S20 Ep51: Ominous rituals, cemetery spirits and a haunted factory (Sn. 20 Ep. 51)

Summary

Monsters Among Us — S20 Ep51: Ominous Rituals, Cemetery Spirits, and a Haunted Factory

Host: Derek Hayes
Date: April 21, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, host Derek Hayes shares chilling first-hand accounts of the paranormal, curated from listener call-ins. The stories range from mysterious knocking and phantom animals, to a haunted factory with a ghostly presence, an ominous ritual encounter in the Pacific Northwest, and recurring experiences with unexplained knocking in a house marked by tragic history. Derek maintains his signature conversational, comforting, and curiosity-driven tone, inviting listeners to draw parallels to their own experiences and reflect on what might truly haunt the everyday spaces around us.

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Key Discussion Points & Stories

1. The Mysterious Second-Story Knocking (Georgia)

• Caller: Anonymous from Georgia ([03:03])
• Story:
  • The caller describes hearing persistent knocking sounds at night, captured by their sleep monitoring app.
  • Initial suspicion falls on family members in the adjacent room, but nobody admits to making the noise. The knocks are determined to be coming from a second-story window, with no physical way for anything to hit the window from outside due to a screen installation.
  • Further investigation rules out any logical explanation—the noise originated from inside the room. The family has experienced other oddities, like disembodied cat meows.
• Notable Moments:
  • “What you'll hear is you'll hear four knocks that are kind of quiet. And then you'll hear me knock, like, three times on my headboard.” (Anonymous, [03:03])
• Host Reflection:
  • Derek links the story to the 2008 film Let the Right One In, where a monster knocks on a window, adding cinematic context to the unsettling nature of night-time knocking ([06:21]).
  • Derek shares the challenge of organizing and locating audio evidence, encouraging callers to include detailed information.

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2. GPS Glitches & Cemetery Spirits (Edgewood, New Mexico)

• Caller: Nathan ([09:28])
• Story:
  • Nathan details an unnerving delivery route in rural New Mexico. His GPS malfunctions, leading him to an old, mostly abandoned adobe church and attached cemetery deep in the desert at night.
  • He describes a palpable sense of being watched, a chain-link fence rattling, and finding a pair of old shoes on a grave during a daylight revisit.
  • Multiple subsequent deliveries in the area show normal GPS function, but the memory of the event lingers.
• Notable Moments:
  • “I just feel like I'm being watched the whole time I'm there… I hear rustling on the fence, like somebody's shaking the fence.” (Nathan, [11:40])
• Host Reflection:
  • Derek relates Nathan's story to his own experiences with a vanishing church in Ohio, underlining how certain locations carry a permanent air of mystery ([15:28]).

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3. Haunted Factory Experience (Macon, Georgia)

• Caller: Kat from Indiana ([17:20])
• Story:
  • While temporarily working in a chalk mining facility, Kat experiences sudden, violent illness when entering one of the silos, a physical reaction she associates with spiritual presence.
  • Later, she hears a disembodied male voice by her ear say “I'm in the middle,” and subsequently learns a man had died in that same silo.
  • Kat experiments with taking random photographs when feeling watched—one selfie reveals a six-foot-tall white silhouette behind her, missing from shots taken moments later.
  • The experience is deeply unsettling, leading her to refuse a permanent position at the factory.
• Notable Quotes:
  • “I hear in my ear a man's voice say, 'I'm in the middle.' Like he was confused, like he didn't know what to say and how to say it.” (Kat, [19:27])
  • “There was this white silhouette of this six foot tall person standing directly behind me. I started crying. I was scared…” (Kat, [22:04])
• Host Reflection:
  • Derek reminisces about how nearly every job he’s ever had came with a resident ghost story. He wonders about the overlap between new employees and ghost tales, jokingly noting that the only job without a haunting is his current gig: talking about ghosts for a living ([24:17]).

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4. Ominous Rituals on a Northwest Island (Washington State)

• Caller: Hannah ([28:45])
• Story:
  • Hannah and family camp on a small, remote island near Anacortes, WA. After a night of rustling sounds, footsteps, and chanting, the group relocates to a single tent in fear.
  • The next morning, they discover animal skulls nailed to the surrounding trees, complete with feathers—marked ritualistically encircling their campsite.
  • The family leaves immediately and never returns.
• Notable Quotes:
  • “There is a little animal skull, maybe, like, a rat or a squirrel, like, something small, nailed to the tree next to my tent. And there's, like, feathers all around it.” (Hannah, [31:42])
• Host Reflection:
  • Derek links this to the “gifting” practices in Bigfoot research but ultimately finds human rituals more disturbing: “This is most certainly human activity, which many, including myself, would argue is much scarier.” ([34:52])

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5. Persistent Knocking & a Tragic Past (Oklahoma)

• Caller: Tara ([38:10])
• Content Warning: Brief mention of past sexual assault in the house’s history.
• Story:
  • Tara recounts repeated experiences of unexplained knocking within her home—three sharp, hard knocks originating from different places inside the house. This occurs over several years, sometimes witnessed by others.
  • Experimentally knocking back elicits near-instant responses, as if in communication.
  • The house's history involves a distressing case of abuse, but Tara never feels unsafe or experiences other paranormal phenomena.
• Notable Quotes:
  • “It always sounds like that, but it always comes from a different direction. And so I play around... and I knock... Just boom, boom, boom, on the side of the kitchen cabinet. First time I had ever done it... and not five seconds pass and we hear it again.” (Tara, [43:55])
• Host Reflection:
  • Derek notes the recurring theme of “disembodied knocking” throughout the episode: “As benign as that action is, it sure can get creepy in the right context. Just take Tara’s word for it.” ([46:32])

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “What you'll hear is you'll hear four knocks that are kind of quiet. And then you'll hear me knock, like, three times on my headboard.” – Anonymous (Georgia), [03:03]
• “I hear rustling on the fence, like somebody's shaking the fence. I have my windows down at this time, so I completely freaked out...” – Nathan (New Mexico), [11:40]
• “I hear in my ear a man's voice say, 'I'm in the middle.' Like he was confused, like he didn't know what to say and how to say it.” – Kat (Macon, GA), [19:27]
• “There is a little animal skull...nailed to the tree next to my tent. And there's, like, feathers all around it.” – Hannah (WA), [31:42]
• “It always comes from a different direction. And so I play around...and I knock...And not five seconds pass and we hear it again.” – Tara (OK), [43:55]
• Derek, reflecting on the episode’s unifying theme: “A lot of disembodied knocking in tonight's episode. And as benign as that action is, it sure can get creepy in the right context.” ([46:32])

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Notable Host Commentary

• Derek consistently draws parallels between callers’ stories and his own haunted life experiences, making the podcast relatable and inclusive for listeners:
  • “I've found myself in similar situations several times. I've had so many interesting jobs. And as I was listening to Kat's call, it dawned on me that most of the places that I've worked also had a ghost story or two attached.” ([24:17])
• He gently pokes fun at his own organizational skills while encouraging more detailed listener submissions ([06:21]).
• Derek reassures and thanks each caller, stressng the power and communal value of sharing and hearing such experiences.
  • “A big thanks to Tara and the rest of tonight's Scholars. Without them, I'd sound awfully silly up here...” ([46:32])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Time | Segment / Story | |----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:53 | Episode start / Derek’s intro and explanation of Beyond episodes | | 03:03 | Mysterious Knocking in Georgia — Anonymous Caller | | 08:58 | Haunted Church & Cemetery delivery in New Mexico — Nathan | | 17:20 | Haunted Chalk Factory in Macon, GA — Kat | | 28:45 | Ominous Rituals on Washington Island — Hannah | | 38:10 | Persistent Knocking and House History in Oklahoma — Tara | | 46:32 | Derek’s reflection on the theme of disembodied knocking throughout the episode |

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Closing Thoughts

In true Monsters Among Us fashion, the tales are left open—baffling and rich in atmospheric detail, inviting listeners to feel both part of the community and to “keep it spooky.” Derek’s gentle humor and empathy for both the unnerved and the skeptically curious make the episode both eerie and comforting. Whether you believe in the paranormal or embody healthy skepticism, this episode weaves recurring motifs of knocking, rituals, and spirits as an invitation to peer into the mysterious spaces in our lives.

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For more stories or to share your own, visit monstersamonguspodcast.com or call 888-608-NIGHT. Stay spooky!

Transcript

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[Derek Hayes]

Good evening and welcome to Monsters Among Us. I am your guide, Derek Hayes. Hello folks and welcome back to the program. Now we're taking some time off from the studio this week in preparation for the launch of season 21. But as promised, I'm here to deliver something. And what I decided to do tonight is dust off an old beyond episode. Now a quick refresher. These beyond episodes can be found on Patreon Apple subscription or at monsters among us podcast.com and by clicking on the Patreon tab, $5 a month gives you content just like what you're about to hear tonight. Tons of it. Now for this evening, I present to you season 19, episode 44, the beyond portion already in progress. See what the fuss is all about and hear calls like this one, also submitted anonymously, this time from the state of Georgia.

[Anonymous Caller from Georgia]

Hey Derek, I'd like to remain anonymous for this call. I'm calling from Georgia and this happened a few months ago. I was sleeping in the middle of the night and I have a sleep app going so that I can hear if I'm having trouble breathing or I was trying to see if I had sleep apnea. And in the room behind me against the wall where my headboard is at, my daughter and son in law sleep in that room. And so earlier in the evening I heard them. They'd been making noise. They were playing some board games and kind of laughing and making noise, but I figured, whatever, just let them play. And then when I went to bed, it had kind of quieted Down. And then I heard, like, a banging sound, like a knocking sound. And I thought, okay, they're, like, roughhousing or whatever. They're playing around again. So I knocked on my headboard, like, hey, quiet down. The next day, I get up, I'm like, what the hell are you guys doing? It was so loud in there. And they both looked at me and kind of froze. And they were like, that wasn't you. And I said, well, I knocked to, like, quiet down. And they're like, but the knocking before that. And I said, no, that was you guys, right? And they're like, no, that was not us. And they said that it sounded like it was knocking, but it was coming from the window. And I'm like, well, that's weird, because we're on the second story, and there's no trees out there. There's nothing out there that could hit the second story window. And so I'm like, wait, hold on. So I dug up my sleep app, and it actually caught it. And I email it into you. But what you'll hear is you'll hear four knocks that are kind of quiet. And then you'll hear me knock, like, three times on my headboard. Like, hey, quiet down. I can't amplify the sound or anything like that, but I can tell you I heard seven knocks. The recording got four knocks, and it did sound like it was coming from the window. Once I did listen to it over, I was like, oh, my gosh, that's so bizarre. So I don't know what to make of that. There's nothing on the second story. And then I thought, okay, well, what if, like, by some chance, I don't know, a rock up and hit it? Their window faces the backyard of my house, not the front. So I was like, okay. So I go outside, and I was like, wait a minute. There's a screen on that window. So nothing could actually hit the window without hitting the screen first. So that means that that thumping knocking sound had to be coming from inside the room. And they wouldn't lie to me. They'd be like, oh, yeah, sorry. We were roughhousing or whatever. So I believed them that it wasn't them. I have no idea what that knocking was. It only happened that once. I have heard some other weird things in my house before. It doesn't feel icky or haunted or anything like that. But, like, one morning, my husband and I were sitting in bed, and we usually keep our three cats locked in a bedroom downstairs because otherwise, they wander the night into their little cat room. They chill out and whatever. We were sitting in bed. Out of nowhere in the hallway we heard meow. And I was like, oh, I didn't know you let the cats. And he's like, I didn't. I'm like, but did you hear that? He's like, I did hear that. And then again, meow. Like another meow. And it's not carrying from downstairs. It was just like a phantom meow in our hallways. So we've had a couple of little odd things happen. Anyway, that's my story. Hope you enjoy.

[Kat]

Take care.

[Derek Hayes]

We appreciate the phone call. Now, how many of you have seen the Swedish film Let the Right One In? Because in that film, the quote unquote monster gently knocks on a darkened second story window. And per usual, I'm having a hard time finding the audio that the caller mentioned mailing in. So if you're a listening caller, please resend it. Or at the very least let me know what email you sent it from so I can more easily search it out. I get really bummed when I can't find those videos. About half the time it's because it was never sent in, but the other half is just trying to track it down. If all I have is the first name and a vague subject matter, it becomes incredibly difficult to hunt down a particular call. For example, if I search for knocking sounds in my inbox, I get 389 returns. I'm certainly not organized enough to narrow that down any further, but I still encourage folks to send in that media. Just be sure to include as much info as you possibly can so I can better find the email. Or maybe it's time that I worked on a better system.

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[Derek Hayes]

Either way. Welcome back, Monster Squad. It is a real pleasure to have you with us here this evening. And I'm really looking forward to sharing these calls with you here tonight because I have a nice array of stories to go through, a little bit of everything. And I'm going to get right back into the action with this next entry from Nathan in the enchanting state of New Mexico.

[Nathan]

Hello, my name is Nathan and I'm calling from New Mexico, right outside of Albuquerque, a little town called Edgewood. And I was just listening to the podcast, I believe it was season 13, episode five. You were doing the secret part where the lady was talking about the GPS taking her to an abandoned farmhouse and, you know, getting super creeped out about that, which just basically reminded me about something that happened to me. I was driving for Domino's at the time. You know, I had to put the address in for the location of the house. It's a very rural area. So a lot of the houses are on, you know, long farm roads, dead end, you know, middle of nowhere type of places. In one instance, I'm driving to a house and, you know, long farm roads. Like I said, no houses, a lot of empty terrain, a lot of trees and nothing. Basically at this time, it is about 10 o' clock at night, so it's not too late, but it's pretty late and my GPS starts to kind of wig out and changing directions as if I'm know, going in circles, which happens sometimes. Like I said, it's a very rural area. You know, I lose signal sometimes and sometimes GPS just doesn't work great or take me to the place I need to go. That's pretty normal. But this time it was real weird because it just kept switching, like if my phone was turning sideways and all straight. So I took off the auto rotate and it worked for a little bit, but then it started doing it again. Well, next thing I know, I end up, you know, driving down this really kind of like, not well taken care of road. It's more of kind of like a hiking trail. You know, boulders are in the middle of it. It's not really a road, but at this point I'm like, okay, there's kind of got to be something wrong with the gps. So I turn off my phone, I turn it back on, and GPS tells me, you know, I'm like a block away from the house. I'm supposed to be delivering to. So I continue down the road. I make it to the end, barely. And it's a church. It's fairly new ish looking on the outside, but you can tell it was once an old church because there's a building attached to the back of it that looks like the original building. And, you know, old adobe church, stained glass window just out here in the middle of nowhere in Edgewood, New Mexico. And I just got a really weird feeling, and I. I knew that I wasn't delivering to the church because all the lights were off. And it looks like the church may have been abandoned, but I can't guarantee that for sure. Like I said, the building that I pulled up to was kind of newer, but there was a fence with barbed wire around it. And the doors and everything, they just don't look like they had been used recently. So, long story short, I, you know, I'm not super sketched at this point. I, you know, I'm just figure GPS messed up. So I'm putting the address back into GPS and figuring out. Figuring out what went wrong where. At this point, my GPS completely just doesn't want to work for me. It's not letting me type in addresses. My phone is freezing up. And then I just get a really creepy feeling, and I just. I can't take my eye off the front door because the front door is these double wood doors, probably, you know, original doors, if I had to guess, because they look really old wood, and they kind of open like a French door, you know, double swing doors. And it has, like a archway above it that's stained glass. And the stained glass is really dark stained glass. It's not super colorful, but I just feel like I'm being watched the whole time I'm there. So I get in my vehicle, because at that point, I was outside of the vehicle relieving myself, and I start kind of panicking a little bit. I decide I'm just gonna drive away. I'm gonna drive until my phone stops glitching out, and then, you know, figure out where I need to go. That being said, I start to drive away, and I hear rustling on the fence, like somebody's shaking the fence. I have my windows down at this time, so I completely freaked out, rolled up my windows and just zoomed out of there. That was pretty much the end of that. But the next day, I'm making a delivery, and it's in the same exact area, and my phone starts doing the same thing, trying to take me down that road, which I know is not the right place, but for the fun of it, actually, I just wanted to see the church during the day to see what it looked like and see if, you know, at night. It was probably just freaking myself out. I drive to the church. Not only is the church for sure probably not in use anymore, more if it is, it's very rarely in use. But there's also a cemetery attached to the church. The part of the chilling fence that I had heard rattle the night before was basically at the end of the property that was closest to the road. And the way the church was set out, it was just maybe 10 to 15ft off of the road. So if you're driving down the road from the direction which I was driving, it was going to be on your left hand side, like I said, about 10ft off the road. And the chain link fence that ran around it was probably five feet away from the road. Looking at the property and specifically I wanted to go to the part where I had heard the noise. So I'm surveying it just to see if there's anything there. Maybe the fence is super loose and it was the wind or something that made the noise. But the fence is pretty tight. I mean, it could have rattled, but I doubt it. It was a pretty solid fence. The fence looked like the newest part of the property. But as I'm sitting there, there's a pair of shoes right there and they look old, very old, very worn shoes sitting on the other side of the fence. It's the cemetery pretty much on top of a grave because the graves went almost all the way around the church. Most of them were in the back of the church, but there was graves all the way around. So yeah, that's my story. Nothing else happened. It hasn't happened since and I've had deliveries in that area multiple times. So thank you for your podcast. Have a great day and keep it up.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Nathan. You know, it sounds like the church that I lost. I've told this story a hundred times, so I'll do it again, but only give the cliff notes here. But essentially me and some college friends were ghost hunting slash urban exploring and we found a church likely built in the mid to late 1800s. And we found this place at like 3am and it was 10 miles from the nearest house. So we decided we would poke around a bit. It was long abandoned and we had no plans of damaging anything. So yeah, we were trespassing, but we had no ill intent. Just a quick look around. Well, we did and then we left. And the next time I was Back home, which is where this story takes place. Somewhere near Barnesville, Ohio, if you're familiar. Anyway, I was not able to find the church. And to this day I've looked on Google Maps in Bing and I've taken a trip out there more than once, but I still have not been able to locate this humongous white church. Now, this was long before gps, Nathan, but a similar story still. And we thank you again, sir, for taking the time to share. And folks, if you have a story you would like to share, give us a call at 888-608-night. That's 888608, Nig HT or shoot us an email at monsters among us podcast.com. Now, folks, our next entry comes to us from Indiana, but it does not occur there. Please welcome Cat to tonight's program.

[Kat]

Hi, Eric, this is Kat from Indiana. This happened when I was working in Macon, Georgia. I was working at this chalk mining facility. My job was to fill bags, stack pallets, work in the warehouse. I was the only current female on the floor. My team had five guys on it. And, you know, because I was the temporary worker, the new guy on the block, so to speak, they told me all about the, you know, requisite ghost stories of the building and what have you. You know, when I'm here alone, machines will go off and all that other stuff. I was a temporary worker working for a temp agency. At one point, the supervisor brought us around on a tour of the plant inside and outside of the silos, on top of the silos where the computers and all the mechanisms were run. In one particular set of silos, there were six silos. In one of the silos, I got so suddenly and violently sick, I literally doubled over in pain and cramps. And I told my supervisor, I'm done. I'm not touring the campus anymore. This is just too much. It was a reaction that I've become familiar with. Whenever something spooky or a very strong spirit is around, that's what happens. I get violently ill very suddenly. So anyways, a couple days later, it's one o' clock in the morning. We're gonna be let go early because we're almost done. I was filling a one ton bag and the guys in my group were inside the office behind closed doors watching YouTube videos. I had earplugs in because the noises and the sounds were very bothersome. And as I'm standing there stamping the bags, I hear in my ear a man's voice say, I'm in the middle. Like he Was confused, like he didn't know what to say and how to say it. And I stopped what I was doing. I look around, there's nobody around me. The warehouse floor is empty and the guys are in the office watching their hunting videos on YouTube. It was something weird that happened. And when I started thinking about it, I came to find out that a man had died in that middle silo that I had that strong reaction to. That was the end of that story. There was another time a couple weeks after that when I was volunteered to work Saturday morning. Again, it was me and an older employee who was familiar with weekend running. Basically he said, you know, let me do all of this and you fill the bags and I'll come with the forklifting, bring it to where it needs to go. So as I was doing that, I was working in an area of the factory that I was not familiar with. And I kept getting, for lack of better words, the heebie GB's something that was giving me very, very wrong vibes. So when my co worker would drive off in the forklift, I texted my friend and I said, you know, I feel like someone's watching me. I don't know if there's something here. I'm very uncomfortable where I'm at right now and I can't shake the feeling. And so she said, the next time you get that feeling, just start randomly taking pictures. Just everywhere and anywhere. Start randomly taking pictures. So I waited a few more minutes and the feeling got strong again and I started randomly taking pictures. I think I took about 20 pictures and in my head I was just

[Tara]

thinking to myself, you're not going to

[Kat]

get anything looking in front of you. Why not look behind you? So I switched my camera over to selfie mode and I took a couple pictures and you know, didn't see anything. So I'm sending them to my friend. And this one, the first picture that I took of behind my right hand shoulder, there was this white silhouette of this six foot tall person standing directly behind me. I, I, I started crying. I was scared as I sent that picture to her and I realized that there was someone standing behind me. She is texting me in all caps. There's someone behind you. There's someone behind you. And I'm sitting there crying like, what in the world is going on here? I've, yeah, I've believed in ghosts for most of my life. I've believed in spirits, monsters, all that stuff. But I'd never gotten proof and it was very crazy to me and I was just like, wait a Second.

[Anonymous Caller from Georgia]

Wait a second.

[Kat]

I work in a chalk factory. Maybe it's just dust. And as I'm looking around, I'm just like. But there's no dust behind me. And the next selfie I took two seconds after is clear. There's no mist, dust, anything. It's like the factory floor is just swept clean. I just. It was about a week and a half later when the supervisor offered me a full time position and I had to refuse. There was just too much stuff going on. But that's my ghost story. Unfortunately, no one else was around to experience these things with me. Just the usual, you know, ribbing the new person of. Yeah, this place is haunted. But anyways, thanks for letting me share and you have a great one. Bye.

[Derek Hayes]

Thanks, Cat. So I've found myself in similar situations several times. I've had so many interesting jobs. And as I was listening to Kat's call, it dawned on me that most of the places that I've worked also had a ghost story or two attached. Ghosts that I was warned about on my first day or week. When I was in high school, I worked at her local grocery store, the iga. And in my first week, I learned that there was a whistling ghost down in the basement. Specifically in the dirt floor section under the main office. The area that used to be a funeral home in the 1800s, or when I was student security in college. I had to lock buildings at 11pm all by myself. And that's when I got to learn the ghost story to each and every administration and education building there on campus. And you think about each one of those stories as you wandered the building alone in the dark, one by one. And I worked as a government contractor for a couple of years. We were several stories underground in a semi secret lab, but it wasn't quite as glamorous as it sounds. But, you know, even down there, there were rumors of a phantom janitor. I'd tell you more, but that's classified. And when I moved to Los Angeles and started working in Beverly Hills, the building we worked in was the old Dreamworks building. But before that, it was a garage for the city of Beverly Hills. They used it to store earth movers and dump trucks before it was converted for office use. And even there, I was warned the first week about the phantom woman in heels that late night workers would hear traveling from the executive offices down to the women's restroom, coincidentally, a path that went right past my office. And you know, ironically, the only job that I've had that didn't come with a ghostly Co worker Is this one where I talk about ghosts and other strange things 24 7. Go figure. Maybe it's just that the topic is so often brought up that I wouldn't even notice if things got weird around here. Or maybe like Cat, I was just the new guy at all those other places and it's fun to mess with the new guy either way. We thank you again, Cat, for sharing that incredible entry.

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[Nathan]

Liberty Liberty.

[Liberty Mutual Couple / VRBO Announcer]

Liberty. Liberty.

[SpinQuest Announcer]

Because it's bigger than just the word

[Derek Hayes]

or just the act. Now folks, like I said last week, I want to make it up to you that we had to skip last week's beyond. So as promised, I have a few extra calls to share with you here tonight, beginning with Hannah's entry out of the State of Washington.

[Liberty Mutual Couple / VRBO Announcer]

Hi, my name is Hannah. I'm calling from Washington State. My story took place place just north of Anacortes on a little island. And it happened in the summer of 2013. So if you're headed out to Anacortes, there's these twin bridges and there's a little boat launch underneath them. And if you launch your boat and go north, there's like several islands out there and there's this one island that's really small. It has like one little campsite on it and it's first come, first serve. So really only a few people can camp there at a time and you can explore the whole island in like 20 to 30 minutes just walking around it. So we had packed all of our things the night before and we got up really super early in the Morning to head out to try to get the campsite. And so we got there, and luckily nobody else was there, so we were able to camp. So we set up our camp. We explored the island and had some lunch and just were hanging out. We had a fire that night, and then we all went to bed. So I was in a tent with my boyfriend at the time. My sister was in a tent with her boyfriend at the time, and my stepbrother was in a tent with his girlfriend at the time. And then there was, like, a really big tent that had my dad and my stepmom and my stepsister in it. So it had been dark for a couple hours already. I was just hanging out with my boyfriend in the tent. We were talking, and then we decided to try to go to sleep. And when we tried to go to sleep, I started hearing all of these rustling noises outside of the tent. And at first I was like, it's probably just animals. It's fine. But it just sounded like somebody was right outside of our tent, and it was starting to freak me out. So I turned to my boyfriend, and I was like, hey, do you hear this sound? Like, what is going on out there? And he's like, it's fine. It's probably just animals. Go to sleep. So he kept laying there. And then I started hearing people walking. Well, it sounded like people walking on the beach. It's like a rocky beach, so you can hear people walking through the rocks pretty easily. And so it's like, it sounded like there was a lot of people or animals or whatever walking around on the beach. Like, there was a lot of commotion going on down there. So I sit up, and I'm just listening and listening because I'm too scared to go to sleep. And eventually we started hearing. I'm not 100% sure. It's hard to remember, but it was like voices or chanting or something that finally was like, okay, this is too much. We gotta get out of our tent and, like, go see if anyone else is experiencing this. So we, like, open the tent really quietly. We're like, okay, on the count of three, we're gonna run into my dad's tent. So our. I don't even think we, like, zipped our tent back up. We just booked it into my dad's tent. When we got there, my stepbrother and his girlfriend were already in there. Everybody was awake. And just a few minutes later, my sister and her boyfriend came. So we all ended up in the same tent together hearing weird sounds. So my dad gets up, he gets his Gun. He goes outside, and he's, like, walking around the campsite. He's like, hey, who's out there? And nothing happens. He comes back, and he said he didn't see anything. So I think right after that, the sounds kind of died down, and we all ended up eventually falling asleep. So the next morning, we get up, we have breakfast. We get dressed and ready to go, like, explore the island some more, Kind of see if we see anything weird, Any animals or whatever it could have been. We're all, like, a little bit shook up from the night before. And I'm the first one to notice that there is a little animal skull, Maybe, like, a rat or a squirrel, like something small, nailed to the tree next to my tent. And there's, like, feathers all around it. And I'm like, hey, guys, you gotta come see this, like, skull. That's nailed to the tree by my tent. And then we start walking around. And noticing, like, a bunch of the trees that surrounding our campsite, like, in a circle, have skulls nailed to them. With, like, feathers and stuff all around them. And so I don't know if it was some kind of a prank. Or if we were part of some kind of a ritual, but after we saw that, we decided to pack up our things. And we went home and did not ever return to that island. I think my sister took a picture of one of the schools, But I haven't been able to find it because this was quite a few years ago. But anyway, that's my story.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Hannah, for bringing in a gift, perhaps. I hope. Otherwise, I can't help but see this as an ominous sign. Skulls on the trees. That can't be good. Now, obviously, if you find the photo, Hannah, we have to see it. Although I think we all know what a skull on a tree would look like. But if these skulls were placed on the tree or fastened with some sort of natural cordage or something, I would assume this was some sort of bigfoot activity. Some researchers practice gifting, where they leave small trinkets for the sasquatch. And in return, the sasquatch leaves things for them as well. Braided cordage or broken sticks. But in this case, I don't think there are any bigfeets out there Nailing skulls to trees. This is most certainly human activity, which many, including myself, would argue is much scarier. But I'm glad to hear your family was unharmed, Hannah. With the incident behind you, it now makes for an amazing story. And we thank you again for taking the time to share it

[Nathan]

back to the gym. Dandy. Definitely got it.

[SpinQuest Announcer]

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[Liberty Mutual Announcer]

spinQuest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual, even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.

[Liberty Mutual Couple / VRBO Announcer]

Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?

[Liberty Mutual Announcer]

Oh, no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.

[Liberty Mutual Couple / VRBO Announcer]

Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.

[Liberty Mutual Announcer]

Anyways, get a [e-mail], or with your local agent.

[Derek Hayes]

All right, gang, before I push play on this last one, two quick things. First, you have access to the secret shop. Just visit monsters among us podcast.com and click the VIP shop tab. Once there, enter password for instant access. And don't forget, that coupon code saves you 10% off anything in the regular shop. And the second announcement that I have is that this final call briefly mentions assault of a sexual nature. So listener discretion advised. Now, please welcome Tara from parts unknown.

[Tara]

Hey, Derek, this is Kara. So I was just listening to season seven, episode six, because I'm binge listening your show. I'm a truck driver, so that's like, all I do for, like, months now, trying to catch up. But anyways, he was talking about, like, knocking. That reminded me of something that used to happen all the time in the house that I lived in. Oklahoma and southeastern Oklahoma, like, very, very south. Almost border on Texas. A little bit of history on the house built in the 60s. I had done some remodeling and stuff like that over the 10 years that we were together. And I lived with him. He still lives in the house, but he had bought it from one of his friends and was kind of sad because, like, his friends live right next door. And the house that we lived in originally was the husband's father's and his friends. The couple had two young girls and they used to send them over to grandpa's house with our house all the time, because, you know, that was Grandpa. Right? Well, come to find out, unfortunately, he was Sexually molesting the oldest daughter. And I didn't find that out till later, till I had already moved in with him and had lived there a couple years. And so of course it comes out and he goes to prison and so they say, sell his house. And my husband bought it with his first wife and like he knew the history of it or whatever. And he said that he had had a pastor come over and bless it or a priest or whatnot. He's Baptist. I was born and raised Catholic. Anyways, there was nothing in particular that happened that like sparked it. It was just something I noticed from the very beginning. And like I said, I lived there for 10 years in the house, but I would hear knocking. Not somebody knocking on the door or the window or anything, but it was like somebody was in the house. Just like knocking on a wall or knocking on like a doorway or like the kitchen cabinet. Like, you would be in the living room and you'd hear it come from the kitchen, or you would be in the kitchen and you'd hear it come from the hallway, or you'd be in the bedroom and you'd hear it come from the living room. And at first I remember it used to really spook me. My ex husband worked on the road, so I spent a lot of time alone before my kids were born. And then after that it was like, you know, it still happened, but it wasn't as spooky because, you know, you're not alone and in a creepy old house out in the middle of like a little bitty nowhere town. So that's what prompted me to ask him, like, who used to live here? You know, did anything creepy ever happen? Because I believe in the paranormal, but I feel like I have a healthy amount of skepticism. But one time, and mind you, like, you know, we had a couple glasses of wine. I was sitting there with my best friend in the kitchen. My kids were already asleep and we were just talking, you know, de stressing. I was a stay at home mom, she was a stay at home mom. So we were just having girl time and I had gotten so used to it that like, I didn't even hear it. But she goes, did you hear that? And I turned around and I'm like, did I hear what? She goes, it sounds like somebody was knocking in your house. She was like, are your kids in the house? Sleep. So I go and I check on the kids. Kids are both asleep. I come back in the kitchen and I was like, what did it sound like? And she was like, just three short real hard rocks. Like, you know, tap, tap, tap. And I'm like, oh, that happens all the time. And she was like, what? And I was like, yeah. She just looked at me like I was crazy. Like, you know, it wasn't normal. And like I said, I didn't even notice it at that point. She was like, you have a ghost in your house? And I'm like, no, I don't think I have a ghost in this house. I was like, no, maybe it's just settling. Or like the foundation home. And like, we had done remodeling throughout all the 10 years that we lived there. We were constantly remodeling. So you try to play it off as that. So we're dropped the subject, got on to a few others. We were sitting there just talking and laughing in the kitchen. And maybe like an hour, hour and a half goes by and it happens again. And, like, it sounds like it's coming from the hallway. I look at her and I was like, I heard it that time. She goes, yeah, I heard it again. She goes, that's exactly how it sounded the first time. Three knocks, rapid succession, just boom, boom, boom. I was like, it always sounds like that, but it always comes from a different direction. And so I play around because I have two or three glasses in the wine now, and I'm like, well, let's see what happens. And I reach up and I knock. Just boom, boom, boom, on the side of the kitchen cabinet. First time I had ever done it. Like, I had ever knocked back. And not five seconds pass and we hear it again. But it comes from the kitchen where we were sitting. Like, it sounded like it came from the other side of the kitchen because the kitchen was like this U shape with a dining room area. And then you walked around the bar, and then you were like, in the kitchen. And we were sitting in the dining room for side of the bar. And so when I did that, both of us just kind of like, stared at each other like, holy crap. Like, why did it do that? And we laughed because we didn't know what else to do. And she was, you know, not joking, but she was like, yeah, you definitely have a ghost in your house. Like, let's not do that again. And I'm sitting here thinking, like, why? Like, you would think if there was a ghost or something like that. I'm not saying that. Like, I know what ghosts do, but you hear about other things besides just knocking. Like, you know, stuff getting moved around, things being misplaced. Nothing like that ever happened. I never saw any apparitions, never heard any sounds other than the knocking. And that was a couple years before me and my ex divorced and I moved out. But ever so often, I did that from then on for the next couple years. Sometimes I was alone. Sometimes, you know, we were sitting down as a family and eating at the bar. Sometimes we had friends over. Sometimes it was just me and the kids. You'd hear that knock, the boom, boom, boom, and I would knock back. And half of the time you wouldn't hear it again. And the other half of the time you'd hear the knocking again. I never had a logical explanation for it other than, you know, it might have been a ghost. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out exactly where it was coming from, what was causing it, or if it was, you know, something was loose and it was getting knocked around by a fan. And it never sounded like it was coming from outside of the home. It was a brick home. So if you knock on brick, chances are you're just going to end up hurting your knuckles. And two, you're not going to really hear it on the inside of your house. And it never sounded like it was coming from a window or anything like that. Never found out what it was. But I love your podcast. You're doing a great job. Thanks. Bye.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Tara. A lot of disembodied knocking in tonight's episode. And as benign as that action is, it sure can get creepy in the right context. Just take Tara's word for it now. A big thanks to Tara and the rest of tonight's Scholars. Without them, I'd sound awfully silly up here,

[Kat]

like, you know, to check the weather first.

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[Liberty Mutual Announcer]

play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Even if it means sitting front row at a comedy.

[Liberty Mutual Couple / VRBO Announcer]

Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?

[SpinQuest Announcer]

Oh, no.

[Liberty Mutual Announcer]

We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.

[Liberty Mutual Couple / VRBO Announcer]

Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.

[Liberty Mutual Announcer]

Anyways, get a [e-mail] or with your local agent, Liberty Liberty.

[Liberty Mutual Couple / VRBO Announcer]

Liberty Liberty.

[Derek Hayes]

And that's gonna do it for this unlock. A big thanks for tuning in and a reminder, if you want more content like this, just visit monsters among us podcast.com and click the Patreon tab now. I'll be back here on Thursday with something a little different. A best of episode. It's one you certainly won't want to miss. Now. 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. Now be sure to follow us on social media, join us on YouTube, leave us a rates and review wherever you can. And join our Discord server. Don't forget, you can catch the show every Saturday evening at 10pm Eastern on the Annex Digital Network. Just visit on xnetwork.com to tune in and tonight's score was provided by Iron Cthulhu, Apocalypse Code at Ag Music and Carl Casey at White Bat Audio. Thanks again folks for tuning in. I'll catch you on Thursday. Keep it spooky and have a good night. Sa.

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[Liberty Mutual Announcer]

Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.

[Liberty Mutual Couple / VRBO Announcer]

Hey everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?

[Liberty Mutual Announcer]

Oh no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual Together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.

[Liberty Mutual Couple / VRBO Announcer]

Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.

[Liberty Mutual Announcer]

Anyways, get a [e-mail] or with your local agent.

[Nathan]

Liberty. Liberty.

[Liberty Mutual Couple / VRBO Announcer]

Liberty.

[SpinQuest Announcer]

Liberty.

[Liberty Mutual Couple / VRBO Announcer]

At vrbo, we understand that even the

[Anonymous Caller from Georgia]

best of plans sometimes sometimes need a little support.

[Liberty Mutual Couple / VRBO Announcer]

So we've planned for the plot twists. Every booking is automatically backed by our VRBO Care Guarantee, giving you confidence from the very start. Whenever you need help, it's ready before your stay, through the moments in between, and after your trip, because a great trip starts with peace of mind and maybe a good playlist, but we've got the peace of mind part covered.