S20 Ep5: Rocky Mountain High Strangeness: Tales from Colorado (Sn. 20 Ep. 5)

Summary

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Monsters Among Us – Season 20, Episode 5

Rocky Mountain High Strangeness: Tales from Colorado

Host: Derek Hayes
Date: October 28, 2025

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Overview

This episode of Monsters Among Us is dedicated to eerie and unexplained stories from Colorado, blending the state’s backdrop of rugged Rocky Mountains with chilling first-hand accounts of the paranormal. Host Derek Hayes curates a series of calls ranging from ghostly apparitions and shadowy encounters to cryptids, black-eyed children, UFO sightings, and brushes with possible time glitches. Each tale showcases the distinctive strangeness of Colorado through the voices of those who experienced it.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Encounters with Shadow Figures and the Grim Reaper

• Lana’s Story (02:57–05:47)

  • At age 6 in a rough Colorado neighborhood, Lana saw a shadowy, black figure holding a scythe, beckoning her. Years later, she realized it matched depictions of the Grim Reaper.

    • Notable Quote (Lana, 04:03):
      “I saw this black figure, like, the shadow figure, and it was holding a scythe. And it was motioning for me to come towards it with its right hand."
    • Her mother dismissed the sighting, but Lana's later recognition of the figure left her with lasting chills.

  • Derek’s Commentary (05:47):
    “Now, I don’t know a lot about this subject, Lana, but I do know he’s not supposed to touch you. Or else you get the axe. Or in this case, maybe the scythe."

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2. Cryptid Sightings in the Colorado Wilderness

• Fisher’s Tale (06:46–08:20)

  • While walking in the woods with a friend, Fisher and his companion both saw a tall, pale figure duck behind a tree, corroborated by both without prior discussion.

    • Notable Quote (Fisher, 07:46):
      “I saw a tall, pale figure duck behind a tree. And I said, ‘That’s exactly what I saw.’”

  • Derek’s Response (08:23):

    • Cites Colorado’s Bigfoot reports, but notes this creature was “pale white,” unlike classic descriptions.
    • References local cryptid lore: Slide Rock Bolter, Tommyknockers, Colorado Devil Ram, and Augerino.

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3. Seances and Spectral Visions

• Alice’s Experience (10:21–13:38)

  • As a teenager in Washington, Alice and others performed a daytime seance; a heavy table levitated and, later, she saw human-shaped “smoky” ghosts floating up and down stairs.

    • Notable Quote (Alice, 12:06):
      “I looked over and there were ghosts floating up and down the stairs. They were kind of like cigarette smoke, swirly and all that, but more substantial.”

  • Derek’s Reflection (13:38):

    • Playfully suggests “Tonight would be a perfect night for a little seance,” and acknowledges the credibility such stories lend to the paranormal.

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4. Physical Encounters with Ghosts

• Anonymous, Denver (15:35–18:39)

  • Alone at night, the caller twice felt someone tap her on the shoulder. Both instances occurred when her back was to the sink, with no one behind her.

    • Notable Moment (16:54): “There's a tap on my shoulders. And it was a very distinct tap, tap, tap.”

  • Derek’s Connection (18:39):

    • Jokes about his own unexplained “back spasms,” suggesting maybe it’s something more.

• Carlos, Denver (19:45–21:39)

  • While visiting a secluded mountain cemetery, Carlos’ wife found a warm, child-sized handprint on her leg—possibly the ghostly presence Carlos sensed while there.

    • Notable Quote (Carlos, 21:12):
      “We both looked at her leg and we were like, what is that? And it looked like a little handprint, like of a child or something.”

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5. Ghostly Children in Cemeteries

• Katie, Parker (22:49–25:41)

  • During a pandemic-era night visit to a cemetery, Katie and her friend heard what sounded like children’s clapping. Later, they saw a multicolored ball of light rise from the trees and approach them before they ran away.

    • Notable Quote (Katie, 24:12): “We actually heard clapping... it sounded like children’s hands... And then we actually saw a ball, like a rainbow ball… coming up from the trees right at us.”

  • Derek’s Analysis (25:41):

    • Considers both ghost and UFO/UAP explanations. Notes that Colorado ranks 13th in the US for UFO sightings.

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6. UFOs, Strange Lights, and Celestial Phenomena

• Sarah Colley, Denver (27:47–28:51)

  • Describes seeing 6–7 star-like lights, perfectly spaced and moving in a line before disappearing — a classic “Starlink satellites” sighting.

    • Notable Quote (Sarah, 28:13): “They were perfectly spaced in a perfectly straight line. And they were moving, moving at the same time, motion. It was so odd.”

  • Derek’s Skepticism (28:51):

    • Explains Starlink satellite trains, how they’re often mistaken for UFOs, and provides resources for listeners.

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7. Visions of Angels and Otherworldly Beings

• Aliyah, Longmont (30:43–31:47)
  • On the way to work, Aliyah saw what she interpreted as her guardian angel in the sky amid black and purple clouds. This vision was real to her but invisible to her husband and others.
    • Notable Quote (Aliyah, 31:09): “You could see what looked like an angel with his head on his hands, just looking at me, like in a loving, caring way. But it scared me to death.”

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8. Haunted Houses and Lingering Spirits

• Ina, Denver Suburb (32:50–36:08)

  • In a house notorious for apparitions, Ina’s daughters independently reported a scary man standing or sitting in their bedroom doorways, watching them sleep — despite never sharing the stories with each other.

    • Notable Quote (Ina, 35:17): “She says, ‘Mom, there's a guy who stands in my doorway and watches me sleep. He's very scary.’”

  • Derek’s Observation (36:08):

    • Notes the compelling nature of corroborated, independent sightings.

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9. Ghosts of Colorado’s Cannabis Industry

• M, Texas (37:07–39:30)
  • While working at a cannabis grow facility, M frequently saw a child-sized shadow. Research later confirmed a boy had died outside the building in the 1970s.
    • Notable Quote (M, 38:04): “I'd always see like a small little human like child size shadow walk by and I'd feel watched. It didn't feel malicious.”

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10. Reality Glitches, Time Slips, and Lucid Dreams

• Sean, Colorado (40:01–42:30)

  • After a normal day, Sean experienced an abrupt shift from his high school to waking up in bed — memories of physical sensations and interactions intact, as though he’d truly lived those moments.

    • Notable Quote (Sean, 41:15): “When the bell rang, I went to class, I sat down in my desk and I woke up in my bed.”

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11. Unsettling Encounters with Black-Eyed Children

• Becky, Louisville (43:23–47:13)

  • In 2017, Becky saw a toddler-sized child with pure black eyes approach her basement sliding door in the early morning hours. Recognizing the black-eyed children legend, she avoided looking at it until it left.

    • Notable Quote (Becky, 46:03): “They kept walking kind of slowly towards the door. And I started getting nervous because I knew about Black Eyed Children. And I looked again and sure enough their eyes were black.”

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12. The Stanley Hotel: Colorado’s Paranormal Landmark

• Jeff, Ohio (sharing sister’s story) (48:38–50:20)

  • During a ghost tour at the Stanley Hotel, Jeff’s sister captured a photo of what appears to be a child-sized shadow figure in a hallway. The host has posted this in the show notes for listener review.

    • Notable Quote (Jeff, 49:23): “It appears to show a shadow person, a child sized shadow person kind of clearly standing in another room off of what looks like a foyer.”

  • Derek’s Thoughts (50:20):

    • Reiterates the Stanley’s ghostly reputation, mentions family experiences, and invites listeners to view the photo.

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Structuring Notable Quotes and Timestamps

| Speaker | Quote | Timestamp | |---------|-------|-----------| | Lana | "I saw this black figure... and it was holding a scythe. And it was motioning for me to come towards it..." | 04:03 | | Fisher | "I saw a tall, pale figure duck behind a tree. And I said, ‘That’s exactly what I saw.’"| 07:46 | | Alice | "I looked over and there were ghosts floating up and down the stairs. They were kind of like cigarette smoke..." | 12:06 | | Anonymous | "There's a tap on my shoulders. And it was a very distinct tap, tap, tap." | 16:54 | | Carlos | "We both looked at her leg and we were like, what is that? And it looked like a little handprint, like of a child or something." | 21:12 | | Katie | "We actually heard clapping... it sounded like children’s hands... And... saw a ball, like a rainbow ball… coming up from the trees right at us." | 24:12 | | Sarah | "They were perfectly spaced in a perfectly straight line. And they were moving... It was so odd." | 28:13 | | Aliyah | "...what looked like an angel... just looking at me, like in a loving, caring way. But it scared me to death." | 31:09 | | Ina | "She says, ‘Mom, there's a guy who stands in my doorway and watches me sleep. He's very scary.’" | 35:17 | | M | "I'd always see like a small little human like child size shadow walk by and I'd feel watched. It didn't feel malicious." | 38:04 | | Sean | "When the bell rang, I went to class, I sat down in my desk and I woke up in my bed." | 41:15 | | Becky | "They kept walking kind of slowly towards the door. And I started getting nervous because I knew about Black Eyed Children." | 46:03 | | Jeff | "It appears to show a shadow person, a child sized shadow person... standing in another room off of what looks like a foyer." | 49:23 |

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Memorable Moments & Themes

• Recurring motif of “being watched”: From cemeteries to bedrooms, many callers (Carlos, Ina, Becky, M) report the sensation of unseen eyes or presence.
• Children in the paranormal: Several stories involve children — ghostly, shadowy, or inexplicably menacing (Becky’s black-eyed child, M’s shadow, cemetery tales).
• Overlap of ghosts and UFOs: Derek proposes that some mysterious orbs (Katie’s story) could as easily be “in the vein of UFOs or UAPs.”
• Skeptical but playful tone: Derek provides lore, statistics, and personal anecdotes, often grounding wild tales with rational possibilities (Starlink satellites) or humor.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:57 – Lana’s Grim Reaper encounter
• 06:46 – Fisher’s pale cryptid sighting
• 10:21 – Alice’s seance and ghostly visions
• 15:35 – Anonymous: ghostly taps in Denver home
• 19:45 – Carlos: ghost child in mountain cemetery
• 22:49 – Katie: night at the cemetery, clapping, rainbow orb
• 27:47 – Sarah: Starlink “UFOs” over Denver
• 30:43 – Aliyah: guardian angel in morning sky
• 32:50 – Ina: entity watching daughters in Denver suburb
• 37:07 – M: shadow child at cannabis facility, tragic backstory
• 40:01 – Sean: time slip/reality glitch
• 43:23 – Becky: black-eyed toddler at the sliding glass door
• 48:38 – Jeff: photo of child shadow at the Stanley Hotel

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Episode Takeaways

• Colorado is a nexus for the unexplained, from cryptids and haunted hotels to the bizarre and unexplainable experiences of ordinary people.
• Many experiences have corroborating details, family and friends witnessing or feeling the same thing.
• The combination of ghost stories, cryptid sightings, UFO reports, and “glitches in reality” paint a picture of a state steeped in mystery, where the veil between worlds feels thin.
• Derek Hayes’ curation and commentary maintain a blend of skepticism, open-mindedness, and warm humor, making even the strangest stories approachable.

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Keep it spooky!

(For more photos, detailed city-by-city UFO sighting stats, or to see Jeff’s Stanley Hotel shadow person photo, visit the Monster Among Us podcast show notes.)

Transcript

[Derek Hayes]

Every now and then I rinse it.

[Caller]

Out and I need downy rinse tonight and I need it more. My kid wet the bed and the smell never leaves. I don't know what to do.

[Derek Hayes]

I'm always in the dark.

[Caller]

The sweat in that short smells like a dark dark. I'm downy rinsing tonight.

[Derek Hayes]

Downy rinse fights stubborn odors in just one wash. When impossible odors get stuck in, Rinse it out.

[Caller]

You know that big bargain detergent jug is 80% water, right? It doesn't clean as well. 80% water. I thought I was getting a better.

Deal because it's so big.

If you want a better clean, Tide pods are only 12% water. The rest is pure, concentrated cleaning ingredients. Oh, let me make an announcement. Attention shoppers, if you want a real.

Deal, try Tide pods.

Stop paying for watered down detergents.

[Derek Hayes]

Pay for clean.

[Caller]

And if it's got to be clean, it's got to be tide pods. Water content based on the leading bargain liquid detergent.

[Derek Hayes]

Good evening and welcome to Monsters Among Us. I'm your guide, Derek Hayes. Well, folks, here we are the final week of October, which means it's the week of All Hallows Eve. But let's save all those festivities for Thursday's effort, because tonight I have a collection of calls that's creepy in its own right without the aid of an ancient holiday. A show centering around one place in particular. The 21st most populous state, the 38th state admitted to the Union August 1, 1876, by the way, in a state named after the color red in the Spanish language, the Rocky Mountain State, Colorado. And we begin this evening with an eerie little entry from Lana. Welcome to the show, Lana.

[Caller]

Hi, my name is Lana. I currently live in Utah, was born in Colorado and have lived all over the place. So this was when I was about six years old. I was living in Colorado at the time. And the apartments we were living in were not very nice. We lived in a rough part of town, lots of break ins, rats running around the apartment, etc. I'm just giving context so you understand. And I was home. I got done with preschool and my mom picked me up and I came home and we were doing laundry and whatnot, and I was helping her fold everything. And I was standing in the hallway and I was facing both of the rooms. So when you stood in the hallway, you could see my mom's room. And then to the right of it was my sister's room. But all of us slept all over the place. So it was just the Other bedroom. And I remember this. I was folding a quilt in the hallway, and I wasn't big enough, so I had to, like, lay it on the floor, fold it hamburger style, hot dog style. And, like, repeating that until it got smaller. And I looked up, and in the room, not my mom's room, the other room, I saw this black figure, like, the shadow figure, and it was holding a scythe. And it was motioning for me to come towards it with its right hand. It was holding the scythe in its left hand. And since people always broke into our apartment, I thought it was a person. So I went running to my mom, and I told her, like, oh, my God, mom, there's someone in the apartment. Come look with me. We go back into the room, and there's no one there. Nothing there. And she's like, okay, you probably didn't see anything. And I'm like, no, I know what I saw. And at that time, I was so young, and I did just think it was a person, even though it didn't look like a person. And years later, I was probably in, like, second or third grade. I was watching this show. It's called the Grim Adventures of Mandy. And I don't know the other kid's name, Mandy. And someone. And I see what I saw that day. I'm like, mom, that's what I saw that day in Colorado when I was telling you someone was in the house. And she was like, there's no way that you saw that. And I was like, why? She's like, that's the Grim Reaper. And I get goosebumps just talking about it to this day. Some people believe me, some people don't believe me. That's my story. I really love the show, and I hope you can use the story. Thank you so much. Bye.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Lana. As if seeing something like this isn't bad enough, a grim reaper type, complete with a scythe. But what might make it worse is the fact that whatever it is, it seemed to be beckoning Lana, motioning for her to come close to it. Now, I don't know a lot about this subject, Lana, but I do know he's not supposed to touch you. Or else you get the axe. Or in this case, maybe the scythe. So it's probably a good thing that you ran the other way. Super spooky stuff. Lana. Thank you again for calling in. Now, with tall, mysterious figures in mind, let's bring in a short call before our first break. Please welcome Fisher to the program.

[Caller]

Hey, Derek, this is Fisher. I'm calling in with a story that happened maybe less than 20 minutes ago. So a little background knowledge. I have just recently moved to a different place in Colorado, farther up into the mountains. But my friend Jackson and I were just goofing off. We decided to go for a, you know, late night stroll in the woods. We just finished watching good movie and we just went on our usual walking route at my house out in the country, just a little bit into the forest. And we were using my iPhone camera. It's raining right now, and it was raining then, but we walked out into the woods and then Jackson turns the iPhone flashlight to this tree and something ducks behind. It looked like a tall, pale figure. But the weird thing is I saw it and he saw it. And I was like, hey, maybe we should go back in. And he agreed. And I went back in. I said, hey, I saw something weird out there. Did you see anything? And he was like, yeah, I saw some. I was like, what did it look like? Said, I saw a tall, pale figure duck behind a tree. And I said, that's exactly what I saw. There was no corroboration of any stories. There wasn't even a lot of talking before we got back in. We just stayed calm and walked back into the house. But as always, I love the show. Thanks for doing what you do. Have a good one, Derek.

Bye bye.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you for calling in. Fisher, a tall figure in the woods of Colorado. Now, my first thought here is obvious. Bigfoot. After all, the state does rank ninth in the country for reported Bigfoot sightings, with 131 reports as of March of this year. But none of those reports mention the creature being pale white in color. At least not that I saw. But the state is home to all sorts of cryptids, so perhaps it was something else that Fisher ran into. And with critters like the slide Rock, Boulder, the Tommyknockers, the Colorado devil ram, which is a goatman type, I guess, and the augurino, a corkscrew worm like creature that's said to live underground. So a graboid, I guess so anyway, with critters like that, I guess anything is possible in Colorado. Now, we did post up links in the show notes if you want to explore those monsters a little further. And thank you again, Fisher, for taking the time to make the call. Now, folks, I have all kinds of stories left to share with you, so don't touch that dial. I'll be right back.

[Caller]

Oh, boy.

Jeff can really relate to being that 97 37. I hope you've enjoyed the miles.

[Derek Hayes]

Now, if there's one thing Colorado is full of. It's ghosts. And here with a ghost story of her own, is Alice.

[Caller]

Hey, Derek. This is Alice from Colorado. I'm 70 years old, so I'm just reminiscing about what happened to me when I was younger, living in Spokane, Washington. When I was 16 years old, a couple of my mom's friends came. And they were younger, well, certainly like in their 30s. But they decided that it would be really fun to have a seance. It was during the daytime, so we didn't light candles or anything like that. But we all went in. We called it the library. Dad made the garage into a room where they put bookshelves and had books. And then he added a new garage on the end of that. Anyway, so we were in there sitting at this really heavy round table. My grandmother worked for a hotel chain that when they would buy new furniture, they would allow some of the employees to buy the old furniture. So she knew that they had built a new room onto the house. So as a present, she gave them a heavy round table from the hotel. So we were sitting at the table and holding hands, of course, and the table started floating in the air. So I know it's called table tipping, but there was just four of us, mom, me and our two friends, and this table, man, it must have been at least £100. So there was no way to lift it up as high as it was by anyone's feet. And our hands are on the top of the table. So that was kind of freaky. But for me, probably the freakiest part after that, they decided to kind of take a break. And they were just sitting at the table talking. And I got up to go get something from the fridge. And when you come out of that room, you pass the stairwell that would go to the upstairs. And as I passed the stairwell, something must have caught in the corner of my eye. And I looked over and there were ghosts floating up and down the stairs. They were kind of like cigarette smoke, swirly and all that, but more substantial. And they were definitely in the form of humans. But they weren't walking up and down the stairs. They were floating. And there were some going up the stairs and some coming down. I don't know why, but I just walked on past. And then it kind of hit me, like, what did I just see? But it didn't disturb me or upset me or make me scared or anything like that. I just thought, wow, that's kind of strange. So then I went back and sat down. And it's been so long I don't even remember whether I told them what I saw or whether I thought they probably wouldn't believe me. So I didn't tell them. Anyway, that's the end of that story. Thanks Derek, for all you and your team do. You do such a great job. Bye.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Alice. Tonight would be a perfect night for a little seance. Grab a few friends, pull up a table, light some candles, and bring forth a demon from the seventh level of hell. You know, I do love stories like this, Alice. It's hard to believe in things like seances and Ouija boards, but when a story like this comes through, well, it makes it a little easier to suspend my disbelief. So thank you again for taking the time to call in. And folks, if you would like to call in yourself, it's easy, it's fast, it's free. And where else do you get those three anymore? Give my hotline a call at 888-608-night. That's 888-608-night. Or you can record your story as a voice memo and email it to me at monsters among us podcastmail.com and the number to monsters among us junior, should you or your youngster need it, is 833 maukids. And a huge thanks to everyone that went over to check out the episode. Last week, right after our Monsters Among Us Junior feed drop, we saw a significant boost in listenership and we have you all to thank for it. But if you haven't, go check it out. The episodes are short and packed with pint sized paranormal stories. Monsters Among Us Junior wherever you get your podcasts now. Speaking of podcasts, I have one I need to finish here. So let's get back into the action with the following anonymous caller out of nowhere else but the state of Colorado.

[Caller]

Hello there, this is Anonymous from Colorado. So I grew up in far northeast Denver, and the area that I grew up in was right down the street from the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. This is significant because of where the house is situated. So this happened around the early 90s when I was in middle school and my brother and I had just moved in with my father and my stepmother after our mother passed. So we were assigned chores in the house and the whole family are Trekkies. So we had the big living room downstairs in the basement. So everyone's down there watching tv. And the way that my kitchen is situated is there was only one door to go through the kitchen to go downstairs. So I would see or hear if anyone had come up the stairs. I would see them first because of how the kitchen was. It's like a peninsula kitchen with the opening to the patio and the outside and the downstairs where they just two separate doors. So I would be able to see anyone coming in or out of the basement or from outside. So it's my turn to do the kitchen. It's probably about 7 or 8 o' clock at night, so it's dark and I'm assigned chore duty before. This is like Thursday. I had to do my chores before class the next morning. So I'm in the kitchen doing the dishes after dinner. And it's just me, right? It's just me. I can hear the tv, I can hear everybody downstairs. So I'm just washing dishes and everything. And I see my sister come upstairs. She came upstairs, get some drinks and stuff, everybody. She goes back down. I hear her go down the stairs. I hear her give out the drink. I hear my father talking. So I'm sitting up there just washing the dishes. And then I turn the water off. And as soon as I do that to go put the dishes in the strainer, there's a tap on my shoulders. And it was a very distinct tap, tap, tap. So I ended up turning around and looking and there's a dark hallway in a dark living room right behind me. There's nobody there. I turn all the lights and think and my sister's like playing with me and nothing. There's nobody there, right? I go downstairs, basically go count head, and everybody's downstairs. There's nobody upstairs. So at this point, my heart sinks. I'm like, oh my goodness. Like there's something here. Like something's happening. So I go back upstairs and my sister follows me and she's like, girl, you are like, light up with the ghost. What's going on? So I tell her and I said, can you sit with me? And she's like, yeah, let me go downstairs and get my stuff. Before I could tell her no, she's already gone. So as I'm sitting there, I got my back to the sink and I'm facing the hallway. And it happens again. My back is up against the sink. There's nothing behind but a window and a wall. And it happens tap, tap on the same shoulder. I got goosebumps right now. That has never left for me. It's always stayed with me. And that's like the freaky thing that happened when I was like 12. Love the show. Thank you, Derek, for listening.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, caller. This might be tmi, but I have these weird back spasms. Out of nowhere, they're not painful in any way, but they make it feel like someone is poking me in the back with their finger. It happens a few times a month as I'm sitting here in the studio, right behind my left shoulder. At least I think their back spasms. Now, after hearing our caller's claims, I can't be 100% sure, but it sounds like our caller was 100% sure that she was touched by something from the other side. What that something is, well, that's between you and your imagination. Thank you again, caller, for taking the time. And while we're on the subject of touchy ghosts, please welcome Carlos to tonight's program.

[Caller]

Hi, Derek. My name is Carlos and I live in Denver, Colorado. So this story happened last year when my wife and I drove up to the mountains looking for cemeteries. She likes to take pictures of headstones and things like that. So we had pulled off to one that we found. It was kind of secluded up this trail and she got out and she was taking pictures and I got out and I just remember standing by the car. I didn't really follow her into the cemetery, but I started to feel like I was being watched or we were being watched. So like I said, it was pretty secluded back in this trail area where there was a bunch of trees around. It was about 2 o' clock in the afternoon and the sun was out. Maybe it was a little overcast, but yeah, for the most part, I could see clearly around me. I was looking to see if anyone was around and I didn't see anything in the trees or anything. But anyway, so I kept feeling that feeling. And then once my wife was done, we ended up just driving out of there and all of a sudden she felt like warmth on her right leg. We both looked at her leg and we were like, what is that? And it looked like a little handprint, like of a child or something. And I kind of gathered that maybe that's what I was feeling was maybe a child's ghost or any type of ghost was watching us while we were sitting there. But yeah, that's my story. I love the show and shout out to Mo for starting me on Monsters Among Us.

Thank you.

Have a good day.

Bye.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Carlos. And a big thanks to Mo as well. Sharing the show with friends, family and strangers is a gigantic help. It allows us to grow and allows us to bring in new calls on a weekly basis. So huge thank you to Mo. In fact, now, touched in a cemetery by a ghost child, perhaps. Well, like I said, tis the season. Thanks again, Carlos, for Making the call.

[Caller]

Good morning, Mike. Yeah, so far this year, their maternity is being changed. I am with you always.

[Derek Hayes]

Well, let's stay in the cemetery for a few more moments. If you're brave enough, that is. Please welcome Katie to the program.

[Caller]

Hello, first time caller here, and I am Katie and I am from Parker, Colorado. This was during lockdown of 2020. Me and my best friend found it a perfect time to explore the town in the middle of the night. Because there was nobody around this particular night, we decided to hop the fence at the local main town cemetery. Over the last however many years, I've come here numerous times and actually enjoy exploring cemeteries at night for the thrill of being a little creeped out. On my previous trips there over the years, I have always felt that I didn't like a patch of trees in the middle of the cemetery. It just didn't feel right. There's nothing I could explain about it. It just. I never wanted to go over there. But I did notice that there was some new art and statues in the middle of the cemetery. And of course it had to be next to the trees. I ignored my gut feeling about something not being right over there and checked it out. So a couple minutes went by and we didn't really talk much. Just kind of looked around at the statues and all the art. And then we actually heard clapping. And it was really weird. There was no template to it, nothing. It was just some weird clapping. And actually it sounded like children's hands. I don't know, just sound like little hands. But after that, we kind of just looked at each other and walked up the hill back towards the fence. So after that, you know, jumped the fence, got underneath the light near telephone lights to kind of, you know, who knows if it was a person or not. I would rather have a ghost than a real person. Because creepy people in the middle of the night at a cemetery, you don't really want to run into those. Then we are looking into the cemetery to make sure that there is nobody there. And there wasn't. So a few minutes go by, my friend looks at me and says, we need to leave, we need to leave. I'm like, why? And I look over and I see a ball, like a rainbow ball. And it was green, it was red, it was purple, it was all the colors I could think of. It was coming up from the trees right at us. And we didn't think twice about running away. And we did run away quick. We hawked some more defenses and then jumped down off the ledge into a parking lot. We didn't get very far before we turned back around and saw the ball of light was against the fence right where we were. You know, we didn't think much about it, but other than we just had clapping in the middle of the cemetery. Couldn't find anybody behind us and just a weird big ball of light. Don't know what it is. Not exactly sure if I want to come back and find out, but we have not been back since.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Katie. More ghost children in a cemetery, perhaps. And clapping. What a weird detail. You know, if it wasn't something explainable or something ghostly, I wonder if it wasn't something in the vein of UFOs or UAPs. A glowing ball of rainbow light levitating above the trees. Well, that sounds about right to me. And the sounds that Katie heard, she described them as children clapping. Well, perhaps those were sounds emanating from the craft as it lifted off the ground. And if it was a ufo, Katie wouldn't be alone in her experience because according to the National UFO Reporting Center, Colorado ranks number 13th in the US for UFO sightings. 3503 reported sightings, with the most recent being made on October 16, 2025, when multiple orb clusters reappear, then disappear near Estes Park. And if you're curious how each of the cities in the state rank in regards to UFO experiences, here is how that plays out again courtesy of Newfork. Number 10 is Pueblo. Number nine is Lakewood. Number eight is Longmont. Number six is Grand Junction. Tied with Littleton. Number five is Boulder. Number four is Aurora. Number three is Fort Collins. Number two is Colorado Springs. And of course, number one is Denver. And here with what might be one more sighting of something strange in the Centennial State is Sarah from the city of Denver.

[Caller]

Hi, Derek. This is Sarah Colley from Denver, Colorado. My story for you just happened tonight. My husband and I were sitting out on our back deck and we happened to look up at the sky and we saw six or seven like stars. Probably satellites, but I've just never seen anything like it. They were perfectly spaced in a perfectly straight line. And they were moving, moving at the same time, motion. It was so odd. And then they just disappeared. And it was just so fresh that I thought I'd call right away. I'm a longtime listener. I love your podcast. This happened at 8:12pm on September 22nd. I've never seen anything like it. I just thought I'd call in and let you know. Thanks. Keep it spooky.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Sarah. I get this report a lot. Dozens of calls, just like Sarah's. And I never play them. Why? You might be wondering. Well, it's because I know exactly what they are. It's Starlink satellites, the Internet provider. For years now, they've been launching these sometimes car sized satellites into space. Dozens of them, all tethered together in a line. And from here on Earth, if you happen to catch one going by at the right moment, the chain looks like a line of stars all moving at the same speed and heading in the same direction. I've put up a few examples in the show notes. If this is all news to you, and believe it or not, you can even see these things yourself, no matter where you live. I also included a link to a Starlink tracker website and it'll tell you exactly when you need to look up to see this technology yourself. So I get why you might be amazed by this experience, Sarah. I saw them one night myself off last year. I just randomly looked up and got lucky. And even though I knew exactly what they were, I was still in awe of how they moved. So even though this call was a bit of a bust, it was a good lesson. So thank you again, Sarah, for sharing the experience. Now shifting gears to a different type of unidentified flying object. Please welcome Aliyah back to the program.

[Caller]

Hi, my name is Aaliyah Surat from Longmont, Colorado, and this story is about the first time I saw my guardian angel. I was on my way to work one morning with my husband. We were driving down 287. It was a nice sunny morning and these dark black and purple clouds rolled in and this overwhelming fear of anxiety came over me. I looked up in the sky and you could see what looked like an angel with his head on his hands, just looking at me, like in a loving, caring way. But it scared me to death. I didn't know if I should turn around and go home or if I should continue going to work. I'm pretty sure that we ended up going to work. My ex husband didn't see anything. I was shocked that the rest of the world couldn't see anything, that no cars were stopping on the road. I mean, it was so apparent to me. I just couldn't see how nobody else could see what I was seeing. But that's my story. The first time I saw my guardian angel, it was really cool. Thank you, man. I love the podcast. Have a good day.

[Derek Hayes]

Thanks. Aaliyah, I certainly don't blame you for being frightened. Seeing some dude float down from the sky should alarm anyone that witnesses it. But like You, I, too, am curious why no one else seemed to see him. Details like that tend to suggest some sort of hallucination, but only Aaliyah would know if that's something that's possible. But, you know, none of that stops the story from being downright awesome. So thank you again, Aliyah, for ringing in.

[Caller]

And these things are all taking part and going in different directions, waiting for everyone else to kick off the holiday. Kind of like a perfect storm in a sewer.

[Derek Hayes]

Now, as I alluded to earlier, Colorado is full of ghosts. And here to help me sell that as a fact is Ina. Welcome to the program.

[Caller]

Hi, my name is Ina. I live in a suburb of Denver, Colorado, and we moved into our house in 2004. And when I say we, I meant my husband and my five kids. And I wasn't necessarily a strong believer in ghost. However, that house has totally made me a believer. We have since moved out in 2017. So the story I'm going to tell you today is I had seen apparitions in that house before. Full on apparitions. I knew one was my brother. We lost him at 16. And I had seen another apparition. I didn't know who he was, but he would walk downstairs from left to right underneath the stairs, and you could see him, and he would pause before going into the room. I never did anything as far as saging or anything because they didn't scare me, except it started to get bad after my son passed away, and there was just so much negative energy. I went through a divorce. So my kids were all incredibly depressed. So my middle child, who is now 25, when she was about 16 or 17, I noticed that she started sleeping on the couch outside in the downstairs family room. Previously in any house we lived in. She was always kind of my little hermit girl and loved to stay in her room and do kid stuff. But she had been sleeping on the couch for a couple months. And so I'd ask her when I was driving her to her band practice, and I said, why didn't have you started sleeping on the couch? And she says, mom, there's a guy who stands in my doorway and watches me sleep. He's very scary. And I said, okay. I said, we can sage down there. And she says, no, I'm just gonna sleep back on the couch, see if that's okay. Of course it was okay. So two years later, she had moved out, got her own place. And my other baby, she slept in that room for about a week, week and a half. And then I noticed she started coming upstairs and sleeping on the couch or coming in to sleep with me. So I asked her, I said, well honey, what's going on? And she said, mom, there's a guy who comes into my bedroom and he will sit right inside the door and he watches me sleep. And they had never shared the story because I had asked my oldest daughter not to because I didn't want to scare the kid. But I don't know what that entity was. I'm sure it wasn't an actual human because our house was very safe and I just don't know what it was. Anyway, that's just one of the many stories I have from there. That to me was very scary.

[Derek Hayes]

Thanks Ina. That's that eerie kind of validation having two people see the same thing at separate times without communicating about it. To me that's pretty convincing and let's hope that it doesn't happen a third time. But of course if that activity does continue, be sure to let us know. Aina but until then, thank you again for calling in. Hey, go buy a T shirt or something if you want monsters among us podcast.com and click the shop tab. We'd appreciate it. Now one non paranormal thing that Colorado is known for is its lax laws on certain mind altering substances. So right on schedule. Here is M from the state of Texas.

[Caller]

Hey Derek, this is M from Texas. So it was like 2019. I was living in Colorado with my now wife, works at a medical cannabis growing facility. I had just started and one of my co workers turned to me and was like oh yeah, this building's haunted. Hope you don't mind ghosts. And my stomach sank because I was like oh no, not another one of these. I've always like felt watched. I literally can't remember a time when I didn't feel that way. But I was sitting at the table at the bottom of the stairs and I toss shadow like walking down the stairs at me out of the corner of my eye and when I looked it wasn't there again. But I'd always see like a small little human like child size shadow walk by and I'd feel watched. It didn't feel malicious or anything. I had to look it up because I was told by my co workers that a little boy had passed outside the building. Due to the sensitive nature of my job that I had there, we couldn't really get the address out or anything but I looked it up and there was a little boy who had passed and the 70s right outside. Now it's really industrial area and like it was very out of town at the time in the 70s. But there were these little boys outside playing and they found a bomb, like a homemade bomb in the dumpster. They were brothers and one of them unfortunately passed away pretty much immediately after that bomb had gone off. But the brother survived. I looked up the articles and I found old newspaper articles, but I always saw a little boy shaped shadow everywhere in this building. I just thought it was really interesting that I genuinely saw this numerous times before I had known about the story. Thanks for the podcast, spirit. Keep up the good work. Bye.

[Derek Hayes]

Thanks Em. Now, we covered a haunted dispensary on Paranormal Caught on Camera, the TV show that I was on years and years ago. And I feel the same way now that I felt about that one, that I bet it has more to do with the property itself than it does the business that's conducted there. But before we move on from the topic, I have one more story to share, so please welcome Sean to the show.

[Caller]

Hey, Derek, this is Sean. I'm from Colorado. I was listening to one of your entries from season three. It's an Australian gentleman by the name of Steve, and it kind of jarred something loose when he was talking about his time slip phenomenon. I don't think what happened to me was necessarily a time slip, but it really brought back a weird memory because back when I was in high school, I was about 15, and I had started the day like anything else. And I mean, back in the day, I was smoking marijuana like most teenagers, I guess. And I remember I woke up, I got out of bed and I was getting ready for the day. I got dressed, I took a shower like I normally do. And back in those days, I would roll a joint and smoke at the shower and then get ready for school. So got out of the shower, got dressed, I walked to school. When I got to school, I mean, this is all so vague, like 20 years ago, but I remember joking around with my friends and getting ready to go to class, and we're all joking and high five and doing all the weird things that we do as teenagers. And when the bell rang, I went to class, I sat down in my desk and I woke up in my bed. But here's the weird thing about the story. Whenever I woke up, I was sitting down and I was like, what the hell just happened? Because when I woke up and I got out of bed the first time, I felt the covers on my skin, I felt myself put on the clothes. I could feel the temperature in the room, I could feel the water in the shower head all the heat. I could feel the sensation of how I was getting high. And when walking to school, I could feel the sun, the wind, everything on my body. And when I was interacting with my friends, you know, and we're bumping into each other and getting rowdy and high fiving and stuff like that, I could feel it. I could feel the sensation on my body. It was the weirdest thing. It shakes me up thinking about it because I remember I was shaken up for like three months. I had no idea what happened. I hadn't thought about it for a long time. But if anybody else has had anything similar happen to them, I'll keep an ear out because I'm really interested. Anyways, Derek, great job on the podcast. It's really entertaining. Thanks again. Bye.

[Derek Hayes]

Thanks, Sean. So what do you think here, folks? Time travel? A glitch in the matrix? Alien abduction? Or did Sean here partake a little too much? So thank you again to both M and Sean for calling in.

[Caller]

One other, one other opportunity. Is it enough to last a lifetime?

[Derek Hayes]

Now, folks, we're nearing the end of tonight's programming, but things are still heating up. Here with a story that will have you locking your doors is Becky from, I assume, Colorado.

[Caller]

Hi, my name is Becky. And this happened in Louisville, Colorado, in 2017. It was around November, I would say, but I was in bed. I couldn't sleep. So I went downstairs. And the way our house was set up, you go downstairs and there was the main living room that faced the front yard. But then you go past the kitchen and dining room and there was another set of stairs, go down to, like, a family room that faced the backyard. So there was a sliding glass door in that room and there was a window. And I used to keep the curtains open because it was so safe there. And it was the backyard. Anyways, I was down there watching TV because it was more quiet than the first level tv and I didn't want to wake anybody upstairs. So I was down there watching tv, sitting in the recliner. The window was open. I didn't have any lights on. I just had the TV on. And I was watching tv and I could see something out of my peripheral vision. So I turned to look out the window. We had, like this little path out our backyard that went to a little bench. And over by the bench coming, like facing towards me was like a little toddler, like the size of a child, like a baby toddler. And they were walking slowly towards the window. And there was no one else around. I could see nobody else there. I looked but it started to make me nervous because it looked like a toddler and it was probably 2am and they kept walking kind of slowly towards the door. And I started getting nervous because I knew about Black Eyed Children. And I looked again and sure enough their eyes were black. So I stopped looking that way. I didn't want to make eye contact with them and I didn't think the door was locked because that was like one of the safest cities in the world. I was sitting there just hoping please don't let them be able to open the door. Please don't let them knock, Please don't let anything happen. So I'm sitting there and I'm just kind of bracing for whatever's going to happen. And they got to the door and there's like a step up, like there was a patio table and one little step to come up to the slider. Well, they were on that step and they were just standing there looking into the window. And I could see pretty good because we had a fireplace in the corner kind of next to the sliding glass door. I was looking towards that way so I could see out of my peripheral vision without making eye contact with them. And they just stood there looking in and kept looking in. And there was no one else with them. Nobody else came. There was no knock, no noise, just they stood there for a while. I just waited and waited and after I don't know, about five minutes they turned around and walked away. And I looked really hard and I couldn't see anything. So I heard and ran to that door and put the little thing in to make the lighter lock and close the curtains because it freaked me out. But I thought that was pretty creepy because I had heard of Black Eyed Children but had never experienced experienced it. I don't know what else it could have been. There was nobody else with them. They weren't crying, they weren't scared. Obviously they were walking very slowly, but they were the size of like maybe an 18 month old. It was just so weird. We have a gate and it was closed and I just don't understand how a toddler could get into our backyard. So I don't know. I hope you like my story. I love your show and have a great day. Thanks. Bye.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Becky. Toddler Black Eyed Kids. The fact that they were toddlers somehow makes this even more menacing. And it sounds like you were smart not to make eye contact with them. It's pretty good practice in general if you ask me. Now I can't recall ever hearing about Beks of such a young age. If we've discussed it, it's escaped my memory, but maybe it has happened before. If you know something I don't, be sure to let us know. And I bet Becky would appreciate that info. Also, these things are creepy as hell and that's just how we like them. So thank you again, Becky for making the phone call. And speaking of creepy as hell, one of the creepiest places on the planet rests within the confines of the state of Colorado. A hotel nestled in the Rockies just outside of Estes Park. A hotel made famous by the King of Horror by way of Ohio. Please welcome Jeff to the program.

[Caller]

Hello Mr. Hayes, my name is Jeff in Ohio, but this short story takes place in Colorado at the now infamous Stanley Hotel. I'm sure most people listening to this podcast have heard of it as it was the inspiration for the Stephen King book the Shining. Anywho, this story is actually my sister's. She was in Colorado visiting a friend and since it's roundabout, spooky time, they decided to take a ghost tour of the Stanley Hotel. Now while they were on the tour, they didn't really experience anything. She didn't see anything or hear anything. One member of the tour said that they saw a shadow person out of the corner of their eye, but other than that, it was actually pretty uneventful. However, throughout the tour she was taking kind of random pictures of hallways and rooms, things like that. After she got back from the tour, she was going through them and she found something. She said she messed with the brightness and the contrast to see if it was maybe just like a weird angle or something like that. She pretty convinced that what she's got is real. She sent them to me and I remember you being pretty enthusiastic about photographic evidence. Now admittedly I'm kind of a skeptic when it comes to ghosties and goblins and such. Kind of a see it to believe it kind of thing. But this picture is kind of interesting. It appears to show a shadow person, a child sized shadow person kind of clearly standing in another room off of what looks like a foyer or an entranceway. But I wanted to see what you and your listeners thought about it. I'll attach it in an email. Anyway, thanks again. Love the show. Have a good one, man.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Jeff. Stanley Hotel on my bucket list. And my brother and his wife and kids just went there this past summer and the kids told me that they experienced all sorts of strange things, including what they called a little golem looking guy in the basement. And speaking of little figures at the Stanley, Jeff was true to his word and did send in the photograph. You can find it over in the Show Notes and it does appear to show a dark human shaped spot there on the glass door. It looks like it can only be seen from the knees up, cutting off the lower third of the body. Now you can go to monsters among us podcast.com and click the Show Notes tab to take a look. Or I'll try to get Sarah to post this up on our social media pages. It's worth a look, whatever it is, especially given the location Colorado's infamous Stanley Hotel hey folks, that's going to do it for this episode. Per usual, a big thanks for swinging by A Monsters Among Us is written and produced by me, Derek Hayes, copyright Ret Grow 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. Give us a like and follow on our social media pages, join us over on YouTube and leave us a rate and review, wherever that sort of thing is possible. Don't forget we have a Discord server. I believe the link to that is also on our website now. Don't forget you can catch the show every Saturday evening at 10pm Eastern on the unax digital network. Just just visit onyxnetwork.com to tune in. And finally, tonight's score was provided by Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse Code He Music Carl Casey at Whitebat Audio alright gang, I'll be back here on Thursday with a special episode. You won't want to miss this one, so be sure to join us then. In the meanwhile, you keep it spooky and of course, have yourselves a good night.

[Caller]

Sam.