S20 Ep8: Duendes, gnomes & forest folk: Best of little people (Sn. 20 Ep. 8)

Summary

Podcast Summary: Monsters Among Us

Host: Derek Hayes
Episode: S20 Ep8 – Duendes, Gnomes & Forest Folk: Best of Little People
Date: November 6, 2025

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Overview

In this "Best Of" episode, Derek Hayes curates true, first-hand accounts from listeners across North America (and beyond) encountering “little people” — entities variously known as duendes, gnomes, fairies, elves, trolls, and other forest folk. The stories, spanning decades and cultures, are relayed by witnesses themselves and explore an array of eerie, mysterious, and sometimes playful experiences with tiny, human-like entities. Hayes lets the calls take center stage, providing only occasional context or brief commentary.

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Key Topics and Discussion Points

Introduction: A World of Wee Folk

[02:07] Derek Hayes

• Introduces the episode focus on mysterious small entities — describing them as 6-inch to 2-foot humanoids, often with clothing, shoes, and tools.
• Notes the variety of cultural names: forest folk, elves, trolls, fairies, gnomes, duende, and more.
• Promises a compilation of “best of” and never-before-heard listener stories.

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Listener Encounters & Notable Stories

1. Cherokee Little People in the Appalachians

[03:32] Floyd/Boyd

• Witnessed as a young boy in the Southern Appalachians.
• Recounts a “little fist” rising from between the wall and bed to knock three times (“just as vividly as I can see these mountains”) — a memory he insists was not a dream.

“A little fist, about the size of a fist that you would imagine on an elf or a little person or a fairy, came up from the crack... knocked three times on the wall, and went back down.”
— Floyd/Boyd [04:12]

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2. The Little Man in the Alabama Woods

[06:11] TJ (Wife’s Secondhand Account)

• Teen girls park in a field, hear “a kind of glug noise.”
• On turning headlights on, they spot a 2–3 ft tall man in “nature clothing” (leaves, skins), who runs for the trees.

“She said, there is this little man... dressed in what she describes as basically natural nature clothing... The headlights caught him perfectly…”
— TJ [07:21]

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3. Running Gnome — Mississippi Suburbs

[08:47] Anonymous

• While on a delivery route, spots what he thinks is a garden gnome — but it suddenly runs off into the woods.
• Described as “like a little jockey.”
• Wonders if others have similar experiences.

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4. Elf on the Bed — Windsor, Ontario

[11:35] Alexander

• Childhood memory: an “elf figure” appears on his bed on Christmas Eve, behaving mischievously (“weirdly trying to mess with me”).
• 20+ years later, learns from a Filipino stranger online this matches “duende” folklore.

“Very vivid in my memory... It was not a dream. I was completely awake.”
— Alexander [12:41]

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5. Iceland’s Hidden People (Huldufólk)

[14:51] Michelle (Arizona)

• Shares a retold Icelandic tale of invisible elves thwarting road construction (equipment repeatedly breaking down).
• “Elf hill” in Iceland still stands, road goes around it.

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6. Giggling Leprechauns & Family Heritage — Texas & Ireland

[17:16] James

• As a child, hears a group of distinct, tiny giggles moving around the room, lasting 10–15 minutes.
• Later, as an adult in Ireland, hears the exact same giggles in a hotel room.

“It was literally like a little person giggle. Like you would think leprechauns or, you know, trolls or fairies...”
— James [17:44]

• Connects experiences with his strong Irish heritage.

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7. Black “Gnome” Sighting & Community Validation — Omaha, Nebraska

[23:37] Andy

• Girlfriend glimpses a 1-foot-tall figure “running on two feet” by a creepy old house — not an animal but “like a gnome or leprechaun”.
• At a later public talk, another local, Carl, reports the same sighting in the 1970s, seen with friends through a basement window.

“It looked like maybe a garden gnome or leprechaun is the only thing that she could compare it to.”
— Andy [24:48]

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8. Lightning, Tiny Clothes, and a Fear of Small Doors — Houston, Texas

[29:44] Anonymous and Sibling

• As children, during a storm, both see a “tiny little creature shaped like a person” dash across a darkened loft during a flash of lightning.
• Mother finds a set of tiny red-and-green clothes a little later — neither child owned dolls.
• Family matriarch has a lifelong fear of tiny doors, fearing what might come from them.

“She told me, it’s not the door so much as what I’m afraid might come out of them.”
— Anonymous, relaying mother’s words [33:19]

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9. Cherokee “Little People” Seen as a Child — Midwest

[34:15] Anonymous

• At 4–5, sees a toddler-sized figure in “Native American” dress, armed with a bow and arrow, run from under her bed.
• Decades later, recognizes the entity in a book of Cherokee folklore.

“It was a little figure...about toddler size...with a little bow and arrow.”
— Anonymous [36:24]

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10. The Underground Society of Duende — South America (Colombia)

[39:16] Dave (Retelling a Friend's Story)

• Friend met a 2-foot duende as a child — an old man’s face, child’s stature, wore dirty overalls.
• Duende said only the “pure” can see him, mentioned an entire subterranean civilization, invited the boy to visit.
• Encounters include shrinking sensations after eating duende-given food, multiple sightings of a cave he senses is connected.

“This duende did also say that under the ground there was a whole society of these duende and that they had oceans.”
— Dave [41:14]

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11. Mexican Duende — Houston, Texas (Family Story)

[45:42] Caleb (Father’s Story)

• As a boy in Guerrero, Mexico, Caleb’s father sees a small figure running in a field, later wakes to find a “gnome” with brown-olive skin and a pot belly laughing at him at close range in his bedroom.

“He had a big beard, a pointy hat... had the body of a baby... but the face of a grown ass man.”
— Caleb (father’s description) [48:03]

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12. Métis “Mama Hua Sisa” — Manitoba, Canada

[51:15] Anonymous (Army Training Experience)

• Reports seeing “dwarves” in night vision during a military exercise, others on the team report similar sightings, strange misplacements and missing items.
• Connects to Métis folklore about small beings in the land.

“You can see movement in the trees... like Snow White and the seven dwarves running around.”
— Anonymous [51:57]

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13. Action Figure-Sized Being Plays with a Cat — McAllen, Texas

[56:07] Michael

• After work, sees friend’s kitten “playing” with something — turns out to be an “action figure-sized” little person, which scurries away.
• Family stories suggest little people have been caught before (kept in a jar, then vanished).

“...we’re talking about something about, gosh, he’s five inches tall.”
— Michael [59:11]

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14. Forest Duende Follows Boy Home — Mexico

[59:23] Marcos (via brother’s story)

• Boy walking home from school spots and is then trailed by a duende (“like Dobby from Harry Potter”), which won’t cross a stream.

“He just kept walking and never went back to that place again.”
— Marcos [61:51]

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15. Micro-People and Surveillance — Portland, Oregon

[62:59] Anonymous

• Dreams of “micro people” living in Keurig pods; hears unexplained ticks and movements in the house.
• Believes he’s being watched, sees a suspicious vehicle with a figure whose “head was the size of a damn orange.”

“Ain’t no damn human got the head the size of an orange with some glasses on it...”
— Anonymous [65:47]

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Notable Quotes & Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker & Quote | |-----------|-----------------| | [04:12] | Floyd/Boyd: “A little fist, about the size of a fist you would imagine on an elf...came up from the crack...knocked three times...” | | [07:21] | TJ: “She said, there is this little man...dressed in...basically natural nature clothing...” | | [12:41] | Alexander: “Very vivid in my memory...It was not a dream. I was completely awake.” | | [17:44] | James: “It was literally like a little person giggle...like you would think leprechauns...trolls or fairies...” | | [24:48] | Andy: “It looked like maybe a garden gnome or leprechaun is the only thing she could compare it to.” | | [33:19] | Anonymous (mom’s fear): “It’s not the door so much as what I’m afraid might come out of them.” | | [41:14] | Dave: “This duende did also say that under the ground there was a whole society...and that they had oceans.” | | [48:03] | Caleb (father’s story): “He had a big beard, a pointy hat...the face of a grown ass man.” | | [51:57] | Anonymous (Metis): “It was going to sound weird, but you can see movement in the trees and it looked almost like dwarves...running around.” | | [59:11] | Michael: “We’re talking about something about, gosh, he’s five inches tall.” | | [65:47] | Portland Anonymous: “Ain’t no damn human got the head the size of an orange with some glasses on it...” |

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Thematic Insights

• Cross-cultural Universality: Strikingly similar “little people” sightings arise in North, Central, and South America, Europe, and the Philippines, each culture giving its own name: duende, huldufólk, leprechauns, Mama Hua Sisa, Cherokee Little People, etc.
• Childhood Encounters: Many stories stem from childhood, the witnesses insisting they were not dreams, with adulthood validations through folklore or shared stories with others.
• Physical Details: Common descriptions include: 1–2 feet tall, human-like bodies, old faces, sometimes pointed hats, and clothing made from leaves or found materials.
• Playfulness and Mischief: These creatures are portrayed as mischievous rather than malign in many instances—moving objects, causing minor chaos, sometimes inviting children to join them.
• Ominous Moments: A few encounters hint at more threatening undertones (e.g., attempts to lead children away, unsettling laughter, deep-seated family fears).

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Chronological Guide to Key Stories

| Timestamp | Caller & Location | Summary | |-----------|------------------|---------| | 03:32 | Floyd/Boyd – Appalachians | Cherokee Little People knock at night | | 06:11 | TJ (wife’s story) – Alabama | Little man in forested field | | 08:47 | Anonymous – Mississippi | “Gnome” runs from front yard | | 11:35 | Alexander – Ontario | Childhood elf/duende experience | | 14:51 | Michelle – Arizona/Iceland | Hidden folk halt construction | | 17:16 | James – Texas/Ireland | Giggling fairies in childhood and adulthood | | 23:37 | Andy – Nebraska | Two local gnome sightings, decades apart | | 29:44 | Anonymous – Texas | Lightning flash reveals tiny creature; tiny clothes found | | 34:14 | Anonymous – Midwest | Toddler-sized Native “little person” with bow & arrow | | 39:16 | Dave (friend's story) – Colombia | Underground duende society | | 45:42 | Caleb (father’s story) – Mexico | Duende appears bedside; historical artifacts connection | | 51:15 | Anonymous – Manitoba | Metis “Mama Hua Sisa” seen by soldiers | | 56:07 | Michael – Texas | Action figure-sized “little person” seen with kitten | | 59:23 | Marcos (brother’s story) – Mexico | Duende stalks boy in forest | | 62:59 | Anonymous – Oregon | Dreams of “micro-people,” odd surveillance |

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Tone & Style

• Storytelling: Conversational, personal, and often emotional firsthand accounts.
• Host’s Role: Derek Hayes offers gentle guidance, brief thanks, and contextual bridges; the main tone is nostalgic, spooky, and respectful toward folklore and its witnesses.
• Atmosphere: The show maintains its “spooky, nostalgia-rich atmosphere,” allowing stories to carry genuine eeriness and intrigue.

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Final Thoughts

This episode illustrates the remarkable similarity of “little people” tales from a multitude of cultures and times, creating a tapestry of shared folklore that crosses generations and borders. Hayes curates stories with wonder and respect, allowing listeners to reflect on the possibilities that may be lurking just out of sight, in forests, fields, old houses, and even beneath our beds.

If you enjoy first-hand, spine-tingling accounts of the unexplained, this installment is a gold mine of folklore and personal testimony on the world’s mysterious “wee folk.”

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Derek Hayes]

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[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.

[Derek Hayes]

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[Caller Anonymous (Cherokee little people story)]

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[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

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[Caller Anonymous (Cherokee little people story)]

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[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

Festivals are just a walk away.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

Or a lakeside home with a fire.

[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

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[Derek Hayes]

Book [e-mail] Are you tired of advertisements? You can listen to this episode and more ad free for only $1 a month by supporting the show on Patreon. Visit monsters among us podcast.com and hit the Patreon tab for more detail.

[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

Sam.

[Derek Hayes]

Good evening and welcome to Monsters Among Us. I'm your guide, Derek Hayes. Welcome back folks to another terrifying installment and boy do I have one lined up for you here tonight. A collection of calls that insists that mysteries can come in small shapes and sizes. Over the years I've received a number of calls from you listeners specifically about tonight's topic. Pint sized people in the woods. People of the forest, forest folk, wee folk, elves, trolls, fairies, gnomes and duende. They go by many names, but each of those stories that we've received seem to be describing the exact same thing. A 6 inch to 2 foot tall human like entity complete with clothing, shoes and tools. And tonight's episode is chock full of stories about these little entities. Now to get us started, we go way back to season five, Episode five. Please welcome Floyd to tonight's.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

Hi. My name is Boyd. I live in the Southern Appalachians. It's where all my mother's people are from. My grandmother was one half Cherokee and I don't know if you're familiar with this legend of the little people that live in these mountains, but I had an occurrence when I was a child that has stayed with me since that point as honest to God truth, real experience that I can't explain. I was raised in Savannah, Georgia. I live here in the mountains now, but we were visiting the mountains then when I was a little boy and that was back in the day when kids took a nap during the day and my grandmother was lying on her side facing me in the bed. The bed was up against the wall, he was closest to the wall. And I was as a little boy, five year old boys will do. I was popping up, lying back and popping up and lying back and just wiggling around, not wanting to take a nap because I was in the mountains, I wanted to play. Well, I popped up one time, the last time. And serving God to this day I remember it just as vividly as I can see these mountains out of my window right now. A little fist, about the size of a fist that you would imag on an elf or a little person or a fairy. But a little fist came up from the crack between the wall and the bed, knocked three times on the wall and went back down. My grandmother sat up and looked and just put it off as me bouncing on the bed. It wasn't me bouncing on the bed. I remember this. It wasn't a dream. I know it wasn't a dream because I wouldn't go back to sleep, I wouldn't get back in that bed. And you can research, you can google the little people of the mountains and the cherry cream legends, but I do a lot of hiking and camping up in these woods. I live in a cabin way up in the mountains and have yet to come across a little person hiking in these mountains. But I've been meaning to call about this since I found you. You have a great show, wonderful show. I listen to it every day in the morning and thank you very much, have a good day. Bye.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you Floyd. Now folks, this is a best of episode so you're gonna hear very little from me and more from callers like TJ from season 15, episode 13 in the state of Alabama.

[Caller TJ / Alexander / Andy]

Hi Derek, this is TJ from Salem, Alabama again and this is actually a secondhand experience.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

This happened to my wife, she won't.

[Caller TJ / Alexander / Andy]

Call and leave the message so I'm doing it for her. She's 28 now and this happened when she was 16. So about 12 years ago her and her best friend would drive, take their car and drive through field behind her parents house. Pretty much like a big cow pasture but right in the middle of it a creek comes out of the ground and there's a pretty thick forest around where the creek comes out. They drove the car parked on the opposite side of the creek where no one could see them from the road or anything. Smoking cigarettes, you know, doing teenagers do. And they said that they Started hearing this noise, like a rug noise, kind of like, you know, water in a water cooler kind of thing. Kept getting louder and louder and they couldn't figure out where the noise was coming from. Well, they leaned the seats back in their car so they couldn't see anything anymore, but nothing could see them in the car either. And the noise just kept getting louder and louder. Well, finally they freaked out enough to.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

Decide to get out of the field.

[Caller TJ / Alexander / Andy]

And set the seats up. And as soon as my wife turned the headlights on, she said, there is this little man about 2, maybe 3ft tall, just a little man dressed in what she describes as basically natural nature clothing, like, you know, leaves and skins and stuff that he would have found. And the headlights caught him perfectly, apparently. And he started to run around the trees a little bit, but then dove into the trees where the creek was. She said that she didn't think that the sound was coming from the little man, but that whatever was making the sound might have scared him too. This is the only story I've ever heard, you know, from someone personally that has had an experience with a little man like that. I thought I'd call and share the story.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

Love the podcast. Talk to you later.

[Derek Hayes]

A big thanks to TJ for calling in. Now, folks, if you have a story you would like to share here on the program, give our hotline a call at 888-608-NIGHT. That's 888-608N I G H T. Or you can email your story to us at monsters among us podcast gmail.com now up next, we head to nearby Mississippi, where we hear from Anonymous from season 15, episode 25.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

Oh, hey Garrett. I won't stay Anonymous for this, but I live over in Lauderdale County, Mississippi. I was just on my route and it's like 12:30 and I was pulling out of the house that I was at. I thought it was like one of them garden on things sitting there in front of the house.

[Caller TJ / Alexander / Andy]

And then I was backing up, you.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

Know, I kind of paying attention, looking around and I cut my eyes back around and I see the thing run. It took off running through the woods. It was like a little jockey, though I'm not really sure what it was. I don't remember seeing.

[Caller James]

I go to this house once a.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

Week doing a route, not really sure what it was. It's weird.

[Caller TJ / Alexander / Andy]

I don't.

[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

I don't know.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you caller for sharing the entry. Now folks, I have plenty more little People stories right after these quick messages.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

Let me ask you something.

[Caller TJ / Alexander / Andy]

Question.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

What do you think.

[Derek Hayes]

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[Caller TJ / Alexander / Andy]

Hi, my name is Alexander and I'm from Windsor, Ontario. So for a very long time I have this memory of me being a kid in some kind of crib or like young kids, kind of like bedroom situation. And it was like Christmas Eve and I remember lying down, ready to go to sleep and there was this weird elf figure that appeared on my bed and was not like being aggressive or anything, but was being like pretty intimidating or like weirdly, just weirdly like trying to like mess with me. I remember it being so vivid and so real. It wasn't like a dream situation because I, oh, I can still like make sure that I know what dreams are like. And it wasn't a dream situation anyway. So that must have been when I was like 6 or 7 years old. Cut to now I'm 30 years old. I'm like on this website called Omegle where you just like connect with random people throughout the world just for fun to talk to them and stuff. And I met this woman and for some reason we started talking about supernatural experiences and I asked her if she had any supernatural experiences that ever happened and she said no. She Asked me, obviously, afterwards, and I said, yeah, actually, I do. I was a really young kid, and I had this weird elfish creature, very vivid in my memory, kind of like bugging me when I was a kid. And she was like, oh, yeah, that's something called a duende. Had no stop in her step while saying that. And she was from the Philippines. And she's like, yeah, it's a duende. They sometimes mess with kids. If you go on Wikipedia and look up the duende, the second picture on the Wikipedia account is exactly what I saw. There's no reason for me at that age that I saw this thing. For me to know what that thing looked like. Like, if it was, like, something that was put in my mind beforehand, I was flabbergasted. It was a crazy experience. And like I said, it was, like, not a dream. I was completely awake. And then I want to say 15, 25 years later, actually, because I want must have been around six or seven. So about 25 years later, this person that I don't know, that I just met on a website, knew exactly what I was talking about. This weird elfish creature was messing with me. And I still remember it to this day very vividly. Anyway, love you, Derek. Your podcast is amazing, and keep up the good work.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Alex. That one from one of our Christmas episodes, I believe. Now, next up, we head down to the desert state of Arizona. Please welcome Michelle from season nine, episode 14.

[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

Hey, Derek, it's Michelle calling from Arizona. So the story, I heard about it on another podcast I was listening to. It's called Lore, and this specific one is episode five, if people want to check it out. They're called the Hold Folk or the Hidden People, and they reside in Iceland, and pretty much they're invisible elves that look and act like humans, and they're said to be Eve's children that she had hid from God. So I think there's a quote in the Bible or something that says, what? Man hides from God, God hides from man. So I think that's probably why they're invisible, because God had hid them from Eve. But that's kind of where they come from and why they're invisible. But in the late 1930s, there was a construction plan in Iceland to build a road through the hill that they were known to head guard or live or reside or whatever you want to call it. And then the construction actually started in the late 1940s, and when it did, equipment started breaking and went missing and got thrown away. All sorts of kind of weird stuff happened. To the equipment. So they decided to just build around the hill instead of trying to drill through it and break it down. They came back in 1980 to try and break back through the hill and build the road straight. And again, as soon as they started construction, all the equipment broke to the point where people just stopped working on it. They didn't want their tools to go missing or anything to happen to them. So that road still goes around the hill, which I think they call it like an elf hole. If you just kind of look up Huldes Oak, it's H U L D U F O L K. The first thing that comes up is the picture of that hill. And to me it looks like a hobbit half. It's underground, but you can kind of see it from the side. There's a door. So I just thought it was really cool. Thank you. Bye.

[Derek Hayes]

We appreciate the call, Michelle. Now moving right along, this next entry might be brand new to many of you because it originally played on Monsters among us beyond episode 51. So please enjoy this entry from James out of the state of Texas.

[Caller James]

Hey, Derek James from Texas, just giving you a call. I was just listening to the latest episode. I believe it's season 10, episode three where you're talking about the little people. Interestingly enough, I actually had a similar instance that happened to me whenever I was very young. I was in a living room just kind of by myself. I think I was sitting on a couch just kind of playing by myself. I think I had some GI Joe men or some sort of figurine. Anyway, as I sat there, all sudden I heard like giggling. But it wasn't just your normal giggle. I mean, it wasn't like a evil giggle or like a little kid giggle. It was literally like a little person giggle. Like you would think leprechauns or you know, trolls or you know, any of those, or fairies or whatever. It was one of those kind of giggles and it was several of them. So it's like a group of them and they all had different tones, so none of them sounded alike. Anyway, I started hearing this little giggle and you know, I couldn't figure out where it was coming from, but they were just laughing. And I always kind of had that, that sense or connection to whatever paranormal or whatever you want to call it.

[Caller TJ / Alexander / Andy]

But.

[Caller James]

And I'm also, I have very Irish heritage. So, you know, I think I'm 70% or 72% Celtic Irish. So anyway, we always, you know, my family talked about leprechauns and I'm red headed So I always got teased, of course, as being, you know, part of a leprechaun family, but when I was little. So anyway, I was very always really in tune to those type of scenarios. But anyway, this giggle, like I said, I was sitting there and I heard it and I stopped playing and I was listening and then it seemed like it would move. Like it moved behind me. Like I was on the picture of the couch, sitting, the couch, back of the couch is against the wall. You know, I heard giggling and it kind of went behind the couch and out and then it kind of went over on the other side of the room and it was just a similar giggle. Like they would stop and then giggle over here and stop and giggle over here. And it was just like they were playing, you know, and it wasn't threatening, it wasn't bad, it wasn't anything negative by any means. It was just, you know, it sounded like a little group of mini whatevers playing and having a good time and laughing and carrying on. And anyway, it went on for maybe 10, 15 minutes or so, you know, just I'd hear them different parts, and I started getting up and actually going, looking for them. And you know, I'd be looking behind the couch or looking behind chair or looking over here. And finally my parents came in to the room and they were just like.

[Caller TJ / Alexander / Andy]

What are you doing?

[Caller James]

And I said, well, I keep hearing these laughs and you know, of course they brushed off.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

They're like, oh, whatever.

[Caller James]

But fast forward. And I got older and actually went, this is only a few years ago, went to Ireland to do some heritage investigating. Just kind of seeing where my family's from and that kind of thing. And. And I kid you not, man, I was sitting in my hotel room in Ennis, Ireland, and I heard the same thing. And this time my wife, she was in the bathroom at this point, she was taking a shower or something, and I kept hearing this little giggle and I was like, what is it going on? And anyway, I told her, of course she just made fun of me, which is fine, you know, one of those things.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

But.

[Caller James]

But yeah, man, I've heard the giggles. I've heard the little people giggles too. And when I was young and when I'm older and I believe it, man, I'm. I'm one that whatever they are, they're. They're around and they, you know, they. They're part of our, our natural atmosphere, I guess. So anyway, I just wanted to share that and confirm the stories from the two people that you played. So keep it up, but talk to you soon.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, James. Now, folks, I have a lot more to share with you right after these next messages. Don't touch that dial.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

But it's. It's the word or just the act?

[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

What nation do we live in?

[Derek Hayes]

Gamers, listen up. This one's for you. You know I'm a huge fan of 80s horror. Well, this new PC game I'm about to tell you about called A Prologue, aims to be a love letter to 80s and 90s horror. It's set in 1986 aboard an abandoned ship lost deep within the Bermuda Triangle. You play as Emily, a young teenage girl searching for her missing father. Emily is trapped in a terrifying time loop on the ship and must survive 13 loops to reveal the truth of what happened to her father and the crew. The game is a first person narrative psychological horror with a heavy emphasis on stealth and puzzle solving. There's no combat in the game. Your survival hinges entirely on stealth and evasion. There is a monster, however, a relentless beast that stalks you, engaging in a deadly game of hide and seek. The smarter you get in the game, the smarter the monster gets as well. In aiur, players must find and use everyday items like walkie talkies and wind up alarm clocks to distract and outwit the monster. You need to utilize your environment by slipping into hiding spots and squeezing into vents. I think you'll appreciate the immersive atmosphere and visuals as well as the full 3D audio that places you in a haunted soundscape that really brings the pressure. The game really gives you that nostalgic 80s and 90s horror vibe. A prologue is available now for PC via Steam and the Epic Game Store. And as the title suggests, this game serves as a prologue to the larger Irene horror franchise. So this is only the beginning. Again, that's ire. A Prologue out now for PC via Steam in the Epic Games Store. I also put a link up in tonight's show notes. I really didn't expect to see that. Now for this next best of entry, we work our way a bit north. Please welcome Andy from Nebraska in season 10, episode 4.

[Caller Caleb / Michael]

Hey Derek.

[Caller TJ / Alexander / Andy]

My name's Andy. I'm a huge fan of the show. I think I've listened to every episode multiple times. The story that I have for you involves a little creature sighting and I think this took place in 2012 or 2013. At the time I had just moved into my grandma's house after she passed away. I was fortunate to purchase her house and I lived there and it was in the Benson area of Omaha, Nebraska, which is kind of an older neighborhood. And there was always this house in that neighborhood. And growing up, it just kind of.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

Gave everybody the willies.

[Caller TJ / Alexander / Andy]

So it was kind of a brick wall, almost like a medieval looking fence in front of it with kind of, you know, wrought iron railings and. Weird thing about the house is that no one ever seemed to live there. There'd be like construction that would start and then that would go on for a few months and then nobody would ever move in and then construction would stop and it would. It just went on like that for decades. And after my grandma passed away, I moved into her house, which was actually just a couple blocks from this creepy looking house. And so pretty much every day to and from work I had to drive by it. And it was weird. It was just like random stuff in the yard. There was just like old, you know, yard decorations. There was old like garden gnome statues and bird baths and it was just in disrepair. So at the time, you know, my girlfriend lived with me and she was driving to work early in the morning one day. It was like 5 o' clock in the morning and it was in January, I believe. And so it's still dark. But she's driving down that street past the creepy house, and she, she swears that she saw a little creature on two feet run very quickly across the street through the creepy gate and into the yard of that house. And she said it was about one, about one foot tall. She's positive it wasn't a cat or a dog or a raccoon. She said its arms were kind of swinging by. Its like a, like a person would run. And it was jet black in color. And her stories never changed. She's not one to make things up and kind of creeped her out, honestly. So, you know, every time I have her retell the story, her facts never change and she doesn't embellish. But yeah, she said it looked like maybe a garden gnome or a leprechaun is the only thing that she could compare it to. And you know, I do some paranormal lectures and presentations around town. And so I thought, okay, well, cool, I'm gonna, you know, share this with the public. And you know, maybe people think it's interesting. So some time goes by and I was given a presentation at a paranormal event and I shared the story, figuring, you know, people would find it entertaining. A guy in the very back room of the auditorium raises his hand and you know, we hand him a microphone and he stands up and he says, he says, I believe ya. And I say, I say, okay. And he goes, yeah, I believe you, because I saw the same dang thing back in the 1970s, about one block over from where you saw it. You know, the whole audience gasps. And turns out this gentleman's name was Carl. And he said that back, I think he said, in the 70s, right in that same neighborhood. Him and some buddies were in the basement of a house and they were, you know, shooting some pool and just.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

Kind of hanging out.

[Caller TJ / Alexander / Andy]

And Carl glanced up and there was a small window near the ceiling of the basement, you know, kind of like a little access window or whatever you call it. And the. The curtains were open. And he said he glanced up there and there was this little.

[Caller James]

He.

[Caller TJ / Alexander / Andy]

He again called it kind of like a garden gnome or a leprechaun looking character that was looking down at them from the outside through the window. And so him and his buddies freak out and they all saw. They all saw it. So they run upstairs and they run outside trying to track this thing down. And they caught a glimpse of it just as it slid, almost like baseball style, like you'd slide into home plate. But he said this thing slid underneath of a parked car just across the street. And so it's kind of dark and shadowy, but he said it was definitely a little tiny person about one foot tall, running on two legs. And they get down and look underneath the car and. And it wasn't there. It had either gotten away or disappeared. So that's what happened. Two sightings in the same general vicinity. You know, it's. It's interesting. Finally, after all these years, just in the last year or two, somebody finally bought that house and fixed it up and moved in. So it actually looks quite nice on the outside. And still, I mean, there's. There's some little creature running around that neighborhood. I mean, every time I drive by it nowadays, I kind of look at it and I just shake my head and I'm thinking, man, whoever lives there has no idea, you know, or maybe they do. I don't know if they've had their own sighting. But anyway, garden gnomes, leprechauns, whatever you choose to call it, I think there's things out there that exist that we just can't make sense of. Anyway, huge fan of the show. As a fellow podcast enthusiast, I appreciate all the time and hard work that goes into it. You make it seem really easy. And I know, I know it's a labor of love, and that's a lot of hours behind the computer. So for all of us, please, please keep it up, because you do a really great job and have a good one. Thanks.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Andy. Now this next one too might be a fresh story to many of you, but if you'd like to hear stories like this one without the wait, you can always join us in the Beyond. Just go to monsters among us podcast.com and click the Patreon tab. $5 a month gives you days worth of additional content. $1 a month gives you all the main show content completely ad free. Now, as I said, this next one comes to us from Monsters among us beyond number 54. Please welcome anonymous from parts unknown.

[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

Hi Derek. Figured I'd call in and relay some stories that aren't mine, but are actually my brother's. Over the years, he's told me quite a few of these experiences he's had, but he's not willing to call them in. He's not as fascinated with the paranormal as I am, and I think he prefers to sort of ignore it rather than, you know, seek out an interest in it. So this first story he and I actually experienced together, I brought it up to him over a cup of coffee in the middle of the night once. We were talking about weird stuff that's happened and I asked him if he remembered this and all the blood drained out of his face. And he said, I'd totally forgotten about that until you brought it up. And I kind of just thought I dreamed it. So we were kids. He and I are 18 months apart, and during this time we were living in Houston, Texas, only for a short period of time. My dad had just taken a job there, and we were living in this house that was far too big for our small family of five. And this is during some of our first month in the house. As is characteristic of Houston, Texas, a colossal monsoon rainstorm rolled in and it rained for three or four days straight. More rain than I'd ever seen in my life growing up in North Texas, where we're in a perpetual drought most of the time. Along about the second or third day, there was a colossal electrical storm going on and it ended up knocking out the power. Being kids, we were, you know, spooky and we were playing around, you know, in the dark, and we just thought, oh, you know, whatever, we'll just make up some stories and play in the dark. And we were just kind of trying to scare each other. And I remember we were upstairs and we looked down the hall. This was in the afternoon, so the sun was setting and it was already quite dark because of the storm. And we see the storm flash of lightning. And in the Flash of lightning. I swear to you, this tiny little creature shaped like a person ran across.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

The upstairs loft right into the hall.

[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

And I remember just looking at him. Our eyes were both like saucers.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

The blood drained out of our face.

[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

What was that? You know, we're freaking out. And, you know, we didn't tell our parents anything about it. We just kind of thought, whatever, you know, we must have just seen something or, you know, yada, yada. So weeks later, our mom is doing laundry downstairs. And this is gonna sound crazy, but she found a set of tiny clothes. A little red shirt and green pants. These were bigger than barley clothes, but smaller than something, say, for like, an American girl or a Cabbage Patch Kid. Like, just a tiny set of clothes. I didn't have any dolls.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

I was a tomboy growing up.

[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

I didn't have dolls. So, you know, it's getting to be Christmas time. So we thought, you know, maybe our mom's playing a practical joke on us about elves or, you know, fairies or, you know, look out, the elves are in the house and they're watching you. And we asked her and asked her, and she thought we were playing a joke on her. And so to this day, my mother's.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

Never copped to this.

[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

If she did play a joke on us, this is something that scared the crap out of us and continues to to this day. And I don't have an explanation for it. I will say, though, that throughout the duration of my life, my mom has had a fear of tiny doors. You know, like, to service, like, electrical panels in old houses or the plumbing potential to be a little bitty door, Especially in, like, houses that are about 100 years old. Tiny doors of that nature scare the.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

Crap out of my mom.

[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

And we'd always tease her if we would go to a museum or a home or something, and we'd see one of those small doors, we always pointed around, and she would just need to stop. She didn't tolerate it. And finally I asked her once over a glass of wine, mom, why are you scared of tiny doors? And she told me, it's not the door so much as what I'm afraid might come out of them. Anyways, thanks for the show. Thanks for doing what you do. Thanks for giving us an outlet to express these things. Anyways, thanks.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

Have a good one.

[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

Bye.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, caller. Well, I actually have yet another anonymous caller, this time from the state of New Mexico from season 15 episode 14. Please welcome anonymous to the program.

[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

Hi there.

[Caller Anonymous (Cherokee little people story)]

I just started listening to the podcast. I'm an astonishing legend Listener and the name of the podcast popped up. So I thought I'd give it a try. And when I went to look at your episodes, I saw Cherokee little people and I said, oh my God. One of my first experiences with the paranormal was growing up here in the Midwest is a little girl, grew up in a big old turn of the century house and about four or five years old. I remember being in bed in my room and my experience was with a different type of little character than was described on the most recent installment of the podcast. What I witnessed being in my bed one morning was a little character, a little bit bigger than the one that had been described in a previous episode. What I saw was a little figure about the size I'd say of a toddler, maybe like baby size, but a little chunkier and could walk and look like your stereotypical almost cultural appropriation type, Native American loincloth, bow and arrow. I was in my bed and saw this little creature run from under my bed, across the room and out the door and it was shooting arrows. I know it sounds insane. I ran to my parents room and I was really upset. Of course they brushed it off and told me that it was just a dream. I assured them it was not a dream. Flash forward many, many years. I was visiting a new friend, an older woman up in the mountains of Color, Colorado, and she had Cherokee descendants. And my great grandmother was full Cherokee and she had this coffee table book about the Cherokee people. And she's like, oh, you'll find this really interesting. So I open it up and I start flipping through it and I mean, when I came to the section about the Cherokee little people, I'd never heard of them before. The pictures that were in the book, the description that was in the book was just, I, I mean, I immediately was like, this is what I saw. And it really resonated with me that what I saw was real. And it really resonated with me that before I knew better, before I knew about other dimensions and other beings and what we're capable of seeing if we don't have our blinders on, that it is true and that I wasn't just an imaginative little girl, that I knew what I saw back then and I know what I saw now. And the realness of it really solidified with me. And since then I've come across, you know, here and there, pictures that kind of like solidify what I saw. Again, it wasn't the action figure size, it was a little person about toddler size and with a little bow and arrow.

[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

Set. It was kooky.

[Caller Anonymous (Cherokee little people story)]

My first paranormal experience and I'll never forget it.

[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

Thank you so much.

[Caller Anonymous (Cherokee little people story)]

I'm going to call back because I have another story.

[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

Bye bye.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, caller. I have several more stories to share with you here this evening, so don't touch that dial. We'll be right back. Think of a crime that's making headlines right now. Do you think people will still be talking about it in 20 years? What about 120? A lot of cases that once dominated the news fade from memory, even the ones that changed laws, shifted public opinion or were called crime of the century at the time. Those are exactly the kinds of stories journalist Amber Hunt dives into on her podcast Crimes of the Centuries. Some of the cases might ring a bell, like the Linda Bird baby kidnapping, which you probably don't know all the details. Others you've likely never heard of at all, like the case that helped end the death penalty in Great Britain or the first wrongful conviction in the US Ever overturned by DNA evidence. Amber's not just journalist, she's a Pulitzer Prize winner who focuses less on the sensational stuff and more on the people involved, how the investigations unfolded and why these cases still matter today. Follow Crimes of the Century wherever you get your podcast and check out centuriespod.com for more info. I've also put a link up in tonight's show notes.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

Can you send them to us?

[Caller Dave / Amber Hunt]

Because.

[Derek Hayes]

Now, next up, we venture to Utah from season 11, episode 9. Please welcome Dave to this best of episode.

[Caller Dave / Amber Hunt]

Hello, my name is Dave and I'm from Utah. So just to begin, I just kind of wanted to explain that I went on a Mormon mission to this Southern American country of Colombia. And the way that Mormon missions work is you kind of sign up and then you are assigned what's called a companion. So you always go out in pairs. And missionaries, since they are out there doing spiritual work, they love to get together and talk about stories. And so last podcast I heard people were talking about dwem days and that was the first time I heard about it was there was this one Bolivian missionary talking one of those nights that we all got together, saying that his sister was put in a trance and almost walked off a cliff. And he seemed kind of scared of the idea of a duende. And that was the first time that I had heard of it. I didn't know what to think of it, but I still talked to quite a few of those people from that time. And there was this one guy that I knew from another country, but he told me this story a couple months ago, and it has just fascinated me. He said that when he was a kid, he was sleeping one night when this creature dropped from this shelf, from this bookshelf that was next to his bed. And he said that it didn't make any noise and it was a couple feet tall. He said it had these overalls on that were very dirty, and it had the face of an old man, but the stature of a child and introduced itself. It said that it was a duende. And it did have a name, but my friend doesn't remember because he was a young kid. And the duende told him that only the pure people can see it and that it wouldn't appear to the rest of the family, but it appeared to him. And they would hang out together in the backyard. And my friend just got to know it pretty well. And apparently this duende said that it wouldn't harm people, but it was kind of mischievous. It would kind of pull tricks on the family, move things around. But other than that, it was relatively harmless. This duende did also say that under the ground there was a whole society of these duende and that they had oceans. And this duende invited my friend multiple times to go down, but my friend never wanted to. He just kind of avoided it. He would still hang out with this thing all the time. And there was this one time that this duende gave him something to eat, and he said, eat this, you'll like it. And that night he remembers that it was almost like he shrunk in his bed and that he was swimming in his sheets and he didn't like it. And he was there for a while, and when he woke up, he was regular sized and he didn't know what happened. He told the duende that he didn't like it, but the duende didn't really seem to care. He said he didn't want to do it again, but over time, the duende invited him to do it again. And the same thing happened. He went to bed, he felt like he was shrinking. He was swimming in his sheets. So he told the duende that he didn't really want to hang out with it, and so they stopped hanging out so much. But when my friend turned 10, he said that he was hanging out with a couple of friends, and they were in the mountains and they saw this cave with this entrance, and he knew that it was connected to the duende. He just felt it really strongly. So they had materials for a makeshift torch and they lit it and they went in. And there was a point where the torch just went out and so they turned back. And my friend says that over time, he kept seeing this cave every once in a while again, he would even see the duende. Every once in a while, if he thought about the duende more or talked about the duende more, then the duende would appear and he would see it. And so he kind of saw it less over time, the cave and the duende. And then when he was on his mission, which is about 21 age, he said that there was this one time where his companion sobbed one day in the house. And it terrified his companion. And I've heard of this companion. He seemed to have weird spiritual experiences all the time. So it doesn't surprise me that he could see the duende if only the pier can see it. And so they didn't even sleep there that night. His companion wanted to sleep somewhere else. And so my friend just kind of was used to this. He says he's not very scared of the duende. So fast forward a few. He's back from his mission and he's about to get married. And he went out for a bachelor party, and they were out in the mountains. And there was a point where he saw the cave again. This time he decided to go in again. And since they were hiking, they had flashlights, so they were a bit better prepared. And they went inside. And at the same point in the cave before, where the torch went out, the flashlights went out, and so they had to turn around again. And he just couldn't stop thinking about this cave. He got married, he had a kid, and he kept thinking about it. So he wrote a note for his wife saying that he was going to go into this cave. He didn't say exactly why, but he said that he was going to go in it. And he didn't know what would happen to him. And before he could go, his wife actually found it, and she got very upset with him. She said, what are you doing? You have a family. And so he decided not to go. But my friend told me that he lives in the US now. And he says that someday he thinks that he'll find it and he's going to go in. And he says that at that point, he thinks that that could be the last time that anyone sees him. He also told me that he doesn't tell too many people because they tend to look at him like he's crazy. So he just kind of keeps it to himself. But he has told a couple of family members, and one of the sisters that he told was watching his daughter one day, and she did tell him that his daughter was also talking about seeing something very similar and that she also had an imaginary friend that looked just like the duende. And so my friend is also worried about that. Yeah, I just wanted to leave that story because we talk a lot about what's around us and what's above us, but I don't hear too many stories of things underneath us. So thank you. Have a great one.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Dave, for the call the Dwinde. You know, I actually have a couple of duende stories to share with you, like Caleb's story here. He's calling in from Texas.

[Caller Caleb / Michael]

Hey, my name is Caleb and I'm a really big fan of your show, your podcast. I just found out about it. I listening to the latest when I heard about the duende and I have a story that concerns my dad. We're from Houston, Texas, and we used to live in Mexico. My dad used to live in the state of Guerrero, which is really close to the coast. So a little backstory before I actually tell you the story. Back when my dad was a kid, he used to play a lot of basketball. And one day he was going out to a game and he says he saw something small running around a field and he saw nothing of it. The reason being because back when the Spaniards colonized Mexico, they took over Mexico City. They killed a lot of Aztecs, they killed a lot of native people, and many of them ran away to the Sierras, to the mountain ranges where they couldn't get caught. So my dad as a little kid says he would go find stuff from pre Hispanic Mesoamerican things, for example, clay dolls, whistles that were not, you know, modern made, plastic made. They were clay. And he says he would go into caves and him and his friends would find carvings of Aztec gum. And you could tell they were Aztec because they were mostly a rock. They had the winged serpent, the plumed serpent, which is called. And he tried all of these things inside caves along with countless other artifacts. And it was common knowledge that there were artifacts and they were actually descendants of Aztecs that had hidden there in the mountain ranges in the Sierras. So the story takes place the late 70s, early 80s. And my dad tells it he was returning from a basketball game and he says he wasn't tired because he hadn't played. The coach didn't put him on. He was on the bench. So as he's going home, he walked by this field and he sees something running into tall grass, and he makes nothing of it.

[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

Right.

[Caller Caleb / Michael]

He thinks, oh, it's probably a leopard or, you know, a mountain lion or something like that, which is really common in these places. And he pays no heed. He gets home, drinks a big glass of water, and since he didn't play, he lies down on his bed. Eventually, sleep overtakes him and he falls asleep. The next thing he remembers is his brain telling him, hey, there's something watching you. There's something looking at you. But my dad being skeptical, he tells his blind, hey, you know, shut up, I'm trying to sleep. And a second time, something in his head tells him, hey, there's something looking at you. Wake up. Wake up. And finally my dad agrees. And he wakes up and he looks over to his right. He remembers it so vividly, he explains to me. He looks over to his right and there's this duende, there's this gnome, whatever you want to call it, it's two feet away from his bed. The, the one that is two and a half feet tall. He had brown olive skin, right? He had a big beard, a pointy hat, just like you see in the outside garden, stuff like a gnome. He said it was exactly like that, but it had the body of a baby of a kid, but the face of a grown ass man. It had a beard, a brown, almost turning white beard, also a mustache. And he was laughing at. He was looking down on him while my dad was sleeping, and he was laughing at him. And he says the thing that struck out him the most was that as he's laughing at him, he's looking at him and he's stroking his belly. He said he had this little pot belly where the shirt didn't cover it up. So he was just laughing at him and rubbing his stomach. And my dad, he closes his eyes and opens it again and he's still there. And he does this couple of times. And by the fifth or sixth time that he does this, the duende is gone. And my dad wakes up. He looks around the house. The house was locked, no one was in. He looks around and he suddenly remembers the thing that he had seen running around the field. And it all comes running back to him how when he was passing by, he just glanced at him. But now that that's happened, he starts remembering, oh, it was too small to be like a jaguar or a cougar or something. He remembers all these details exactly. The color of the shirt, which was a really brown shirt, gray pants. He had no shoes on, no socks. And basically my dad starts praying he wasn't a religious man. And he's, he's skeptical. But that encounter shook my dad up so much that he literally talked about it twice. He's talked about it to his family once and he told me about it. When I told him I was listening to your podcast, he's like, let me tell you a story and I'm only gonna say it once. And I told him, give me all the details you can. So he tells me all of these details and to this day he does not talk about that with anyone else. He's a religious man now, but he believes it was a demon, you know, disguise as that to turn him away from God. So that's my story, man. I hope you can use it. And thanks for keeping awareness of this stuff, man, and great show. Keep up the good work. I have more stories. I'll call some other time and let you guys know. Take care. Bye.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Caleb, for the call. Now Caleb's story Originally aired on season 16, episode 12, if you'd like to check it out. But as you just heard, Caleb too described the duende, a staple in Mexican folklore. But you know, it's not just our neighbors to the south that seem to experience these pint sized terrors. No, our neighbors to the north do as well. Please welcome Anonymous from Canada.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

Hi Derek. I'll remain Anonymous for this one, but I'm from a city called Winnipeg, Manitoba, for your American listeners. It's in the province of Manitoba, which is north of North Dakota and Minnesota. So the Metis are an ethnic group in Canada as well as the states who are the descendants of mostly French fur traders and Dene or Cree women who intermarried over the years during the fur trade and established their own culture and their own ethnic group on the Canadian prairies especially. So my story pertains to a Metis legend called Mama Hua Sisa. I don't speak Mishif or Cree, so I may not be pronouncing that right. And I've actually seen them in a place called CFP Shiloh, which is in my province. It's a military base. And I saw them when I was in the army. We were doing a defensive training exercise. And the area for where Shiloh is, it's full of what's called the Sinobuying Sandhills, which is this gigantic ancient delta which left massive sandhills all over the place and big tall hills in the middle of the prairie. And it's this beautiful kind of mystical looking place. And so we're doing these defensives. It's on this kind of big hill in the shape of a horseshoe. And it was maybe 12:15 at night somewhere in that area. And so it's pitch black and I was looking through my night vision goggles and they keep telling me that they see movement, they see movement, they see movement. I'm looking and I'm looking and I'm looking and it's going to sound weird but you can see movement in the trees and look almost like doors. Like picture Snow White in the seven doors running around and screwing around. I thought maybe it was group hallucination or something like that at first. Then I talked to our warrant officer who is of Metis descent and he was telling me these little critters. I don't know, maybe we were hallucinating, maybe it was fake. But a lot of guys report seeing stuff like that. A lot of people chalk it up to their sleep deprived or something like that. Hallucinating a little bit because we do do sleep deprivation training there as well. You'll notice things are moved or you'll notice things placed in weird spots or stuff will go missing and things like that. Just little things that you just chalk up to a bunch of sleepy 21 year old soldiers misplacing things. But it gets to the point where it's. It gets almost a little uncanny. Who knows? It's a strange world out there. Take it easy and delay.

[Derek Hayes]

Now. I'll be honest, I don't know that this call has ever been used before. It was submitted a long time ago and it might have slipped through the cracks at one point or another. So thank you caller for the bonus entry. Limu and Doug. Here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.

[Limu Emu (Liberty Mutual ad character)]

Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.

[Derek Hayes]

Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings. Very underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates. Excludes Massachusetts.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

This is the story of the one. As head of maintenance at a concert hall, he knows the show must always go on.

[Caller Dave / Amber Hunt]

That's why he works behind the scenes.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

Ensuring every light is working, the H Vac is humming and his facility shines with Grainger's supplies and solutions for every challenge he faces. Plus 24. 7 customer support.

[Derek Hayes]

His venue never misses a beat.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

Call quickgranger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.

[Derek Hayes]

I believe he's a sheet metal guy. Here we are folks, down the home stretch of this Best of Little People episode. But don't fret, I have several left in my basket for you. Like this entry from Michael from season 12, episode 2.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

Hello, this is Michael again from McAllen, Texas. This story is about little people and.

[Caller TJ / Alexander / Andy]

My encounter with one.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

So it was about 11 o' clock at night and I had been working at a, at a shoe store, the Payless shoe store near my house. And at the time I didn't have a vehicle. Gosh, the year is about probably 1999 or something. And my friend, it was a long day at work and he took me home and we're sitting there talking and he's looking towards me and I'm looking towards him and I had already noticed a little kitten in the driveway. And it was maybe about, I don't know, three feet from the passenger door. And he's like, what is that? I'm like, oh, it's a cat.

[Caller Caleb / Michael]

It's a kitten.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

He's like, yeah, but what is it playing with? So I turn over, look through the window and sure enough, kitten is sitting on his haunches and he's got like doing that in the hand thing, like he's playing with the yarn or something. And I see something under his paw. I mean, this is a kitten, so it's small and I'm like, roll down the window, down the window. And then whatever this thing was, the little person, and I'm talking about like action figure size, turns around and looks at his boat, like he turned to look over its shoulder and then casually starts walking away. And the cat just, I don't even remember at that point. I know the cat was in the picture somewhere, but I was just focusing on this thing walking away and it walks towards the hurricane, climb to the holes and puts one leg inside the hole and then kind of like puts his hands on top of him. It kind of shimmies his body through and keeps walking and my friends just kind of that, you know what I mean? I'm like, I don't know. So I, I, I get out of the car and he like basically told me to get off the car. So I get off the car and I had remembered a story that my grandmother had told me. So I'm like, oh, I need to catch this thing. But at that point it had already like gone into the neighbor's yard and I could hear it scurrying away and believe. So I told my grandmother about it the next morning. She's like, oh yeah, yeah. Remember I told you your, your aunt caught one once and I'm like, yeah, I mean, I remember. She's like, yeah, your uncaught one once, and she kept it in a jar and then one day it just disappeared. Like she came to eat it or look at it or something.

[Caller TJ / Alexander / Andy]

It just wasn't there anymore. And that's just kind of weird.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

So then years later, I'm telling this story to one of my cousins and she's like, well, yeah, I remember a couple times when you were little. She's maybe like, gosh, like three years older than me. So she says that I was like maybe five or something and she was seven or eight, and she had come over to play with my new toys and that I was upset. She's like, yeah, I remember it clearly because you were so upset and I wanted to play with your toys, but you wouldn't let me play because the little people had taken one of them. Yeah, so that. That's my little person's story. And like that we're talking about something about, gosh, he's five inches tall. So that's my story, guys.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you, Michael. And from season 14, episode 16, please welcome Marcos with another duende tale.

[Limu Emu (Liberty Mutual ad character)]

Hi, my name is Marcos. And this is a story of a sighting of little people that my younger brother had in Mexico. It was around the mid to late 2000s. He was walking back from school. He had to go to school a long way from home. It was in evening, like around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. He had to stay late for after school activities. And once he got out of school, he decided to take the long way home. He had to go through a forested area. Once in the forested area, he decided to just listen to nature while walking and enjoying the moment. But once he heard that the bird singing wasn't the same, it changed. It sounded like it was a person or it sounded fake. He looked around. He thought he was going to get robbed because he was in Mexico. He thought he was going to be attacked by highwaymen, basically. Once he heard that, he decided to run. He ran as far and as fast as he could. Once he couldn't run anymore, he decided to start walking again. And like a minute had passed and he had passed by some trees. He heard again that weird whistling, which sounded fake. He looked up at the tree as it was going by it and saw a little person, or a duende, as they call it in Mexico. He described it basically as Dalby from the Harry Potter series. And it was the size of a cereal box. So it was small and it was wearing a loincloth and Once they, their eyes met, the duende basically dove into the tree branch and just disappeared. Once he saw that, he once again started running and again he ran out of breath, stopped running and continued walking. He kept watching behind him and saw that he was being followed by that duende. He could tell that it wasn't concealing completely his presence. It was just occasionally jumping from bush to bush or branch or branches in the tree line and he just was behind him. Not super close, but still behind him. My brother was of course scared and just continued walking because he couldn't do anything else. So he, he eventually reached a stream. He decided to jump across the stream. It wasn't a river or anything, it was, it was a stream because it was a forested with rural area. Eventually where he reached the little person or duende did not jump the stream. He stayed on the other side of that waterway. But he would still be able to perfectly conceal himself within seemingly impossible bunches of grass or bushes which my brother could tell were much smaller than the duende. He did not question it. He just kept walking and never went back to that place again. He would take the other ways around to go home or the bus even. But that was my younger brother's experience in Mexico with duendes. Thank you for your time. Have a good one.

[Derek Hayes]

The duende certainly seems to be a popular character. Thank you again Marcos for the call. Now for tonight's final entry and this one comes to us from the state of Oregon. Please Welcome Anonymous from season 15 episode 6.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

Calling from the state of Portland, Oregon. Something weird happened this morning. It's been happening for a few days, but now I know. Yeah, I just called you guys and as soon as I started saying the word helicopter, my phone got disconnected. It's weird. 3:30 in the morning in Portland, Oregon. I don't know how long it is before they shut off my call again, but I had a dream and I haven't had a dream for days. I've been having very good sleep. I thought about that, you know, haven't had any out of pocket dreams lately. I wake up at 3:30 in the morning. The feeling of being scared after I woke up, being watched and that somebody was also inside of my place. I don't really feel like that normally and I'm bold. I walk around, I don't really care much, you know, I'm not afraid, but it felt otherworldly afraid where I didn't want to look out the window or anything like that part of my dream was about very small micro people the size of like a Keurig coffee little pot that you put in. The only reason I could say that is because in the dream they were living inside of those. Weird part about it is in my closet I have some of those, you know, Keurigs. But I'll hear little ticks come from the closet every now and then. I've had to sage it out once in a while, but I hear little things. Like right now I just felt a jerk. It feels as if something's jumping off of my bed. I live by myself. I don't have any rats or rodents or anything like that. But it feels kind of like, you know, when somebody gets up or moves off the bed and walks away. But this dream about these little people living in the walls, I remember that they was saying that they're living underneath the pillows and just tucked in small nooks and spots, real small people. So I hear this tick outside, outside my window, kind of like something dropped. So now I grab my sidearm and I stick my head out the window and immediately there's nothing right there. But behind me parked in the back there's a white truck with these weird like government looking plates. And he's got these big old like extra lights and high beam like kind of lights and stuff. And I've been hearing last night was a higher frequency was going off in my area. I was wondering what was coming from, you know, but so I step out, you know, and flash my light in the ride. And his head was the size of a damn orange with some glasses on it, regular glasses. So I flicked off the light real quick. I mean he was hiding like tucked up underneath the steering wheel like he was letting that cover his whole head. Ain't no damn human got the head the size of an orange with some glasses on it, you know. I go back inside, you know, and I go back out a little while later and I start up one of my vehicles to warm it up. Just I had that feeling like I got to get up and go just in case of something's going to happen here, you know. And as I'm warming it up literally at 4:20 on the dot, you know, he takes off, I mean from 3:30, staking out my spot all damn night. I mean there's nothing around here to be in my driveway at 3:30 in the morning. And I'm having dreams of little men and feeling like I'm being watched and feeling like I've been infiltrated. So yeah, that's what's going on with me. It's about 6:10 now and am I haven't slept since. I'm staying up till it's time to start the day. So yeah thanks appreciate your show man.

[Derek Hayes]

Thank you again caller for bringing it and folks that's gonna do it for this Best of Little People episode. A big thanks for swinging by here tonight. Now real quick if you don't mind, 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. Give us a like and follow on our social media accounts, join us on YouTube on Discord and leave us a rate and review wherever that sort of thing is possible. Don't forget that you can catch the show each and every Saturday evening at 10pm Eastern on the Unaxed Digital Network. Just visit on xnetwork.com to tune in and tonight's score was provided by Iron Cthulhu, Apocalypse Co AG HE Music and Carl Casey at Whitebat Audio. Now I'll be back here on Tuesday with a brand new episode full of brand new content, so don't forget to tune in. And for you Monster Squad members, I have something special lined up for you here tonight as well, beginning with this entry from Ari in the state of California.

[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

Hi, this is Ari. I'm from California. This story goes back around maybe early 2000s when I was around 10. I am currently 23 years old, so it gives you an idea. Anywho, we live in this house that always seemed to have, you know, sounds going on. Often you would hear cabinets opening, closing especially we had this attic and we had a door though, in the attic. And often around a certain time at night, I would like to be around midnight. My sister and I shared a room. You would hear this stall go off and we would just lie there in fear. And we told my mom about it. So she went ahead and was like, okay, it's probably the rats up there. You know, an animal up there. She took the batteries out and then.

[Derek Hayes]

Limu imu and Doug. Here we have the Limu emu in its natural habit helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.

[Limu Emu (Liberty Mutual ad character)]

Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.

[Derek Hayes]

Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Ferry Unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates Excludes Massachusetts. This is the story of the one as a custodial supervisor at a high school.

[Caller Anonymous (Cherokee little people story)]

He knows that during cold and flu season, you're a germs spread fast.

[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

It's why he partners with Grainger to.

[Derek Hayes]

Stay fully stocked on the products and.

[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

Supplies he needs, from tissues to disinfectants to floor scrubbers. All so that he can help students, staff and teachers stay healthy and focused.

[Caller Anonymous (Cherokee little people story)]

Call 1-800-granger.

[Caller Michelle / Anonymous brother / Ari]

Click granger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.

[Derek Hayes]

Limu Emu and Doug Here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.

[Caller Floyd/Boyd]

Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.

[Derek Hayes]

Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you need@liberty mutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Ferry Unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates. Excludes Massachusetts.