would like me to share here on the program, just give me a call at 888-608-NIGHT. That's 888608 N I G H T or shoot me an email with a voice memo at Monsters Among Us podcast gmail dot com. Now next up we hear from Victoria for an audio based mystery.
- [13:29]
Victoria
Hey, this is Victor Victoria from upstate New York, near Albany. This happened to me in Nassau, New York the Saturday before Halloween 2022. This is the closest thing I've ever had to a paranormal or unexplained we'll say situation. I'm a pretty staunch skeptic atheist. My boyfriend tells me I'm too much of a Scully and should be more molder. But anyway, I was babysitting at this house that I've babysat at like a hundred times. I worked there for six months, for four days a week and spent a lot of time at this house. And I've never experienced this before but put the kids to bed. So I was laying down on the couch. It's like 10pm and I start hearing what I think is music from a car that must be somewhere outside. Which is really unusual because these people kind of live in the woods. They're on like 100 acres and they're up a ways from the road. Have a really long deep winding driveway that you can't even see the road from anywhere. And there was no one here. I hadn't seen any headlights come up the driveway or anything like that. And it's usually pretty visible when that happens from where I was sitting. So I thought maybe the kids had like put on some music upstairs. But they don't really have a lot of electronic toys. This family's pretty old school with stuff like that. The kids had a record player, but it was turned off. When I peeked in their room, they were all sleeping. But the weirdest thing is that every time I stood up and went to go look for what was making the sound, I couldn't hear it anymore. And it sounded just like when you're Hearing bass and drums from another room or in a car that's passing by or something like that. I got, like, a vague hint of a melody, but I couldn't tell what it was. It was mostly just sort of a bass and drum sound. And, yeah, every time I got up to look for it, couldn't hear it anymore. Even though I was sitting on the couch. And it was pretty late at night, I was not sleepy at all. I was actually kind of annoyed that I wasn't sleepy because it would have been easier to just sort of take a nap until the parents got there. But instead, I was just doing crossword puzzles on my phone the whole time. So I definitely was not asleep. I was up, you know, playing with the cat, doing crosswords. I wasn't asleep and imagining it. I just thought that was extremely strange. Yeah, that's that. Love the show. Keep it going. Thanks.
- [15:58]
Derek Hayes
Thanks, Victoria. Now, there's a music venue just east of Columbus, Ohio. I don't know what it's called these days, but back in the day, it used to be called Legend Valley. Now, this venue hosted some bigger bands, and to this day, I believe they still host the annual meeting of the Juggalos. If that's your bag. I remember listening to Bon Jovi there when I was about 10 years old, all the way from my uncle's deck, which was probably at least two miles away. And that's the point that I'm getting at here. Is the sound from big events like that carries, especially the bass part. So perhaps there was a concert space nearby, Something that sounded much closer than it actually was. Of course, that's just a thought. Here, Victoria, a possible explanation to help you sleep at night. Whether my guess is right or wrong. We thank you again for sharing the call. And, folks, since we're on the topic of auditory anomalies, let me sneak in one more call from Dawn. And where else but New York?
- [17:22]
Victoria
Hey, Derek. This is dawn from New York. This story takes place in upstate New York. So in my second childhood home, it was a fairly new house. Like, it wasn't older. Like, the first house that I grew up in. But one thing about this house that I think plays a part in it, I don't know, is that it was, like, damn near center around two cemeteries. One cemetery on the left, one cemetery on the right. Not really close, but, like, my house would be, like, the third point of the triangle, if you get what I mean. But growing up, I've always had an interest in the paranormal. I would watch, like, my ghost story caught on Camera or celebrity ghost story or ghost adventures. Like, I was always really into this kind of thing. I was just curious. And I saw this probably wasn't the smartest thing for me to do. But when I was, like, 13, 14, 15, around that age, I was really into it. So I used to go around my house, and I would be like, oh, is the spirit here? And I would take my digital camera and I would take pictures because I wanted to see if I could catch anything on camera. And I would sometimes get, like, the little, like, white dots, but I would never, like, actually see, like, a figure or, like, you know, like a ghost or, like, anything. And nothing really ever happened. Like, I was slowly, like, getting out of that phase. Or, like, that's the me being, like, really hyper fixated on for a while. And I, like, stopped doing that. Whatever. I have this one vivid memory.
- [18:52]
Anonymous Caller
I was either 15.
- [18:54]
Victoria
It had to be, like, a year or two after I had really done that. I'm home alone one night, and I'm in my bedroom. I had just gotten out the shower, and I'm changing into my pajamas, and I'm changing in front of my mirror, and in my mirror, you can see my bedroom door. And I could have sworn I kept my door wide open because I was home alone and I just wanted to keep an eye out. And I look, and I could see my bedroom door. Like, it was halfway shut. And I didn't leave it halfway shut. So I'm like, okay, maybe I'm just bugging. Like, I don't know what that is. Like, whatever. I look back up, and now my door is, like, nearly shut. So I'm like, okay, I'm losing my mind. So I go to my door and I just close it shut. I'm still changing. I'm doing my hair in, like, the mirror. And I look in the reflection in the mirror, and I see my door not moving. I, like, pause for a minute and I look at it. I remember squinting and being like, no way. And I saw my doorknob move. And, like, I always played myself. I'm like, did I really see it move? But I really believe that I saw that move. But it freaked me out enough. I remember my heart started racing, so I jumped up and I ran towards the door, and I swung it open, and I, like, waited to hear anything, and I didn't hear anything. And I was like, okay. Like, I didn't really believe what was happening. I was just really freaked out. Like, I thought I was just going crazy. So then some time passes, and I lived On a two story house with a basement. So I make my way to the basement because my parents had like a little bar down there with like a fridge and we kept like extra sodas in there and I wanted a soda. So I'm down there getting a soda and I'm still home alone. And I swear on everything, like, I look back and I think I'm like, doubting my memory, but I know it happened because, like, I just remember how I felt in the moment and what I felt was real. So I get the soda and, like, directly above me would have been the garage and the garage door. And I swore I heard footsteps. It was like if someone was entering my house in the garage door. And we have an alarm system on all the doors. And I didn't hear the alarm go off, but I heard footsteps to the point where I instinctually just went, mom, dad. And the footsteps stopped. And when it stopped, I walked halfway upstairs and I was like calling for my brother and the footsteps stopped. And it freaked me out so much that I ran up the steps to look. I didn't see anyone, but it freaked me out so bad that I went to my room and I stayed in my room the whole night. I waited until my family came home because I was so freaked out. And I experienced some other things after that, like in my room. But I don't necessarily believe it was my house that was haunted. I believe it was my energy and my curiosity that was welcoming the energies and spirits around my house that were getting to me, like, from 14 to like 16, 17. That's really when it all started. Just weird things happen to me in that house. But yeah, thank you for the podcast and thanks for everything. Hope you can use this.
- [22:09]
Anonymous Caller
Bye.
- [22:13]
Derek Hayes
Thanks, Dawn. I can see why you would think something unseen might be visiting your home, given that the home is located within the Confines of the 11th state, a state riddled with hauntings, ghosts and ghouls. That makes perfect sense. And here's a tidbit of information to help back up those claims. According to the website newyorkcityghost.com these are the 10 most haunted places in the Empire State. Number 10, the Utica State Hospital, a dilapidated, nearly 200 year old building known for faces in the windows, disembodied screaming, and the spectral spirits of those unfortunate enough to have spent time there. Number nine is the Iron Island Museum, a former funeral parlor and church haunted by the ghost of a military vet over his unclaimed ashes. Number eight is the Buffalo Central Terminal. People report the feeling of being watched ghostly shadow figures and the ghost of a woman named Rose. Seven. Number seven is the Sagamore, one of the more luxurious hotels that you can find outside of New York City, but filled with spirits, including that of a little boy who was hit by a car just outside the lobby. Six number six is Hyde hall, built by George Clark between 1817 and 1830. It took 20 years to complete, and just before it was to be finished, Clark tragically passed away, never getting to live in the estate that he built. Now it is said that his ghost is still there, making up for lost time. And our fifth most haunted location in New York is the Rolling Hills Asylum, a mental hospital and a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients. And the location where over 17,000 people are buried in unmarked graves. Coming in fourth is Letchworth village. Reports describe this institution for those with developmental disabilities as profoundly haunted, with chilling shadow figures, wailing children's voices, oppressive sensations, rolling toys, door slams, and overwhelming dread felt in its abandoned wards. Third is the Palmyra Historical Museum, site of a tragic house fire that killed six children and their mother in the 1960s. Since being turned into a museum, visitors have experienced disembodied, touching moving objects and the smell of ash when none is present. And our second most haunted location in the Empire State is Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, a place on my bucket list to visit and also the burial place of Sleepy Hollow writer Irving Washington and home to a number of sinister spirits from days gone by. And lastly, number one is a place we already touched on, a place that I already told you that I don't believe believe is haunted. But according to the list, number one is the Amityville Horror House. Now, if this were my list, I think I'd work Central park in there somewhere and take Amityville out. But that's just me. And that's just the list, according to newyorkcityghost.com now, folks, I'll be right back with with more New York narratives right after this. That's it. We're done with the emails now. All right, this next one goes back a ways. Please welcome Denise to the program.
- [26:24]
Denise
Hi, Derek. This is Denise from upstate New York. I'm going to tell you about something that happened to me back in 1975. I was dating a boy who was a couple years older than me. We were both in high school, and he came to pick me up in an old car that he had somehow gotten a hold of and had planned on fixing up. It was either a 1957 or a 1959 Chevy. It needed pretty much Everything. It didn't even have paint. It just had a primer coat and was very loud, Needed a complete exhaust system, and he just didn't have the money to do it. So one night he came to pick me up at my house. It was winter. It was snowing. Upstate New York. You know, it can get pretty messy. And we took a drive in this car to a park that was about 20 to 30 minutes away from my house. The park was pretty impassable. Most of the service roads were all chained off, and it was completely empty. There wasn't anyone there. But we drove in, and he stopped at one of the service roads, pulled the chain across, drove the car in, and then pulled the chain behind us and drove the car deep into the park. We couldn't even see the main road at that point. We were in the trees and completely isolated from anybody that might have by chance, driven in. And there just wasn't anybody there, especially because of the weather. So he put the car in park, and we were listening to the radio and talking, and I just didn't feel well. I don't feel well. And the next thing I remember is standing outside the car, leaning up against the hood, and there was a woman who was holding me and supporting me and telling me that I was going to be okay. And I looked across the hood of the car, and there was a man doing the same with the boy that I was with. I was very weak. I couldn't talk. I was incredibly confused about what was going on. And a few minutes later, or at some point thereafter, an ambulance came and took us to the hospital. So I remember while I was in the hospital, a priest visiting me. He was praying over me. I don't know if he was giving me my last rights, but he wanted me to explain to him why I was trying to commit suicide, which wasn't at all the case. And the doctors came in and said, you know, if you had been in that car, why, one or two more minutes, you would have died of carbon monoxide poisoning. So after I was released from the hospital and the dust settled, my family was very upset, but also incredibly grateful to these people who had found us against all odds and tried to find out who they were. So my parents contacted the EMTs and the ambulance companies and was unable to determine who the people were because the ambulance driver that took us said there was no one there when they got there except for the two of us leaning up against the hood. A phone call apparently had been made to call that ambulance, but this was way before cell Phones, and there's not a store or a pay phone anywhere around there. So what else can we think but it must have been a couple of guardian angels. Thanks, Derek. Bye.
- [30:00]
Derek Hayes
Thanks, Denise. It is a nice story, and it's a believable one as well. Now, I can't think of any logical explanation as to how help reached you, Denise, nor who those people were that pulled you from the vehicle. So I'm inclined to believe your claim that they're somehow guardian angels. But for every positive, you must have a negative. And what is the opposite of a guardian angel? Well, I think many would claim it's a demon. Please welcome Alex to the program.
- [30:43]
Alex
Hey, Derek. My name is Alex. I am from upstate New York. Today I'm going to share some demonic experiences that I had when I was a kid. I'm 31 now, so I'm not exactly sure of the time that this took place. Maybe late 90s, early 2000s, I want to say. My parents had rented out this house in upstate New York where I still live. And, you know, it was a normal home for a while. And then things started to get really strange for me, specifically. I started having these night terrors. And I don't even know if I can describe them to you, to be honest. I can say that they were all in reverse. There were a lot of really weird grotesque imageries. I would wake up and I would end up crying on the stairs in the dark. I was terrified. As I said, I was a kid. I didn't really know what was going on. And then as this progressed, I could hear these heavy boot footsteps coming into my room. And I would look in the dark and there was nothing there. But then I could feel heavy breathing on my neck. And then I could feel something touch my forehead. And then I would end up passing out. And that's when I would have the night terrors. Now, this was just the beginning. There was a morning where I woke up and I was getting ready for school. And on my folder, it had my name violently written all over it. I showed this to my mom and we both watched as I brought it into the light and the names disappeared. And my mom is a big believer in paranormal. On my mom's side. There's been plenty of that. I am not skeptic at all. Embrace paranormal. Oh, man, where do I can go from here? I would get sick in the house, like, deathly ill. I missed a lot of my fourth grade year. So, like the Exorcist, I projectile vomited without the head spinning, of course. And like I said I would get very sick, but when I would leave the house, I felt okay. But whenever I was in the house, there was like this presence that I just could not get rid of. I started hearing voices and it just got really intense from there. As I started hearing these voices, they were telling me to do things that I wasn't okay with. I felt very uncomfortable in this house. And then we get to probably the scariest part of all of it, where I was walking upstairs as everybody else was downstairs, and I hear this low demonic voice. As I'm walking up the stairs, all.
- [34:14]
Anonymous Caller
I hear is Alex.
- [34:18]
Alex
And then I walk into my parents room and there's this really creepy small attic door. I was always so unsettled by this room and I'd never gone in there. And then all of a sudden I noticed that I feel like I'm physically paralyzed. I'm just paralyzed in fear. As I'm seeing the attic door slowly start to open, I can see these charred fingers coming out like they're burnt. And I'm just standing there and I'm freaking out on the inside, but I can't move. And then as the door opens, I can start to see this entity that has been. I feel like it was trying to attach itself to me. And as a child, it's terrifying, right? So as it's opening the door, it reveals itself to me and I can see its face. And I don't think I'll ever forget it. Like, I'm terrified of spiders. But outside of that fear, I really can't be afraid of anything else after what I witnessed. It had these yellow, blackish, glowing eyes and this charred, almost like a burnt face. And it had these like gnarly snaggle, sharp teeth. It just stared at me for what felt like forever. And then when I was able to move, I closed my eyes and then it was gone and the door was shut. And I didn't forget this. And I still don't forget it to this day. It's terrifying. So fast forward to when I'm a little bit older. I did research on this house. And this house happened to be part of the underground railroad at one point. And that was in the basement. A little bit of a trigger warning. I did learn that there were slaves that were killed down there. And so there's that connective tissue. The other part of this connective tissue is my biological father, who's no longer in my life, was a Satanist.
- [36:53]
Anonymous Caller
And when I was about two years.
- [36:54]
Alex
Old, he used to take me to these things. And he Would hand me this picture. And at two years old, my aunt said that I would say, I feel powerful. I feel like I've always had this connected tissue to this demonic side. And then maybe we'll fast forward even a little further to where I was, maybe 18 at this point. My sister and her friend were messing with a Ouija board, which I never condone and I've never done myself. Well, she did this. And then the demon that had haunted me for years had contacted my sister and revealed his name to be Tommy. And then tried to scare my sister with, you know, that she was gonna die at so and so year. And then her friend's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she spoke in this like Latin demonic tongue. And then all of a sudden, you.
- [37:55]
Anonymous Caller
Know, it just stopped.
- [37:57]
Alex
And I was so angry with my sister for doing this because I tried so hard to detach myself from all of this because I am a parent to a four year old son. And as much as I love this stuff, I don't dabble in it at all. I haven't had any experiences in a very long time. I'm not religious, but I did learn that if you do not give them the power of fear, they have no power over you. So that is my first story. I hope you enjoy this one.
- [38:37]
Derek Hayes
Thank you, Alex. I'm not sure if it's possible to enjoy a call like that. While those details were fascinating, many, if not all, were also terrifying. But what else should you expect from something labeled demonic? So there you have it, folks. Heaven and hell, demons and angels, good versus evil. Denise and Alex, thank you both for taking the time to call in $40 million a year.
- [39:19]
Anonymous Caller
Now, four of your wineries are in Spain.
- [39:28]
Derek Hayes
Now this next entry requires us to step outside, tilt our heads backward and gaze up at the sky. Ethan, welcome to the program.
- [39:42]
Ethan
Hey Derek, it's Ethan from upstate New York. I previously called once or twice or three times about my UFO sightings in Wayne County, New York. We just got out of work and right before I got out of work, we had one of our regular customers coming. He told us that he just seen a fireball. A glowing orange reddish fireball above a road that is directly connected to my road. So it's the same exact area I had seen the third UFO back in, I believe was 2022 or one. That's just crazy to me because, you know, at least I'm not the only one that had seen some phenomenon. And the skies around here. Except his was different. It was a fireball to him. He's seen a fireball. I've seen triangle UFO crafts that did have some reddish orangish lights on. It's pretty wild. And a couple weeks ago, I was on the way home with my brother and he spotted a red light in the sky which was essentially over the lake, Lake Ontario. And I seen it briefly. I seen the red light off in the distance in the sky a couple miles away maybe. I just barely seen it. And I blinked and it was gone. He said it shot off into the sky. I believe him because I did see the red light as well. But maybe it was the same craft that I've seen three times. Maybe that was technically the fourth time. I don't know. Either way, I just wanted to call and tell you about these two sightings. Thank you very much for everything you do. Keep it up. I'll be listening until I'm not here no more.
- [41:36]
Derek Hayes
Thank you. Thanks, Ethan. I'll probably be making episodes until I'm not here anymore. But there are worse ways to make a living now when it comes to UFOs. And New York. The state ranks fifth in the nation with over 6,200 reports made, according to the National UFO Reporting Center. Now we stumbled upon a quick list that tells you where your best chances of seeing one of these unidentified flying objects are. The following is courtesy of the Pew Research Center. Number five, Syracuse. Number four is Staten Island. Number three is Rochester. Second is Buffalo. And the city in New York where you're most likely to see a flying whatchamacallit, Gotham herself, New York City. So there you have it, folks. That's the list. And I'm a little bit surprised that the Hudson Valley wasn't listed there. But I guess that flap occurred many, many years ago. So perhaps it's simply not current enough. Now there's a link to that story and the countdown over in tonight's shownotes. Now let's transition over to our next entry. A call from Dustin from back east.
- [43:12]
Anonymous Caller
Hello, Derek. My name is Dustin. I've been sitting on a lot of paranormal activity in my own life for a while. So I'll start off with my one very short paranormal ghost encounter that I had when I was in college. Some of my friends and I were working for Nightburg in Syracuse. And we all went in together to rent a house in Syracuse in kind of a rough neighborhood on Lodi Street. This house used to be a antique shop, so a lot of old furniture and a lot of old keepsakes going in and out. The house had been dilapidated for a while. Before we moved in, the landlord finally started renting it out and we were able to afford it, so we jumped on. Was a bit of fixer upper for sure, even for us as tenants. When we moved in, there were blood stains on the floor in the kitchen and in the upstairs bedroom, which became my bedroom. It looked as if either somebody was murdered or somebody had given birth. And it was soaked right into the floorboards. We had to mop it up ourselves. We had several break ins while we were living there. Generally not a very safe location, but there was definitely something in the house that wasn't necessarily human or even alive anymore. We had a house band called the Black Light Dahlias. They performed a few gigs here and there. They used to practice in the basement because the acoustics were better for recording. The basement had a dirt floor with several bumps in it, which was iffy in and of itself. But one time our lead guitarist left his tube amp. He had an old 50s tube amp that he used for the sound, but he left it turned on downstairs while we all went upstairs and we were partying and doing the college thing, you know. And then after a while we stopped and we were all sitting, you know, do you hear that? You're sounded like there were people in the basement. So we opened the basement door, we went down there. And his name is Ben. His aunt was just talking. It wasn't like a radio station or anything. It was like a group of people having a conversation. And it was coming through the tube amp. So we shut that off. We went back upstairs, like, well, that was creepy. And we locked the door. My upstairs bedroom, one of the rooms that had a blood stain in it, also had a closet door that was off the hinges. It was a heavy hardwood door. It was painted. And I used to just lean it against the doorway to the closet. I was at the top of the stairs. And I would go by the door every day, multiple times a day. You know, getting dressed, going out for work, whatever. But every once in a while I would get to the top of the stairs and this heavy, I guess, ochre, other hardwood door would just come at me. And I would have to stop it, you know, physically stop it before it would strike me and knock me back down the stairs. And if it had hit me, it would have knocked me out or maybe even killed me, I don't know. Because it had a sharp point, because of the taper of the roof. So that closet never struck me as okay. The light in that closet was broken. It almost seemed like somebody was kept in there. You know, it was definitely a creepy thing, but, like, the most. The scariest thing that ever happened to me ever, in my entire life happened in this house. I was getting ready for work one day when I was by myself. All my roommates had gone off to class or to work. I was getting dressed to go to my job at Hobby Lobby, and I'm putting on my work shirt, and we had scrolls in the ceiling because the roof and the ceiling were close together and the squirrel sounds were there, just like they always were, scampering around, rolling around up there. And then squirrel sounds stopped and they changed, and they went from little scuttly squirrel noises to hands and knees. And it starts on one corner of the ceiling, farther away from me, just hands, knees, hands, knees, as if somebody is crawling across the ceiling on the opposite side. It creaks its way over above my head, directly above my head. And it stops. And I have one elbow in the air, shirt half on. The ceiling is low in that portion of the bedroom. It is a foot away from my face, and I'm just staring at it.
- [47:52]
Dustin
And I can't move.
- [47:54]
Anonymous Caller
And I had a knife on one of the chairs in my bedroom. The gift from a friend who went away to Greece, brought it back in the Navy to give to me. And I'm debating, do I throw this shirt on and run downstairs or do I try to stab through the ceiling at whatever it is that is now above me? So I opted to just chicken out, throw my shirt on, and I ran downstairs. That was the most terrifying thing that had ever happened to me in my whole life. And even just now, it scares me to talk about was like straight out of a horror movie. What do you even do? I mean, there were other instances. The door to the basement was in a butler's pantry off of the kitchen. My girlfriend at the time and I were sitting on the couch alone in the house, just the two of us, and we hear that door open and shut. And so I'd go and I'd look, there's a ladder leaning against that door, like a whole ladder. And there's like a box with an old car exhaust in it from my car at the time. Like, none of that stuff was moved. It's just the sound of the door opening and shutting. I mean, I could go on and on about this house. It got condemned after we moved out. The upstairs kitchen fell into the downstairs bedroom shortly afterwards. So luckily we weren't living there at the time. It was an absolute slum board trash heap of a place. But it was A really old house and definitely haunted. And if anybody ever asks me about ghosts to this day, I refer to this house because guaranteed, 100% yes, without a doubt, go here. If I could get a ghost investigation group, any channel to just go there with instruments and check it out, I guarantee they would find something. I mean, the house used to growl, the furnace used to growl and you could feel it and hear it. So that's my paranormal encounter from college. I love your show and thank you for everything.
- [49:56]
Dustin
Have a good one.
- [50:00]
Derek Hayes
Thanks, Dustin. That's quite a laundry list of activity and I think that's the first time I've heard a reference to a growling furnace, at least since Home Alone. And given that you had to mop up blood stains in your bedroom, Dustin, I'd say that helps qualify the house as potentially haunted. So thank you again for taking the time to share your experiences with it. Folks, I want to take a moment here to let you listeners know that if you want to.
- [50:32]
Alex
During a ceremony that was. We're not talking about like weather.
- [50:42]
Derek Hayes
Now, it certainly wouldn't be an all New York episode without the mention of a strange person. After all, from what I hear, New York is full of them. And as a Californian, I'm a okay with that. But here with a story about of those weirdos is Morgan from of course, New York.
- [51:08]
Morgan
Hey Derek, My name is Morgan and this story is coming from New York around September of 2015. At that time I was a senior in high school and we were having night practices for football. And I get home around 10 o' clock at night. And one night we're driving home and we're on my road, me and my cousin that live next to each other, driving home on my road. And right next to my house is two highway bridges. And underneath the bridge, me and my cousin both see an older woman dressed in this white nightgown, wearing no shoes, no socks.
- [51:58]
Anonymous Caller
And she's just standing there and she.
- [52:01]
Morgan
Wasn'T looking for anything. And she just stared at us. Like I said, older woman, all white. And it was just strange, you know, and we know the people in the area, you know, who lives where, and we've never seen that woman ever in our lives. You know, you hear women in white stories, but that was just a weird one to see. Like I said, no shoes. She wasn't walking around looking for anything, just an older woman in a white nightgown. You know, we went back to our houses and you know, we were scared, we were terrified. But I mean, could have been just an older woman Wandering on the streets, maybe, but, you know, it didn't make.
- [52:46]
Dustin
Much sense to us.
- [52:47]
Morgan
But, yeah, huge fan of the podcast. Keep doing what you're doing.
- [52:56]
Derek Hayes
Thanks, Morgan. What do you think, folks? Did Morgan encounter something sinister, or was his run in simply with someone down on their luck or possibly worse? I. I will let you make that determination. But either way, thanks again, Morgan, for sharing the call. And, folks, that takes us to the final entry of the evening. And you know, earlier in the broadcast, I said that New York City is the most haunted place in the state of New York. And then I also mentioned that Amityville should be replaced with Central park park In the top 10 most haunted places in New York list. Well, as it turns out, this next call just might validate those two claims of mine. Please welcome Jimmy to tonight's program.
- [53:54]
Dustin
Hi, my name is Jimmy, calling from New York City. Well, I wanted to say what happened to me. This happened in New York City, in Central park during the summertime about four years ago. Pre pandemic. Me and my best friend, we usually meet up during the summertime to hang out, explore. Well, she came along with her college roommate, and we went into Central park around, like, the most highly trafficked area, which is around 59th Street. We happened to go through the rollerblade boulevard and the volleyball courts. We stumbled upon this little area where it was like a sandbox with scaffolding over it that had vines. These vines covered the entire scaffolding, and it was dark. At this point, we are having the best time laughing, speaking loudly, cracking jokes. It was just a good time. We get to these stairs, and we walk up these stairs, and these stairs lead to an elevated courtyard. This courtyard actually stands at the height of the top of the street lamps. So literally, like your eye to eye to the light bulb on the courtyard, on all the edges are tables with benches on either side of the tables. On top of the tables are chessboard prints. Well, as we're walking up the stairs, again, we're still having a good time. Pretty much oblivious to our surroundings. I mean, there was nobody there. It was nighttime. It was dark. This is not peak tourist time. Anybody who's in Central park at that time is either walking their dog or jogging. And this was none of those locations. There was nobody there. As we walk up the stairs and get to the top of the courtyard, it felt like we literally hit a wall of negative energy. All three of us at the same time got quiet. We went from being loud, just having a good time, to all of a sudden being quiet and we looked at each other and we were like, do you feel that? And all three of us said, yes. One of us said, oh, it feels like we're being stared at. Well, two seconds after that, all three of us turned to the right. And in the right there's this shadow outline of a man sitting down on the bench with a like, old beat up doll with like an afro. And the silhouette of the man, his hair was kind of like an afro as well. Behind him was a street light, so there was no possible reason why he wasn't illuminated. And we couldn't see his clothes, we couldn't see his facial features. The only thing we could see was a smile. And it was a menacing smile. It was scary. It felt like he wanted to kill us. We didn't understand how we couldn't see anything other than his smile. Everything else around him was illuminated except for this dark shadow silhouette. Well, the minute we saw him, we felt this urge to run, to get out of the park. And that's what we did. We ran for our lives. My best friend is not an athletic person, but she ran. When I tell you we were running, we were running for a good eight minutes. We were terrified. We were terrified to look back while we were running because we were scared that we were going to see him chasing us. We just ran and ran and ran and ran and ran and ran until we finally got to the street. Once we got there, we tried to process what happened to us and none of us could understand why was he standing in front of a street lamp and everything around him him was illuminated. We could see the color of the bench, the color of the stone table. We can even see the chessboard pattern and the doll on the table. You could see the detail of it. You could see the legs, the color of the arms of the doll. But the shadow man, you couldn't see anything. As a matter of fact, he seemed to be darker than everything else around him, like he was darker than dark. It was beyond scarity. And to this day, me and my best friend will bring up the situation whenever we're talking about paranormal and we still don't understand what exactly we saw. That's my story. Thank you and have a good day.
- [59:17]
Derek Hayes
We appreciate the call, Jimmy and I have to say what I bet a lot of you are already thinking. Are we sure that this wasn't just a street performer or one of those TikTok pranksters out there trying to make a buck? It is Central park, after all, and that is the sort of place I'd expect something like that to happen. But you know, given Central Park's spooky history, I almost expect something paranormal to happen there as well. And for those of you unfamiliar, I did put up a link in tonight's show notes showcasing the park's paranormal past. And you can explore that side of the park yourself by joining one of the ghost tours that explore the area. And you gotta love a place with a good ghost tour, but until we put boots on the ground there ourselves. A big thanks to Jimmy for calling in, and another big thanks to all of tonight's callers. They certainly made New York sound like an interesting place. And folks, that's going to do it for this episode. A huge thanks to you for swinging by here this evening and please share the show with friends and foes. More so now than ever, with spooky season nipping at our heels 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 accounts, give us a Like and follow at YouTube, join our Discord server and of course leave us a rate and review, wherever that sort of thing is possible. Don't forget that you can catch the show every Saturday evening at 10pm Eastern on the unax digital network. Just visit onxnetwork.com to tune in. And finally, tonight's score was provided by Iron Cthulhu, A Apocalypse Code, AG Music and Carl Casey at Whitepad Audio. Now watch my movie. Pregotriangle.com will get you there. Join us in the beyond monsters among us podcast.com and click the Patreon tab to go there and join us on Thursday for a brand new installment. Until then, however, keep it spooky. And of course, have a good night.
- [62:12]
Anonymous Caller
Sam.