← Monsters Among Us
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- [00:01]
Derek Hayes
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on today's podcast. That was a smart choice. And Progressive loves to help people make smart choices. That's why they offer a tool called Auto Quote Explorer that allows you to compare your progressive car insurance quotes with rates from other companies. So you save time on research, which allows you to enjoy the savings when you choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this episode@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy.
- [00:37]
Caller
I'm here on the job site with.
- [00:39]
Derek Hayes
Dale, who's a framing contractor.
- [00:41]
Caller
Hey, good morning. Dale traded up to Geico Commercial Auto Insurance for all his business vehicles.
- [00:46]
Derek Hayes
We're here where he needs us most. Yep, they sure are. We make it easy for him to.
- [00:49]
Caller
Save on all his insurance needs, all in one place with coverage that fits his business and bottom line. Oh, I shouldn't have looked down. It's all right. We're so far up here. Look at me.
- [01:00]
Derek Hayes
Take a deep breath. Oh, I'm good.
- [01:02]
Caller
So good.
- [01:03]
Derek Hayes
Get a commercial auto insurance quote today@geico.com.
- [01:05]
Caller
And see how much you could save.
- [01:06]
Derek Hayes
Get more with Geico.
- [01:24]
Caller
Sam.
- [02:01]
Derek Hayes
Good evening and welcome to Monsters Among Us. I'm your guide, Derek Hayes. Welcome. Step on in. The more the merrier. Isn't that what they say? Well, you're gonna be glad that you pushed your way to the front this week because in celebration of the beginning of Spooky Season, I have quite a collection assembled for you tonight. And it's my understanding that there are quite a few of you here for the first time tonight. And for those first timers, just a tiny bit of background. I have a hotline. People call in their true paranormal stories and I share them here with you. Thousands of stories over the past nine and a half years, ranging from UFOs and ghosts to Dogman Bigfoot and many other terrifying specimens. Now it's a Tuesday, which means we stick to some sort of theme for the episode All Sasquatch, All Calls from Iowa or All Ouija board ghost stories or something. But what we also do are Best of episodes where I go back over the past nine and a half years and pull out my favorite calls in any certain subject. Hence the name Best of. And since this episode essentially drops October 1st, I figured we should celebrate the beginning of Spooky Season and the start of the spookiest month of the year with a terrifying bang. So I've assembled an episode that'll make any Halloween Lover titter with excitement or possibly fear. That's right. Tonight's episode is a Best of Halloween special. And to kick us off tonight, we begin in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Please welcome Kathy back to the program.
- [04:11]
Caller
Hi, Derek. My name is Kathy. I live in Virginia, and I have a story to tell. I think it's interesting, so I'd love for it to be shared and to see if anyone else had an experience like this. I was about 7 or 8 years old many, many years ago, and it was Halloween night on. My grandparents were visiting our house, and all of a sudden we heard a glass shatter. And it was on the staircase. Well, my family and I used to leave glasses, like, on the staircase, like if we were coming from the downstairs to the upstairs area. And we had a litter of kittens in the house at that point. And my mom said, oh, well, one of the kittens must have marked glass over. Well, that sounded reasonable. So anyway, that was a big deal. My mom was playing the piano, and that will come into play later. But it was very odd. So my grandfather and I are sitting at the kitchen table, and all of a sudden, again, a glass shattered. Again, Halloween night, a glass shattered in the kitchen sink. And our kitchen and our dining room were, like, adjoined. Like, you can see everything. And no one was there. No one was close. And we were just like, what in the world? And my mom was like, well, maybe it was because I was playing the piano. Maybe the notes from the piano made the glasses shattered, but I kind of really doubt that. So again, you know, no big deal. And a couple minutes later, my grandfather, you know, who had a glass of tea or water or something in his hand, and the glass just shattered in his hand, which didn't cut him, thankfully, but it was very, very strange. And that's when, you know, my mom and my dad came into the land and were like, what in the world? You know, my grandfather and I were going through, you know, my Halloween candy because we'd been trick or treating early at night. And then we heard just shattering coming from a cabinet. And we opened the cabinet, and multiple glasses had just shone spontaneously. And we have no idea why. Why this could have happened at all. It was just very, very strange. Very, very odd. And I'm just wondering if anyone else had ever had an experience like that. And I think it's odd that it happened on Halloween night when, you know, supposedly spirits can walk there. There's no way her house is haunted. My parents built that house. There's just no way it's haunted. There's just no way. So it was extremely, extremely odd and I just wanted to share that with you and hope that maybe you will share with others and see if anyone else ever had something like this happen. And I have tried to the ends of earth to think of a reason that this could have happened, but I can't think of one. So anyway, I appreciate you, Derek. I love the podcast, love it. I listen all the time, constantly looking for updates. But you know, best wishes to everyone and hope to hear from you soon. Okay, bye bye.
- [07:57]
Derek Hayes
Thank you Kathy. Now, if you want to catch all the original commentary on Kathy's call, you can hear it in full on season 16, episode 3, one of several Halloween specials we've done over the years. And if you like what you've heard so far, I have tons more in store for you tonight. But first we must take a quick break to pay a few bills. Don't touch that dial. Does your freezer look like a crime scene of forgotten leftovers? Well, mine did until I found Butcherbox. ButcherBox delivers over 100 premium protein choices straight to your door, including 100% grass fed beef, free range, organic chicken, pork raised grate free and wild caught seafood. For nearly a decade, Butcherbox has led the industry in meat and seafood that's antibiotic free, hormone free and independently verified. Every product meets the same rigorous standards whether it's filet mignon or chicken nuggets. So whether you're feeding your growing family or trying to eat clean without the stress, Butcherbox offers curated or fully customizable plans that fit your schedule and preferences. Now I live in a small town with only one major grocery store and I gotta be honest, I don't love the meat choices from there. So being able to get Butcherbox's high quality protein straight to my door is awesome and so convenient. I cook a lot and you can truly taste the difference in quality. I recently made New York strip steaks from my butcher box and it was like an expensive restaurant quality meat meal at home. As a certified B Corp, Butcherbox is committed to high standards from how the animals are raised to how their team supports workers and reduces environmental impact. Plus, every box ships free and includes members only perks like recipe inspirations, tips and exclusive deals. As an exclusive offer, our listeners can get free protein in every box for a year plus $20 off your first box when you go to ButcherBox.com forward/MAU that's ButcherBox.com forward/mai to get this limited time offer and free shipping. Again, that's butcherbox.com forward/MAU and don't forget to use our link so they know that we sent you.
- [10:42]
Caller
It's bigger than just the word or just the app.
- [10:48]
Derek Hayes
Now folks, keep in mind in these best of episodes you won't be hearing a lot from me. Making room for more Halloween themed calls like this one from Kyle in Pennsylvania and from season 14, episode 7.
- [11:08]
Caller
Good evening Derek. My name is Kyle. I am from Pennsylvania out near Philadelphia and I wanted to call in about an experience I had the other year. I don't know if it's ghostly or you know, it wasn't necessarily negative, but just some unexplained experience. It takes place at Pennhurst Asylum. It's about, I don't know, half an hour from where I live. And we were going there for. It was a group of us from where I worked and my girlfriend at the time and her friends. We were all going there for you know, like the Halloween whatever haunted house kind of thing. But we don't really like, you know, all the actors and them jumping out and you know, just giving us anxiety for no reason when we already live with anxiety every, every 10 day. So there's an option in the tickets to go on like a self guided tour. You can choose the areas of the whole grounds where you want to explore. So we chose a relate time to explore the infirmary. And you know, clearly that's supposed to be the most haunted area or whatever, so dimly lit and you know only from like natural moonlight and whatnot. And we're walking around and reading all the history and everything and we make our way upstairs and all the, all the rooms, you know, not fully sectioned off but you know, they're like old hospital rooms where you can walk into each section without a door and the walls don't go too high. So my girlfriend and I walk into one of, you know, I guess would have been a little patient's room in a corner and she's on my right and she's about, I don't know, two feet, maybe three feet away from me on the right. And we're standing apart and we're just standing there being real quiet and observing everything and all of a sudden I just hear like a little like shuffle like a foot on a dirt floor which is kind of what we were standing on. It's you know, old kind of dirty floor. And I looked over to my left and there was nobody over to my left. And I knew that, you know, it was just kind of figured it was just the two of us so, you know, I didn't know if one of our other friends had come in and was checking out where we were standing, but looked over my left and nobody was there. And my girlfriend looked over at me and she says, did you just tap me on the shoulder? I said, no. I said, did you just walk behind me? She goes, no. And I said, all right, well, we're, we're not alone. And again, not necessarily that, that was a whole like negative experience. I don't think we had anything follow us home or, you know, nothing unnerving or scary or anything, but, you know, just kind of unexplained. There wasn't anybody around us. You know, I heard a shuffle. She felt somebody on like hand tapper on the shoulder like three or four times. And I'm not Mr. Fantastic. I can't stretch my arm that far. But either way, that's my story. Thank you, Derek, for podcast. I'm recent Patreon subscriber and I appreciate everything and hopefully you can use this. Thanks. Bye.
- [14:40]
Derek Hayes
Thank you, Kyle. No better place to spend a Halloween night than an infamously haunted hospital. And it likely won't come as a surprise to know that this won't be the last notoriously haunted locale that we'll be visiting tonight. Just you wait and see. But for now, if you have a story you would like to share, give our hotline a call at 888-608-night. That's 888-608N I G H T or shoot me a voice memo to monsters among us podcast gmail.com and don't forget about monsters among us junior. That number is 833 MAU kids. And the email over there is monsters among us. Jrmail.com what are you waiting for? Because we're dying to hear from you. And speaking of dying to hear from someone, I'm dying to hear from this next caller. So please join me in welcoming Paul to the program.
- [15:51]
Caller
Hey Derek, man, have I got a story for you. I'm a long time listener, first time callers. I know that's cliche, but I've always wanted to say that. My name is Paul and I'm from Detroit. But the story that I'm about to tell you actually took place in Ferndale, Michigan. Okay, so it was Halloween night. Halloween night of all nights. 2018. I was in Ferndale, Michigan at my uncle's house and it was unseasonably warm. I remember I was out on the porch just wearing a T shirt. I was smoking a cigarette. It was about 9:30 at night. And I was just sitting there thinking about how bad I felt for all the kids because they am trick or treating so early nowadays. And I remember when I was a kid, we would go trick or treating until like midnight. So it's like 9:30pm and every single house on the block has their lights off. So the black is completely dark and completely silent. It's not a soul out. All the houses turn off their lights so the kids would stop ringing their doorbells, you know, And I'm saying about how bad I felt about that and how whack it is. And all of a sudden, something catches my eye above me. And I look up and I cannot believe what I'm seeing. Only about 100ft in the air, maybe less. Not that great at judging distance like that. And what I see is I see this ball of electricity or energy. It was a ball of amber light and. Or just gliding through the sky silently. And I just looking up in awe at this thing, and I become completely paralyzed. And I don't know if this thing paralyzed me or if, you know, seeing it was just so far outside the realm of normal reality that my body just shut down. Because I definitely felt my brain literally shut down. I've never had a sensation like this, but it felt like it shut down like a computer. Like my brain had the blue screen of death. Like from back in the day when your computer would crash. And I'm just staring at this thing and my mouth is hanging open. And as soon as I see it, it's as if it becomes aware that I'm aware of it. And like I said, it was super low in the sky. It's about the size of a basketball. And when it realizes that I see stops directly above my head. And then it just starts to slowly lower down. Then it's like probably 20ft above me. If I had a ladder, I could climb up it and I could touch this thing. I swear to God, I'm just looking at this thing and I start to feel terror. Even though this thing was so beautiful, I'm looking at it, and inside of it, it's just all this swirling amber. Like, I can't describe it as anything else besides, like, plasma or electricity doesn't even do it justice. This energy is just swirling around inside of it. And I had the impression that it was not a craft of any kind and that it was a being made of pure energy. And it lowers down to about 20ft above me. And then this is where it gets really crazy. It spoke to me telepathically it said, it's very simple what it said and that. It just said one thing, and that was it. It said, I'm allowing you to see me. And then it started to boil and undulate, and it started to turn into a shower of sparks. These orange sparks like you would see from, like, a torch cutter cutting through steel. And I was finally able to. I don't know if I was able to move the rest of my body, because I didn't. But I was able to move my head finally. And I looked down at my arms. My arms are bare because I'm just wearing a T shirt. Because, like I said, it was an unseasonably warm Halloween night. It was very warm. It was like the summer. And I'm looking down at my forearms, and I see these orange sparks just hitting the skin on my forearms and disappearing the second they hit my skin, just absolutely dissipating. And I look back up at the orb, and the orb is dissipating in this shower of sparks. It's getting smaller and smaller as it's, you know, turning into these sparks. And then all I remember is that it got smaller and smaller until it just disappeared in a point of light. And then it was just gone. And then what happened next is pretty crazy, too. I have absolutely no memory of what occurred after this thing turned into a shower of sparks and disappeared. One minute I was on my porch smoking a cigarette, and the next thing I knew, I woke up in my bed the next morning with absolutely no memory of how I got there. And I must have had six to eight hours of missing time. And another crazy thing is that I. Strangely, you know, a lot of people might think this is strange, but I never sleep in my bed. I always sleep on my couch because I like to watch TV until I fall asleep. And I don't know, I just enjoy sleeping on the couch. So I woke up in bed, like, tucked in, and with no memory of how I got there. It's been almost five years now, and I still haven't recovered any memory of what occurred after this thing disappeared. And I have no idea why it chose me. I have no idea why it was gliding through the sky silently. I have no idea what this creature was, because I do believe it was a being made of energy. I just know that I was lucky enough to encounter it. And although I felt terror when I saw it, I do feel blessed to have seen it. Anyway, that's my story. I hope you enjoy it, and I really hope to get on the show. I love your show. I Never miss an episode. I've been listening to you for years, and I just love how I've seen you progress. All right, thank you for everything you do. And I'll be calling them later with more stories because I do have more. All right, thank you. Bye.
- [22:59]
Derek Hayes
Thank you, Paul. Now, Paul's story originally aired back on season 16, episode three. And calls like this one are why I like doing these best of episodes. I'd forgotten all about this incredible call. That is, until I dusted it off for this episode. And I'm not sure how I'd forgotten. The details laid out in Paul's story are nothing short of incredible. So thank you again, Paul, for calling in. Now from season 14, episode 7, please welcome Matt back to the show.
- [23:42]
Caller
Hey, how's it going? This is Matt from PA Plymouth, Massachusetts. And my whole life, I've kind of always been intrigued and the fact that there could be things among us that we just don't really know. But this happened when I was about nine years old. It was Halloween night, which is adds on to the comedic affection, in my opinion. But you know how kids get on Halloween night when they're. When they're younger. You know, they're scared. They're scared, they're scared. You know, the ghouls, the goblins, they're out, they're thriving. But I'm laying in bed and the wind is whipping. Like, I got an older house built in 1970, so, you know, that was creaking a little. I was real scared. And I'm just staring out my window. The blinds are open, and my eyes are obviously adjusted to the dark at this point. It was like way later in the night. I'm just staring out the window at the tree line. And I'm just staring and staring and staring. And all of a sudden, like, I see the most bizarre and funny thing ever. I see what looks to be a massive ape jumped from the top of one of the trees into the air and almost kind of like hit the typical, like, gorilla fists in the air after they pounded their chest pose, then immediately dove back down into the trees. And I was absolutely shaking for a good 30 minutes, insisting I saw a ape man swing from the top of my trees in my backyard. And I live in Plymouth, Massachusetts, which is turning into more of a urban area and just very populated. So I don't know what a ape man would be doing down in the beaches city town with a mass. But hey, I saw it.
- [25:23]
Derek Hayes
Thanks, Matt, for the call. Now, believe it or not, this isn't the only hairy Halloween beast story I have to share with you this evening, and not even the only one from the base state either, but more on all that here in a bit. For now, it's time for another quick break, but I have much more to share with you when we return over.
- [25:50]
Caller
The last many, many months.
- [25:55]
Derek Hayes
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on today's podcast. That was a smart choice and Progressive loves to help people make smart choices. That's why they offer a tool called Auto Quote Explorer that allows you to compare your Progressive car insurance quotes with rates from other companies. So you save time on research which allows you to enjoy the savings when you choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this episode@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy Wish Life was all Fun and games at Chumba Casino it is. Play hundreds of free social casino games, no downloads needed, with the chance to redeem incredible double prizes. Why wait? Play your way anytime, any place only@chumbacasino.com no purchase necessary. VGW Group void were prohibited by law 21/ terms and conditions apply.
- [27:02]
Caller
Right hand lane shut down for bridge repair.
- [27:11]
Derek Hayes
Like I said, I have plenty more Halloween tales where those ones came from. Take Danny's story for example. It was featured all the way back on season eight, episode 21 of Our Hometown Legend episodes.
- [27:31]
Caller
Hi Derek, I'm calling in for your Hometown Legends episode. This is Danny from St. Michael's Maryland. But my sighting actually or my legend takes place in the next town over where I work, east in Maryland. It's a small historic town, beautiful place, but a lot of Victorian era and colonial era houses and yeah, so the legend is this old house. It's an old brick house called the Foxley Manor. Supposedly it was built, I believe in the early 1800s, possibly a little bit earlier by the Tillmans, which were a really famous family around here, very wealthy. And their claim to fame for this house was there was a disfigured son in that family and they kept him chained up in the attic. I don't know how much there really is to back that up, but that's the story that's always been told around. And it's supposedly his ghost that kind of haunts the place and there's all kinds of wacky stuff that happens in there, people seeing full bodied apparitions and stuff missing and floating around and all kinds of crazy stuff. But I actually just had an experience right outside of there I think it's Halloween night and my girlfriend and I decided it would be a cool idea to walk around Easton and check out all the local haunted spot. So it's been blowing all night. Right now it's kind of stormy. So it's a dark and stormy Halloween night. But earlier it wasn't raining, so it was perfect to walk around. But there weren't a whole lot of people out like I thought there would be. We really didn't cross paths with more than. No more than 10 people. So we're making our rounds through the town. And then I was telling her, okay, let's go close this off, right? Let's go see Foxley Manor. So we're walking down the side streets to get there and we noticed up ahead of us there's this couple that were pushing a baby stroller and they were walking fairly slow. So we kind of caught up to them right as we were getting to Foxley Manor. And the closer we got, we realized they were kind of dressed in period clothing, like Victorian era style suit. And the woman was wearing this white dress and the baby carriage looked kind of old. So we were thinking, oh, that's so cool. They must be, you know, must have gone to some kind of Halloween party somewhere. And we're dressed up like that. So we kind of went on about our business and I was telling her about the history of the place and how the kid was supposedly chained up in the attic and everything. And we were probably a good 15ft behind these people. And we walked around the side of the house and they happened to be in front of us. Well, they turned the corner to walk into the backyard and I was like, oh my gosh, they must be the people that own it. I've never actually met them. And so as we caught up to where they were and turned right, there's actually a gate right there. And it was shut. And from what I could tell, it was locked. And those people were nowhere to be found. Almost like they had just walked right on through. We never heard them open a gate and close it. We never. It was. And it happened so quick. I don't think there's any way that we would have missed them walking into that backyard. It's the strangest thing. And we both just kind of looked at each other and like, oh my God, like what happened? She doesn't really believe in a lot of that kind of stuff and I'm as skeptical as can be, but I just, I don't see any other way around it. I would love to believe that that was the owners of the house, you know, way back when the Tillmans. It was a really odd experience. I just felt like I had to share it and it happened to line up perfectly with one of the most haunted places in Easton. So I'm kind of really excited about it. Can't wait to tell everybody about it tomorrow. Tomorrow, my family. Yeah. Love the show, love what you're doing. Thank you for all the wonderful podcasting and I hope to call back with more stories. Thanks. Bye.
- [31:23]
Derek Hayes
Thank you, Danny. An experience like that would be spooky any night of the year. The fact that it happened on Halloween is just icing on the cake. So thank you again, Danny, for sharing that eerie entry. Hey folks, I have a real quick announcement to make and you international listeners better listen up. The time has finally come. At long last, you can finally watch our film Shadows in the High Strangeness in the Borrego Triangle. International listeners can go to borregotriangle.com where there is a link called International Rent Buy in the top navigation that gives you an option to rent the film for $4.99 US dollars or purchase it for $6.99. You can also access this information from the where to Stream page, where I believe you can go directly to Vimeo. Just type in vimeo.com on demand. Sorry it's taken us so long to get this film to you, but I really appreciate your patience. You've waited a long time and we were hoping for a better outlet in the end. But it's all about getting the film to those that want to see it. So pop some popcorn and enjoy. And if you live Stateside, you can still catch it on Amazon prime or Tubi or by visiting that very same website. Now next up is a rare UFO Halloween story, courtesy of Jessica in the state of New York.
- [33:13]
Caller
Hello Derek. I love the podcast. I've been listening for about three years now. My name is Jessica, I'm from Long island, and I had a kind of a weird experience about two years ago. It was in October because I was at a Halloween party and I'm a little bit of like an astronomy geek. So almost every night when I go out, I look up in the stars and I look for my favorite constellation, which is Cassiopeia. Now that night it was pretty nice out for October and I had went outside to get some air and I looked up at the sky and I'm looking for my constellation and I finally find it. And I'm staring at it for a few minutes and I realize Something. The constellation is moving across the sky way quicker than all the other stars are. I don't really know what to make of that. I had called out a couple of my other friends to come look at it and they all saw it with me. But maybe at a matter of maybe two or three minutes, the constellation was completely off the sky. But all the other stars like stayed in place and moved super slow. I figured this would be the best place to share my call and my experience. Yeah, thank you so much for listening to me and I love the podcast and I'll keep on listening. Have a good one.
- [34:45]
Derek Hayes
Thank you, Jessica. Now here's the deal with Jessica's call. I found it floating in the ether that is my MAU hard drive. It might have been featured on an early episode, or it might have been accidentally misplaced, or this might be a brand new call that I never played before. I can't seem to track down any information on this one, but whatever the scenario, we appreciate your call, Jessica. And we also appreciate the reminder that we should always look upward on Halloween night. Sure, there are creepy things in the shadows, but there are also terrifying things in the skies as well. Thanks again, Jessica for sharing the entry. Well, now might be a good time to share another story that seemingly began at a Halloween party. Please welcome Monica from season 16 episode 3.
- [35:49]
Caller
Hey Derek, this is Monica from California. Again, I've called a few times. I was just listening to season 14 episode 6 and I don't remember the caller's name, but he was talking about his ability to accidentally manipulate streetlights and he seemed to want other experiences of people who can do this, which I believe you called sliders. So I also seem to have something similar to this ability, and it's not something that I can control either. It seems to occur when I have really strong emotions. The most interesting time was probably when I had an argument with one of my friends. I don't remember. This is several years ago, I don't remember what year, but I know it was in November because it was right after her Halloween party. And the subject of the argument is not important. I was just madder than I had ever been, and my husband, seeing how angry I was, suggested that we go for a walk. And while we were walking, I was sort of just ranting and raving and as it reached a crescendo, we passed under a streetlight. And right as I was sort of getting to the height of my vent, the streetlight just popped out. And as we walked away, it popped back on and my husband is a severe skeptic. But it was coincidental enough that even he took notice and was like that. That was weird. I have also always had sort of a weird relationship with electronics and technology. It seems like they either love me or hate me. For example, when I used to work as a courier, we had these really old, like, early 2000s laptops that would malfunction all the time. Nobody could get them to work, but they would hand them to me. I would do these exact same thing they did 10 times, and poof, all of a sudden it was working again like magic. On the other end of that spectrum, the last three cars I've had, the Bluetooth in the car skips like a cd, like I'm listening to your podcast and all of a sudden it skips about two or three seconds as if it was a CD with a scratch on it does the same thing to my music and I cannot figure out why. And when I seem to get more excited or angry or some sort of large emotion, these malfunctions tend to happen more often. So it's not really super interesting. But I just thought if you were running low on calls, which I'm sure you're not, you might want to play this for that caller who was talking about the streetlights so that he knows, you know, there's more of us out here and we don't know any more about it either, and we also can't control it. But I really enjoyed his story and I really enjoy the podcast. So thank you so much, Derek. Have a great day.
- [38:46]
Derek Hayes
Thank you, Monica. You know, I wonder if a holiday like Halloween could have any effect on abilities like these. For instance, do they grow stronger as the holiday approaches or do they wane as it passes? I kind of like to think so. Sliders, street light interference. I've yet to see any proof myself that's convinced me that this power is real. But I'm hoping someday that evidence will fall in my lap and change my mind. Until then, thank you again, Monica, for sharing that fun experience. Now, folks, growing up, I'd always heard stories of the Queen Mary. My great grandmother had visited the ship there in Long beach all the way back in the mid-60s, and she brought back a little 4 or 5 inch replica of the ship that she gave to my grandparents. And us kids used to play with that little knick knack constantly. And I believe that's where my obsession began. And for me, what started with a small souvenir grew into a mild fascination. The stories surrounding the Queen Mary are some of my Favorite legends here in SoCal. So on this night of Halloween haunts, I thought it was only fitting that we make a stop at this notorious steamliner turned hotel. So here from the state of Maine and from season 16, episode three, please welcome Adrian back to the show.
- [40:31]
Caller
Hey, Derek, it's Adrian from Maine again. I want to talk about a story that happened to me on the Queen Mary, probably 2001. It was somewhere around Halloween. The only reason I remember that is because this happened around one of their Halloween events, thinking it was called Shipwrecked. I was there with a girl I was kind of dating at the time, and we had a hotel room inside the Queen Mary, and we were enjoying, you know, the mazes and the dance stuff and Halloween stuff. And somehow we ended up in some sort of argument and she left. So I proceeded to just kind of hang out, have a couple drinks, meet new friends, just kind of roam the halls of the. Of the Queen Mary. And when it came to turn in, I, you know, went into the stateroom, started to fall asleep with the TV on. And then about maybe 20 minutes in, trying to go to bed, the TV turns off by itself. So, like, that's weird. So I hit the remote, hit the power button, turns back on, start watching whatever I was watching, and then again, it turns off by itself. At this point, I'm probably a little too inebriated to deal with it. And I was just kind of over it after having a bad night. And I go over there and I unplug the television because I'm like, I just don't want to deal with this. So I try falling back asleep, and then the TV somehow turns back on to nothing but static. This is probably about 20, 30 minutes after I unplugged it, and I was like, what is going on? I bounce out of bed, I look at the tv. It's got nothing but static. The room is completely dark except for the light of the television. And I proceed to just grab them, turn on the light, grab all my stuff, put it all in my bag. And as I'm walking out, I see that the faucet is turned on by itself. And the toilet starts flushing by itself. So I just straight book it out of there. It's probably about three or four in the morning at this point, full of adrenaline. And then I walk past the front desk to tell them I'm checking out. And I tell them what happened. And the front desk person is like, oh, yeah, that. That room is severely haunted. Happens all the time. So I don't know what was going on in that room. You know, I've done tours of the Queen Mary a bunch of times, you know, downstairs in the engine room and, you know, the unevenness of some of the floors and all that stuff. But I've never had an experience experience like this where things turn on when they're not plugged in, you know, noises, all that kind of stuff, faucets turning on. It was very bizarre. But I think kind of all tracks with what goes on in the Queen Mary. All right, thank you, Derek. I appreciate it.
- [43:18]
Derek Hayes
Thank you, Adrian. No, I've stayed the night at the Queen myself, probably five or six years ago. And anytime you find yourself on the ship, it's a spooky good time. And if you haven't visited the Queen Mary yourself, I highly recommend you add it to your bucket list. And thank you again, Adrian, for sharing your story.
- [43:46]
Caller
It didn't take them so long to get comfortable and rehydrated and everything.
- [43:52]
Derek Hayes
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on today's podcast. That was a smart choice. And Progressive loves to help people make smart choices. That's why they offer a tool called Auto Quote Explorer that allows you to compare your progressive car insurance quotes with rates from other companies. So you save time on research, which allows you to enjoy the savings when you choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this episode@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy. Now our next entry takes us to a place that does Halloween, right? Wisconsin. The town of Anoka claims to be the Halloween capital of the world. They have street fairs, costume contests, and several different parades, including a nighttime parade, the Grand Day Parade, and the big parade of little people. Now, why I haven't visited up there yet is beyond me, but right now I can give you a little taste of the Halloween culture of at least the greater state of Wisconsin via Leo from season 16, episode 3 he has something to Wet Our Beaks On.
- [45:23]
Caller
Hi, I'm a big fan of your podcast. My name is leo. I am 13 years old and I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In October of 2022, I went on a Halloween tour in my town where I live. And once we were going to say, halfway through it, we got to this church and the woman who was in charge of it was explaining that right across the street from the church used to be like a funeral home. There were like, they did stuff with dead bodies, all that. And the man who owned it had an Apprentice and the apprentice actually committed suicide. So I'm listening to this and I'm like, oh my God, that's terrible. And I see across the street an odd black orb just floating there. It's not shiny or whatever, it's just a black void across the street in the air. And I am like shocked by this. And these other people who are on the tour turn to me and my mom and they say, oh my God, did you see that? And I say, a black orb? And they say, yes. So we have both seen the exact same black void. And I get home and my mom googles black orb or like black void meaning like what it would mean what type of ghost it was. And it is very well linked with suicides. So there is no way that could be a coincidence. Anyways, that was my story. Once again, I love your podcast. Bye.
- [47:17]
Derek Hayes
Thank you. Leo. A little bit ago we heard from Paul who claimed to have seen an amber colored orb on Halloween. And now we have your black orb story, which also just happens to have happened on Halloween. What do you think folks? Is there a connection there perhaps? Well, it's fun stuff regardless of where it came from. We thank you again, Leo for calling in. Folks, don't forget to visit our merch shop, monsters among us podcast.com and click the Shop tab to start shopping. We have all kinds of goodies to offer, so grab yourself some candy corn or a pumpkin beer and do some retail therapy tonight. We sure would appreciate it. Again, that's monsters among us podcast.com and click the Shop tab. You know, I've actually visited the location location of this next entry just two short years ago. My dad and I took a tour of this facility a couple of Octobers ago, scratching off a location I've been wanting to visit since I first heard about it in high school. So here from my boyhood home of Ohio is Michelle from season two, if you can believe it. Episode seven.
- [48:44]
Caller
Hi, my name is Michelle. I live in Mansfield, Ohio and I have kind of a fun Halloween themed ghost story for you guys. Back in 2006, I applied and was hired to work at the Mansfield Reformatory for their haunted house that they put up every year. Mansfield Reformatory is very well known because it was used in Shawshank Redemption and is also known to be one of the most haunted places here in Ohio. So it's a big tourist attraction and every year they do a haunted house there. So the haunted house gets started September's the setup time and then by the beginning of October is when they actually really get Going with the haunted house. Before I started working there, I had heard rumors that people had had incidents. Weird noises, the cell doors and some of the blocks trying to close with the haunted house workers still inside, things like that. So I went in, kind of already nervous, you know, just because I am a believer. And you never know what's going to happen. It always catches you off guard. So where I was actually working in the solitary confinement area, which is in one of the lower regions of the prison at the beginning of September, there were three workers in this long narrow hallway. So I was the first person closest to the entrance door. We had someone in the middle and someone at the very end to get people jump scares. About halfway through October, one of the co workers had a family emergency and had to quit. But so it was just me and another girl down there by ourselves. So I stayed at the beginning of the cell block. She was at the end. The closer we got to Halloween, we started having more and more reports of, you know, because people would leave feedback with the people who put on the haunted house and they would be like, yeah, you know, those girls down there were scaring the crap out of us and stuff. But that person who was in the middle of the hallway really got me. And what scared us the most about those kinds of comments was the fact that where they were talking about being scared at is so the hallway is already narrow and then there's an actual doorway built into the middle of the aisle and you kind of have to funnel in and almost go one at a time through this doorway because there's just not a lot of room. So the fact that a worker could be hiding in that exact spot and jump out and scare someone is basically impossible. I mean, we had a lot of fun. I personally didn't have anything mess with me me, but I think it was out of respect because I understood, you know, the history of the prison. But I just wanted to share that with you because it's one of my favorite memories of Halloween. And I love your guys podcast. Who knows, maybe I'll call back soon with another fun story. Thanks.
- [51:15]
Derek Hayes
Thank you, Michelle. The unique thing about our visit to the Ohio State Reformatory was that they were all set up for their yearly Halloween event, Blood pressure prison. So instead of getting the normal tour, we were taken to some of the out of the way places that normally wouldn't be included in the standard visit. So I can say that that was pretty interesting. We didn't go back for the haunted house, but a small part of me sort of wished we had. Now, believe it or not, this isn't our last story that takes place in a Halloween haunted attraction that was not the oldest call I have to feature here tonight. But before I can get to those milestones, I first need to take one last break here this evening. So don't go anywhere. We'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on today's podcast. That was a smart choice. And Progressive loves to help people make smart choices. That's why they offer a tool called Auto Quote Explorer that allows you to compare your progressive car insurance quotes with rates from other companies. So you save time on research, which allows you to enjoy the savings when you choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this episode@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Out of available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy. All right, I'm going to get to that aforementioned call in just a moment. But first I think we need to share this creature feature from Canada in season 14, episode seven. Please welcome back to the program.
- [53:19]
Caller
Hi, Derek. This is Dylan Sears from Ontario, Canada, and I live in Woodstock, Ontario. I've been into the paranormal my entire life. I've had sleep paralysis. I've seen spooky stuff. But it was Halloween, like, around that time in October, and this would have been around 2020, I believe. And I took my girlfriend at the time, my nephew, my dad, and my brother out to look at the courthouse in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada. You can go on Google, like, that's okay. You can use all that information. If you look it up, it's like an old stone building. It's beautiful. But the history behind the building is the architect that built it, he wasn't paid enough. So the gargoyles, he put on the building, he made the monkeys. And you can go around. So my whole life I've been counting these monkeys. But the story gets even weirder after this because I took them out and there's like an old jailhouse. So we're just, like, going for a little ghost walk. And I walked off by myself down to, I'd say the west side of the building. And I really encourage people to pull up a photo of this building. But there's a very massive tower on this courthouse. And as I walked around the edge of it, I looked up at the sky and I saw this thing flying in the air. I can't explain it, really. It sounds ridiculous, but it was. It looked like basically like a flying monkey, but it had, like, legs Like a human. It had a wingspan, I'd say about 8 to 10ft. And it was like a. It was like a brownish tinge. And it flew over a tree. And I ran around the building. I have witnesses that saw me freak out. I wasn't trying to freak anybody out. And I watched it flap off and then go off into the trees. And I haven't seen anything since then. Yeah, I'm still shook to this day. Like that happened two years ago now, give or take. And I don't know what I saw. Like. Like I'm not the type. Like I didn't believe in any. Like I've had sleep paralysis, leaving ghosts and stuff. But I saw this thing and it was very strange. I really don't know. But thank you. I love your show. I listen to it. Like literally everything that comes out. I've heard it all being real. With you coming you from Ontario, Canada. Bye bye.
- [55:41]
Derek Hayes
Thanks, Dylan. Good old Bat Squatch. On Halloween, no less. An ape like bat, winged, floating or flying creature seen in places like Washington State, South Texas, and apparently parts of Canada as well. A creature that seemed to have a reputation for attacking witnesses. It's certainly not something you want to run into on a dark, dreary All Hallows Eve. But it is exactly the kind of thing we want to hear about here on the program. So a huge thanks Dylan for taking the time to share it here with us. I'll never turn down a good Bad Squatch story. And folks, that takes us to tonight's final submission. Now, what makes this next call so special is. Well, it's a number of things. For starters, it's a very old call. I first shared it back on season one, episode four. Back when the show was a hint of what it is today. But not only that, but this call is also one of my very first Bigfoot submissions. Back in those days, it was a lot of ghost stuff and UFOs. Cryptic gold like this only came around every once in a while. So that certainly makes this call special to me. But the thing I remember the most about this story is the subject matter. It was downright terrifying. So without further ado, from season one, episode four, nearly 10 full years ago, please welcome Anonymous out of Massachusetts.
- [57:34]
Caller
Hi, I'm calling from Massachusetts. Just wanted to leave a story that I thought you guys might enjoy. It's a little strange. I'm a performer who's worked with a couple of different theater companies and things here in Massachusetts. And in 2001 I was working with a local Halloween attraction that used to Be done out in the campground out here in western Massachusetts. And the way it worked was we used to take the tour groups going through the campground, and there were certain stations that we had puppets, either full size puppets that were the same size as the performers, or much larger than the performers that we would step up and get inside to. As each group of people came through the woods. As they got to each of our stations, we would get into our performance positions and turn lights on that would illuminate the area and then do our performance, and then they would move on. And because we were puppeteers, we had entirely black clothing on, Black shoes, black pants, black sweatshirts, and these sort of facial masks that we could see out of, but you could not see in. So when the lights were off and everything was dark and we were sort of sitting alone, we were fairly still. We were very hard to see, obviously. So one night, a couple of weeks into the performance schedule, I was waiting for my tour group to come through for the next part of the performance and kind of just looking around the area, you know, waiting for the signal to get ready to go. And I looked over into a stretch of trees that were bordering the top of a small hill to my left hand side. The skyline was fairly light for being kind of country darkness, because a few miles outside of the campground was a small city. So you could kind of see a little bit. And we had a full moon or close to full moon. So it was fairly light out for being as dark as it was. And I noticed when I looked over that there was a figure. I thought at first maybe I was seeing a tree a little bit weird or something, but it was a figure standing there. Very, very tall, very broad shouldered, Gave me the impression of almost like a football player wearing football shoulder pads. And there had been rumors at the time that there might be some homeless folks that were living on the campground. So I stayed very still. I was pretty afraid at first that maybe this was someone who meant us harm. And this figure just sort of stood there. They were maybe about 50ft away from me, and I was sitting on the ground, up against a tree, waiting for my signal, as they said. And they just stood there looking around, looking sort of over in our area where the puppets were set up without moving much. And then I got the sort of signal over my walkie talkie that the next door group was coming through. And as soon as the walkie talkie sort of came to life and sort of made the, you know, the little beep beep noise it would make to let me know something was coming through. The figure simply turned around and walked away. And it was very, very strange. I talked to the person that ran the attraction that night. We sort of went over and had a look around and we couldn't find any signs really of anyone passing. But I did notice that sort of the head of this, whoever it was or whatever it was, was very close to a low tree branch and we had measuring tape so we could figure out where to set the puppets up and make sure everything was going to be fit into where it had to be. So we dropped a measuring tape up there the next day off a ladder and the branch was roughly about seven and a half feet off the ground. This was an extremely tall individual and very broad shouldered. So I don't know if this was someone playing a joke on us or if I saw something along the lines of Sasquatch. I do know that we have some stories down here about Bigfoot type creatures running around out in the woods, so who knows. But I really enjoyed the show and I wanted to share that story with you. I hope you might be able to use it or at least find it amusing. Thanks so much. Keep up the great work. Bye bye.
- [61:28]
Derek Hayes
Thank you caller. I sure hope this caller is still listening to the program. That would be pretty neat. And I bet it would be neat for her to hear her experience again after all those years. Now, when it comes to stumbling upon a Bigfoot, there are probably a million places you could think of that might be more plausible than a haunted attraction. But then again, if I was Sasquatch living in those woods and suddenly there were lights, fog machines and screaming children everywhere, I would probably go investigate as well. So I guess the creatures might motive sort of checks out here. Seems like normal behavior to me. But regardless of the who, what, where, when and how, this was an incredible story and one that has stuck with me for going on a decade now. So one more huge thanks to our anonymous caller for taking the time to share the call not only with us here tonight, but all the way back in 2016. And another huge thanks to not only the rest of tonight's callers, but you listeners as well, because that's gonna do it for this Best of Halloween episode. I hope it was more treat than trick for you 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. And don't forget to check us out on social media. Don't forget to follow us on YouTube, don't forget to leave us a rate and review, wherever that sort of thing is possible. And why don't you go ahead and join our Discord while you're at it now you can also catch the show where every Saturday evening at 10pm Eastern on the Unex digital network. Just visit onxnetwork.com to tune in. And lastly, tonight's score was provided by Iron Cthulhu, Apocalypse Code at Music and Carl Casey at White Bad Audio. Now folks, don't forget about our film I just talked about it a little bit ago that Shadows in the Desert and go to borregotriangle.com to tune in. And lastly, join us in the beyond the after show we put on each and every Thursday directly after the main program. Visit monsters among us podcast.com and click the Patreon tab to learn more. Alright folks, that's all I have for you for this one, but I'll catch you back here on Thursday with a little something special that I promise you won't want to miss. But until then, you keep it spooky and of course have yourselves a good night.
- [64:41]
Caller
Sa.