Scary Stories For A Rainy Night - Ep. 130

Summary

Scary Stories and Rain - Episode 130: Scary Stories For A Rainy Night

Released on December 12, 2024, "Scary Stories and Rain" by Being Scared offers true chilling tales complemented by the soothing sounds of ambient rain. In Episode 130, listeners are treated to a series of eerie narratives that delve into real-life horrors, each meticulously narrated to captivate and scare. Below is a detailed summary of the key stories, complete with notable quotes and timestamps to highlight the most spine-tingling moments.

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1. The Escaped Patient and the Apartment Intrusion (02:16 - 09:59)

Narrator 1 begins by recounting a harrowing experience of a young single mother who discovers that a former high school acquaintance has escaped from a nearby psych ward. Initially dismissive of the warnings—"[04:00] Narrator 1: Spotted heading towards Creek Road. Isn't that by your house?"—she soon finds herself unnerved as shadows move outside her apartment windows late one night.

Despite her skepticism, the narrator describes the tense atmosphere when she hears thumping noises and notices a dark figure pacing outside her home:

"[07:11] Narrator 2: It served as a backyard to all the residents."

The climax occurs when the shadow pauses at her door, causing her to freeze in fear. The door handle rattles ominously, and just as her young son begins to cry upstairs, the figure vanishes. The experience leaves her deeply shaken, leading her to reinforce her apartment's security. Ultimately, the escaped patient is apprehended elsewhere, but the lingering fear profoundly impacts her.

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2. The Terrifying House Break-In at David's House (09:29 - 14:52)

Narrator 2 shares a chilling tale from their youth, detailing a sleepover with a friend named David. Late into the night, while seemingly harmless activities like playing video games ensue, the atmosphere shifts dramatically around 4 a.m. when unsettling noises emanate from upstairs:

"[11:30] Narrator 1: Footsteps began to approach the basement staircase."

David and the narrator witness a massive intruder attempting to flee into the woods. The tension peaks as police arrive just in time to apprehend the assailant, who appears unusually large and menacing:

"[12:25] Narrator 2: ...the man who broke in was trying to escape into the woods."

This intrusion leaves both teenagers traumatized, instilling a long-lasting fear of home invasions and unknown threats lurking in their otherwise safe environment.

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3. The Nevada Store Owner's Horrifying Secrets (16:28 - 28:34)

Another gripping story is narrated by Narrator 1, who describes a terrifying encounter in a small Nevada town. While walking home one night, an 18-year-old notices suspicious activity at a closed store. Initially assuming it's a benign presence, his fear escalates when the store owner brandishes a knife:

"[24:02] Narrator 1: It was like living out that scene in a horror movie where all the viewers yell to run."

The situation intensifies as the protagonist discovers the store owner's involvement in heinous crimes, including murder and organ trafficking. The narrative crescendos with a brief but intense confrontation that leaves him shaken and wary of his once-tranquil town.

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4. Hauntings and Unsettling Events in a Family Home (28:34 - 67:01)

Narrator 1 recounts a series of eerie events spanning their childhood and adulthood within a family home. From mysterious shadows and unexplained noises to disturbing visions during sleep paralysis, each incident weaves a tapestry of supernatural dread:

"[46:32] Narrator 1: What was really strange was that the photo had wanted to remain in the family."

Key moments include:

• Sleep Paralysis Episode: The narrator experiences vivid hallucinations of a woman in a white nightgown, leading to a profound sense of terror.
• Mysterious Teddy Bears: Recurrent appearances of teddy bears in sinister contexts heighten the unease, culminating in the discovery of a ruined teddy bear on the doorstep.
• Mountain Discovery: A family hike reveals a fragmented photograph of the narrator's deceased grandfather, suggesting a malevolent force targeting the family.
• Final Confrontation: As an adult, the narrator faces a ghostly apparition in their childhood home, culminating in a transformative confrontation that shifts their perception from fear to an overwhelming sense of loneliness.

Each of these events ties back to ancestral trauma and unresolved supernatural elements, leaving the narrator with lingering questions and a lasting impact on their sense of safety and reality.

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Notable Quotes

• Escaped Patient Story:

  "[07:46] Narrator 1: There in the year that I had lived there, made my heartbeat pick up a bit."

• House Break-In Story:

  "[12:23] Narrator 1: David rushed over to the TV to turn it off and we very quietly made a break for the den door."

• Nevada Store Owner Story:

  "[24:04] Narrator 2: Only one of these photographs existed too."

• Family Home Haunting:

  "[46:34] Narrator 2: These were very clear questions, but they were never answered."

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Conclusion

Episode 130 of "Scary Stories and Rain" masterfully intertwines true accounts of fear, suspense, and the supernatural, all set against the backdrop of soothing rain sounds. Each story offers a unique glimpse into the unknown, challenging listeners to confront their deepest fears. Whether it's an escaped patient on the prowl, a terrifying house invasion, or unsettling supernatural hauntings, this episode is sure to keep listeners on the edge of their seats, reflecting on the fine line between reality and nightmare.

For more chilling tales, download the CHILLING app here and immerse yourself in a world where true stories meet ambient sounds to create the perfect setting for a spooky night in.

Transcript

[Narrator 1]

Hello.

[Host]

Welcome to episode 130. If you like this podcast and you love these stories, try checking out my new podcast, Scary Stories in Fire. It's essentially the same thing, the same kind of stories, but instead of rain, a really nice campfire background sound, it's got that old fashioned scary stories by the campfire type of feel. Check it out if you haven't yet, you might like it more than the rain. And also if you use this podcast to sleep or relax, you might want to consider subscribing to this podcast for $2.99 a which will get rid of.

[Narrator 2]

All of the ads.

[Host]

I really hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you so much for being here.

[Advertiser 1]

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[Narrator 2]

A few.

[Narrator 1]

Years ago I was a young single mom living with my toddler son in an apartment complex at the edge of town. I was working a crappy full time.

[Narrator 2]

Office job to pay the bills and.

[Narrator 1]

Get us back on our feet after divorcing my son's father. This is a small northeastern town where Little to nothing ever happens, but when something does, it is big news. That is why everyone was buzzing when I walked into work one day and I asked what was going on. My co workers informed me that someone had managed to escape from the psych ward at our local hospital and the authorities could not find him. I would have just shrugged this off, considering that does not really happen outside of a horror movie, but my coworker showed me a news article with a photo of someone that looked very familiar. I recognized the guy that had escaped as he and I had gone to high school together several years prior. We were not friends, not even acquaintances really, but I remembered him as being an athletic, popular guy from a wealthy family with lots of friends. I skimmed through the article that explained that he had been involuntarily committed and had somehow managed to leave the hospital. He had been gone for a few hours before someone raised the alarm and the authorities were asking the public to keep an eye out, but be careful as they did not know of his mental state. I shared with my co workers that I knew the guy told them. I remembered him as being a normal, happy kid, but of course things can change over the years. One of my co workers piped up.

[Narrator 2]

And said, hey, they think he was.

[Narrator 1]

Spotted heading towards Creek Road. Isn't that by your house? This gave me a pause that was by my house, but honestly did not.

[Narrator 2]

Really bother me much.

[Narrator 1]

Surely he would have kept going to avoid detection as I lived less than a mile from the hospital. I shrugged it off, went to work, and forgot about it for the next few days. I went into work and heard my coworkers discussing the escaped patient again. They caught me up on the story, letting me know evidence was found that he had broken into the house of someone he vaguely knew, slept in their.

[Narrator 2]

Attic for a day or two, and then left.

[Narrator 1]

He was spotted leaving the property, but was long gone by the time the police arrived. I went to my desk and googled his name immediately, pulling up several news articles. What really caught my attention was not that my co workers had told the truth, which they had, but that the house he broke into was right next to mine, two streets away from my apartment complex. I mentioned this quietly to my coworkers, one of which replied, whoa, wouldn't it be weird if he broke into your apartment to hide? He laughed and went back to work.

[Narrator 2]

I laughed too, because that was absurd.

[Narrator 1]

He certainly would not remember me and would not know where I lived. But the thought did spook me just a little bit. Anything was possible, right? That night I returned home with my son. We had dinner. I gave him a bath and put him to bed, as was our regular routine. I was sitting on the couch in the living room watching television when I heard a thump. I assumed it was one of my neighbors shutting a door or something, so I ignored it and went back to my show. A few minutes later, I heard another thump. Now the noise caught my attention. Being a paranoid young mom, I went immediately upstairs to check on my son. As I climbed the stairs to our second floor, my coworker's comment popped into my head. Could someone be in my apartment? No, that is insane. I shook off the idea and went into my son's room to see him sleeping soundly in his crib. Seeing he was safe, I adjusted his blankets and headed back down to the couch. I was just being jumpy for no reason. I needed to stop watching so many scary movies. I sat back on the couch, turned my show back on, and tried to relax. It was then that I saw a shadow pass over the living room. Our apartment was two floors, more like a townhouse, I suppose, with a kitchen, dining room, and living room on the bottom floor, with two bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor. The living room was at the back of the apartment and had a set of glass doors leading out to a large grassy area that spanned the length of the complex and was sandwiched between the back of our building and the back of the building across across from us.

[Narrator 2]

It served as a backyard to all the residents.

[Narrator 1]

Anyway, I had some long, sheer white curtains covering the glass because it freaked me out at night to have them uncovered. I turned my head and once again saw a dark shadow glide across the window, visible through the sheer curtains. The logical part of my brain said that it was just someone walking their dog back there, but then remembered the entire complex had a no pets policy. This, coupled with the realization that I had literally never seen anyone walking out.

[Narrator 2]

There in the year that I had.

[Narrator 1]

Lived there, made my heartbeat pick up a bit. I had my coworkers comment in the back of my head as I watched.

[Narrator 2]

The shadow pass by the doors again.

[Narrator 1]

Slowly as if it were pacing. I was frozen in place, completely unprepared for this event, and thinking that if a deranged guy was able to escape.

[Narrator 2]

A secure hospital unit, certainly it was.

[Narrator 1]

Possible for him to randomly choose to break into my apartment out of the 20 that were available in the complex. The shadow passed once again, then came.

[Narrator 2]

To a stop outside the door.

[Narrator 1]

I stopped breathing, gripping the blanket on my lap with white knuckles just as I was thinking I had officially lost it and had to be hallucinating this event. The door handle rattled. At that moment my son began to cry upstairs. The rattling immediately stopped and the shadow disappeared. I walked over and pulled the curtains apart, looking from side to side across the expanse of dark grass. Nothing. I let out a breath I did not know I was holding, pulled the curtains shut and hurried up the stairs to attend to my son. I have no idea who was outside my apartment that night. I do not know if it was the guy who had escaped the hospital or some other run of the mill psycho, but I could not get my co workers comment out of my head. I put an extra lock on the glass doors, got opaque curtains, and after a while I was comfortable sitting in my living room at night again. I no longer live in that apartment or even that town, nor do I.

[Narrator 2]

Have that office job anymore.

[Narrator 1]

But as for the guy who managed to sneak out of the hospital, he was eventually apprehended in a town two hours from here and was readmitted to the hospital under 24. 7 supervision. I have no idea where he is now.

[Narrator 2]

This happened when I was 14 and my friend David was 15. We had sleepovers all the time and tonight was no different. His parents weren't home so we were being as loud as we wanted in the den, playing video games and having music playing loudly while eating an unhealthy amount of junk food. I'll skip most of the details in order to keep this story on the shorter side. The music and video games continued until around 4 in the morning. That's when we began to settle down. David had the idea of taking a walk around the neighborhood to help calm us down and I agreed. We returned about 10 minutes later. David's basement is kind of weird. I'll try to explain it here. His house has a bit of a hill in his front yard, so half the basement was above ground, which was where the den we hung out in was, and the other half was a room with a TV and couches, which is where we were going to sleep. David turned on a movie and threw me in a blanket. I got comfortable on the couch closest to the basement staircase and he slept on the couch furthest from them across from me. I didn't watch the movie for long before falling asleep. I woke up with a jolt. David was crouched next to me. Shaking my shoulder, he told me to be quiet and listen upstairs. It couldn't have been more than an hour after we fell asleep since it was still completely dark outside. The movie was still playing Although muted now, I was still in that half asleep state, so I had to strain my hearing to notice what he was talking about. It sounded like someone was rummaging through a drawer, following by two cracks of pressure on the upstairs floorboards. I think someone is up there, David whispered. I was now fully awake and I sat up. I thought it could have been his cats running around upstairs and that he was overreacting. The next thing that happened is hands down, the most terrifying thing that I have ever witnessed. 2 coughs from upstairs triggered a fight or flight response in both of us. Footsteps began to approach the basement staircase. David looked absolutely petrified. I scrambled off the couch, frantically searching for my phone on the floor.

[Narrator 1]

David rushed over to the TV to.

[Narrator 2]

Turn it off and we very quietly made a break for the den door across the basement. We passed the basement staircase, but I didn't even look to see if anyone was there. David swung the old door open and we sprinted across the street to hide in the neighbor's bushes. David called the police while I watched the windows in the front of his house. Despite the darkness, the scant moonlight provided just enough for me to notice a tall silhouette moving in the huge living room window. David told this to the dispatcher and they said police were en route. It felt like we were waiting for hours before the sound of police sirens wailing pierced the night. A pair of squad cars barreled down the cul de sac and pulled up in front of David's house. We ran over to the officers and told them everything. Two officers went inside to search the house. The third officer searched the yard and surrounding areas while the fourth officer stayed with us. He asked us questions you would expect, like did we see the person? How did we know that someone was inside? Did we know if anything was taken? Stuff like that? We knew very little, just that someone was inside the house. After about five minutes, I could hear an officer shout, followed by footsteps running into the woods behind David's backyard. The officer talking to us rushed over to his open backyard gate. The man who broke in was trying to escape into the woods, but was caught when the officer in the back shined his light through there. He was cuffed and arrested. When the man was being walked back to the squad car, we noticed how massive he was, like 6, 7 and 300 pounds. The officers inside searched every nook and cranny of the house and confirmed nobody else was inside. The man didn't steal anything either, and that still makes me wonder what his motives were. Needless to say, we didn't get any sleep for the rest of the night. We were just too scared, jumping at every noise and patrolling the house to make sure nobody else broke in. That is the story of when someone broke into my friend David's house early in the morning while I was sleeping over. It is the most terrifying thing I have ever gone through.

[Advertiser 2]

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[Advertiser 3]

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[Ryan Reynolds]

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[Narrator 2]

On one night I decided to go for a walk. It was around 9pm and it was a nice night. Mind you that I was just an 18 year old female on the petite side, but my town was quite safe and small. My mistake. As I was walking and listening to music I realized that I was thirsty and a little store was just around the block. I quickly made my way to the store but but it was closed and unfortunately there were no other stores closer. But I tried my luck and called out to the owner. Usually the store would close around midnight and I found it very strange for it to be closed at this time. After calling out a few more times, I decided to just turn around and walk back home, seeing that no one answered and all the lights were off outside. Just as I turned around to walk away, I heard a door open behind me and I turned around with the hopes to be able to buy some water. The porch light had been turned on at the store And I could make out a figure by the now half opened door. At first I was happy and rushed to the store. But my happiness soon turned to a fearful butterfly in my stomach as I saw the man looking back at me through the door with a wild look in his eyes and a shiny knife in his hand. I slowly backed away with my eyes fixated on the knife. He cleared his throat and said something along the lines of sorry. I was busy in the kitchen. As soon as he spoke, I calmed down and thought it was okay and so I gave him money for the water. He took a minute before reappearing with my water. Still clutching the knife in his hand and the wild look in his eyes, I brushed it off again and walked back home. I turned my music louder to stop thinking about the weird encounter. A couple of minutes into walking I could feel someone watching me from the back and so I turned around. No one. I started to jog so that I could reach my house faster. I stopped as I was tired and caught my breath as I opened my water bottle. I tugged on my earphones and just as they fell to the ground, I heard running behind me and just as I turned to look about 10ft from me, I could make out the shiny knife and the man from the store. As tired as I was, I ran. I ran as fast as I could. I could feel him closing on me, but he must have tripped because I heard a loud crash on the ground ground right behind me. I made it home safely and my parents called the police. A few days later the police informed my parents that the store owner was arrested. He was involved with murdering and the selling of human organs and human trafficking. They found freezers packed with human organs that he had harvested from his previous victims. For a little context, I'm a guy and I live in a small town in Nevada. Now, this town can get a little boring sometimes, especially if you're not into the whole gambling nightlife thing. However, there are a couple of things I enjoy doing, like off roading in my AT TV or going for long hikes with my dog's buddy and Snoopy. Now right behind my house is a desert that stretches out for miles and miles, which makes it super convenient for me to walk my dogs because I don't have to worry about traffic or other civilians. I can just let them run loose and enjoy the open space. Now there is also two large mountains a couple of miles from my house that I like to hike up. These mountains are only separated by less than half a mile. Now during the winter, these mountains can be pretty rough. I labeled these mountains A and B. Mountain A was easier to hike because of the clear trail leading up to it. And Mountain B is more rocky and steep. Now, the day before I went for this particular hike, the weather was horrendous. Almost everything was snowed in and the wind was powerful enough to knock a semi truck over. But by the morning, a lot of it had cleared and the wind had settled down. Not the perfect weather, but I still decided to go for my hike. My dad didn't think it was a good idea to go alone, so he and my aunt had joined in. Instead of taking my usual route to Mountain A, my aunt wanted to hike up Mountain B because the sun was hitting that side. I was hesitant at first, first because of the steepness of the mountain, but finally agreed and we were on our way. The desert ground was pretty muddy and the bushes were covered in snow. Light snowflakes were hitting our face and the sky was finally starting to clear up. As we approached Mountain B, we noticed tire tracks on the snowy trail that looked like they had been there for more than a day. We thought it was pretty strange because. Because who would be out here driving in this weather? But we brushed it off. Now. One thing that intimidated me about this mountain were the sharp rocks on the trail that we had to cross. These rocks look even more intimidating covered in ice and snow. Luckily, we carefully crossed these rocks and made it to the top of the mountain exhausted. But we were just happy we achieved our goal. The top of the mountain did not look as how I'd expected it would look. There were food wrappers, beer bottles, and dead bushes everywhere. I still enjoyed the view and I started snapping pics of the dogs and the scenery with the town in the background. However, I noticed both of my dogs examining and sniffing around a dead bush. I called them over, but they wouldn't listen. So I went to grab them and that's when I noticed of what looked like burnt pieces of cardboard scattered around the dirt and some on the bush. I thought it was trash at first. When I picked up and examined one of the burnt pieces, I noticed it was only a piece of what looked like to be a photograph. Like one of those really old face portraits with no color. I could make out an eye in the piece I picked up. Now, what was really strange was that this eye looked familiar. Like I swear I had seen it before. It sort of creeped me out. My dad and my aunt thought it was a little weird, but did not think much of it and they were ready to head back home. We got about three minutes down the mountain, but something made me want to go back and examine the pieces again. My dad and aunt agreed. We all grabbed the pieces and struggled to match them together because of how burnt and damaged they were. It was sort of like solving a puzzle. Now, with all the pieces assembled together, this made out about an 18 by 20 photograph. So this was a pretty big photograph. I matched the last two pieces of the portrait and stepped back to examine the photo. When I did, I was horrified. It was a photo of my deceased grandfather. I was speechless. I mean, who would do something like this? It was like living out that scene in a horror movie where all the viewers yell to run. I did not know what to think. Then my mind started racing. We had this exact photo in our.

[Narrator 1]

House and I thought it was the.

[Narrator 2]

Only one that existed. So seeing this photograph here, I thought someone had broken into our house and stole the picture and was trying to send us a message. I thought my family back home were in danger or someone was trying to play a sick joke on us. We picked up all the pieces and got out of there. I tried to call my mom as we scurried down the mountain, but my phone had no signal. My dad and aunt weren't as freaked out as me, but were still pretty spooked. We had no energy to run, so we jogged back home. As the wind was starting to pick up again and the sun was slowly fading away, the only thing on my mind was making sure my family was okay. I kept looking behind me just because I was so freaked out at the situation. Thankfully, nothing happened to us and we made it home and I saw my mom in the kitchen and my brother playing video games. I was relieved and gave my mom a big hug. She was confused as to why I was hugging her. That's when I finally explained the situation. I assembled all the pieces of the photograph for her and she was terrified. I mean, this was her father. She was as freaked out as me. I went to her room because I knew that's where she kept the photograph of my grandpa. And it was still hanging on the walls undamaged. So this puzzled me and my mom even more because she thought there was only one of these photographs in existence too. My grandpa had lived all his life in California and was tragically killed in front of his home by gang members. My mom was really small when he was killed. The guys who did it were after my mom's older brothers also. So my family left town and settled here in Nevada. So the only explanation that we had was that these guys had found out where we lived and were trying to send us a message. With the destroyed photograph of my grandpa. That whole month, we slept with one eye open and were very cautious of the things we did. Throughout the day. I no longer hiked up those mountains. We would rarely come outside. I just wanted an answer as to who did this and what their intentions were. My mom had wanted to tell my grand grandma about the situation but did not want to scare her. But eventually she explained everything to her and found out that my grandma had owned a copy of that same photograph too. But what my grandma told my mom about the photo shocked her. My grandma said that she was responsible for the photo being out there. She said that on the night before.

[Narrator 1]

We took that walk, she told one.

[Narrator 2]

Of my uncles, take the photo and destroy it. Because she felt a strange presence with the photo being in the house. She said anytime she would look at the photo, she would catch the eyes staring back at her no matter where in the room she was. That's why when I saw that eye from the picture out in the desert, it creeped me out because I knew I had seen those eyes before. One thing I still sort of question is how my uncle drove all the way up that mountain in that weather, in the pitch black. We told him the story and he verified it. He claimed that he and his brother went out drinking and drove all the way up the mountain in the dark. And there they tried to get rid of the photo. He said he tried burning it, but the wind was really strong. So he resorted to just tearing it apart with his hands. He said it was really tough getting up the mountain, but had wanted to.

[Narrator 1]

Get the photograph as far away from.

[Narrator 2]

My grandma as he could. One thing that's still strange to me is how we ended up finding the pieces of the photo. Like it was fate. I mean, I never would have climbed this mountain if it wasn't for my aunt. It's almost like the photo had wanted to remain in the family. Like I said, the wind was really strong the night before and it snowed a lot. Yet the pieces didn't fly away. They weren't covered in snow. They were just laying there all close to each other. It's weird. It's like the photo had wanted to remain together in one piece.

[Narrator 1]

This story is a compilation of certain events that happened in a house that I lived in for 10 years, along with my younger brother, my mother and father. My brother and I were born seven years apart from each other. Me being the oldest for the purpose of this story, I will call him G. When I was 9 and G was my dad had traveled to another country for work where he would stay for a year. So at home it was just me, G and mom. We would often sleep in my mom's room with her as she never liked sleeping alone, being the scaredy cat that she is.

[Narrator 2]

Plus I would get to watch a.

[Narrator 1]

Lot of TV since it was always on. Mom thought the light was comforting opposed to the dark room where she would.

[Narrator 2]

Always get to creeped out.

[Narrator 1]

To be able to fall asleep in a time when Netflix was not a thing and even Internet was barely a thing, we would have to plan watching movies on the time that aired on TV. So this particular night around 9pm we gathered in my mom's room to watch a movie. Now keep in mind that my brother is two and at this point he is still getting the hang of crawling. The bed is made. And were about to get under the covers when my mom and I noticed something missing. Potato chips and Doritos. How can you have a movie night without those? So we decided to sprint to the kitchen. Now for a little context, it might be relevant to describe a little of.

[Narrator 2]

The layout of the house, which by.

[Narrator 1]

Any means was a big one. The house had about 30ft in width and almost 200ft in length, so it was a fairly narrow but long house. The house itself was surrounded by walls and even though it was about 10ft above the street level, the houses surrounding it were even taller. Once you went up the stairs and opened the front door, you would arrive in the living room which was also the dining room facing a wall with two doors, one in the far right corner and one in the far left corner. The one on the right was the outside corridor which led you past all the room's windows. Two windows on the corridor and to get to the third window you had.

[Narrator 2]

To go all the way to the.

[Narrator 1]

End and turn left and that was my parents room window. The door to the left was the inside corridor. Once inside it, there were three doors on the right, my room, my brother's room and the bathroom. And the fourth door was at the end of the corridor and facing the corridor itself, my mom's room. The inside corridor directly faced the kitchen's entrance. It was a straight line from my.

[Narrator 2]

Mom'S room to the kitchen.

[Narrator 1]

Back to the story. Craving the snacks, my mom and I ran to the kitchen leaving my brother laying in the middle of the bed, knowing exactly where the snacks were. And in a full out sprint we accomplished this mission in 30 seconds max. But when we got back to the room, confusion quickly struck us hard. My brother was still where we left him, not having moved an inch. But he is now laughing for no apparent reason. And it would have been cute if not for the bed covers now that not only had been undone, but they were also folded at the foot of the bed. Confused, mom and I looked at each.

[Narrator 2]

Other and and decided that the best.

[Narrator 1]

Option was to believe that it was already like that and we just didn't notice. After checking under the bed and inside the closet just for good measure, we locked the door, enjoyed a good movie and went to sleep with the TV on. Nothing else happened that night.

[Narrator 2]

Fast forward four years.

[Narrator 1]

I am now 13. Dad's back home and we are all gathered in my parents parents room just waiting on my mom to put on her earrings as we are about to leave for an amusement park. But when suddenly we are startled by this loud banging and an awful screeching sound coming from just outside the kitchen in a little area that is considered external but still inside the house. We all go to investigate as it's around 9am blazing hot sun and it just didn't feel ominous. And also dad was home so there was a great sense of safety. Once we opened the kitchen door that led to the outside area, we were met by an out of control washing machine. The banging that we heard was the washing machine working and the screeching was it dragging itself across the floor as it was violently shaking? It just wasn't working as it usually did obviously. My dad chuckled and asked my mom if she forgot that she programmed it. Mom looked kind of spooked and said that she didn't. My dad was skeptical and went to shut it off believing it was the timer. He turned the button as to click it in place and what do you know, it worked. It all came to a stop. Everyone laughed for being so jumpy and quick to jump to supernatural conclusions. And my dad with that I'm the man look on his face now. Well, that lasted about 10 seconds.

[Narrator 2]

As we were about to go back.

[Narrator 1]

In the house, the machine starts again. But this time it's shaking and banging so hard that it's literally jumping around. My dad immediately went for the timer button again but nothing happened. He went for the off button. Nothing. He opened the lid as it usually stops spinning once it's opened. No luck. It only came to a stop once my mom unplugged it with me and my dad trying to hold it in place. Not only did we not laugh this time, but we stood there actually waiting for it to turn back on, even though it had no power source. After about a minute or so of silence and lots of staring towards the machine, we came out of what felt like a trance and went on our trip. Three more years go by and I am now 16. G is 9. It's probably around 11am when my mom asks us if we want to go to the supermarket with her. G says he's good and I make his answer my own as I am more interested in the computer in front of me. The supermarket is about eight eight houses down the block, so if my mom needed help bringing the groceries back, she only needed to call me and I would sprint there to help. As it usually was. Mom would say she was just going to grab some bread and she would end up buying enough stuff for 10 families. So I'm browsing the Internet, listening to my brother playing his PS2 in his room and getting angry as he is clearly having a hard time with whatever level he's on.

[Narrator 2]

All the doors are opened so every.

[Narrator 1]

Sound is pretty clear. And there it was. Someone's at the gate. Since you can hear someone messing with the padlock, I presumed it was my mom back from the supermarket and my brother must have heard her too, because he paused his game and I saw him sprint past my door. A little annoyed. I knew that I had to go help with whatever groceries mom was bringing in, so I get up and make my way to the front door. When I opened it, my brother had already beaten me to it. But something was off. And that's when this dreadful feeling hit me. A chill rising through my spine. My mom was still trying to unlock the padlock, but my brother, he was on the other side of the gate with my mother locked outside. Had he went out to meet her and lock to the gate behind him? I thought. So I asked when did G leave the house? And the answer I got made my head spin. My mom said that he changed his mind the last second as she was leaving and he had been with her this whole time. I lived in that house for 10 years and throughout that time it was normal to hear my name being called. The sensation of not being alone in the room, room and that hallway. Once the light was turned off, you could not see the light getting dimmer towards the room at the end, but the darkness coming out of that room and engulfing the light and it always, always felt like there was someone staring back at you. I don't know why, but even after I saw what seemed like a Kid running in that house. The image that was built in my head of whatever presence was there was that of a woman with long black.

[Narrator 2]

Hair, dressed in white.

[Narrator 1]

I really don't know why. Maybe I associated it with some movie I saw, some story I heard. But every time I looked down that.

[Narrator 2]

Hall, I always pictured that it was.

[Narrator 1]

A woman staring back at me. This brings me to my last event. I am now 26, living in another country.

[Narrator 2]

Country.

[Narrator 1]

After a normal day, I'm ready to go to bed, put on some cooking show on the tv, set the sleep timer and drift off. When I awake, I have this pit in my stomach. That eerie feeling that something is just not right. The only light in the room is coming from the tv. I feel so drowsy and I can't seem to move at all. So I scan the room with my eyes just to find my parents sleeping on a bed next to me. Wait. This isn't my room. I'm back in that room. Back in the house we left years ago. And as I asked myself why, that's when I noticed the woman standing by the door. She had black hair covering most of her face. She was wearing what seemed to be a white nightgown, even though I could barely see her eyes because I knew she was staring at me. Unable to move and feeling like I had been drugged. My eyes turned to my parents, still asleep, and I noticed that the woman's attention also turned towards them. But now I could feel anger coming from her towards them. In that moment, I thought I would cry, I would tremble, I would lose my voice. That thought was quickly extinguished as pure, thick rage started pouring out of me. The woman seemed surprised that I started cursing at her as I was unable to talk a second ago. Even more when I started to lift myself up on two feet. As I charged her, still groggy, I remember thinking to myself in a rageful manner, sleep paralysis, right? I am the only one allowed in my head. She blocks the door, which is opened with her body, and I push her to the side. As soon as we come in contact with each other for a second, the rage instantly disappears. Every other feeling disappears, except for one. An endless dark ocean of loneliness. The woman hits the wall and I run towards the end of the corridor. When I open the door, I wake up in my room. The TV is off, daylight pouring in the room through the thin curtains. I am not one to have such vivid dreams, so this one got me thinking and reflecting for weeks now.

[Narrator 2]

This happened when I was nine or so. Who can remember exact years? It wasn't the first or last time I've seen weird stuff, but now the scene that I remember perfectly. It was early in the morning, maybe late spring or early summer. Sunlight filled the room from my bedside window, but it still had the grayish, almost misty quality to it. I had just woken up, maybe a bit earlier than normal, but it wasn't like I was jolted awake by the sound of an ax murderer or anything. No, at first there was really nothing to see. The room was basically empty, my bed beside the window facing the open door, revealing the hallway and my parents room on the other side. Not much more to see there. Everyone was already out of the house. I was just lying there, wondering if I should get up or try to get back to sleep, when something lurched into the doorframe. Darker than the shadowed hall. It was about 5ft tall and seemed to writhe like a bundle of stubby tendrils, each trying to fly off in different directions. Confusion was followed a split second later by icy dread as the thing gave another lurch. It was not floating but walking. A person's head to be clearer. A really happy person by the looks of it, but not like any I'd ever seen. In fact, everything about it contradicted. Its general shape resembled a man with an old style wide brimmed hat, but its outline was jagged, like a poorly cut out paper doll. The random edges sprouting from it were the tendrils I had been seeing, but they seemed razor sharp to my eyes. Were those fingers or claws? Was it solid or mist? Was it even there? I quickly realized, dark and unsubstantial as it was, it had to be a shadow. The comfort effort of this thought was dashed instantly when I realized that something must be casting the shadow, and then again when it finally lurched in front of my parents room. Because you see, it did not fall from the wall to lie on the floor, and what passed for its feet were clearly visible. It was not some intruder's shadow. Small blessing though that was. Whatever this thing thing was, it was walking upright inside the hallway. Pressure built in my skull as I tried to comprehend what I was seeing. It wasn't just its dark color or the vaguely translucent quality it had that led me to think it was a shadow. This thing was unmistakably flat. Yet there it was, skulking around in all three dimensions in complete defense. Science of logical possibility. There was also the fact that while it seemed to be grinning, it had no mouth or eyes, merely holes imitating those features. I guessed it would continue to the end of the hall near my older sister's room. But then it did the single worst thing it had done to that point. It turned slowly, with the same lurching quality. Its head and neck began to swivel. I might have expected to hear stiff cracking noises, if it were making any sound at all. In fact, everything seemed strangely muffled ever since it showed up. Gradually at first, then all of a sudden it was glaring right at me. Its head flickered in and out, apparently depending on the exact angle I viewed it from. I was not exaggerating when I said it was flat. I was also not hopeful enough to believe it couldn't see me. I wanted to hide or maybe stand and try running past when it came inside, but I literally could not move. It wasn't that I was indecisive. I was willing myself forward, but the thoughts just never seemed to reach my limbs. It took a step forward. The spell was broken, and by this point I was so desperate I threw the covers over my head. Maybe that's the childlike logic of the blanket will protect me from the monsters, but I honestly don't know that I expected it to do anything other than shield me from the sight of the impending end. It's really surreal to be that age and think that you're probably about to die violently. I imagined it reaching me any second and wondered what it would be like, a cold, tearing stab, like being impaled by a knife. Or maybe my flesh would sear away at its smoky touch. But nothing happened. For who knows how long. I shivered in my makeshift fort, wondering if it was really gone or just standing there, waiting for me to look. Perhaps with its horrible excuse for a face hovering an inch from mine. Maybe I wouldn't even know at first until it shifted position, materializing from nowhere. Either way, this clearly wasn't going to end until I did something. So I slowly lowered the blankets to look out at an ordinary room. The dread was lessened, the chirping birds returning to their normal volume. I climbed climbed out of bed, fidgeting this way and that, constantly looking over my shoulder to make sure it wasn't hiding somewhere with its unnatural lack of depth creeping to the door. I took a deep breath and stuck my head out, looking to my sister's room, the main house, and back as quickly as I could. Nothing. Her door was shut, but I wasn't sure that would stop whatever this was was. I also slightly preferred running headlong into it than it getting the drop on me again. So I peeked inside. Still nothing. What followed was more of the same. I Would look all over the house and the outside yard, expecting it around every corner, under every piece of furniture, or maybe to just burst from beneath my feet. But it never came.

[Narrator 1]

I suppose I could have searched the.

[Narrator 2]

Forest, but I couldn't decide whether that was paranoia or tempting fate at that point. Years passed and I still did not encounter it, though I no longer felt comfortable being in my room with the door open. I'm sure you have a lot of lingering questions. So did I. But they were never answered. It's not like I could call the thing back or. Or would even if I could. You may also have suggestions. Maybe it was a ghost or a demon from another dimension. Maybe sleep paralysis. You may feel free to offer your suggestions, but no offense, I hope I never find out. In 2017, my husband was away frequently for weeks at a time, working in another city. At this time we lived in an apartment complex in a large city in a one bedroom unit on the first floor. I have always been pretty independent and was used to him being away. But for some reason, in the weeks leading up to this event, I had become increasingly paranoid. Or so I thought at the time. In retrospect, I think my intuition was trying to warn me that something wasn't right. This all happened a few weeks before Christmas, and despite the holiday cheer all around, I had a sense of dread or melancholy almost everywhere I went. I began to have strange occurrences which I tried to find explanations for. First were the nightmares. I am no stranger to sleep paralysis, which has plagued me off and on since I was a teenager. During one of these episodes, my body numb and trying desperately to wake myself, I saw the typical threatening figure in my room at the foot of my bed. A young girl, maybe 10 years old, in a white nightgown, just staring at me with hollow black eyes. Her arms were down by her side, but in her right hand she held a small teddy bear. She didn't speak or hug the bear. She just held him there, dangling. I managed to wake myself and although the image was terrifying, I calmed myself into dismissed it as another awful sleep paralysis episode. I managed to go back to sleep with the light on. I have had a few episodes which stuck with me, and that one definitely did. The image of that girl and her teddy bear haunted me for days. Around the same time, I started to see a black cat stalking me while I walked my dog. I don't mind cats, and I don't think think black cats are particularly bad or anything, but for some odd reason, this cat scared me. It seemed like a normal cat, but different in a way I cannot put my finger on. It was too interested in me. Oddly, I never saw it in the daytime. My dog was old and I would have to take him out frequently in the middle of the night. It never failed that during our night time walks this cat would show up and follow us at a distance in the shadows. I love animals and this next part will sound crazy, but something about this cat made me think it was a personification of death. I had the thought that if it caught up to us, it would take my dog's life. An odd thought which I tried to put out of my mind. I told myself I was being ridiculous and this was just a cat. I saw it almost every night leading up to the major event. One evening a few weeks after the sleep paralysis incident, I awoke to what I thought was my doorbell ringing in the middle of the night. I wasn't even sure whether I had actually heard it or dreamed it. It was about 2:45. This made my heart pound and the fear set in. I am a very private person and did not know any of my neighbors well enough that they would likely ring my doorbell for any reason at all, much less at almost 3 o'clock in the morning. I am very introverted and not the type to have guests, so most of my friends and acquaintances didn't even know where my apartment was. Much less would arrive unannounced. In the middle of the night. I got up tentatively, trying to be as quiet as possible, and peeked out of the peephole in my front door. I saw nothing. Then I checked through the front window again. Nothing. I was creeped out, but everything appeared normal. I decided that I had either dreamt the whole thing or the doorbell wiring malfunctioned. Even though I was still on edge, I calmed myself and tried to sleep. Meanwhile, teddy bears, oddly, seemed to be popping up everywhere. My toddler niece told me she wanted a teddy bear for Christmas. She normally liked dolls or plastic animals like dinosaurs or St. Snakes, but she just kept saying she wanted a teddy bear. Odd, because she already has several of them. Then one morning driving down the freeway on my way to work, I passed a pile of clothing that had been somehow lost on the road, scattered all across the lanes by passing cars. As I slowed down and weaved around it, I saw one of the items was actually a teddy bear, dirty and mangled from being run over countless times. Hair matted with grit and mud, one eye missing. Once I went to use the bathroom at a gas station and someone had put a teddy bear sticker on the bathroom mirror over the sink.

[Narrator 1]

I think it was a Grateful Dead sticker.

[Narrator 2]

But still. Teddy bears. I just started noticing them everywhere I went. But I attributed this to the frequency bias phenomenon until one Wednesday night again. I was awakened by the sound of my doorbell ringing shortly after 3am I wasn't sure if I had dreamed it or not, but I woke with my heart pounding. I sat up and listened for a few minutes for something, anything. But I heard nothing. After a while I got up out of bed and checked outside my bedroom window. Nothing. I went to the front door peephole and nothing. I don't know what made me do it. Tiredness or curiosity, I don't know. But I opened the front door to peek onto my front porch. My front gate was shut securely. I looked down at the ground next to the front door and what I saw made me feel like all the breath was sucked out of me. A giant tan colored teddy bear sat up against the wall right next to my front door, staring straight ahead. I could see that it was not a new bear, but it looked old and worn. A red bow was tied around its neck. This thing probably came up to my waist. It was so big. I never knew a stuffed animal could look so sinister. I quickly snapped out of it and scanned the rest of the porch and sidewalk beyond. I saw nothing and no one. I slammed the door and locked it, trying to figure out what to do next. Call the police and say what? There's a teddy bear threatening me? It would sound ridiculous. I quickly tried to think of who would possibly leave this on my doorstep. I came up empty. My husband was 200 miles away. I called him hysterical and he confirmed that he had nothing to do with it. No one I knew would do this. I did not know which to do, so I decided to just wait it out until morning. Of course, I did not sleep the rest of that night. In the morning I had to use my front door to leave for work. I dreaded opening it and seeing that thing sitting there with its beady eyes. In the light I could see that it was definitely not some gift someone left for me. There was no card or note, no indication of why it was left. It was tattered with dirt and dried grass in the fur and some kind of red stains here and there. Stuffing spilled from the seams and places. I didn't want to leave it there, but I definitely didn't want to touch it either. I decided just to go to work and deal with it later. My coworkers convinced me it was most likely a random Prank by neighborhood kids by the time I got home, the sun was shining brightly and I had built up the nerve to get rid of it. I put on some rubber gloves and took it to the dumpster, never to be seen again. Fast forward to December 23rd. After work, I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few last minute items we need for our Christmas celebrations before I leave town. In typical fashion, I decide that I don't need a cart to carry my stuff to the car despite having a few larger items like packs of paper towels. Upon getting to my car and clicking the remote door locks, I realized I could not open the hatchback door with my hands full. A man who was walking nearby saw me struggling.

[Narrator 1]

He offered to help but I declined.

[Narrator 2]

Because I'm super independent and that's what I do. He insisted. And as he walked over to me I noticed that he looked a little rough around the edges. Dirty work clothes, messy hair, flannel overshirt work type boots. I recall him having very clear blue eyes that looked a little too deep into my soul.

[Narrator 1]

I wasn't comfortable accepting accepting his help.

[Narrator 2]

But before I knew it, he was reaching for my back door handle and pulling it open.

[Narrator 1]

The parking lot wasn't exactly empty, so.

[Narrator 2]

Even though I was uncomfortable, I didn't feel like I was in immediate danger. I thanked him and tossed my stuff in the hatchback and slammed it shut. He still stood there, so I said Merry Christmas, have a good night and started to step to the driver's side door. He smiled at me and said Merry.

[Narrator 1]

Christmas to you too and held his.

[Narrator 2]

Hand out to me. I did not want to shake his hand, but not wanting to be rude, I looked down at it. He was giving me a tiny Christmas teddy bear with a Santa hat. I was dumbfounded. I did not want to take it, did not know him and did not know what to say. So many thoughts went through my mind at that moment. Was he responsible for the bear on my porch? Was he following me? Was I just being crazy? He was just smiling at me like he knew. Again, not wanting to be rude but thoroughly freaked out, I searched for the right response.

[Narrator 1]

Oh no thanks was all I said.

[Narrator 2]

I don't have any kids. I turned and got in my car and pulled out, watching him in my rearview, just watching me drive away with an angry look on his face. Thankfully I wasn't far from home and I got there in record time. My paranoia was at an all time high for the next few weeks, but I didn't see any more teddy bears for a while and eventually I stopped obsessed confessing about it. However, I still get creeped out when.

[Narrator 1]

I do come across one from time to time. I will never see them as harmless children's toys again.

[Narrator 3]

It, it, it it it it.