Otherworld – Episode 142: The Granny Flat Pt. 1

Release Date: October 27, 2025
Host: Jack Wagner
Guests: David, Steven, and Linda

Episode Overview

In this episode of Otherworld, host Jack Wagner dives into the unsettling real-life story of two Australian brothers, David and Steven, and their encounter with a malevolent presence that entered their lives during adolescence. What begins as an odd teenage experience quickly unfolds into a years-long haunting deeply affecting both brothers, blending themes of youthful romance, trauma, and the unexplained. Part 1 recounts the progression from an innocent relationship to supernatural encounters, possession-like events, and an aftermath that left the family searching for answers—and for closure.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene and Initial Doubt

• David describes growing up in Canberra, Australia, in a practical, non-religious family, never believing in the paranormal until these events occurred.
• The “Granny Flat” is a converted garage where David and Steven’s grandfather passed away and where much of the supernatural activity later unfolds.
• David: “Nothing really out of the ordinary ever happened in my life. I never really believed in anything out of the normal… This is probably the first thing that happened to me. Where I was like started to question like, what is reality really?” (06:50)

2. Introducing Casey and the First Encounter

• Steven, then 18, starts dating Casey, who is enigmatic, “witchy,” and quickly reveals to Steven her ability to sense emotions and communicate with spirits.
• During a quiet night watching a movie (possibly “Elf”), David (15) and Casey both hear a high-pitched scream inside their minds—a moment that shocks both and sparks a torrent of paranormal explanations from Casey.
• David: “The voice was like a young girl, really high pitched, like ringing, screaming sound. And it kind of was like…in my mind, but it kind of felt like it was coming from behind me.” (08:09)
• Casey claims it’s a lost spirit trying to reach David, begins talking about his “old soul,” and suggests that he’ll now experience more of these events.

3. Escalating Phenomena & Relationships

• Steven describes his relationship with Casey as intense and overwhelming. Casey claims several friends of hers have died, and she maintains active, trance-like communication with their spirits.
• Possession-like states and out-of-body events become frequent, with Casey entering trances and speaking in unknown languages or to deceased acquaintances.
• Steven: “She told me that she can come and visit me when I’m sleeping…and like someone in the dream would become her and she could talk to me.” (14:54)
• David recalls being comforted—but also shaken—by feeling the presence of his late grandfather, first as a warm presence, then gradually as something darker, raising his doubts about its true nature.

4. Possessions and Supernatural Interventions

• David describes a particularly vivid possession event where Casey starts convulsing, speaking nonsensically, and screaming. David calms her with a touch, feeling tingling physically and emotionally.
• David: “As soon as I put my hand on her, she just…stayed away, like, stopped shaking, started, like, breathing really calmly…She kept saying, like, oh, I feel really good.” (24:01)
• Steven observes David’s calmness during these events, contrasting with his own anxiety and helplessness.

5. The Ouija Board

• During a heavy storm, Casey convinces the brothers to use a Ouija board to contact her deceased friend.
• The atmosphere changes sharply, and a doorknob falls off as soon as the session starts, trapping them inside—heightening the fear and a sense of being targeted.
• David later associates this event with opening a “laneway” for something malevolent to communicate with him more freely.

6. Darkness Intensifies: Malevolent Voices & Nightmares

• After the Ouija board, David’s experiences worsen:
  • The “granddad’s” voice now feels sinister, urging him to make a “great sacrifice” to gain more power.
  • The voice tells David he must kill his brother; David has nightmares of doing so in graphic detail, and feels mentally besieged.
• David: “I remember one…the nightmare of me killing my brother. And then I was, like, riding on the walls with his blood…that’s a sacrifice you have to make. That’s when I started to freak out.” (38:34)
• David is tormented by these intrusive thoughts, terrified he’s either losing his mind or under external control.

7. The Family Reckons with the Paranormal

• David confides in Steven about the violent dreams and feelings; Steven reassures him and encourages him to resist whatever is influencing him.
• Their mother, Linda, eventually learns of the events—first after a bizarre, quasi-possessed car ride where David appears to levitate and slap himself.
• Linda: “He was slapping himself in the face really hard with both hands…His eyes. He just wasn’t there. He wasn’t Davey…He was actually lifting off the seat.” (53:53)
• Linda expresses skepticism about Casey from the start: “I didn’t like her straight away…But I didn’t like her at all. And I thought she was. She was…yeah. It’s hard to explain. I knew she wasn’t right for him and I knew she was gonna hurt him and she did.” (51:33)

8. The Witchcraft and Lingering Aftermath

• Casey delves into witchcraft, the occult, and creates totems and a shrine in the granny flat; the brothers realize only after her disappearance that her rituals may have brought something sinister into the house.
• Linda and Steven both believe that whatever casey was involved with opened a doorway, and the negative effects lasted for years: “She left a legacy, that’s for sure. And I’m pretty sure it all started with her.” (53:30)

9. Coping with the Inexplicable

• Despite the deep impact on their mental and emotional health, the family finds ways to process, support one another, and move forward—even if closure is incomplete.
• Linda: “It’s bizarre. It’s like one of those things you go, did this really happen? Like it can’t have. It’s just crazy.” (56:34)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “For you to get to the next level and control your abilities, you have to make a great sacrifice.”
  — David recounting the voice mimicking his grandfather (30:39)
• “It was saying, like, it’s not saying, I am Hitler and I am Aleister Crowley. It was saying, I am, like, the embodiment of all evil that exists in human history.”
  — David on the voice’s claims (46:55)
• “Yeah, this sounds a lot like people that do end up killing their brother because the voice told them to do it...”
  — Jack Wagner confronting the seriousness of David’s experience (41:44)
• “He wasn’t there. I couldn’t get through to him. I kept saying, ‘Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself’...he was actually lifting off the seat. His head was hitting the ceiling of the car.”
  — Linda on David’s possession-like episode in the car (53:53)
• “She left a legacy, that's for sure. And I'm pretty sure it all started with her.”
  — Linda summing up Casey’s impact on the family (53:30)

Timestamps of Important Segments

• 01:17 — Jack introduces story, themes of lasting trauma, complexity, and lack of closure.
• 04:07–07:36 — David introduces his childhood, practical worldview, and background.
• 08:09 — First supernatural occurrence: David and Casey hear a scream.
• 11:04–12:14 — Jack clarifies sequence; David describes his confusion and the surreal movie (“Elf”).
• 14:02 — Steven recaps Casey’s influence and the early relationship.
• 24:01 — David describes calming Casey during possession-like event.
• 26:03–29:00 — Introduction, preparation, and fallout from the Ouija board session.
• 30:39–32:18 — The “sacrifice” message and realization of a sinister impersonation.
• 38:34–41:39 — David’s violent nightmares, escalation of dark influence, discussion of mental health fears.
• 53:53 — Linda’s first-hand account of David’s apparent possession in the car.
• 56:34 — Linda reflects on the surreal nature of their experiences.

Tone and Language

The language is candid, personal, and emotionally open—the family shares confusion, fear, and at times, embarrassment about what happened. Jack Wagner maintains a direct but compassionate tone, treating the story with seriousness and empathy. There are moments of dark humor and skepticism intertwined with the chilling descriptions, reflecting the coping mechanisms and personalities of the speakers.

Conclusion

Part 1 of “The Granny Flat” chronicles a haunting that begins with a teenage romance and spirals into years of terror, confusion, and strained family dynamics. The episode weaves together the brothers’ firsthand narratives, their mother’s perspective, and the broader implications of how unexplainable phenomena can upend a seemingly normal life. The thread of the story—something brought in by Casey—will be continued in Part 2.

Stay tuned for the second half of this haunting tale on Otherworld.