Monsters Among Us: S20 Ep35 – Unbelievable Tales from Utah

Host: Derek Hayes
Date: February 24, 2026
Theme: First-hand, true paranormal stories from Utah—ranging from guardian angel interventions, haunted apartments, and cryptid lore to terrifying encounters with shadow people and the infamous Mirrored Men.

Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the paranormal heart of Utah, sharing chilling, nostalgia-infused accounts by the people who lived them. From guardian angel rescues and haunted nursing homes to cryptid legends and unexplained synchronicities, the spirit of the Beehive State is alive, uncanny, and perhaps a little dangerous. Derek Hayes, with his trademark warmth and skepticism, curates a wide array of stories, each untouched and direct from listeners, culminating in a rare (and unsettling) Mirrored Women sighting.

Table of Contents

• Early Brush With the Unknown: K’s Childhood Miracle
• Floating Blankets: Blair’s Bedroom Mystery
• The Basement Visitor: Eric’s Unsettling Encounter
• Lifelong Attachment: G’s Saga of Dread
• Shadow People and Loss: Macy’s Haunting
• The Noisy Haunt: Zach’s Apartment Anomalies
• Tales From the Highway: Peggy and the Provo Canyon Rescue
• Growing Up Haunted: Alexander’s Creepy Childhood Home
• Nursing Home Apparitions: Dave’s Dual Experiences
• Haunted Group Home: Rockwell’s Basement Specter
• Synchronized Strangeness: The Mirrored Women Encounter
• Utah’s Paranormal Hotspots and Cryptid Lore Interludes

Key Stories and Insights

K’s Gravity-Defying Rescue

[03:28]

• K recounts a memory from age 3 or 4 at her grandma’s Utah duplex.
• She fell from a computer desk in slow motion, landed painlessly, and made no sound.
• Neither her grandma nor sister, nearby, heard the fall.
• K interprets the event as a possible guardian angel intervention.
• Quote:

  “It felt like I was like light as a feather just slowly falling to the ground... I like to think maybe this is like a guardian angel.” – K [05:45]

[06:50] Derek comments:
Notes the recurring theme of unexplained falls with benign outcomes and references a similar story from “Catherine” in Season 19.

Blair’s Floating Sheets

[07:28]

• Blair describes waking at 3AM (age 9–12) to see his sheets floating 1.5–2 feet above him, then falling back.
• Did not see any entity—just freaked out.
• Never told anyone until this call.

Derek’s Response [08:29]:
Anticipates a night full of wild Utah tales if Blair’s story is any indicator.

Eric’s Basement Apparition

[10:35]

• After moving into his mother’s empty house, Eric hears dogs scampering above in the night (though no one is home).
• His bedroom light turns on and he sees an old lady in the doorway, pointing at him.
• She turns the light off, closes the door, and vanishes—a “gnarly” experience.
• Eric finds the house empty and locked up.
• Quote:

  “There is an old lady standing in my doorway pointing at me... She turns the light off and exits my room. Closes the door behind her.” – Eric [12:25]

Derek’s Analysis [14:09]:
Jokes about the rudeness of turning on the light, ponders whether the noises also came from this entity.

G’s Lifetime of Nightmares and Attachments

[15:35]

• G feels a connection to a previous caller’s account (firefighter’s recurring dream, S11E19).
• From age 11–12, suffered recurring dreams involving total white space and overwhelming dread, witnessing loved ones die.
• Story shifts to waking dread, nightmares—“horrifying, violent things... all night long for years.”
• Recently sought spiritual help; after a “cord cutting” ritual, the nightmares lessened, but a persistent fear of recurrence remains.
• Quote:

  “Dread is the only word I have for it... I started getting these nightmares. And they were, God, so horrifying, violent things that I can't even tell people.” – G [16:55]

Derek’s Take [19:01]:
Posits sleep paralysis or supernatural causes, marvels at the precise cross-state similarity to Justin’s story.

Macy’s Haunted Apartment and the Shadow Man

[21:18]

• After a messy breakup, Macy moves in with a male roommate (Ken) in Salt Lake City.
• She sees a full shadow man apparition on a blank wall.
• Later, Ken (her roommate) sees a shadow behind her during their music session.
• Apparitions, a sense of evil, and three loud knocks at the door in the night escalate the fear.
• Door vandalized during move-out.
• After leaving, learns from Ken that a mutual friend had died by suicide in the complex; wonders if their apartment is haunted by him.
• A garbage leak outside the apartment forms into the shape of an angel—she photographs it.
• Quote:

  “I saw a shadow man, a full apparition shadow man walk directly next to me on this wall. It didn’t spook me or give me, like, an evil feeling... I tried to play cool and laughed at him. About five minutes later, I saw another one on the wall behind him.” – Macy [23:00]
  “I always wondered if this apartment was where their mutual friend had actually committed suicide.” – Macy [25:05]

Derek’s Comment [25:59]:
Suggests looking up the apartment’s history, notes the recurring archetype of haunted Utah apartments.

Zach’s Apartment – Moving Shadows and Unseen Dishes

[26:32]

• Multiple oddities: girlfriend hears “old man coughing” inside their small apartment; Zach sees a small black shape peeking from a doorway (believes it’s the chihuahua—both pet and girlfriend absent).
• Hears dishes being done in the kitchen; finds nothing, except an open cupboard.
• Girlfriend reports being watched; Zach more skeptical, but unsettled.
• Quote:

  “I saw something small and black, peek around the corner of my door and run away. As I went to look at it, I thought, oh, she’s home... and I saw something looking at me from that door frame.” – Zach [27:45]

Peggy’s Ride-Along Miracle in Provo Canyon

[33:10]

• In the 1980s, during ride-along as a Highway Patrol dispatcher, Peggy hears a veteran trooper’s tale: Four teens crash in 'Dead Man’s Curve', car plunges into river.
• When patrol arrives, teens are already out and alive on the embankment—none remember rescue, two say they “died” and then were suddenly there.
• No bystanders or troopers claim to have pulled them out.
• Quote:

  “He said, ‘I remember that I died. The next thing I know, I was on the embankment and you were there.’” – Peggy [35:17]

Derek’s Theories [37:22]:
Suggests guardian angels—or, given the locale, perhaps a Bigfoot-type cryptid (“the Provo Canyon creature”) known for great strength.

Utah Lore Interlude [39:00–41:10]:

Derek shares summaries of local Utah haunts and legends:

• Rock Canyon Trail: Ghostly lights, apparitions, mysterious vanishings.
• Peekaboo/Spooky Gulch: Eerie laughter, echoing wind, shadowy forms.
• Dead Horse Point: Phantom hoofbeats and spectral cowboys.
• Bigelow Hotel: Disembodied whispers, cigar smoke, haunted tub.

Alexander’s Haunted Childhood Home

[41:12]

• A childhood of odd events: watering can rocks back and forth (possibly supernaturally), no replication possible.
• Plush toy horse instills sudden, inexplicable terror and seemingly turns to look at him.
• Basement storage room incites lifelong feelings of being watched; door repeatedly opens on its own, even when shut and latched.
• While changing shirts, constantly feels something watching. Sibling later confirms the same feeling.
• All feelings vanish after moving house.
• Quote:

  “The door would open again... I heard the knob turn and the door popped open. So, of course, I’m thinking there’s an intruder... nothing there.” – Alexander [47:45]
  “Every time I changed... I felt like there would be something standing there, watching me once the shirt was up over my head.” – Alexander [49:50]

Derek’s Thoughts [50:10]:
Entertains his editor’s rodent theory about the watering can, but leans towards unexplainable phenomena.

Dave’s Nursing Home Ghosts

[52:53]

• Dave, who grew up around and later worked at a nursing home, recalls the passing of a resident (“very clean eater”). Years later, another resident in the same spot behaves abnormally (messy), and Dave sees a ghostly elderly woman fitting the deceased’s description—on the anniversary of her death.
• Later, while in an elevator, Dave and his friend hear his (living) father’s voice cursing—except his dad is outside, and they later learn he sounds like the predecessor, long deceased.
• Quote:

  “I look down, and boom, there’s this lady in front of me... I was like, holy crap, okay. So I look up to unbolt the deadbolt, and I look down again, and she’s gone.” – Dave [54:55]

Derek’s Take [59:32]:
Nursing homes, he says, “can be creepy af.”

Rockwell’s Haunted Group Home

[59:53]

• In a Utah group home for disabled women, Rockwell consistently felt uneasy in the basement.
• Sees a dark humanoid shape in the dark living room while checking on a resident—figure vanishes after light is switched on.
• Other staff have reported similar experiences.
• Quote:

  “There is a dark humanoid shape just standing in the middle of the room... I flick it on and that shape is just gone.” – Rockwell [60:46]

Anonymous: Mirrored Women & Missing Time

[63:05]

• Truck driver parks overnight by a rocket fuel company in northern Utah, takes dog out for a walk.
• Observes two women, identical in every aspect, moving with “hypnotic” synchronicity.
• Both turn and stare at him; he experiences their faces going out of focus, loses time, wakes in his locked truck hours later.
• Next day: hears the facility had an explosion at the building where the women had gone.
• Wonders if this is a “Mirrored Man” encounter, but with women.
• Quote:

  “What kept my attention though was the fact that their movements were all synchronized to the point I almost felt hypnotized by them... In a perfect unison they turned their heads, looked straight at me... next thing I know, my dog’s licking my face and I woke up...” – Anonymous [63:38]

Derek’s Response [66:58]:
Checks the Mirrored Man criteria—rural, time loss, identical “men” (here, women), unusual faces. Feels it generally fits the pattern with a unique twist.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• K (Guardian Angel):

  “It felt like I was light as a feather just slowly falling to the ground.” [05:45]

• Macy (Shadow People):

  “There is a shadow behind you on the wall. And that’s when I got spooked.” [23:30]

• Peggy (Rescued Teens):

  “I remember that I died. And then the next thing I know I was on the embankment and you were there.” [35:17]

• Rockwell (Group Home):

  “There is a dark humanoid shape just standing in the middle of the room.” [60:46]

• Anonymous (Mirrored Women):

  “Their movements were all synchronized to the point I almost felt hypnotized by them... I swear, their faces seemed to be almost shifting or going in and out of focus.” [63:45]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:28 – K’s childhood slow-motion fall / guardian angel
• 07:28 – Blair’s floating sheets experience
• 10:35 – Eric’s encounter with pointing apparition
• 15:35 – G’s recurring dread/nightmare “attachment”
• 21:18 – Macy and Ken’s shadow men / haunted apartment
• 26:32 – Zach’s apartment: old man cough, shadow creature, unseen dishwashing
• 33:10 – Peggy’s Provo Canyon “miracle rescue” (possible angels or Bigfoot)
• 41:12 – Alexander’s haunted house: watering can, plush horse, open door, feeling of being watched
• 52:53 – Dave’s nursing home ghosts (messy eater, anniversary appearance, elevator voice)
• 59:53 – Rockwell’s group home: dark figure in the basement
• 63:05 – Anonymous truck driver’s Mirrored Women (time loss, explosion coincidence)

Conclusion

From guardian angels and shadow men to the haunted halls of nursing homes and the eerie synchrony of mirrored entities, this episode highlights Utah's rich—and unsettling—paranormal diversity. Derek ties the stories together with his signature blend of skeptical curiosity and appreciation for the mysterious, keeping the tone both spooky and welcoming. Whether you’re here for folk tales, cryptid lore, or modern hauntings, this episode delivers chills and a powerful sense of connection through shared strangeness.

Derek’s Sign Off:

“If you find yourself in the wilds of Utah, and truth be told, from the sounds of some of these calls, I guess you should be careful indoors as well. The Beehive State seems to be quite paranormally active... keep it spooky as possible and have yourselves a good night.”