Derek Hayes (6:19)

Thank you, Beatrix. I remember the Furby phase. I also remember the Tickle Me Elmo Craze, the Cabbage Patch Panic, and the Teddy ruxpin hysteria of 1985. It's crazy what people go wild over. Anyhow, those Furbies, wild toys. There were rumors at the time that they were merely spying contraptions. At one point, certain government officials weren't allowed to have them in their homes. And there was at one time a suggestion by the FAA that these things shouldn't be operational while aboard a plane, at least below 10,000ft. So like I said, a wild toy for sure. And if you think about it, it's a toy that's really ushered us into the technology age that we're firmly embedded in now. Years from today, when the robots have already revolted and taken over, many of us may look back and say that the Furby was the gateway to our new dystopian nightmare. Well, when the time comes, you'll have to let me know how it goes, because I'll be in a cabin in the mountains somewhere waiting the whole thing out. So possessed, haunted, or just programmed to be that way. I have no plans of owning one of these things myself. This call from Beatrix is all the convincing that I need. But thank you again, Beatrix, for making the call. Alright gang, now's the time to refill your nog or your cocoa or grab a stack of sugar cookies because I'll be right back with more holiday fear right after this.

Caller/Guest (8:21)

Human just needed to it's always good. No good, just amazing people. So I got to watch that.

Derek Hayes (8:28)

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Caller/Guest (10:59)

Hi, this is Melissa. I'm originally from St. John's Newfoundland in Canada and I currently live in upstate New York. I'm gonna tell you a story that happened to my grandma. We grew up very superstitious. We believe in omens, those type of things. I mean we believe in the paranormal messages from the other side. My family is very open to it. Off. We've had a few incidents where my mom and my grandma believe that they've had omens from the other side. But there's one story in particular that has been passed down from a couple generations from my grandma. I mean if you ask anybody in my family, they know this story and they're kind of freaked out by it. It kind of confirms my belief in omens. So I'll take you back to the 70s when my grand grandma just had my mom and my aunt. They were probably one and not even one years old. They were in like a playpen upstairs. It was a couple days or a couple weeks before Christmas and my grandmother was in the kitchen cooking and she heard something happening to the Christmas tree. The Christmas tree was shaking. She went out to look because she figured maybe my mom or someone got out of the playpen because they were starting to stand, climb, you know, all those things. But she looked and you know, the kids were still in the playpen. So she went back in the kitchen to tend to like dinner or whatever. She heard a window open and she went and looked and she thought it was my grandfather coming home from work or whatever, no one there. She closed the window. She was like, that's just really, really weird. She went back out into the kitchen. The next time she went out, she heard the tree shake, shake, shake, really, really loud. And if you know what those old Christmas ornaments sound like, they're all glass so they're not like that little plasticky ting sound like you can hear them clinking together. Very, very loud. She said you couldn't miss it. It was the trees shaking, you know, she went out and looked at the tree and it was still moving. So she knew that, you know, something was shaking it. She looked everywhere for my mom and my aunt. They are still in the playpen. So when she comes back down over the stairs, I don't know if you guys remember the old tinsel that you would lay on top of the tree, like, the little silver strands. She said every single one of them were standing up on top of the tree. She said she couldn't believe it. She had goosebumps. She started freaking out, and then the next thing you know, before she could do anything, the tree tipped over completely. As soon as the tree tipped over completely, she got a phone call. She ran right to the phone, of course, like, oh, my gosh, help me. Like, what is happening in my house right now? She said she ran right to the phone. When she answered the phone, my great grandmother, who was having surgery that day, a very minor procedure had passed away on the table. And she thinks that it was her way of letting her know, you know, I'm here, but something bad is going to happen, and you're the person who needs to tell your husband that his mother just passed away. So she thinks that it was an omen from the other side. So that's kind of a story that really freaks me out. I know it was a good omen. It was probably from my great grandmother. But still, when things like that happen, when you're alone and it's unexplained at the time, it's probably a really big scare. But that's my story on omens, and thanks so much for listening.

Derek Hayes (15:00)

Thank you, Melissa. What an awesome story. And I can see why it's been passed down through the generations. It's the kind of tale you tell every year. Now, I've heard of people bringing in animals with their Christmas trees, possums, raccoons, squirrels, insects, spiders, even a snake. But I've never heard of a spirit itching a ride. So thank you again, Melissa, for taking the time to share that unique and special entry. Now, folks, if you too have a story you would like to share, give our hotline a call at 888-6089, that's 886-800-8-8 NIGH. Or you can record your story as a voice memo on your phone and email the file to me at monsters among us podcastmail.com now, remember, true stories only one story per call, one submission per story. Call back and pick up where you left off if you get cut off, because there is A five minute time limit per call, and most importantly, call from a quiet place. If you call from a moving vehicle, our editor Connor turns into a full fledged gremlin. And none of us want to see that. So give us a call or shoot us an email. Either way, we can't wait to hear from you. Now, folks, another staple of the season is good old Santa Claus. And here with a tale about Old St. Nick himself is Morgan out of West Virginia.

Caller/Guest (16:51)

Hey, Derek, my name's Morgan. I'm calling from a small town called Hundred, West Virginia. I grew up in this old farmhouse. And when I was a kid growing up, my sisters and I, we had this babysitter, we'll call her Mrs. Mercer. And she would tell my parents like when they'd come home and they'd be parting ways with her. I remember a couple times she said that the house we grew up in was haunted and that her and her family had grew up there. So fast forward a couple years, around 1989, and it was Christmas Eve and my mother had told my sisters that if Santa Claus sees you, he'll take your presents and leave. And I got mad at my mom because I expected her to be lying to my sisters. So Christmas Eve in 1989, I woke up in the middle of the night. I had to use the bathroom really bad. I started down the stairs. And going down our staircase, on the left was a wall, but on the right there was no wall. So you could see the living room. And at the foot of the stairs was a door that led out to the porch. And our porch was all encased in it was a room itself. And that's where we kept our Christmas tree. And as I started down the steps, I see a man bend over at the tree. He's wearing red pants and a white shirt and he's big. I thought at first it was my father. And I stopped for a second and I was like, ah, dad might see me. And I thought, wait a second, dad doesn't. In a red pair of pants. And just then as I looked to my right where there was no wall going down the staircase, you could see in our living room, I see a woman sitting in a rocking chair knitting with knitting needles. And she is dressed up for Christmas. And she looks like Mrs. Claus. She's wearing like a green outfit, a green hat, but it's got like some kind of design on it. It was kind of Christmassy. And I was getting ready to have my ninth birthday on New Year's Eve. So I was eight. I come running around the corner. And I'm thinking, oh, my gosh, Santa Claus is real. And Mrs. Claus, she's real, too. And she rides a Santa on Christmas Eve. And for years, I did not know how to explain that. And I told people, carl's an adult. Hey, Santa Claus. I think he might be real because I seen him and his wife, Mrs. Claus. Until the year 2024, I was sitting in a jail, and I was sitting in jail with Mrs. Mercer's brother. One day, me and some other prisoners were talking about ghost stories. And we get locked down, and I'm with Mr. Mercer. And I asked him, I said, hey, you know that house that we all grew up in and you guys grew up in? I said, was it ever haunted? He had this old Southern twang to his voice. And he said, oh, yes. Oh, yes, that place was haunted, all right. I was haunted by my mom and dad. And I was like, your mom and dad? I never heard that story. Tell me about it. And he said, well, you know, so and so and so and so and so and so. We come from a small town, so everybody named a new. They drove by and seen my mom sitting in her rocking chair knitting with knitting needles. And I was like, what? What did you just say? And here that night, I had seen his mom and dad celebrating Christmas as ghosts. The father was moving presents around, adjusting them, making them look nice under the tree, and the mother was knitting in a rocking chair. So hope you like that story. Have a good night.

Derek Hayes (21:19)

I love that story, Morgan. Thank you for sharing. Now, I jumped the gun a little bit with this entry, because when I first started listening, I thought for sure it was going to end with the revelation that the two figures Morgan saw were in fact, burglars dressed up as Santa and Mrs. Claus, only to find out that it was an even cooler ending than I anticipated. The spirit of a family celebrating the holiday, it hits you right in the nostalgia bone. A Norman Rockwell sort of holiday ghost. And, you know, I wonder how the son felt about knowing his parents were permanent fixtures in the home. And I wonder if he ever makes visits there on Christmas day just for a taste of the good old days. I somehow doubt that it works exactly that way, but ghost or not, it's always good to spend the holiday with family. And listen, just because the story didn't detail one of those Santa burglary situations, that doesn't mean that they don't occur. Many a crime has been committed from behind the white beard and red hat. In fact, Santa has even robbed a bank or two.

Caller/Guest (22:44)

An individual approximately six feet tall, dressed up as Santa Claus, robbed the SunTrust Bank. Were not making this up. Around 10 o' clock Tuesday morning, a man in a Santa costume approached the teller next to Richland Jones. He took his little red sack and pulled out a gun and told everybody to be still and approached the teller line and started asking for money and putting it in the bag. Yeah, I laid down as soon as he walked in and pulled that gun out. I was like, yeah, the only thing to do is lay down and let him go ahead. The man dressed as Santa made his getaway in a silver sedan after managing to stay in character during the entire robbery. It's a little unbelievable. He was. He was actually jovial, which is scary, but and he explained that he was robbing the bank because Santa had to pay his elves.

Derek Hayes (23:31)

Now that clip courtesy of CBS News and WTVF News 5 out of Nashville. And it featured a robbery that occurred all the way back in 2009. And if you think that's scary, you'll shudder to think that this guy was never caught. And what's even scarier is that this instance wasn't an isolated event. A few Years later, another SunTrust bank was robbed by Santa Claus, this time in Port Orange, Florida. And this time the crook was actually caught and ended up doing time. But there was no word on if this was the same person or not. I don't think that connection has ever been made. Now folks, when I come back, I've got Granny's ghost waiting for you. Any possible mirrored men situation. So whatever you do, don't touch that dial.

Caller/Guest (24:32)

Third best against the run.

Derek Hayes (24:40)

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Caller/Guest (26:00)

What about leaders? It's going to affect Nevada.

Derek Hayes (26:08)

Now. You know, some of my fondest memories of Christmas occurred in either of my grandparents houses. My mom's mom used to give us the greatest yet strangest gifts. Often used weird stuff like someone's old stamp collection or a collection of those animal identification cards from the 1970s. Then there was my dad's mom, grandmother to some 35 grandchildren. Each year she would give each of us a crisp two dollar bill, no more, no less. You see neither family had a lot of money. So all of this was quite normal growing up. And now that I'm collecting years myself, I look back and fondly remember those quirky gifts. And speaking of gifts and grandmas, our next entry just might include both. Please welcome Autumn out of Minnesota.

Caller/Guest (27:12)

Hi Derek. This is Autumn from Minnesota. I just had a quick kind of light hearted story back in the summer of 2015. I lived with my grandparents and my grandma had passed away that summer kind of suddenly and it was like very traumatic for me and my family but I still lived with my grandpa. And this event happened. It couldn't have been more than a month after my grandma passed away. I believe it was a few weeks after. And I was in the kitchen and I was looking for a specific utensil. I can't recall exactly what utensil it was, but I was looking for some utensil that I couldn't find. And I swear I tore that kitchen off apart just nearly. I looked everywhere and my grandma was a pretty prolific baker and she loved to cook and stuff. And I was like stressed out, just kind of like where is this? And I just kind of stopped for a moment and I just thought of my grandma was like I really wish my grandma was here for many reasons but I really wish she was here because I have no idea where this utensil is. And right after, you know, I kind of thought that I heard her voice in my head and it wasn't my voice. Like the little voice that most people have in their heads where they have a conversation like mine's very talkative. It wasn't that voice, it was in my grandmother's voice. And she said check the dishwasher. And I had already checked the dishwasher. Like that was one of the first places I Had looked, but I just. After hearing her in my head, I was like, okay. And I go and I check the dishwasher, and it was right there in the dishwasher. We've been listening to your show every day, and you mentioned the story your dad had about hearing a voice telling him not to put bleach on his jeans. It was gonna ruin his jeans. And it just kind of jogged this memory for me. I don't know exactly if it was my grandpa's spirit, you know, coming back to help me or whatnot, but it was definitely weird because I had checked the dishwash. But thanks again for the podcast. Really love the show. Keep doing the good work. Thank you. Bye.

Derek Hayes (29:43)

Thank you, Autumn. The gift of a good meal. And it sounds like Granny did all that she could to help you get there. It was a touching tale, and we can't thank you enough, Autumn, for taking the time to share with us now. You know, I sure wish I could have some of the treats that my grandma used to make this time of year. She'd whip up five or six different types of fudges, peanut brittle, divinity, and all kinds of Christmas cookies. I tell you, those were the days. Now, moving on here this evening, you can't have Christmas without a little holly. So please welcome Holly out of parts unknown.

Caller/Guest (30:35)

Hi, this is Holly. I'm sharing an experience I had in Florida in a small house. My landlord owned it years ago, and he ended up selling it. And he found it again years later, and it was on a different street from what he told me was there was a Native American medicine man, somebody said, that had bought the property, the land, and didn't want the house. So he had the house moved to another street. So that's when I moved in. And it was beautiful. It was all natural wood. It was like a mile from the beach. It was a really nice location. And I thought it was kind of weird because there were about seven doors that led to the outside. So no matter where you were in the house, you could basically go outside, which was great, but kind of weird, I guess. So I lived there for about two years, but about a year in, there were some weird things that started happening. It started with one afternoon, and I was just sitting on the couch, just closing my eyes, and I had this intrusive thought. It was like this vision, like it was this space, and it was super weird and kind of creepy. It took me by surprise. I jumped up and I walked to the bathroom around the corner. We had a big window in the bathroom, so I looked out the window. And there was a possum sitting there staring back at me. And it was the same face that I saw when I was sitting there. So it was just this weird moment, and I'm like, hi. The opossum just looked back at me like, hi. So that was weird. Then there started seeing some weird things happening. Like, at night, I would be sitting there, and it was like somebody was pulling my hair, like, yanking my hair. And that happened, like, two or three times. And I did hear footsteps. And there was another time I would have a candle lit in a room without any air blowing or anything. The fan wasn't on, and I would leave the room, come right back, and the candle would be blown out. That was a little weird, too. So I'm starting to get a little on edge. And basically the last thing that was the end for me was it was afternoon again. I was walking through my house and started to approach the kitchen, and there was another room off to the right. And as I'm approaching the kitchen and that room, I see three men. I guess I just assumed they were men. And they were right, maybe three feet from me, like, right there. And they were all facing each other with, like, their heads down and they had hoods on. And I basically just froze. It was really, really silent, really eerily silent. And you would have thought that they were talking or something. You would hear something because they're all facing each other. But there was no noise or anything. And I just froze, and I backed up, and I just. I don't remember anything else. I've tried to figure out what I did after that because usually that would be kind of memorable. Like, you know, what do I do in this situation? There's three people in my house, but I don't remember anything. So, Yeah, so that basically, after that incident, I felt really uncomfortable in that house. I always felt like I wasn't alone. I always felt like there was something there, and I couldn't sleep well. I ended up moving probably, like, two months after that. I never went back.

Derek Hayes (34:51)

Thank you, Holly. Maybe these weren't mirrored men, but they were three men seemingly oddly dressed. And there was a weird vibe, that eerie silence that Holly mentioned, and she doesn't seem to remember anything that happened after the event. Now, that's not enough info to say for sure that it was a genuine mirrored man experience, but it's not enough to say that it wasn't either. And coincidentally, this isn't the first report that we've received that details three strange figures inside the home. Back on season 19 episode 36 I shared a story from Missy in Florida that seemed to detail something eerily similar. Here's a truncated version of that entry.

Caller/Guest (35:47)

Hey Derek. My name is Missy. The story I'm going to tell you happened when I lived in south Florida. I'm 44 now. But when I was 13 years old I had a dream about these three footed beings trying to come into my house. And I would say they were completely human shape, except they didn't have any feet or I didn't see their feet. In my dream in my house we had a sliding glass door and they were trying to get into the sliding glass door. And it was nighttime and I was in my breakfast nook where the sliding glass door, you could look outside onto the pool patio and these three beings just floated up towards the door out of the darkness. They were dark, they were darker than the dark. You couldn't see through them. And all three of them just put their finger out and the finger and the nail, like you can't see like the difference between where the finger and the nail ends was just like all one big black finger with like a sharpened point at the end. And they were all three tapping on the window at the same time. They never said a word to me, they never made a sound. But in my head I could feel how angry they were and what they wanted. They wanted to come inside. They want anything to do with anybody else except for me. Everybody was having their conversations and I was just praying like, oh God, please don't nobody open the door, don't let them in. I remember looking at the lock, making sure that the door was locked. They never tried to open the door, they just kept tapping. I woke up terrified and thinking it was just a night terror. I've had night terror since I was 4 years old. But the next night I dreamed that the black figures were floating above my bed, not in my house. It was like they were above the roof. But I knew they were there. I could see them. But these three other figures came and they were like glowing white. Like if you saw a white car with a reflection off of it, they were so bright. And they made this white ring around me and the black hooded figures were trying to get through. They couldn't even touch the ring. Like, God, they were so angry trying to get through. And the white beings were like they were calling my name and telling me that they wouldn't let them through. They would always be here and they would always protect me, that they can't touch me. And I don't remember nothing else after that. I remember them telling me that in my head, and I woke up the next day and it was light outside and I never saw none of those figures again. But appreciate your show. All right, thanks. Bye.

Derek Hayes (38:34)

And once again, a big thanks to Missy for calling in. Now, aside from the obvious connections here, and without giving too much info about Holly's location, they're both calling from a similar part of the country. So could this be a southeastern thing? Could these simply be mirrored man experiences? Or maybe something completely unrelated and the only connection here is coincidence? Whatever the case, I can't help but notice an influx of mirrored men material as of late. So keep it coming, folks, and we'll keep digging for the truth. Now, in the meantime, another big thanks to both Holly and Missy. Thanks again, ladies, for sharing.

Caller/Guest (39:24)

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Derek Hayes (39:27)

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Caller/Guest (39:30)

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Derek Hayes (39:32)

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Caller/Guest (39:37)

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Derek Hayes (39:39)

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Caller/Guest (39:46)

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Derek Hayes (39:49)

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Caller/Guest (40:00)

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Derek Hayes (40:02)

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Caller/Guest (40:12)

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Derek Hayes (40:14)

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Caller/Guest (40:23)

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Derek Hayes (41:34)

I'm not sure how number 89 gets.

Caller/Guest (41:36)

That wide open, but I'll take it.

Derek Hayes (41:39)

Now everyone knows that Santa delivers toys to good girls and boys on crazy Christmas Eve. That much is a given. But did you know that none of that would be possible without the help of his trusty army of elves? And from time to time, it seems like these pint sized apprentices stow away on Santa's sleigh. And if Arletta has anything to say about it, she'll tell you that she saw one with her own two eyes. Please welcome her to the program.

Caller/Guest (42:23)

I think I was maybe between nine or 10, maybe eight, the youngest that I had this first visitation. And it always seemed like it happened between Thanksgiving holidays and Christmas holidays. It was like when everybody was all festive and happy and everything. And I would have this dream. At first I thought it was a dream. I'll tell you about the first visitation because after that things changed because of things that I had to do to protect myself. The first time I was sleep and I could hear these little jingle bells, little twinkling bells, like running through the house, you know, like running from one room to the next to a corner to the next. And I was sleeping. It kind of woke me up, but I just laid there and kept my eyes closed because I didn't know what was going on. Kind of scared me. And I seen this little man, I guess he was not quite 2ft tall, probably was smaller than that, this little elf. But I had seen him darting across the room and everything and he was really fast. He would think about him being fast like if it was a mouse running, you know, he was just that fast. But he had real big feet and they curled up at the toes. He actually had bells on his toes because his shoes were curled up. And he was kind of dressed in green and some black, like a black cape, like hoodie. And he was just ugly, like little short, clawed like pants. He was like blackish skin, dark skin. I think he had like a dirty beard. It kind of reminds you of lights, a bat face. When he opened his mouth, he had all these Pointed teeth and everything. His eyes were like bloodshot red and he had a hood on with like a little cape. But I just, you know, was chilling and everything laying there. But I was scared. So finally he was creeping to the bed because me and my sister, we always slept in the same room, but we had our own beds. So I looked at him walk all around her twin bed and peep over her covers and look in her face and all this kind of stuff. So then I was getting scared. So finally he came to me and I was scared and finally I just opened my eyes and looked at him. And when I did that, oh, he just hollered and screeched and, and all just scared me to death the way he was hollering and screeching and flaring and flaring his arms and everything. And I can remember screaming and hollering and crying and he ran and I ran to my parents bed. And that's where I said, I said this little man, this little man. And they were saying, oh, you were just having a nightmare. So after that I never thought no more about it until next year around the holidays. Like I said, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, sometimes I would be lucky and wouldn't see him for Thanksgiving. And he would come like two days before Christmas or whatever. But then it had got to the point where I used to sleep with the covers over my head and tie really tight balled up when I started feeling like that was the time of the year till I would be sweating so bad in the bed because I would be so paranoid. And then I would hear the bells ringling, chingling, running through the house. You know, kind of reminds you of like if you put bells on a cat or something. But he got slick when I would cover my head up. I knew when he was sniffing around my sister because I could hear him breathing and huffing and whatever. And he would come over to my bed and do the same thing. But he was slick. He would pull the covers off of my head even though I would be holding it for dear life. He would just pull the covers out and then he would just smell all around. I could feel his breath on my face and he'd be sniffing around my eyeballs and in my ears and my mouth and I could feel his hot stinky brain breath on my face or whatever. But I just kept telling myself, don't open your eyes, don't open your eyes. And he just kept doing that. After a while, eventually he would just stop because I could feel him finally get off of my bed. He was so sure he would have to crawl up on the bed to get to me. And he would get off of the bed and then finally go away. And I'd just stay there like that all night and finally drift off. I had that little elf visitor four or five times in my life. I think what really finally made him stop going away because I had told myself, I guess I might have been about 12 or 13, I was getting pretty big to be afraid of seeing this thing. And I just told myself that, you know, if he comes, it's going to be a fight. I'm not gonna hide anymore, I'm tired of it. But I still would cover my head up. But after I had that mindset that, you know it was gonna be a match right then and there, I wasn't gonna put up with it. I never had the dreams anymore or the visitation. I wouldn't say dreams. I'm 69 years old and I still can feel the hot breath and just the idea of this thing sneaking in, putting, pulling the covers off of me all in my face. But I just said, you know, we gonna do it the way they do it in the streets, you know, if he comes at me again. And he never did.

Derek Hayes (48:29)

Thank you, Arletta, for sharing that hair raising story. I think of the Stephen King film Cat's Eye when I hear this story. A little troll elf like creature tormenting a young Drew Barrymore. Now I'll put a link up to that film's trailer in tonight's show notes. But you know, Arletta isn't the only one to have had this sort of experience. I also received the following entry from Sabrina here in California.

Caller/Guest (49:03)

Hi Derek, this is Sabrina from California. I'm calling in today with my mom's story. She gave me permission to share. So when my mom was 14, it was 1989, I believe, because I was born four years later. And she was asleep one night. And I believe the parents, my grandma and grandpa, were not there. But my uncle, who's my mom's older brother was there with his friend. And it was the middle of the night and there were wooden floors in her bedroom. She woke up to the sound of her closet door creaking open. It was a door on hinges and she immediately got scared and she did the thing that everyone does and pulled the blankets over her head. And she heard something walk out of her closet. And like I said, she had hardwood floors. And with each step this thing took, she could hear the clacking of claws on its feet and the sound of bells. She described them like jester sort of bells, as if it were wearing a jester cap or maybe it had bells attached somewhere near its feet. Obviously she didn't look at it and she said by the sound of its footsteps she estimated it was somewhere around 4ft tall. And it walked slowly towards her bed and around her bed until it came right up to where her head was. And she said she could feel its heavy breathing hitting the sheet. And she said it stood there for what felt like a long time, but maybe was only a couple minutes. And finally it just turned around and she could hear its nails and jingle bells clacking back to the closet and it shut the closet door behind it. Immediately my mom sprang up out of bed, ran to the living room where my uncle was with his friend. No, my mom was not on drugs. Like I said, she was 14. Although stop some people. But my uncle and his friend were actually high on hallucinogens and they thought my mom was just tripping. And basically my mom was so terrified she just stayed up with them out in the living room until the sun came up and it was daytime again. And nothing like that has ever happened to her again since from what she's told me. But it's definitely something she's never been able to explain. And I would call my mom an open minded skeptic. So make of that what you will. Thanks for listening and thanks again for all that. You do have a great one. Bye.

Derek Hayes (52:02)

Thank you, Sabrina. The similarities here are uncanny. And though the creature Sabrina's mother saw seemed to be considerably bigger than the entity that Arletta came in contact with, the two descriptions are bizarrely similar. But if I'm honest, each of these reports seem to detail an existing creature, a Christmas goblin from the Mediterranean, the Kali Khanzeri. And when it comes to obscure monsters, there's no better place to get the info than the folks over at Monstrum Kalikanzeri.

Caller/Guest (52:40)

Take the whole Christmas monster in a different direction. A human direction. They're little hairy black monsters with red eyes, hooves and long black tails. They're known to pee in your food. So even though this once popular Christmas monster fell into obscurity, you might want to keep a fire burning this holiday season. Even though the folklore's origin is rooted in Greek culture, versions of the legend span cultures across the Mediterranean. Kalikansaro spend most of the year underground, trying to chop down the mythical tree that holds up the earth, which would bring about the collapse of the world. But every year, just before they saw through the world tree, Christmas Day arrives and Kalikanzuri join humans in the mortal world to wreak havoc during the 12 days of Christmas. From December 25 to January 6, they roam the earth, terrorizing their human victims. Their main targets are sinners or those who are just plain lazy. But anyone is fair game. It's said they drain people of their life force. But like a vampire, they only come out at night, scratching their victims with their long nails. They've been known to kidnap people, and in extreme cases, they will feast on human flesh.

Derek Hayes (53:48)

Now, you know, there is one more unsettling detail about these merry little monsters, the that you just might find disturbing. And I know, I hear you. There's nothing more unsettling than these things tinkling all over your dinner. But legend says that children born on Christmas Day are at risk of becoming a Cali Consori. Creepy stuff. Any big thanks to Delaney for digging up these little Christmas goblins. I'd never heard of them before, but now that I have, I'm starting to see where the idea for the film Gremlins might have came from. Or perhaps at least an inspiration for the film. But I promise we'll talk more about that here in a bit. In the meantime, a big thanks to both Arletta and Sabrina for sharing those similar entries. Now, this next entry doesn't detail Christmas demons, but it does detail something that'll scare you silly. Please welcome James out of Texas.

Caller/Guest (55:00)

Hey, Derek, it's James from Texas. Just giving you a call. Listening to the Christmas episode and the haunted toys that they were talking about, it kind of brought back a memory. So whenever I was six or seven, my. I was sleeping in bed at the time and there was a doll that was given to me at birth. It was a little clown doll, of course, has to always be a clown. But I was laying in bed and looking up at the shelving where this doll was, and I had never moved this doll. It was always there. I don't think I ever even touched it. But I was about 6 or 7, it was at nighttime, everybody was asleep. And I could have swore to anybody that while I was looking at this doll, it turned its head towards me and it kind of looked at me. Of course, at that time, a six or seven, that scared the bejesus out of me. So I put my head under the covers, trying to contemplate what to do, and opened up the covers, it was still staring at me. So I quickly got out of bed and at 6 or 7, I knew kind of where my mom kept the scissors if she did a Lot of sewing at that time. So I went, got the scissors and kind of described this doll. It was a very, very simple type of doll. It had the strings that were kind of the skeleton, if you will. So it had strings running through it that attached the head to the feet and the hands. And in between all of that were round discs of fabric that the string went through so it made it look like it was ruffled. So I grabbed the scissors and I came back to the room, turned the lights on, I got something to stand on, grabbed the doll, and I cut the string. So the doll fell apart. Well, I threw it away and didn't think twice of it. My mom was very upset with me when she found that out, actually. But anyway, a couple days after that, I was again laying in bed at night. And my closet was one of those sliding door closets with the big mirrors on them that they used to have in the 80s and kind of give you reference. The doll was on a shelf kind of right by that sliding door. So it was kind of right in the same vicinity. Well, that sliding door started open. It opened about 2 inches while I was sitting there watching it. And that scared me. Then you ran out the room. And then not too long after the that, I was in my parents room just watching TV or doing something. I forget. But all of a sudden there were a bunch of knocks, just a series of knocks all the way down the wall. And that scared me at that time. So, long story short, I think that once I cut that doll string and kind of made it fall apart, either I released something or something wasn't happy with me. And it just kind of stuck with me until we moved out of that house whenever I was 10 years old. Anyway, just wanted to share this story with you. Love the podcast and keep spooky, buddy.

Derek Hayes (58:04)

Thank you, James, for calling in. You know, if it's not freaky little elves, it's of course gonna be clowns. Now, I do like that you took matters into your own hands, James. Chopping up the clown is certainly one way to deal with the situation. But either way, we thank you again, James, for taking the time to share. All right, gang, don't go anywhere. I have a lot more in store for you here tonight, right after these messages.

Caller/Guest (58:38)

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Derek Hayes (58:43)

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Caller/Guest (58:51)

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Derek Hayes (58:53)

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Derek Hayes (59:03)

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Caller/Guest (59:37)

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Derek Hayes (60:23)

Well, you know, 364 days a year, if you saw a deer flying through the air, you'd probably freak out, but if it happened on Christmas Eve, we wouldn't bat an eye. Well, this next call doesn't feature a flying deer per se, or one with a red nose either, but it does feature a creature that her anonymous witness found unusual. Please welcome this mysterious caller from the state of Pennsylvania.

Caller/Guest (60:57)

Foreign. Listening to your podcast for quite some time now. And I am from Pennsylvania. The story I have for you today is very odd to me and I'm not sure if anyone else has had this experience as I did, but I work the night shift at our local shop and I was driving down the back roads to go back to my house and all of a sudden, while driving on the back roads, I'm driving through farmland and on the right side of me, I see a bunch of deer, you know, crowded together, just standing on the side. And then in the pile of deer, there is a grayish white deer, just a Single gray deer in the middle of them. I saw it very clearly. It was gray. The back legs were normal deer legs, but the front two were like kind of bent and it had its tongue sticking out. I don't understand what that means. I've never seen that before. So if anyone has seen that before, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

Derek Hayes (62:28)

Thank you, caller. Well, it's not every day that I actually have an answer for one of these stories, but today is one of those days. I know exactly what you saw, caller. It's called a piebald deer, a mutation of the white tailed deer variety. Half the deer is albino and the other half the normal coloration. Now kdka, CBS News out of Pittsburgh has the local details on this rare mutation.

Caller/Guest (63:01)

Travis Lau with the Pennsylvania Game Commission says piebald deer are few and far between. In PA, probably only 1%, less than 1% of all deer are piebald or albino have large splashes of white on their coats, but at the same time, they're common enough where a lot of people do see them. The piebald condition is genetic. This rare type of white tailed deer can have other abnormalities like short legs and curved spines. People often mistaken them as an albino. In some states, it's illegal to hunt albino or piebald deer, but they're not protected.

Derek Hayes (63:36)

In Pennsylvania, those deformed front legs and the odd coloration were the dead giveaway. Now, you might not have seen a monster collar, but what you did see was quite rare. So congratulations on the exciting sighting and thank you again for sharing the call. Now folks, if Sandy doesn't bring the gifts that you were expecting this year, then come on down to our merch shop and pick up something nice for yourself. Grab a shirt, a hat, a pin, a patch, maybe even a sticker back. We have all kinds of neat stuff available, all carefully designed by your favorite paranormal themed artists. Visit monsters among us podcast.com and click the shop tab. Now, a tradition we have around our house is watching Christmas movies. In a few of the staples in our household are National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, the first two Home Alone films, Just Friends the Night before, and a handful of others. But we also like to watch Christmas horror movies as well. Films like Krampus, the Nightmare Before Christmas and a little early 2000s film about Mothman, the Mothman Prophecies. And when I first heard this next call, that movie was the first thing to pop into my head. So because of that, it found its way onto tonight's special episode. So that's My roundabout way of introducing Brianna's call from parts unknown.

Caller/Guest (65:26)

Hi, my name is Brianna. This is the second time I'm calling in. So my husband and I, we started dating when we were both in high school. And this took place then around, like, 2006. And I was hanging out his house, and he was going to drive me home, but I couldn't find my phone. So we got in the car, we were about to leave, and I realized that I didn't have it. So we went back in to look for it. Took about, like, a minute. We found it pretty soon after going in, but it delayed us, like, about a minute or two. And we grew up in Kings Park, Long island, and there's a abandoned psychiatric center there. And it's very creepy. And growing up, we used to explore the ground, and it's actually a park now there. Anyway, to get to my house from his house, we used to have to drive through that area, through the psych center grounds. And he was driving me home. And those roads are super dark, super windy, really creepy. And we round one of the bends there in the road, and we encounter a overturned car. And we start pulling up, and it just happened, like, probably 30 seconds before we came up upon it. We pull up, we obviously stop, and we see a younger kid literally crawling out from the wreckage. And he runs up to the car and he's, you know, screaming for help. And he had two other friends in the car with him, and they were getting out as well. And, you know, at this point, we're both out of the car, and I pull my phone out, and as I'm pulling it out, I realized that I just missed the call. And it was an unknown number. And that area gets barely any reception, like, barely. So I'm trying to call 911, and, you know, finally I get through, and we, you know, stay with the kids until the cops came. And then my husband, then boyfriend, drives me home. And as we're pulling up to my house, I see that I had a voicemail. And I listen to it, and it's, like, super staticky, and all I hear is a voice saying, not yet. And it kind of sounds like if you've ever seen the Mothman prophecies, it kind of sounded like that voice that comes in on the phone, and it was so scary. We listened to it several times and definitely said, not yet. And the only thing we could think is if we had left when we were going to leave before going back for my phone, that overturned car was in our lane. We might have been in that lane and they might have crashed into us. And that's the only thing we could think is that we avoided something, something catastrophic. And my husband, he is petrified of the Mothman. Now he can't watch that movie, can't think about it, he won't talk about it because it scared us that much. And I tried to call back that number and it was non existent. So very creepy. It creeps us out to this day. So I thought I would share it with you guys. I love the podcast. Thank you so much. All right, bye.

Derek Hayes (69:15)

Thanks Brianna, for the call. I love that movie. And oddly enough, I ended up working for the very production company that produced the film and became good friends with many of the producers and even some of the actors. But sadly, I didn't start working for that company until after the film had been out for some four or five years. So I first saw the film in theaters back in Ohio the same way that many of you did. And you know, I just watched it again the other day and not only does it still hold up, but it still delivers the chills. So if you haven't seen the film, it's streaming on FUBU for free, I believe. And I've linked to the trailer in tonight's show notes. And I'm right there with you, Brianna. Your story and the story in the film were eerily similar. And that voice, The stuff of nightmares. And speaking of nightmares, there's another movie that Sarah and I watch each and every Christmas. One of my all time favorites going back to when I was a very young kid. Of course, I'm speaking about 1984's Gremlins. And here with a Gremlin story of their own, please welcome tj all the way from the uk.

Caller/Guest (70:52)

Hi Derek, my name's TJ from southwest of England in the county of Somerset. This is actually my brother's experience. He left England in about September 72, 73 and he went to live in South Africa. His job was working in a gold mine and his job was putting in water sprinklers to prevent any fires or anything. Anyway, he rented a flat and it was on 19th floor flat in Johannesburg. He lived there on his own and I guess he'd been there maybe six or seven months and he'd had a few weird experiences there. His sleep seemed to be quite disturbed, couldn't seem to settle. Anyway, over a few nights. Bear in mind, he's on the 19th floor. He heard what sounded like somebody tapping on the window. Initially he thought maybe it's the air Coming up through the lift shaft, vibrating the windows. Check that. No, definitely wasn't that. Check for any drafts. Absolutely nothing that could have caused it. So he carried on and he's sleeping in bed and it was always at night when he was trying to sleep. Anyway, you can hear this tap, tap, tap. Now when somebody taps on glass, it's quite a distinctive noise. So he's lying in bed in his flat at this stage. He's probably 22, maybe 23 years old. So, you know, young enough guy, he's 6 foot 7, big burly bloke. He woke up one night and he heard tap, tap, tap. Now he didn't have curtains in his flat because obviously 19 floors up didn't have a balcony. And he looked out of the window where his bed was and he said he could see this kind of gobliny gremlin type figure floating and it was tapping on the window. So being suitably scared at the early 20s, even though he was quite a ruffy tufty guy, hid under his blankets because what else are you gonna do? Anyway, he spoke to some of the people he worked with and they said, oh, that's probably the Tokolosh. And he's like, what is a Tokolosh? Apparently they seem to be small humanoid, gremlin, brownie type creatures. They're malevolent, supposed to be very dangerous, and they're said to crawl into people's sleeping rooms and cause all sorts of chaos, scaring them, choking them. They seem to like scaring children particularly. But it seems to be a Zulu legend that you need to put bricks beneath the legs of your bed and this hopefully keeps you out of harm's way of the Tokolosh. They're supposed to have magical abilities. My brother spoke to somebody that he worked with and put him in touch with this Zulu guy and he gave him some blessed salt. But he said the really strange thing was when he looked at the window the following morning, there were tiny little handprints and tiny little footprints. He said, almost like a two year old child, maybe that kind of size. Anyway, needless to say, he was absolutely terrified and didn't stop. Stay in the flat very much longer after that. Didn't seem to have any problems. About 10 years later I was able to go and visit in South Africa and I stayed in Johannesburg with his, what would be then, mother in law and his sisters in law in a place called Kempton park. And they all had beds propped up on bricks. And I thought, well, this is a bit of a strange thing. Apparently that is what you do to prevent the top loss. So there we go. Something a bit random. Just thought you might like that. Love the podcasts and shout out to all you Monsters Among Us fans.

Derek Hayes (75:38)

Thank you tj, Gremlins, the Tokolosh Elves, Kali Khanzeri. They all seem to share several similarities. They're all small and sinister and apparently they're all popular this time of year. And I promise after hearing these stories, you'll never look at that elf on the shelf the same way again. So thank you again DJ for sharing your brother's story. Time to put some bricks under our beds now folks. That does it for this episode. Unless of course you want to stick around for one more eggnog. In fact, don't go anywhere. Let's just get this out of the way real quick. 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 his production has done so under the protection of fair use. Be sure to like and follow our social media pages. Like and follow on YouTube. Join our Discord server 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 evening at 10pm Eastern on the Annex Digital Network. Just visit on xnetwork.com to tune in now. Tonight's score was provided by Iron Cthulhu, Apocalypse Co AG Music, Carl Casey at Whitebad Audio, Mayu and Envato Elements and Gang. Be sure to join us next Thursday for the 2025 Best of Episode. Our favorite stories of the year all lumped in to one episode. And of course swing by on Tuesday as well. Very special release now don't go anywhere. I'll be right back with one more story. Any Christmas themed beyond you won't want to miss. I'll be right back.

Caller/Guest (77:49)

Two o' clock on Sunday afternoon.

Derek Hayes (77:52)

One Creation we'll see you next week.

Caller/Guest (77:56)

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Derek Hayes (79:11)

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Derek Hayes (79:35)

All right, gang, Santa left us one more call for this evening. A wild story from a familiar voice. Please welcome Cindy from Indiana. Back to the program.

Caller/Guest (79:51)

Hi, this is Cindy Ketchurn from Avon, Indiana, home of the haunted Avon Bridge. So one day back in 1961, my brother and I were very, very young. We were at home with mom and dad and our pets nor two dogs and her two cats. Well, anyway, we are at strange noise coming from Brian's bedroom and we heard someone crying. And so Brian turned on the light except that it wouldn't come on. And when dad used the flashlight, he saw there was a three foot elf sitting on the shelf. And it was a very angry, bitter elf. It was just a young boy. And we said, what's wrong? And mom helped him down and put a blanket over and gave him a bowl of chicken soup. And he was very, very nice and polite to us. He still wouldn't stop crying. And he said Santa fired me and we all gassed. And they said that can't be true. Santa would never do that. He said, yeah, he did. He said he fired him. He wasn't fast enough on the toy for Dutch and ly. And then he couldn't bake cookies because Mrs. Claus would get mad at him because he'd eat more cookies. Cookies that he baked. So what are you going to do with a kid that's a spoiled brat and his parents were shocked and disowned him. He ran away that night and came to our place. He somehow wound up at our place and he asked if he could stay here and we told him yes, of course, we'd love to have you in the family. So he became happy. Dad bought him modern day clothes and he still remains as an invisible entity to this day. He will not leave. He resides in one of my toy halls and nobody can see him except me and Brian. So this is Cindy Catcher. Name Indiana. Thank you for listening.

Derek Hayes (81:39)

Thank you Cindy. Wow, there's not much more that I can say about that. A distraught elf on a shelf. I'm glad to hear that your family took him in, Cindy. Very similar to yet another Christmas classic that we watch each and every year, the Will Ferrell movie Elf. An awfully similar story and hopefully both have the same happy ending. Thank you again Cindy for taking the time to. Now folks, on behalf of myself, Sarah Delaney Connor, our volunteers, and everyone else associated with the show, I want to wish you all a happy holidays no matter what you celebrate. And we want to thank you for spending at least part of your holiday here with us this evening. But it doesn't have to end here. We have an after show that normally airs on Thursday evenings, but due to the holiday, I'll be opening the beyond tonight. And to join us, all you have to do is sign up for the five dollar level or higher on Patreon or Apple subscriptions, visit monsters among us podcast.com and click the Patreon tab to learn more. And don't forget, you can get a free seven day trial on each platform. That's two full weeks of access, absolutely free. Of course, it is the season of giving after all, so if you like what you hear, consider sticking around for a month or two. After all, there are literally days worth of back episodes to binge. That's monsters among us podcast.com and click that Patreon tab. Go beyond where you can find stories like this deer Related entry from James in Tennessee.

Caller/Guest (83:43)

Hey Derek, this is James calling in from Knoxville, Tennessee and I have two stories tonight. First one so I live in a very rural part of Knoxville, not too far from Oak Ridge, which is where they harvested the radiation for the atomic bombs. A lot of weird stuff happens out here. One night I was driving home and where I live it's pitch black at night. So I'm driving home and I see on the left side of me on a hill there is a deer that is standing and walking on its hind legs. Its front two legs were up and out almost looking like it was like trying to impress brace something but the angles are all off because of the deer's leg. It's moving herky jerky. It's very strange and I see it just for a split second as I'm driving past it and still don't know what was going on with that. No idea. The second story is my wife and I this past November were outside looking up at the sky like we normally do because there's zero light pollution where we are so we can see all the stars and everything and we see these two gray It's 2025, a new year and the perfect time to turn your business dreams into reality. Maybe you've been tossing around a great idea but haven't acted yet. Well, Shopify is how you're going to make it happen. Shopify makes it simple to create your brand open for business and make your first sale with thousands of customizable templates you can. You don't need coding or design skills, just drag, drop and go. Plus, Shopify's social media tools help you connect all your channels and create shoppable posts so you can sell everywhere your customers scroll. Managing your business is easy too. From shipping to taxes to payments, Shopify handles the details on a single dashboard, letting you focus on what really matters. Growing your business established in 2025 has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.comdax all lowercase go to shopify.comdax to start selling with Shopify today. Shopify.comdax hey, Ryan Reynolds here wishing you a very happy half off holiday because right now Mint Mobile is offering you the gift of 50% off unlimited. To be clear, that's half price, not half the service. Mint is still premium unlimited wireless for a great price. So that means a half day. Yeah. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Save upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to 15 per month required new customer offer for first 3 months only. Speed slow after 35 gigabytes of networks busy taxes and fees extra. See mint mobile.com hey Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. You know one of the perks about having four kids that you know about is actually getting a direct line to the big man up north. And this year he wants you to know the best gift that you can give someone is the gift of Mint mobile's unlimited wireless for 15amonth.

Derek Hayes (86:47)

Now you don't even need to wrap it.

Caller/Guest (86:49)

Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for three month plan, equivalent to $15 per month. Required new customer offer for first three months only. Speed slow after 35 gigabytes if network's busy, taxes and fees extra. See mintmobile.com.