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Monsters Among Us
S21 Ep14: Portals, violent static entities and a possible duende (Sn. 21 Ep. 14)
01:03:16
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- [00:01]
Lady Luck
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- [00:32]
Lowe's Announcer
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- [00:55]
Lady Luck
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- [01:53]
Derek Hayes
Good evening and welcome to Monsters Among Us. I am your guide, Derek Hayes. It's great have you with us here this evening and boy do I have a fun one lined up for you here tonight. Tales of highway ghosts, world famous cryptids, and even portals to nowhere. But it's in prison that we begin with this first one. Please welcome AJ to tonight's broadcast.
- [02:25]
AJ / Becky / Heather / Kaz / Anonymous Caller
Hi, my name is aj. This is a story from when I was working at a prison in Oklahoma. I had worked at this prison for about two years. It's kind of out in the middle of nowhere. It was an all male, medium security and our facility was different than others in the state. We always had our doors locked. Like if inmates wanted to enter out of doors, we had to physically go up to the door with a key and unlock it. So this particular night it was just a normal night, nothing crazy going on outside. It was about, I want to say, two o' clock in the morning because we had to do counts at certain times of the night and it was almost time for our two o' clock count. And the way that this particular housing unit was set up, it had three pods. Each pod housed like about 120 inmates. Like that was its max capacity. And it was set up in kind of like a P shape. So the restroom for the officers was out in the hallway out in like the rotunda. And I knew we were getting ready to have count. So I went out go to the restroom. As I was coming out of the door in the hallway. Keep in mind this is at almost 2 o' clock in the morning. No inmates are up. So when I came out of the restroom, something like came at my face. It's like when you're playing dodgeball and somebody like, throws a ball at your face, you see something coming at you out of your peripheral. So my, like, immediate reaction was I threw up my hands to protect my face and kind of jumped back a little bit and there was nobody there. There was nothing there. Sometimes the other officers on the units would, like, play pranks and mess with you, but I was by myself, so I thought, oh, that's kind of weird. So I went out and I called the captain's office. I was like, hey, if you guys want to see something funny, like, you should roll the camera back to like a couple minutes ago and watch me, like, flail around at nothing. And the captain did pull the cameras up and that he said he saw some like, black spot come at my face as soon as I walked out of the door of the bathroom. So that was kind of crazy. And that same night, right before that count, the officer in the pod across from me came over to do my cross count, and he asked me who I had out, like what inmate I had out. And I kind of looked at him and I was confused and I said, nobody. Huh, that's odd. I could have swore that I saw somebody walk across your top run, which it was a two level facility. I said, no, there's nobody out tonight. And that particular area where he thought he saw someone didn't pick up well on camera. But yeah, that is one interesting night that I had working at this particular facility. I love the podcast. Thank you for all that you do.
- [05:50]
Derek Hayes
Thanks, aj. Now, if you saw it in the camera, saw had to have been there, right? How else would you explain this situation? It's not an insect. It wasn't the wind. And given that this took place in a facility known to attract paranormal activity, jails and prisons, that is. This could have been any number of things, including the supernatural. Now, if this was a dark orb, a prison is the obvious place to witness it. According to a website called lovetoknow.com There are many meanings behind a black orb, including, but not limited to weakness or illness, depression, addiction, and neutral energy. And it can manifest through low vibration entities, demons, evil actions, and even self harm. Or at least that's what lovetokknow.com is claiming. Now, like I just said, prison is typically home to much of what I just listed. So all of this seems to make a lot of sense. But I wish we could get our hands on the actual video. Though I imagine there are legal reasons as to why it could not be shared. So you get a pass on this one, A.J. but that just makes me want to see the video even more. Thank you, AJ for kicking things off here tonight. What a spooky way to do it. Now, up next, we venture to the state of Florida. Please welcome Brian to the program.
- [07:34]
Brian
Hey, Derek, this is Brian. I'm calling from North Florida. This account takes place back in 1990 in my hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. So there was a cemetery next to my neighborhood, and it was a great place for stargazing. In fact, several times my dad and I would go out there with his telescope just to kind of look at the stars and think about, you know, if there was anything or anyone maybe staring back at us doing the same thing. So this one night, I was about 16, and two of my friends and I, we were walking through the cemetery just looking at the statues, stargazing, hanging out. It was a cool night in night November. It was chilly. It was a clear night, not a cloud in the sky. We were just, like I said, talking, hanging out, looking at statues. So then suddenly I just kind of looked down the path in front of me, and I saw about 50 yards ahead of me, a door shaped portal appear. It was right next to a headstone and it was pitch black. You could definitely tell there was something there. It was like a door shaped portal, and my blood ran cold. In fact, I could barely get the words out and said, guys, look, it's a door right there. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up straight. I was in fight or flight mode. And of course, one of my friends, being typical southern redneck teenage boy, decided to go check it out. He wanted to see what it was, what was going on and where it would go. So instinctively the alpha wolf in me reached out, grabbed him by the collar, and pulled him back. We quickly ran to the car and headed right up the road to my house and never really talked about it afterwards. That's the story. That's this encounter. Thanks for the chance to share this, love the podcast, love your documentary, and stay spooky, y'.
- [09:30]
Interjector / Affirmative Speaker
All.
- [09:33]
Derek Hayes
We appreciate the entry, Brian. No quick pull. Who would stick something in this portal? Toss a rock and poke it with a stick. Wiggle your foot just inside the line. I think I'd at least toss a rock in there. I couldn't just walk away from it. But it's fun stuff, Brian, for us. Of course, it doesn't sound like you found any fun in this experience, but we do. Thank you for taking the time to share it. All right. Gang, it's break time, but I'll be right back with more right after this. 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 what 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, but 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 a journalist. She's a Pulitzer Prize winner who focuses less on the sensational stuff and more on the people involved, how the investigation unfolded, and why these cases still matter today. Follow Crimes of the Century wherever you get your podcast and check out centuries pod.com for more info. I've also put a link up in tonight's show Notes.
- [11:35]
Host or Announcer
Can you send them to us?
- [11:40]
Derek Hayes
Because now for this next one, we visit an old friend in New York. Frank. Welcome back to the program, sir.
- [11:55]
Frank
Hey, Derek, it's Frank from Long island again. So I actually held off on telling this story for about four years, maybe more reason. I've held off telling it because I've actually been kind of afraid to tell it myself. About five, six years ago, a good buddy of mine, he tried to hooked me up with a friend of his, this girl. I mean, it didn't work out, but we ended up becoming friends. But one day she was telling me this story that happened to her that she was over, I think like a friend's house or something. And as she was sleeping, she said something woke her up. And when she woke up, she said that there was this figure standing in front of her, but it was like an outline and it looked like the TV static. So like, you know the old school TVs when you had like channel two, she said it was kind of similar to that. And then she said that this thing started choking her and choking her hard, like to the point where she couldn't read. And eventually it stopped and went away. You couldn't sleep for the rest of the night. Next day, her friends, they noticed a mark on her neck. Like, you know, what happened to you? You know, and she explained to them, like, you'll know, believe the crap that just happened to me, and she told him the story. Her one friend was all shocked, and he said that, listen, I'm really, really sorry, but I meant to send that to my boss. She looked at like, what the hell are you talking about? You know? He responds like, look, I'm really sorry, but I meant to send that as a prank to my boss. And she started freaking out even more. Now, her friend, he was like, Southern Asian, I believe. I don't know if it was Indonesian or Philippine, but I guess she said there was some kind of, like, black magic or something. I have no idea. I pulled up. Maybe you guys will know more. Love the channel. Keep it going, Derek.
- [13:47]
Derek Hayes
Always good to hear from you, Frank. Thanks for the phone call, Static Man. Not too dissimilar from the infamous shadow man entities we hear so much about. A humanoid figure made up entirely of a substance that reminds many of TV snow or static. But I will say that this is the first I've ever heard of the Static man being linked to East Asian folklore. That's something we'll have to keep an eye out for. But wherever it comes from, it ranks right up there with other figures you don't want to see at night. If we're to have the ability to choke someone and be controlled by another human. Well, let's just hope that this is only folklore. Though something tells me Frank's friend would quickly tell us that it is not. Thank you again, Frank, for taking the time to call. Like I said, it's always great hearing from you. Now, folks, if you have a story you would like to share here on the program, give the hotline a call at 888-608-That's 888608, Nig HT. Or you can record a voice memo and email that bad boy back to me at monsters among us podcast gmail.com. now remember to call from a quiet place. No moving vehicles. One story creeper call. One call per story. Call back if you need more time. And true tales only. Fibers need not apply. It's that simple. Give us a call and I'll put you on the air. Just like Peter here from the state of Pennsylvania.
- [15:36]
Peter
Hi, Derek. This is Peter calling from Philadelphia. This story takes place in a little place called Marion Station just outside of Philadelphia. I was a teenager. This was in the 90s. I was with two friends of mine. I'll call them John and Leonard. It was a sleepover. So house empty. It was just the three of us. And Leonard's dog, Shadow. Now, Leonard's father was a art therapist and he did a lot of guided meditation and that sort of thing. So he had taught this to my friend Leonard, and he was trying to teach this to us. At the time, we were referring to it as astral projection. And I don't know how much we really understood what we were talking about at the time. But the idea was that individually, we would sit in front of a mirror and kind of zone out and then deep breathe and leave our bodies and kind of go up into out of the room and out of the house and into the sky and into this void. And ultimately what I experienced was that it was almost like a waking dream, a lucid dream in this emptiness. But it was like a white emptiness, like Neo in the Matrix, sort of where there's no horizon, there's no up or down, it's just blankness. So it's a place to create something. I figured. So I made this little playground or like a little courtyard. There's a short wall and a grassy field and bushes and a little tower and a swing set. And I thought, okay, I'll just enjoy this for a minute and then I'll set myself out. But not long into it, there was this little entity that appeared, kind of hanging around the swing set, wrapping its little arms around it. I'd say it was a little 2, 3 foot tall, little hooded creature, but only in shape because it was very shadowy. I couldn't even see exactly clothing. I couldn't exactly see a face or anything or even eyes, but it was there and it was so off putting that I didn't imagine it to be there. I didn't mean for it to be there. I couldn't imagine it away. It made me very nervous. And so I snapped myself out of it and woke myself up. Which maybe in and of itself is probably not the best way to come back from something like that. And I told my friends about it and they were like, oh, that's a crazy dream. Gosh, you were in there forever. I thought I was in there for 15, 20 minutes. Apparently I had been under for like an hour and a half. This is like one in the morning at this point. So they figured, all right, right, let's go get a snack. So we go downstairs, we go to the kitchen, and the dog just starts growling at the open basement, the dark basement. And it was particularly freaky because the dog does not usually do this. I mean, the basement is always open because there's like a little pantry there. But he starts growling and we say, okay, let's maybe just get out of Here. So we go back upstairs. The parents room light is on. It was not on before. And then the smoke alarm goes off. And that was freaky because there's no real reason for that to happen. We're burning a little incense, but that shouldn't do that.
- [19:03]
Peter's Friend or Additional Speaker
Then we're like, all right.
- [19:04]
Peter
Oh, my God. So we just kind of get into the room. We leave the dog out of the room because apparently it gets annoying at night. So a couple minutes later, the dog starts hearing the bark. And Leonard says, oh, Shadow. Like, probably barking to get into the room because he does that. Open the door, and there's Shadow barking down the empty hallway away from the door as if at something in the darkness. And so that freaked us out. And so we bring him in and shut the door. Now, to help you picture it a little bit, if you opened the bedroom door and looked out, you would see an empty hallway. If you look to the right, you would see a stairway going up into the third floor. There's a little landing, and on the landing there's a laundry basket and a potted plant. So the door shut and locked, and we're all in our beds, in our sleeping bags, whatever. We go to bed, and not a minute later, two minutes later, we hear this thump crash right outside the door. And John says, I'm gonna go check it out. And we're all like, no, don't go out there. Don't open the door. So we don't check it out in the morning. And we open the door. Lo and behold, there's the laundry basket flung to the ground all by itself. And I had thought about this for now 30 years, and I cannot come up with any kind of explanation. There was no air vent that could have done that. There was no animals running around the house. We would have heard that definitely nobody else was home. Later, Leonard told his parents about this. They were like, oh, yeah, house is haunted. Like, oh. Oh, great. I don't know why it stuck with me for so long. I think it's just, like. Just can't make sense of it. I think my friends remember the day, but doesn't register in their head as being something they need to think about for some reason. Anyhow, love the show. I'm a Patreon member. Listen to every episode. Have a great night, Derek. Keep it spooky.
- [21:10]
Derek Hayes
Thank you, Peter. And thank you for joining us over on Patreon. Now, Peter can tell you that there is a ton of content available over there on Patreon. We add over two hours every month, and there's already days worth of episodes available and it's only five bucks a month. And that's a pretty good deal if you ask me. So visit monsters among us podcast.com and click the Patreon tab to get started. Oh, and you can also get the main content ad free for only $1 a month. It's a no brainer. Now, as for Peter's tale, it certainly sounds like something followed him home from his little trip. The real question is, where did it go from there? Is it still floating around the home? Or did it move on to terrorize someone else? Wild stuff. Sir, we thank you again for sharing. All right, off to Tennessee we go. Barry, the mic is yours.
- [22:22]
Barry
Hi Derek, this is Barry in Tennessee. So this is a story involving a dream catcher. I lived in Arkansas. At the time I would have been about 13, 14. This would put it around, oh, 1996, 97. I was given this dream catcher. I just thought, you know, it was neat, it was cool. I enjoyed dreamcatchers. Up until this point, I'd really never had nightmares. The last nightmare I could remember before then when I was 4, maybe 5 years old. So I just never really had nightmares. So I'm given this dreamcatcher. It was made by a family friend. She had made it, gave it to me. Hang this dreamcatcher up over my bed. Very first night, have bad dream, disturbing dreams. Don't think too much of it. Just, you know, talk it up, whatever. I just got in my own head. Well, second night, another bad dream. And third night, just a straight up nightmare. I can't remember what the dreams were about. I just remember they were bad dreams, nightmares. So that was the first three nights. On these nights when I would wake up from the dream. If I looked up, I could see the dream catcher just kind of swaying above me, which I thought was odd because I didn't have a ceiling fan. I didn't have windows open, no AC vents. Should have been hitting it. So night four, I go to sleep and I have just really bad dreams. And I wake up from the dreams. I'm laying in my bed for a few minutes and I hear this scratching sound coming from the corner of my bed. It sounds like this scratching, like inside the wall, but in the corner of my room. That kind of freaked me out. Then as I'm hearing this sound all of a sudden it feels like there are just bugs crawling all over me. I'm just covered in bugs, just crawling all over me. Very creepy feeling. I'm kind of getting the willies here. Just recounting this, roll over onto my back and look up. And the dream catcher is violently rocking back and forth, like slamming into the ceiling. Violently rocking. I jump up out of bed, grab that dream catcher and throw it across the room. Everything instantly stopped. I threw my blankets back. There were no bugs on the bed. The scratching noise stopped. Everything immediately stopped. As soon as I took the dreamcatcher down. I left it laying in the corner where it fell, went back to bed, slept fine. No more bad dreams. Nothing else weird happened. The next night, same thing. No more bad dreams. It was all gone. No more strange activity happened. A few days later, I mentioned this to the family friend who had given me the dreamcatcher. And that was when she told me that she'd actually made it for someone else originally and after it was completed, decided to give it to me instead. I don't know if there was something to do with the energy of the person she intended it for originally. It wasn't compatible with me. I don't know what it was. Maybe it was just the fact that the dreamcatcher itself opened something up. I really don't know. It's one of the strangest experiences I've ever had. Look forward to hearing your take on this and see if anybody else out there has any ideas. Thanks for the show. Love listening to it. Hope you hear this on there. Thank you.
- [25:28]
Derek Hayes
Thanks, Barry. You know, my grandmother gave me a dream catcher when I was young, and I cannot for the life of me find it lost during one of my many moves. Most likely and sadly. Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the practice in some Native American and First Nation cultures, a dreamcatcher is a handmade willow loop on which a woven net or web is placed. And for more information on the dreamcatcher, we go directly to one of the sources, the people of the Anishinaabe tribe and one of their spiritual advisors, Lee Obizan Staples, courtesy of his YouTube channel,
- [26:17]
Narrator or Expert (YouTube Source)
refers to the dream catcher we've been given as an Anishinaabe people to use. Asabikeshi means spider, when igun means trap. It's a spider whip. And those dream catchers were hung on the cradles of our babies. And what they were used for, they would filter the baby's dreams. Any nightmares or bad dreams that that child would have would get trapped in that dream catcher and the baby would only have positive and good dreams.
- [27:01]
Derek Hayes
Now, as for Barry's dream catcher, he said it was made for someone else. So I wonder if that someone had actually used it for some time before it was given. Back and later sent on to Barry. And if that is the case, could there be some sort of residual nastiness remaining from that person's nightmares? Well, as it turns out, the lore surrounding dreamcatchers just might back that claim up. The following was pulled from a segment on Dreamcatchers by Simple sage over on YouTube.
- [27:38]
Spin Quest Announcer
There are a couple of things to know about using a dream catcher. When a dream catcher is old or no longer effective, it should be disposed of in a respectful way. Throwing away a dream catcher in a disrespectful way will bring bad luck and release the bad dreams that have been caught in the the dreamcatcher. Another interesting point to note is that some say that over time, dream catchers will become clogged with bad dreams and will need to be replaced or cleaned. Historically, dream catchers were seen as dream filters, letting in only good dreams and trapping the bad ones, which would be neutralized by morning sunlight. However, modern commercialization has led to varying beliefs, beliefs including the idea that a dreamcatcher could become full of negative dreams. When this happens, it supposedly needs clearing using methods like sunlight or sage smudging.
- [28:35]
Derek Hayes
So maybe it's that simple, Barry. Maybe someone else's nightmare is rubbed off onto you. If you own a dreamcatcher or this piques your interest, I highly recommend checking out both of these videos I link to in tonight's show Notes. Or you can dig deeper by reading this week's Monster Missive, our weekly debrief found only on Patreon. Crazy stuff Barry and we thank you again for sharing
- [29:06]
Host or Announcer
are practically inaccessible and to the health of its people.
- [29:11]
Lady Luck
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- [29:36]
Spin Quest Announcer
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- [29:43]
Lowe's Announcer
This July 4th at Lowe's get up to 45% off select major appliances pl save $80 on a select Char Broil Performance Series gas Grill now $299. Our best lineup is here at Lowe's Lowe's we help you Save valid through 78 while supplies last selection varies by location. See Lowes.com for more details.
- [30:06]
Lady Luck
Visit your nearby Lowe's.
- [30:15]
Host or Announcer
Ways we could go with this One, but today we're going to give it to.
- [30:21]
Derek Hayes
Now, if you will join me in the Badlands, please welcome Becky from parts unknown.
- [30:29]
AJ / Becky / Heather / Kaz / Anonymous Caller
Hi, Derek. This is Becky, and I live in the Midwest. One year, I traveled out to the Badlands on my way out to. To go solo camping through the West. Well, the first night there at the Badlands, we had just a huge, huge thunderstorm. So I didn't stay very long at the campsite. I had to get going early in the morning because everything was just wet and there wasn't anything to really do. So I headed on up on Interstate 90, crossing over through Wyoming and into Montana. And as I was driving along Interstate 90, there's very little traffic, and I was just traveling along, enjoying the drives, and then suddenly I had this ghostly apparition form in front of my vehicle. And I drove through this, and I had such a sudden jolt of energy that came through my body.
- [31:50]
Interjector / Affirmative Speaker
It was so powerful.
- [31:53]
AJ / Becky / Heather / Kaz / Anonymous Caller
And there was some kind of vision that was in this there. It just reminded me of a Native American in full headdress. But this all happened so quickly. It was this feeling of electricity that shot through my body. Well, it just upset me so much. I just started crying while I was driving, and I was just getting so uncomfortable and crying that I realized I needed to pull off the road. So I took the next exit that I came across and found this big driveway to just pull into. And there's nothing else around in this area that I was driving. You know, it's all prairie land. And I sat there trying to calm myself down, and I looked around where I was, and here I had parked my vehicle at the entrance of the Little Bighorn Battlefield. And it was just made such a connection to me that whatever this spirit, this apparition that I drove through was the spirit of a Native American who died there at the Little Big One. And I don't know why that connected me. And it was just so overwhelming to me that, you know, this happened many years ago, and there's not a day that goes by that I don't feel that presence. So it was a very frightening experience, but it was a very spiritual experience. And I think about it every day. And I like to thank you for giving people a place to come and share this, because most people just think I'm making it up. Thanks, Derek.
- [34:04]
Derek Hayes
Thank you, Becky. Now, let's start here with a little history lesson. The Battle of Little Bighorn, often called Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement on June 24 26, 1876. Up there in Montana Territory, a coalition of Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors overwhelmingly defeated the U.S. army's 7th Cavalry, killing Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer along with 268 of his men. It's also estimated to 30 to 100 native warriors also died there that day. So there's plenty of death, plenty of carnage, plenty of blood spilled on the land that might warrant just such a haunting and maybe, Becky, you drove right through it. Eerie stuff, interesting stuff, and just the sort of thing we're looking for here on the program. So another big thanks Becky, for making the phone call. Now gang, I figured it was about time to play another Ouija board story. So here to help us meet our mark is Heather from the Peach State.
- [35:30]
AJ / Becky / Heather / Kaz / Anonymous Caller
Hi. So my name is Heather and where I live in center around Georgia area, there is this abandoned school that was built in 1930s and around last year when I was about 1920, me and my friends went over there to explore it because, well, who doesn't do that when they're young? It was around 11pm at night, full moon, and we decided to explore and we had brought a Ouija board and it was me, my friend Hayden, I think about four others. Two of the girls that were with us decided to use it. I was standing beside them, not wanting to touch it because I'm superstitious about the board and it was the point of storm that night. So I was saying, hey, we need to leave soon because, well, it was going to storm bad. The wind was about maybe 10 miles per hour, maybe even worse. And I'm standing there holding onto my friend as they begin to use it and the second they used moved and as it moved the wind just shut off like you were turning off a water faucet. The crickets became silent. Everything just went like time had stopped. My ears had popped from the silence and the second I felt that, my body froze and we had gotten responses from it saying the names of Ophelia, which was an odd name because no one in the group was named that. And my friend Sarah was having nightmares and dreams about a girl named Ophelia a bit after my friends. And I heard a scream far in the distance and we proceeded to run. And we never spoke of that day again because as we were leaving I looked back, I saw a little girl with pale skin, a small cute white pinkish dress with hollowed out eyes, looking dead at me. And I have never told my friends about that to this day. And I really hope to never go back there again. Even though it sounds fun
- [37:55]
Derek Hayes
thanks, Heather. Yet another facility on my list of most likely to be haunted. Schools joining places like prisons, jails, libraries, hospitals and churches. Liminal spaces, I suppose it's a popular thing these days, but bringing a Ouija board is a bit extra. I like it. But there are many out there that will caution you against doing just such a thing. To each their own, I guess, but fun times, Heather. We thank you again for sharing. Now gang, this next one is certainly a strange one. Please welcome Kaz from my state of California.
- [38:46]
Kaz
Hey, I'm Cass. I'm from California and I stay in the Bear area. A few years back I had a girlfriend that lived in Clear Lake, so I would trek the two hours to go visit her on my weekends. And the one that you'd have to take to get there was Mount St. Helena. It's a very curvy road and if you're not really experienced driver, it really sucks driving it. That's from my experience personally. You don't have signal for two hours. It's a really eerie route the whole way there. I mean, if you don't have your playlist set, you're screwed. Eventually I found a back road that made the trip a little bit longer, but at the time it was a little bit more convenient for me and it had a really nice scenic view and I kind of really liked making the drive there. So eventually I would ask my best friend to come with me and sometimes she would, sometimes she wouldn't, but in this particular night she decided to come with me, but so I'd have to, you know, drive alone, especially at night. But we didn't really get to leave the city and she lives in San Francisco. She didn't really get to leave till like midnight hours. And from midnight to Clear Lake just made it so much longer than it needed to be. Anyways, the back road that I would take you would have to go through a small town that was just one long strip. Like on the right is the forest, the road, and then the left is the town. There's like a supermarket, a diner, mechanic shop, a liquor store, and resident houses. And that's all there is until you get to the back road. And it's just nothing during the day. It's really lively. However, we're at it's night time and it's a completely different story. So it looks and feels really eerie. Anyways, on the way there you are passing a bunch of vineyards and for a few miles and I was just showing my friend this particular road that had a bunch of trees lined up where it kind of made it look like you're driving through a tunnel of trees. And it's really beautiful. And I was just pointing it out to her. And we're about to pass the last vineyard, and this place has a bunch of hay outside of the property lined up along the fence. And as I'm driving closer, I see what looks like someone crouching at the end of the haystack, like, trying to hide, but they're not doing a very good job at it. And I'm, like, trying to focus, but I'm just like, what is that? But I don't really see it anymore. So I just kind of brush it off and kind of check it up to me seeing things. But when I get closer to the end, I see. See it from, like, the corner of my eye because I, like, literally turned my head, like, to look over like, twice or three times. Like, and it looked like a small child, but it looks too small to be a child. Like, it looks like a dwarf. Like a duende, if you know what those are. Like, it had yellow straw hair with bangs across its face, green shorts with black eyes. It was so creepy. But it looked like. Kind of looked like a scarecrow made out of straw, but it was a child. So I thought, like, oh, is it just a scarecrow? But like, no, the eyes were moving. That freaked me out. They didn't look like a person, but it was shaped like a person. Anyways, the eyes are moving. It looked right at me. It was just so freaky. It made my heart drop. And I just didn't really expect to see anything there. Taking that route countless times, I've never seen anything before. And I get really quiet and my best friend notices. And when I look in my rear view mirror, it's gone. And I wait about like a mile or two before I asked my friend, like, hey, not change subject, but did you happen to say, see that when we're going through the vineyards? That child next to the hay, and she was like this duende, like, crouched by the hay, and I was like, yeah. And she, like, made this look and, like, said that, like, oh, my God, like, she saw it too, but she didn't want to say anything because she sees stuff all the time, so she doesn't want to spook me about that stuff. So, yeah, that's my story. Thanks.
- [42:07]
Derek Hayes
Thank you, guys. Now, my first thought here goes to something called straw dolly. Back in the day, rural communities the world over would tell of a corn spirit that retreated from the oncoming reapers every harvest time. Hiding in the last of the standing crop. Now, these final few stalks of corn are then saved and fashioned into a corn doll, in which it is believed that the spirit can take refuge. Come spring, the token will be returned to the fields and buried with that year's planting. But something tells me that that's not what this was. That's not what Kaz and her friends saw that night. Now, the duende was mentioned, and we've covered that creature extensively over the years. But for those that don't know, it's essentially a gnome found in Mexico and parts of Central America, at least. Allegedly a trickster spirit that's said to infest homes and rural areas. But if you mix those two things together, the straw dolly and the duende, you get what's known as a krat. Now, a krat is a creature formed from hay or old household implements by its master, who then had to give the devil three drops of blood to bring the krat to life. Now, the krat was notable for doing everything the master ordered it to do. It was mostly used for stealing and bringing various goods for the krat's owner. It was said to be able to fly around. An interesting aspect of the krat is that it was necessary for it to constantly keep working, otherwise it would turn dangerous to its owner. Before you go getting excited. The krat seems to be limited to Estonian folklore, so despite the perfect fit, it might not be a match, but it's a fun story nonetheless. And we thank you again, Cass, for taking the time to share with us.
- [44:18]
Spin Quest Announcer
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Lowe's Announcer
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- [45:18]
Lady Luck
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- [45:25]
Host or Announcer
You're looking for great Memorial Day Savings.
- [45:27]
Brian
It's all right here.
- [45:30]
Derek Hayes
Now let's venture back to the east coast for this one from the Garden State. Please welcome Anonymous to the show.
- [45:42]
Interjector / Affirmative Speaker
Yes.
- [45:43]
AJ / Becky / Heather / Kaz / Anonymous Caller
Hi, Derek.
- [45:43]
Interjector / Affirmative Speaker
I would like to tell you a story that happened to me during the pandemic. I live in New Jersey. It's Fair Lawn, New Jersey, in Bergen County. I would like to be Anonymous. We just moved into an old house from a new luxurious house to downsize in the same town about half a mile away from the old house. The new house we moved and built in 1954. And we lived here about two months, I suppose. And one of the evenings we were in the bedroom ready to go to sleep. My husband was sitting on the bed. My husband is disabled, he can't really walk. And I was fussing around in the bedroom, walking around the bedroom, preparing to go to sleep. We had the blind down. We have a sliding door in the bedroom. It's the only window we have. And the sliding door was closed because that sliding door is going into the backyard of the house. The backyard is very creepy at night. During the daytime, it's paradise. It's literally gorgeous. First of all, from the bedroom, there's a big deck. After the deck, there's 20ft of grass. And then there's a chain link. And behind chain link, there's a brook. It's called Beaver Dam Brook. And then there's another neighborhood street. So at night it's very private. There's nobody there to see us. It's a very private backyard, but it's very dark and very creepy at night. So we keep the door closed and we have the blinds down all the way to the floor. So we're in the bedroom talking. It's dark in the bedroom. I just turned the lights off and suddenly my husband said, look at this. What is that? We can see lights on our shade. The blind is like a Hunter Douglas blind, celluloid, I guess, and honeycomb on the side. So the lights. It looked like somebody was outside in the backyard on the grass with flashlights that are moving on our blinds, right? Like spheres of light, fuzzy lights dancing on our blinds is very strange because there's nobody there. It's very private. It's private property. There's no way anybody can be there. It's freaky. So I freaked out and creeped to the window and I behind the blind without moving it, right? I don't see it. So dark, cannot see. There's no people with light, no nothing. I don't know where the source of light coming from. I Can't figure it out. It's very dark. However, there is the deck has the railing, right? And on the railing, I have decorative flower pots hanging. And I can see an iridescent light coming from one of the closest parts to me. It's like two feet from me outside, right? And the light looks like it's gel, Iridescent, glowing gel. There was no rain. I don't understand what it is at all. So I'm freaked out a little bit and continue searching where the source of light could be. Maybe it's from the neighbors across the brook. You know, there's a brook, and then there's a fence, and the house is a little bit higher than us on the other side. The fence has a gap between the ground and the fence. So maybe there's a car standing there and glowing. Look at it. But it's possible. So I don't know where the source of light came from. And then my husband asking me, he said, give me the candy. Give me the candy on your side. But I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait. And he's saying, no, give me the candy. Give me the candy. I had candy, like, somewhere in a dish next to my side of the bed. And I'm still standing, looking at the, you know, outside, picking through. Then I look up, and I look at the leaves above me. We have trees in the backyard everywhere. And the leaves are in the shape of the hearts, like a traditional heart leaf shape. And they're dancing in the breeze, but they're not overlapping. It's like a beautiful pattern. And so now I'm so mesmerized. How can that be? That something does not overlap in nature, right? And then my husband's voice says, isn't it funny how the movement of the leaves are so beautiful in the pattern?
- [49:51]
AJ / Becky / Heather / Kaz / Anonymous Caller
How mesmerizing.
- [49:52]
Interjector / Affirmative Speaker
But he's sitting in the bed, and he's not moving. He couldn't see what I'm looking at. That I realized next day. And then there was a pool, like an emotional pool for me to look inside the brook. Like somebody said, look here, kind of without words, you know? So I looked inside the brook, and I saw there was a tall something, probably 10ft tall. It had a face like a horse. Half horse, half human. It was gleaming, shiny. It was almost like silver tinsel. And it was looking at me. It wanted me to look at it. And the moment I saw it, I jumped back and I got inside the bed, covered myself with blankets, and was scared. And then I was thinking, was it a dream? Because I Wasn't asleep yet, but I'm like, maybe I dreamed it. No, but I was up. So I asked my husband. He said I didn't say anything about the leaves. I didn't see the leaves. So he was a witness that this happened to me. For some reason, the face that scared me wasn't concerning to me, but the leaves were concerning and I couldn't understand why. So in the morning, next day, I went to see what was the gel, right? There was nothing in the flower pot at all. It wasn't bad, just flowers and dirt. However, I looked up and I realized we don't have any trees like this. We only have maples. There's only maple leaves. I wanted to call about this, but I couldn't remember the exact date. But I remember that I told my friend about it before I went to sleep that night. I couldn't sleep, right? So I went online and started looking for the leaf pattern. And I found online a rug from Amazon. It looked exactly the pattern I saw. So I sent it to my friend. I took a screenshot and the picture stamped July 11, 2020. So this happened July 10, 2020. But I heard a Glimmer man story today on your podcast and I was like, oh my God, maybe that's what I saw. So that's my story. I would like to know if anybody in my neighborhood seen anything like this. Thank you.
- [52:03]
AJ / Becky / Heather / Kaz / Anonymous Caller
Bye.
- [52:07]
Derek Hayes
Thank you, caller. Wow, there's a lot to unpack here. So let's get started. We'll begin with the unidentified leaves. Given that this was the east coast and that the leaves were heart shaped, my first thought goes to a redbud tree. They have heart shaped leaves leaves and they grow in that area. So you might want to cross reference images of that tree collar. You might have a match. Now my thoughts also go to the Glimmer Man. Just like our caller mentioned, the detail of leaves moving in a pattern was what tipped me off. Something about the whole description made it sound like it was some sort of cloaking mechanism rather than everyday normal vegetation. Norcaller gives us enough clues to zoom right into her street. And it's surrounded by miles of city and suburb, save for tiny crops of trees that are scattered here and there, just like the small stand that's growing right over Beaver Dam Brook. So maybe something found its way into the city and took cover where it could. Or maybe it escaped from some laboratory nearby and is simply hiding out. Or perhaps it's part of a bigger legend. This is Jersey after all. And of course I'm talking About the notorious Jersey Devil. Now I'm about to share a clip from the old television program Lost Tapes. See if you can pick up on all the reasons that this creature should be a contender.
- [53:52]
Narrator or Expert (YouTube Source)
The Jersey Devil, or the Leeds Devil as it is sometimes called, is a cryptid animal. It's mostly described as a flying bipedal creature, meaning that it stands upright. There are variations on this that has the body of a gaunt horse. The forelegs are shorter, the hind legs are actually skinny but hooved their wings that depending on reports vary from 2ft outstretched to 4 to 6 to 8 even. It has a tail which is considered spike or fort as part of its demonic or supernatural origin.
- [54:29]
Host or Announcer
It frightens people, especially children. And it kills livestock and wreaks habit on social order. And there were really a surprising number of attacks in a very short period
- [54:43]
Narrator or Expert (YouTube Source)
of time from literally the 1700s. We go from 1951 to 1960, when a $10,000 reward was offered in 1991 on to 2007, 2008 and sightings there.
- [54:56]
Kaz
The scariest thing about the Jersey Devil
- [54:58]
Derek Hayes
is its appearance and its size.
- [55:00]
Kaz
You know, it's this man size or larger than the man sized dragon. I mean, if I saw that coming
- [55:06]
Derek Hayes
toward me, I'd certainly run the other way too. Now here are the hang ups. First of all, where are all the lights coming from? I can't recall a single Jersey Devil report that included strange lights in the woods. And what about the location? While this story does take place in New Jersey, it doesn't take place in the right part of New Jersey. The Pine Barrens are callers calling in from the northern reaches of the state. While the Barrens, the infamous home to the Jersey devil, is some 100 miles south. Is that distance too great for a winged hooved horse headed devil to travel? Probably not, but it is pretty far for it to travel and not be noticed by others. Unless of course it had some sort of invisibility shield or something. It's worth mentioning that there are stories of mantis men in that general area as well. And many of those reports claim that that creature too has the ability to cloak itself. So it makes me wonder if there are any other sightings like this from the Garden State. Give us a ring if this ring looks any of your bells. 888-6089. And thanks again caller for giving us all the goosebumps. Now keep those goosebumps plump because you're going to need them for this last call from the state of North Carolina. Please welcome Deidra back To.
- [56:49]
Deidra
Hey, Derek, this is Deidre from North Carolina again. I'm calling about something that happened years ago when I was a baby medic. It was about 1:30 in the morning. We respond to a call. And we get to the call. The patient's in distress. So we get her as stable as possible. We get her on the back of the ambulance. And my partner. Partner closes the back door. And I'm with the patient and she's on oxygen at the time. So I do a quick switch from the portable to the main. And I asked the patient a question and she didn't answer me. And I look at her and she's staring straight ahead. So look at the monitor and she is coded. So I yell at my partner to get in the back. We start working her, doing resuscitative efforts and everything like that. I'm intubating her, and after I intubate her, I happen to look in the back windows of the ambulance and I
- [57:53]
AJ / Becky / Heather / Kaz / Anonymous Caller
see the patient standing behind me looking
- [57:59]
Deidra
down at us working on her. And I, like, turned around to make sure that there was actually, like nobody standing behind me, like a firefighter or somebody else that was on the truck with us, and there was nobody standing behind me. And then I looked back at the windows and she's still just standing there
- [58:18]
AJ / Becky / Heather / Kaz / Anonymous Caller
with this look on her face.
- [58:21]
Deidra
And this has been like six years ago. And it's this call is one of the calls that really traumatized me, but that just sticks out, like working this lady, trying to get her back. And it's like she was standing there saying, let me go, Please let me go. So I have experienced other things like that, but that's the main one that sticks out in my mind. Thank you for the show and I hope everybody keeps it spooky.
- [58:53]
Derek Hayes
Thanks, Deidre. Now, I gotta know, did the woman survive the event or did she indeed get to go? Now, my mom was an EMT for at least 10 years, and I wonder if she has any stories like this. I'll have to ask her next time we're on the phone. But what a way to end tonight's program, at least the main portion of it. So a big thanks to Deidre for taking the time to call in and a big thanks to you, listener, for tuning in here tonight, because it's gonna do it for this one. Monsters Among Us podcast is written and produced by me, Derek Hayes. Copyright Red Crow Media. Additional support is provided by Sarah Carter Hayes, Delaney Bowers and Connor Ryan. All media used in this production is done so under the protection of FAIR use. Be sure to follow us on social media. Join us on YouTube, join our Discord server and leave us a rate and review wherever you can do such a thing. But don't forget you can catch the show every Saturday evening at 10pm Eastern on the ONX digital network. Just visit onxnetwork.com to tune in. Tonight's score was provided by Iron Cthulhu, Hulu Apocalypse, Koda EG Music and Carl Casey and White Bad Audio. Now don't forget to watch our film Shadows in the desert. Go to borregotriangle.com to tune in. Check out Monsters Among Us Junior. You can find it wherever you get your podcast. And don't forget to join us in the beyond. The show keeps going and so should you. I have more show if you want it. Just stick around and I'll be right back. Sa.
- [61:35]
Lady Luck
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Spin Quest Announcer
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- [62:06]
Lowe's Announcer
This July 4th at Lowe's, get up to 45% off select major appliances plus save $80 on the select Char Broil Performance Series gas Grill. Now $299. Our best lineup is here at Lowe's Lowe's. We help you Save validation through 78 while supplies. Last selection varies by location. See lowe's.com for more details.
- [62:30]
Lady Luck
Visit your nearby Lowe's.
- [62:36]
Host or Announcer
He worked into the eighth inning today.
- [62:43]
Derek Hayes
Now here's a fun one for you. Please welcome Dennis from California.
- [62:52]
Barry
Hey Derek.
- [62:52]
Peter's Friend or Additional Speaker
This is Dennis from Los Angeles, California. I just finished listening to season 20 episode 20 with a guy named Mitch who called in and that's the first time I've ever heard someone say an experience that I actually had myself. It all goes back to when I was about 16 years old in high school. I used to share a bedroom with my brother and I was on the top bunk of bed. One night I climbed up to the top bunk bed and I was just facing the ceiling. I wasn't tired or anything like that, but I was ready to go to sleep. All I remember is I was looking at the ceiling and I blinked and I went from night to day in the manner of an instant. It wasn't like I dozed off or was tired and groggy or anything like that. It was just a blink. And from what I knew, it was dark and then it was light. I wasn't tired. I didn't wake up feeling some type of way or anything like that. It was like I had the same energy. It was in a manner of a blink. I don't know what happened. It could be lost time. I'm not quite sure, but that's the first time I heard of anyone else having the same experience. I also noticed that Mitch spoke about a season 11 episode 19 that happened with a similar person, as well as season four and episode 20. So if this is a thing, I'd really want to know what happened. Thanks for letting me share my story.
- [64:29]
Derek Hayes
Thanks Dennis. Lately, that's how all these days feel to me. You blink any week goes by. It's true that time speeds up as you get older, but that does little to explain what happened to Dennis. So let's put a call out there. Is there anyone listening that has any idea Is this phenomenon something you know about 888608 night? Or shoot me an email at monsters among us podcast gmail.com and a big thanks to Dennis for taking the time to ring in. All right gang, this is where we open the doors to our exclusive club, the Beyond. Now, it might be exclusive, but it's not impossible to get into. All you need is a subscription. Visit monsters among us podcast.com and click on the Patreon tab or join us on Apple subscriptions. Either way, five bucks a month gives you access to all the rest of this program and well over 100 hours of additional programming completely ad free. And if you're still on the fence, try the seven day free trial. It's free. It says so right there in the name. It's in the behind that you can catch stories like this one from Dan out of New Jersey.
- [66:02]
Dan
Hi Derek, My name is Dan from New Jersey, calling in to tell a story I had when I used to live up in northwestern Jersey, where I grew up right on the Pennsylvania border, kind of. I grew up in a town up there that was pretty rural, if you can believe it, for New Jersey. It's actually a nice area up there. Grew up on kind of the side of a mountain. The house I grew up in was an older red farmhouse, kind of a derelict farm that my parents rented. You know, it was a lot of fun as a kid, but there was definitely some weird stuff going on there as far as we could trace it back. It was constructed sometime in the 1800s. The town itself was really old and there's definitely a lot of stories coming out of there of hauntings and things like that. But things started to get a little bit weird after we moved in. I was really young at the time. When we moved in. I think I was like three. I have a younger sister who was two and a twin brother. So we moved into this house. I started to recall, you know, a few years ago that my sister had an imaginary friend and she had a lot of imaginary friends when she was a kid. But this one really stuck out for some reason, really started freaking me out. So I was talking to my parents about it and they filled in some gaps for me. So one thing that happened with my cousin who was a couple years younger than my sister. So this was probably around time she was like five or six and you know, my cousin was like four or five or something like that.
- [67:18]
Host or Announcer
Oh, I have had no luck lately.
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Lowe's Announcer
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Lady Luck
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Spin Quest Announcer
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Lowe's Announcer
This July 4th at Lowe's, get up to 45% off select major appliances plus save $80 on the select Char Broil Performance series gas Grill. Now $299. Our best lineup is here at Lowe's. Lowe's we help you save valid through 78 while supplies last selection varies by location. See lowe's.com for more details.
- [68:12]
Lady Luck
Visit your nearby Lowe's.
- [68:17]
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