Girl in the Fog [Patreon Preview] - Otherworld

Summary3 min read

Otherworld Podcast: "Girl in the Fog" [Patreon Preview]

Host: Jack Wagner
Guest: Ryan Wick
Date: May 21, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode of Otherworld introduces the chilling true story of Ryan Wick and his mother, Lori, who encountered profoundly strange events after moving into an isolated rental home in San Tan Valley, Arizona in 2014. Host Jack Wagner sets the tone for a firsthand account of a genuine paranormal experience: an inexplicable green fog, shaped like a young girl's face, appearing at night in their new home. The preview serves as a teaser for the full episode available to Patreon subscribers.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Move to San Tan Valley (01:29)

Background:
Ryan recounts moving with his mother into a rental property in the remote desert area of San Tan Valley, Arizona. The move was hasty due to a recent eviction, leaving them little time to search or investigate the property’s history.
Initial Impressions:
The house initially seemed normal and uneventful—“just a normal one story suburban house”—with nothing that made it stand out as ominous or haunted.

2. Ryan’s Upbringing & Openness to the Paranormal (01:52)

Religious Upbringing:
- Ryan grew up in a strict Lutheran household, attending church regularly but never truly connecting with the faith.
- His mother’s openness and sensitivity toward the supernatural influenced his worldview:
  
  “I was always like really terrified of possession and stuff like that. So I think I always believed in like spirits or like an afterlife or something along those lines.” (Ryan, 03:18)
Personal Skepticism Balanced by Openness:
Although Ryan didn’t identify as religious after adolescence, he admits always being open to the idea of spirits or paranormal occurrences, especially due to his mother’s stories.

3. The Initial Paranormal Encounter (04:54)

First Sighting:
- A few weeks after moving in, Ryan describes waking at 3am with a sudden, unexplainable urge to look at the air vent above his door.
- He details a slow-building, eerie phenomenon:
  - A vapor or “slightly green” smoke begins emitting from the vent.
  - The illumination is vivid—“almost like a laser pointer”—distinctly green and glowing enough to light up part of the wall.
- Ryan stresses the bizarre intuition that prompted him to watch:
  
  “For some reason I knew to look up at the vent over my door... it was like someone told me to. It was just intuitive.” (Ryan, 05:25)
Atmosphere and Emotional Impressions:
- Despite the surreal appearance, Ryan notes the presence felt “playful,” without evil or negativity, and that the fog seemed aware of him, as if wanting to be seen:
  
  “It wanted me to be watching it and see it.” (Ryan, 06:48)

Notable Quotes & Moments

On his religious upbringing:

“My mom always told me, like, if you finish this, like, you get to decide. And so I did that. And then I. The day after I was confirmed, I never even went to church again. And my mom never bothered me about it, so I thought that was pretty cool.”
— Ryan (02:14)

On encountering the green fog:

“There was no, like, negative or, like, evil presence to it. It was almost, like, playful. But it definitely knew that I was there. It... wanted me to be watching it and see it.”
— Ryan (06:30)

Important Timestamps

00:07 — Host Jack Wagner introduces the episode and the chilling events to be shared.
01:29 — Ryan introduces himself: background, upbringing, and context of moving.
03:00 — Ryan describes his religious upbringing and openness to the supernatural.
04:54 — Ryan details the first encounter with the green fog.
06:55 — Preview ends; instructions to hear the full story on Patreon.

Overall Tone and Takeaways

Candid and Reflective: Ryan’s narrative is personal and matter-of-fact, combining skepticism with genuine curiosity and openness to the unexplained.
Eerie yet Non-threatening: The initial encounter with the green fog is unsettling yet curiously non-malicious, setting up deeper stories in the full episode.
Intriguing Mystery: The preview teases a compelling paranormal mystery, inviting listeners to explore the entire series of experiences.

This preview episode lays the foundation for a powerful, personal account of real-life paranormal encounters—blending skepticism, family dynamics, and a haunting desert setting. For those seeking the full story and further discussion, the episode continues exclusively on the Otherworld Patreon.

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Transcript3 lines

[00:08]
A
Welcome to the Otherworld, Patreon. I'm your host, Jack Wagner. This is a short preview if you want to hear the full episode. It's up now@patreon.com Otherworld this episode takes place in 2014, and it revolves around a guy named Ryan and his mom, Lori. It starts when they move into an inexpensive rental property far into the desert in an area called San Tan Valley, Arizona. They, of course, did not know anything about the history of this place before they moved in. And a few weeks after arriving, they woke up in the middle of the night to see a green fog billowing out of an air vent that eventually took on the very clear shape of a young girl's face. Eventually, a lot more stuff started happening in this house, not just to Ryan, but also his mom. I don't want to spoil this story too much, so I'm just gonna let them explain for themselves. This episode is called the Girl in the Fog, and you're listening to the Otherworld, Patreon.
[01:30]
B
Hi, my name is Ryan Wick. I live in Los Angeles, Koreatown. I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. For the most part, I like to make music and sew in my free time. I've been making music for a little over 10 years, I think. I do a label with me and my friends. I do tapes, records, CDs, mostly electronic stuff. I just started sewing. I just pretty much hem stuff right now. But it's really fun. So I've lived out here two years now, and compared to Arizona, it's, like, probably completely opposite, to be honest. Just a lot of nature in Arizona. That's what I really liked about it. But it's fun living in the city. My mom's very religious. I grew up in a Lutheran church. I went every Wednesday and Sunday until I was 15 years old. So, yeah, I had a very religious childhood. I never really resonated with it, but on Wednesdays, we would do confirmation class, and once you finish that, you're, like, considered a member of the church. And my mom always told me, like, if you finish this, like, you get to decide. And so I did that. And then I. The day after I was confirmed, I never even went to church again. And my mom never bothered me about it, so I thought that was pretty cool. But I understand why she had, like, it was just to keep me busy and have, like, a more structured life as a child, I guess. But I was never really religious. I wanted to be when I was younger, but I just. It wasn't the avenue for me. There were, like, certain Things about religion that I think, I guess I would say I believed in. Like I was always like really terrified of possession and stuff like that. So I think I always believed in like spirits or like an afterlife or something along those lines. So my mom was like really sensitive to that stuff and she would tell me about things that she had seen or felt in the past. So I think I was always open to that idea. I just hadn't experienced anything myself until we moved into that house. In 2014, my mom and I moved into a rental property in San Tan Valley, which is pretty far east and south in Arizona. I was 18 years old when we first moved in and we had been evicted prior to moving in there. So it was like a matter of finding the house in a week. So it was a really quick move. So we kind of just moved into wherever we could. We didn't even tour the place. My mom had a friend who was a realtor, so she just kind of took his word for it. And it wasn't like a messed up property or anything like that. Like it was a decent like one story house, like backyard suburbs. But it was like really far out in the desert, kind of middle of nowhere back then. And we didn't know any of the history. When we first moved in. There was no. It just, it felt like a normal house. I didn't really get any weird feelings about it. It just was like a normal one story suburban house. So the first couple weeks living there, there was nothing out of the ordinary that went on. We got settled in there pretty quick. A few weeks after we were all settled in. I had woken up one night at about 3am and there wasn't any noises or like any disturbance or anything. And I just kind of immediately rose up in bed and for some reason I knew to look up at the vent over my door. I wasn't having any strange dreams or anything like that. When I was woken up I just had like a strong feeling to sit up and look at that vent. It's, it's, it's hard to describe. I guess it was, it was like someone told me to. It was just intuitive. And after a couple minutes of staring at it, there was a sort of like vapor or smoke that started coming out of the vent. And it was slightly green. It was like illuminated. Like there's like a light underneath it or something. The green illumination from it. It was like a really strong like shade of green, like a, almost like a laser pointer. And it was just illuminated from the center of it. It lit up a little bit of the wall around it, but it wasn't extremely bright, just enough for me to be able to see the shape of it. And there was no, like, negative or, like, evil presence to it. It was almost, like, playful. But it definitely knew that I was there. It was. It wanted me to be watching it and see it.
[06:55]
A
All right, that brings us to the end of this preview. If you want to hear the entire episode, you could sign up for the otherworld patreon@patreon.com otherworld.