RISK! — The Best of Scary Stories, Vol. 1

Episode Date: October 30, 2025
Host: Kevin Allison

Overview

In this Halloween special, host Kevin Allison compiles three chilling true stories from previous RISK! Halloween episodes. These tales explore the mysterious, the terrifying, and the inexplicable, delivering spine-tingling experiences as told firsthand by the people who lived them. Each story delves into personal encounters with the unknown—be it an encounter with shadowy beings, brushes with the supernatural amid psychiatric wards, or a haunting, life-altering visitation. The episode blends psychological terror, questions about reality, and the limitations of scientific explanation, raising the specter that sometimes, not everything can be rationalized away.

Key Stories and Discussion Points

1. "The Thing" – Thomas McKean

(Story begins at 01:16)

• Setting: New York City, 3AM; a memory from a Cape Cod beach, years prior.
• Experience of Paralysis and Visitation: Thomas wakes up paralyzed in bed, feeling a rising darkness in his blood, visualized as black lines ascending his body.
• Experimentation: He discovers he can, through intense concentration, force the darkness up and down within his body, correlating to the appearance and disappearance of shadowy beings by his bedside.
• Description of “The Thing”:
  • A 7-foot tall, oblong, smoky yet solid black rectangle.
  • Non-human, “Blacker than the sky behind it.”
  • Exuded “complete neutrality about my existence… what was the most frightening.” (07:34)
• Previous Encounter: Thomas recalls seeing the very same being years before with a friend on a Cape Cod dune. Both witnessed it and fled, but it persistently reappeared.
• Escalation: Allowing the darkness to rise higher, multiple entities materialize—each smaller, darker, and “more powerful,” culminating in a third “master form.”
• Battle of Will: Thomas ultimately musters all his strength to expel the darkness—and thus, the entities—from his body and his room.
• Regret and Reflection: Despite terror, Thomas expresses lingering doubts:

  “Part of me wonders if I missed a chance, if I should have spent more time with all three and learned whatever it was they had to say.” (12:59)

2. "Demons, Madness, and Medicine" – Erica Steigerwald

(Story begins at 14:40)

a. Childhood and Mental Illness

• Family Background: Grew up surrounded by mental illness (schizophrenia, depression, substance abuse), fostering an early sense of empathy.
• Psychiatric Nursing: Drawn to mental health nursing due to her upbringing—felt deeply comfortable in the environment even amid unpredictability and danger.
• Memorable Cases:
  • Elderly patient showing her “treasures”: rusty nails—potential weapons—but diffused through calm presence and handled safely.
  • Highly educated woman in a psychotic break, finger-painting using menstrual blood; recovered dramatically with conventional psychiatric intervention.

b. Spiritual Provocations and Belief Upended

• Skepticism & The Occult: Raised in a progressive Christian church, mother warned never to touch a Ouija board despite being a skeptic, which always “stuck with me.”
• Impact of The Exorcist: Watched the film as a teen, initially dismissing it as “ridiculous,” but later—during her career—events would shift her perspective.

c. Psychiatric Cases With Supernatural Overtones

• Introduction to Malachi Martin (Coast to Coast interview):

  • Malachi Martin, an exorcist-priest, details the stringent process before exorcism—including medical and psychiatric clearance.
  • Key Quote (Martin via Steigerwald, 24:53):

    “...One or two expert psychiatrists... must tackle you and find out. Are you just playing loony or is there something they don’t understand? ...Then the church authorities say, 'Okay, let's try exorcism.' And in the first 20 minutes... everybody at an exorcism knows whether it's genuine or not.”

  • This revelation—that psychiatrists sometimes refer cases to priests—“freaked [her] out... these are medically trained professionals just like me.”

• Chilling Details of Exorcism

  • Quote (Martin, cited 25:56):

    “If we are in the presence of a possessing spirit demon, everybody in the room knows there's something in the room that wants you dead. And it's a horrible feeling knowing that unless something happens, you are going to die.”

  • Steigerwald felt her worldview “screwed into” her psyche.

d. Two Patients, and the Limits of Science

• The Dog-Killing Patient:
  • Young woman with no psychiatric or substance history, “lucid and remorseful” after killing her dog during a blackout of overwhelming rage.
  • When Steigerwald asks, ‘Were you messing with something spiritually, something dark?’ patient confesses to past black magic, feeling “something’s been following me.”
  • Steigerwald advises seeking spiritual help:

    “…I don’t think this is something medication is going to help with.” (32:48)

• The Unreachable Patient:
  • Elderly Mexican woman, repeated psychiatric admissions, increasingly disturbing physical presence: “sunken, hollow eyes,” “lifeless face,” room gets unnaturally cold.
  • When Erica uses the translator, the patient growls in a voice that “did not match”—a “dark, man voice.”
  • Translator reports:

    “She says she wants your health and your soul.” (36:17)

  • Erica, terrified, blurts: “May the power of Christ compel you!” and flees, performing an involuntary, panic-driven “weird little dance” outside the room.
  • The patient never improves on medication.
  • Final realization:

    “I don’t know what I believe now... but I do know my mom was right. I will never touch a Ouija board ever again. And I no longer think the movie the Exorcist is ridiculous.” (37:54)

3. "The Man in the Top Hat" – Alan Weber’s Brother

(Story begins at 38:02)

• Childhood Trauma: Recollects a traumatic incident—finding his brother, Andrew, self-harmed with a pen in his chest, leading to fear and confusion.
• Lifelong Haunting: Their relationship changed after both experienced a chilling event in their shared bedroom.
• The Visitation:
  • Both boys wake in the night to numbing cold and sense a shadowy figure: a 6-foot-tall “man” with a featureless face, top hat, and glowing white (later red) eyes, staring at them and growling.
  • Both are paralyzed with fear until their screams draw their father, at which point the “man” vanishes impossibly out a closed, screened window.
  • They confirm together, upon recounting, that they saw the same thing.
• Recurring Nightmares: Andrew suffers repeat dreams—being hunted through their house by the “man in the top hat,” always pulled back before escaping.
• Religious Confrontation:
  • Visiting a Catholic church, Andrew is “pushed forward” by an unseen force toward the altar while the family prays.
  • Only when their father prays aloud does Andrew regain control:

    “It was as if he had no idea what was going on. He was terrified... he was being pushed forward at a faster pace until he reached the very front of the church... and then that invisible force just vanished.” (49:54)

  • This experience is never explained; Andrew’s mental health continues to suffer.
• Unanswered Questions: The family can never fully explain or resolve what happened—suggesting that “medication and therapy” may not always be enough.

Noteworthy Quotes and Moments

• Thomas McKean (on facing the unknown, 12:58):

  “Part of me wonders if I missed a chance, if I should have spent more time with all three and learned whatever it was they had to say.”

• Erica Steigerwald (on psychiatric work, 17:15):

  “I saw these people at their worst and getting better because of psychiatric intervention…but there are cases where that’s not enough.”

• Malachi Martin (exorcist-priest, quoted by Steigerwald at 24:53):

  “One or two expert psychiatrists… must find out. Are you just playing loony or is there something they don’t understand? ...Then the church authorities say, ‘Okay, let's try exorcism.’”

• Erica Steigerwald (after terrifying interaction with patient's “other” voice, 36:56):

  “May the power of Christ compel you!”
  Fleeing the room, she unconsciously mimics the Exorcist movie.

• Alan Weber’s Brother (on the moment of brother’s possession in the church, 49:54):

  “…he was being pushed forward at a faster pace until he reached the very front of the church… and then that invisible force just vanished.”

Memorable Timestamps

• 01:16 – Start of “The Thing” by Thomas McKean.
• 07:34 – First detailed description of the shadow-being; “complete neutrality” quote.
• 13:50 – End of McKean’s story; episode transitions to break.
• 14:40 – Erica Steigerwald begins; psychiatric family history and early nursing.
• 22:38 – Re-enactment and reflection on The Exorcist.
• 24:53 – Malachi Martin (via Erica) describes psychiatric process leading to exorcism.
• 25:56 – Martin on the experience of exorcism: “there’s something in the room that wants you dead.”
• 32:48 – Erica recommends spiritual help over medical for the dog-killing patient.
• 36:17 – Translator tells Erica: “She says she wants your health and your soul.”
• 36:56 – Erica’s panicked invocation (“May the power of Christ compel you!”)
• 37:54 – Erica’s final reflection: “I no longer think The Exorcist is ridiculous.”
• 38:02 – Alan Weber’s brother recounts their haunting.
• 44:08 – Sighting of the shadow man with a top hat, escalation, and trauma.
• 49:54 – The church visitation and invisible force.
• 52:22 – Kevin Allison closes with reflections and a tease of possible continuations.

Tone and Style

The stories are raw, unfiltered, and deeply personal, blending skepticism, the supernatural, clinical detachment, and existential fear. Narrators are honest about their doubts, traumas, and moments they can’t make sense of—leaving listeners suspended between rational and irrational explanations.

In Summary

This “Best of Scary Stories” episode masterfully weaves narratives where terror is not only externalized but internal—rooted in the psyche and personal histories of the storytellers. It’s a deep dive into true stories that defy easy understanding or closure, reminding listeners: sometimes, no matter how rational or brave we are, the unknown still has power over us.

For more from RISK!:
Visit risk-show.com/specialseries for episodes with different themes: funny, sexy, or heartwarming tales—if you dare to take a break from the scary side.