Transcript
A (0:00)
Hey, welcome to Scary Stories and Rain. Real quick. Before we begin, I just want to remind you that if you want to subscribe to this podcast for just 2.99amonth.
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You'Ll get rid of all of the.
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Ads across every single episode and you'll be automatically entered to win all of my giveaways that I do every month. Right now we have a PlayStation 5 on the line, so if you want to be entered to win, subscribe for just 2.99amonth, get rid of all of the ads, and you'll also be supporting the podcast, which is highly appreciated. And last thing before we begin, I just want to say thank you so much for being here and I really.
B (0:32)
Hope you enjoy this episode.
C (0:37)
At New Balance, we believe if you run, you're a runner however you choose to do it. Because when you're not worried about doing things the right way, you're free to discover your way. And that's what running is all about. Run your way@newbalance.com Running.
B (1:07)
Well I was.
D (1:08)
Down on my last dollar than I started saving because the bank said fiscal restraint is what you're craving. So I put my earnings in a high yield account, let the savings compound and the interest mount. I'm optimizing cash flow, putting debt in check. Now time is my friend and not a pain in the neck and we've got a little cash to rebu. Boring money moves make kind of lame songs but they sound pretty sweet to your wallet.
B (1:32)
Brilliantly boring since 1865.
E (1:35)
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B (2:11)
Now to start this off I'm a 29 year old man and 3 times a year I head up to the Georgia mountains to camp Fish and have a great time. But after the last trip I doubt I will ever go again. I had been super excited the week before I was to head up to Georgia and when the day finally came I could have died with happiness. I loaded up my dog buddy and all my gear and started the trip. About an hour into my trip I saw a road that I have never seen before. I decided I would take an hour to look around and go back to the main road. I lost track of time and before I knew it the sun was setting. I grabbed my gear and my Buddy and we hiked about 10 minutes before finding a nice clearing in the forest. I set up camp and looked around. I saw a small man made trail leading into the dark trees and decided that me and my dog needed a walk. I grabbed my walking stick, Buddy's leash and a headlamp and we headed onto the trail. I knew something was wrong when I couldn't hear a single insect or animal. My dog and I stopped at a little creek and that's when I saw something terrifying. Two eyes reflecting from my headlamp. This person was really tall. Looked to be about 7ft. My dog is usually very protective of me, but instead of barking, he whimpered and peed on my leg. I have never seen him act like this before. He has seen bears before and has scared mountain lions away, but he has never gotten scared like this. As Buddy kept whimpering, I felt terrible. Like this person hated me and they could rip me to pieces if they wanted to. Then they made the scariest noise I have ever heard. Imagine a maniac screaming. My dog and I bolted back to our camp. When we got back, I could still hear it. Needless to say, we changed our mind about staying there. I packed up the camp as my dog stood watch. We ran to my truck and got out of there. I went straight home and canceled this camping trip. That whole night while I laid in bed, I could not get that scream out of my head. This happened a long time ago, about 40 years ago. So this was back before cell phones or Google Maps or debit cards or any of the traveling conveniences of today's world. So when you traveled by car, you were at the mercy of printed road maps, phone booths, if you needed to make a phone call and whatever cash you had on you before you started your trip. I am a 60 year old female and this is what happened when I was about 18 years old. My sister Mandy, who was a few years older than me, and one of her friends, Jane and I decided to take a road trip from Dallas to Houston to attend a Bruce Springsteen concert. Jane knew one of the roadies, so we were going to get backstage passes and we were going to actually get to meet Bruce Springsteen. We were so excited we decided to drive to Houston on the Friday night before the Saturday concert and we were going to stay in a cheap motel for the weekend. We were young and broke, but this was Bruce Springsteen. So worth the cost of the motel. We wanted to be rested and already there to get to the concert early and possibly see the band before the show. And we also did not want to have to drive back after the concert as we would be out late, hopefully in our crazed minds partying with Bruce and the E Street Band. We were in Jane's car for the trip. She had recently gotten a new car. Plus hers was the only car of the three of us that was in good enough condition to make the trip. Mandy and I always had rat traps for cars back then. So we started off at around 7pm that Friday night and we were in very high spirits. What a weekend this was going to be. We were jamming and laughing and having us a good old road trip. About two hours into the trip, which was halfway there, we heard loud knocking noises coming from the car engine. We immediately turned down the music and strained to try and figure out just what the heck the noises were. Then all of a sudden we heard a loud bang and the car engine died. We were freaking out as we had been tooling down the highway at 60 miles per hour and then it just stopped. Thankfully the roads were empty and there were no cars behind us, so Jane was able to just pull off to the side of the highway as the car was losing momentum. We all got out of the car on the passenger side next to the woods. Jane popped open the hood, but it's not like any of us would have known what to do anyway. It's just something you do right. The engine was smoking and it smelled horrible. Bad oil smell. We had no idea what to do here we were, three young girls on the side of the highway in the middle of nowhere I might add, and we had no way to get help unless it was offered by a stranger. We knew that we were too far from the exit behind us. We had not seen an exit for quite a while and we had no idea how far it was to the next exit. Too far to walk anywhere, more than likely. Not that it would have been safe to walk on the side of the highway anyway. And since we were in the middle of nowhere and it was pitch black by this time, there were no lights on the highway and there were no buildings or towns around to provide light either. And we only saw very few cars on the highway in either direction. We were so screwed and so scared and we had to figure out just what the heck we were going to do. Mandy and I were also upset about probably missing the concert, but Jane was just concerned about her car. She had finally gotten a new car after all the lemons she had in the past, and now she was afraid that it was dead, possibly for good. We just sat in the car for a long time, trying to figure out what to do. A while later, as we were still freaking out and scared, but had not yet come up with a plan, a car pulled up behind us. We all just froze because we had no idea who it was or what their intentions were. As we all stared out the back window with deer in the headlight looks on our faces, a man, probably early 20s, started walking up to our car. You would think that after the breakdown, we would have discussed what to do if someone stopped to help us. But apparently we were not that bright because we had no plan for this. The man walked up to the car window and asked what the problem was and if we needed help. We all just looked at each other and then, as if we all came to the same conclusion together without speaking, knowing that we really had no other choice, James cracked the window just a little bit and explained the situation. He said he could drive us to the nearest town, which was about 15 miles ahead, he said, so we could use a phone. The only plan we had come up with before this stranger walked up was that if we did get to a phone, Jane would have to call her father. Not only because it was her car and she would need his help dealing with it. But we really had no one else to call. Our other friends were as broke as we were and had cars as unreliable as ours were, so no point in asking any of them to help. And mine and Mandy's parents lived too far away to be able to help in this situation. So while we knew we needed to get to a phone, we had no idea if this guy could be trusted. We asked him to give us a moment. Then we would start discussing our impossible options. The smartest thing would have been for all three of us to go with this guy. Power and numbers. But Jane absolutely refused to leave her car alone on the side of the road. So she insisted that one of us had to stay there. She would not budge on this. Not sure why she thought that car was more important than our lives, but she would not change her mind. And since it was completely insane to send one of us off with a stranger, the only solution was that one of us had to stay with the car and two had to go with this guy. Since it was Jane's father that needed to be called, she had to go make the phone call. Mandy offered to stay with the car, so I would go with Jane. We were all terrified as we knew that he could kill us both and we would never be found. And that if another person stopped by the car, Mandy would be alone, so would have no way to defend herself of a dangerous predator Person approached her. We hugged and said a scared and teary goodbye. And Jane and I walked to the stranger's car knowing that this could be the last time we see each other. Now, I know some of you may be saying things like why didn't Mandy get the guy's license plate number? Or ask to see his driver's license or even ask for his name, but we never even thought about that. Yeah, that would have been the smart thing to do because if he knew she had that information, he might be less likely to harm us. Or if he had refused to give that information, then we would have known he was not on the level. Of course, now that I think about it, he could have still killed us and gone back to do the same to Mandy. So giving her his information wouldn't have been any help in saving any of us. But I digress. We didn't do any of that. So Jane and I got into the stranger's car and just prayed that he was a decent guy. Since Jane was older, she sat up front with a stranger and I got into the back seat. Jane was pretty street smart, so I was comforted a bit by the fact that I knew she would put up a hell of a fight if need be. But as it turned out, he was a decent guy. He actually did drive us to the small town just as he said he would. And I do mean a small town. All we could see was a small old motel next to a small diner. But there was a police car parked at the diner. So he let us out, knowing that we were in good hands. Or so we thought. We thanked him profusely and off he went. So Jane and I went inside the diner and she used the public payphone to call her father. She was hoping that he would come rescue us and her car that night, but her father said no way. He told her that we would just have to spend the night there at that motel and he would come in the morning to pick us up and get her car. He was not about to make a two hour drive at almost 11pm to come get us that night. He assured her that it was okay to leave her car on the side of the highway overnight. There was no way around that unless we were going to sleep in the car, which he strictly forbade her to do. Of course, she was too old to be Told what to do by her father, but she knew if we did that and he found out, there would be hell to pay. He would be pissed and he might not help her with the car, so she was just going to have to let her car stay there by itself overnight. Next, we spoke to the policeman. We were concerned about my sister alone in the car and asked if he would take us to go get her, bring her back to the diner. He was very nice, had a long Texan drawl when he spoke and said, sure, let's go. The policeman made a few calls on his car radio, not sure to who, as it was hard to hear, and they were not speaking very loudly, as if he didn't want us to hear. But I was hoping it was about the car and my sister. So Jane and I got into the back of the police car. We were finally so relieved and just thanked our lucky stars that we were safe. Although we were still concerned about Mandy, as we had no idea if she was okay or not. Just a few minutes into the trip, the policeman was telling us that there is a serial rapist on the loose in the area. What an odd topic of conversation, especially to two young girls that are already upset about the car and my sister all alone. We have absolutely no idea why he told us that. We just stole a worried glance at each other and we were beginning to wonder if this cop was actually the nice man that he appeared to be at first. And here we were in a car that had doors with no means of exit. We were starting to get a bit nervous. All of a sudden, his police radio cracked and. And came to life. And apparently there was a crime in progress that the policeman needed to get to immediately. So, and I kid you not, he stopped the car right where we were, out in the middle of nowhere, and said that we had to get out now, he had to go and he could not take us with him. He said that he would come back to pick us up or send someone as soon as he could. Are you kidding me? We looked around and there was absolutely nothing there except a dark building with a newspaper stand in front of it. Other than that, just pitch blackness, dark roads and forest as far as we could see. We thought surely he must be joking at first, but he was not. His demeanor had changed. He was no longer the nice, friendly policeman with the slow southern drawl that we had met just moments ago. He got mean and nasty and demanded that we get out of the car immediately. We were in tears, asking him to please not leave us out there alone. What about the rapist. He said we should just go stand near the building and someone would come to our aid as soon as they could. He assured us we would be fine. So with no other choice, we got out of the car. Then he sped off, 90 to nothing. It was pitch black, it was getting cold and we were terrified. So we huddled next to the building behind the newspaper stand, trying to be unseen and to get out of the wind. We could not believe that a policeman just did this to us. The thought had occurred to us both that the call he received might have possibly been about Mandy and that is why he didn't want us to be with them so great. Not only were we cold and scared and possibly about to be attacked and raped by the mad rapist, but now we were afraid that something bad had possibly happened to Mandy. About 15 minutes later, a semi truck hauling wood or something on a long flatbed behind his truck stopped directly in front of the building that we were crouched beside. We were terrified as while he seemed to be fiddling with the load on the back of his truck, so actually might have had a legitimate reason to get off the highway and park here. He kept looking over in our direction and we knew he must have seen us. We thought we were about to be attacked by a maniac truck driver or the rapist at large. We were hoping he would just drive away, but then he started walking toward us. We thought, this is it. We are going to be killed by some madman rapist in some unnamed small town in the middle of nowhere and we will never be seen again. We cursed that stupid police officer and huddled together in fear. But as the man got closer, he yelled to us. Are you the girls with the sister on the side of the road and the broken down car? We were so confused. How in the world would he know that? We looked at each other and whispered that perhaps he killed killed her, Found out from her that we had come here and now he has come to kill us. Or perhaps the police officer was in cahoots with this madman and sent him to us, which is how he knew we were here. We were at his mercy and we were looking around to see if there was anything we could use as a weapon if he tried to take us. Then the truck driver, seeing that we were scared and backing away, explained that he had heard on the CB radio that the policeman placed a call out to see if there was anyone traveling this way that could pick Mandy up and bring her to the diner. He also heard that there were two scared young ladies here that also Needed a ride back to the diner. He heard the calls but was traveling in the opposite direction, so could not help with Mandy, but was passing by this exit, so figured he would help us. So we hesitantly got into his truck as his story sounded plain plausible. But then again, the more we thought about it, the more we wondered why a policeman would tell the entire truck driving world about three young girls in distress. That's just a shout out to any sicko that we were ripe for the taking. Didn't seem like a smart thing for a police officer to have done. When he said he would send someone to pick us up, we assumed he meant another police officer. Guess small town folks may have good heart parts, but doesn't seem like they use their brains to the fullest extent possible. When I think about the thousands of ways this could have ended if the wrong person showed up on all of those incidents, it makes me shudder. As it turned out, the truck driver did not kill us or harm us. He actually drove us back to the diner and another truck driver stopped and picked up Mandy. Mandy, of course, had no idea what Jane and I had been doing once we left her with that stranger. For all she knew, that guy could have done who knows what with us. And I felt bad that she had been alone. At least I had Jane with me. She was terrified that someone else was going to stop and that she might be in danger. There were not that many cars on the highway on that dark, lonely night. At one point, she saw a semi truck pull over to the side of the road going in the opposite direction. She didn't think that much about it since it was on the other side. Trucks and cars stop all the time for various reasons. But when she saw the truck driver get out of his truck and walk across the highway straight toward her, at that point she was really frightened. Why would he be doing that? She had no idea that a call had gone out on the CB radios. She started to shrink down in her seat, hoping that he would think no one was in the car. But he kept coming. When he was finally at her window, she had something in her hand for a weapon. I think it was a hairbrush or something just as useless. And she just very slightly cracked the window so she could hear what he was saying. He asked if she was Mandy. What? She was so confused as to how he knew her name. Crazy thoughts went through her head in just a few seconds. Did that stranger we went with have a crazed buddy who was now coming to harm her? The truck driver explained how the policeman had put a call out on the CB radio asking for help. He was going the opposite direction, but stopped and came over to make sure she was safe and to wait while another truck driver buddy headed in the right direction and would pick her up shortly after and take her to the diner to meet up with us. She wasn't 100% sure that this was on the up and up, but since he seemed okay and the story sounded somewhat reasonable and he hadn't asked her to open the door or anything like that and stood far enough away that she felt safe, she decided to trust that what he was saying was the truth. Sure enough, about five minutes later, another trucker pulled over. They chatted and then he said he would take Mandy to the diner. So up she gets into the truck, just like us on our few occasions, getting into vehicles with strangers praying that he was not going to kill her, and off they go up the road toward the next exit. We were four for four that night. This trucker did indeed drive her to the diner where we all hugged and cried and were so thankful for the kindness of these small town strangers. At that point we were just tired and hungry and ready to get this horrible night over with. The diner food was horrid and unlike the nice truck drivers, the patrons and waitresses did not seem overwhelmed with us and were rather snippy and rude to us. But we just ate and then headed to that creepy little motel next door. The night clerk was just like you would expect at a spooky little hotel next to a dark highway and even darker wood behind it. He was Solen and acted like we were bothering him. We asked for a room with double beds. He gave us a key to a room but the key would not work so we had to trudge back to the front of the motel. All three of us went together. We were not splitting up or leaving anyone alone anymore that night and he was not very happy with us at all. He gave us another key to the room and after a bit of working we finally got the door open. There was only one double bed, so back to the front of the motel we go. We politely reminded him that we needed two double beds. There were three of us after all. He acted like he was just so exasperated with us he begrudgingly handed us the key to another room. We trek on back down to the room which of course was room 13. I know he did that on purpose. We opened the door again with a tricky lock and of course there is only one double bed. Wow. We went back again because now we were pissed. We need two double beds please. And he said in his surly manner we don't have any rooms with double beds available. He said there was a fold up cot in the closet. Closet nice. We were just too tired to even worry about it. So we made our way back into room 13 and just wanted to get some sleep and lament about how we were not going to get to that concert. But we started looking around and realized that this room was so nasty and we saw some roaches. We just laid on top of the bed and caught in our clothes and prayed for this night to be over and for mourning and our sanity to come. Jane's father did arrive early the next morning. He called a tow truck. He took us home and we were so happy to never see that ho dunk town ever again. And in case you were wondering, no, we never did make it to Houston for the concert. Really bummed about that and the cause of the engine mishap. Apparently Jane's brother had failed build up the oil in her car before we started on our trip and was haphazard about the whole thing. Got oil all over the engine thus it heated and caught fire. I imagine engines are made differently these days so things like this don't happen. But back then her brother's laziness could have cost us everything. We just felt lucky to have made it out alive. This story takes place in the summer of 2017. For reference, my friend and I were young teenage girls at the time. We were hanging out one night and we decided to go on a walk around the pond that was not too far away from my house. It was, as some would say, pitch black outside, although there was some dull light due to the periodically placed street lights. We left my house and began walking up the street in the darkness. All was fine and we quickly made it to the pond without any issues. We ended up stopping at one end of the pond to take a break on a bench. This bench happened to be right under a light, so if anyone were also at the pond they could see us as we were illuminated by the light, but we could not directly see anyone else. We talked for a little while as we moved out onto the dimly lit pond and after a few minutes I noticed some movement off in the distance. It appeared to be a group of silhouettes approaching us. I am pretty aware of the dangers that exist in the world and I am quite the paranoid person. This being said, I quickly alerted my friend to the presence of what I assumed was a group of people swiftly coming our way. It should be noted that we were not in the best of areas and there were usually suspicious activities that took place at night. We debated for a short moment about what we should do. The first option was to keep sitting on the bench and assume that they were harmless individuals who wouldn't say or do anything to us. And the other option was to take no chances with these strangers who had us outnumbered and make a run for it back to my house. We quickly chose the latter and got back on our feet. We started off with a speed walk, but as I kept looking back to check on the mysterious group of people approaching us, I realized that they too were picking up speed. This is when my fear truly kicked in and my friend and I began to fly full on run. I regularly looked back at the group as we continued to run and I noticed that they began closing the distance between us. We still could not make out any features of the people due to the lack of lighting, so we were just blindly running from these mysterious people. I eventually arrived at my house and hid in my yard while waiting for my friend who is much shorter and not the fastest runner. She made it back a short while after me and we went inside making sure to lock the doors behind us when we were discussing it after the fact, she said that when she was running she wasn't looking back to check on them, so we don't actually know if they attempted to follow us the whole way home or miraculously gave up. We honestly don't even know what happened. If these people meant no harm, they were certainly not doing the best at showing that. But if they were indeed evil doers of some kind, well then I am glad that we dashed away when we did.