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Caller
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Derek Hayes
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Sam
Bubba
Frank
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Derek Hayes
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Sam
Sam.
Derek Hayes
Good evening and welcome to Monsters Among Us. I am your guide, Derek Ace. Hello folks and welcome back to another spine tingling installment. I have a rather unusual collection assembled for you here this evening. A theme that I bet no one saw coming. Unless you were looking up, I suppose. Because tonight's stories are all about birds. Wild birds, domesticated birds, pets, dinner, and anything in between. There are currently over 11,000 living species of birds on the planet, ranging from the ostrich all the way down to the hummingbird. There are about 85 billion birds in the world at any given time. 50 billion wild, 35 billion domesticated. Of those 35 billion birds, 33 billion are chickens. So it's safe to say you're never far from one. And it's also safe to say there's something strange going on with the birds. Now, maybe it's because they can go places we can't move in ways that we're not able to that make our avian friends feel so unsettling. Whatever the reason, across cultures and centuries, when certain birds appear, we take notice. Because sometimes the birds aren't what they appear to be. Now, here to kick us off and to share with us, a perfect example is Marissa out of my state of California.
Caller
Hi Derek. My name is Marisada. So I live out in like a little town and it's in California, near Sacramento. And it's not very wooden and it's named Stockton and there's not really forest or anything. And growing up, I've never seen like owls before. So one day me and my grandmother, she's from Mexico and she tells me stories about monsters and things like this. Because I've been always interested in the paranormal and everything. And she told me a story about a witch or bruja named La Chusa. And she told me that this woman would transform into this big scary looking owl. And weirdly, a couple months after this, it was like at the end of August, I seen an owl and where I live, but it was weird because it seemed like it was following me. And the weird thing is it's like I've seen it multiple times during last year, like the end of August, beginning of September. And I brushed it off thinking, oh, whatever, like maybe it came from somewhere else or it's someone's pet, but I don't know. And what happened was after, like I noticed it and it would like come around following me, like little weird stuff would happen where I live, I would hear like weird little noises and like singing. And honestly I really thought, like, I'm okay, I'm going crazy. Like, I've never had anything like this happen to me. And I felt like it was like my mind messing with me because my grandma told me this story. And how coincidence that a few months later this started happening. And so I brushed it off, whatever. But then one night I would hear someone knocking, like on our wall. But we live in a two story house. But it sounded like right outside my window. And I would see nothing. And like I said, there's no trees, there's no woods, and I don't understand where this owl would have come from. And after that, two, three days later, outside my window, I could hear like a girl or a woman or someone just like giggling or singing. I don't know, I couldn't really tell, but it really freaked me out to the point where like I went to the church and got blessed. Like. But yeah, that's my story and I really love your podcast and thank you very much.
Sam
Bye.
Derek Hayes
Thanks. Marissa Lechuza. One of many bird like cryptid creatures that pepper the planet. Though I guess she's more of a witch than she is a cryptid. But I digress. Almond Piazza. Bird Thunderbird, the big bird of Texas. There are a number of them out there. But for every bird like cryptid reported, there's a piece of folklore and superstition surrounding these feathered beauties. For example, owls. In Western culture, owls are associated with wisdom, education, intellectual and magic and were thought to have an inner light which enabled them to see through the darkness. However, Roman soldiers thought to consider owls a warning of defeat, with their hoot said to be a sign of death. Now, folklore typically presents robins as kind and even holy in some cultures, Robins are linked to death. If a robin enters your house at any time of the year except November, it's heralded as a death in the household. Swans are often associated with grace and elegance and a symbol of love and fidelity due to their long lasting, apparently monogamous relationships. A swan song refers to an ancient belief that upon death, a mute swan would sing a beautiful song, having been silent most of their lifetime and with magpies before the spread of Christianity, the magpie was often associated with good luck or fortune. The Romans believed magpies were highly intelligent, and in ancient Greece, magpies were deemed sacred. The Church viewed the magpie very differently, though it said that the magpie was the only bird not to go into Noah's Ark, therefore earned an association with evil and misfortune. Finally, puffins In Irish folklore, puffins are reincarnations of Celtic monks. Puffins endure severe winter storms at sea and are thus often linked with weather. In Iceland, they're regarded as expert weather forecasters, while Inuit and Alaskan native tribes thought puffins had the power to actually change weather patterns and ward off storms. Now we have plenty more to explore here this evening, but first a quick break. I'll be right back. This episode is sponsored by Vinted. We all have them. Those clothes that you see sit in your closet. Never worn, just taking up valuable space. But what if those clothes could earn you a little extra money? That's where Vinted comes in. Vented is a second hand app that makes it easy for everyday sellers, people like you and me, to sell pre loved fashion and earn some extra money. I share a closet with my wife Sarah and it seems like there's never enough space. Now we both have clothes we never wear so why not give them a second life by selling them on Vinted? It's super easy to list clothes on Vinted and there are no selling fees so you keep everything you earn. Plus I can take the money I make on Vinted and do some thrifting on there for something new to me that I actually want to wear. Treat yourself. Am I right? It's a win win. The app is free to download. Listing items on Vinted is quick and simple. Once an item sells, Vinted creates a prepaid shipping label for you and with no seller fees, it makes finally taking time to clean out your closet feel worthwhile. Ready to clean out your closet and make some extra money? Download the Vinted app for free and start listing. With no seller fees, you keep every dollar you earn and for a limited time enjoy free shipping. In the US on vinted, we identified
Frank
seven major causes of the.
Derek Hayes
Now next up tonight we explore a call that's only partly on topic. One leg only in fact. Please welcome anonymous head of parts unknown.
Caller
Hi Derek, I would like to stay anonymous. I'm calling from West Dallas. I would like to tell my story that my uncle told me a long time ago, back in the 50s. He said that him and my aunt, they got into a really bad argument and it was already out like three in the morning. So to diffuse the argument he ended up just, you know, walking home to my grandparents house. And so he said as he was walking out of nowhere, he hears footsteps from behind him. He didn't pay no mind because he probably thought maybe it was just some dogs or something that was following him. Then he keeps walking and he hears the footsteps getting closer and closer and so he decides to finally turn around and when he does, he says that he saw the devil himself standing right behind him. He said, with the horns on his head, one chicken foot and one horse foot. And he said that he hears it telling him something. He couldn't quite understand what it was saying, but that, you know, he kept saying, what do you want? Like what do you want from me? And so he said that when he said that the devil turned to his side and pointed at a hole in the ground that had a light coming out from it. And my uncle said that he can hear like some screams coming inside that hole. And he said that he got so scared that he just turned around and just started running and he never looked back. And he just kept running and running till he got to my grandparents house and he told my grandpa what he just witnessed. And my grandpa had told him that, you know, because him and my aunt were arguing. He said that the devil came to get him. And then after that, the next day my uncle went to church and he prayed and everything. And ever since then, him and my aunt never argued again. And they were together to the day that they died. So I just want to say thank you and I hope to hear it on this podcast and keep the story spooky.
Sam
Thank you. Bye.
Derek Hayes
Well, that's not something you hear every day. A devil with one horse leg and one chicken leg. I can't help but wonder if it was original or extra crispy. Now this story certainly has Baba Yaga vibes, a famous supernatural figure from Slavic folklore. She was said to live in a hut that was suspended on a pair of oversized chicken legs. You can learn more about her in tonight's show notes. But I was unaware of the avian connection with the devil. Perhaps this amalgamation of creatures is regional or only limited to certain denominations. Either way, it was wild whatever it was. Any cautionary tale to boot. Keep those arguments to a minimum folks, lest you meet the chicken footed devil. Thank you again caller for taking the time to share. Now gang, if you have a story you would like to share, call our hotline at 8886-That's 888-608N I G H T. Or you can record a voice memo and email it to me at Monsters Among Us podcast gmail.com. now on to the show and up to Canada we go for this next one. Please welcome Elijah to the.
Caller
Hi Derek, this is Elijah. I'm calling you from Vancouver, Canada, British Columbia. I was just listening to an episode of yours. I think it's season 21 episode 13. There's somebody talking about, hearing a mimicking voice. His girlfriend, I think they were hearing something calling out, saying hi boys to their dog. I just wanted to share a little experience about birds I thought was really interesting. There's a different perspective to take on that situation. So my father in law, he loves to feed the crows. So at his house he'll have a smoke break or something. He's just sitting out on the porch outside and a crow will come by and he'll give them a little bit of whatever he's eating usually. Sometimes it's like a barbecue item or like he's a sandwich or he's got pretzels or peanuts. He loves to give it to the birds. And as he's doing this, a lot of other birds like to come by and it's always crows. It's like they talk to each other and let each other know that hey, this guy is giving out free food. Like we should go over here and check it out. So he just like feeds all these crows. And then they started to get used to him doing this to the point where every time he's outside, multiple crows will just come expecting to have some kind of snack. One day he noticed and I was sitting outside with him at this point just watching him, how he fed a little bit of the short rib to a crowd and how like three more of them just started coming over. You can hear little tip taps of their claws on the railing there when they're sitting on the patio and little pieces of this meat just sitting on the railing there. They come over and they'll take it not directly from his fingers but right off the railing there about a foot away from him. At one point he said, hey bud, how's it going? And the crow actually said, hey bud, right back at him. And then we both just started laughing. We looked at each other and then he said the same thing again, hey bud. And the crow said it again right back at him. So I just thought I would share that as a perspective to have. When you're hearing these voices out in the woods and it sounds really creepy. Well, sometimes birds just say really funny things. Just wanted to share that experience. People can know, you know, birds make a lot of little noises and they often do mimic what people are saying.
Sam
So.
Caller
Yeah. Anyway, I love your show. Keep it up. Hey.
Sam
Bye bye.
Derek Hayes
Thanks, Elijah. Now, most people don't realize this, but many bird species can actually mimic human speech. Parrots, starlings, minas ravens, and even crows. My grandmother once told me that her and her siblings had a pet crow when she was very young. And apparently they split the poor thing's tongue, which according to her family and local folklore, would give it the ability to speak and speak it dead, despite the split tongue. If you're curious as to what a talking crow might sound like, here's a quick sampling I took from a TikTok post link in the show notes.
Caller
How are you? What's up?
Anonymous Caller
What's up?
Caller
Bye bye.
Shelly
No honey, I know.
Derek Hayes
Now imagine hearing that in the woods. Elijah here has a good point. Maybe some of these strange voices that are heard in the woods are simply talking birds. But I must ask, is that any less creepy? Thanks again Elijah for making the phone call. Now folks, I sure wouldn't want to be the birds in this next entry. Let's just say Mother Nature can be gnarly. Please welcome Jennifer from my boyhood home of Ohio.
Caller
Yes, my name is Jennifer and I live right outside of Dayton, Ohio. I was listening to season six episode 15 and Jeff called in about his son seeing ghosts and I was just wondering if it was the cemetery off Route 4 because cemetery is right down the road from my house because my way home last night till like 10:22, I seen white translucent figure run across the road in front of me from the cemetery to the house across the road. I was so scared I called my husband to come meet me at the door cuz I do work second shift also. I grew up in southern Ohio and my grandpa lived in a place called Galia right before you get to Ohio and he has seen the black cat in which you talk about and he kept turkeys and it jumped in his pen, killed his turkeys, took the whole body of course, and let back out. And you know, the fence was six foot high. Not many things could leap over that to grab a turkey and then back over it. He saw it several times. People thought he was crazy, but I believe them. Thank you. Love your podcast.
Derek Hayes
Thanks, Jennifer. And a bonus ghost story in there as well. An entity that crossed the road, an activity that's typically reserved for chickens. Now that's fun and all, but tell me more about this ABC that helped himself to Thanksgiving dinner. As Jennifer mentioned, I was lucky enough to have seen one of these myself some 40 years ago, but thankfully the creature I saw didn't have livestock on the menu. Thank you again, Jennifer, for the stories and thanks again for calling in. Alright, so our next feathered experience also comes to us from Ohio. Please welcome Brad to the program.
Sam
Hi Derek, this is Brad calling from Cincinnati, Ohio. I just had a weird sighting of what can only be described by other people who have seen something similar as a glitch in the Matrix. So it's Sunday, May 24, 2026. It was overcast today, you know, pretty cloudy. You know, we've had showers off and on. Today it's about 70 degrees roughly about 5 o'. Clock. And I was on my way home from work. I was driving down I275 east down towards Loveland from kind of the Mason area, so near Loveland and in the far right lane of the highway. And I look up and on the light poles I see something that I can't explain. So there are some large birds and couldn't tell if these were ravens, crows, might have been turkey vultures. But whatever the case, there are about maybe six, seven of them on a light pole. You know, the light poles that just kind of hang over the highway a little bit. Now the weird thing about these birds was they were not moving. And when I say they were not moving, I mean, of course, you know, you're going to see birds that are, you know, staying still just kind of looking around. But these look like they were in mid takeoff or mid landing. Like the wings were not all the way extended but like maybe kind of, you know, 90 degree angle at what would be described as the elbow of the wing, you know, kind of extended out a little bit. And like I said, kind of mid takeoff, mid landing. The head wasn't moving, you know, like they were looking around for something. And I saw this and I'm just like, what? Like what am I looking at? You know, looked like they were kind of frozen in time, about to take off or about to land. And sure enough, on a light pole down the road a little bit, maybe another, you know, 30 seconds down the road I see the same thing and not sure what could be causing that. Kind of weird. Just thought I'd call it in. Thanks and keep it spooky.
Derek Hayes
Thanks Brad. Now I'll be honest dear. It sort of sounds like you simply saw vultures in the horladic pose, a stance they take where they spread their wings wide, almost as if they're about to fly. It helps them to thermal regulate. They're able to cool off by taking a cool breeze in under the wings, or warm up by exposing as much dark surface area to the sun as possible. Check out the show notes for more information on this one. Thanks again Brad for the call.
Sam
You know, during the last off season
Caller
it feels like it's been
Derek Hayes
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Sam
and praise to consecrate themselves.
Derek Hayes
All right, I admit this next one is a bit of a cheat. It's not a bird per se, but the mammalian version of one. Here with a bad story Is anonymous out of New Jersey.
Anonymous Caller
Hi Derek. I wish to remain anonymous for this one. A couple of months ago, I moved from the New England area to the South Jersey area. When we relocated to this area, the day that I was waiting for the movers, I woke up extremely ill. I was very dizzy, nausea, vomiting. It was horrible, like the flu. Of course, I ended up going to a clinic. They gave me some pills, some medication to help with the nausea and explained that I had tested negative for everything. That they had no idea what could have been. That it could be food poisoning or some other ailment like that. I went home. I went away eventually and probably about four days later it came back even worse. This time the pills didn't work. I was very worried. It didn't feel like anything I've experienced before. That night I went to sleep and I had the strangest dream. I dreamt that I was in a barn with my husband and son. And it was very beautiful. There was a lot of light coming in through the windows. It had a skylight. And I remember being happy. And as I'm walking through this barn, I look at the skylight, at the sky, and it was very sunny. And all of a sudden this black thing is coming straight at the skylight. It crashes through and there's glass everywhere. I cover myself because glass landed on the. And after I clear the glass off me, I stand up and whatever crashed through seemed to be pretty big. And then I look and it seems to be standing up. And so I take another look. And it looks human almost, but it was covered in black fur. And it looks at me and it has a face, a mix between a bat and a human being. And has wings. And it looked almost like a human sized bat. Now this creature stares at me and then looks at my son that was in the room with me and my husband. And it looks like it's going to go in the direction of my son. So of course I'm closer to it. So I yell at my husband to take my son out of here. And I get in between the creature and my son and I start wrestling with it. We get into a fight and it looks like I overcome it. I kill it somehow. I think I put my hands on the neck. I remember even feeling the fur around its body. And it bit me. And as it's dying there after biting me, it gives me a smirk, kind of a smile. And then it dies. And I wake up. It's a very strange dream, but I didn't think anything of it. It's just A nightmare. Weeks go by and I get to see a doctor. My doctor seems very concerned and orders me a lot of blood work. I wait and the blood work comes in slowly trickling in. And all the blood work that came back was abnormal. This freaked me out. My doctor calls me as soon as all the blood work finishes coming through and she tells me, you need to see a hematologist. There's something very wrong. And I have given you a referral for a cancer center. All I heard was cancer. Of course I get to see a hematologist. But I have to wait a long time. And the doctor sees me. And when he sees the blood work, he tells me he is puzzled. And he says, you're a person, that it's clearly healthy from the outside. You shouldn't have this type of blood work. He says it looks like there's an infection. It doesn't look like it's cancer because I see cancer all day long and they don't look like this. And then as he's about to leave the office and I'm gathering my things, he says, have you been bitten by a tick? No, I haven't been bitten by any ticks that I can think of. Says, I'm going to send you a Lyme panel just because all these symptoms you've been having match Lyme disease. Symptoms were that I had deteriorated to joint pain everywhere. I couldn't remember things. The fogginess was horrible. The pain on my hip, on my back, it was pretty bad. Plus the dizziness and the nausea. So I go and do the blood work that this hematologist sent and when it came back, it was the Lyme disease panel. And that one came out positive. I was so surprised, like, how could I have Lyme? I haven't gotten bitten by anything. And then I remember the bite in my dream. Of course I had the dream after I started feeling ill. So all I can think of is that my mind was telling me something bit you and you're ill because of it and, and you've been fighting it this whole time. My doctor called me, put me on antibiotics, and of course I'm starting to feel better. But that dream, it just keeps coming up in my head. How your body, if you are willing to listen to, can really tell you things about you and your health. Thank you. Take care.
Derek Hayes
We appreciate the entry. Caller, what a wild story. A bat squatch bite in dreamland that tipped off. A real life bite and infection. Now I can't help but agree. Caller, I think our body does have a way of detecting things and alerting us. Some of us are just better at interpreting those signs than others. I'm sorry you were diagnosed with Lyme. It's a nasty one. From what I gather that in Alpha Gal and any other tick related illness and these all seem to be on the rise these days, as if we needed any other obstacles in our lives. But once again, thanks scholar for participating. I'll be thinking of this one for a while. Now before we move on. Your chances of getting killed by a bird are very slim. Very, very slim in fact. But they're not zero. The following info is courtesy of the Berryman Institute at Utah State University. Each year There are between 89 million and 340 million bird vehicle collisions in the United States. An estimated 10 human injuries occur as a result of these collisions and one human death is caused. Each year. From 2001 to 2004, an average of 1,594 people visited US emergency rooms for treatment of bird bites. From 1990 to 2015, there were 616 bird strikes with civilian aircraft in the United States that resulted in damage to the aircraft. 229 strikes that injured 400 people, and 12 strikes that killed 26 people. Now, large birds seem to be responsible for most of the human injuries. 117 injuries with Canadian geese, 42 with vultures, 31 with ducks, and 22 with seagulls. Like I said, the chances are slim, but they're not zero. Now, up next, we might have another bat. It might be a bird, but it also could be something else entirely. Please welcome Josh out of Nebraska.
Sam
Hey, Derek, this is Josh from Bellevue, Nebraska. Something weird just happened last night. So I don't know if you have a ring cam episode or you're going to do something with videos caught on your door cam, but last night I was just outside on my deck smoking a cigarette and came inside, shut the door, thought nothing of it. A lot of times with the ring cam, it will record any movement the way I have it set up. So it just doesn't record the whole time. It just records if I stand up or if anybody moves or any kind of motion that happens in front of the door. So anyway, didn't think anything about it. Just looking through the camera for last night and something weird happened, which I'm not sure exactly what it is, but you can see me stand up in the video, which I'll email over to you right after this call. Walk inside and as soon as I shut the door, you'll see what looks like a winged bird or Some sort of a bat or something that flies by up into the sky, does some sort of a maneuver and then flies off towards the church that is on the left side of the screen. Now, just want to say also, I live right by Offutt Air Force Base, so I'm always seeing planes and seeing different stuff in the sky. I don't think anything of it because I don't know what kind of technology they have, but I just recently put that camera up and I'm in a really good position there on my deck where you can see a lot of things like that. But this was up closer and like I said, first I thought it was a bird or a bat, but if you look at it and rewind on the video, you can see it kind of manifests right out of the bottom of my deck, goes into the sky. There's no flapping of the wings or anything like that. I thought it might be a bat because it's at night. I don't think birds fly at night, but it just does a maneuver, goes off to the left and disappears. I watch it about a thousand times. I have no idea what it is. Wanted to get your thoughts on it. Thanks for your time, love the podcast. Bye.
Derek Hayes
Thank you, Josh. You know, I'm having trouble locating this video that Josh sent in. So if you're listening, Josh, send that puppy back in. It's hard to find things when you get as many emails as I do. But as for the video, I wonder if he didn't see the wings flapping because they were moving faster than the camera shutter could keep up. Now, I'm assuming that it was dark. I believe Josh said that it was. In which case the shutter speed would be moving pretty slow, so it could possibly smooth out any motion due to low light. So maybe it was a bird or a bat. And like I said, maybe it was something else. Get that video into us, Josh, and we'll see what we can do. But until then, thanks again for the call. Alright, folks, I have one more before the next break. So let's get Nick in here from the Great Lakes State.
Sam
Hello, this is Nick from Michigan. So it is 11 o', clock, Valentine's Day, 2023. I just got home from work. My walk is about 10 minutes and when I was walking home, I looked up in the sky and saw a glowing bird. I don't think it was just reflecting light underneath it. I looked around, all the lights around me that I could see, there was a post office nearby, street lamps, etc. All pointed down. So I don't think it would be reflecting light. It's a clear sky. Or I would have seen the same light on the clouds. Even though it just finished raining, I
Caller
stood there and watched it.
Sam
It was beautiful. I really enjoyed watching it. It looked like a seagull flying around, but at 10:50 at night and glowing like a pale blue white color. I'm baffled. I was trying to figure it out, looking around for any possible cause. They shouldn't even be out at night. I'm puzzled. That's it. Thank you. Bye.
Derek Hayes
Thanks, Nick. What do we think here, folks? A ghost bird? A new, unknown, bioluminescent species of bird? Or one that grew up a little too close to the chemical factory? Or is this again, something else altogether? Now, the mention of the animal glowing harkens back to the pterodactyl accounts we've shared in the past. Some of those reports, especially those from Papua New guinea, include that detail. Even the infamous Van Meter visitor was said to have a glowing horn on its head. So I can't tell you that I know what you saw or why it was glowing, Nick. But I can tell you that it's a common theme in sightings like yours. So I hope that helps. And a big thanks for taking the time to bring in. Now they're just trying to get on the same page. Step into the world of power, loyalty and luck. I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse.
Sam
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Derek Hayes
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Sam
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Derek Hayes
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Caller
welcome to the family.
Sam
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Caller
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Anonymous Caller
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Sam
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Derek Hayes
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Anonymous Caller
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Derek Hayes
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Anonymous Caller
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Derek Hayes
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Anonymous Caller
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Sam
And like I say, these are just
Derek Hayes
a handful of examples. All right, so I've bent the rules again for this next entry. While technically it does involve birds, it's not exactly a bird story. Please welcome Shelley out of the state of Pennsylvania.
Shelly
Hi, I'm Shelly And I'm calling from Pennsylvania. I was just listening to season 17 episode 4 where an IT tech guy was in an opera house at night and heard ghostly music. And it reminded me that I had something like that happen to me in Tombstone, Arizona. So if anybody isn't familiar with Tombstone, it's a historical town that during the silver mining rush in the 1870s or 1880s, it is where Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday had the shootout at the OK Corral and became famous for that. And now it's a historical town with some of the original buildings there. And it's supposed to be haunted. So a friend and I went out to tour it and we spent about a week there. And she and I both have had many, many paranormal experiences. So we didn't know what to expect. And the first day we were there we went into the Birdcage Theater and it's a self guided tour. And we had just gone through the downstairs area, you know, where people sat in the audience. And we went up the steps to the backstage and we were behind the curtain on stage and we were the only people there. I mean it was a weekday and it wasn't a vacation season. So there were no real crowds there. There were very few. And while we were standing there, we heard this music. It sounded like it was far off, like it was being piped in. It didn't sound like modern music. It sounded kind of like a ragtime syncopated. And I couldn't tell you what the melody was. It was just a few seconds and my friend and I looked at each other. Oh, that was cool. So to exit the theater you have to go through the gift shop. And when we were paying for souvenirs, we said to the cashier that we liked the music. And she said what music? Well, the music that we heard piped in. She said we weren't playing any music. We don't play music, we don't have any and we don't have a sound system. So we both chalked that up to kind of being paranormal. And I don't remember how long after that it was, but I was watch one of the episodes of Ghost Hunters where they were doing an investigation of the Birdcage Theater in Tombstone and they were going over the evidence and they heard a few lines of old timey music. And it reminded me of the music that we heard from our ears when we were there. Now apparently none of the cast heard it when they were there, but they did capture it on digital recording later. So we did feel validated. I couldn't tell you that it was the same melody or the same instruments, but it had the same kind of sound and tune. And so in my mind I heard ghostly music. And I really like your show. Thank you for listening. Bye.
Derek Hayes
Thank you, Shelly. You know, I also remember that episode of Ghost Hunters and I was able to track it down online. And here's that actual EVP that Shelly referenced where the Ghost Hunters guys capture what sounds like calliope music at the Bird Cage Theater. Take a listen. Now this thing on the bottom is fake. It's the real the real.
Sam
Like that's a real fish tail, whatever that thing is. And this is looks like.
Derek Hayes
Because that's what they do, they sell a lot of different mummified. Now Tombstone is on my short list because it sounds like a spooky place. And if you don't believe Shelly, then take Nick's word for it.
Sam
Hi Derek, my name's Nick. This is an incident that involves my wife and I actually and my father. It happened here 2017, around spring break of March. So our incident that happened was we went to go visit my mom and dad because they moved out to Arizona. Now being out there in Arizona, you know, that's a hot spot for a lot of different things. But when my wife and I, we flew into Phoenix, we really wanted to go down to Tombstone and visit around a lot of historical areas. We wanted to go visit Birdcage Theater. Now when you go visit Birdcage Theater they have the front area where the saloon was, area where the showgirls were and stuff like that. You could see the full of holes in the wall. You know, you really just got eerie but yet historical thrilling feeling being in that room. Now they do offer self guided tours in the back that have been converted into a museum. But everything is 100% the original stuff from that time period. My wife and I, my dad, my mom was too scared to go back there. We went in the back and we were just wandering about. But after a good minute of being back there in that room, my wife and I, we looked at each other and we're like, you got that feeling? I'm like, yeah. You just get this odd heavy weighted feeling, heavy energy. You know, there's something in that room, you know, know there's something there with you. And there's a barber chair there. The moment I looked at that barber chair and I walked up there too and looked at it, I felt like there was something standing right next to me, sitting there observing that barber chair with me. My wife got the same feeling when she came over there. And after we got closer to the end, there were like carts and stuff that has rooms where you can go with the girls, things that you do with girls. And the rooms are closed but they have peepholes that you can look through. And my wife thought it'd be a good idea to go ahead and record. She takes out her phone and we're recording, looking through the holes and the things that are going through there the whole time we're there. We got more eerie feeling after we left. My wife was looking at her phone and we were looking at one of the rooms that we were looking through. And in the video you could clear as day see a full orb come out of that room. I mean full on orb. I was not stuck. It was an orb. We knew that day we were there that there was stuff there at the Bird Cage Theater. Well, that's my story for now. Really love the podcast. I really enjoy what you do. Thanks again.
Derek Hayes
Thank you, Nick. So there you go. If the Birdcage Theater isn't already on your list, it should be. Thanks again Nick and Shelly for sharing your experiences from Tombstone. Now they're just trying to get on the same page. Ryan Seacrest here. So every great barbecue takes a little patience. And while the food does its thing, you can enjoy a little Chumba Casino. The Perfect Recipe Chumba Casino Always good to have you back.
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Anonymous Caller
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Sam
And like I say, these are just a handful of attention samples.
Derek Hayes
All right, this next one too bends the rules a little bit, but I think the connection here is quite obvious. Anonymous caller number three. Welcome to tonight's program.
Caller
Hi Derek, I'm calling from the East Coast. I'd like to remain anonymous. I'm calling in regards to season 21, episode 8, where the young woman was talking about light as a step as a board. And even though I'm more science minded and pretty much skeptical, and I kind of agreed with what you said in regards to the weight Evenly distributed amongst the kids and et cetera, makes it seem like the person is floating. However, I have an experience that I think debunks the debunk. So this happened sometime around 2001. It was six of us and it was around 7pm ish. It was summer, so it was still kind of light out. And we were having a family gathering, like a barbecue slash party. And one of our go to games was light as a feather, stiff as a board. And the reason it was a go to is because we always saw results. Like, no matter what, it always worked. So of course, that day we looked at each other, we said, let's go in the house and play lettuce sniper the board. So there was six girls. My cousin will call her in. She was in the middle. And then it was the five of us around the circle, two at her feet, two at her arms, and one at her head. But someone had nudged me out of the way, and I was in my feelings, so I kind of pulled back. And no one noticed that I pulled back. And I was waiting for someone to notice me and go, oh, are you okay? No one did. So I was the unwitting viewer of what was happening. And so the game commenced as usual, Proceeded to chant, right as a fellowship to the board. I was chanting it, but I wasn't cold. I was kind of in the background. And as we were doing it, a good two minutes in, I noticed that my cousin was floating beyond their fingers, like she was inches away from their hand. They were no longer touching her. And at that point, when I realized it, one of my other cousins opens her eyes and screamed, and my cousin just falls. So of course the adults come and they're like, what's going on? What are you guys doing? And then we get in trouble, we get a scolding, we go down, we eat, etc. We never really talked about it because we always played it. We always noticed something weird about the game. And myself, personally, I would think about it from time to time, realizing maybe when we had our eyes closed, this always happened. We just never saw it. And this is the first time I saw what actually happened. But, you know, you grow up and move on. And then good, 15 or so years later, because this happened in 2000, 2001. So like 15, 16 years later, my cousin, who was in the middle, my cousin N, was getting married, and we all went for her bachelorette party and we decided, let's play childhood games again. So, of course, everyone brings up Light as Featherstone, and immediately her older sister Is like, heck no. And we're like, you never played with us. Like, why are you so against it? And that's when she tells us something we did not know, which is that when we were playing that game, one of the adults sent her upstairs to get us to go eat. But she realized we were too quiet, so she decided she was going to creep on us and scare us. And when she got upstairs, she saw my cousin floating. And I guess she said something which is what caused my other cousin to open. Open her eyes. She was like, yeah, she was floating almost towards the ceiling. Heck no. That's an evil game. I don't even let my own kids play it. And to hear her perspective and to know that we weren't the only ones that saw it was myself, my only cousin, and also this older kid who never engaged in any rock games that she saw for herself. That's when I was convinced that I wasn't tripping, that I really didn't see what I saw. So yeah, it could have been a flu, I don't know, it could have been any other explanation. But she legitimately floated beyond their hands. They were not touching her. And I remember it to this day and I swear it happened. Thank you for this wonderful show and I've been listening to you forever, ever since you had a completely different title. So I wish you the best and thank you.
Derek Hayes
Thanks caller tuning in since the old days. I love it. Thanks for taking the ride. Now floating beyond the fingertips during a session of light as a feather, stiff as a board. That's a little above and beyond how that game usually goes. Most times the subject and the fingers remain in contact. So I can understand why the girls were so apprehensive to try it again. But I think I'd have the opposite reaction myself if I learned I had this power. You couldn't stop me from picking things up. That's almost a superpower. Wild, weird, and a little wacky. We thank you again caller for sharing. And folks, that takes us to tonight's final entry. Join me in Oregon and please welcome Frank to tonight's broadcast.
Frank
Hi Derek. I'd like to remain anonymous, so let's just say my name is Frank. I live in Portland, Oregon and this event took place just outside of Portland towards Beaverton in November of 2021. Approximately 5:30 at night. It was getting dark. The sky was blue, but the land was under a heavy silhouette already. You couldn't really make anything out below the tree line without a light source. As I was going eastbound on Barnes Road, towards the hospital. The hospital was about a half a mile away. There was a small woods to my left, and over the top of the tree line flew a huge bird, the largest bird I've ever seen in my life. And it swooped down over the road in front of me, and I immediately slowed down to a crawl. It was probably 100 yards in front of me, if not less, maybe 80 yards. I couldn't tell what kind of bird it was. My mind was just screaming, that is the largest bird I've ever seen in my life. The entire outline of the bird was surrounded in, like, a ethereal mist, Almost like it was going through a fog. But there was no fog. It was a clear night. It flew back up over the right side of the road and into this small tree up at the top and tried to reach out with its legs, its talons, and take purchase in this tree. And it was flapping its wings while it was trying to gain purchase. But the tree was a very small tree, more of a bush. The branches were very thin and could not support the weight of this thing. So it was falling towards the ground slowly because it was flapping its wings. And I saw its feet grasping at these branches and the branches bending and it continuing to fall until it finally just fell to the ground. When it did, it was facing to my right and its head turned clockwise to look at me. And it looked directly at me. I was looking at it, and it was looking directly at me with huge, big, black eyes. And that's when I could see that this thing was an owl, but impossibly huge, large owl. As I'm continuing forward, the outline of this thing is still in this, like, smoky mist, Not a solid outline. And as my headlights start to illuminate the area where this thing is standing, the mist starts to move to the right, right of the animal, and the body of the bird dissipates and becomes the body of a deer. Its head forms deer ears and its face stretches out. It never took its eyes off me. I was constantly looking at its eyes. But then the ethereal, misty thing went away, solidified, and it was a doe deer standing there looking at me. The bird was the heights of a normal doe deer. So whatever that is. Four foot high, four and a half feet high. I've hunted my whole life. It looked like a normal deer, except for the large black almond eyes looking at me. By this time, I had started to pass it. It turned its head as I was passing it, and I turned my head. So we continued having eye contact. I was Working at the time, I had a deadline. I could not stop. But I knew my work took me in a circle and I'd be back there in about five minutes, which I did. And when I came back the animal was gone or thing was gone. I don't know what it is I saw. I've never seen anything like it before in my life. I was trying to find a solution. I thought maybe a bird flew across the road and when it touched down on the ground it spooked the deer that stood up. But that's not the case because that bird and me had eye contact throughout the whole event. So it was the same thing. Whatever it was throughout the whole event. I thought maybe it was a deer the whole time and it was my eyes playing tricks on me. But deer don't fly over the top of treetops. I told my daughter about it. She said, well, maybe you were just tired, dad. My shift started at 3:30 and it was 5:30. I was not tired. So I don't know what the explanation is. It was just the odd event that I've never seen before in my life.
Derek Hayes
I thought I'd share. Thanks.
Sam
Bye.
Derek Hayes
Thank you. Frank, is that yet another strange glowing bird I am hearing about? Weird. That's an odd detail to pop up as often as it does. But that's just the beginning of this story. This thing seemingly transformed into a deer. It shapeshifted for a lack of a better term. This isn't the first transforming animal we've heard about. We've had a moose transform into a person and just last week a trash bag turned into an abc. An alien big cat. Now it's weird phenomenon to say the least. And there's not much out there we can assign to it, save for a few cherry picked Native American legends. So maybe whatever the phenomenon is, it's sort of a one off. It doesn't have a name, it doesn't have an origin and it doesn't have rules. It's scary when you think about it. Right, Frank? Now what a way to close things out here this evening. The events described were certainly unsettling. So a big thanks to Frank and a big thanks to all the other submitters here this evening. And remember to follow in their footsteps. Give us a call at 888-6089 or shoot me an email at Monsters among us podcast gmail.com now monster 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 his production is done so under the protection of fair use. Leave us a rate and review wherever you can. Join us on YouTube, join us on Discord and join our social media pages if you can find them. Now don't forget, you can catch the show every Saturday evening at 10pm on the Unexplained Network. Just visit onxnetwork.com to tune in. And also, don't forget to check out the audiobook that I narrated. It's called I Saw It Out There, Terrifying True Stories of Unexplained Encounters, Cryptid Sightings and Paranormal Horrors in the Wilderness. Wilderness by Tom Lyons. You can find it on Audible and there's a link up in tonight's show. Notes Now. Tonight's score was provided by Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse Code at Ag Music and Carl Casey at White Bad Audio. Now don't forget to check out our film. Go to borregotriangle.com to check out all the deets. Don't forget to check out Monsters Among Us junior You can find it wherever you get your podcast. And finally, don't forget to join us in the beyond. Visit monsters among us podcast.com and click on the Patreon tab. All right folks, meet me back here on Thursday for a brand new episode. I have something fun cooking already, but until then, then you keep it spooky and have yourselves a great night.
Sam
Sam.
Derek Hayes
Ryan Seacrest Here so every great barbecue takes a little patience. And while the food does its thing, you can enjoy a little Chumba Casino the Perfect Recipe Chumba Casino Always good to have you back.
Anonymous Caller
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Derek Hayes
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Date: August 4, 2026
This episode of Monsters Among Us centers on true, first-hand paranormal accounts involving birds and bird-like creatures—a theme host Derek Hayes jokingly admits “no one saw coming.” Drawing from folklore, listener calls, and real experiences, the episode explores owls as witches, talking crows, mysterious glowing birds, unsettling bird transformations, and more. Hayes supplements the stories with cultural context, mythology, and his signature wry humor, tying together a menagerie of feathered frights and oddities.
This atmospheric episode packs diverse, first-person weirdness into a “spooky, nostalgia-rich” format: talking crows, omens and witches, shape-shifting owls, eerie music, glowing birds, and the ever-blurry boundary between natural and supernatural. Monsters Among Us draws listeners deep into the uncanny world at the edge of our everyday skies—and warns: sometimes, the birds are watching us back.
Series Tag: “Keep it spooky!”