Episode 164: The Stalker Pt. 1

Summary

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Otherworld Episode 164: The Stalker Pt. 1

Release Date: April 27, 2026
Host: Jack Wagner
Guest: Clara (Filmmaker from Quebec)

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Episode Overview

This episode marks the start of a two-part series centering on Clara, a young filmmaker from Montreal whose brief encounter with a man at a French film festival leads to a deeply unsettling and strange series of events. While initially not as overtly paranormal as typical Otherworld episodes, the story traverses the boundaries between spirituality, the esoteric, and unnerving real-life experiences. Host Jack Wagner guides listeners through Clara’s escalating interactions with the man she would come to call “the Stalker,” setting the stage for a narrative about boundaries, intuition, and the sometimes-blurry line between the mystical and the menacing.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Clara’s Background and Relationship with the Mystical

[04:00–09:00]

• Clara introduces herself as a filmmaker from Montreal, passionate about connecting humans and nature in her work.
• Her film, Aska, was shot in Iceland during the COVID-19 lockdowns. “The film kind of wrote itself, and it turned out to be mystical a little bit by mistake, a little bit because the environment is just so jaw dropping and so mystical…” (Clara, 06:00)
• The unexpected success of Aska led her to film festivals across Europe, including Trouville in Normandy.

2. The Festival Encounter

[10:00–14:00]

• At Trouville, Clara had a fleeting, unremarkable interaction with a man who called himself a filmmaker but did not present a film. "He had, like, this boyish energy, despite the fact that he was probably 30. 30 or 40 years old. Kind of ageless, actually." (Clara, 12:30)
• She did not exchange contact information or remember his name—just another face among many at the festival.

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3. The First Unsettling Contact

[14:00–17:00]

• Eight months later (April 2024), Clara receives a strange email from a man named “Michael” who references their festival meeting and claims, “I talk to trees a lot, and they have a message for you…” (Clara, 14:50)
• Out of curiosity and context as a filmmaker drawn to spirituality, Clara agrees to a call where Michael relays the trees’ reassurance that “they're looking out for you… they're your guardian angels…” (Clara recounting Michael’s words, 15:30)
• Feeling soothed by the sentiment, she even goes to a park to “hug a tree” afterwards.

4. Escalating Encounters

[15:25–18:00]

• Michael soon requests to meet Clara in Montreal, suggesting they rent a cottage together in the woods—Clara firmly declines (“First red flag…” 16:16).
• He then asks her to read his film scripts for feedback, a request she agrees to out of professional good will.

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5. Michael’s Arrival and Increasing Intrusion

[18:00–21:00]

• Within days, Michael announces he has flown to Montreal and wants to meet immediately.
• Clara, feeling uneasy but sympathetic, agrees to meet him in a public park: “I told him to meet me a few days later in a park so that it was going to be, you know, as neutral as possible.” (Clara, 19:40)
• She reviews his “very, very strange” scripts, including one with birds talking to flowers, and tries to offer gentle feedback—“I was as kindly as possible explaining to him that it's not quite my type of story…” (Clara, 20:45)

6. Persistent Contact and Boundary Testing

[21:00–28:00]

• After their meeting, Michael’s behavior grows more intrusive: more requests to meet, emails, poems with esoteric language.
• Clara reluctantly meets him a second time, again in public, reiterating professional boundaries. “There was absolutely no flirting going on at all… I was just there to, you know, tell him very, very directly that I wasn't interested.” (Clara, 27:00)
• Notably, Michael asks to come to Clara’s apartment to use the bathroom—she refuses, directing him to a nearby café instead.

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7. From Ambiguous to Ominous

[28:00–37:00]

• Poetic, cryptic messages and repeated contact lead to a third and final meeting, at Michael’s Airbnb, where Clara insists on staying on the balcony.
• She is greeted by an unsettling romantic scene: “All the windows were open, it was kind of windy…a billowing curtain…and he was kind of there and he was…just right by the balcony...cross legged on his bed…” (Clara, 36:50)
• Michael presents her with a “pendulum energy reading,” claiming, “I've never seen anyone with such a high frequency… The only thing made by a human that has this high frequency is the movie Avatar.” (Michael, 39:15)
• He measures the “energy” of Clara’s family (pronouncing them much lower), and then finally declares, “We're soulmates, goddamnit... and we don't even have to be exclusive.” (Michael, 41:10)
• Clara refuses, firmly asks him to stop contacting her, and leaves.

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8. Real-World Consequences and Eerie Coincidence

[42:45–44:21]

• During recording, the police knock at Clara’s door. They report, “There's a report of a strange person on the street corner who had an altercation and entered a place around here. We don't know who made the call, but we're just making sure that there's not a stranger that entered anyone's house.” (Police visit, 42:52–44:03)
• Jack and Clara note the strange timing, serving as unintentional foreshadowing of what’s to come in the story.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the nature of boundary-pushing encounters:
  "Strange people don't deserve to be discredited. Maybe they're just… they have weird passions. But, I mean, there's so much wisdom in weird passions and in weird observations."
  (Clara, 15:25)
• When Michael reads Clara’s ‘energy’:
  “I've never seen anyone with such a high frequency. The only thing made by a human that has this high frequency is the movie Avatar.”
  (Michael, relayed by Clara, 39:20)
• On Michael’s romantic ideal:
  “We're soulmates, goddamnit… and we don't even have to be exclusive.”
  (Michael, 41:10)
• Clara’s reaction to the energy reading:
  "Talking about my family catching strays for no reason." (Jack Wagner, 40:46)
• Foreshadowing interruption:
  “That was the police. They told me there's a report of a strange person on the street corner who had an altercation and entered a place around here.” (Clara, 42:52)

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Host Commentary & Reflections

[25:38–26:44]
Jack Wagner pauses to address potential listener skepticism about Clara’s willingness to keep meeting with Michael. He explains the open-minded networking culture of the film world, especially early in a career, where unusual behavior can be overlooked in the hope of opportunity—and adds empathy for how much thornier these decisions are for a woman.

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Notable Timestamps for Key Segments

• 04:00: Clara introduces herself and her mystical creative process
• 12:30: First description of the man who becomes "the Stalker"
• 14:50: “The trees have a message for you” — first email from Michael
• 19:09: Michael unexpectedly arrives in Montreal
• 20:45: Strange script feedback and the caterpillar incident
• 27:00: Clara’s clear rejection in the second meeting
• 36:50: Entering Michael’s Airbnb for the final meeting
• 39:20: The “energy reading” and Avatar reference
• 41:10: Michael’s soulmate declaration
• 42:52: Police interruption
• 44:06: Jack and Clara discuss the eerie timing

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Tone & Style

Throughout the episode, both Clara and Jack maintain a reflective, self-aware, and lightly humorous tone—even as the narrative darkens. Clara is open about her past naiveté but also clear about the ways she set boundaries. The story is presented in a candid, conversational style, with emphasis on both the emotional complexity and the growing sense of unease.

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Summary Takeaway

Episode 164 “The Stalker Pt. 1” maps the unsettling journey from a benign artistic encounter to an ominous intrusion, weaving together themes of intuition, professional boundaries, and the hazards of openness in creative circles. The episode ends on a moment of real-world foreboding (the police call), setting up the tension for Part 2 as Clara’s story teeters on the cusp between the strange and the dangerous.

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Transcript

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Welcome to Other World. I'm your host, Jack Wagner. This episode is the first part of a series that we've been working on over the last year. It's about a young filmmaker named Clara who lives in Quebec and how a very brief interaction she had at a French film festival led to a bizarre series of events that completely upended her life and left her with a lot of unanswered questions. When I first spoke to Claire on the phone, it was very obvious how traumatized and frightened she still was by all of this. You could literally hear it in her voice. In fact, initially, she wasn't even able to say the name of the person who caused all of this out loud. She would just refer to him as the Stalker. As she told me her story, I was not only captivated by it, I was also hoping that I might be able to help Clara find some answers and finally get some closure to this dark chapter in her life. This series, especially the beginning of it, is not as paranormal as our typical episodes, but it's very frightening. And I think a good way to describe it is that it takes place within the world of spirituality and the esoteric. You'll understand what I mean by the end of this series. This episode is called the Stalker Part one, and you're listening to Other World.

[D]

Hello, is this Bobby? Yes.

[C]

It is at its core, the science you can't argue with.

[D]

I'm sorry about all of a sudden up in the sky.

[C]

It's almost frustrating that it's happened. I'm going to die.

[D]

Limbs were just like wrong. Everybody moves back into the light, even if it takes them. It. Well, my name is Clara and and I'm a filmmaker from Montreal. I've moved around in the world quite a bit. I lived in Europe, I lived a long time in Toronto, but essentially I'm from Quebec and this is where the French accent is from. And yeah, right now I work as a screenwriter and a filmmaker. I make films. I'm still in the early phase of my career, so I'm mostly in short films right now. But I. I do tend to make films that are overseas. So I've made so far like a film in Iceland, one in Manitoba, one in Corsica. And I do deal with. It's gonna make sense later, but I do deal a lot with the mystical in my film. I do love putting nature as a character in my pieces. So my first film was about a volcano, and the second was about this son and so on. And my first film, Aska, got me to travel a lot in Europe and through one of these festivals in Normandy. My life took a really weird turn. I wasn't that curious about spirituality before making that film. And even in the making of that film, I mean, it's kind of. It was a weird context where I filmed it during COVID And I was supposed to make a music video out of this film. And when I arrived there, I discovered this beautiful island that was empty of people, of tourists because we were. It was like deep, deep Covid. We had two Icelandic actresses and was just me and a dop. So we kind of traveled through this very mystical land and we kind of got into this weird creative trance. And so the film kind of wrote itself and it turned out to be mystical a little bit by mistake, a little bit. Because the environment is just so jaw dropping and so mystical that it just. That the film soaked it up. I didn't know what direction the film would take, and it did take that direction. And every film that I've made afterwards did have this huge connection between human and nature and between human and transparency as a whole. Like, I think there is a lot of things happening in what we can't perceive. And I do like to talk about it through art. But I don't think I have any answers as to what the hell this all is. I'm just curious. And I am a visitor of different perspective or different environments and how they can impact our spirituality. But the film was kind of a big surprise from beginning to end because first of all, I didn't really know that I was going to be making a film by going there. The film kind of happened to us and it did. It was kind of like this trance that got created as we went from location to location. We were kind of in a car and we would turn right or left and you would always end up at the right place. And then I edited this film alone at home, not speaking Icelandic. I wrote kind of the film after the fact based on the images. I did it really for myself. I did it to prove that I could do something that I was proud of. And so I didn't really submit it to or, like, I didn't find a distributor at first. I kind of started submitting it on my own, thinking that, like, I would be really, really lucky if one festival took it, and one festival did take it. And after that kind of everything unraveled. A distributor contacted us, said, like, I'm going to take this film, and I'm going to take over the distribution aspects. And I realized that people are a lot more open than I thought about. Very, very underground, black and white films in Icelandic. And so I got a lot of appreciation. And that's when I started traveling. The film got into a festival where Denis Villeneuve gave me an award. And so it kind of opened up all of the doors for me, like, from in a beat of an eyelash. And I didn't know what I was getting into. I didn't know what I had on my hands. And it even. It's crazy. It's really. It's like, you know, that story about the cavalry coming? Like, this is the story of the cavalry coming. So. So it's kind of my life really got flipped upside down by this film. And it brought me to go to Normandy to a festival called Trouville, which is kind of like a really small festival. It's, like, between French films and Quebec films. It's kind of like this little meeting of filmmakers. So I screened my film in, like, this gymnasium. The screening was pretty rough. Like, you could see the line of the projector. The screen was kind of split in half, and we were sitting on, like, cafeteria chairs, so it wasn't, like, the most glamorous setting. But after that, we kind of all gathered outside in this small venue where we all drank soda and calvados. I think it was kind of like the festival's drink of honor. And that's kind of for, you know, for the seven, eight days of the festival. That's what we were doing every day. We would just kind of, like, gather and talk about films and talk about what had inspired us and about our next projects. You know, like this, like, typical film, small talk, where not much is said, but you're kind of just happy to be surrounded by other artists and other filmmakers who have made it to a festival. Yay. And so I was maybe in a group of, you know, six, seven other filmmakers. Some of them had their screening at the same time as me. So we were kind of just talking about the things that we appreciated about the other person's film. And then this really meek guy, he had, like, this boyish energy, despite the fact that he was probably 30. 30 or 40 years old. Kind of ageless, actually. I remember him being smaller than everyone else or taking less space. And I know he didn't have a film there, but he did introduce himself as a filmmaker, and he congratulated me on my film. And we started talking, but we were again in this circle of people, so it wasn't an intimate conversation at all. He asked me a few questions, I guess, about how I had attained the state of trance, because the actresses in the film, there are some scenes where they're venerating a volcano. So there is something trance, like, about the acting. So I was telling him about, you know, canalizing this trance altogether. And I don't know, I didn't really know what I was talking about. I still don't. I don't know what happened, but I was trying to improvise, and I think he got really impressed by it. But the night took me somewhere else. So we probably talked for maybe five minutes, ten minutes at most. And I didn't know really what he was doing there because he didn't have a film there. And it wasn't, you know, one of those festivals where you have people traveling from all over the world to watch films. It was really a local thing. I didn't exchange information. I don't even think I knew his name. I don't think we exchange names. I even wouldn't even remember him. It was kind of. It was a really one of those 100 meetings that you would have in the day. And it kind of like went in the. Into the background. And I didn't think about this person ever again until maybe eight months later. I think my film was screen on one of the last days. So after that, I, you know, hung out with the friends I had made there. We hung out at the beach a lot and ate cheese and drank wine, just like what you do on a French beach. And then I went home and I just carried on with my life. And that was in September of 2023. And I carried on with my life and I think in April 2024. So about eight months later, I received a strange email from someone, I don't know who's called Michael. And he basically says, hey, we met in a festival a while ago, and I know that you're shooting your next film in France pretty soon. And so if you need any help with connections or if you want advice with which producers to work with, let me know, because I'm also in cinema. And I think he finished his email with, by the way, I talk to trees a lot and they have a message for you. So if you want to hop on a call, I'd love to transfer you this message that I have on behalf of the trees. Obviously, I'm a filmmaker. I love nature. Obviously, I was curious and I said, okay, let's hop on a call. And I looked him up and I looked up his name from his email and saw a face that was vaguely familiar, but he did have all the right information. He said, we met at Trouville and we talked about your film, and I know that you're filming your next movie in France, and I'd love to help you or recommend producers or any help that you need making that film, I'm there for it, basically. Yeah. He finished his email saying, by the way, I talked to trees and they have a message for you. So I was curious. We scheduled a call. I hopped on the call. I'm like, what do you mean trees have a message for me? And, I mean, I wish I could remember precisely what we said, but I remember it was a pretty soothing call. It was kind of him. He said, yeah, I live in the forest and I do hear messages in the leaves. And the leaves want to tell me, or they gave me the mission to tell you that they're looking out for you and that nature as a whole and the trees, they love you. They're your guardian angels and they're there to protect you. And that's why you have a really good life right now. And that's why you feel taken care of because of the trees. And he said at the end of the call, he's like, you should go in a park and listen to them. You do have the capacity to hear them, too. So go to a park and talk to them. I thought it was funky, but it felt so good to hear as a message. And I did remember, I left, I ended the call, I went to a park, and I did hug a tree. Like, it was just like, ah, it feels good to feel taken care of. And it is a message that you want to hear. And that was it. That was like a beautiful little moment. I went back home, I forgot about the conversation again. I mean, it was just one of those strange things. But I as a filmmaker and I do make documentaries as well. I mean, I do encounter a lot of weird people. So I Don't ask more questions than I need to, or I tend to trust people even though they're a little bit strange. And I knew that this boy was a little bit strange.

[C]

I can't relate to that.

[D]

Yeah, I mean, strange people don't deserve to be discredited. Maybe they're just. They express themselves differently or they have weird passions. But, I mean, there's so much wisdom in weird passions and in weird observations. So I can't say that I didn't encourage that initial contact where I was curious, and I did thank him. And shortly after, he contacted me again and he said, oh, I have a lot more to tell you, actually. But for me to tell you, I really need to come to Montreal and rent a cottage so that we can spend a few days in the forest and I can teach you.

[C]

Oh, boy.

[D]

Yeah, oh, boy. First red flag.

[C]

I feel like this was Michael's idea, not the trees.

[D]

Yeah. And that one I wasn't really down with. It was amusing. I didn't feel like he was overly flirty about it. It was kind of like the first red flag. But, you know, I kind of just said, no. I wasn't scared at that point at all. I said, like, no, thank you. I'm preparing to shoot a film very soon, and I'm not in the mood. And he said, it's okay. Okay, don't worry about it. But are you able to read my scripts and give me feedback on it? And as a screenwriter, I think it's really important when someone has a story to tell to help them tell the story. Because as a storyteller myself, I've required that help several times. Like, it's really, really important for other people to read your stories and give you their advice. And so I was kind of in the position where I'm like, I would never say no to something like that. And I accepted to read his scripts, and so he sent them to me. And I'm like, okay, I'll just, like, contact you when I've read the scripts. And that's that. Like, thank you for the invites into a cottage in the middle of the forest. But no, no, thank you. But a few. I think maybe like four days later, five days later, he calls me and he says, clara, I'm in Montreal. Like, what? What do you mean? He's like, yeah, I'm in Montreal. I'm, like, really looking forward for. To the comments you have on my script. Can we meet? Like, I'm ready now. What are you doing today? I was like, okay, this is really intense.

[C]

He flew to Montreal, like, within days

[D]

of our conversation about the trees and about me accepting to read his script and give him feedback. I don't get freaked out really easily, and I was a lot more naive back then, where I didn't. I thought that, you know, everyone was a protagonist and everyone was nice, and so I wasn't more. I should have been a lot more freaked out than what I was. I was kind of shocked. I'm like, okay, this guy really wanted to find out about Montreal. This guy really wanted to, you know, like, take a leap and go in a foreign country and. And played the tourist. I didn't think it was necessarily related to me entirely. I think he was really excited about the meeting, but I wasn't necessarily freaked out.

[C]

Did you even read the script yet?

[D]

Yeah, yeah, I did read the scripts. I'm a woman of my words. So I read his scripts. He had two or three scripts that I think he sent me. I mean, he hadn't gone all the way from France to Canada to. I was hoping not just to meet me for this script meeting, but I felt really bad. I'm like, well, of course he's gone all this way. I'm going to meet him and give him feedback. And hopefully he's just, like, really fascinated with Montreal. And he took advantage of this opportunity to kind of visit a foreign country. And so I told him to meet me a few days later in a park so that it was going to be, you know, as neutral as possible. Not in a restaurant, not in a cafe, in a park. And we did. We met in a park. We sat on the ground by a tree, and we. And I gave him feedback for his scripts, which were very, very strange. I think one of his scripts, it was a short film where the birds were talking to flowers. And I'm like. One of my first question is, like, is this supposed to be animated or is this supposed to be live motion? And he's like, yeah, it's live motion. Like, you know, I'm gonna have shots of birds, and we were going to hear their voices as they talk to each other. And I was as kindly as possible explaining to him that it's not quite my type of story, that I couldn't. I had a lot of trouble imagining it. And as we were talking about his script and I was trying to give him feedback, I remember we were sitting on the ground in the grass, and I remember his eyes kept going towards the ground, and I felt weird. And at one point, he just had this big smile on his face, even Though I was kind of bashing his story. He had this big smile on his face. I'm like, what's going on? And he's like, do you see this caterpillar? And I saw this caterpillar that was starting to climb up my leg. And I'm like, oh, it's beautiful. And he said, yeah, this caterpillar just made his way from me to you. That's all. It's a small detail I remember, but I remember, like, he was just so happy. And he's like, see, like we're connected. This big, furry yellow caterpillar just, like, told us something. It has to mean something. And I kind of laughed it off. And I finished giving him feedback and I'm like, oh, I gotta go. Bye. And I left. That was the first time I met him. And then probably the day after, he sent me another email saying, oh, I had forgotten about one last script I need you to read and give me feedback on. And I was like, oh, God damn it. But again, I think out of pity, out of knowing that, you know, he was a stranger in a strange country alone, and that he was probably just looking to make some friends and that I was probably an anchor point in all of this, I accepted again. And I told him, yeah, let's meet in a different park. And again, let's. Let's talk about your script. I don't know. It must have been a week later.

[C]

All right, we'll be right back after this quick break.

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[C]

I want to jump in here real quick because I imagine there may be some people wondering, why would you meet up with this guy? And I know Clara looks back and asks that herself, but I perfectly understand. I went to film school myself and I spent most of my 20s doing anything and everything I could to to break into the film industry. So much of that involves trying to meet as many people as you can and being very open minded because you really don't know who or what might lead to a career making opportunity. And many great artists do have extremely eccentric personalities. So I've been in Clara's shoes many times myself, trying as hard as I can to be patient and kind to somebody like this because it's just smart not to burn any bridges. And I'm certain all of this must be much more difficult and complicated when you're a woman, but I totally understand what it's like to be in her position.

[D]

Yeah, well, for me, as a filmmaker, as a screenwriter, you know, scripts, it's so important to have good stories out there. It's so important to collaborate as well. I mean, a film is made with 50 people and there's a lot of strange people in the film. I mean, there's artists of all kinds. And it's really important not to judge people on first appearance or to perceive everyone as a character. And so when he suggested me a second time, like, oh, I forgot, I have another script I really need you to read. First of all, I did it because I'm like, you know, if this person is to spend a lot of time on making a film, I just, I hope it's going to be good and if I can do anything in order to help him make a good story, I will. And second of all, I'm like such a strange person and like he seems to be so on the lookout on the watch for the things that are crawling in the grass as we talk and so on. And I was kind of. I wanted to understand what his deal was. And so we met and, I mean, it was as uneventful as the first time. I wanted to keep it really distanced. There was absolutely no flirting going on at all. My eye just gave him the feedback for the script. And I knew that he wanted to keep going. I knew that he wanted to keep the conversation going for as long as possible. At one point, he looked at me in the eyes and he's like, do you think the story is going to end up on the screen? And I told him, I don't think so. And I remember feeling really guilty about that because it's an awful thing to say to someone, but I don't think his script was. Had the potential or the quality of being funded or having, like, an entire group of people supporting it, let alone him. I thought that he was just so strange and so weird and so disconnected in a sense that I told him, maybe you'll write another script that's inspired on this one, and maybe that one is going to get produced. But I. Maybe it's not a story that I would want to go see in theaters. As mean as it sounds, I just, you know, honesty is important in this field. And so that's what I said. And I left. I said, like, goodbye, I have other things to do. And I left. And it was pretty painful because I didn't have great news for him. I didn't like his stories very much. And so at the end of the second meeting, I said goodbye. My house is right beside here. I'm leaving, and good luck in Montreal. Let me know if you need recommendations for places to go. I did tell him to go walk on the Mont Royal, which is. We call it a mountain, but it's more like a hill in the middle of the city. It's kind of like this forested area in the middle of the city with, like, a little cross on the top. And I love to go there because it's kind of like getting away from the city, but it's only 15 minutes away from home. And so I said, like, oh, yeah, you should go walk there, and you should go to this restaurant. It's amazing, and best of luck. And I left, and I remember him saying that he needed to go pee. And he asked me if he could come to my place to pee, and I wasn't comfortable at all. So I told him that there's a cafe that's probably closer than my house, and that he should go there. And I kind of ended things. I told him goodbye, and I walked away. My house is maybe not even a block away from the park, so I don't know if how long he looked at me walk away. But I did kind of leave him behind and kind of fled back home. I wasn't weirded out by back then because I felt in control. I mean, this was my city. This was on my terms. He wasn't necessarily pushy. He was very strange. But I knew how to put my limits, and I did. And I was very clear from the beginning. I said, look, like I'm. This is where this meeting is entirely on an artistic standpoint. I'm not. Because I think at one point, he did ask me about my personal life, about my. If I was dating, and I wasn't. But I did tell him, like, I'm not looking to date right now. I'm kind of just really passionate about my projects, and I am a very independent person, and I don't feel the need to be in a relationship right now. It wasn't. I didn't tell him about him. He didn't make a move on me. But I do remember he did say that he had met his soulmate, and that his soulmate was in India. And he had, like, little stars in his eyes when he was talking about this person. He said, like, yeah, like, I've met the love of my life. And so. And I think he said that at the beginning of the meeting, in the second meeting in the park. And so I felt like I wasn't a love interest, that our meetings were purely professional. Yeah. So after the second meeting in the park, and at that point, I had kind of made it clear that that was gonna be it, and, like, good luck. Enjoy Montreal. But I'm too busy to meet again. And he started sending texts or poems, I'd say, about how kind and beautiful I was, and. And also just, I don't know, mumbled stuff, but, you know, like, words put together. But the very precise word that had, you know, a lot of flowers, the divine, the sublime, everything all together, you know, all of those Kumbaya words that people use a lot in esoterism. I didn't really respond to any of them. Sometimes I would just say, oh, thank you, or, oh, that's beautiful. But I didn't want to feed it anymore. I had other things to do. And I was getting really creeped out at that point. I'm just like, okay, this guy has way too much time on his hand, and I hope I didn't give him any signal, bad signals. At that moment I was hesitant. I'm like, oh, maybe he understood something that like, you know, signs that I gave or, you know, the caterpillar that went from him to me opened up a can of worms not to be too punny. He would call me, I would never answer. He texted me poems and I, you know, I got a little bit annoyed. It must have been, you know, like maybe a week or two weeks later that he said, we really need to meet, like one last time. Just, I swear, just let's meet wherever you want, whenever you want. But I just have like one really important thing to tell you. And I again, this was the third meeting and I said, okay, I'll meet you. But for me it was really just like, I need to tell this guy very straight, straight away, like very forwardly, I'm not interested, Leave me alone. And it wasn't really working the way that I was doing it. And so I said, yes, let's meet again. And he gave me the place. He's like, oh, let's like I have a balcony on my Airbnb that's like gives to the, to the main street. So let's meet on that balcony. Because I didn't really want to, you know, get into a room with him. And so I'm like, okay, like I'm in that neighborhood. I'm around like, let's, let's, let's meet one last time. And so I went first of all, it was really strange. It's like he had left all of the doors open. So I'm just like, let's meet on your balcony. But I had to kind of go into the Airbnb to get to the balcony. And I arrived at the address and all the doors were open and I entered and you know, like it was really staged for a romantic declaration. All the windows were open, it was kind of windy. So I remember there was like a billowing curtain and he was kind of there and he was like, just right by the balcony. But he was kind of like sitting down on his bed and he was kind of, he didn't move. Like he let me come in and kind of look around to see where he was. And he was just kind of like in the bed and kind of like in a, you know, cross legged and like waiting for. For some reason. Yes. Oh God, that's exactly what I said in my head. I'm like, ah, shit. Like as soon as I got in I'm like, ah, I should have not done that. Like, you know, like, you're pushing the limits, you're pushing the line. And what were you expecting? Like, this guy's been sending you poems for, you know, like the past week. Why are you here? Yeah, I was kind of cursing in my head being like, God damn it, Clara, get away. There was definitely a few candles in there, but it was the middle of the day. It was like 2pm I had like, I was kind of passing by in between two meetings and I had told him so. So it wasn't, you know, a romantic dinner by any means, but I entered the door, that was, I entered the apartment, which was wide open, and saw him like cross legged on his bed. And he's just like, sit, sit. And he like showed me a place to sit. And he had like this board. I don't know what it's called. I'm not the most cultured in that side of life, but it was kind of like, it was like a half circle where you can measure the energy of things. And he had, you know, his little crystal. Oh, that's something I forgot. He had given me gifts in the first two meetings in the park. He had given me a crystal. He had given me like a few bookmarks, I think, that were like, strangely religious. And I don't. He had given me also like, you know, the kind of bracelet that you'd buy at like a market in India. And I hadn't worn them. I had probably just tore them away and not thought about them. But there I was in the apartment, he's sitting on his bed with this like map of energy in front of him with his little crystal. And he's just like, sit, sit. I'm like, okay. And I sat on a chair, not in the bed. I kept my distance. I sat. And he's like, I just want to show you something. So he took his pendulum and he put it in the middle of the map and then he just looked at it. And then he started making it rock from left to right. And it kind of started pointing higher and higher on the half circle, showing that, you know, it was getting higher in energy. And then it stopped at one point a little bit further than halfway up the circle. And he's like, look, this is your energy. I'm like, okay, cool, Amazing. And he's like, did you realize what that means? Like, what does it mean? He's like, I've never seen anyone with such a high frequency. He's like, yeah, like, the only thing made by a human that has this high frequency is the movie Avatar.

[C]

It's a great movie. I've. It's a great movie.

[D]

Great movie. Great movie. I didn't know. I didn't realize that it had such a high frequency. He was convinced. I was like, I. I don't even know if he said it's the best movie in the world. Usually he just said that it's like the movie with the highest frequency. And then he's just like, oh, yeah. And, you know, like, your next project, like, your next scripts, they're even further than that. Like. And then he shows, like, his pendulum, and he shows that my next films are going to be, you know, on a frequency never yet met by any other work of art. I wasn't taking it seriously by then. I wasn't, you know, like, I wasn't finding it funny anymore. I was just. I'm just like, okay, this guy is clearly way too far into his spirituality, and it doesn't make sense. And he started measuring the energy of my brother and my mom and telling me that they have really low energy. And I was like, kind of. I was kind of offended. I'm like, how dare you?

[C]

Talking about my family catching strays for no reason.

[D]

Yeah, he didn't have to do that. I mean, I. I didn't ask him anything. Like, I. I was just there to, you know, tell him very, very directly that I wasn't interested. And there I was, like, being measured and having my family being measured and. And my projects. And I'm like, look, like, this is. This is. This is not. I'm not comfortable. I just. I. I had to tell you, but good luck in Montreal. But I. Can you please stop texting me? Because I. It's not working out. And he's like, oh, Clara, you don't know, like, what. He's like, well, we're soulmates, God damn it. I'm like, what do you mean? He's like, yeah, we're soulmates. And, like, I'd be really open to being in a relationship with you, and we don't even have to be exclusive. Like, he can, you know, date other people, too, but we're soulmates, and we have to be together. I don't even remember my reaction, but I was not impressed. I was not impressed. I was like, there he is, like, this really meek, boyish man with his pendulum telling me that we're soulmates, and I just. I couldn't take him seriously. Like, I'm sorry. Like, I'm. No, I don't think we're soulmates. I'm gonna go. Can you please stop? Contacting me, like, I don't. I'm not okay with this and I'm gonna go. And I did leave. I didn't really give him the opportunity to keep me there longer than I needed to. I think I was probably there for about 20 minute stops. I just couldn't do any more. I was getting really creeped out and I wanted all of this to be over.

[C]

Okay, so. Oh, is it him?

[D]

No. Imagine. I'll be right back. Oh, my God. You wouldn't. That was strange. That was the police. That was the police. They told me there's a report of a strange person on the street corner who had an altercation and entered a place around here.

[C]

What?

[D]

I don't know. That's so. And they're like, we don't know who made the call, but we're just making sure that there's not a stranger that entered anyone's house.

[C]

That is really weird.

[D]

I mean, it's not weird where we are in the story, but it'll get really weird in five minutes. That's really weird. Wow. Yeah.

[C]

Okay.

[D]

Well, it's kind of a foreshadowing thing.

[C]

That's really weird. That brings us to the end of this episode. We will be back very shortly with the next part. This has been the Stalker part one, and you've been listening to Otherworld. Otherworld is executive produced and hosted by myself, Jack Wagner. Our producers are Theo Schaeffer, Theo Krantz, Haley Pearson and Nikki Kate Delgado. Our theme song is by Cobra Man. The soundtrack of this episode is by North Americans and Juice Jackal. Our artwork is by Cul de Sac Studios. Please show us your support by subscribing, leaving a five star review, and telling your friends about the show. If you want to hear bonus episodes of Otherworld, you can become a [e-mail] Otherworld Our social media is Otherworldpod. Thank you to the team at Odyssey. Leah Rees, Dennis, Maura Curran, Josefina Francis, Eric Donnelly, Kate Rose, Colin Gaynor and Hilary Schuff. 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 could send us your [e-mail].

[H]

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