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The cooler temperatures are rolling in very soon and as always, Quince is where I'm turning for fall staples that actually last. From cashmere to denim to boots, the quality holds up and the price still blows me away. Quince has the kind of staples that you'll wear non stop throughout the fall like super soft 100% cashmere sweaters starting at just $60 to cardigans, even leather jackets. The their denim is durable and fits right. Their real leather jackets bring that clean classic edge without the elevated price tag. I have bought several sweaters from Quince. I always get compliments when I wear these things. People seem to be genuinely impressed whenever I wear a sweater. Maybe that says more about how I used to dress than it does about the sweater. Who is to say? That being said, I love them. I think you will too. Quince only partners directly with ethical factories and skips the metal men. You get top tier fabrics and craftsmanship at half the price of similar brands. Like I said, I have several sweaters from Quince but as fall gets closer I'm going to be busting out the chore jackets, the flannels, the button downs, even the flannel bed sheets. All from Quint's. So keep it classic and cool this fall with long lasting staples. From quints'.to quint.com otherworld for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q U-I-N-C-E.com otherworld for free shipping and 365 day returns quint.com otherworld this episode is brought to you by Factor. Between busy schedules and summer plans, sometimes all I've got is a couple minutes when it comes to lunch and dinner. Factor helps me eat smarter with tasty chef prepared meals that are dietitian approved and delivered right to my door. And now, with more than 65 weekly meals made for how I live and what I like to eat, I have even more ways to fit in a real meal wherever the day takes me. Look, when I'm busy I tend to end up eating very terribly. The busier I am, the more low effort and bad the meals typically end up being. But not anymore for me because of Factor the these are chef prepared healthy meals delivered right to my door with no chopping, no cooking, no cleanup. Super easy and plus they're very healthy and low calorie so I don't end up eating terribly. On top of that, they taste good. Eat smart@factor meals.com otherworld50 off and use code otherworld50OFF to get 50% off your first box, plus free breakfast for one year. That's code otherworld50OFF@factor meals.com for 50% off your first box, PLUS free breakfast for one year. Get delicious ready to eat meals delivered with Factor offer only valid for new Factor customers with code and qualifying auto renewing subscription purchase. Welcome to Other World, Jack. I'm your host, Jack Wagner. This episode takes place in Maryland, and it comes from a person named Sam who was working at an old movie theater at the time when all of this took place. As you'll hear Sam point out, and something that I've experienced myself as well. Haunted theaters are just something you hear about all the time. Maybe the theaters are actually haunted. Maybe it has something to do with them being old, emotionally charged, and tons of people coming and going from them over the years. Or maybe theaters just have that sort of classically spooky vibe to them. I mean, they're kind of just places that seem haunted. Maybe it's a combination of the two. Who knows? I actually worked at a movie theater myself when I was a teenager. Not a haunted one, as far as I know. In fact, it was brand new and I was fired after only about a year, sadly, because my hair was too long. I wish I was making that up. Anyway, when it comes to making Otherworld, I feel like I'm always hearing rumors about theaters that are allegedly haunted, but I rarely encounter people who actually experience those hauntings firsthand. In Sam's case, she definitely experienced it herself, and I think the specifics of that experience make her story very unique. I'll let her take it from here. This episode is called Theater 3, and you're listening to Otherworld.
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Hello, is this Bobby?
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Yes, it is. At its core, the science you can't argue with.
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I'm so worried about. All of a sudden, it is up in the sky.
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It's almost frustrating that it's happening.
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B
I'm literally.
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I'm gonna die. Its limbs were just, like, wrong.
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B
It was just. Everybody moves back into the light, even if it takes them a minute. My name is Sam. I'm 27 years old. I'm a law school admin, and I just finished my Master of Public Health and Epidemiology, and I'm currently living in Philadelphia. I grew up in a small town in rural Maryland in a fairly religious family. We went to church every week. It was an evangelical church, but my family was pretty superstitious growing up, so my dad's family were regular churchgoers. They went every single week. They were Fairly, no nonsense about it. My mom's family practiced Santeria and what her mom has called witchcraft, or, you know, they use different words for it. For generations, they practiced the before converting to Christianity. So she has a lot of stories as well. So these. Their kind of backgrounds made them very cautious. So I was always taught to kind of protect myself and not to put myself in a position where I might invite any unwanted spirits or anything like that. And it was kind of presented to me as like, this stuff might not be real, but you don't want to play with it anyway. Like, you just want to be safe. When my kind of story started, I was around 15 or 16, and at that time, I would say I was fairly superstitious. I don't know if I, like, explicitly believed in ghosts or spirits or anything like that, but I definitely, like, that was a basis kind of for how I saw the world. So it was like I had never seen anything myself. But I was like, these are things that can happen to people. I guess a good word for it is agnostic. Like, I just kind of wasn't really sure where I stood. You know, I had been questioning Christianity. I was not really sure that that made a lot of sense for me at that time. And there were all of these things that couldn't be explained in the world. So I was really just in this, like, very open time of my life where I was like, I'm not really sure what is true and what's out there, but, you know, any of it could be. When I was about 14, I started working at this movie theater in the next town over. It was a fairly small theater. We had a small lobby, a little hallway leading to each of the theaters. And then the smaller theaters were, you know, maybe like 60 seats, and the bigger theaters were a few hundred seats, probably. But it had four theaters. So from left to right, you had theater one, theater two, theater three, and theater four. Theaters one and two were bigger, and theaters three and four were smaller, with two being the biggest. It really felt like, you know, any kind of strip mall movie theater, nothing really exceptional or off about it. Especially during the day, it really was just like a building. And at night, you know, it would get very dark. So the parking lot wasn't especially well lit. So it got super, super dark in the building. But, you know, we were all movie theater employees. We weren't especially afraid of the dark. I was working pretty much as often as I could, as many hours as I could, trying to make money. And this theater, the last show usually started at around 10:00'. Clock. But sometimes we would have early premiere showings around midnight, so we could be there as late as 2 or 3 in the morning, depending on how long those premiere movies were. And I really loved this job. I thought it was super fun. I got to see movies and eat popcorn. You know, working in a theater, you hear all sorts of stories about how theaters are haunted. And I assume probably just because they're these, like, spaces where people are sitting for a long period of time super late into the night, and you might find yourself in the dark alone. It just seems like really the perfect environment for a ghost story. So our theater had allegedly a resident ghost, and it was kind of this, like, lighthearted story. But everyone said back when we had film projectors, which we kept our film projectors for, like, much longer than a lot of theaters did, I think they were only replaced with digital maybe two years before I started working there. So they would say that if you looked up into the projection booth while you were watching a movie, that you could see an old man operating the film projectors. And the thing that was strange about that was that there was no old man working there at the time. And really, like, the film projectors didn't need to be maintained throughout the movie. There wouldn't be anyone necessarily operating them. So, you know, this guy definitely didn't exist. But tons of people said that, yeah, there's the old guy. You can see him operating the film projectors. But it was just this, like, lighthearted thing. Maybe it's true, maybe it isn't, but everyone likes it. So when they replaced the projectors with digital projectors, people stopped seeing this guy. And so we all would joke like, oh, he doesn't know how to work the new machines. So when I was working there, anytime you would go up into the projection booth, if you had your phone flashlight on or like, you know, any kind of flashlight, the light would flicker, which is, like, pretty strange. But, you know, we would joke like, oh, he, you know, he doesn't know how to use the new machines, and he's playing with all the technology, whatever. But again, it wasn't anything anyone took very seriously. Flashlights flicker. I never saw the projection booth ghost. I did experience the flickering several times where my flashlight would just, like, flicker or go out. I'd have to bring a backup flashlight or use my phone flashlight. And even my phone flashlight would sometimes flicker or go out. And again, it was really just like, that's weird. And you'd go on with your day in one of the bigger Theaters people would sometimes say that when the lights were down and the movie was going, they would see what looked like someone sitting in one of the seats ahead of them, watching the movie, eating their popcorn, whatever, and then the lights would come up and there would be nobody sitting there. When I worked there, we would sometimes pre screen movies. So we would get a movie in and we would watch the movie to make sure that the file was, you know, fine. It may have just been an excuse to watch a movie before it came out, but, you know, it was just employees. And we would all sit together, usually about halfway back. So we were watching this movie that had just come out. It was maybe a Marvel movie or something. And there was maybe eight of us, and we were all sitting about halfway back. Some of us were on the right side, some of us were on the left. And I remember seeing close to the front of the theater, like maybe four or five rows back, seeing what just like, very clearly looked like the shadow of somebody watching the movie. I just remember seeing what looked very clearly to me like an arm picking up a soda and drinking it and then putting it back down, which wouldn't have been abnormal except that I knew nobody was sitting up there. And I knew, like, I could look behind me and see every person that should have been in that theater. At the end of the movie, the lights came up and there was nobody there. And I just wrote it off as, it's a trick of the light. It's nothing. But then my friend who was sitting next to me, my co worker said, did you see that? That was really weird. There's, you know, a person sitting over there. And when we got up and walked out, another employee who had been sitting on the opposite side of the theater from us said, you know, I saw this. I could have sworn somebody was sitting eight rows in front of me and the lights came up and nobody was there. That was super weird. So we were all a little, like, freaked out by that, that we all experienced it. But it was a pretty common occurrence where you might see the shadow of someone who looked like they were watching a movie who was not actually there. It really just looked like a dark silhouette. If you were sitting far enough behind someone in a theater, the screen was bright enough that it backlit the person so you could really only see their silhouette. There wasn't any, like, real detail that you could see. Even if there was a person there, I think you probably wouldn't be able to see much detail. It was a little creepy. But again, it was. There was no, like, threatening aura from any of these, like, stories. And even when I saw it, it was really kind of like we were like, oh, my God, I can't believe we saw that. That's crazy. It was more like we were kind of excited that, you know, we got to see some of, you know, the other employee who saw this shadow at the same time as us was like, I don't. I don't want to talk about it. That's too weird for me. But, you know, at that stage, I felt pretty comfortable still coming to work. It didn't feel like there was anything that wanted to harm me or anything like that. So as. As far as I was concerned, I was like, okay, well, whatever this is, whether it's, you know, ghosts or whatever, they're here to watch movies, you know, they're not here to hurt us or anything like that. So there was one time where I was working late by myself. It was a super slow shift, probably a weekday, and I had just a manager present. So when there's just one person and a manager, when the last movie starts, the manager would take the cash drawer and take it into the office and lock themselves in to count the cash drawer, and I would stay behind and clean and whatever. So we hadn't sold any tickets for the last show, so I was basically just required to go and check the theaters, make sure nobody was in there, clean up anything, and then close down the concessions. So the last movie had started and the manager had asked me over the walkie talkie, hey, the movie is still playing. Can you just make sure nobody's in there before we shut it off? And I want to say it was like a Resident Evil movie or something. Something that was like, a little creepy. So I went in there, and this was in theater three, so it was one of the smaller theaters. And I remember as soon as I opened the door to the theater, it was like I was just anxious and, like, my chest felt tight and it felt cold. I don't know, it was almost like when you are in a situation and you realize that it's going to become dangerous or that you need to get out of there. That feeling that you get in your body, like, oh, I need to get out of here. But it felt completely inappropriate. I was in this theater by myself. There was nothing as far as I knew that could hurt me that was at all dangerous in there. So I kind of brushed it off. I was like, I don't know exactly what this is, but, you know, I'm probably just being irrational, and I just kind of chalked it up to like, oh, it's, it's late, it's dark in here, you know, it's midnight or something. It's fine. I'm just going to ignore it and clean. I was like, it's probably just anxiety. I'm not going to worry about it. And then it just like got worse as I went on. As I went down each aisle, I would just get more and more afraid and full of dread. And I went down each aisle and looked down each aisle to make sure nobody was down there and to make sure there was nothing on the floor. It was a pretty dark movie too, so there wasn't a ton of light, but there was enough that I could see where I was going. I didn't need to use a flashlight. And when I got about 2/3 of the way in, I looked down the aisle and at the very end in the corner, there was this figure. And it was crouched. It was super thin, very tall. It was this shadowy figure. It had its arms wrapped around its knees and it was almost in the fetal position, sitting upright. And its arms were very long, its legs were very long. As soon as I saw it, I kind of froze. And at first I thought that there was a person, like a man crouched because it was definitely human shaped. But the longer I looked at it, like after probably just a second, I realized this thing was dark. It was almost like a total absence of light. The room was fairly dark, but it was much darker. It was almost like it was just like sucking all the light out of the. The space it occupied. And it was looking straight at me, like it was. It was crouched, kind of facing towards the seat in front of it on the ground, but its face was pointed at me. And the worst part about it, and I remember it so clearly, was that its face looked like. Like maybe it had a face once or something. But it was just like smudged in almost like a spiral. I'm not sure if it would have had features originally or what, but it really looked like smudged. I remember describing it to someone as if someone had taken their thumb and just smudged it in a circle until there was nothing left. Maybe the most scary part was that it was solid. Like it looked like a real thing was there. Like I could reach out and touch it. It didn't look like, you know, like your hand would go through it if you reached out to it. It really looked like there was a 3D figure there. It really, like it took up space. It was. It seemed very corporeal to me. It did seem like. Like, wavy around the edges or, like, shaky or I guess staticy could be a word for it. And it just had this, like, energy emanating off of it. This, like, threatening energy. I remember thinking, like, this thing wants to kill me. It's going to kill me. And it felt like I couldn't breathe. As it got worse and worse, it didn't really feel like it was my body doing that on its own. Like it wasn't just anxiety. It felt like something was constricting my. My breathing and something was making it so I couldn't function normally. And when I saw it, I just. I couldn't breathe. Like, I felt like it was like something was strangling me. And so I think that was what I thought was going to happen, that it was, like, psychically going to just kill me. Like, I would. It was going to strangle me psychically or something, that I was just going to stop being able to breathe and die. That's what it felt like to me. And I remember by this time, it sounded like the movie was playing so loud. Like, so much louder than a movie would ever be playing. And I couldn't hear anything else. And I was just absolutely gripped by this fear. And I remember thinking, I have to take a good look at this. Like, I have to know that I really saw this. And I stayed there for as long as I could, which probably was only like, five or six seconds. And then I just got out of there. I was absolutely, like. I knew it was trying to kill me. That was all I could think was, this thing is going to kill me. And I remember I was shaking. I was so, so terrified. And I went to the manager's office, and I knocked on the door, and she unlocked it. And I just said, I don't know what I just saw in there, but I need to go home. And she was like, don't tell me anything else. Like, I don't want to hear it. I have to stay here until I finish counting this drawer. Just go home. And I just remember I was just, like, shaking, and I had this nervous energy. But, I mean, there was nothing to do except go. So I went home. And at this point, it's probably, you know, midnight or one in the morning or something. And I get home, and I'm living with my parents at this time. I'm a teenager, but everyone's in bed. And so I just went to bed. I didn't sleep well at all as a teen, so I'm sure I sat awake just, like, anxious and scared. For a few hours and then fell asleep. And then the next day, I told my sisters. I was like, I saw this thing. It was crazy. And they were like, oh, my God, that's crazy. That's awesome. Like, tell me all about it. And my parents were like, oh, you know, demons and ghosts are real. You have to be careful. But that was kind of it for a little while. You know, I told my co workers as if it was a ghost story. And some of them were very like, oh, my God, I'm so afraid to go out in the dark now. And most of them were like, that's a super cool ghost story. But I don't know if my co workers really took it seriously or if they were just going along with it because that was what we did. And, you know, I get it. I. I totally understand. Like, it sounds unbelievable. People love to tell ghost stories, especially at a movie theater. Like, people who work at movie theaters, at least at the movie theater that I worked at, loved ghost stories. So, like, I understood why they had that attitude. And I guess at the time, it didn't feel really important to me that people believed me because my sisters believe me, my brother believed me.
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All right, we'll be right back after this quick break. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. We've all done it before, turning to our barista, hairdresser, or a random stranger in the bathroom for life advice. As fun as they are to talk to about everyday topics. When you're looking for help about relationships, anxiety, depression, or other clinical issues, they may not have all the right answers. Instead, get guidance from a credentialed therapist online. With better help or with over 35,000 therapists, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform, having served over 5 million people globally. And it works with an App store rating of 4.9 out of 5 based on 1.7 million client reviews. It's convenient. You can join a session with a therapist at the click of a button, helping you fit therapy into your busy life. Plus, you could switch therapists at any time. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of Expertise. Find the one with BetterHelp. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com OtherWorld that's better H E L P.com OtherWorld A lot of people don't really know how much they're spending each month. Subscriptions, takeout, delivery. It all adds up very fast. That's where rocket money comes in. Rocket Money shows you all of your expenses in one place, including subscriptions you might have even forgotten about. If you spot one you no longer need, the app helps you cancel it in just a few clicks. Their dashboard lays out your full financial pick, picture bill due dates, paydays, and even custom budgets based on your past spending. And if you have a savings goal, Rocket Money can analyze your accounts to help figure out the best time to set money aside each month. On top of that, the app can even negotiate to lower your bills, automatically scanning your accounts and contacting customer service so you don't have to. With over 5 million members, Rocket Money has saved people 500 million in canceled subscriptions, with some users saving $740 a year using all the premium features. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com OtherWorld today that's RocketMoney.com OtherWorld this episode is brought to you by Thrive Market. You know it's more stressful than a packed calendar realizing you're out of coffee and the only thing left in your fridge is old takeout. That's why I love Thrive Market. I can order all of my groceries from my couch and set myself up for the week with all sorts of healthy food. Thrive Market makes it effortless. They restrict over a thousand sketchy ingredients so you can shop worry free knowing that you're not going to get any weird surprises in your food. 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So the first time I saw after this I was working. It was pretty busy. I needed to go up to the projection booth to find something, I don't remember what. And I went into the projection booth and this was actually the projection booth that served the theater that I had originally seen it in. And I remember I opened the door to the projection booth and it was just sitting there just like it had been the first time in the corner. And I remember seeing it and thinking, I don't have time for this right now. Like I need to find whatever it is. I just don't have time. I don't even know what I would do. Like, I don't know what to do about this. I can't think about it, I can't worry about it. I'm so busy. So I just closed the door and I went to the other projection booth and I got whatever I needed from there and I went on with my shift. I was super busy and I just, I was like, I Don't have time. And it freaked me out. Like, I definitely reacted emotionally to it, but I just was like, I don't know what to even do with this right now. It still had that same, like, malicious energy, but it wasn't like I could go to someone and be like, hey, I can't go in the projection booth right now. Like, there's a ghost in there. So I just kind of went on with my day. And the next time I went up there, it wasn't in there. So it definitely made me nervous at night especially. I was like, I don't know what I'm going to see when I go in there. I was, like, looking over my shoulder a lot more, and I was waiting. Like, I felt like something was going to happen. But, you know, most days nothing happened. So I kind of just went on with it. It's kind of funny. Like, I think people, when they experience something really extraordinary or really strange and they don't know how to explain it, the best thing you can think to do is just go on with your life. Even from the first time that I saw, felt really like it was attached to me. Like it wanted me, not like it was in the theater. Especially after the second time I saw it, I was like, I'm the only one who's ever seen this thing and just has this feeling of, like, it. It's attached to me, like it wants me. So there was one time I was home, and I wasn't home alone, but I was in my room. I fell asleep, and I woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. Like I was. I remember I was shaking, like, so hard. Like, harder than maybe I've ever felt. Like I was just terrified immediately upon waking up. And I had no idea why this had never happened to me before. I had nightmares pretty often as a young person, but, like, I'd never woken up like this in a cold sweat. And I don't even think I had had a nightmare. I just woke up, and I remember I was like, I'm just gonna ride it out. I'm just gonna wait until it passes and I'm gonna go back to sleep and it'll be okay. And I remember realizing that the bathroom light was on, and I was like, I don't think I'm gonna be able to fall back asleep with that light on. And that was kind of when I realized that the light was casting a glare on the window in my room. And I didn't have a curtain on the window or anything. And so I couldn't see out the window. And I was just overcome with this absolute, like, knowledge that I knew that it was out there, that that creature was sitting out there with its face against my window looking at me. I just knew. And I remember sitting there for so long. Like, it felt like forever. And I was like, I can't. If I get up and turn off that bathroom light, I will be able to see out that window, and I don't want to. So I grabbed my pillow and blanket and slowly kind of crawled out into the hallway and fell asleep on the floor in the hallway. And the next morning, my dad found me, and he was like, hey, everything okay? And I was like, yeah, I'm good. I just was having trouble sleeping. Like, I didn't want to tell him that. I was like, oh. Like, I was pretty sure there was a ghost outside, but I didn't see it. I have no idea. Like, that could have really just been a panic attack. Like, I. I was scared that I was going to see it and it was getting into my head or I don't know, but I really felt its energy. Like, I was so sure that it was there. I was just like, it's gonna kill me. Like, it's coming for me. You know, I. I can't avoid this thing. It's attached to me. And that was really terrifying for me because it didn't feel like I could do anything about it. Which is why I was like, if I turn off that light and it's out there, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I can't. I can't do that. I was very afraid of it, for sure. You know, when you learn about the classic, like, quote, paranormal experiences, there's, like, Ouija boards which have strict rules, and there's whatever sciences. These have rules. These have tropes that they follow. And when this was happening, I was like, I've never heard of this. I don't know what this is. There's no. Like, make sure you say goodbye to the Ouija board before you put it away, or else you'll leave the portal open or whatever. There was none of that. There was no guidelines. I didn't feel like there was anything I could do or anyone I could go to. I didn't know anything about, like, cleansing or. I had no exposure to that kind of thing at that point in my life. So I really just. I felt totally helpless. I felt like this is just gonna happen and maybe it'll stop happening, but I don't really have any power in that the last time I saw it was actually during the day. And I think this was the first time it ever happened during the day. And I was not working. It was at the movie theater, though. It was not working. And I had decided to take my date to a movie because I got in for free and I got free popcorn. And, you know, it was like the best date I could think of at the time. I lived in a super rural town. There wasn't much to do. We had just sat down for the movie and, you know, we had eaten a bunch of our popcorn before the movie even started. And I was like, all right, I'm gonna go top off the popcorn before the movie starts. And everyone was already seated for the movie. It was, you know, they were gonna put on previews and everything soon. And I don't remember anyone else, like, up walking around. I think there was only five or six people in this screening at this time. So I stood up and I started walking to the back of the theater. And then I realized between me and the door, it was just like standing there. And it was behind the farthest seat. So anybody who was already in the theater would have been facing away from it, looking at the screen, and it was just standing there. But I remember that this time it didn't feel like it had such a strong energy. It still felt negative and I was still afraid of it, but it didn't feel as strong. And it was standing this time. This was the first time I had ever seen it standing. And it was very tall, like maybe 8ft tall. And it really just looked like a stretched out person, like just so tall and thin. And I do remember that its hands were super long and it had these like long pointed fingers. And its feet, there weren't like discernible toes or anything. It looked almost like shoes. Its arms and legs were super long and its neck was long, but it had a short torso. And it almost looked like you could see its ribs. Like, it was super thin. I just kind of stood there for a second and I was like, I don't know. Even if someone else was looking, I don't know if they would see it. I don't know. You know, if I went and just sat back down without filling the popcorn, my date would have asked me questions. She would have been like, oh, like, everything okay? And I wouldn't have known what to say. And I was like, I think I'm going to just try to go around it and see what happens. Like, I. I was afraid, but I was like, I don't Want to make a scene? I can breathe, I can move. I feel like I have some control. When I saw it standing there, it was solid. Like it had always been. Like, it looked like there was a thing there that you could reach out and touch, which was really scary. But as I kind of got closer to it very slowly, I was terrified to approach it. But, you know, I was like, okay, I don't feel like I have another choice right now. As I kind of got closer, it felt, like less solid. And I don't know that it necessarily got more translucent. It just felt less there. And by the time I was past it and I was still looking at it, by the time I was past it, it was basically gone. Like, just kind of barely there. And at that point, yeah, I would say that it was. It was nearly translucent. Like just the shadow of a shadow of something, you know, there was a certain heaviness to it. And then as it started to get lighter and lighter and like, as it started to kind of dematerialize, that weight felt like it was being lifted. Like, it was like I felt lighter. I don't know exactly what changed, but I remember kind of just slowly walking around it, watching it the whole time, and then as soon as I was past it, just like running out into the hall, I was like, okay, that was that. And I went out and I refilled my popcorn and I was like, I don't know, guys, I feel really weird today, you know, to my co workers. And when I went back in, it wasn't there. And I watched the movie and I never saw it again after that. Like, that was. Almost felt like I had overcome it or like, because I wasn't afraid of it or because I wasn't showing fear of it, that it lost its hold on me or maybe lost interest in me. But after that, I never saw it again. That was the last time. And I didn't tell my partner. She's now my wife. I didn't tell her about that for years because that was one of our first dates. And, you know, when I did tell her, she was like, that's super weird. But, you know, I had. I told her the whole story and she was like, I can't believe that that happened on our date. But yeah, that was. That was the last time I ever saw it. I stayed working at that movie theater for a total of, I think, six years. And this happened probably two years in. So I stayed for a while. Like, I really was a very work focused person. I worked as often as I could and I definitely looked over my shoulder a lot more. I was a lot more nervous being there in the dark alone. But after a while of not seeing it, I kind of stopped being afraid that I was going to. But I also felt like maybe it didn't have the power to hurt me anymore, even if I did see it again. You know, I went back to the theater once a few years ago, and a co worker was like, yeah, you remember that thing you saw? Like, another. A new hire saw it. All she was really able to tell me was like, I heard that this new hire saw this, like, tall, shadowy figure in this theater and was, like, really freaked out about it. And I unfortunately was never able to really get any follow up on that. I was like, no, tell me. I want to know. And they were like, well, that's all I know. They quit, you know, a few weeks ago to go work somewhere else. So I don't know, maybe. Maybe somebody else saw it. I have no idea. But that made me feel like, okay, maybe it wasn't just me. Like, maybe there's something here. I know my parents believed me immediately. Even to this day, my dad's like, no, I really think you saw that. Like, people see things all the time, and it's. It's kind of weird to think back on. And after that experience, I definitely got kind of obsessed with paranormal things and the occult for a while. I got, like, really into it. I was so sure. I was like, I'm gonna, you know, try to start practicing witchcraft. I'm gonna ask questions about my mom's family and ask my grandma questions and, you know, really try to get into that and understand things. I mean, obviously this was, like, a really terrifying experience for me. I was very afraid of it. But especially after, you know, the last time I saw it, when I realized, like, I felt like I had power over it. I felt like I had overcome it. Like I had interacted with it and it had responded to that interaction. That was really kind of fascinating to me. And, you know, I was still pretty young and maybe a little impulsive and stupid, but I was like, I want to understand that. I was really curious. Like, not only did I see this thing, but I interacted with it. And I had all these stories of people in my family who had done things and something had happened in response. And I, you know, maybe I don't want to summon anything, but maybe I can interact with this world, these. These things that are not immediately visible to people. And maybe I have some kind of power to do that. And I found that really, really fascinating. When I was probably 17 or something, I decided I was going to try to do a money spell. I was like, I want to try a spell for the first time. I want to try getting into this stuff. And I looked one up online, and I don't remember exactly what it was, but it had something to do with like writing an incantation and folding it inside a walnut shell and burying it under the window or something. And I was like, that seems harmless. Like it can't do anything really serious. And I remember doing it. And then within 10 minutes, I got a notification on my phone that my PayPal had been hacked and somebody stole $50 out of my account. And at the same time, my best friend texted me that she had just found $50 on the ground. And I was like, a little freaked out by that, to be honest. But I was also like, yeah, well, that's just my luck. You know, as I got older, I kind of was like, okay, you know, maybe I don't need to play with that stuff. Maybe there's some. Either some real risk involved or maybe there's not much to be found this way. But I. I think that was kind of a formative time for me, though, was like just trying to understand the things about the world that defy understanding. I'm very open to the ideas that, like, there is something out there that we can't explain. I've seen something that I know I saw. You know, whether people believe me or not, that's totally up to them. It doesn't hurt my feelings, but I believe that a lot of things can happen that we can't explain everything.
- [45:41]
A
All right, thank you to Sam for sharing that story. Man, I thought this story was obviously so scary, but also interesting and unexpected. I was saying before that it seems like every old theater has some sort of alleged haunting. And I feel like it's always a similar story. It's always like a 1930s era woman who died on the way home from a date that could be seen roaming the halls at night looking for her long lost lover or something like that. You know, it's always kind of the same story. This one I thought was very unusual, especially given the fact that Sam felt like this thing might be focused on her specifically. I was also amused by the fact that during the second sighting, she described being kind of too busy and stressed to deal with it at the moment. Like, as scary as this is, there is something funny to me about rudely ignoring an apparition that appeared before you. Like keeping your head down and briskly walking past it, pretending to be busy the same way you might do when you see a person standing outside of Whole Foods with a clipboard. I think everybody assumes that when they experience something like this, life would just stop. You know, you would just stop working. You would just leave the house, move, whatever. In reality, I think sometimes life has to keep moving. You have to keep working. And sometimes you need to ignore the ghost that's in the projection room. Thank you once again to Sam for sharing this with us. Also, major respect for being able to put up with all of this at work. This episode was called Theater 3 and you've been listening to Otherworld. Otherworld is executive produced and hosted by myself, Jack Wagner. Our theme song is by Cobra Man. The soundtrack of this episode is is by Juice, Jackal and North Americans. This episode was edited by Theo Krantz and engineered by Theo Schaeffer. Our associate producers are Nikki Kate Delgado and Haley Pearson. Our artwork is by Culdesac Studios. If you want to hear bonus episodes of Otherworld, you can become a patron@patreon.com Otherworld Please show us your support by subscribing, leaving a five star review and telling your friends about the show. Our social media is otherworldly Pod thank you to the team at Odyssey. Leah Rhys Dennis, Rob Mirandi, Eric Donnelly, Maura Curran, Kate Rose, Colin Gaynor, Michael Lavey, Josephina Francis, and Hilary Shuff. Follow and listen to Otherworld now for free on the Odysee app or wherever you get your podcasts. And finally, if you or somebody you know has experienced something paranormal, supernatural or unexplained, you can send us your story@stories otherworldpod.com.