Monsters Among Us – Season 20, Episode 18: Galaxy Black Entities, Strange Animals and a Disembodied Hand

Published: December 11, 2025
Host: Derek Hayes

Episode Overview

This bone-chilling episode of Monsters Among Us features an array of true, first-hand accounts relayed by their original witnesses. Host Derek Hayes guides listeners through tales of grief-stricken shadow masses, haunted hotels, elusive cryptids, faceless entities, bizarre animal sightings, and truly inexplicable phenomena like a disembodied, crawling hand. The show maintains its trademark blend of respectful storytelling, skepticism, curiosity, and spooky nostalgia, covering paranormal experiences from North America and beyond.

Key Discussion Points & Notable Stories

1. The Grieving Shadow Mass — An Ontario Encounter

[02:57 - 06:55]

• Anonymous caller from Ontario, Canada shares a story from the night her mother passed away at home. While heading to the kitchen at night, she glimpses a “black mat, blacker than black…just this kind of a blob in the living room, right where she had passed. This dark, dark mass.”
  • Quote: “It was just like this…blob just there in the living room, right where she had passed, this dark, dark mass.” (Anonymous, 04:23)
• Later, her brother (sleeping in the basement below the living room) wakes her, unable to sleep due to “a black mass seeping down into my room, coming from above”—the same area.
  • Brother describes it with “like sparkling, like a stardust swirling within that dark mass.”
• Both experience strong feelings of dread and unease. The brother theorizes it may have been a “portal.”
• Derek’s reflection: Wonders if it was a shadow entity, a manifestation of their mother, or something else entirely. The “glittery effect” particularly intrigues him.
  • Quote: “Despite the explanation and the details about the glittery effect the Shadow had, that really had me intrigued.” (Derek, 07:18)

2. The Glen Tavern Inn – Haunting and the Disembodied Arm

[09:39 - 13:53]

• Bird from Los Angeles recounts a stay at the historic—and notoriously haunted—Glen Tavern Inn in Santa Paula, CA.
• Room 207 (below room 307, famously haunted by the beheaded prostitute “Rose”) is the setting. Bird’s husband awakens to find what seems like her arm “sticking straight up in the air under the covers.” Swats at it—only to find it’s a pillow, unnaturally propped.
  • Quote: “He claims he woke up to something and what he believed was my arm sticking straight up in the air under the covers…only to find it was my king size pillow propped up perfectly straight under the COVID [sic] stiff and kept a blanket up like a tent.” (Bird, 13:08)
• After using the restroom, he returns: the pillow is again upright, this time with the old, soft pillow impossibly stiff.
• Derek: Adds a local investigator’s lore update—phantom laughter, footsteps, objects moving, and the legend of “Rose” haunt the inn. Suggests visiting for firsthand experiences.
  • Quote: “Guest and paranormal investigators have reported ghostly children laughing in the halls, phantom footsteps, objects flying off dressers, and eerie voices caught in recordings.” (Investigator Sammy Ruiz, 14:32)

3. The Pennsylvania Presence – Olfactory Bigfoot?

[17:06 - 23:18]

• John from Pennsylvania tells of a 2017 hunting morning—strange silence, overpowering “wet animal” odor, hair-raising fear and the intense sensation of being watched.
  • Quote: “Then I got hit in the face with this odor…it kind of smelled like a wet animal, wet dog, something of that nature…the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.” (John, 17:54)
• He refuses to look; after the feeling passes with daylight, he leaves immediately—giving up his hunt.
• Derek’s theory: Classic Bigfoot—sightings often accompanied by foul odor and a sense of being stalked. Adds regional context—Pennsylvania is 12th in reported Bigfoot sightings in the U.S.
  • Quote: “After all, the creature is said to have an intense stare and even emit a low frequency that can stun prey and predators alike. And everyone knows that personal hygiene is not high on their list.” (Derek, 20:06)
• Related BFRO (Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization) case: Only three miles away, same week, hunter and family experience unthreatened deer and spot a “seven to eight foot tall, reddish brown” Sasquatch trailing deer. Chicken and duck mutilation also reported.

4. Disembodied Voices in Tennessee – The Name Called

[25:28 - 27:40]

• Seven from Tennessee (gas station worker, 2003) hears his own name “whispered loudly—like right in my ear” while restocking at night. “Jumped up” and searched the store, but found no one and the doors never chimed.
  • Quote: “This is so loud, I actually jumped up…looked around, thought, okay, somebody just snuck up on me…no one.” (Seven, 26:05)
• Seven mentions having audio pareidolia, but never such a direct and clear call of his name.
• Derek: Emphasizes how disturbing proximity is in “disembodied voice” phenomena.

5. Hexagon UFOs Over Massachusetts

[29:04 - 33:36]

• Mary from Virginia (event in Massachusetts, 1990s): While riding in a car with her dad and stepmom at dusk, both witness a large, low-flying, hexagon-shaped craft “with lights blinking,” a rear vent with “pulsing magma-like glow,” and a complete absence of sound. Mary’s scientifically minded dad refuses to ever discuss it.
  • Quote: “It was hexagon shaped and it was very big…vent on the back of it that had this pulsing glow that was coming from it, like it was magma.” (Mary, 30:24)
• Years later, learns of another local man who’d seen a similar “hexagon” UFO in the same area repeatedly.
• Derek’s research: Finds another official UFO report (Haverhill, MA, 2009), again describing a “thin hexagon, two times the size of an airplane, with flashing, color changing lights,” validating Mary’s story.

6. Underwater Cigar UFO in 1950s Nicaragua

[35:40 - 40:05]

• Maria (from Central Florida, father’s experience, 1956 Nicaragua): On farmland at the mouth of a volcano’s crater lake, Maria’s father and a farmhand see a cigar-shaped, metallic craft quietly surface from the lagoon, hover “making absolutely no sound,” then submerge again.
  • Quote: “It kind of came out of the water, hovered above…almost at the top of the crater a little bit, and then just went right back down and went back in the water.” (Maria, 38:12)
• Years later, Nicaraguan military personnel confirm other local sightings. Maria speculates it could have been a secret craft, but nothing matches the shape or behavior.
• Derek: Places it in context with USO (unidentified submerged object) phenomena—bringing in other worldwide underwater UFO hotspots.

7. V-Shaped, Illuminated, Flapping “Wings” Over Quebec

[43:21 - 46:59]

• Jessica from Quebec: While outside at night for a smoke, she and her husband witness two V-shaped, illuminated “wings” moving with a “mechanical, flapping motion,” high but not airplane-high, then a second identical shape appears in tandem. Neither saw a body; movements appeared both biological and unnatural.
  • Quote: “They were both flapping and moving away from us. And we just watched them in total awe, having zero clue what it could be…didn’t look like a drone…looked like an animal, but illuminated, mechanical, jerking motion.” (Jessica, 45:06)
• Derek suggests possible candidates like a large bird, paraglider, ornithopter—none fit. Invites audience help.

8. Faceless Woman – Michigan Doppelgänger

[48:05 - 51:46]

• Eli from Michigan: Regularly sees, both in dreams and waking, a benign but unnerving “faceless woman” in a red dress and white apron sitting at his bedside, glowing in the darkness and patting the bed as if to comfort him. At a sleepover, a friend describes an identical apparition.
  • Quote: “She had long black hair, like a red dress with a white apron…when she turned to me, she had no face, like no facial features at all. It was just like a blank slate.” (Eli, 49:01)
• Derek: Notes these “faceless entity” reports are more common than some think. Wonders if it’s a failure to manifest or an inherent attribute of the entity.

9. Idaho’s Moose-Goat Hybrid Creature

[53:14 - 55:20]

• Anonymous from Arizona (event: Idaho): While hunting with his father, both spot an animal with “the body of a Himalayan tahr, very furry, like a muskox, but the head of a moose.” Caller is familiar with local wildlife and is certain it was none of the endemic species.
  • Quote: “They had the body…like a Himalayan tar…but it had, like, the head of almost a moose…This was something I had never seen.” (Anonymous, 53:16)
• References similar feral animals in New Mexico, but none in Idaho or brown like the creature seen.
• Derek and Editor Connor recall a season 19 call: witness in Alaska describes a moose-bodied beast with a “distorted, almost burned” human-like face, antlers of a caribou.
• Derek links the stories, finding no zoological answer but noting the recurring, regionally consistent descriptions.

10. Secret Story: Disembodied Hand Crosses Kansas Road

[64:16 - 66:19]

• Caden from Kansas: Driving siblings home at night, the trio see, illuminated by headlights, a crawling disembodied human hand, which moves across the exit ramp and into the ditch. All were shaken, and never discussed it with family.
  • Quote: “We literally have to wait for this thing to cross as it just walks in front of us across the exit ramp and into the ditch…we were just completely freaked out.” (Caden, 65:31)
• Derek: Jokingly offers tarantula as an “explanation”—otherwise, “nothing else out there” fits the sighting. Calls it “something straight out of Netflix.”

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “What do you suppose this was? One of those shadow entities, a portal, as our caller's brother suggested? Or could it possibly have been mom back for one last visit in the only form that she could muster?” (Derek, 06:55)
• “This is so loud, I actually jumped up … it actually made me physically jump up.” (Seven, 26:05)
• “It couldn't have been a plane. It was hexagon shaped and it was very big.” (Mary, 30:24)
• “He claims he woke up … to what he believed was my arm sticking straight up in the air under the covers.” (Bird, 13:08)
• “I saw what looked like a V-shaped big pair of wings moving in this like kind of mechanical way…almost like it was an animal. But also this illuminated mechanical jerking motion.” (Jessica, 45:06)
• “She had long black hair, like a red dress with a white apron…and she had no face, like no facial features at all.” (Eli, 49:01)
• “I slow down and we literally have to wait for this thing to cross as it just walks in front of us…[it] was a disembodied hand.” (Caden, 65:27)

Notable Segment Timestamps

• [02:57] — Ontario Black Mass / Shadow Entity
• [09:39] — Glen Tavern Inn haunting (Bird’s call)
• [17:06] — Pennsylvania cryptid/Bigfoot encounter and follow-up
• [25:28] — The gas station disembodied voice (Seven)
• [29:04] — Hexagon UFO, Massachusetts (Mary)
• [35:40] — USO sighting in Nicaragua (Maria)
• [43:21] — Mechanical flapping V-shaped lights (Jessica, Quebec)
• [48:05] — Faceless woman apparition (Eli, Michigan)
• [53:14] — Idaho strange animal/Moose-tahr hybrid (Anonymous); followed by Alaska doppelgänger call [57:11]
• [64:16] — Secret Story: Disembodied hand in Kansas (Caden)

Closing Thoughts & How To Share Your Story

Derek wraps up with gratitude for listeners and encouragement for others to share their true, firsthand paranormal stories. He also teases the aftershow (“in the Beyond”) and promotes official podcast merchandise.

Tone & Language

Genuine, curious, ever-respectful of experiencers, with moments of wry humor and gentle skepticism as is Derek’s style. Stories are delivered in the callers’ own words wherever possible, lending authenticity and emotional weight.

Summary Takeaway

Whether you’re a skeptic or a believer, episode 18 of Monsters Among Us Season 20 offers an engrossing journey through unexplained phenomena—across grief, fear, awe, and the boundaries of our collective understanding. From shadowy corners of the afterlife to the elusive denizens of woods and sky, listeners are reminded: the world is far stranger than most dare imagine.