S20 Ep14: Men in Black, visitations from the beyond & the entity with vortex eyes (Sn. 20 Ep. 14)

Summary

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Monsters Among Us – Season 20, Episode 14: Men in Black, Visitations from the Beyond & Entity with Vortex Eyes

Release Date: November 27, 2025
Host: Derek Hayes
Podcast Flavor: True, first-person paranormal stories curated and introduced by host Derek Hayes, featuring atmospheric narration and incisive commentary.

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Episode Overview

This Thanksgiving special episode of Monsters Among Us unlocks two "Beyond" segments from previous aftershows, featuring listener-submitted stories of the paranormal. From chilling encounters with shadowy entities and emotional visitations from the recently departed to brushes with legendary Men in Black and unexplained aerial phenomena, the episode weaves together eerily personal and sometimes uplifting accounts sure to haunt listeners over the holiday. Derek Hayes interjects with empathy, skepticism, and just the right sense of spook.

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Key Stories & Discussion Points

1. Sabrina’s Entity with Vortex Eyes (California)

[03:24–11:09]

• Sabrina shares her lifelong ability to sense entities, describing a recent nighttime encounter: a calm, cloaked female spirit at the foot of her bed, resembling moonlight, and a darker, male silhouette crouched above her bedroom door, wearing a bowler hat and banging his head.
• Recalling her journals, Sabrina connects this entity to a vivid, years-old lucid dream: a shadowy man in a hat and suit with vortex-like, red swirling eyes. In the dream, the man conveys cryptic encouragement and wisdom about her emotional healing.
• The dream left such a mark that she took it to therapy and sketched what she remembered.
• Sabrina is comforted, not fearful, and curious about the crossover between dreams, visitations, and the experiences of other listeners.

Notable Quote:

“His eyes were like red swirls or vortexes... It just felt like he had some sort of wisdom to impart to me... He says, ‘Ah, yes, you are aware of your mistakes. You are happy now. Well done... you are moving on.’”
— Sabrina, [08:12]

Host Insight:
Hayes remarks on “an entity with vortexes for eyes” as a unique addition and muses about the borderlands between dream, hallucination, and supernatural encounter.

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2. Katie’s Haunted House & The Bad Man in the Closet (Wisconsin)

[13:28–22:37]

• Katie details escalating paranormal events centering around her youngest daughter:
  • Her daughter conversed with her deceased grandmother (“Nana”) whom she’d never met.
  • Nightly terror over a “bad man” in her closet—a tall, dark figure in a hat (echoing the Hat Man archetype).
  • Poltergeist-like activity: heavy boxes moving themselves downstairs, camping gear mysteriously thrown from storage rafters.
  • Scratches on both Katie’s own arm and her daughter’s face—three long red marks, appearing while awake.
• Desperate, Katie calls in a local pastor for a blessing. The family moves out, after which disturbances stop (though her daughter continues experiencing spiritual sensitivities).

Notable Quote:

“She would scream and scream... ‘The bad man's in my closet. The bad man's in my closet. He’s coming out.’”
— Katie, [15:32]

Host Commentary:
Hayes shares a childhood anecdote of his own mother deploying “monster spray,” reflecting on its placebo effect—then somberly notes that physical harm elevates things “beyond the power of any monster spray on the market.”

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3. Paranormal News: The Annabelle Doll & the Death of Dan Rivera

[24:54–25:30]

• Hayes covers a true-crime news item making waves: Dan Rivera, a noted paranormal investigator and handler of the infamous Annabelle doll, dies suddenly.
• He expresses condolences and skepticism—drawing a line between pop-culture “haunted dolls” and authentic unexplained phenomena.

Host’s Take:

“It doesn’t sound like there’s been any actual connection made between the doll and Dan’s death... I’m not a big believer in the Annabelle doll or anything the Warrens were involved in for that matter.”
— Derek Hayes, [25:30]

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4. James’ Australian USO/UAP Encounter

[26:44–33:39]

• James recalls seeing a mysterious craft from his Sydney home in 2011: pulsating blue, red, and white lights “swimming” silently through thick bushland for five minutes, with no associated disturbance or sound.
• Not an aircraft, drone, or fire vehicle; he describes it as a low-level, hovering “unknown aerial phenomenon.”
• The object vanishes by seemingly “turning off.”

Notable Quote:

“It was swimming, meandering through the tree line... no sound, but a very intense, bright light... As soon as it was there, as it appeared, it quickly ended. It almost just turned off and was gone, never to be seen again.”
— James, [28:39]

Host Theory:
Hayes speculates about a kite rigged with LEDs, but acknowledges the story’s classic UAP ambiguity.

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5. Christina’s Dual Family Hauntings & Men in Black Visitation

[34:50–38:18]

• Christina retells two family stories from Indiana:
  • Her grandmother’s encounter: after disturbing items in an attic, the new bedroom is beset by noises; one morning, a chilling, disembodied voice “Sharon, look at me” keeps her grandma frozen until her daughter interrupts.
  • A Men in Black encounter: her great-grandfather—living rurally—receives late-night knocks from two men in black suits and a woman in a long black dress; all three are hovering, footless, and beckon him by name, “Chet, we’re waiting on you. It’s time to go.”
• The Men in Black return later that night, prompting an immediate house hunt.

Notable Quote:

“He noticed that they didn’t have any feet. They were floating... ‘Chet, we’re waiting on you. It’s time to go.’”
— Christina, [37:47]

Host Context:
Hayes links this to Albert K. Bender’s classic 1953 Men in Black experience, emphasizing the motif of floating, shadowy figures delivering menacing messages to targeted individuals.

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6. Joe’s Family Home Haunting, Trickster Spirits, and Ghosts of Loved Ones

[41:28–47:00]

• Joe discusses the death of his brother (Dallas) and mom, followed by a flurry of odd events in his lifelong Oklahoma home.
  • Dogs barking at unseen visitors.
  • Smart TV and computer turning on around 2–3 a.m., for no apparent electrical reason.
  • A “trickster” spirit and a “little girl ghost” in blue, seen out of the corner of the eye; since his mother’s passing, this shadow child sticks to the hallway.
• Joe’s wife, sensitive to spirits, refuses to cleanse their own home (a family tradition), but would intervene if harm befell any animal or person.

Host Reflection:
Hayes notes the “rascal” nature of Joe’s mother, “even in death,” and the bittersweet comfort that comes from still feeling deceased loved ones “around.”

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7. Crystal’s Visitation from ‘Uncle Scotty’

[48:19–58:43]

• Crystal recounts experiences in a small Indiana duplex after the suspicious death of her ex’s cousin (“Uncle Scotty”).
  • Poltergeist activity: bathtub cup falls at night, unexplained kitchen cabinet doors standing open, toilet seats slammed down.
  • Her young son reports happily playing and racing cars—with “Uncle Cotti,” as he called him—after being overheard talking to “someone” while playing upstairs.
  • A persistent carpet stain appears after a water heater leak—shaped like an “S,” for Scotty.
• After moving, activity ends, but the story lends a touching afterlife perspective.

Notable Quote:

“I’m just playing with Uncle Cotti... we was jumping on the bed and I jumped higher than he did... but he said he can’t race because you’re here now.”
— Crystal’s son, via Crystal, [56:31]

Host Reaction:
Hayes highlights stories like this as “help mak[ing] it a little bit easier” to lose a loved one.

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8. Anonymous: Supportive Presence Beside the Bed

[60:41–69:28]

• Anonymous describes sensing a benign presence—possibly connected to her great aunt Zona’s bed frame—standing by her bed, radiating concern and support during hard times.
• The presence seems to multiply around her bed, each figure fainter than the last.
• Over time, as life improves, the feeling wanes. Finally, offering “freedom” to the entity (“If you’re stuck here, you are free to leave, but you can return if you wish”), she never feels it again.
• Expresses both gratitude and a tinge of loss.

Notable Quote:

“I want you to know that I free you... I hope that you find the most beautiful next chapter you can possibly experience. I never felt it again. There was a part of me that really wanted to be like, ‘Oh wait, I miss you.’”
— Anonymous, [67:13]

Host Commentary:
Hayes praises the gentle, positive nature of the experience and the dignified way the caller handled it, but reminds: even sweet-seeming spirits can sometimes turn, so “keep your guard up.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Derek Hayes (on real vs. spectral threats):

  “The living are far more dangerous than the dead.”
  [11:09]

• Derek Hayes (on ‘monster spray’):

  “When this entity starts scratching your children, I think that’s beyond the power of any monster spray on the market. That’s something you kill with fire, as they say, but it’s harrowing stuff.”
  [22:25]

• James (on UAP encounter):

  “It lasted for a good maybe five minutes... Not a plane, not a drone, not a helicopter... It was almost like snaking its way through. As soon as it was there, as it appeared, it quickly ended.”
  [29:17]

• Christina (on Men in Black):

  “He noticed that they didn’t have any feet. They were floating. The men said, ‘Come on, Chet, we’re waiting on you. It’s time to go.’”
  [37:47]

• Anonymous (releasing the entity):

  “If you happen to be locked in here in some way, I want you to know that I free you... When you leave, I hope you find the most beautiful next chapter you can possibly experience. I never felt it again.”
  [67:13]

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Structure & Tone

• Tone: Conversational, sincere, sometimes unsettling, but often compassionate or even comforting. Hayes’ “keep it spooky!” sign-off embodies the show’s spirit—curious, community-minded, and just irreverent enough to lighten the darkest tales.
• Listener Engagement: Stories are delivered in their own words, often raw and emotionally candid. Derek Hayes provides context, reflection, and sometimes gentle skepticism.
• Recurring Themes: The permeability of dream and waking states, “family hauntings,” the universality of fearing (and missing) the departed, and the way supernatural experiences center around times of transition or emotional upheaval.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:24] – Sabrina’s entity with vortex eyes
• [13:28] – Katie’s haunted house & the bad man
• [24:54] – Annabelle Doll handler news story
• [26:44] – James’ Australian USO/UAP encounter
• [34:50] – Christina’s Men in Black & family hauntings
• [41:28] – Joe: Trickster spirits, family ghosts
• [48:19] – Crystal: Visitation from ‘Uncle Scotty’
• [60:41] – Anonymous: Supportive presence by the bed

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Keep it spooky, drive safe, and remember: sometimes, the strangest stories are the ones closest to home.

Transcript

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[Derek Hayes]

Good evening and welcome to Monsters Among Us. I am your guide, Derek Hayes. Happy Thanksgiving to all that celebrate. Now, I trust you're either carving the bird or you're on your way to somewhere where someone else is. And that's sort of why I'm here tonight. We thought about going dark for the holiday, but then I remembered that many of you are traveling for Thanksgiving on a plane, on a train, or any car. Either way, you're probably banking on a new episode of Old MAU to keep you entertained over your long journey. And frankly, I couldn't bear the thought of you opening up your podcatcher only to find that there is no episode this week. But as you can hear, that scenario is merely a bad dream. Because in reality, I'm here. And I do have a program for you here this evening. Tonight, I'm unlocking two of our after show the Beyond Season 19, Episode 30 and Season 19 Episode 22 respectively. Now, I don't think I need any more introduction than that, so please enjoy season 19 episode 30's beyond portion already in progress. Because it's in the beyond that we share amazing tales like Sabrina's out of my State of California.

[Caller Sabrina]

Hey Derek, My name is Sabrina. I'm calling from Northern California in the mountains. I am calling in response to your episode about Shadow People. I didn't realize that other people had experienced what I had until listening to this podcast. So I wanted to talk about something that happened to me about a year ago when I had moved in with my now Husband last fall. He immediately had to go work out of town, about two hours away. And so we had started our relationship, we had started our newlywed ship, and I was staying in his house by myself. Let me just also preface by saying that I stayed, see and sense entities, spirits, just what have you. I have my whole life. And that's just to say why I show a lack of fear later on.

[Commercial Announcer]

In this story that I'm telling you.

[Caller Sabrina]

So a little less than a year ago, I was staying in this house by myself. It was snowing outside. I was pretty vigilant, you know, wanting to protect myself. Even though we live in a small mountain town, it's like less than 2,000 people. But I had this occasion where I woke up in the middle of the night, which honestly isn't rare for me at all. I woke up at around three in the morning and I sit up in bed because there's this figure sitting at the edge of my bed. And I could tell it's a female figure. She was wearing a cloak. And it was a white cloak, but it wasn't regular white. It wasn't even quite opalescent. It was like the way the moon shines. It reminds me of a story recently that I listened to on this podcast about a person who had seen a cloaked figure on the subway whose cloak was the cosmos. This kind of reminded me of that. So anyways, I see this cloaked figure at the edge of my bed and I sit up in the middle of the night and I feel a sense of calm, I feel a sense of peace. But I feel something else to my right side, which, by the way, the bed is set so that the head of the bed is in line with the doorway to go into the bedroom. And I feel a presence to my right. And it's like a man above the doorway who's crouched down on all fours and his bottom is backed up to the ceiling. His hands are clutched above the door frame like the top of the door frame. And he's wearing a bowler's cap and what looks like. And he's kind of like banging his head repetitively. And I'm sitting up in bed and I'm just kind of watching him for.

[Caller Katie]

Like a couple seconds.

[Caller Sabrina]

And like I said, I'm kind of used to seeing this sort of thing. And I just kind of knew because he was a silhouette. So obviously if I turn on the lights, he's going to go away. And mind you, you know, I'm very open minded. I like to look at myself as someone who's a believer, but who wants to be a skeptic, which is kind of the oppos of what I hear from people who call in. A lot of people are skeptics, but want to be believers. I appreciate that. I'm a little bit of the opposite, though. So, you know, I'm open to the fact that maybe I sat in bed a little bit in the middle of the night. Maybe I was still dreaming. Maybe I was still a little bit in my dream state. Maybe I was hallucinating, you know, if anything, I'm more scared of real people than entities, you know? So I sit up in bed, I turn on the light. He goes away. But what strikes me as interesting is it took me a little bit to realize that a few years ago in my journal entries, I journal quite a bit, that I have actually seen this figure before in a dream. I'm also someone who lucid dreams quite a bit. It's just something that I've always been able to do. And about six years ago, I had this dream, and it was a lucid dream, and it was really pretty. I was in a house, but I knew that it was haunted. And I realized that I was dreaming. And as I'm ascending up the stairs of the house, gravity becomes less and less relevant. So I'm ascending up the stairs and I'm kind of flying. I realize that I could float at that point. And I go up to the rooftop of the house, and the rooftop of this house, there's like a sunset scape of pinks and oranges and all that sort of thing. But it also looks like a bunch of debris from something, like a tornado. And I see this figure off in the distance. He looks like he's wearing some sort of a hat, maybe some sort of a suit. I don't even know, but I feel safe. So I'm on top of this roof fixture, and he's kind of catching different pieces of debris in the sky to make his way towards me. I could tell he wanted to talk to me, and I felt like he wanted to impart some sort of wisdom. And I'm looking back in my journal on January 13th of 2018, and it says that I had an intense dream before I woke up where I was in a severely haunted house. Everything was haunted. There was a man. He was otherworldly. He had shades over his eyes. He managed to hop, skip, and surf a shard of wood onto the rooftop with me with one other person. It was someone I know who was with me, but I can't remember. Who? The man peered through our eyes into our souls. And I can't fully describe because I felt at ease with him, but it felt like he was collecting souls, but like in a calm and peaceful way, almost like a grim reaper, where it was like he was just doing it when it was in their time, you know? And then he came up upon the rooftop with me, and he takes his shades off, and this is where it reminds me of the shadow people stories I've heard on your podcast, because other people have said that they're shadow people who have red eyes. I saw this person. He had a bowler's cap, he had a tie, he had, like, a blazer of some sort. And his eyes were like red swirls or vortexes, if you will. And it just felt like he had some sort of wisdom to impart to me. And he told me, and I'm reading from my journal, he says, ah, yes, you are aware of your mistakes. You are happy now. Well done. Ah, yes, you were in denial, but you know this now, and you are moving on. And then he let out an accomplished sigh and he removed his shades, revealing those crazy swirling spirals atop the whites of his eyes. And he was grinning. And let me tell you that this dream stuck out to me so much that I took it to therapy and I told my therapist about it. I drew pictures about it because I felt like the dream had something to tell me. Needless to say, I can't help but connect that weird sort of lucid dream that I had, however many years ago to waking up in the middle of the night this last year, during last winter, where I felt like I encountered a spiritual presence. But what inspired me to call in was that other people have had this sort of experience, too. And I had no idea. I just thought, like, well, you know, maybe I'm hallucinating or dreaming or whatever. But, yeah, I don't know. I'm a believer. But I'm open to being a skeptic, so I would love to hear what other people's experiences are. Thank you so much for what you do. Thank you for your team. Thank you for your community. I appreciate you. Thank you.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you. Sabrina, you said something there that I think everyone should hear again. The living, or far more dangerous than the dead. An important thing for us all to remember. Now, as for an entity with vortexes for eyes, I think that's a first for me. And be it a dream, a nightmare, sleep paralysis, hallucination, or a visitation from something not of this plane, the experience made for a great submission. Sabrina, so thank you again for taking the time to call in big picture things.

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[Derek Hayes]

Welcome back Monster Squad. I sure do hope you guys are enjoying yourself here this evening. A lot of interesting calls here tonight. Which one was your favorite? The Tokolosh? The pig parts on the roadway? Or maybe the USO that Mike reported Rather enjoyed that one. Whichever one you've gravitated toward. We thank you for swinging by here this evening. Now, I have a ton of material to get through here tonight, so let's get right back into the action with Katie's entry out of Wisconsin.

[Caller Katie]

Hi there, my name is Katie and I'm calling from Wisconsin. I have experienced quite a few spooky things in my lifetime. However, I wanted to share some of the scariest things I've ever experienced revolving around the house I used to live in. So we moved into this house when my oldest daughter was 2 years old and didn't experience anything. It was a house that was, you know, built in the late 80s. You know, there had been no deaths or anything. There didn't feel anything weird, nothing. And that was in 2009. And then my second daughter was born three years after my first daughter and still nothing, Nothing. And then things started getting weird. When she was about a toddler, I would walk into her room and see her, you know, playing. And she was about 2 years old and she'd be talking to somebody and I'd say, oh, who are you talking to? She said, I'm just playing with Nana. And Nana is my mother in law who passed away several years before she was even born. We hadn't really ever brought Nana up to her yet because she was so young. We didn't think she would understand that she had a grandmother who had passed away. So I was like, well, that's pretty weird. And she talked about Nana quite a bit. She would even describe her, which I thought was odd. But then I thought, okay, well, hey, if she's hanging out with her deceased grandmother, I mean, there's nothing wrong with that. Actually, pretty heartwarming. But then things kind of got weirder as she got older. She started talking about the bad man in her closet. And every single night, she would scream and scream until we would come into her room. This was like, after we had put her to bed, I come in and she said, the bad man's in my closet. The bad man's in my closet. He's coming out. And I would look. Obviously I would see nothing. I'm thinking, okay, this felt, you know, kind of an overactive imagination. But I started thinking in the back of my head, like, this is pretty creepy. This is really weird.

[Caller Sabrina]

You know, little.

[Caller Katie]

Little kids talking about bad men in their closets every single night is scary. So we started doing this thing where I would spray this man. Monster spray. You know, it was literally like body spray from Bath and Body Works. But she thought it was monster spray. And I would spray and say, there the monsters all gone, whatever. But she would wake up in the middle of the night screaming about the bad man in her closet. And finally asked her to, like, can you please describe him to me? She said, he's a tall man. He's very dark, like, everything. His clothes were all dark, all black, and he had a hat. And I'm like, oh, God, the hat man. Like, I've had experience with that. That's a different story. So I'm thinking, well, this isn't very great. I didn't know what to do. And I just told her, you know, you can always just come in running with me in the middle of the night if you're scared. Which ended up being in every single night occurrence. Well, it got to the point when she was about five or six, and weird things started happening out in the rest of the house. One morning, my husband called me at work. I went to work really early, like 6:30 in the morning, right? He called me about 6:45, and he said, are you at home? I'm like, I'm at work. He said, well, I just heard this really loud noise. I thought you fell down the stairs. I jumped straight up out of bed, ran out there, couldn't find you. I had these, we call them, like, file boxes up the side of the stairs, and they had magazines in them, and they were pushed clear up against the wall. They were pretty heavy. You know, they had a good, you know, 20 magazines in each of them. There's probably about seven of them up, you know, the stairs pushed straight up against the side of the wall. And what he saw was they were all at the bottom of the stairs. I thought, well, that's weird. So I came home, you know, from work that day, and we tried to debunk it. Like, okay, you know, if we jump up and down on the landing, will they fall down the stairs? If we bang up against the wall, will they fall down the stairs? Nothing. These things were heavy, and every single one of them had shoved out from the wall at the same time and fallen down the stairs at like, 6:45 in the morning when nobody else was up. My kids were still sleeping. My husband was still sleeping. We didn't have a pet. We thought, well, did a weird animal get in here? But all the doors were shut and locked. There was no, like, random squirrel or raccoon or something that ran in and ransacked our stairway and ran back out. So that was really weird. And then a couple days later, my husband yelled at from the basement, and he's like, katie, did you pull everything down from the rafters? So I come downstairs. We used to store in the rafters in our storage laundry room. We put up, like, our camping equipment, like our tents and things like that. It was pretty solid up there. Things weren't falling down just randomly. There was no way things could randomly fall down out of the rafters. But all of our camping equipment, everything that was in the rafters was on the floor. And my husband was like, legit avenue. He thought that I had tried to reach something up there and just pulled everything down and left it all on the floor. Like, no, I haven't even been in this room in several days. So I don't know why all this stuff's on the floor. And again, we tried to debunk it. You know, we were, like, stomping down the stairs, banging on a wall, doing whatever we could to try and get this stuff to fall on its own. Nothing. That's when we're starting to get pretty freaked out. And then things started ramping up with my daughter again. She was getting to the point where she wouldn't go in her room without the lights on, even if it was in the middle of the day, broad daylight. She was terrified. So the lights always have to be on in my room all day, all night. The bad man's Coming out of my closet. The bad man will get me. So we started getting pretty scared. And then it was Mother's Day of that year, and my kids had gotten me a new sweatshirt that they knew I wanted, and so they wanted me to try it on right there. So I tried it on. All of a sudden, I feel this burning up my arm. I was like, what is that? So I kind of, like, pull the sweatshirt up on my arm, and there's these three long scratch marks, like, all the way up my right forearm. And I was like, that is weird. So I pulled the sweatshirt off, thinking, oh, there must be something inside of it that had, like, scratched me. Like, is there a tag in there or something? There was nothing. There was literally no reason. And it looked like claw marks, like. And it was three of them. And I took pictures. I still have the pictures. And I was kind of thinking, this seems a little demonic. And then that night, my oldest daughter started screaming. I ran into her room, and she said, mom, my face is burning. And there were three big claw marks down her cheek onto her neck. And again, I'm trying not to scare my kids, but I'm, like, done at this point. We started looking through her bed. You know, is there something in your bed that could have scratched your face? Sometimes she was a little kid. She would, like, sneak Doritos into her bed or something.

[Commercial Announcer]

You know, is there crumbs?

[Caller Katie]

Is there anything? There was literally nothing. And she was a kid who always, like, she really had short nails, so she didn't scratch herself, and she hadn't gone to sleep yet, so she didn't scratch herself in her sleep. Because I asked her that, like, were you scratching your face? Did anything like that happen? She said, no. I was just literally laying here, and my face started burning, and it looked exactly the same as my arm. It was three deep red scratches on her face and her neck. And I took pictures of that, too. So after I got her calmed down, I went out into the hallway, and I kind of, like, talked out loud, being like, whatever you are, you don't mess with the wrong person. You can mess with my. My property. You can mess with me. Don't mess with my kids. You are not welcome here. You know, I just kind of went off. And then the next day, I actually called our pastor from our church, because I was like, I know this sounds crazy, but here's what's going on.

[Commercial Announcer]

What do we do?

[Caller Katie]

I mean, I'm not Catholics. I couldn't call a priest or anything. But really, my preacher came over and she was like, yeah, I believe you. Things like this are real. So she kind of, like, did a blessing on the house and holy water. My youngest daughter was terrified to let her into her room. That's where things are happening, right? So she came in the most in our house, and then we sold the house because I said, I'm not living here anymore with a potential demon or something that is, like, literally harming us now.

[Caller Sabrina]

So we sold our house and moved.

[Caller Katie]

Out a month later, and we have not had any issues since, except for my youngest daughter, who is now a teenager, still teaching. She's kind of come to the realization that she's a bit of a medium or a bit of a conduit or something, because everything started when she could start, like, walking and talking. So we realized that all of this centered around her, so she's actually seen another person to try and figure out how to keep bad spirits away, how to deal with it. Anyways, that's my story revolving around our old house. I just want to say thank you for the podcast and just thoroughly enjoy it. Thanks.

[Derek Hayes]

Thanks, Katie. Monster spray. That's the very same trick that my mom pulled on me when I was a kid and would swear a man or a monster, I can't remember which anymore, would come into my room at night. So she ripped the label off a can of Glade air freshener and hand drew a label that read monster Spray. She would unload that stuff in our room just as we were about to go to sleep. And though it was merely a placebo, it worked like a charm. Now the real scary part is realizing that I was inhaling all those nasty chemicals night after night. But regardless, Katie, I love that you did the same for your family. When this entity starts scratching your children, I think that's beyond the power of any monster spray on the market. That's something you kill with fire, as they say, but it's harrowing stuff. Katie, we're happy to hear that you went all Mama bear on whatever it was. Thank you again for making the call. Now, squad, I've been looking for ways to add value to the beyond portion of the program, and I might have come up with one that kills two birds with one stone. Because I often have listeners like you reach out with news stories regarding the paranormal, wanting to get my opinion or my take on the subject. And while I appreciate receiving those emails, I sadly do not have time to respond to most of them. So I thought maybe I would combine the two issues into one problem, then solve it as a bit of a package deal. Which is a fancy way of me saying I'm going to talk about some paranormal news stories in the beyond from now on. Or at least I'm to going gonna try it out for a while and see how it sticks. So here it goes. The story that's been blowing up my inbox this week is the Annabelle doll death. Now, for those of you that are unfamiliar, here is a news broadcast covering the incident, courtesy of Global News.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Dan Rivera, a paranormal investigator and one.

[Caller Sabrina]

Of the handlers of the famed Annabelle dollar, died suddenly over the weekend.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Rivera cared for the doll made famous.

[Commercial Voice 1]

By the Conjuring movie series that was.

[Caller Sabrina]

Based on the work of Ed and Lorraine Warren. Annabelle is an endless source of fascination.

[Commercial Announcer]

On social media, according to her handlers.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Because of the haunting stories that surround the doll. Rivera was part of a group from.

[Caller Sabrina]

The New England Society for Psychic Research on tour with the Annabelle doll this weekend.

[Commercial Announcer]

According to Facebook posts from the organization.

[Caller Sabrina]

It is not clear how he died.

[Derek Hayes]

Now for my thoughts on the story. First of all, my condolences go out to Dan's family and friends. It's such a tragic thing to have happened. Secondly, it doesn't sound like there's been any actual connection made between the doll and Dan's death. As of now, it seems the two are unrelated. And thirdly, I'm not a big believer in the Annabelle doll or anything the Warrens were involved in for that matter. But I think people know that I named my cat Annabelle and I think they assume that I have an affinity for the haunted doll. Now, in all actuality, Annie was named after a few different Edgar Allan Poe pieces, but most notably Annabel Lee. But when it comes to haunted dolls, I think I'll put most of my eggs the Robert the Doll basket down there in Key West. So anyway, those are my thoughts. Kind of a sour story to begin this segment with, but it's the story at the tip of everyone's tongue. Now here with a little bit of a palette cleanser is James, all the way from Australia.

[Caller James]

How you doing, Derek? Hi, my name is James from Sydney, Australia. So my story is, well, one among many. This one goes back to November of 2011. So some 13 years ago almost. I was 16 years old at the time. And also interestingly enough, this was a week before I was going to go on a school trip overseas to Cambodia and Vietnam, interestingly enough, for two weeks. So literally a few days before I was going to fly out with my other students, it would have been about between say 9 o' clock and 9:30 at night, on a weekend evening. So possibly I'd say a Saturday. Where I live in Sydney. To give you a bit of context, if you look at map of Sydney, it's quite a large expansive city. So for a bit of context, I live in the southeast. What's important is that where I live it's quite close to the bush, your equivalent of the forest. And we live on a ridge that overlooks a small valley that overlooks another neighboring suburb. And in between that it's all just bushland, it's all forest, you know, it's all a valley and ridges as well. And our house is two stories with our kitchen and lounge room upstairs, not downstairs. So we have a massive panoramic view of an incredible amount of Sydney metropolitan and beyond that and of course bushland. And the other thing is to where we live at night time it's very quiet and also we get to see a lot of stars. So essentially I was upstairs in the kitchen at the time, outside our kitchen window, lounge room and of course the dining area we have a massive veranda, so like a balcony. And I was standing there just looking out the window as I do almost any night, looking into the distance, looking up at the night sky, looking at the lights in a distance. The neighbouring suburb, whatever, looking directly from the kitchen window straight ahead there is still currently a ridge, but also now it's residential area. This is where it gets interesting because 13 years ago, from 2010 to 2011, the entirety of the area that is now residential, connecting to the rest of our area as well. So there used to be a main road that was at one point in time anotha road. And because of development it's gone further. And that area 13 years ago was complete dense bushland. There was no roads, there was no street, there were no street lights. And there was no houses of course either, not even foundations for ones to be built. It was all landlords being surveyed for building residential areas. Now one thing I can say also because we have down in the valley tracks that are used by the rural fire brigade during the summertime of year. As you can imagine, we get bushfires in Australia, just like you get forest fires in the US or in Canada or even over in Europe, there are fire trails that fire trucks use to conduct their training and their preparation for bushfire season in the summer. So anyway, importantly to note where this ridge is back then and now, there were never any fire trails around them. And also it's incredibly rocky, so no vehicles can drive through it so easily without falling off. So I'm standing there and I'm watching what to me was the most bizarre thing I've seen really, since forever. Pulsating blue, red and white lights belonging to something that was clearly physical. It almost opened up, is the best way I can describe. Appeared out of nowhere, and it lasted for a good maybe five minutes or so. And the best way I can describe it is it was swimming. It was meandering through the tree line in such a way that it didn't have any effect on the trees themselves. They didn't move, they didn't bend, no sound, but a very intense, bright light that would pulsate back and forth, back and forth. And at this point in time, I am utterly transfixed in what I'm seeing. So much so that I can't scream and say, hey, guys, or whoever, come up and see this. Can you see what I'm seeing? And even now, 13 years later, it is still a rather bizarre thing that I saw. I don't know if it was necessarily a ufo. It certainly wasn't a drone, because drones were a thing back then. It was not a helicopter, Frankly, I would even call this thing a high aerial craft because it was so low. And it was basically, as I can. As I would say, it was meandering its way through the tree lines. So as soon as it was there, as it appeared, it quickly ended. It didn't disappear like going up into the sky, shooting up at incredible speeds. It almost like it just turned off and it was gone, never to be seen again. I don't know what you would call this. I mean, certainly by today's standards, it's a uap, Unknown Aerial Phenomena, because this thing was not so much flying as it was more hovering. And like I said, I can distinguish between a fire truck with its lights on. And importantly, there were no tracks, no roads, no footpaths or nothing at the time in that location. Now, if you were to see it with your own eyes, you would see houses and street lights, and it's a lot more open and less trees at this point in time. It was densely filled with trees, eucalyptus trees, like we have in Australia, anyway. And of course, no tracks. That's the important part. So this thing wasn't driving, because you can clearly tell when it's on the road or on the ground and it's moving. This thing was in midair, so it was flying or hovering, but it was almost like snaking its way through. It lasted all between maybe five minutes. I have never experienced a phenomenon like that again in 13 years. I've seen nothing of the sort. It certainly was not a plane. It wasn't a drone. It was not a helicopter. It absolutely was not a fire truck. It wasn't an object that was being driven as opposed to hovering and, you know, fluidly moving through the air. That's my story, and I hope it can be of use to other people who might have seen something similar to that. Any case, thank you very much. Thanks for your time.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, James. Now, here's my thought. It was low to the ground. It meandered back and forth, and it seemed to shut off suddenly. So I wonder if James wasn't watching some sort of kite that was all lit up. And when the kite's lights were cut, James lost the craft in the darkness. I've seen these things around. People put LEDs or pyrotechnics on kites and fly them back and forth, typically on a beach. Now, I link to a video example over in the description of this episode, but that's just my guess here, based on my interpretation of the description James gave. Of course, this could have been almost anything. But I appreciate the entry, James. It's always fun to get insight on another country's paranormal activity. Now, folks, we're down to one last call here this evening, and this one packs a double punch. Please welcome Christina to tonight's Beyond.

[Caller Katie]

Hello, my name is Christina. I'm living in Lompoc, California right now. This isn't my story necessarily. It is my grandma's story, but she, you know, died 10 years ago. So as it was told to me back in 1970 something when my mom was a pre pubescent, they lived in this house and everything was decent in the house until my mom's brother and his friends went up in the attic and they tore up all of the stuff that was up there that belonged to the previous homeowner. They also pawned some of the stuff that they could get money for and whatever was still remaining. My grandma had asked my mom and her sisters to put back up in the attic and organized. And I guess after that the room that the girls were sleeping in started having incidents that weren't occurring before that point. So there were like scratching on the windows, tapping it sound like scratching at the trim in the room, things scurrying across the floor. And my mom and her sisters would complain to my grandma about this. And of course, you know, my grandma probably thought that they had an overactive imagination, but she agreed to switch rooms with them and she did. And what happened when she switched rooms was one day she came home from work. She worked nights, so it was the daytime. She came home that morning and she went to sleep. And she claims to have awoken to something yelling, sharon, look at me. Look at me, Sharon. She refused to look at whatever this thing was, but she thought that it was probably a demon. And I guess it just kept repeating that over and over again. And finally my mom came knocking at her door, and the voice stopped. And I guess my grandma says she got out of that bed and that day she switched the rooms back because she wasn't going to deal with that anymore. That took place in Terre Haute, Indiana. And then another story. This is also not mine. This was a story of my great grandparents who have also passed. They lived in Indiana as well, but more out in the country. And one evening, my great grandpa, he had three visitors knock on his door. He opened the door, and two men wearing black suits and a woman wearing a long black dress stood in front of him. My great grandpa, you know, since he lived out in the country, he was certainly surprised to see anybody. And as he was standing there looking at them, he noticed that they didn't have any feet. They were floating. The men, they said to my grandpa, come on, Chet, we're waiting on you. It's time to go. And Chet was my great grandpa's name. My great grandpa said, yeah, sure, I'll be there in a minute. He shut and locked the door. I mean, he wasn't going to go out there with him. And I guess they showed up later that night. So the very next day, my great grandpa, he got out and he started looking for a new house to rent because he felt like it was haunted. Yeah, those are my two stories. Thank you for letting me submit them.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Christina. Now, as far as I know, the oldest quote unquote, men in black experience dates back to 1953, when the nation's top UFO investigator was visited by three floating men in black in his home in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The case of Albert K. Bender.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And what happened was that he came home one night, went into his bedroom.

[Derek Hayes]

And suddenly these three, three dark, shadowy figures materialized through his wall into his bedroom.

[Narrator/Reporter]

They were wearing the hats in the.

[Derek Hayes]

Overcoats, they had glowing eyes, and they smelled like sulfur.

[Narrator/Reporter]

According to Bender, the three entities communicated.

[Commercial Voice 1]

With him through telepathy, warning him to.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Discontinue his UFO research and stop publishing.

[Commercial Voice 1]

His influential magazine, the Space Review. Afterwards, he became ill and didn't eat for three days.

[Derek Hayes]

Now, that clip from the History Channel. And Bender actually gave up UFO ing. After that, he shut down his wildly popular magazine and he stopped conducting all his research. Now whoever, whatever these entities were, they seemed hell bent when shutting Bender down. Apparently he knew too much. Which makes me wonder what exactly the Christina's great grandfather Now I kind of think last week was.

[Caller Joe]

I mean that's, that's the single trait.

[Derek Hayes]

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[Commercial Announcer]

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[Derek Hayes]

Very happy half off holiday because right.

[Caller Sabrina]

Now Mint Mobile is offering you the.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Caller Sabrina]

So that means a half day.

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[Caller Joe]

See mint mobile.com Long time to process information everything.

[Derek Hayes]

Well now that was a ton of fun. But the fun doesn't have to stop here either. There's still 50 more miles to grandma's house. And I have just the thing to occupy your mind. The beyond portion of season 19 episode 22 enjoy.

[Caller Joe]

Hi Derek, My name's Joe and I've got some stuff that's been going on at the house. I don't know if it's connected, but about a year before I stopped over the road driving, I lost my brother to a bad staph infection. He was living down in Dallas at the time and back home in Oklahoma now we grew up in a house that I'm currently living in and he had moved down to Dallas. Mom moved down there with him to be with him. He had had some surgery done and he had died from a really bad staph infection that was caught too late. And then just later that summer, say about six months later, lost my mom. And about that time is when I came home, you know, pretty much for good, I started to notice some things around the house. My wife had always told Me, she's sensitive and she's noticed that we've had a little trickster spirit, I guess you could say, that's been playing around in the house some. But the thing that's really been spooking me is that about three months after my mom passed, and my mom's always. She's always hated dogs, you know, And I'm totally the opposite. Love dogs. They're like our fur kids. And I don't know if this is her stirring stuff up. I really don't want to say it is, but I sometimes Wonder. But about 2:30, and it's not all the time. It's like maybe once or twice a week, about 2:30 in the morning to about 3, I wake up because the dogs are going nuts and they're always facing toward the living room. And I'll start walking around and making sure everything's okay. And every time I walk in to the living room, the TV is on and we've shut it off. It's a smart TV that, you know, when comes time to get ready to go to bed, we always set the timer so that way if we doze off, it'll shut off and, you know, we'll notice that and we'll drag our rear ends to bed. But it always seems like if there's a little too much stress going on, I don't know if that could be it or doing it. But, you know, the TV will come on, even the computer monitor will come on. And we've got that in the living room as well. And they're on two separate electrical circuits. So I know it's not a power surge doing it. And my oldest son, he lives with us still. We both work at the same place and he's noticed it as well. It's always when the dogs just go completely nuts, like somebody's wandering around. So don't know if it's mom still aggravating the dogs because she don't like them. It's always weird. It's just one of those weird things. And we've had two different TVs in the living room since I've been home. And there's always something turning it on. So I don't know, sometimes it'll be on full volume. Other times it's just on and quiet, like it's muted. So I don't know if that's mom still doing that or if it's that little trickster. But we've got a little friend there. And sometimes we do catch the little ghost.

[Commercial Announcer]

It's a little Girl.

[Caller Joe]

Sometimes I still see that little girl out of the corner of my eye in her little outfit. She's got, like, a little blue jumper on, a white blouse, kind of sandy blondish hair. And we've been in that house since 1984. So I don't know anything of the history prior anybody has lost a child there. But I do notice that since mom passed, she stays in the hallway. She won't come out of the hallway because she used to run. You know, we catch her different various places of the house. But since mom passed, she's not coming out. So I don't know. That's just one of those creepy things. I'd been talking to a friend about it, and he popped the question. Especially as you're dealing with my wife being sensitive. And if she's caught any of this, and I have asked her, and she has, but she's of that train of thought that you don't cleanse your own home. You have another sensitive come in to do it. It's some kind of belief that she has from growing up because apparently there's a line of this in her family. But she said she would do it if they ended up harming any of our animals or any of us. But there's nothing. It's just like playing tricks on us and such. So that's just kind of what's been going on, and I kind of wonder if anybody else has got something like this going. So really love the show. Appreciate everything you do for us out here. It really makes the day or evening, whenever I'm working, to go by quicker. Keep up the great work. Bye.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Joe, and I'm sorry for your losses, but, you know, it sounds like your mom is a real rascal, even in death, and I kind of like it. I'm not a big proponent of pestering animals, but I'll let it slide for the spirit world, I guess. And in a weird way, I bet it's nice to still have her around. So thank you again, Cho, for bringing in, and thank you for sticking around Monster Squad, because I'm very happy to have you here. Now, I have a loosely thin themed episode for you here tonight. Each of this evening's calls are sort of positive in nature. Creepy still, but positive. Just like Joe's call where he has a ghost, but it might be the ghost of his mother. And if you're gonna have a ghost, your mother's ghost isn't your worst option. And the rest of the this evening's calls follow a similar trend. So let's Dive right in to the next one from the land of the Hoosiers. Please welcome Crystal to tonight's program.

[Commercial Announcer]

Hey, Derek, My name is Crystal. I live in Connersville, Indiana. So I've had many experiences in my 44 years and one in particular kind of bothers me a little bit because this happened when I was 18 and I have three boys now, but at the time I only had one and he was two. He was very smart, could walk and talk in full sentences that you could understand, and was potty trained by the time he was one and it was me, his dad and him. We lived in a duplex. It had been an old garage that was converted into two apartments that were side by side. And we lived in the left side. It was a street on the left hand side and then directly behind us was an alley and then on the right side was was the other apartment and over there there was just a man and woman who lived there. They were younger, about the same age as us, and they worked all the time, so they were hardly ever home. So my ex's cousin had passed away under some suspicious circumstances and, you know, everybody was missing him. We'd been talking about him and a couple of weeks had went by, you know, and nobody's really saying anything. And this one day we had went through a normal routine of going to work, coming home, cooking dinner. I gave my son a bath. We stayed up for probably another hour or so and then had laid down and went to sleep. So in the middle of the night, I would say it was around two or three o' clock in the morning, I was jarred awake by a loud sound. And as soon as I opened my eyes and my brain had time to catch up, I had realized it was a cup that had fell into the bathtub downstairs. So when you walked into this apartment was really small. It had a door in the front and a door in the back. So the door in the front off of the alley you'd walk into and it was the living room. And then straight across from there was a bathroom and then to the right there was stairs that would take you upstairs. It was kind of like a loft. It was just one big room and that's where we slept and my son slept with us. He had his own bed, but it was big enough that it was split up. And then if you were to come in the other door that would walk into the kitchen. And then when you walked out of the kitchen, you were in the living room. It was really small, it's, you know, half size Of a garage. So it wasn't huge. So when I was jarred awake by this sound in the middle of the night, I knew that that was the sound of a cup falling in the bathtub. So when my kids were little, I would use a cup to wash their hair, you know, rinse their hair out with soap and all that so it wouldn't get in their eyes. And then I would just set that cup on the side of the tub and it would just sit there. So I had given him his bath around 7:30, 8:00 clock at night. And that cup had sat there the rest of the night until two or three in the morning when I heard it fall in the bathtub. So it had woke him up also my ex. So we're both sitting there like, okay, that was just the cup that fell in the bathtub, probably had water underneath it and it probably slid into the tub, not a big deal. So we go to fall back asleep and we hear all kinds of banging sounds. And my brain is telling me that it's the toilet seat lid falling down. And then another sound that I can't quite make out what it is. So we go downstairs thinking, somebody has broken in. So he's walking down the steps with his nunchucks and I'm right behind him with a baseball bat. And my son's asleep in the bed upstairs. And it takes us less than a minute to clear the house to know that nobody's in there. Both doors had deadbolts on them which were dead bolted. And the two windows that were in the living room and then the one that was in the kitchen were sliding windows, kind of like a sliding door. But when you slid it shut, there was that empty space right there. And we would just put like an equivalent of like a pull stick down in there, but not near as long. So nobody could slide the window open. So there's absolutely no way anybody could have gotten into that. So nobody's in there. The cup's in the bathtub, the toilet seat and lid are shut, which we left up because I was the only girl in the house and my 2 year old was potty trained. But every time he went to the restroom, we wanted to make sure that that was left up so he didn't make a mess. So that was left up and had been up all day. Those both were down. And then we get into the kitchen and every single cabinet door in the kitchen is standing wide open. So we kind of just look at each other and kind of nervously laugh and we're like, okay, we're awake. We really don't do much about it. We kind of just make a comment that his cousin who had passed a couple weeks before, his name was Scott and we called him Scotty. My son called him Uncle Cottie because he had problem with S's back then.

[Caller Katie]

So he would say Uncle Cotty.

[Commercial Announcer]

So we kind of just made a joke to each other that he was stopping by to say hi and trying to scare us. So we go back to bed. So then it's probably about three nights later, my ex is at work. It's the middle of the day. This is like July of 98. I don't know if I said that before, but it's a hot summer day. We're inside trying to keep cool school. I'm six months pregnant with my second son. It's my day off and we're watching cartoons and my 2 year old decides he wants to go play with his dump truck and his race truck. So he goes upstairs to play with his toys and I just turn the TV down real low so I can hear him and keep an eye on him, but, you know, give him his own special space. I'm sitting on my couch and it is middle of the day, but all the windows are closed and the fans going just to keep it cool in there. And I can hear him upstairs laughing and giggling. And then I can hear him talking, but I can't make out what he's saying. So I'm just smiling because I'm happy that he's happy and he's having a good time and he can play by himself and everything's okay. And then the conversation he's having just sounds like it's more than just him. So I kind of get up and sneak up the steps, you know, one by one, going real slow, trying to listen to him. And when I kind of get up high enough to poke my head up over the floor where I can see into the bedroom, he's standing on the opposite wall, like against the wall, and he's got his dump truck in front of him and he has his race truck next to him and he's bent down with his hands on his dump truck and he's looking to his right at his other truck and he's saying, get on your mark, get set. And then he stands up and he looks straight towards me and he goes, oh, hi Mommy, I'm just playing with Uncle Cotti. And I'm like, what? And he's like, yeah, we was jumping on the bed and I jumped way, way high and I jumped higher than he did, and we were getting ready to race, but he said he can't race because you're here now. So I have to wait till you go back downstairs. So I'm like, okay, well, let me go back downstairs. I didn't mean to bother you. So I go back to the bottom of the steps, and he ends up coming back down. And he said Uncle Cottie had to go somewhere, so he was just gonna watch cartoons with me again and is telling me the whole time that he jumped on the bed with Uncle Cotty and he was racing his cars and he won. And, you know, we just have a talk, and I tell his dad when he comes home, and, you know, that's pretty much the end of that. So about two weeks later, inside of our bathroom, there's a closet, and inside that closet was the water heater. We had come home one day, and there was water all over the floor. The water heater had busted and leaked all over the floor. And it was indoor outdoor carpet, so it wasn't really hard to clean it up. We went and got a shampooer, and we shampooed the carpet, and we cleaned it all up. And we'd end up getting it all up except for one spot. We went over it three different times, and no matter what we did, we could not get that stain to come up that was by the wall, and it was the shape of an S for Scotty is what I'm assuming. So I don't know if he just came by to play with my oldest son one more time or just to let us know he was okay. I wish I would have had the mindset to have my son ask more questions, but that's not something you think about in the moment. You're just. You kind of. You want to believe it's happening, but you can't believe it's happening, and you really don't think about anything else. So that was one of my stories. We moved probably six months later, and we had other things happen, but not with Uncle Scotty anymore. So I love your podcast and keep it spooky.

[Derek Hayes]

Thanks, Crystal. Another cousin come back from the dead, just like the story Naomi told earlier in the program. And, you know, I wish you would have asked more questions to your son as well. It would be amazing to get some sort of validation on his claims. Now, like I've said numerous times here on the program, it's awful losing a loved one, but stories like these help make it just a little bit easier. It's nice to think that they might still be around in some capacity. So great stuff, Crystal, and thank you again for sharing.

[Caller Joe]

Well, that can help you succeed. The early he reminded me of Al Pacino.

[Derek Hayes]

If you're a maintenance supervisor at a manufacturing facility and your machinery isn't working right, Grainger knows you need to understand what's wrong as soon as possible. So when a conveyor motor falters, Grainger offers diagnostic tools like calibration kits and multimeters to help you identify and fix the problem. With Grainger, you can be confident you have everything you need to keep your facility running smoothly. Call 1-800-GRAINGER clickgrainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.

[Commercial Voice 1]

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[Derek Hayes]

And folks, that takes us to the last entry this evening, a bedroom visitor with a bit of a twist. Please welcome Anonymous from parts Unknown.

[Narrator/Reporter]

These are some memories that I have when I first moved into the house that I live in now and they are based around my bed. So I moved into the place that I'm in now 12 years ago and I had my great aunt Zona's bed frame and I had had it before this house, but I always liked it. When I go to my grandmother's house. I grew up sleeping in it. It was in her guest bedroom. And then when they downsized I got that bed frame and I never met my great aunt Zona. She had passed before I was born. So anyways, I moved into this new place, I got my bed all situated, I got my bedroom all situated and began living from here. It was a hard time in my life. I was a newer single mom. Stressful time, stressful divorce, and I needed to go back to school to figure out my life. And my kid at that time was a toddler or you know, whatever three or four is. At one point during my college career I had to commute a pretty good distance. So get the kid, take myself to school, bring myself back, get the kid, make dinner, have some quality time with said kid and you know, do homework, make sure I have Enough sleep. Because I'm crazy if I don't have sleep. You know, that sort of thing was just hard. And so when I would lay down to bed, I would almost, almost pass right out. But before I did, I noticed, I don't know, that there was one time that I noticed it was more like kind of fading into my memory, that there was a feeling that there was something standing beside my bed, kind of at my head, just beside my side, looking down at me. And while that sounds completely horrific, terrifyingly awful, it didn't feel that way. It felt almost concerned and supportive. And although it didn't ever move or express or gesture anything, it did feel like I said, it did feel like it was listening, concerned, interested. And so right before bed, I would talk to it out loud. I'd whisper, if I had my kid in the house with me. And I would just tell it what was happening for me that day. And I don't know, everything, you know, good, bad, hard, beautiful, all the things. And at some point over the years, I mean, this went on not every single night. I may not engage with it every single night, but, you know, if I wanted to, bam, it was there. And sometimes it was there before I thought about it. I started expressing gratitude for it, even towards it, you know, I'd say, you know, thank you so much for being here. Interestingly enough, I can't explain this. I have no understanding or reference, nor have I heard about anything like this. But while it was standing beside me, it also seemed like it multiplied itself around all three sides of the bed, and each one of itself was a little more faded than the one before. So the one beside me was pretty strongly there. It was kind of like a shape or a hooded, cloaked. Not a lot of definition there. And then the one beside it was a little bit lighter, a little bit faded, and then so on all the way around until, like, you know, if there was somebody sleeping beside me, which it wasn't, but then it would hardly be over there. It didn't seem like more than one. One energetically. I don't know how to explain that. It all seemed like the same being, just kind of spreading itself out thin around the bed. I don't know if that related to my great Aunt Zona or if it had to do with the house. I'm thinking that it might have to do with the house. So over time, I graduated college, got a job, things got a little bit easier. At least I didn't have to do homework all the time. Just things were a little lifted, less Stressful. And I've always kind of connected with my Great Aunt Zona and her sister, who was my Great Aunt Bess. And they both had passed before I was born. And I know that Great Aunt Bess wanted to meet me. She passed, actually, like, I was a month late, and Green Aunt Zona died during that time. So I just missed her, you know? So I have pictures of them in the house, and I talk to them a lot. I wouldn't say that I see them, but I just feel like they're here. I don't know. I say that because this just didn't feel like that. I guess the entity around my bed felt like it was interacting with me, whereas when I call on my Great Aunt Bess and my Great Aunt Zona, it's more like a prayer. It's more like a feeling of prayer with them. So one day, it occurred to me that I had been kind of interacting with this entity around the house. I would start talking to it. I don't even know if it was the same entity or not, honestly. But it wasn't really around my bed so much anymore. I didn't need it to be around my bed. But one day I thought, you know, I wonder if they're stuck here in this house. Here I am spilling my guts, and they're nice enough to listen and be supportive and compassionate, but what if they're actually stuck here? You know, what about them? So I just felt really deeply about this. All of the sudden, one day, and I sat on my bed, I pushed my door closed because my kid doesn't want to hear anything about this. It freaks him out. I started to kind of whisper, you know, in a way that my kid wouldn't hear. I'd say, if you're there, would you please come in to my bedroom? I just want to talk to you about something. And lo and behold, my bedroom door opens. And I was so expecting something to happen that it didn't freak me out. And I just said to it, you know, everything I just said, you know, I realized that I just feel you wandering around the house. And, you know, if you happen to be locked in here in some way, I want you to know that I free you. I want you to feel free to leave this house whenever you want to. And because you seem kind, compassionate, respectful, you can come back if you want to. But just know, I right now break all binds, you know, all promises, all anything that has kept you here, if indeed you are kept here so that you may leave. And when you leave, I hope that you find the most beautiful next chapter that you can possibly experience. I never felt it again. And there was a part of me that really wanted to be like, oh wait, I miss you. But I make sure not to try to talk to that. I never do, actually. And I'm actually standing right outside my front door right now because I don't want to pull back in something that I have given a choice to. If it wanted to leave, then it should go. And it did. And it was such a beautiful experience, but I didn't know if it was something that you all would be interested in.

[Commercial Voice 1]

Thanks.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, caller. Like I said, positive creepy experiences. Your Aunt's Bess and Aunt Zona seem like cool people of color, and if it is their spirit hanging around, well then they just got bonus cool points from me. And there are many cultures out there that believe heavily in that practice that our ancestors are constantly watching over us, sometimes quite literally. So maybe it's not all that wild to think that the ants could still be around. It's certainly a comforting thought. And I also like the idea that you communicated with whatever it is there in your house, caller. Just be careful. I've heard too many stories about people that are pulled in by a sweet and innocent spirit. A lot of times a spirit that they think they know only for it to turn on the living and cause all kinds of problems. So just keep your guard up, I guess, is what I'm saying. But it's amazing stuff. Caller, we thank you again for sharing the story. And there you have it, folks, a little Thanksgiving treat. Now, I'll be back here next week with a brand new episode and next Thursday I have a Mirrored Men story coming up and possibly a Mirrored Men video to present to you as well, so you'll for sure want to tune in for that one. But for 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 has done so under the protection of fair use. Give us a like and follow on our social media accounts, follow us on YouTube on Discord, and leave us a rate and review wherever that sort of thing is possible. Don't forget, you can catch the show every Saturday evening at 10pm Eastern on the Unex digital network. Just visit on xnetwork.com to tune in and tonight's score was provided by Iron Cthulhu, Apocalypse Code at HE Music and Carl Casey at White Bat Audio. Now watch the movie borregotriangle.com will get you all the details and join us in the beyond monsters among us podcast.com and click the Patreon tab now. Folks, have a happy Thanksgiving. Drive safe, keep it spooky and of course, have a great night.

[Caller Joe]

Sam.

[Commercial Voice 1]

What do you think makes the perfect snack?

[Derek Hayes]

Hmm, it's gotta be when I'm really craving it and it's convenient.

[Commercial Voice 1]

Could you be more specific when it's cravingient?

[Derek Hayes]

Okay, like a freshly baked cookie made with real butter available right down the street at a.m. p.m. Or a savory breakfast sandwich I can grab in just.

[Caller Katie]

A second at a.m. pM?

[Commercial Voice 1]

I'm seeing a pattern here.

[Derek Hayes]

Well yeah, we're talking about what I.

[Commercial Voice 1]

Crave which is anything from AM pm.

[Derek Hayes]

What more could you want? Stop by AM PM where the snacks and drinks are perfectly cravel and convenient. That's cravenience AMPM Too much good stuff.

[Caller Katie]

Hey this is Sarah.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Look, I'm standing out front of a.m. p.m.

[Commercial Voice 1]

Right now and well, you're sweet and all but I found something more fulfilling.

[Caller Katie]

Even kind of cheesy.

[Commercial Announcer]

But I like it.

[Commercial Voice 1]

Sure you met some of my dietary.

[Commercial Announcer]

Needs, but they've just got it all.

[Caller Sabrina]

So farewell.

[Commercial Voice 1]

Oatmeal so long you strange soggy.

[Derek Hayes]

Break up with bland breakfast and taste AMPM's bacon, egg and Cheese biscuit made with K tree eggs, smoked bacon and melty cheese on a buttery biscuit AMPM Too much good stuff.

[Commercial Voice 1]

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