Episode 99

Summary

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Radio Rental – Episode 99 Summary

Released: December 5, 2025
Host: Payne Lindsay, with Ricky Lee (Store Manager)
Podcast Theme: True-life horror stories—bizarre crimes, disturbing brushes with evil, and chilling encounters with the paranormal—framed inside a fictional 80’s video rental store.

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Episode Overview

Episode 99 of Radio Rental closes out the season with a blend of real terror and unease. The episode features two primary stories: one a hair-raising personal account of surviving a near-miss with a murderer, the other a chilling brush with a ghostly presence known as "the Umbrella Man." These stories delve into the unpredictability of evil—human and possibly supernatural—while playful horror-tinged humor from Ricky Lee lightens the mood between tales. Ricky shares "end of year forecasts," and the show closes out with an optimistic look at next year's adventures.

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Key Discussion Points & Story Summaries

1. Storefront Banter and Season Farewell

• [04:02 - 06:21] Ricky Lee introduces the episode, noting it’s the last one for the season, closing Radio Rental’s doors until after the holidays. Ricky promises his “end of the year forecast” later, but first, a scary true story tape.

  Memorable Ricky Lee Quotes:

  • “I’m the custodian of creepiness. The dealer of dread—that is right. Today we are going to get back into some unsettling stories told by real, breathing people.” (05:04)
  • “This is the last day Radio Rental’s going to be open this season… End of the year is upon us. We got yuletide and all that.” (05:27)

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2. Story #1: The Campus Security Killer

[06:29 – 16:12]
Storyteller 2: Young woman (16 at the time) recounts an encounter with a man posing as campus security, who later turned out to be a murderer.

Story Breakdown:

• Setting: Central Oregon Community College (COCC), summer, late at night.
• Inciting Incident: The storyteller and her friend are playing Pokémon Go and are pulled over by “campus security” for supposedly violating curfew.
• Unsettling Interaction: Security guard insists they come with him to catch a Pokémon by the gym. She refuses, feeling something is off, and cites her strict curfew as a reason to leave.
• Chilling Aftermath: Days later, she learns via news broadcast that the same campus security guard murdered a girl and kidnapped a family. The storyteller realizes her life was likely saved by her curfew and instincts.
• Legislative Impact: The “Kaylee Sawyer Act” was introduced to prevent campus security from impersonating law enforcement—stemming directly from the murder case.
• Processing Survival and Guilt: The storyteller reflects on the randomness of survival, the lingering trauma, and the evil she sensed:

  “You trust someone. That’s campus security… and you just expect that they are going to take care of you and that they uphold the law. Of course they’re not going to break the law. It just turned out to not be the case.” (15:23)
  “You watch your life flash before your eyes… After the fact, you realize there’s no chance I would have survived if I had gotten out of the car.” (16:05)

Notable Quotes and Moments:

• On instinct and survival:

  “The best thing you can do is just pretend that it never even happened, because I was never going to get any sort of comfort from the situation.” (13:12)

• On learning the truth:

  “Mom, that is the guy that pulled me over the other night.” (11:19)

• Impactful realization:

  “My curfews probably saved my life—also my intuition.” (15:46)

Takeaway:

A chilling reminder to trust instincts, the thin line between ordinary life and hidden evil—and how seemingly trivial rules or feelings can save lives.

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3. Ricky Lee Interlude: Sympathy and Humor

[16:12 – 16:45]
Ricky reacts to the harrowing first story:

“That's sad to hear that there’s creeps out there like that… My greatest sympathies to all the women that have to deal with this…” (16:12)

He then provides comic relief with a brief ad break and prepares the audience for the next tale.

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4. End of Year Forecast—The "Wood Snake" Era

[18:19 – 19:14]
Ricky shares that 2025 was “the year of the wood snake,” marked by wisdom and transformation—a nod to supernatural folklore and the show’s playful tone.

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5. Story #2: The Umbrella Man

[19:14 – 34:37]
Storyteller 1: A college student recalls a surreal, possibly supernatural encounter while stargazing with her boyfriend at their haunted rural Appalachian college.

Story Breakdown:

• Setting: Rural Pennsylvania, historic 200-year-old college, late at night in the autumn of 2015.
• Lead Up: The storyteller and boyfriend walk to a remote football field for stargazing, traversing dark woods and isolated trails.
• Supernatural Encounter:
  • They spot quick flashes of light in the woods, then a bizarre, gliding figure—tall, wearing a trench coat, top hat, and holding an open umbrella. Its movement makes no sense—it glides smoothly over rough terrain, unaffected by holes or grass.
  • The "Umbrella Man" pivots toward a field house but makes no sound, absorbs light under powerful lamps, and seems almost featureless.
  • The figure loses interest in the field house and turns, heading directly for the couple. Panic rises—they feel hunted, “pinned down,” and stalked by something unnatural.
  • As they are about to flee, it abruptly changes direction and vanishes, heightening their terror. They finally make a desperate sprint back to safety.
• Aftermath:
  • The experience leaves them anxious for days. Campus lore has stories of "the Umbrella Man," and the pair continue to puzzle over whether it was a person or a specter.
  • The storyteller describes lingering feelings of being watched and ongoing uncertainty:

    “We are the only things in this field and it is barreling down right in front of us. My heart just sinks in my stomach. I can feel all of my hairs raised. It wasn’t like a chill up the spine. It was an immediate instinctual—I am being hunted and this thing is coming.” (27:09) “If it was a person, what was their whole point? Why were they sneaking up on us? … It really does not make sense to me how somebody was able to cover that amount of ground without any… shaking to the umbrella, without any cadence to the movement.” (33:37)

Notable Quotes and Moments:

• On the visual eeriness:

  “It's almost as if it's absorbing all of the light that's coming into contact with it.” (25:22)

  • “No, sirree. No, thank you. I am good. … I will not be sticking around to find out more about Demon Mary Poppins. Supercalifragilicate Ex Biala. Don't come near me is what I say.” – Ricky Lee, comic postscript (34:37)
• On instinctual terror:

  “It wasn’t like a chill up the spine. It was an immediate instinctual—I am being hunted and this thing is coming.” (27:17)

Takeaway:

The “Umbrella Man” story fuses classic campus-ghost spookiness with a genuinely unexplainable sense of dread, emphasizing how easily reality can tip into the uncanny.

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6. Year-End Forecast & Playful Banter

[36:52 – 38:31]
Ricky Lee returns with his trademark humor, looking to the future:

• Declares 2026 “the year of the fire horse,” predicting a year of energy, adventure, and new stories. Suggests listeners pursue bold adventures and teases big things for Radio Rental’s next season.
• Lighthearted jabs at his feline companion, Malachi, keep the tone fun and personal.

“I do think next time you’re back in Radio Rental, we’re going to have plenty of adventure in store for you here… that’s what they call the double whammy.” (37:42)

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• “I have got the keys to your engine. I'm the custodian of creepiness. The dealer of dread—that is right.” – Ricky Lee [05:04]
• “My curfews probably saved my life, also my intuition. It makes me feel sick. It makes me feel grateful…” – Storyteller 2 [15:46]
• “I am being hunted and this thing is coming.” – Storyteller 1 [27:17]
• “No, sirree. No, thank you. I am good… I will not be sticking around to find out more about Demon Mary Poppins.” – Ricky Lee [34:37]
• “2026 will bring us a year full of passion, energy, independence, and a thirst for adventure.” – Ricky Lee [36:55]

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Episode Timestamps for Major Segments

• Season Farewell & Introduction: [04:02 – 06:21]
• Story #1 (Campus Security Killer): [06:29 – 16:12]
• Ricky Lee’s Reaction (Sympathy & Humor): [16:12 – 16:45]
• 2025 in Review (“Year of the Wood Snake”): [18:19 – 19:14]
• Story #2 (The Umbrella Man): [19:14 – 34:37]
• Post-Story Banter: [34:37 – 36:52]
• 2026 Forecast (“Year of the Fire Horse”): [36:52 – 38:31]

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Tone & Style

The episode continues Radio Rental’s signature blend: chilling, immersive true stories bookended and punctuated by Ricky Lee's endearing, irreverent humor. The storytelling is confessional, verging on therapeutic—emphasizing vulnerability and aftermath as much as the “scare.” Ricky's playful analogies and metaphors lighten even the darkest details, keeping the fictional “video store” world alive.

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Conclusion

Episode 99 of Radio Rental delivers two contrasting but equally unsettling stories—one confronting the hidden horrors in everyday authority, the other the pure inexplicability of a brush with the Other. Ricky Lee’s blend of comic relief and spooky forecasting bookends an episode that lingers in the mind, prompting listeners to question how they would respond in the face of real, or possibly supernatural, dread.

Next season promises the “Year of the Fire Horse”—and if past stories are any indication, the adventures (and chills) will only escalate.

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Transcript

[Payne Lindsay]

You're listening to a Tenderfoot TV podcast.

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[Payne Lindsay]

intelligent life beyond our planet? A new season of High Strange is here. The explanation keeps changing, but the stories don't go away.

[Ricky Lee]

Videos appearing to show UFOs flying through the air are real.

[Payne Lindsay]

My name is Payne Lindsay and my new season of high strange goes deeper into real encounters, first hand accounts and the explanations that never seemed to stick.

[Tenderfoot TV Announcer]

Images of that rotating thing captured by US Navy aircraft.

[Payne Lindsay]

I talked to scientists, military witnesses, pilots and people who saw something they can't unsee.

[Storyteller 1]

There is no other explanation for what

[Payne Lindsay]

we saw that day. I remembered those faces and they weren't human. High Strange is available now. Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts to Binge the entire season of high strange now ad free. Subscribe to Tenderfoot [e-mail], it's the holiday season and radio rental merch deals are here. The Tenderfoot shop is fully stocked with new items like the open late mug and hoodie as well as new bundles and up to 50% off. Your favorites are back too. The classic black, open, late and uniform tees have returned from the merch vaults and for the first time ever, you can literally bring the radio rental store home with our limited edition radio rental Lego set. Build it, display it and make sure you post it. Head over to shop Tenderfoot tv, to unwrap all the deals and snag holiday pricing while it lasts. Hate waiting a week for the next episode of Radio Rental. Subscribe to Tenderfoot plus to get early access to episodes, ad free listening, and even some bonus scary stories. Visit tenderfootplus.com for details.

[Tenderfoot TV Announcer]

The following podcast includes scary stories with content that could be triggering to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

[Payne Lindsay]

Take a break from the same old boring blockbusters and experience a new kind of movie night with Radio Rental.

[Ricky Lee]

At Radio Rental, our videos come to

[Storyteller 2]

life in your living room, defy all

[Payne Lindsay]

logic and reasoning and make you question your own reality.

[Storyteller 2]

This is not your ordinary video rental store.

[Ricky Lee]

At Radio Rental, we carry one of a kind videos.

[Payne Lindsay]

So frightening, so mind bending, you won't be able to sleep at night.

[Ricky Lee]

You've gone. Radio Rental. Hey there, man. Hey. Welcome back to Radiorental, everybody. It's me. It's me. It's Ricky Lee. Oh, my word. Hey, hey, y'.

[Payne Lindsay]

All.

[Ricky Lee]

Don't play with me. You know you're happy to see me. Cause I have got what you need. I got you fixed, baby doll. I have got the keys to your engine. I'm the custodian of creepiness. The dealer of dread, that is right. Today we are going to get back into some unsettling stories told by real, breathing people. Just the way you like it. Now, before we get started, I got some bittersweet news for y'. All. This is the last day Radio Rentals going to be open this season. Now, I know, I know. Calm down. Yes siree or no, madam, whatever. Look, y', all, you know it. End of the year is upon us. We got yuletide and all that. And we're gonna close up the shop for just a little while. And I'm sorry to say it, I didn't make the rule. But that is the rule. Damn. Hey, don't worry about that. That's just Vince, the new junior associate clerk. And I'm telling you, that boy is a good kid. Good, good kid. I think he's like, in his 40s, but yeah, that's. That's a good kid right there. But anyway, as I was saying, it is the end of the year. Thus I will be giving you my end of the year forecast. Check it out. Free of charge. Free of charge. Out of the goodness of my Yuletide heart. But first, I'm going to give you a scary story. I know that's what you came for. All right, so let me pop in one of our tapes. I kind of Feel like Santa Claus.

[Storyteller 1]

Ho ho.

[Ricky Lee]

Horror story coming right up.

[Storyteller 2]

I was 16 years old. I was living at home. Obviously, it was summer. I'd just gotten back from summer camp with one of my best friends. We had kind of gotten into Pokemon Go more so her. I was just new to driving as of June that year, so I was really excited to just be the driver and take my friend everywhere. And so that's what I did. One night. She was like, hey, I'd love to go collect some Pokemon. We had really no other plans. I was like, perfect. I'll drive. Let's get in the car. And so we headed out from my house. My curfew was 11, and so my mom would always be texting me around 10 o', clock, like, you better be home soon. And so I was like, okay, we're on last rounds. Like, do you want to go pick up other Pokemon? You want to just head home? And she was like, you know, there looks like there's one over by the college. Do you want to go pick it up? And I was like, sure, let's go over there. We drove over to Cocc's campus, which is Central Oregon Community College. We're listening to our favorite songs from camp and talking about all the nostalgic things from just two weeks ago at camp. We're being girls. We're just having fun. We're stopping at random places in town, starting to enter into the college, and we're just driving, listening to music. All of a sudden, I see lights in my rear viewer. What is that? I turn my friend, and I'm like, I think we're being pulled over. And she was like, what? And I'm like, yeah, but it looks like it's just campus security. Like, it doesn't look like it's a legitimate cop car. I'm not sure. Let's just pull over just in case and see what he needs. She's like, what do you think we're getting pulled over for? I'm like, I don't. I don't know. Maybe our music's too loud. Like, I have no idea. I'm 16. I just got my license. I'm freaking out because not only am I close to curfew, but my mom will kill me if I get a ticket. So we pull over into a parking lot. I roll down my window, as anyone does when they get pulled over. And he comes up and he's like, hey, ladies. What are you guys doing? And I was like, immediately, like, make sure he knows you're not on your phone. I'm like, we're playing Pokemon Go. But I'm not the one playing. My friend's the one playing. Like, I'm just driving. That's when he's like, well, you know, you can't be on campus past 10pm we have a curfew. Oh. I turned to my friend, kind of shocked. I'm like, oh, I had no idea. I'm so sorry. Like, we're high schoolers here in town. We don't go to school here on campus. We didn't know about the curfew. We'll get off. Sorry. Are we all good? And he was like, well, what? Did you guys say what you were doing? And we were like, oh, we're playing Pokemon Go. Oh, well, I know a really good one is. It's up by the gymnasium. I can show you. I was like, oh, you know, actually, I think we should probably go, but thank you. We'll come back for it. And he was like, no, no, really, it'll just take, like, five minutes. It's no big deal. And then I'll send you on your way. Immediately feel chills down my spine because I'm like, this is weird. He just wanted us off campus, and now he wants us to stay on campus, and he wants us to come with him some, like, I don't know, things just felt weird. And we're like, okay, yeah, maybe we'll come back another day. And he was like, no, I can show you really quick. It just felt weird. I was not game for that. I actually have a curfew at 11, and my mom will kill me if I'm late, but are we good here from a law point of view? And he was like, yeah, you're all good. And it felt like he kind of just let go of the reins. He was really in on wanting to show us where the Pokemon was. But the moment that I was like, I have a curfew. My mom's waiting for me. I'm gonna be in trouble if I'm not there. I was like, okay, thank you, sir, and drove away. And I'm like, that was so weird. I just turned to her and I'm

[Storyteller 1]

like, did you think that was weird?

[Storyteller 2]

Yeah, a little. Did you think that was weird? I'm like, yeah, what was his deal? And she was like, I don't know. Maybe he's weird. I was like, yeah, that's true. Maybe he is weird. I drove home, I went inside to my house. My mom was there. And that's when I asked, did you know that COCC has a 10pm curfew? No, I didn't.

[Payne Lindsay]

Why?

[Storyteller 2]

And I'm like, well, we got pulled over by campus security for being on campus past 10pm and I had no idea. That's weird. I didn't even know they could have a curfew on the road like that. Because it's not like you have to really go out of your way to go on the college campus. It's in the middle of our town. That road that goes through is a very main road to take from one part of town to a neighborhood of houses. Like people probably take that every day to drive to their house. And so the fact that there was a curfew set on it was strange to say the least. I'm home safe. My friend was home safe. I made it for curfew. It didn't become a thing until about a week later. I was playing soccer at the time and we had daily doubles and so we had to wake up early and start getting ready to go to the morning conditioning portion, which was at cocc. There is a story blasted on the news and I see the campus security guard's face on the screen. Mom, that is the guy that pulled me over the other night. And so we turn up the volume. It turns out they're currently chasing him down the interstate in California because he had murdered a girl on campus and was now kidnapping another family and going to partake in another murder later on. They were doing a speed chase. He was going like 120 miles down the highway and they had the camera over him. I'm shocked and my mom's shocked and I'm like, that's the guy that tried to get me out of my car. That's the guy that said he had a good Pokemon to collect by the gymnasium. And I start to kind of spiral. I just remember going to that conditioning that morning and that we were running to the college and all I could think was, this can't be real. There's no way this happened here on this campus. That someone was killed here and that that someone that killed that innocent girl was a guy that pulled me over right there. And I'm just on the campus running laps and stairs and my mind is spiraling. There is no way that this actually happened as any 16 year old would do. I just dissociated. I was like, I can't even think about it. That's something that I am going to pretend never happened. This is the most uncomfortable thing to think about. It was eerie and it was one of those things that you just, you know, is weighing on you. But the best thing you can do is just pretend that it never even happened, because I was never going to get any sort of comfort from the situation. Nothing more was going to come from it. There's all these things that go through your head, like, what could actually make this heal? And the only thing that could really make it heal was forgetting about it. They end up getting him. He ended up confessing to everything. Two years later, the Dateline episode comes out. Of course, I'm like, I have to watch this. This is crazy. And so we watched the episode together, my mom and I, and it turns out that it was entirely premeditated and that he was looking for a specific kind of victim. And that victim fit my appearance entirely. It was really, really terrifying to see that kind of thing come out. Because you trust someone. That's campus security. You see them. You see them in their uniform, in their car with the lights, and you just expect that they are going to take care of you and that they uphold the law. Of course they're not going to break the law. It just turned out to not be the case. In fact, they ended up instilling the Kaylee Sawyer act, and that was to prevent this from ever happening again. And what the law bans is campus security from using patrol cars or uniforms to be confused as real law enforcement. That's what I saw in my rearview mirror, was the lights. And so they no longer can do that. I look back on this, and I still can't believe that Pokemon Go is what got me there. But also the fact that my curfews would probably save my life, also my intuition. It makes me feel sick. It makes me feel grateful. I've been in a lot of weird situations in my life. This is one of those situations that I'm like, I have a purpose on the Earth, and I'm not sure what it is, but I'm still here for a reason. I'm supposed to live out that purpose. It's really eerie to just remember being face to face with him feeling something weird. And the fact that when you watch the Dateline and you see what he actually did to her, you recognize that there is that evil that you felt when you looked him in the eyes, and that that was truly there. He talks about his urge to kill in the Dateline, and it makes you want to get emotional, but at the same time, you're like, I wasn't the actual victim. There's someone out there who truly was, and their family is. I'm sure. Still grieving from that. It's crazy. You watch your life flash before your eyes, but after the fact, like in the moment, you don't realize that there's no chance I would have survived if I had gotten out of the car.

[Ricky Lee]

Dang, that's. Hey, that right there. That's sad to hear that there's creeps out there like that. And I know there are, but every time I hear something like that, I'm surprised. And my greatest sympathies to all the women that have to deal with this on a regular basis. Good granny. But anyway, let's take a break for ads. I'm going to Google what is a Pokemon Go, and then we're going to meet back up on the other side.

[Payne Lindsay]

Why have I asked my electrician I found on Angie.com to bury my pet hamster Nibbles, in our yard for me? Because I was so moved by how carefully he buried my electrical wires, I knew I could trust him to bury my sweet Nibbles after his untimely end.

[Storyteller 1]

Huh?

[Payne Lindsay]

Nibbles gone too soon. May he scurry in peace.

[Ricky Lee]

Hey, sorry about your pet, but I just wire stuff.

[Payne Lindsay]

Nibbles would have loved you like a brother. Connecting homeowners with skilled Pros for over 30 years, Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find pros for all your home [e-mail].

[Ricky Lee]

hey, Sal. Hank.

[Payne Lindsay]

What's going on?

[Ricky Lee]

We haven't worked a case in years. I just bought my car at Carvana, and it was so easy. Too easy. Think something's up? You tell me.

[Payne Lindsay]

They got thousands of options, found a

[Ricky Lee]

great car at a great price, and

[Payne Lindsay]

it got delivered the next day.

[Ricky Lee]

It sounds like Carvana just makes it

[Payne Lindsay]

easy to buy your car, Hank. Yeah, you're right. Case closed.

[Storyteller 1]

Buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply.

[Payne Lindsay]

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[Ricky Lee]

Welcome back, folks. Welcome back. Well, all right. As I promised, I would now like to tell you my forecast for the upcoming year. For Context, this year, 2025, was the year of the wood snake. The year of the wood snake is marked by wisdom and transformation. And I think we can all agree that has happened. We saw a lot of changes around radio rental this year, and I, for one, have brought a lot of needed wisdom into these four walls within which I sit. So let's pop in another tape, and when we come back, I'm going to tell you a little bit more. I will. I said I would. I will. Here we go.

[Storyteller 1]

So it was the fall of 2015. We were at a small liberal arts college, rural Pennsylvania, kind of in the upper corner of Appalachia. Our college was really unique because it was celebrating its bicentennial. So it's 200 years old. And kind of one of the lures of the college was that it's haunted, right? It's been there for 200 years. Everybody knows it's haunted. I think my boyfriend and I, who's now my husband, didn't really buy into any of that, but it was fun, just feeling the energy. Throughout the late summer and kind of early fall, my boyfriend and some of his friends had been sneaking up to our college's football field, sneaking onto the field late at night and just playing casual games of football. Most often they would be chased off by either a maintenance worker or a janitor or somebody like that. But when he was up there, he had noticed that he could see all of these beautiful stars. And so he got it in his head that it would be a great idea to take me up there and go stargazing late at night. One night, before we knew it, we were kind of walking up late at night, blanket in hand. We were both just really excited. Young love. The plan was to kind of walk about a mile up to that football field. And these are dark college streets, right? There's not a whole lot of lighting in rural Pennsylvania. And so we were walking along the sidewalk. And eventually the sidewalk kind of dwindles down into really what amounts to a game trail, something that animals might follow. You have the chance to either follow that along this two lane highway, or you can hang a sharp left and go up this really steep, unmaintained gravel ravine that takes you out into this beautiful clearing maybe 500 yards away from that football field. That was our goal. That's where we wanted to be. That's where we wanted to set up shop and do this stargazing. We cross the street, we hang this sharp left up through this really unmaintained, rocky, dark ravine. It was just super, super dark. And we kept commenting on how we Couldn't even see our hands in front of our faces because it was so dark. When we broke out of the ravine, we were huffing and puffing because it was really steep. It was just so beautiful. You just come out of the woods and there's just this huge clearing, stars up above you. But there's also this really dense, thick forest. So behind you, to the left of you and way in front of you, just kind of these impenetrable walls almost, it felt like. So we kind of make our way through this meadow, this field. We're kind of walking through this thick grass, ambling over all this uneven ground. And we set up shop on a little embankment. We are laying on our stomachs and we notice that maybe 250 yards ahead of us there's this field house. And we see one of these maintenance workers working in the field house. It has these big doors for trucks to get in and out of. Those are open. But the field house is surrounded by all of this gravel. So if anybody were to walk up around it, it would just be really, really noisy. All of a sudden, we were just looking out and I see these two quick bright flashes in the woods. That's really weird. There's nothing back there. And it wasn't like it lit up the whole sky. It wasn't like it lit up the whole woods. It was just like somebody who is trying to mess with their phone light to turn on the light to get out of the woods. And I started to kind of chuckle to myself and think, oh, my gosh, I wonder how high or how on something somebody has to be to be that lost in the woods and not being able to find their way out. And I'm getting ready to turn to my boyfriend and say that. And all of a sudden I just see this figure glide out of the woods. And I say glide, because the ground was not even. The ground was bumpy. It was unmaintained. It wasn't mowed. There was really no discernible cadence to its movement. And I'm kind of trying to process what I'm seeing. Not because it's hard to see it, but because it really does not make any sense. What I'm seeing is this really tall, almost lanky figure. And I see in the wind, it's kind of buffeting. It looks like it's wearing a trench coat. And then my hair starts to stand on end because I see that this person or this thing is also wearing what looks like to be a top hat on top of their head and then extended out away from their body, open above their head. They are carrying an umbrella, and the umbrella isn't moving up and down as if they're trying to walk through this field. It's just steady. It's just gliding right along with them. It literally looked like somebody was riding on one of those hoverboards across flat ground. We're in a field. It's unmaintained, or in rural Pennsylvania. There is no manicuring of lawns. It's boggy, it's wet. There are divots, There are holes that did not make any sense. There was no up and down movement. There was no looking like somebody was kind of, you know, using their muscles to get across this ground. It was literally just a flat motion of gliding across this uneven terrain. My boyfriend and I just kind of glanced at each other to, I think, kind of check in and make sure. Are you seeing this? Yes, we're really seeing this. What's. What's going on here? And I'm staring at it. I'm trying to process. I'm trying to kind of get whatever the punchline is here. My brain is trying to catch up. And before I can even say anything to my boyfriend, this figure, immediately, on a dime, pivots and moves and starts making a beeline for this field house where this maintenance worker is. We're tracking it. We're watching it. It's moving under these really big field lights that are super bright. And now my heart's sinking even more because there's no contrast to this thing. When it goes under these lights, it's almost as if it's absorbing all of the light that is coming into contact with it. And again, we're looking at each other like, are you still seeing this? Are you still tracking this? We're debating about whether we're about to see a mugging or an assault. We're whispering back and forth. Do we go down there? Do we wait here? Do we see? I think we both felt obligated to kind of stay locked in to see if we needed to intervene. But we're whispering back and forth, kind of deciding, I think, trying to will ourselves to walk down there and see what we should do next and see exactly what this thing was and what that person wanted. I can't make out a face if it's a person. If there is skin, it literally looks like it is in a morph suit with a top hat and a trench coat and an umbrella. This thing finally makes it to the field house and the gravel outside of the field house. The Gravel is loud and this maintenance worker is not responding. We can see him in the windows going about his business, doing whatever he is doing. Now we're a little bit far away, we can't hear anything. But that maintenance worker is making no indication that he, he knows that anybody is there. We're watching it and we lose it behind the field house. We can't see where it's gone. It's just disappeared behind the field house. And now my boyfriend are looking at each other. We're kind of whispering to each other, trying to decide do we need to go down there and tell somebody? Do we need to go and warn this maintenance worker. We were honestly thinking that we were about to see either a mugging or an assault. Maybe this really mean or ill intentioned prank go down. But before we could actually, you know, decide what we wanted to do in this situation, we see the same black figure come out from behind the field house, still with that umbrella up and over its head. Now it's coming around the front of the field house and it just turns and makes a beeline straight towards us. We are up on an embankment and so any ambient light is illuminating. My boyfriend and I, it can see us. We realize in an instant that this thing knows where we are and it is headed straight towards us. There's no infrastructure behind where we are. There's no trails, there's no destinations, if you will, behind us. We are the only things in this field and it is barreling down right in front of us. My heart just sinks in my stomach. I can feel all of my hairs raised. It wasn't like a chill up the spine. It was an immediate instinctual. I am being hunted and this thing is coming. We're kind of getting to a crouching position. We're whispering really frantically. Do we make a run for it? Do we book it? What does this person want with us? Do we know this person? We are both just silent. I think we're both trying to decide is this really happening? Is this person really coming at us now? And we're just in this collective panic of what do we do next and is this really happening? So it's still gliding towards us, right? Like there's no discernible running, there's no discernible like hoofing it up this embankment or anything like that. It's just gliding straight towards us, but fast. Now what we're trying to do is we're trying to get up without making any real, you know, big movements that would draw even more attention to us. And so in the process of doing that, we're watching it, we're trying to get up, we both kind of look forward, and all of a sudden, when we decide that we are about to take off, this thing just immediately on a dime, turns, does and about face and goes left into the darkness, and we completely lose it. We cannot see it. Now this thing is blocking our only way out, and we have no clue where it is. If it's armed and what it's about to do, we can both run pretty fast. But it's still about a mile back to campus. Through the dark, we can't hear any footsteps, we can't hear any heavy breathing. To say that somebody just covered that amount of ground quickly and they're messing with us. We're kind of pinned down. I just remember feeling like I physically could not move from my crouching position. I could not move my body. I was so afraid. This thing knows where we are. Before, it kind of felt like we were being hunted when it was headed straight towards us, almost like we were about to be attacked. And now that it's behind us, it feels like we're being stalked because it knows exactly where we are, and we have no idea where it went. We need to get out. This thing most likely is standing right at the top of the ravine where we have to go back down through and out to get back to campus safely. I have never felt adrenaline move my body in the way that it moved my body. We stood up, my husband scream whispered, now. And we took off off of this mound and back through the darkness. I have no clue where the hell I'm headed. I don't know where I'm running. I could have run into a tree. I don't know. Something instinctual took over my body and just kept pushing me forward. So eventually, we get across this meadow, and I can feel my foot hit the gravel on the ravine, and I'm telling myself, this is the most dangerous part. Do not stop right now. Do not lose it on the downhill. We have to go. Can you give it more? Can you push it faster? Can you go more? I remember being in this ravine, just sprinting down this hill and feeling like physically the trees were about to collapse in on me. 100 more meters. 50. 25. Can you go faster? Push, push, push. Let's go. Eventually, we just extended explode out of this opening in the woods. And I remember looking back and thinking we didn't even look to cross the street. We could have been hit by a car. It didn't matter. That would have been Preferable to whatever was waiting for us in that ravine. We're hauling it down the sidewalk. We look at each other as if to say, are you good? What was that? Are you okay? Are you actually here? Is this thing following us? We have never run so fast in our life. We finally make it back to my boyfriend's apartment, and we just kind of stayed quiet for a while. And we both just kind of sit and process without really speaking to each other, saying anything. I think eventually he asked, did you see that, too? Was that thing coming for us? Did you see it while we were running back through the dark? Did you see it at all after we lost it, when it turned? And just this conversation of trying to square in our mind why it happened, what had happened. Do you think that we were in danger? Are we overreacting? We didn't really want to acknowledge what happened. I don't think we ever really knew what happened. But I do remember I had to walk back to my own dorm that night. And I had the distinct feeling of being watched. I remember being really, really pissed off because I had a major exam the next day and I could not sleep. I did not want to sleep. I felt like I had to be vigilant. I threw a blanket over the blinds that were on our dorm because I didn't want anything peeking in at me. Somewhere along the way, somebody named this thing, this figure, the Umbrella Man. We are going to a college that's 200 years old, so those ghost stories are a dime a dozen. I have gone back and looked to see in our college kind of lore or history if there was anything that would have made sense with that story. And I can't find anything. But we still really wonder how close we got to that thing while we were running through that ravine. It really does not make sense to me how somebody was able to cover that amount of ground without any, you know, arboration in putting down that umbrella, without any shaking to the umbrella, without any cadence to the movement. If it was a person, what was their whole point? Why were they sneaking up on us? Why all of a sudden were they going around back of where we were trying to stalk us? And it's interesting to me now, all these years later, that we're still kind of asking each other questions about what happened, because it just doesn't make any sense.

[Ricky Lee]

No, sirree. No, thank you. I am good. Hey, and listen here. I will not be sticking around to find out more about Demon Mary Poppins. Supercalifragilicate Ex Biala. Don't come near me is what I say. That's what I'm saying. Saying I'll be back, boss. All right, buddy. Sounds good, Paul. Vince sure does need a break. He deserves it. Cause I mean, what a go getter. That kid wanted to work immediately. No time for a contract or even a background check. No, you gotta admire that kind of work ethic, folks. All right, well, let's follow Vince's lead and. And let's take a little break for ourselves.

[Payne Lindsay]

The wrongs we must right, the fights we must win, the future we must secure together for our nation. This is what's in front of us. This determines what's next for all of us.

[Ricky Lee]

We are marines.

[Payne Lindsay]

We were made for this.

[Storyteller 1]

Would you believe us if we told you there was a podcast that was haunted? Well, there is. It's called Two Girls One Ghost. We didn't want to believe it at first, but eight years later and hundreds of encounters submitted by listeners later, we can no longer ignore it. Two Girls One Ghost is the most haunted podcast in America. We're talking ghosts caught on camera, demonic possessions, cursed mirrors, bigfoot, poltergeist exorcisms, near death experiences, unsolved mysteries, missing persons.

[Tenderfoot TV Announcer]

Each week we explore the deepest, darkest,

[Storyteller 1]

spookiest places in the world, delivering doses of research, history and spine tingling tales. Tune in to Two Girls One Ghost wherever you listen to podcasts. New episodes are released every Thursday and Sunday. And check us out on YouTube at Two Girls One Ghost. Satisfy that spooky itch and entertain your inner witch with Two Girls one Ghost. But be warned, side effects might include a haunting or two. Listen at your own risk.

[Ricky Lee]

All right, folks, well, time for the rest of my end of the year prediction. Now, 2026, as everybody knows, is the year of the fire horse. That's right, the fire horse. So 2026 will bring us a year full of passion, energy, independence, and a thirst for adventure. And if you've been wanting to skydive or cave dive or any other kind of dive, my celestial senses tell me that next year is your year. And on top of that, I do think next time you're back in radio rental, we're going to have plenty of adventure in store for you here. So that's like what they call the double whammy. And I do think that the numbers 57, 23, and 8 are going to be looking good for the Powerball. I'm going to be honest with you, that came barreling down on me like a year of the fire horse styles. What? That did. No, Malachi, no. Next year's not going to be the Year of the Cat that won't be again till 2035. Well, I sincerely hope you're still alive by then, too. How old are you anyway, Malachi? Seriously, between your scraggly fur and your snaggletooth, you look like you're about on your 14th life to me, buddy. I mean, I ain't saying. I'm just saying.

[Tenderfoot TV Announcer]

Radio Rental is created by Payne Lindsay and brought to you by Tenderfoot TV showrunner is Meredith Stedman. Lead producer is Eric Quintana. Executive producers are Payne Lindsay and Donald Albright. Our host is Jeff Foxworthy. Guest host is Tony Cavallaro. Writing by Meredith Stedman Original score by Makeup and Vanity Set with additional score by Jay Ragsdale Editing by Eric Quintana Payne Lindsay, Steven Perez, Cooper Skinner, Meredith Steadman and Dylan Harrington Sound design, mix and master by Stephen Perez and Cooper Skinner Our production manager is Jordan Foxworthy. Our social Media manager is Caroline Orajema Video editing by Dylan Harrington Cover artwork by Trevor Iler and Rob Sheridan Radio Rental merchandise by Byron McCoy to Shop Radio Rental Merch Shop. Tenderfoot Special thanks to Oren Rosenbaum and the team at UTA, as well as the Nord Group and the team at Odyssey. If you have a Radio Rental story that you'd like to share, please email us at yourscarystorymail.com or contact us via the form on our website, radiorentalusa.com follow us on Instagram @radiorental. On behalf of the Radiorental store, we'd love it if you'd subscribe. Subscribe, rate and Review as always, thanks for listening.

[Payne Lindsay]

Hey Radio Rental listeners. We want to hear from you. We just launched a survey and want to know about your favorite shows, your merch requests and what you'd like to Listen to in 2026. Give us the gift of your feedback and you might be one of our winners. To get free merch and a $100Amazon gift card, head over to Tenderfoot TV Survey for more. Thanks again. Now here's the show.