Scary Stories For A Rainy Night - Ep. 234 - He Was In My Backyard
Podcast: Scary Stories and Rain
Host: Being Scared
Date: September 20, 2025
Overview
This episode of "Scary Stories and Rain" offers a collection of true, unsettling personal stories told in a calm, immersive manner, set against the soothing backdrop of rain. The tales revolve around moments when everyday life was invaded by the eerie, the dangerous, and the unexplained. Common themes include close encounters with predators—human and otherwise—the reliability of intuition, the thin line between mundane and nightmare, and the lingering impact of brushes with real-world horror. The stories span decades and settings, but all evoke that uneasy sense you get when something is very, very wrong.
Key Stories, Themes, and Insights
1. The Unnoticed Home Invasion
[Starts: 05:30]
- Setting: Safe suburban cul de sac, Halloween.
- Story: A woman recounts discovering a series of odd household details after returning home—an out-of-place rock, a misplaced stick, an open sliding door—then realizes they’re evidence of a home burglary.
- Details:
- Missing jewelry and electronics.
- The criminal broke in while nobody was home, using a rock as a weapon, then switching to a heavy stick found inside.
- Entry and exit via hidden side entrance and backyard, suggesting knowledge of the area.
- The loss was material only (“costume jewelry”), but the emotional impact was lasting.
- The family now has protective dogs.
- Notable Quote:
- “If my son or daughter or even my husband or I had been home alone or walked in when the intruder was in there, he most likely would have used that weapon on us.” (19:20)
2. Halloween Almost Gone Wrong
[22:05]
- Setting: Suburban Halloween, child narrator.
- Story: A first grader, separated from their parents while trick-or-treating, is grabbed by a costumed stranger and nearly led away before being spotted by their mother, prompting the stranger to flee.
- Themes: The vulnerability of children; the thin margin between safety and tragedy.
- Notable Quote:
- “It is a scary thought knowing that people out there kidnap kids and do really bad things. I was very lucky to have found my mom when I did.” (25:40)
3. The Faceless Figure in the Night
[27:10]
- Setting: Northern Illinois, newly built neighborhood bordered by woods, 2007.
- Story: A teenager takes dogs out at night and spots a disturbingly pale, unnaturally moving, faceless entity lurking near a model home under a single street lamp.
- Observations:
- The creature is “easily over six feet, limbs too long…did not seem to have a face.”
- Movement compared to “Voldo from Soul Calibur.”
- The experience left the narrator both terrified and questioning reality.
- Theories:
- Possibly a morph suit/prank, but several details (uncanny proportions, lack of features, “the insurmountable dread,” 30:55) point towards something supernatural.
- Notable Quote:
- “But fear is an unreliable narrator as it goes. What do you think? Weird but innocent thrillseeker, or something more paranormal?” (33:00)
4. Sleep Paralysis or Something Else?
[35:18]
- Setting: Narrator’s bedroom, modern day.
- Story: After a disrupted sleep schedule, the narrator experiences a severe case of sleep paralysis, including physical sensations and a whispered voice.
- Details:
- Hears a woman whisper “Hey” and “What are you doing?”
- Feels touched and even cuddled during paralysis.
- Themes: The boundary between dream, hallucination, and supernatural visitation.
- Notable Quote:
- “If it was a spirit, maybe it was just lonely and it just needed a body to lay with.” (39:45)
5. Stranger Danger—A ’60s Childhood Reconsidered
[41:25]
- Setting: Pittsburgh, PA, 1960s.
- Story: A woman looks back on three incidents from her idyllic, “innocent” childhood that, with adult hindsight, were close brushes with predatory adults:
- Almost lured into woods to “find a lost puppy.”
- Harassed by threatening older teens in forbidden woods.
- Approached by a man in a car offering “toys.”
- Themes: Protection by luck, siblings, and streetwise friends; nostalgic reconsideration of the past.
- Notable Quotes:
- “My sister literally saved my life that day.” (44:10)
- “It haunts me even today, to think of how just a few short moments could have changed my life forever.” (52:00)
6. Face-to-Face With a (Maybe Not Just) Wolf
[53:20]
- Setting: Rural Texas, late 1970s.
- Story: A young woman’s drive is interrupted by her old car’s oil leak; stuck alone on a remote road at night, she finds herself in a long standoff with a menacing, possibly supernatural wolf that blocks her path, growling without moving for over an hour and a half.
- Details:
- Fear, isolation, and the mysterious behavior of the animal.
- She executes an oil change under terrifying circumstances.
- Wolf leaves as soon as she finishes.
- Afterwards, her father buys her a new car.
- Notable Quote:
- “I don't know how any living thing, human or animal, could be so still and stare so intently and growl so unendingly for that long of a time. It wasn't normal or natural.” (58:45)
7. Predator on the Bike Path
[1:02:00]
- Setting: Rhode Island, summer 2001.
- Story: A college student’s intuition is triggered on a morning rollerblading run; she notices and intimidates a suspicious man lurking with predatory intent, then learns later he seriously injured a neighbor that same day.
- Details:
- Gut feeling prompts hypervigilance.
- She makes a split-second decision to confront with defiance, remembers suspect’s appearance; possibly prevents her own assault.
- Her neighbor’s girlfriend is attacked by the same man.
- Police receive the description but suspect is never caught.
- A strange “intervention”—lost earbuds that mysteriously reappear the next day—suggests fate or unseen protection.
- Notable Quotes:
- “I noted his dark eyes and beard, his plain blue baseball cap, his hoodie and jeans and construction boots. I could tell my nostrils were flared and my eyes were flashing anger and I glared at him with an intensity that said, I see you there and I am ready to fight you if I need to.” (1:05:45)
- “I know for a fact they weren’t there when I looked. And I can't explain why they disappeared that morning…I can only assume that my awareness of this situation was the thing that saved me in the end and some higher power was looking out for me that day.” (1:12:00)
Additional Memorable Lines and Moments
-
On lucky outcomes:
- “There was nothing taken that could not be replaced and I am just so thankful that no one was home when they broke in.” (20:55)
-
On the past and present:
- “I think I was just too young and naive at the time to understand the significance of what happened.” (42:00)
-
On fear:
- “My heart bludgeoned against my chest in a sudden jolt of terror, and I wrestled with disbelief, unable to process what I was seeing there...” (29:25)
Timestamps for Key Segments
| Time | Story/Event | |--------------|---------------------------------------------| | 05:30 | Home invasion discovery (Halloween) | | 22:05 | Child nearly abducted on Halloween | | 27:10 | Faceless entity in the woods (Illinois) | | 35:18 | Sleep paralysis and strange visitation | | 41:25 | Childhood incidents and stranger danger | | 53:20 | The wolf standoff on a dark Texas highway | | 1:02:00 | Rollerblading encounter/bike path predator | | 1:12:00 | “Protected” by lost earbuds, survivor’s guilt|
Summary
“Scary Stories For A Rainy Night - Ep. 234 - He Was In My Backyard” is a chilling anthology that weaves together personal stories of near-misses, lingering menace, and moments where fate, quick thinking, or a sibling saved someone from disaster. The episode is threaded with empathy for survivors and an awareness of how ordinary days can turn dangerous in an instant.
The stories remind listeners to trust their instincts, look out for each other, and recognize that the scariest things sometimes lurk just out of sight—whether it’s a faceless figure in the dark, a would-be kidnapper, or a predator hiding behind everyday normality.
Original language and tone preserved, as delivered by narrators and participants throughout the episode.