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With savings over $390 this shopping season, VRBO helps you swap gift wrap time for quality time with those you love most. From snow on the roof to sand between your toes. We have all the vacation rental options covered. Go to VRBO now and book a last minute week long stay. Save over $390 this holiday season and book your next vacation rental home on VRBO. Average savings $396.00 select homes only. Your ticket to Big Savings is that big blue envelope in your mailbox. Valpak. It's brimming with deals from big name brands and your favorite local spots, dining services, stuff you're already buying all for less. And you could score $100 or other instant prizes just for opening it. Or save even faster with mobile coupons you can use right now@valpak.com Valpak there's definitely something in it for you. Good evening and welcome to Monsters Among Us. I am your guide, Derek Hayes. Happy New Year everyone and welcome to one of the most anticipated episodes of the year. Our annual Best of episode where we wade through the scariest, the spookiest, the most hair raising calls that we've shared this calendar year. A time period going all the way back to season 18, episode 28. So we had nearly 100 episodes worth of content to pull from. Now, the guidelines as to what makes these calls quote unquote best of that's subjective because essentially the team and I went through and picked out our favorites of the year. Now, we did toss in a few suggestions from folks that commented on social media or emailed us directly with their favorites. So in this case, best of simply means some of our favorites. And since we've already shared many of these stories, and since there are many that I need to get through this evening, I'll be sharing a majority of these calls. Rapid fire. And since we're looking to save time, I'll stop talking and push play on our very first best of story of the year. The following tale first aired on Season 18, Episode 31 and comes to us from Ryan in my state of California. Hey Derek, My name is Ryan. I'm from Los Angeles. But the story I'm about to tell you took place in La Habra Heights, California. I think it was around 2010, give or take. So La Habra Heights is a really small town. It's up in the hills, so the roads are kind of windy and the roads get really dark at night. And on this one particular night I didn't really have much going on, so I decided to just go for a drive and kill time. And I ended up driving through La Habra Heights at around 8 or 9pm so I'm just driving around, windows down, listening to music, not really wanting to go home yet. And at one point I drive under some street lights, and the light from the street lights lights up the inside of my car just enough that through my rear view mirror, I can see that there's somebody sitting in my backseat. He was sitting in the middle seat. His head was slightly tilted to the side. He had very little emotion on his face, but if I had to guess, I'd say he seemed upset. And he was just sitting there staring at me through my rearview mirror. The guy was Asian. He looked like he was in his early 20s, which is how old I was at the time. Honestly, he just looked like he could have been another guy in my group of friends. So anyway, we locked eyes through the rearview mirror for about one to two seconds and I think I just froze. And we just stared at each other and in the blink of an eye, he was gone. So before this happened, when I was younger, I've had a couple of experiences where I'd see dark figures, like in the corner of my eye. But it was always something I could kind of like rationalize to myself. Like it was the trick of the light, my eyes were playing tricks on me, blah, blah, blah, stuff like that. So what made this stand out so much from all those other experiences was just how clear this guy looked. He didn't look ghostly, he wasn't translucent. He wasn't wearing clothes from a different time. He just looked like, like, you know, like a flesh and blood living person that just appeared in the backseat of my car. So anyway, once he disappeared, I pulled over for a couple minutes just to kind of compose myself. And then I headed to my friend's house and my friend's mom was there and I told my friend what had happened, and I guess he had told her. So she came out with some candles and then asked me to let her into my car. So when I let her into my car, she lit the candles, said some prayers in the backseat, and I guess blessed it. I think she was Buddhist, not really sure. But the thing about that is, like, I had had that car for a while, so I don't really feel like the figure appearing had anything to do with my car. I feel like it probably had more to do with the road I was driving on, but who knows? Anyway, love the podcast. I hope you can use this. Thanks. Thank you, Ryan. Now for those of you unfamiliar. La Habra Heights is just southeast of Los Angeles. And this isn't our first ghostly hitchhiker call, but it's certainly one of the more memorable ones. And, you know, I especially like the fact that this essentially took place right down the road from me. Now, folks, we need to switch gears for this next pick. One of my favorites of the year, a mermaid sighting from Jade down in Texas. Hey, Derek, this is Jade, like, from Mortal Kombat, and I'm calling from Houston, Texas. This story is about a siren or a mermaid, whatever you want to call it. And this happened about a couple of years ago. So this happened over at Surfside beach, which is a popular beach over here on the Gulf coast outside of Houston. Me and my boyfriend at the time, we were camping out under the full moon, which was something that we like to do every so often every other full moon. So this was more his experience. He told me this happened the next morning because I had gone to bed early. And basically what happened was it was maybe, I don't know, 10, 11, midnight, somewhere around that time period. I had worked early that day. I had planned on staying up late with him because he's a night owl, but I was super tired. I was like, I'm sorry, I'm going to go to bed. And so he stayed out by the campfire. He was sitting in his little chair. He also had music playing. Again, this is everything that he told me. So he said he had music playing. Specifically, the song that was playing during his encounter was the Scientist by Coldplay. So he said he was singing along to that song, kind of staring at the fire, full moon. And I'm guessing it wasn't too cloudy because the moon was shining, the moonlight was shining. And basically he told me that something caught his eye off in the distance where the moonlight was shining on the water, that he looked over and he saw a silhouette of a figure standing in the water. Now, keep in mind, this is super late at night out on the beach, which, to be honest, usually it's not ever crowded. I've been going out to this beach ever since I was, like, in my early 20s. This beach does not get crowded at night, let alone have people walking along the beach at night. So he said he looked over, he saw a silhouette in the moonlight in the water. And he said this encounter happened maybe just like less than a minute. He said he saw it, and he went to stand up out of his chair. And the second he stood up, the figure turned around and splashed into the water. And he said he saw a fin, like a tail, like a mermaid tail, and I asked him that. I was like, it was a mermaid tail, and he was like, yeah, it had a human shape, like it was standing in the water or something. But when he stood up to get a better look at it, it turned away and he saw a flipper in the water. I definitely believe him. I don't know about any other mermaid sightings along the Gulf coast, but yeah, that's my story. I'll probably call back with a couple other ones. So love the show. Thanks. Bye. Thanks again, Jade Now, Jade's entry originally aired on season 18, episode 35, and in that episode I mentioned that this isn't the first mermaid story we've received from the Gulf of Mexico. So to hear more about that connection, you'll have to head back and listen to that episode. But for now, let's take a quick break, but don't go anywhere. I'll be right back with more Best of calls of 2025 produces enough revenue to provide for them when you have to go to your ticket to big savings is that big blue envelope in your mailbox Valpak. It's brimming with deals from big name brands and your favorite local spots, dining services, stuff you're already buying, all for less. And you could score $100 or other instant prizes just for opening it. Or save even faster with mobile coupons you can use right now@valpack.com Valpak there's definitely something in it for you. It's the most wonderful time of the year and Valpak is here to make it even better this month as you sip through holiday mail, don't miss the blue Valpak envelope. From dining to holiday shopping, there's a slate full of savings in your mailbox, plus a chance to instantly win $100. That's right, you can find $100 Christmas cash inside. Want to save even more money on what you love? Go to valpak.com for local coupons and offers. It pays to open Valpak. No purchase necessary for instant win. Void war prohibited. Prices are randomly inserted. See specially marked Valpak envelopes for details. I'm glad they put that word because that's what it is. I'm insignificant now, folks. This next entry is one of Sarah's picks and up until now could only be found in the beyond portion of Season 18, Episode 41. Please welcome John to the program. Hi, my name is John. I live in Massachusetts and I was calling to tell a story that happened to my Grandmother and my aunts and uncles, I should say my grandfather was not my grandmother's first husband. She had married very young to someone that she was in love with. And they married and they had three children. And unfortunately, her first husband, when he was in his early to mid-20s, his appendix burst, and they try to do surgery. But this is a very rural place. And he ended up passing away very young. They go to the funeral. My two aunts, my uncle, my grandmother, of course, everyone's very sad. Everyone's crying. And they came home after the funeral, and my grandmother said, everyone was just sitting there. They're crying. Everyone's in tears. And all of a sudden, Frank, the father that had just passed away, they just came from his funeral, walked in the front door of the house and came into the living room. And she said, all the kids, my two aunts and my uncle, were happy. They're jumping up and down, oh, my God, dad, dad, we're so happy. So happy. And she said, no, no, Frank, you have to leave. You're dead. You're dead. You can't be here. You're dead. Leave, Frank, leave. And my aunts and uncle, they got very upset with it. I say, no, mom, why are you telling dad to leave? He's back. This is great. Why are you doing this? And so he ended up walking out the house and left. Obviously, no one ever saw him again. He was deceased. So my grandmother told me this story. She's in her early 90s now. She told me about 10 years ago, so she would have been in her 80s at the time. And I was kind of like, okay, Grandma. She's not like a real storyteller, but you just never know. I asked my aunt about it. She said, yeah, our dad walked in the house, and all of a sudden, it was like the best thing ever. And then our mother started saying, you have to leave. You have to leave. And we were very upset. We didn't understand why she was telling him this. So then I later asked my uncle, who I worked for at the time, and I kind of caught him off guard. I think we were private, just me and him in his office. And I said, hey, Grandma told me this story. He stopped what he was doing, and I remember the look on his face. And he said, she told you about that? And I said, yeah. He said, you know, he's exactly like Grandma said. He walked in the house. We were all so happy. And next thing you know, Grandma was saying, you have to leave. You're dead. You have to leave. And then he walked out of the house and we never saw him again. I mean, he's deceased. It's a crazy story. The thing that's strange to me though is that I've told some of my cousins the story. My grandmother, of course, still says it's true. My aunt says it's true. My uncle, though I've asked my uncle about it subsequently. The one that told me that it was true, he denies that he told me it was true. And he denies that it ever happened. He says, you're making the story up, Grandma's making it up. And I never told you it was true. And I know for an absolute fact he did. So I don't know what to make of it. I don't know if he's embarrassed and didn't think I was going to tell other people about it or something. And he's afraid people will think he's crazy. I don't know. And there's one last piece of information. We actually live on an island. So it's a pretty secluded place and there's very few people. This would have taken place in the early 50s, so people would have known, you know, it's not like they separated or something. And she told the kids he died. It's not like that. We know where he's buried. He has a gravesite and this is a very small community. And also the fact that it's an island. There's no bridge that goes to the island. He couldn't just take off in the middle of the night. Back in those days, that's the only way to get There would have been a boat. I asked my grandmother and my aunt. They both confirmed the same thing, that when he reappeared after his death, after the funeral, he looked physically solid. It would be like me or you standing in the room. He didn't look wispy. You couldn't see through him. Both my grandmother and my aunt confirmed, you know, he opened the door and walked into the house. It wasn't like he appeared in the room or walked through a wall or something like that. He physically looked like a human being. And he interacted with the environment. He never said any words. I just thought that might be interesting for some people to know. I'm not sure how common it is for a full body apparition to A, look completely normal, B, be able to physically interact with the environment like that. But that's what it was in this case. Anyways, that's the story I've been told. And like I said, it's been confirmed by multiple sources in my Family, who I don't believe are making a dump. Anyways, thank you very much. We like the show. Keep doing what you do. Bye. Thank you, John. You know, if you're not already a member of the beyond, you're really missing out. We share some wild tales over there. An additional 20 to 30 minutes worth a week. That's four, five, sometimes six additional calls, all for the price of a McDonald's coffee. So visit monsters among us podcast.com and click the Patreon tab to join us. And please join us in giving this next entry a re lesson. Please welcome Keith from Virginia back to the show. Hi, Derek. This is Keith from Northern Virginia. I was listening to season eight the other day. We had an episode where you ended up telling a story after a caller called in where the girl ends up leaving her hand over the side of the bed. And it got me to thinking of something that happened to me in college back in. Had to be like, 95, 96, actually. Went to college in southeastern Ohio at Ohio University. So kind of maybe in the backyard. I'm thinking of where you grew up, and that school was surrounded by national parks. And one time we decided to all go out. It was like a holiday weekend, and school was kind of empty, and so we all decided to go out camping. And when we went hiking, we had actually followed this trail into the woods pretty far back about an hour. And then we went off trail and just kind of took a compass and went in the middle of nowhere, really, for about another 45 minutes to an hour to where we found this, like, plateau, kind of sat up about probably 10, 12ft, and you could kind of see off into the rest of the forest. It was all just trees and foliage and stuff. But we decided to camp there, and there was probably about three or four couples and me. And unfortunately, everyone had a tent to sleep in by the end of the night. And I didn't bring anything. So I was just kind of sleeping on the ground. And at some point, you know, everyone kind of goes to bed. I'm laying out there by myself, and all of a sudden the tent unzips and my buddy comes out and he's completely pissed off. I think he got into a fight with his girlfriend, found out she had hooked up with another dude or whatever. Made you so mad in college that he's just completely pissed off and just starts walking in the woods like he's gonna walk, walk home, you know what I mean? He had been drinking rum and he was half drunk. And I'm trying to make sense with him. And he just starts walking off into the woods. And we're getting further and further. He's talking about getting a cab home. And I'm like, dude, we're in the middle of the national forest. You're not gonna get a cab. But meanwhile, he's just not turning around. He's walking in a straight line. And I keep on looking over my shoulder. And we have one flashlight with us. But slowly, the campfire's getting smaller and smaller until the point we had walked so far away from the campfire fire, you couldn't even see it anymore because we had kind of gone down off the plateau, so you couldn't even really see it anymore. And I just knew it was, like, in the direction of directly behind where we were walking, because we were walking in a straight line. And all of a sudden, as we're walking, you start hearing we kind of walk, walk, walk. And I'd grab them, we'd stop, and we talk a little bit. And then we'd walk, walk, walk. I'd grab them, try to make sense with them. And I started to hear. When we'd stopped to talk, you'd hear like, a. And, you know, almost like leaves rustling, and it would stop. And so we did that two more times. And the third time we did it, you could hear, like, three footsteps right when we stopped. And I looked down, like, did you hear that? And he's like, yeah. I'm like, somebody's walking out in the woods with us. We started walking again, but then we turned around with the flashlight real quick. And it was this guy dressed in, like, a. Like a Davy Crockett. Like the deer skin leather with strings hanging off. I don't know how to describe it. You know, off the sleeves. And he had, like, dirty blonde, wiry hair. And he kind of darted behind a tree. And we're kind of like, holy, somebody's out here with us. So we turned off the light, and we just sat there for what felt like forever. And, like, no one moved. No one said anything. And then you just started hearing the. And it started coming towards us. So we took off, and we ran as fast as we can. We didn't turn on the flashlight, and we just ran back the way we came. And we were tripping over logs and getting whipped in the face with branches. And we got back to the campfire and started kind of getting everyone up, and everyone came out of their tents, and we've got, like, cuts all over our shins because we were in shorts and all over our arms and Face. No one believed that, you know, somebody was out there with us. We were so far away from, you know, where you parked your car or where anybody would have camped. You know, we were like, it's a deer or something else. And we're like, it wasn't a deer. It was a guy. And I automatically just assumed, like, maybe it was something, you know, that had to do with supernatural, and maybe there was a ghost. The way he was dressed reminded me of, you know, like a pioneer or something like that. So I did all this searching to see if there was anything or anyone had ever reported anything like that from that area, and I never found anything. And it was, you know, maybe two years later where it started sinking in that I think it was a dude. I think it was a guy out there, like, in the middle of the woods, just following us around. It was weird. And the more I think about it, the more I think that's creepier than if it was the ghost or something like that. Yeah. I grew up camping and with my family, and then my brother and I used to go to Red River Gorge and spend, like, an entire week down there just camping. And now, like, when I go camping, I want to stay in, like, a formal, like, campsite. I've got, like, you know, an arsenal that I bring along with me because it just scared the hell out of me to think that, you know, I'm out there that night trying to sleep through the rest of that night was crazy. You know, everyone, when it was all said and done, went back to their tents and went to bed, including my buddy, who was so mad at his girlfriend. But, you know, I think this scared the crap out of him. So he went back to bed with her, and I just had to sit out there by myself with, like, every crack in the woods. Every snap of a twig had me, like, turning. And probably one of the worst nights that I kind of spent. I got everyone up at about 5:36 when the sun started coming up and we kind of hauled ass out of there. But thanks so much. Talk to you later. Thank you, Keith. Now, Keith's call was just recently shared on season 20 episode 10. And I loved this call because part of me thinks it might have been a ghost of a frontiersman, while the other half of me wonders if it wasn't just someone living on the fringes of society. But frankly, either prospect has me a bit excited. And for that reason, Keith Sentry was selected as one of this year's best of stories. Now, if you have a story you would like to share, call our hotline at 888-6089 or shoot us a voice memo at monsters among us podcastmail.com now coming up, a time warp experience that had our social media buzzing. I'll be right back with that story. It was sort of like very vague about what he said, to be honest. Your ticket to Big Savings is that big blue envelope in your mailbox Valpak. It's brimming with deals from big name brands and your favorite local spots, dining services, stuff you're already buying. All for less. And you could score $100 or other instant prizes just for opening it. Or save even faster with mobile coupons you can use right now@valpak.com Valpak there's definitely something in it for you. Hey Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. One of the perks about having four kids that you know about is actually getting a Dr. 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 $15 a month. Now you don't even need to wrap it. 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 that is our doing. God, that hits, doesn't it? You'll get on your way home. Maybe now. Our next best of call of 2025 was also one of our most talked about. Many a theory was posited on Patreon, Instagram, Spotify and Facebook, but the jury is still out on Summer's entry from Colorado. Hey Derek, this is Summer out of Colorado. I wanted to tell my quick story about a haunted theater, which still to this day has really made me nervous to think about. And I don't really like to talk about it a lot. I was a theater kid growing up and in high school we had to go to visiting school's theater performances, especially with plays. And my friend and I, we decided to go to a neighboring town's play one night and we were running behind and our friends texted us saying hey, we already got you tickets. We're in the back row on the main floor. It was the winter time and it was at six so the sun had already set. And what we thought was weird when we first got to the theater was that there were no lights on in the parking lot. And just the security lights in the building were on, just like the spotlights here and there along the hallways. And the entire parking lot was completely packed and no light, which was just such a weird juxtaposition. And I started kind of getting worried and turned to my friend and was like, hey, I feel nervous about this. This seems weird. Do you think it was at a different school? And he's like, well, why would the entire parking lot be packed if it weren't here? Maybe they're just having an outage or, I don't know, a short. He wasn't worried at all. So I decided to just follow his lead. And we went into the school and it just felt like I was underwater. Like there was a lot of pressure around my body and my head. And it was so quiet. Like just this very weird silence that I've never experienced before. And so we decide to walk down the hallway. We've been to that theater before. It's down this, like super long hallway, which was really creepy because the middle the hallways were completely dark. Like I said, just the security lights in the building were on. So, like, we kind of like ran down the hallway to each security light to get to this theater. And then by the time we get there, like, the concession is not open. The ticket booth has the metal sheet that goes down that's locked. Like, they're gone for the night. So literally the only light that was on that floor to enter the theater was on this metal gate to the ticket booth. It was ominous and weird and I just didn't have a good gut feeling about it. And I wanted to leave. And my friend was like, no, humor me. Let's just go into the theater. Let's see if anyone's there. And I go, okay, well, let's go upstairs to the balcony so that we can, like. I don't know why. I don't even know why I suggested we went up to the balcony. Like, I was so terrified in this moment. Almost was. Like, both of us just decided randomly and weirdly that we were just gonna go upstairs to the balcony. Up dark, freaking creepy ass hallway, up this stairwell that is completely dark. Like, who in their right mind would do that? And so we run up this dark hallway all the way up to the balcony, and I decide to go first. So I go in and there's like a second set of stairs up to the balcony seating. And so I go up, but my friend just stays back at the doors. And I can tell that they're getting a lot more nervous than me at this point, and I walk in, and it's completely empty. Derek. The entire theater is completely empty, and all the house lights are on, and the red curtain across the stage is drawn with spotlights on it, like, just before a show starts. But I swear on my life, there wasn't a soul in the theater at all. Like, not on the balcony floor where we were at. Not. And then, like, we looked down over the balcony onto the main floor. Nothing was there. And so I turned to tell my friend that there's no one up here. And over the speakers, the loudest applause came on. Like, this weird studio sound of applause. And so we booked it back down the stairs onto the main floor, and we both just decide silently that we're going to try the main floor again. And usually in theaters, when you go through a door, there's like, a first door, and then, I guess a sound buffer, little hallway, and then the actual door to the theater. And so when we went into the first set of doors on the main floor, it felt like. Remember how I said there was all that pressure in the air and the atmosphere, it was gone. And it felt like I wasn't below water anymore. And then we could hear, like, laughing and crowd noise before we got into the main set of doors and we opened them. And I swear to all of you listening right now, it was the middle of the play, and all the lights, the house lights were off, packed. Full house, full stop. And it was in the middle of the scene, and there was an actress on stage, and there, all these people around us looked super annoyed because we just, like, walked in with our mouths wide open, like, freaking out and, like, wanting to scream. But, like, now you're just thrust into this other timeline. It felt like. It felt like the play was going on at the same time as, like, whatever timeline we were on. And it was just so crazy. And our friends were there and on the back row, like, shushing us and, like, whispering and, like, waiting for us to come over. And me and my friend just sat there in shock the entire. Like, I don't remember at all what the play was, what it was about, who the actors were, anything. Like, I was so in shock that whole entire time, and I just don't understand how that could be possible without it being some manipulation of time. Oh, and after the play, we go back into, like, that main hallway. All the lights are on, the concession stand is open, the ticket stand is open. We went over to the ticket stand. We asked them if they had been open that entire time, and they said yes. It's like we were just parallel or almost like the upside down to what was happening and then like we caught up and like went back through. I don't know. I would love to hear your theories and anyone else's theories. Yeah, that's my story. I love the show. You do really great work here and let us all feel like it's a safe space to share our stories. So thanks Derek. Thanks again, Summer. Now it sounds like a time warp to me. I mean, how else would you explain something like that? Now, if time slips are your thing, you might want to check out season 18 episode 38. You'll not only find Jade's entry there, but several more time slip stories that are equally as puzzled. Now, folks, we had an amazing year here at Monsters Among Us. Our listenership went up 185%. We logged over 1.4 million hours of listening time, and we were the number one podcast for well over 9,000 listeners. And these numbers just come from Spotify. So a big thanks to all of you that helped make all this possible. But of course we can do better and you can help us achieve that goal. Just share the show with friends and family, anyone you think might want to tune in, tell them how to find us, where to find us, and that we share some 35 to 50 stories per week, all straight from the witness's mouth. Our goal is to make 2026 our best year yet, and sharing the program can help make that possible. After all, where else would they hear stories like this? Next best of Entry Please welcome Robin out of California in season 19 episode 24 hi, my name is Robin and I live in California, near Sacramento. About 15 years ago, my husband and I took our two small children on a camping trip further into Northern California. And it was in the Whiskeytown Shasta area. And it was kind of off season. And when we got to the campground, we were super excited because we seemed to be pretty much the only people there. And we got just an awesome secluded campsite, like right on the water. And it was just so cool. We were so happy we had the place to ourselves and we started to just have a great time. It was tent camping, by the way. So every night we would get into our tent with our kids and go to sleep. And every night my husband and I would be woken up by just odd noises and weird feelings and it was really scary. It sounded like we could hear things, something or someone walking around outside our campsite. In the morning we would get up and we would look and it was not like Animal activities. You know, we had camped a lot. We knew what it looks like when animals, you know, get into your stuff when you're camping, and there's nothing like that. Anyway, this went on night after night. And during the day, we would have so much fun that we'd be like, oh, God. You know, we'd go to bed, we get super scared hearing these noises, and we would be like, that's it. This is the last night we're going home. And then the next day, we would just stay and have fun again. We were young and dumb and whatever, but one night we went to sleep, and the noises started happening, like, more than ever. And I just felt like my blood run cold as I'm laying under the sleeping bag. I was sleeping right under the tent window. And you know how a tent window is like net? You can kind of see out, but you can't see out perfectly. Well. Anyway, here's me frozen in fear, trying to just lay as still as I can and remain calm. And then all of a sudden, I just felt like something was nearby me. And while laying with my head on the pillow, I just slowly opened my eyes and I looked up to the 10th window. And looking down at me was a very small, what I perceived to be a man in a tall, pointy hat. It sounds funny now, but at the time, it was absolutely terrifying. It was not funny to me in the least. And I just jumped up and started waking up my husband, and he was gone. But anyway, at that time, I had never heard any of the lore surrounding the Shasta area, Mount Shasta, Lake Shasta, and all that surrounding area. I didn't know any of it. So there was nothing to, like, influence me to have thought I saw something like that. So, anyway, I. To this day, I don't know what it was. I know what I saw. I've told a couple of people the story, and it always turns into, like, a big joke. And it kind of is now, but at the time, it was absolutely terrifying. And now I'm just very curious as to what it was I actually saw. Anyway, thank you for what you do. Awesome, awesome podcast. Have a great night. Thank you, Robin, for the call. Now, Robin's story was part of our very first MAU Campout episode. We had a lot of fun putting that together, and there were several great calls shared on that one, so it was very difficult to pick just one. But the funny thing about Robin's call is that we just shared a similar story on this week's installment of Monsters Among Us Junior, A story that shared many of the same characteristics. The report of a shadowy pointy headed entity. And you'll have to Visit Monsters Among Us Junior Season 2 Episode 10 to hear that story. I can't guarantee a connection, but I don't think I can rule one out either. Chicago, Illinois yeah. I mean, yeah, if you're an H vac technician and a call comes in, Grainger knows that you need a partner that helps you find the right product fast and hassle free. And you know that when the first problem of the day is a clanking blower motor, there's no need to break a sweat. With Grainger's easy to use website and product details, you're confident you'll soon have everything humming right along. Call 1-800-GRAINGER click granger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. 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 $15 a month. Now you don't even need to wrap it. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch 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 c mintmobile.com okay, your dream home. Now. The following entry from season 19, episode 26 was certainly a strange one. Please welcome Tommy out of Pennsylvania. Hey Derek, this is Tommy. I'm from Pennsylvania and I wanted to call with the story. Happened to me about a month ago. I was at work, I was taking a nap in my car on one of my breaks. I do that quite a bit. I work third shift. So, you know, whenever I could try and get some extra sleep, I do, I doze off for a little bit. I didn't set an alarm or anything. And here I woke up and what I saw on the driver's side window and in the front of my car was what looked like kind of like crash test dummies in a way. One was looking in the driver's side and one was standing directly in front of my car, like looking at me. It's hard to explain. Didn't have like facial features. Like I said, if you know what a crash test dummy is, just kind of like imagine that, you know, but one on, you know, each side of Your car. And I gasped for air because it scared me. I grabbed my chest, then I went for my eyes and I started to rub them and here, when I rubbed them and got back into focus, both of them were gone. I thought about a sleep paralysis type thing, but many stories I've read and people I talked to all tell me that they can never react during sleep paralysis. I was able to react and obviously, you know, grab my chest and gasp for air and go and rub my eyes and then, you know, realize they were gone. It really freaked me out. I never had anything happen like that to me before involving sleep. I've had bad dreams, so I even thought about that, you know, where was just like a nightmare or something. But I was awake, you know, during like this. And it's just. It's scary. But I just wanted to call and submit that and, you know, see what your thoughts were on it. Love the show. Thanks. Bye. Thank you, Tommy. Super weird. Vince and Larry peeking in car windows. What a way to wake up from a nap. Now, you know what makes this even more weird is that since this story aired, I've received a couple of reports of strange figures wearing hazmat suits in the state of Pennsylvania. There's no obvious connection there, but I admit it is a strange coincidence. But if you think that's wild. Do you remember this entry from Ruby in Texas from season 19, episode 34? Hi, it's Ruby calling from San Antonio. I was an intelligence officer for the United States air Force in 1954. I was working in the Combat Ops center and I was stationed at Eastern Air Defense Force headquarters in New York. My job was to receive calls of anything that was of an intelligent nature. And I got quite a few UFO calls. Some of them I thought were credible and some I didn't. But my instructions were not to talk about them, to immediately call the Pentagon and relay the call to them. One night we had a sighting from a radar site in Maine and they reported seeing a ufo. And about two minutes later it was over New Hampshire. A minute after that it was picked up in New York and it went on across the country. It went from Maine to Chicago in 13 minutes. And it hovered over Chicago for several minutes before it just zoomed off into the atmosphere. I called it in the Pentagon, but I never saw anything about it in the newspaper. One night I got a call from one of our bases in Michigan. Thing. They had encountered a UFO. They scrambled two F86s to intercept the UFO and the pilot said they got very close to it. They could See, the windows around the edge of was really a little scary for him. He was very shaken because his partner that was a little bit ahead of him just was vaporized, completely vaporized, just disappeared. So he turned and ran back to the base as fast as he could go. So I had this report. I was to call it directly to the Pentagon, which I did. The next day I picked up the newspaper and it said an F86 crashed into Lake Michigan and they were unable to recover it. No mention of the UFO. The government has known that we have UFOs for years. They know they're from outer space, but they don't want to admit it. But it's true. Thank you. Thanks again, Ruby. Now, what's amazing about this is that Ruby's claims are backing up an infamous UFO incident. And not only that, but a historic UFO case from over 70 years ago, the Kinross incident of 1953. And to learn more about that incident, visit season 19, episode 34. Talk about a piece of history. Absolutely incredible. And speaking of incredible, as I've mentioned, the show has had an incredible year. We peaked at number 59 on the Spotify top Podcast chart, which we're quite proud of. And we rose to the number 53 position on the Apple Top Podcast Society and Culture chart, a too shabby, free little independent podcast about monsters. And you know, a lot of the reason that we were successful this year is because of our crew. Sarah working behind the scenes, scheduling, booking, accounting, social media, and animal wrangler. And Delaney bringing in that top notch research that helps me connect all these dots. And of course, Connor for keeping it all sounding great. And we had a new addition to the team this year, my mom, Holly back in Ohio, shipping out all of our awesome merchandise that we have available. And of course our volunteers, Sarah, John, Addie, Mr. Drevdahl, who I believe might know more about this program than I do, and anyone else out there that helps keep this machine chugging along. And on a personal note, I just want to take a moment to thank each of those people for the contributions that they made to make this dream a reality. I'm incredibly lucky to have such an amazing support system without whom none of this would be possible. But you know, there's another element without which none of this would be possible, and that's the phone calls. And I have another best of phone call lined up for you right now. This one will sound brand new to many of you because it too also originally aired on a Beyond episode. So please welcome Steve from Australia and the after show portion of Season 20 Episode 6. G' Day Derek My name is Steve and I'm from Perth, Western Australia. I've been sitting on this since last October. October? Yep, you guessed it. It happened on the spookiest of all nights, Halloween. Before I begin, I want to premise that everything I tell you is true. Nothing has been altered in any way. I say that as this is a special case, quite unique as it involves a photo. A normal scene on Halloween night. Kids dressed up and posing for a photo. However, in this case this is far from normal. Just some relevant background information. My nephews are twins, almost identical, which you can see in the additional photos I have shared. At the time of the photos, Joey, front to middle, is there dressed of course in his Harry Potter gear and Jimmy was inside with another friend. The fact that Jimmy is inside the is important. Later on. Okay to tackling the elephant in a room. The spirit creature thing at the front left hits you in the face. It is so clear, but not clear. Like phasing out from another dimension maybe from now on and what I believe it is, I'll call it a Trickster. Looking at it, you can see two legs, a torso, kinda maybe slightly phased out, and arms. But the head is not clear. What is really clear and freaky is the green shoes it's wearing. It's kind of naked with the exception of green shoes. I guess at least there's good fashion sense in shoes. It's hard to stop looking at the trickster in the photo, but on closer inspection you'll notice something else. To the right of the trickster, there is a ghost leg with a blue shoe, definitely transparent, poking out from behind my nephew Stewie, who is front middle, wearing maroon shoes. The third weird thing to me is a child behind the trickster back left. This boy is not very clear. Some of his features are phasing out. Using the flower pot to left of him as a reference, stands around 30cm high. So the child is quite short and makes him seem out of place younger compared to the other boys in the photo. Okay, so now we venture into my thoughts and attempts to explain what we are seeing. Firstly, the shoes of the Trickster and the ghost leg protruding from behind Stewie look similar to those worn in a photo by Stewie. The maroon ones. Now the freaky reveal. Stewie and Jimmy had green and blue shoes prior to their current ones. And my sister, their mum, has told me that the green ones that the trickster is wearing went missing. We now know who took them. That cheeky trickster. Looking at the Ghost leg. My nephews are tall for their age, have big feet and skinny long legs. That ghost leg wearing a blue shoe looks like Jimmy's leg as he is today and it was in fact Jimmy that wore the blue shoes. Now going back to the shorter boy near the flower pot showing back left of the photo, this looks so much like Jimmy when he was younger. Same height of a few years ago, same hairstyle and both Stewie and Jimmy used to be a fan of wearing Spider man and Venom full body costumes. They would wear them everywhere. Well in this spooky photo it looks like Jimmy, a younger version of him wearing his Venom which is dark grey kind of black costume where he couldn't fit the headpiece on, wearing his favorite costume for Halloween where he just wanted to be a part of it so much that he traveled from another dimension or another time to take part. Now remember what I mentioned at the start. At the time of the photo Jimmy was inside with another friend. So seeing him here feature twice in a photo whilst he is also inside the house, I just can't explain it. I think it's kind of cool that the Trickster, Ghostleg and Time Traveller Jimmy loved Halloween so much that they also wanted to participate and pose for the spooky Halloween photo. A big thanks Derek and your team and a special thanks and shout out to all. The monster is among us Family listening. And lastly, keep it spooky. Thank you Steve. This one had a lot of people talking and yes of course we do have the photograph. It's up in the show notes and I have a social media post put together to go out about it as well. So check either source and lay eyes on this photo for yourself. I would love to hear what you have to say about it, but it's super spooky and it's hard to explain away. And the photo seems to show exactly what Steve told us it does. So go take a look yourself if you're so brave. What's Your district number? District 36 joining if you're an H Vac technician and a call comes in, Grainger knows that you need a partner that helps you find the right product fast and hassle free. And you know that when the first problem of the day is a clanking blower motor, there's no need to break a sweat. With Grainger's easy to use website and product details, you're confident you'll soon have everything humming right along. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click granger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. If you're the purchasing manager at a manufacturing plant, you know having a trusted partner makes all the difference. That's why hands down, you count on Grainger for auto reordering. With on time restocks, your team will have the cut resistant gloves they need at the start of their shift and you can end your day knowing they've got safety well in hand. Call 1-800-granger. Click granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. He's had a hell of a game as well. Now gang. This next entry comes to us from the Ghostly hospital tales episode season 18, episode 46 and boy does it live up to that title. Please welcome Anonymous out of Oklahoma. Back to the program. Hello, I am calling from a small town down in Oklahoma. Currently a grown man now, but this all takes place back when I was a freshman in high school. I lived with my dad and stepmom and three other siblings to a bigger family. We were usually pretty broke and going from rent house to rent house usually. My dad's connections got us a place to live for a couple months to a year at a time. Anyways, my dad got a connection where we could live in this property if we did some renovations while we lived there and they would take that off the rent, which was perfect for us. It's a huge location, two stories plus a basement that was just as big as the house, if not bigger. Found out later that this was an old hospital for the Chisholm Trail. My dad roughly said it was built around 1903. At the time, like I said, I was in high school, so I didn't ask a whole lot of questions. And now I'm at the point in my life where I'm starting to question things and you know, look back and my dad's passed away by now, so I can't get those answers. But from what I do recall, the structure of the house is kind of important. So the base floor, there's kitchen, sun room, living room. The base of the stairs is where my parents slept, in that room right there. And also on the main floor there was a room with a huge pit in it, a circular pit, and it had grates over it. And I remember asking what it was and my dad said it was a coal pit, I guess where they used to put the coal into the furnace and heat the house. At that point, again, it was super old, over 100 years at that point. Anyways, you go upstairs and there's a total of four bedrooms, two on the west wall and two on the east wall. In between, on the north and south wall, there's little nooks where one side was a bathroom and the other side you could have a desk area. And in between each room on the east and west side, there'd be a French door to go in between the two rooms. My dad said that's where the doctor did his rounds. He would have his desk area in the middle. Go to one room, see the patient, go through the French doors to the next room, see that patient, and go to the other side of the hall or the other wing at that point. So we move in. Before we get all our stuff in, we're doing some repairs on plumbing, the sinks and things. So we had all these PVC pipe pieces and fittings, corner joints that we had in a Walmart stack and we had on top of the ice chest. We were making our repairs and such and decided we wanted to go eat lunch. So we got the pie pieces that we haven't used yet, put them back in the Walmart sack, tied them in a little loose knot, threw on top of the ice chest, then went to town, came back an hour or so later. And once we walked in, the Walmart sack was shredded to pieces. There's just pieces everywhere. My dad just automatically assumed it was a rat or a mouse or, heaven forbid, a raccoon or something. We lived in between two small towns, really, so it was kind of in the country and just didn't think anything about it. Well, we went to go back to the bathroom to work on that sink, and there was a PVC pipe piece in the center of the floor once you open the door. And we keep all the doors closed at this house because it's so old, heat and air just kind of escaped really easily. So we tried to shut the doors where we could come to find out there'd be a single piece in the center of the doorway in each of the rooms on that main floor. The door would be closed still, but once you open the door, you'd find one piece that really was kind of weird. And we didn't know how to explain that. My dad just kind of like, ah, it's no big deal, and blew it off. He didn't like talking about stuff like that. And, you know, we were kids, we didn't want to know stuff about that. So we just kind of accepted that and moved on. We moved in the house and got everything unpacked. Each of us four kids had a room upstairs. And when you went to sleep at night, it not be uncommon at all for the door to battle for the door to open up and slam. At first it'd be really offsetting and, you know, scary. And we'd, you know, freak out and run downstairs to our parents. And I was the oldest as a freshman in high school. So the younger kids, especially my dad said, you know, the windows are open because the heat and air is terrible. The wind just blew it. Okay. We all accepted that, you know, and just kind of that helped us fall asleep that night. Well, it got to the point where you'd be in the bathroom with the door locked. And again, it's older door, older locks. And to be one of those push buttons that if you wiggle the handle hard enough, the lock would pop undone. So there was a time when I was in the restroom, had the door locked and the handle started shaking a little bit and it shake violently to the point where that button would come undone, which would unlock the door and they would open up. And I just assumed, you know, it was my sibling trying to get in or something like that. I'd yell, someone's in here. And there would be no one there. For the first couple times we just thought, you know, we're all tricksters. That's what it was, is one of us just playing tricks on each other or being impatient, whatever it may be. And it kept happening. It happened so frequently. We got to the point where we switched the locks to where you turn the lock horizontal versus vertical so it couldn't be shaken open. As we continue to live there, we'd have friends over me specifically to have other football buddies come over at this point, freshmen, sophomores in high school. One of my best friends, he wanted to stay the night. So at this point, my brother and I requested that we sleep in the same room. We had two twin size beds on opposite sides of the room. In between we had a dresser and we have a box fan up top. We requested sleep in the same room because we were both freaked out to stay alone. Anyways, our friend would sleep on the floor in a little sleeping bag and he would wake up in the middle of the night with the box fan falling off the dresser and slamming him in the head. It happened once and you know, okay, it's the wind or whatever it may be. So he shut the windows, put the box fan back up, and then as soon as he fell asleep, bam, it happened again. That box fan fell back down. So we put it back up and he turned his head the other way that way his feet were next to the dresser and it happened again. It happened all throughout the night, like four or five times. Looking back now, I probably just should have moved the box fan. But again, we were high school kids and didn't really think about it. It's the only time that ever happened. We slept at that box fan there every single night. That's the only time it happened when he was there and he kind of got freaked out, you know, heard about the stories from the house, how creepy it was. I want him to spend the night again. Another time he came back and as soon as he laid down, same thing happened. Boom. It hit him in the head again to the point where he refused. He left and went back home. He didn't want to stay the night and he refused to come over. And the same thing, the swords, happened with another friend that came over and spent the night as well. He kind of got more freaked out. The box fan didn't happen to him, but the door rattling, slamming and opening, what's just second nature to us freaks him out. And he ended up leaving as well. So no one would ever come over to our house anymore. Another time I'd walk up the stairs, and as you walk up, you face that west wall, which is where my brother and I's rooms were. If you turn backwards as you're walking up, you can see my little sister's room, who's about 4 at the time. And I could see her talking to somebody, which I thought was my other sister. And she was handing toys and things like that that she had on the floor, just handing it to that person. And as I went up the stairs around him to go talk to them, it was just my sister in the room. The toys were just sitting there on the floor. I said, you know, who are you talking to? And she said, I'm talking to Mary in the four year old's paraphrasing words. But she said she was playing with Mary. And I kind of got freaked out, went downstairs, told my dad, it's like, hey, so and so is playing with an imaginary person named Mary. She said, she's an old lady and stuff like that. My dad kind of, you know, got freaked out, went upstairs, talked to my sister, and she said the same thing. Well, my dad started asking questions to the owner of the property, which, like I said, he never really did because it was a place to live. And we're usually pretty grateful at that point for just that. He had told him that the previous tenant was an elderly woman that was named Mary who died there on hospice. And that was her room once they got discussing where she was staying and such. So that kind of freaked us out. And then my dad started digging into more of the history of that house. Like I said earlier, it's a 1903, roughly Chisholm Trail hospital. And I guess I don't know the reason of his lack of business or whatever it may be, but the physician that owned the hospital hung himself in the basement on the banister. So that was kind of creepy, you know, just being a hospital in general. But, yeah, that's my high school story. I hope you guys can use it. Appreciate it. Thanks. Thank you, caller. That's what living in an old hospital will get you. And there are certainly no shortage of haunted hospital stories out there on this program alone. So go check out that Ghostly Hospital Tales episode. It's an hour chock full of them. Now, this next entry was one of Delaney's favorites on the year, and I happen to think it was pretty dang cool myself. So let's mosey on over to the Sooner State, where Mike is waiting with his entry. Hello, this is Mike from Tulsa, Oklahoma. A couple days ago, me and a group of friends were just talking about our own spooky stories, and I relayed one that I thought I would like to share with you. I grew up in the beautiful state of Oklahoma, and throughout the 80s, I was living in an area called Moore. It's just south of Oklahoma City. Back then, it was a much smaller town than where it is now. In the neighborhood we lived in, it was connected to a large field. This field didn't have any kind of crop in it, but it definitely could have. Oddly enough, whoever owned that field, it was empty. There was no crops, no animals, anything in that area. But growing up in the 80s, that was an opportunity for myself and my friends to explore. And that we did. We found in the middle of this blank field a group of trees. This group of trees maybe was about the size of a football field. It wasn't that big, but just big enough for us to get in there and to explore. One day we came across this part of a dirt mound that had a resemblance to what we described as a cowboy. It was roughly about, I would say, about five, five and a half feet long. You can definitely see where the boots would be and two legs, the torso, two arms, and what looked like a cowboy hat. So being curious kids as we were, we was like, well, how cool would this be if this was a grave of some sort, unmarked? So we decided to go ahead and see if we can find anything Maybe from the land run days or something of the past. As we dug into this dirt, we didn't find anything. So we just put the dirt back. Of course, it was no longer in the shape of a cowboy, but we had fun for that day. And we really liked this group of trees. We remembered how we got there and the trail we took came back a couple days and we were thinking about making a fort in these trees. So we brought a lot of various different equipment with us. And we came across this mound. And the mound was in the shape of the cowboy. Again, completely perfect. Just the same way that we found it. It even had grass growing on it. There was no indication that we had dug up anything. The only thing that changed from that point on is that we would see a cowboy type shadow figure which my friends would call a ghost. We'd see him hang around these little groups of trees. And we did end up making a fort in there. And we made like a tree fort. It went up midway up this tree. I remember we were up there playing solitaire and we looked down and we saw this apparition. You know, my friends were just freaking out. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. But I've always had like a weird thing for the paranormal and strange. But I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. So I climbed down. By the time I got down the tree, the figure was gone. But in its place were a pair of boot prints. That was enough to scare my friends away pretty bad. Permanently. They didn't want to go back to our fort. I kept visiting the location all the way up until around 88, 89. That's when we ended up moving to Houston, Texas. Now when I visit the old place and more, it's nothing but houses and developments. I don't know whatever happened to the cowboy shaped mound. I don't know if that cowboy figure still floating around and never brought us any harm. But it was definitely strange. Keep it spooky. Thank you, Mike. Now, when I was a kid, I heard one of the old timers in our area tell my dad that there were mound works somewhere back behind his property. I spent my entire childhood looking for these mounds, but we never found them. But it sounds like Mike had much better luck than we did. And he had boot prints, mounds in the shape of a person and a ghostly cowboy to boot. Now folks have to take one more ad break. Then we'll get to the last couple calls of the evening. Don't touch that dial. Acknowledging what Scott just said. And also hey Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. You know one of the perks about having 4k 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. Now you don't even need to wrap it. 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. CMT mobile.com 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 up front payment of 45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month. Required new customer offer for first 3 months only. Speed slow after 35gb of network fizzy taxes and fees extra. C mobile.com do you feel like there's a real possibility there. Now? This next entry comes to us from Ben in Kentucky and the story originally aired all the way back on season 18, episode 45. Hey Derek, my name is Ben and I am in Kentucky. So my wife and I are fans of the show. We recently found it in the last six months and been devouring all the episodes. So keep up the great work. But at her insistence, I am calling in with one of my stories. I've had numerous paranormal experiences throughout my life, but have one here that might fit an episode related to Shadow People. So many years ago, long before I met my wife, I was in a relationship with a girl that had the shadow people that appeared to her. Kind of gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. We were in the early stages of the relationship and she revealed this to me and my thought then was okay, well you know, I've had paranormal experiences before, I'll roll with it and, and you know, be open minded to it. Well, she had a couple kids and one day after dropping them off, we returned to her house and found that all the cabinet doors of the kitchen were wide open and there's this one specific stuffed animal laying in the floor. And she looked at the animal and immediately said the name of whatever creature, spirit or shadow figure, whatever you want to refer to it is. That was one they were particularly attached to, and that it had opened up the cabinet doors. And I thought, well, this is spooky. This is weird, but okay, I've seen stranger things. So fast forward a little bit. You know, we're continuing on in the relationship. Things are going pretty well. And like I said, she had a couple kids, and I'm just trying to help out around the house. So the kids have gone down for a nap, and she's laying down with them. And I thought, well, I'll wash dishes. I'm going to clean up the kitchen for her. And as I'm washing dishes, and I know I'm the only one awake at this time, I hear footsteps. Just like a little kid running up behind you that's so excited, running up. I mean, literally, like on your heels. Feel like they're going to step on your heels. And whenever that happened, I turned around and I expected to see the oldest daughter there right behind me. And whenever I did, there was nothing. I'm the only person in the room. I can't see anything else. So I kind of stepped over to the hallway that led back to the bedrooms. And whenever I looked down the hall, I saw the silhouette of a shadow girl. This, best way I can describe it, stepping into the mother's room. And that was kind of interesting. I felt like she was playing with me. I felt like it was fun for her. And then there was also kind of a sense of gratitude. I mean, it sounds weird, but she let me see her. My girlfriend could see her just about any time, but she didn't really reveal herself to me until then. So getting to see that was, you know, interesting. It was cool. It brought about a lot of emotion. And then another similar event a few months later. We happened to be at my house, and it's just the two of us, and we're sitting in my kitchen. And I had a neighbor at the time that had a dog. And this was the type of neighbor that kept the dog outside on a leash, tied off to something. And this dog would bark. I mean, it would just bark relentlessly. And that evening, it was doing its thing and it was barking. And she looked at me and she named the spirit, which I don't say its name, but she named it. She said she's gonna go shut it up. And I sat there and I'm just looking at her. And it was about five seconds later, that dog went silent. I mean, completely quiet. That's what really caught my attention. I've heard about the sensitivity of dogs and spirits. But that dog showed up, and I didn't hear anything from it the rest of the night. As we're sitting there at my kitchen table looking at the back door, the door is open, but there's a storm door with glass in it. And generally at night, you know how you can see your reflection off that glass? Well, I'm sitting there and I've got longer hair, and I did not have it pulled back. And she looked at me and said, she likes your hair and wants to play with it. And I said, okay. And I'm watching my reflection in the glass, and I see strands of my hair getting lifted up into the air and then dropped back to my head. And this happens repeatedly. It was at that point in time that I knew that I felt like it kind of liked me. But as most relationships do, Iris became stressed over time. I had different interests and she did as well. And it was during that period that this thing decided it didn't really care for me. And it knew, I think through a conversation I had with her, that one of my triggers is unnecessary loud noises. So slamming doors, yelling, anything that's unnecessarily loud. Well, fast forward, and I'm getting a shower, and all of a sudden I hear the door jamb just getting flicked back and forth and back and forth. And that drives me crazy. And I had said that I also hear a laundry basket getting lifted up into the air and dropped back to the ground when I get out of the shower and I realize I'm the only person in the house. And this thing was apparently making noise trying to get me out of there. That was kind of the icing on the cake. It wasn't because of it that we split up, but it certainly didn't draw me into the relationship any further. So that's just a little spooky story that I have for you. It was an interesting period in my life. Like I said, I've had a lot of other paranormal experiences, and I'll call in another time to share those with you. But keep it spooky. We love the work you do, and thanks for everything. Have a great night. Thanks, Ben. Shadow children. That's a surefire way to land yourself on this year's best of episode. Truly the stuff that nightmares are made of. Now, if you don't believe me, just ask that poor pooch hair raising stuff. Now for the final call of the evening and a call that had listeners shook. One of my favorites on the year. Coming to us from season 19, episode 20, please welcome Emily to The program. Hi Derek, my name's Emily, I'm from Michigan. I'm going to share a story about a shared experience with a hag spirit that happened to me and my then husband. At the time, we were living in a two bedroom flat home in Ferndale, Michigan, a couple streets north of Eight Mile. And this would be the summer of 1999. And I was about six months pregnant when this started happening. The home, like many of the homes there, was built in the 1920s. Super old electric panel that you have to do the screw and fuses. So if you, you know, had to plug in anything big like a window AC unit, because, you know, none of these places had ac, the fuse would invariably blow. And at the time my ex was working second shift, so I would be alone in the house from 7am to about 4 or 5am and the fuse would, would always blow, of course, every night between 2 and 4am and so I'd have to, in the pitch dark, with a flashlight, walk through the house, down the stairs to the basement to one of the two walled off cellars. And the fuse panel was in the farthest back cellar and the cellar was directly below our bedroom. So our bedroom floor was the cellar ceiling. It was really heavy presence in that room. Whenever I'd go to change the fuse, it always felt like someone was right behind me, like about to strangle me. And when I'd go to put the fuse in, an intrusive thought would happen that would say, put your finger in the socket a couple of times. And I would screw in the fuse, book it back upstairs and just be glad that I was out of there. And this happened for several weeks through the summer. And I never told my ex he was never at home. And you know, it was just kind of weird. Every time I went down there though, that intrusive thought happened. And finally it would get to the point where I would just say out loud, I'm not gonna do that. And I'd run back up the stairs. Well, one night the fuse finally went out when he was home. And so I shook him awake, it's probably three in the morning. And I said, hey, you know, the fuse always goes out this time of night that went out. Can you go, please change the fuse? And I'm expecting him to be like, oh yeah hon, you know, no problem, you're pregnant, you don't have to go down there. Nope. Turns over, looks at me and says, no way. And I am pissed. I'm like, come on, are you kidding me? Just go down and change the fuse. I do it all the time. Of course I didn't tell him that, you know, I thought it was creepy because I wanted him to go do it. So we argue back and forth for a couple minutes and finally he just says, no way. I have nightmares about that room. And I just question him. I'm like, what? He's like, yes. I'm in the dream and I in the cellar and I'm going to change the fuse. And I turn around and there's this horrible, hideous old hag. And she's grinning evilly. She's bloated and wearing a shredded nightgown and so horrible to look at. And she says, put your finger in the socket. And when I turn my back to her, she gets closer and I have to turn around real fast and stop her from getting closer. And that's my nightmare. I'm not going down there. Well, as soon as he said to put your finger in the socket, I was floored. I couldn't believe it. I had never told him about it. And I told him what I heard when I was awake and having to change the fuse every night. And we both freaked out. And then about two days later, the entire power station in Ferndale was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. I kid you not. And we were out of power completely for over a week. And by this time I'm probably like eight months pregnant. That's my story. It's a really creepy house. I used to live in the upstairs flat and had a lot of really weird experiences up there, always revolving around the electricity. And I wanted to say that I have also found out that I'm clairaudient. And if there's anything I've learned from that experiences. I do have paranormal experiences where the entity or the thing will directly speak into my head like an intrusive thought. Those are stories for another time. I joined the Patreon. I love your show. I hope you like my story and have a great day. I love that story, Emily. That's why I named it one of the best of 2025. Absolutely chilling. Now how many of you would have listened to the old hag? How many of you would have shoved your finger right in the socket? I bet there are at least a few of you out there. Alright gang, this is the end of the program, but it's not the end of the best of year end extravaganza. We'll pick right back up where we left off on Thursday with even more of this year's favorites, so be sure to tune in then. But in the meantime Monsters Among Us Podcast is written and produced by me, Derek Hayes, copyright Red Crow Media. Additional support is provided by Sarah Carter Hayes, Delaney Bowers and Connor Ryan. All media used in this production is done so under the protection of fair use. Be sure to like and follow on social media, YouTube, follow our Discord server and rate and review wherever that's possible. Remember, you can catch the show every Saturday evening at 10pm Eastern on the unax digital network. Just visit on xnetwork.com to tune in. Tonight's score was provided by Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse Code at Ag Music and Carl Casey at Whitebad Audio. Now folks, don't forget to watch our movie borregotriangle.com as all the information. And don't forget to join us in the beyond. Visit monsters among us podcast.com and click the Patreon tab. Alright folks, I'll catch you all back here in two nights for the conclusion of this New Year special, but until then, I ask that you make this resolution. Keep it spooky and have a good night. If you're a maintenance supervisor for a commercial property, you've had to deal with everything from leaky faucets to flickering light bulbs. But nothing's worse than that ancient boiler that's lived in the building since the day it was built 50 years ago. It's enough to make anyone lose their cool. That's where Grainger comes in. 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