S19 Ep33: Down on the Farm: Ghosts, Glitches and a Giant Predator (Sn. 19 Ep. 33)

Summary

Monsters Among Us: S19 Ep33 - Down on the Farm: Ghosts, Glitches and a Giant Predator

Release Date: August 5, 2025

Host: Derek Hayes
Production: Audioboom Studios

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Introduction: Growing Up on the Farm

In this episode, Derek Hayes delves into the eerie and unexplained phenomena that occur on farms. Drawing from his personal experiences working on family farms and a longhorn cattle ranch, Derek sets the stage for an evening filled with ghostly encounters, unexplained glitches, and sightings of giant predators. The theme centers around Paranormal Encounters on the Farm, highlighting stories that intertwine ranching, farming, and supernatural occurrences.

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1. Brock's Hovering Airplane Sighting

Guest: Brock from Utah
Timestamp: [03:21] – [04:49]

Brock recounts a midday drive near Idaho or Juniper, where he and his passenger witnessed an airplane hovering inexplicably above a barn. Describing the aircraft as "about three quarters the size of a regular passenger airplane," Brock was baffled as it remained stationary at approximately 100-200 feet above the ground. He shared his confusion and disbelief with his passenger, noting the lack of movement and the surreal nature of the sighting.

Notable Quote:
Brock: "It's a foot below the wall. We both looked at each other, obviously looking for a fox. And then this thing came walking out."
[03:21]

Derek's Insight:
Derek explains that Brock's experience is a common optical illusion known as the parallax effect, where the perceived movement of objects is influenced by the observer's perspective. He shares a personal anecdote of witnessing a similar phenomenon while driving along the 10 Freeway in Ontario, California. Despite the explanation, Derek acknowledges that not all stories in the episode will have logical explanations.

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2. Cynthia Catcher's Albino Bigfoot Encounter

Guest: Cynthia Catcher from Indiana
Timestamp: [06:13] – [07:57]

Cynthia tells a chilling story from the 1980s when her family discovered an albino Bigfoot and her baby hiding in a shed on her grandparents' farm in Randolph County, Winchester, Indiana. The mother's leg was trapped in a bear trap, and her father rescued them. Cynthia highlights the uniqueness of the encounter, noting the albinism of the Bigfoots and their apparent association with undetected UFOs in the area.

Notable Quote:
Cynthia Catcher: "What was so unusual about this, guys, is she was an albino bayfoot. That means she was all white with pink eyes and so was the baby."
[06:13]

Derek's Commentary:
Derek engages with the idea that Bigfoot could be extraterrestrial beings transported by UFOs, a theory supported by some researchers. He muses on the intelligence required for such creatures to traverse vast distances yet still fall victim to bear traps, adding a layer of mystery to their existence.

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3. Jake's Ghostly Run Through the Barn

Guest: Jake from West Virginia
Timestamp: [11:02] – [14:31]

Jake shares a haunting childhood memory from the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. While playing hide and seek near a barn, he witnessed a child dressed in period clothing run through the barn despite the barn door remaining shut and the motion light staying off. This unnerving experience was Jake's first encounter with a ghost, fundamentally changing his perception of the paranormal.

Notable Quote:
Jake: "It walked for probably 60 meters along the bottom of this field... And this thing was wholly unexpected."
[11:12]

Derek's Reflection:
Derek appreciates Jake's calm demeanor during the encounter, noting that separating fear from the experience can help in accepting and understanding paranormal events. He speculates about the identity of the ghost, suggesting that the ability to pass through solid structures indicates a presence preceding the barn's existence.

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4. Sarah's Flannel Man and Comforting Spirits

Guest: Sarah from Florida
Timestamp: [16:59] – [20:02]

Sarah recounts multiple encounters with a comforting spirit on her family's former ranch in Central Florida. Her neighbors experienced similar comforting presences, and Sarah herself saw an old man in pajamas watching her, despite there being no one physically present. She connects these appearances to the "Flannel Man" legend, proposing that such spirits might date their attire to their time period, hence the flannel shirts of the 1970s and 80s.

Notable Quote:
Sarah: "Whenever someone mentioned horses, I would kind of raise my hand because it was always... they look to me for comfort."
[16:59]

Derek's Analysis:
Derek links Sarah's experiences to historical attire patterns, suggesting that the flannel shirts signify the era of the haunting spirit. He notes the possibility that the previous owners' spirits, particularly those connected to animal caretaking, continue to watch over the land.

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5. Lumen's Encounters with Thomas Knights

Guest: Lumen from Oregon
Timestamp: [22:56] – [27:21]

Lumen shares her lifelong experiences with the spirit of Thomas Knights, a farm manager who died tragically on her family's property in Oregon. From shadowy figures in closets to an eerie Ernie doll that sang by itself, Lumen's encounters intensify over the years. Her cousin also witnessed Thomas leaning against her bed, smoking a cigar, further cementing the presence of this restless spirit.

Notable Quote:
Lumen: "I would just be like, oh, hey, Tom. Which I assumed it was Tom. And I would just ignore him throughout my life in that house."
[22:56]

Derek's Commentary:
Derek empathizes with Lumen's fear and fascination, highlighting the challenges of living with a persistent ghost. He reflects on the possibility that such spirits struggle to let go of their earthly roles, making coexistence with them a difficult endeavor.

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6. Sylvia's Horseshoe Hauntings

Guest: Sylvia from North Jersey
Timestamp: [32:11] – [36:05]

Sylvia describes unexplained phenomena in her North Jersey ranch home, including metal banging sounds resembling blacksmith activities and numerous orbs captured in her photographs after remodeling her bedroom. Her experiences are corroborated by her medium friend, who interpreted the presence of numerous horses as spirits protecting against abuse, leading to a successful ritual to release these entities.

Notable Quote:
Sylvia: "Every time someone mentioned horses, I would kind of raise my hand because it was always... a lot of horses are around me."
[32:11]

Derek's Insight:
Derek connects the dots between Sylvia's experiences and local history, suggesting that remnants of a larger estate might be the source of the hauntings. He appreciates the serendipitous alignment of Sylvia's horse-related phenomena with her neighbor's discovery of horseshoes, reinforcing the legitimacy of her encounters.

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7. Dom's Giant Black Cat Sighting

Guest: Dom from New Zealand
Timestamp: [36:57] – [40:34]

Originally from the UK, now residing in New Zealand, Dom recounts an encounter with a massive black cat while stalking foxes on his farm in West Yorkshire. The creature, described as 3 feet tall with a thick, bushy tail, walked for over 50 meters before leaping over a dry stone wall, vanishing without a trace. Dom also notes physical evidence of the creature's presence, such as claw marks on trees and a large hare found mysteriously.

Notable Quote:
Dom: "We flashed it up with the rifle and the big candle power sort of flashlight... it was a real big brushy tail."
[37:16]

Derek's Reflection:
Derek discusses the prevalence of big cat sightings in the UK, citing DNA evidence yet acknowledging official denials of breeding populations. He appreciates the tangible evidence Dom presented, although he remains skeptical about the creature's existence.

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8. Ty's Haunted Dairy Farm

Guest: Ty from Michigan
Timestamp: [43:20] – [46:53]

Ty shares unsettling experiences from his time working on a dairy farm in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. From observing apparitions under barn doors to hearing disembodied voices yelling orders, Ty's encounters are linked to the death of the farm owner's father. His story includes strange phenomena like moving furniture in the spirit realm and unexplained physical marks.

Notable Quote:
Ty: "Our older brother never told us this until recently... When we drove by that fire, he says, that farmer turned and looked at me and he was wearing a straw hat and his eyes were black."
[62:04]

Derek's Analysis:
Derek examines the historical context of Ty's farm, referencing the infamous murder in the Red Barn in 1827. He draws parallels between Ty's experiences and the tragic legend, pondering the lingering spirits that may haunt such historical sites.

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9. Mike's Cowboy Ghost Encounter

Guest: Mike from Oklahoma
Timestamp: [49:12] – [54:39]

Mike narrates a childhood adventure in Moore, Oklahoma, where he and his friends discovered a mound resembling a cowboy in a barren field. Their curiosity led them to witness an apparition resembling a cowboy, which left behind mysterious bootprints after the figure vanished. This encounter spooked his friends and remains a memorable supernatural experience for Mike.

Notable Quote:
Mike: "I saw cross through the top of the barn... What did come out from the back of the bush line was a 3ft tall big black cat."
[49:12]

Derek's Reflection:
Derek entertains theories about the mound being a form of renegade art or a manifestation of the cowboy's lingering spirit. He speculates on the possibility of the cowboy ghost continuing to haunt modern developments where the mound once stood.

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10. Tanya's Abandoned Family Farm and Ley Lines

Guest: Tanya from Iowa
Timestamp: [55:18] – [60:20]

Tanya recounts her experiences growing up on her family's 100-year-old farm in rural southeast Iowa. From feeling perpetually watched to witnessing unexplained UFO lights and encountering an Indian warrior spirit, Tanya's stories are deeply intertwined with the land's historical and spiritual significance. She describes how she and a Reiki master cleared negative energies, revealing a protector spirit that now blesses the abandoned property.

Notable Quote:
Tanya: "We had a large dark mass hanging over our home. And out in front of the house is an Indian warrior spirit."
[57:55]

Derek's Commentary:
Derek highlights the connection between Tanya's experiences and the concept of ley lines intersecting her property, which could explain the high paranormal activity. He appreciates the integration of spiritual cleansing in her narrative, emphasizing the ongoing relationship between humans and lingering spirits on farms.

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11. Paul's Encounter with a Possessed Farmer

Guest: Paul from Minnesota
Timestamp: [62:04] – [69:04]

Paul shares a disturbing incident from October 7, 1984, when he and his brothers witnessed a large, intense fire in a field near their farm. Despite the extreme dryness of the area, they saw a massive fire extinguish spontaneously with a farmer, sporting a straw hat and black eyes, seemingly communicating non-verbally. The date coincides with the great forest fire of 1910, adding a layer of historical connection to the event.

Notable Quote:
Paul: "The farmer... was wearing a straw hat and his eyes were black."
[66:38]

Derek's Analysis:
Derek ponders the nature of the possessed farmer, considering possibilities from curses to time anomalies. He connects Paul's story to historical events, suggesting that the overlap of dates might indicate residual spirits reacting to past tragedies.

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Closing Thoughts and Announcements

Derek wraps up the episode by reflecting on the myriad of supernatural encounters shared by listeners, ranging from comforting spirits to malevolent apparitions. He emphasizes the deep connection between farming environments and paranormal activity, suggesting that these lands hold the memories and energies of past inhabitants.

Shout-Outs and Promotions:

• Acknowledge the show's sponsors, including advertisements for LHH and ZocDoc.
• Announcements about the show's merchandise shop and upcoming Halloween designs by artist Sam Hymer.
• Encouragement for listeners to share their own stories through calls or voice memos, with special mention of the upcoming "Monsters Among Us Junior" segment for younger audiences.

Final Quote:
Derek Hayes: "Whether it's Bigfoot in your nearest state park or your kids during a backyard game of tag, don't let bad socks and blisters ruin the fun."
[20:55]

Conclusion:
The episode of Monsters Among Us masterfully weaves together personal anecdotes, listener call-ins, and historical lore to explore the rich tapestry of paranormal activity on farms. Derek Hayes provides insightful commentary, balancing skepticism with open-mindedness, and invites listeners to ponder the mysteries that linger in the quiet, rural landscapes.

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For More Information:
Visit monstersamongus.com and explore additional content in the show notes, including links to referenced stories and supporting materials.

Stay Connected:

• Like and follow the podcast on social media platforms.
• Join the Discord server for up-to-date conversations.
• Support the show by visiting the Patreon tab for exclusive access to older content.

Keep it spooky!

Transcript

[Derek Hayes]

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[Cynthia Catcher]

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[Derek Hayes]

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[Brock]

When daily conversations become lifelong connections.

[Cynthia Catcher]

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[Derek Hayes]

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[Brock]

Transition with empathy, clarity and confidence.

[Cynthia Catcher]

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[Derek Hayes]

And over 50 years of experience crafted to align with your culture to drive measurable results and lasting impact. Ready to discover how LHH creates a beautiful working world? Visit lhh.com beautiful recruitment, development career transition.

[Cynthia Catcher]

LHH a beautiful working.

[Derek Hayes]

Good evening and welcome to Monsters Among Us. I'm your guide, Derek Hayes. Howdy. It's a pleasure to have you with us here tonight. And boy do I have a barn burner for you this evening. Yet another themed episode. Now this time of year gets me to thinking about growing up. And back then, August meant hard work. Farm work specifically. I grew up helping family and friends on their farms. We raised animals on our small lot, and I worked at a longhorn cattle ranch for a good four years during high school. And like I said, this time of year was one of our busiest. So with the stench of hard work in the air, I introduced tonight's theme, Paranormal Encounters on the Farm. Each and every one of tonight's entries somehow correlates with ranching, farming, raising animals, growing crops, or some combination of all of that. Now, as you're about to learn, some crazy stuff goes down on the farm. And to kick us off and to help sell my point, please welcome Brock from the state of Utah.

[Jake]

Hello, my name is Brock, I'm from Utah. I was driving up around, it had to been Idaho or Juniper. I mean it was midday, no clouds in the sky. I had a passenger with me, we're just heading down the road. I mean I hadn't been driving for too long, got my license a little late. But anyway so I was going nice and slow heading down the road and I swore I seen this airplane had to be about three quarter the size of a just a regular passenger airplane, but it was just hovering above the ground, had have been about 100, 200ft above the ground. Thing wasn't moving forward or backwards and I mean I was looking at it and looked at my passenger and my little brother and said hey, what is that like, is that thing moving? As I'm trying to pay attention to the road, you know. And he looked over and me and he didn't say Nothing for about 30 seconds. Just glancing at it. I got a couple more looks at it and there's just a plane floating in the sky behind this barn. Weirdest thing I've ever seen. I heard something referenced on this other show, Astonishing Legends. Someone seen something. I guess the same up in Washington or something, but I mean, I know I wasn't crazy, but just nothing made sense. Anyways, keep it up and yeah, let's keep it spooky.

[Derek Hayes]

A shout out to our friends over at Astonishing Legends. And thank you, Brock, for calling in an airplane hovering over a barn. Well, believe it or not, this one has been reported before. And believe it or not, this one is also 100% explainable. Like I said, I've had dozens of reports just like this one. And I was actually lucky enough to experience the phenomena myself once while driving along the 10 freeway in Ontario, California, right there along the airport. You see, this is an optical illusion called the parallax effect. And it all has to do with your perspective and the movement of both you, the witness and the plane itself. If you really want to understand the concept, check out tonight's show notes because I've included additional information there. But sadly, Bronk, this one is explainable. But I can't say the same for the remainder of tonight's tales. Take this next one, for example. A wild one from a familiar voice. Please welcome Cindy from Indiana, back to the program.

[Cynthia Catcher]

Hi. This is Cynthia Catcher and from Avon, Indiana. Back in the 1980s, when I was a young kid, my grandparents had a farm in Randolph County, Winchester, Indiana. And that weekend was near fall, and we didn't allow hunting on the farm. But evidently poachers were there hunting bear and deer and stuff. And my dad didn't allow hunting on his farm. And anyway, guess what we found in the shed? A mother Bigfoot was hiding with her baby and they were terrified. The mother's leg was trapped in the bear trap and dad helped free them. But what was so unusual about this, guys, is she was an albino bayfoot. That means she was all white with pink eyes and so was the baby. The baby was about a couple months old. You know, my dad had a dog with us. It was a dachshund and her name was Sandy. But anyway, I adopted a Bayfoot family for the weekend. We went back to the hotel in Winchester and got some more food. And guess what else there was in the vicinity. UFOs can sometimes be detected or not detected. There was a real ufo, but it was undetected at the time because it was transparent. Nobody can see it. So we were wondering, do Bigfoot come from this region or are they from the outer region? You be the judge. Where did these two creatures come from? Were they really Bigfoot? You decide. Thank you for your time.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Cindy. You heard the lady folks. You can decide where these entities came from. But before you go writing anything off, I will remind you that there are many researchers and quote, unquote experts out there that will tell you the very same thing that Cindy just did. That the creature that we know as Bigfoot or Sasquatch is in fact some sort of alien being transported by the very same UFOs that have been reported for going on 80 years now. Now, how these creatures are smart enough to travel all this way but not get themselves out of a bear trap, that is beyond me. But either way, we enjoy the story, Cindy, and we hope you're doing well up there. And thank you again for sharing the call. And folks, I have a lot more to offer coming up, but first, a quick message from tonight's sponsor. Now, as I get older, I keep thinking I really should go to the doctor more. You know, to deal with things like lower back pain, sleep trouble, and to keep up with my general wellness. But it can be tough to get a doctor these days. The system makes it feel impossible to find the right doctor for my needs. Well, that was until I found ZocDoc. ZocDoc is a free app and website where you can see, search and compare high quality in network doctors and click to instantly book an appointment. You can filter for doctors who take your insurance or located nearby who are a good fit with your medical needs and are highly rated by verified patients. There are over 100,000 doctors across every specialty from mental health to dental health, primary care, urgent care, and more. And most importantly, appointments made through Zocdoc happen fast, typically within just 24 to 72 hours of booking. You can even get same day appointments. Before using Zocdoc, I had to wait over four weeks for an appointment, which would often stop me from even bothering to get the care that I needed. But with Zocdoc, there are no long waits on hold because everything is done online. Plus it's completely free to use. It's just so easy. So stop putting off those doctor's appointments and go to Zocdoc.com MAU and find and instantly book a top rated doctor today. That's z o c-o c.com forward/MAU zocdoc.com forward/MAU There is also a link in the show notes.

[Jake]

And will consistently deliver better than restaurant.

[Derek Hayes]

Now let's take things up a notch, shall we? From wild, wonderful West Virginia, please welcome Jake to the program.

[Sarah]

Hey Derek, my name's Jake giving you a call from the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. My story takes place probably 20 years ago. Where my mom lives is in a very history rich area of the state. There's a couple pretty well known towns nearby if you're a history buff Web Shepherdstown, Harpers Ferry, Sharpsburg, Maryland, different areas that were very big in the Civil War. So there's always rumors and you know, people see this and that around the area. And growing up I never really believed in any of that stuff. So taking it back when we were kids, we used to get with the neighbors on their farm and play hide and seek tag and we wait until it got dark. That way, you know, it makes it harder for everybody, makes a little bit more fun. And you know, we're kids, we like to play outside after dark. That's what we did back in the 90s and early 2000s before technology took over. Anyhow, we would get together and go down near their barn. One person would face towards the house, everyone else would hide in the field back behind them near the farming equipment, behind little sheds, things like that. So one night it's my turn to count and I was sitting on the box they had built near the ring for the horses to run around in. And I'm sitting here, you know, doing my thing, counting, facing towards the house. And off to the left, about a hundred yards from me is their barn. Oringwood sits pretty even with the front of the barn. And the barn had a really bright and I mean bright motion light on the front of it. So if you were the one that was hiding, you wouldn't want to get near that light because it's going to be a dead giveaway as to where you are. So sitting here one night, super quiet outside, all you hear is crickets and the frogs and I'm counting. And off to my left I can kind of see something and I hear audible running. And it looks like a small child, maybe 10, 11 years old, in period clothing, just running full speed towards the barn. And I sit here and I watch and I watch and then the motion light never goes off and this child runs right through the front of the bar. It was audible, I saw it with my own eyes and it never turned this light on at all. I mean, this door was closed, and it was a heavy door. You would have heard it if it opened. From then on, I believed in ghosts. Never did before. You know, it was always a story. Even tried to tell this story to the people that I was with, you know, hey, did you hear that? Did you see anything? Nobody ever saw what I saw. From that point forward, I've loved anything paranormal. You know, I always thought that if I saw a ghost, it was going to be something scary. It wasn't scary at all. I thought it was just so cool. And I've done, you know, so much research. I've watched all the shows, the podcasts. It's just something that has interested me my entire life leading up to this point. We all have that one experience that changes our minds and makes us realize, you know, there's other things out there besides just us. Anyhow, thank you, Derek. I appreciate it.

[Derek Hayes]

Well, it sounds like that was an amazing experience, so thank you for sharing it with us, Jake. And I really appreciate that you didn't find the experience all that scary. I imagine that let you better accept what you saw. It's gotta help when you take the panic element out of the equation. Now, there are a dozen different questions to be asked about this call, but there's only one that I can't help but wonder. Just who was this child ghost? Now, I've seen enough movies to know that if he ran through a barn wall, that would suggest that whoever he was, he occupied the space before the barn ever existed. So if you can date the barn, Jake, it might just give you some clues as to when this former human roamed the earth. Now, regardless of all that, it was a great story. We thank you again, Jake, for taking the time to share it. And folks, if you have a story you would like to share here on the program, give my hotline a call at 888-608-night. That's 888-608-NIG-H T. Or record your story on the voice memo app on your phone. I believe every phone automatically has an app like this, by the way. At the very least the iPhones do. Anyway, record your story on that app and just email it to me at monsters among us podcastmail.com and don't forget to have your youngsters share their stories. Monsters Among Us Junior begins in just a few short weeks, and I'll be making an announcement on that coming up on Thursday, so get those calls in as well. 833 MAU, kids. And the email is monsters among us. Jrmail.com we're really looking forward to hearing from all of you. Now if you do call in, it just might end up on the air just like our next caller. Sarah all the way from Florida.

[Cynthia Catcher]

Hi, Derek. This is Sarah from Florida. I live out in central Florida in what used to be agriculture land, and before that it belonged to Native Americans. So it was ranch land and then got divided up into large lots of. So that's who I'm thinking is haunting the area I'm in as a former rancher. And my former neighbors, one of them was going through some real hard times. And she said she was sitting on her couch crying and just having a hard time. And someone sat down next to her, nobody there, and put their hand on her shoulder. It was real comforting for her. Then they lost their home and moved, and a new neighbor moved in. And before you know it, he was going through some hard times, too. His wife left him and he came over and asked me if I had ever heard of anything weird happening over there. And I'm like, oh, what do you mean? And he said that he was sitting on the couch really depressed, and somebody sat down next to him and put their hand on their shoulder in a comforting way. So I told them that I think it's a rancher that lives in the area. Once I was asleep and something woke me up, and it was this old man that was leaning over looking at me. All I saw was the top half of his pajama tops, this old balding man kind of staring down at me. And I just thought, I'm not seeing this. And I just pulled blankets over my head. But I knew I'd seen it. And another time, my husband was going to be burning some things, brush and so on, and I told him, stay out there and watch the fire because it makes me really nervous. So I was out doing something and I came walking back and there he was standing there, you know, watching the fire. His back was to me. He had on his flannel shirt that he always liked to wear. So then I went into the house and he was in the kitchen. I'm like, who was that out there? Did you just come in? He goes, no, I've been in here all this time. So I looked out and there was nobody there. So I think there was that rancher again, just kind of making sure everything was safe. And I've never heard anything, you know, really bad as far as anything he's done. But I have heard from other people, you know, just seeing this old man around But I was listening about the Flannel man, and I think that the Flannel man really is about dating a ghost. Because those flannel shirts were really popular back in the 70s. Everyone wore them, especially people up in the northern states. So that may be, you know, just a way of dating your ghost. So anyway, that's my story. You have a great night and I'm enjoying your podcast keeping me company when I work late. Thank you.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Sarah. It's a fun notion to think that the old rancher is still looking over the farm, and that's an interesting position on the Flannel Man Legends. A link to the show notes if you don't know what that is. And Sarah is right, that buffalo check pattern was quite popular in the 1970s and even into the late 1980s. So perhaps she's onto something here. Maybe what we've perceived as a quote unquote flannel man was in fact simply a ghost wearing garments of his time. Regardless, it's a fun little dive into paranormal farm life, and Sarah, we appreciate you sharing that with us.

[Lumen]

Says out loud he's not honoring the trade request.

[Derek Hayes]

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[Jake]

250 today.

[Cynthia Catcher]

Who's down there.

[Derek Hayes]

Now? Sarah's story wasn't the only run in with a prior custodian of a farm. Lumen from Oregon found themselves in a similar situation. Here is that account.

[Cynthia Catcher]

Hi, Derek. My name is Lumen. I am from the state of Oregon. And it's lumen, like the measurement of light. So like lumens, my story takes place in my hometown on my home farm. I'm fifth gen farmer. Lots of history, lots of haunting. So the house that I grew up in has been rebuilt on the same foundation almost every few years just to, you know, keep it up to maintenance. And there was the original farm manager that I was told existed by my grandmother and grandfather. But my mother doesn't believe them. His name was Thomas Knights. He had unfortunately passed away on the property in the house that I grew up in who knows how long ago. He had fallen asleep in the room below where my bedroom was. And he fell asleep, smoked a cigar, and he caught on fire and burnt dead. So the story is about what I believe is his spirit. I've had too many encounters with it to name. One of my more significant ones was when I was 10. We first moved into the main house after the family got too big and my mom was the head of the farm now. And I was horrified of my bedroom, terrified. I still am scared to sleep in there to this day, but I have to soon. And the first experience I ever had was my bed was like side by side in the closet. And I remember rolling over my bed the first few nights of us living there. And there was a shadowy man that had popped out of the side of the closet and was staring at me. It was horrifying. Another time after my bed moved again, it was now angled, you know, directly in front of the closet so I could roll over and look in. This is before I had a curtain and I would see something just staring at me from that closet. It was terrible. And there used to be this Ernie doll, like Bert and Ernie, my uncle's name was Ernie. So he had a lot of Bert and Ernie dolls and stuff like that that my grandmother got him. And it was an old Ernie doll from like the 90s. And it was still in a box, no batteries. And sometimes it would start going off and singing little songs like the Rubber Ducky song and so forth. And it was terrible. And then eventually after a while, I got a current and that activity moved from the closet to even stand in front of my bed and stare at me at night. I was so used to it at that point that I would just be like, oh, hey, Tom. Which I assumed it was Tom. And I would just kind of ignore him throughout my life in that house. I would just be like, oh, hey, what are you doing here? And act like we were buddies. And my cousin told me that she had seen him once. She was running out of my sister's room. It was right adjacent from my room, and my door was cracked open. It was the daytime at this point, and she remembers looking into the door and seeing a man leaning against my bed frame smoking a cigar. And it was just a shadowy man. You couldn't really see any facial features, but he was smoking something leaning against my bed frame all casually. And my sisters used to tell me how they hated when I would leave my door open when I was gone because the shadow man would stare at them from my door frame. And it was just experience after experience in that room my entire life. My uncles had sleep paralysis. My other uncle would have night terrors and other sort of horrible dreams. And I remember when I was moving out, I was like, all right, Tom, I'm leaving. And he was not happy with me that I was leaving. And I remember feeling a sharp pain as I was getting ready to lay down for my last night in that room. And I pulled my covers and there's a long, like, three finger scratch mark down my leg. And it was there for days. It hurt. And I was like, okay, if you're so bitter about it, fine. And ever since then, when I moved out, I have had one experience, and it was at my boyfriend's house, and it wasn't Tom, but Tom had been haunting that room for who knows how long. But you smell cigarette smoke down in the room where he died. But that's my story. Thanks so much for giving us the opportunity to express ourselves. And you have a good one. Thanks, Derek.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Lumen. I know buying old farms and turning them into homesteads or country retreats or what have you is very popular these days. Sarah and I have even toyed with that prospect ourselves. I would absolutely love some acreage and a big old barn in which to build projects. That concept is very appealing. But spaces like that are few and far between here in SoCal. And though MAU is a relatively large paranormal podcast, it's certainly not large enough for us to afford to do something like that. So that dream will continue to be a dream. But that may be for the best, because as we just learned from Sarah and Lumen, the previous tenants of these spaces have a hard time letting go of the land that they cared for for all those years. So sure, you'd be getting a lot of land in a big old farmhouse, but you also might be getting a new unseen roommate, one that doesn't appreciate you sleeping in. So thank you again, Lumen, for sharing your account. We truly appreciate that you've called in. Now maybe you're as curious as I am here on the connection between farming and the paranormal. So we did a little bit of research on our end and we managed to track down a list of the most haunted farms here in America. Now the following information is courtesy of morning ag clips.com and here are the top five. Number five is the Conjuring House, aka the Old Arnold Estate, which was built as a farmhouse back in 1736. Located in Harrisville, Rhode island, the Conjuring House is infamous for reports of ghostly apparitions, violent poltergeist activity, and a malevolent spirit believed to be linked to an accused witch named Bathsheba Sherman. Number four is country legend Loretta Lynn's plantation home, Hurricane Mels. This Tennessee ranch is said to be haunted by Confederate soldiers, a mourning lady in white named Beulah Anderson, and weird electrical occurrences like a chandelier stained lit during total power loss. Coming in third is the infamous John Bell Farm. The Bell Farm, located in Adams, Tennessee, is the home of the infamous Bell Witch. The Bell family was plagued by poltergeist activity, disembodied voices, physical attacks, and a spirit that claimed responsibility for the death of the farm's namesake. And the second most haunted farm in the US according to more [e-mail] is the Myrtles Plantation. Built in St. Francisville, Louisiana in 1796, the Myrtles is reportedly haunted by at least a dozen different spirits, including Chloe, a turban clad former slave accused of poisoning the household, the ghostly steps of William Winter as he died on the 17th stair, phantom children, moving objects, handprints in the mirrors, and a piano that plays all by itself. And finally, the most haunted farm in America is one that I don't think I've even ever heard of. The Haunted house near Hinsdale. Here is what I've learned. Back in the 1970s, the Dandy family moved into a quiet farmhouse near Hinsdale, New York, only to be met with shadowy figures lurking in the woods, disembodied chanting echoing through the hills, and strange forces that left claw marks and bruises on their bodies. Even after a priest attempted an exorcism, something stayed behind. And to this day, investigators say the house breathes with a darkness that watches from the trees. And that's in the western New York area, if you're interested. Now, the full list is, of course, posted in tonight's show Notes. Now, folks, it's hard to have a farm without a few animals. And I think Sylvia can help us fill our animal quota for this evening. So please join me in welcoming her to tonight's program.

[Cynthia Catcher]

Hi, Derek. This is Sylvia from North Jersey. I live in a town in North Jersey that's pretty old, 1800s, early 1900s. Most of the houses were built. I live in a ranch that was built in 1985. I live in a beautiful street. There's lots of trees and this old stone fence. So it really has an old world feel to it. And I have a really big backyard. When we moved in about 15 years ago, you know, I'd wake up in the middle of the night sometimes and I would hear kind of metal banging, you know, like a blacksmith, you know, the bellows and the sound of someone making horseshoes. You know what that sounds like? We've all seen a lot of movies with that, you know, and that would happen off and on for a couple months. After a couple months of living in the house, I redid my bedroom and I took some before and after pictures. And when I took the pictures, I noticed there was a lot of orbs in the room. And it was very, very strange. But, you know, I just didn't think anything of it. I thought maybe it was some water on the lens or something like that. So I have a friend who has actually a mediumship school, and sometimes I go to her events to really support her and all the mediums that study under her. And they do a lot of gatherings where they do readings. And I had gone to several of them over a course of maybe five years. And every time I went to these meetings and someone would do kind of a reading, they would say something about a lot of horses, that a lot of horses are around me. And it just didn't happen once. It happened many, many, many times. And so it kind of became a joke between my friend and I. Like, whenever someone mentioned horses, I would kind of raise my hand because it was always, you know, you have several horses near you and what have you. One time a medium had said that there's a bunch of horses around me and they look to me for comfort because there's another entity that was really abusing the horses in life and now in death, was keeping them kind of, I guess, from crossing over. I'm not quite sure But I felt very, very bad about that. So my friend did a kind of a release, some kind of ritual that helped release the horses. And so I felt kind of better after that. But, you know, it was very interesting. Some time after that, I was talking to my neighbor over the fence and I was telling her this interesting story of everything that had happened, you know, and my neighbor had said, well, that's really odd, she said, because when we moved in and her house is, I think from the early 1900s, she said, we found all of these horseshoes when we were digging up the property to plant flowers and what have you. She says, I have a couple. Do you want one? So I took one and I still have it to this day. So I thought that was pretty odd too. And she added that, she said, across the street that was the big house, you know, there was a very large house across the street from me up on a hill. And she said, well, that's where the big family of this town lived. And next door was the carriage house, which is now a residence. She said, so maybe this was the area that they kept the horses in. I mean, it only made sense. So I just thought all of that kind of lined up and it was so interesting. After my friend did the rescue kind of for these horses and she said that she got rid of this man. I didn't have any more sounds in my house or I didn't have any more orbs showing up. And so hopefully they're at peace. Thank you. And I really love the podcast and thanks for giving everybody a platform. You take care. Bye bye.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Sylvia. Absolutely incredible. I particularly enjoy how it all sort of weaves together because it sounds like all the homes in that little area were once part of this larger estate in one form or another. So it makes sense that this activity would pop up from time to time. And like I said, what you've just reported is incredible stuff, Sylvia. And of course we appreciate you taking the time to share your experience here with US, starting at 6am.

[Cynthia Catcher]

For details.

[Tanya]

Hear the radio ads about the IRS.

[Cynthia Catcher]

US.

[Derek Hayes]

Now, it's not all ghosts and ghouls that are infesting these farms. Sometimes a beast or two slips within the fences. Take Dom's experience for example. He's calling in all the way from New Zealand.

[Lumen]

Hey there, Derek. This is Dom here from the UK originally, now living in New Zealand. But I'm listening to season nine episode 11, which featured quite a lot of black cat sightings. Thought I'd ringing with my own that me and my dad witnessed probably when I was about 14. So we were out one night stalking a fox. Just keeping the fox population down around our pheasant pens, which is kind of like for the driven chutes. But yeah, the foxes have been rampant that year. So we'd been out most nights just, yeah, flashlighting foxes and knocking them over with a 223 or 556 as you guys call them. Thought we'd seen a fox. It wasn't a fox. What did come out from the back of the bush line was a 3ft tall big black cat, probably 5-6ft long, with a tail as thick as like a two liter Coke bottle. So a real big brushy tail. And it was stood against a dry stone wall. Typically those are about four, four and a half to five feet tall. This thing was a foot below the wall. We both looked at each other, obviously looking for a fox. And then this thing came walking out. It walked for, I want to say probably 60 meters. We flashed it up with the rifle and the big candle power sort of flashlight that we were running at the time. I think it was million candle power. So yeah, we had a clear sight of it in the darkness. Watched it for a good 20 seconds walking along the bottom of this field, about 120 meters, 150 maybe to the bottom of the field. And this is in West Yorkshire, a little place just outside a village called Clayton West. And yeah, we were not expecting to see a big black cat, knowing that I think in the 70s that licenses for all sort of wild animals got kind of banned. And most people that did keep them kind of just opened their pen and gave them a shoe. Watch this thing, like I say, walked for probably 50, 60 meters along the bottom of this field. We'd had a round chamber thinking that there was a fox coming through because we'd been squeaking foxes for the last hour in that field. And yeah, this thing came walking out and just as we were about to kind of re. Flash the light, we'd been watching it typically turn the light off, chamber you round, turn the light on, take the shot. We'd done the first half, came to put the light back on it. And just as we'd put the light on for about a second, watched it bounce straight over this four and a half feet dry stone wall. One jump. Never saw it again. We did see signs of, I don't know, predation of not typical, sort of what we'd find from a fox, that is claw marks. Probably seven feet up a big old spruce tree. And then on A bit of fallen timber, like an old bough going over a river system. End of that, there was a big old hare. So that's kind of like what I guess you'd call it jackrabbit in the us. Pretty big old hair just stashed at the end of a log, like something had been up there just eating it. And at the base of that, another tree in the spruce. Like I say, just the big old pole rake marks where I was like, okay, we've got something else in this wood that's not generally seen or sighted. So, yeah, cheers to that. Okay.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Tom. The amount of evidence supporting the claim that there are big cats in parts of the UK is downright overwhelming. I'd say even more so than here in the States. And I believe there's even been big cat DNA collected there in the UK somewhere. Though officials there still maintain that there is no breeding population of these animals. Though for the life of me, I cannot understand why. I don't see any issues assuming they can find one another. So while your experience is very much impressive, Dom, it is not at all that surprising. But we thank you for sharing the story with us nonetheless. And the fact that it could be explainable doesn't diminish the fact that but the encounter was downright eerie. Thank you again for calling in. Now folks, before we continue here, I wanted to announce that our shop has officially reopened. Not only that, but we've also debuted our brand new Halloween design for 2025. An amazing piece of work by an artist that I've admired for a long time now, Mr. Sam Hymer. Now, the artwork, of course, printed on our high quality blanks, features Mothman and Sasquatch lighting. A classic Jack o' lantern. It's perfect for the spooky season, which coincidentally is right around the corner. So go to monsters among us podcast.com and click the Shop tab to get full access to the this design. And when you're done shopping around our page, be sure to check out Sam Hymer's art. It truly is some of my favorite stuff on the Internet. You can find a link to his work in tonight's show notes. So a huge thanks to Sam for putting magic to paper for us and a huge thanks to you for supporting our show. Now again, to get that T T shirt or any other number of MAU themed items, just visit our shop at monsters among us podcast.com and click the Shop tab. And while I'm at it, a big welcome to my mom, Holly, back in Ohio. She's officially taken over all shipping duties. So best of luck to you, mom. Now back to the action. And this next entry takes us back to the barn. Please welcome Ty out of that state up north.

[Jake]

Hey Derek. This is Ty. I reside in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and where this story takes place. When I was in high school, probably back around 2015, 2016, I worked on this small dairy farm. Small operation, maybe 100 cows milking. It was a morning milking shift. The shift started like 4 o' clock and I get up, go to the farm, get ready. They're probably around 3:15 towards the winter. So it's like still pretty dark out during this time I get there. The first thing you do in the morning is you clean the pens, scrape them down. This is an old style stanchion barn. So if anyone who knows that it's like very open concept, you can see a lot in the back side of the barn there's a sliding barn door where all their other groups of cows were. And beneath that barn door there's like a foot of space where you can see into the holding pens. As I was going, I was scraping the cows down and something caught the corner of my eye. I noticed underneath the barn door there was a pair of boots walking. And I thought at first it was my boss, maybe he's there early. So I yelled my boss's name, trying to get his attention and hear anything. And then I was like, okay, got suspicious. So I peaked my head in there and nothing. But I know what I saw. It was like a pair of boots walking across behind the door. It creeped me out because it's something I didn't expect to see. And I'm not gonna lie, I was a little creeped out. So I went in our warm room for the cabs and waited for my co worker to get there. And I tried telling him the story and he didn't believe me of course. But this isn't the only occurrence that happened while I was working there. After this took place, I found out that my boss's dad actually passed away on the property while he's working because he used to own the farm. He had a heart attack all back. And then this next part of the story took place probably about maybe six months later. And I actually had people with me to witness this. We're sitting there, it was me, my one program, we were training a new guy. We're just getting started probably around 4:30 in the morning, still dark out, and we're good and going milking and you know me and my other coworker talking to the new guy, just, you know, trying to learn thing about him, you know, make a good co worker. All of a sudden we're all sitting there and we hear someone just yell. It was a very human kind of older person voice yell, get back to work. And our boss wasn't there yet. There's a lot of windows in the barn, so you can see if like someone pulls up. And all of our faces went white and we instantly went back to work and we didn't really talk about it. It scared us. It really did. It was as loud as like if I was sitting next to someone yelling. And we had no rhyme or reason for it. We know what we heard and it was just really spooky to us. And then I was telling that story to one of my other co workers and he told me that he also had some great experiences on the farm. You hear like whistling footsteps and all that.

[Cynthia Catcher]

Yeah.

[Jake]

So it's like been a lot that's happened there. But then after that incident there wasn't any much. And then I don't work at the farm anymore, but hope you can use this in one of your podcasts.

[Cynthia Catcher]

Keep it spooky.

[Jake]

Thanks.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Ty. Now, anytime I hear about a haunted barn, I can't help but think of an infamous murder and a tragic discovery made in an incredible manner. The story of the murder in the red barn. In 1827, single mother Mariah Martin was murdered by her then lover and known fraudster, William Corder, at a local landmark known as the Red Barn, now Quarter claimed that she and Martin had eloped, hoped and regularly sent letters back to her family saying she was doing well, but that the couple couldn't return to town due to Corder's dodgy history with local law enforcement. A year later, in 1828, Maria Martin's stepmother had a premonition that revealed where her daughter's body was buried. The visions came to her in dream form and seemed to convey the that Mariah was not only dead, but hidden somewhere in the now infamous red barn. Mariah's stepmother finally convinced her husband to check the grain silos at the barn where they discovered Martin's body stuffed in a feed sack. Longtime listeners of this program know him, a pretty big Tom Waits fan. Don't worry, your grandparents know who he is. Anyway, one of my favorite tunes of his is inspired by this tragic, albeit incredible legend. And I've linked to that song in tonight's show notes. But a fair warning to everyone, because it's not Something that you hear every day, unless you're me, But I've linked to it in tonight's show notes. Thank you again, Ty, for sharing your story and reminding me of one of my favorite murder ballads. Now, I think we can sneak in one more story before we have to take tonight's final ad break. So let's field a cowboy call from Mike over in Oklahoma.

[Jake]

Hello, this is Mike from Tulsa, Oklahoma. A couple days ago, me and a group of friends were just talking about our own spooky stories, and I relayed one that I thought I would like to share with you. I grew up in the beautiful state of Oklahoma, and throughout the 80s, I was living in an area called Moore. It's just south of Oklahoma City. Back then, it was a much smaller town than where it is now. In the neighborhood we lived in, it was connected to a large field. This field didn't have any kind of crop in it, but it definitely could have. Oddly enough, whoever owned that field, it was empty. There was no crops, no animals, anything in that area. But growing up in the 80s, that was an opportunity for myself and my friends to explore. And that we did. We found in the middle of this blank field a group of trees. This group of trees maybe was about the size of a football field. It wasn't that big, but just big enough for us to get in there and to explore. One day, we came across this part of the dirt mound that had a resemblance to what we described as a cowboy. It was roughly about, I would say, about five, five and a half feet long. You can definitely see where the boots would be and two legs, the torso, two arms, and what looked like a cowboy hat. So being curious kids as we were, we was like, well, how cool would this be if this was a grave of some sort, unmarked? So we decided to go ahead and see if we can find anything maybe from the land run days or something of the past. As we dug into this dirt, we didn't find anything. So we just put the dirt back. Of course, it was no longer in the shape of a cowboy, but we had fun for that day and we really liked this group of trees. We remembered how we got there and the trail we took came back a couple days, and we were thinking about making a fort in these trees. So we brought a lot of various different equipment with us and we came across this mound, and the mound was in the shape of the cowboy. Again, completely perfect, Just the same way that we found even had grass growing on it. There was no indication that we had dug up anything the only thing that changed from that point on is that we would see a cowboy type shadow figure which my friends would call a ghost. We'd see him hang around these little groups of trees. And we did end up making a fort in there. And we made like a tree fort. It went midway up this tree. I remember we were up there playing solitaire and we looked down and we saw this apparition. You know, my friends were just freaking out. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. But I've always had like a weird thing for the paranormal and strange. But I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. So I climbed down. By the time I got down the tree, the figure is gone. But in its place place were a pair of boot prints. That was enough to scare my friends away pretty permanently. They didn't want to go back to our fort. I kept visiting the location all the way up until around 88, 89. That's when we ended up moving to Houston, Texas. Now when I visit the old place and more, it's nothing but houses and developments. I don't know whatever happened to the cowboy shaped mound. I don't know if that cowboy figure still floating around never brought us any harm. But it was definitely strange. Keep it spooky.

[Derek Hayes]

Much obliged, Mike. I love the story, but I wonder if some nature artist might have created the mound. Maybe they snuck back there and built the mound with their foot or some tools or something just as a bit of a renegade art project. But of course that doesn't explain the strange dark apparition that Mike and his friends saw. Unless of course the artist was mistaken for that apparition. But I sure hope not. Because I love the idea that there is a cowboy ghost out there somewhere and that he's somehow replicating his image in earthworks. That's not something you hear about all that often. And the last thought that I'm going to leave you with here is this. If what Mike said is true and there is now a house over this very spot, I wonder if the cowboy has taken to haunting the home instead. Could you imagine walking back to your bedroom only to find that your sheets and comforter have been rearranged in the shape of a cowboy? Now, however you want to slice it. I thoroughly enjoyed this entry, Mike. So thank you again for calling in.

[Cynthia Catcher]

The realtor that sells his listings for about 6.2% more money. Never coached an NFL game in his.

[Derek Hayes]

Life as a head coach. Now the sun is setting, it's cooling off, and the dew is Thick in the air. It's just about supper time. Time for us to be making our way back to the farmhouse. Hopefully the non haunted farmhouse. Please welcome Tanya from the farming rich state of Iowa.

[Tanya]

Hi, my name is Tanya and I grew up in rural southeast Iowa on my family's 100-year-old farm. It was a mile down a gravel road and five miles to the closest town. All four surrounding sides of the property were enveloped in fields and depending on the year, it was either soybeans or corn. Corn was always a bit creepier, especially the summer after I watched Children of the Corn for the first time. But scary movie influenza aside, I have always felt like I was being watched out there to the point that I didn't realize there was any other way to feel. We lived there from the time I was a few years old until after I graduated high school. And I never could shake the feeling of being watched. Have you ever felt like there was somebody in your backseat when you're sitting in your car? Because that is exactly what it felt like. Actually, I made it a point to check my backseat repetitively when I was old enough to drive myself. So this property was poorly lit, had a large barn lot that had absolutely no lighting. So one evening, my dad asked my younger brother to go out to the barn lot and turn on a pump for the well water for our livestock. And my brother was completely terrified to do it alone. Being siblings, instead of helping him, we picked on him for being scared. He ended up going out and doing it himself. He came back in shortly after crying and screaming, saying that there was something out there. And honestly, at the time I didn't think much of it. And we chalked it up to him being dramatic and trying to get out of doing chores. So fast forward and the night of September 9th of 1999, that date will always be ingrained in my memory. My sister and I sat in our bedroom. We had our bunk beds pushed up against the window, and from both beds we were able to see out of the window. On a clear night, you could see the soft glow of the two nearest towns to our north. The first being seven miles away and the second was 20 miles away. We were looking out the window because we heard a loud bang. And while that wasn't totally out of the norm because we had large fuel tanks in the barn lot that would sometimes expand and let out a metallic boom, it still got our attention. So as we looked out the window, we saw a light in the sky. We watched as it flew east and then it stopped. It Stopped flying and just hung there.

[Cynthia Catcher]

We knew a plane wasn't going to.

[Tanya]

Be able to do that. And then it moved and it headed north and then it stopped again. And then we noticed that there were other lights in the sky and they were also stopping and zigzagging. More and more lights were popping into the sky until we counted about 30 of them. I can't tell you how long we sat there and we watched them. But eventually they started disappearing. And when they were all gone, the sky was dark again. We saw one last thing that absolutely blew our minds. A giant one, bigger than all of the other ones.

[Cynthia Catcher]

It flew over us and then it disappeared.

[Tanya]

I don't remember going to sleep that.

[Cynthia Catcher]

Night or if I slept at all.

[Tanya]

And honestly, my sister and I never really talked about it after that. I think we knew that nobody was going to believe us, and it wasn't until we both became adults. Actually, just a couple of years ago, I went and asked her, hey, do you remember that night when we were looking out the window? And she finished my sentence and said, when we saw those lights, yes. I think about it all the time. Since moving out of that house and gaining perspective that not only is it not normal to feel like you're constantly being watched, I've been building my knowledge around this area of the country. And actually, to my surprise, I found an article that claims that there are a large number of ley lines that intersect right on that property, which would explain a lot of things. With that information, I actually grabbed a friend of mine who happens to be a Reiki master and equipped to clear energies of areas and spirits, and we went out to the family farm. Our family farm is actually now abandoned. None of my family currently lives there, but we still own the property. And when we pulled up, she immediately had me stop and told me that there's a large dark mass hanging over our home. And out in front of the house is an Indian warrior spirit. This Indian is the protector of the land, and she was able to get him to help her from the spirit side as she cleared this large dark mass that hung over the old farmhouse. So while this property is currently sitting empty, and someday, even with the experiences I have had, I hope to be able to live there again with the Indian spirit's blessing.

[Cynthia Catcher]

Thank you.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Tanya, for the entry. The farm is an active place, paranormally active, as Tanya can attest, in strange sensations. Loud, disembodied sounds, strange lights in the sky. It's all creepy, but not nearly as creepy as a field full of corn. This time of year. I dare anyone to walk through or even past a cornfield at night and hear the blades rustling and see the wind move the rows and not get spooked out. And if this movie was on your rotation as a child, best of luck to you. Every child is afraid of the dark, the unknown, the nightmare in Getham, Nebraska. That nightmare is in the core. Stephen King's Children of the Core. Now it sounds like a fun place to grow up, Tanya. Ghosts, UFOs, and everything. So thank you again for calling in and sharing your experiences. And just like that, folks, our work day is over. So now it's time to get some shut eye so that we can do this all again tomorrow. But before we go, how about one more story? Please welcome Paul to tonight's program.

[Brock]

Hello, Derek. My name is Paul. This story takes place on October 7, 1984. And there's a very specific reason. I remember that date clearly, which I'll get to in a minute. I had grown up on a farm in remote northern Minnesota, and in fact, we were actually very close to Canada. And because we were so close to Canada, my parents used to go shopping up there quite a bit. It was a good spot to buy boots, of all things. And that particular day, my parents had gone up there to go shopping, and it was just me and my two other brothers left at home on our farm. And my parents were gone most of the day. After a while, the phone rang and it was them. They had called us to come and meet them for supper at a local restaurant, which is local. I mean, it was about 12 miles away, but it was local for us. So we all hopped in the car. I was the youngest of the three brothers, and I was about 14 at the time. And we were all five years apart. So my oldest brother, he'd have been 24, so he was doing the driving. You know, being up north, you know, we didn't have much to do for entertainment. However, one thing we could do is on the drive over to the restaurant, we had the option of, you know, going the main road, or we could go a back road which would take us by, you know, pretty close to a landfill, you know, where the county would collect and bury their garbage. And the road which led down to this landfill, you could look down it and see black bears. We had seen them quite often there, and it was always a thrill to see them just kind of lumbering down the road, headed towards the landfill. And anyway, we drove a mile north. We took a right, so now we're facing east, and we Drove about three miles east. This road was nothing particular about it. I know there was an old pioneer cemetery along the way which was rather unique. I mean, it was so old they had even buried people under piles of stone, which was pretty unique. We'd always just take a glance out there, and then the road would open up to a field on your left, which would be north again. But it was a rather large field. Anyway, when we got to the field, this farmer had been working on this field for several years. He had been clearing it and had piles of logs and brush and stuff which he would pile up and then burn. And, you know, when we got to this field, he was out there burning this large pile. You know, we kind of commented among ourselves, you know, it was nice to see him, you know, finally finishing up this field and burning off the last pile of logs he had, because we had been watching him do this, like I said, for many years. So we drove by the fire and we were getting excited because we just knew we were going to see some black bears on this road coming up. And the intersection which intersected on the corner of the field, it was about another 300 yards to the corner of this field where the intersection was. You would look down to the right or south. That's where you'd see the black bears walking down the road. So we get up to this intersection and we look down this road and there was nothing there. So we're like, oh, well, you know, one of those things. And so we turned left, we headed north, which would have been the corner of the field. And our attention went back out to the big fire that was going out in the field. So we looked back out in the field and there was nothing there. There was no fire, no farmer, nothing. Just an empty field. This kind of took us back. All three of us had witnessed this huge fire going out there, and we even stopped the car. You have to remember this is well before the days of any ghost hunting shows or anything like that, or before the word debunked was even uttered. We stopped the car and, you know, being three farm boys, we got out and we had to, you know, figure this out. We even walked out in that field and it was nothing but bone dry grass out there. And if you had even dropped a match, the whole place would have gone up. And we looked around, we tried to come up with a solution to this. I had turned around and looked in the woods around the edge of the field, thinking there may have been someone else with a fire around there. There was nothing, absolutely nothing.

[Derek Hayes]

There.

[Brock]

And I can still see that farmer throwing stuff onto this fire. Now, to give you a size comparison of this fire, just imagine about like two full sized pickup trucks stacked on top of each other on fire. That's just for size comparison. And the farmer, you know, he was wearing overalls, and when I saw him, he was throwing this, you know, big log up into the top of the fire. You know, when I think back and recall this, even though we were in a car, when you drive by a large fire like that, you can still feel the heat through the windshield and, you know, through the windows. And we never did feel anything like that, which, you know, I mean, we didn't think of it at the time. Recently, I had talked to my brothers about this. They both clearly remember it. And one thing our older brother never told us at the time was he goes, when we drove by that fire, he says, that farmer turned and looked at me and he was wearing a straw hat and his eyes were black. And my brother said he got the impression that the farmer kind of told him without words, basically said, I got this, Just keep going. And like I said, our older brother never told us this until recently. Now, the significance of the date, which was October 7, came into play when I was handed a book written by a friend of ours. This was about a week after the incident that my brothers and I witnessed together. We were handed this book about the fire of 1910. There was a huge forest fire that went through that area in 1910, and I know for sure it killed 27 people. And they say it killed as many as 48. But they did recover 27. And the date was October 7th, which was the exact day that my brothers and I witnessed that large fire. I don't know if that's coincidence or what, but I thought that always had something to do with it as well. So that's what my brothers and I saw. We can't explain it. So thank you, Derek, for doing this podcast. I know it's a lot of work. It's a terrific podcast.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Paul. Well, what do you think here, folks? A possessed farmer, a glitch in the matrix, a wrinkle in time, a ghost, or a simple trick of the eye? And speaking of the eyes, why and how is the farmer's eyes all black? Now, I enjoy a good mystery, and this certainly is one of those. So thank you again, Paul, for calling in and closing us out here this evening, because that's gonna do it for tonight. A big old thanks to everyone for swinging by the monsters among us. Podcast is written and produced by me, Derek Hayes. Copyright Read 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. Now give us a Like and follow on our social media accounts. Give us a like and following YouTube as well. Leave us a rate and review wherever that sort of thing is possible. And of course, don't forget to join our Discord server to get up to date conversations about the show. Now don't forget to watch our film. Go to borregotriangle.com to learn more and go to monsters among us.com and click the Patreon tab to join us in the beyond where you can get access to hundreds of hours of back content. Content that's only available in the beyond. Again, that's monsters among us podcast.com and click the Patreon tab. All right folks, I'll catch you all back here on Thursday for a brand new installment. But for now keep it spooky and have yourselves good night. It.