Transcript
A (0:00)
Hey, welcome to Scary Stories and Rain. Before we begin, I just want to remind you to follow this podcast. It really helps me out a lot and it'll ensure that you never miss an episode. And if you would like to take things a step further, you can subscribe for just $2.99 a month. As a subscriber, you'll enjoy every episode completely ad free. Plus you'll automatically be entered to win every giveaway that I do each month. Right now there's a PlayStation 5 up for grabs which will be given away in mid October. Subscribers also get access to the ultimate episodes. These are extra long. I'm talking six, eight to 12 hours uninterrupted stories with relaxing rainfall designed for falling asleep, staying asleep all night long, relaxing or just enjoying hours of long form entertainment. And last thing before we begin, I just want to say thank you so much for being here and I really hope you enjoy this episode.
B (0:58)
This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Checking off the boxes on your to do list is a great feeling. And when it comes to checking off coverage, a State Farm agent can help you choose an option that's right for you. Whether you prefer talking in person on the phone or using the award winning app, it's nice knowing you have help finding coverage that best fits your needs. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Hey, it's Sydney Sweeney. I'm not here to tell you to buy American Eagle jeans. And I definitely won't say that they're the most comfortable jeans I've ever worn or that they make your butt look amazing. Why would I need to do that? But if you said that you want to buy the jeans, I'm not gonna stop you. But just so we're clear, this is not me telling you to buy American Eagle jeans Cities. You see what I did there, right?
A (1:53)
Does it ever feel like you're a marketing professional just speaking into the void? But with LinkedIn ads, you can know you're reaching the right decision makers. A network of 130 million of them. In fact, you can even target buyers by job title, industry, company seniority, skills, and Did I say job title? See how you can avoid the void and reach the right buyers with LinkedIn ads. Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a free $250 credit for the next. Get started@LinkedIn.com Campaign terms and conditions apply. For some background, there's an app called Life360 where you can add your friends and family on and essentially you can all see each other's current and past locations. You can set alerts to be notified when someone comes home or leaves, arrives at work, etc. It's a really great app and I recommend it to everyone. You can never be too safe nowadays 2 months ago I was at home waiting for my boyfriend to get home. I got an alert at around 6 o' clock letting me know that he had left work. It usually took him around 45 minutes to get home. I got up from the sofa and headed upstairs to run myself a bath. My bath was ready in about 10 minutes and as I was doing other things waiting for it to cool, I heard a thud downstairs and through the closed bathroom door assumed that it was the front door. I shouted something along the lines of I'm taking a bath. I heard him walking along our very creaky floorboards and assumed he was in the kitchen grabbing some dinner. It was about five minutes later when I picked up my phone to put on some music and realized I never got an alert on my phone from life360 saying my boyfriend arrived home. So I went into the app to make sure and I kid you not, my blood ran cold when I saw that my boyfriend stopped at a gas station and was still about half an hour away. I could still hear the floorboards creaking downstairs very lightly as if someone was trying to tiptoe but was unable to. I had no idea what to do. I called my boyfriend. He didn't answer and when I didn't hear his phone ring from downstairs I freaked out even more. I have horrible anxiety and I could feel an attack coming on. I left the bathroom and walked into the bedroom as quietly as possible. I shoved my desk chair under the knob as it didn't have a lock. I don't know why, but I didn't think to call the police then. I was so focused on getting out that all my other thoughts and senses just disappeared. I say this lightly now, but this was not the case in the moment. I proceeded to basically mission impossible out of the room. We had a shed under the window which large enough for me to safely get on top of it and then jump off of it into the garden. The only issue was that I had to make my way down the garden alley where I would have to walk past the large window and door where he would be able to see me very clearly. I was so scared I kept taking peeks into the window and couldn't see anyone. I felt more confident to run past and took one last peek peak and he was there looking right at me not even a foot away from the window. I can't even begin to explain the sheer fear and horror I felt looking him right in the eyes. He had such a cold expression, totally emotionless. I ran, didn't look back. I was terrified. I remember nearly tripping in my slippers and having to shake them off so I could run faster. There was a long road between us and our neighbors where I was running to. I did make it. Their lights were on and I started pounding on their window. I was let in and they called the police for me as I was inconsolable at that point. I kept telling them to please call my boyfriend as he was on his way home. When the police arrived, they found no one there. We didn't have any cameras and neither did my neighbors, so we had no way of telling when or how he entered and left. I later found out he came through the window. That was the noise I heard, which I assumed was the door was actually the window that fell downward and shut loudly after I assume the man came in. There were also some scratches on the top of the chair that I put under the doorknob, signaling he had tried to push it open but was unable to. There wasn't much of a case. I couldn't ID him and he was wearing a face mask and a beanie. I don't even know what color hair he had, only that he was tall, slim and a man. I only looked right at him for a mere second. If that. Nothing was stolen either. We have cameras and a security system now. Never making that mistake ever again. Something recently happened to me, an event which I cannot seem to get my head around. It has left me perplexed and quite frankly a little freaked out. I live in a small village in the west of Ireland not far from the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The village has hustle and bustle with around 2500 people living in the local area. As you can imagine, with such a small populace, the community is fairly tight knit and a person would know everyone pretty well or at least know them by their face. A man from town who is now deceased named Jimmy used to frequent a pub quite regularly where I used to work and I often had chit chat with him on the regular. In more recent years I did some training in the local nursing home where Jimmy was a full time resident. He was suffering from Alzheimer's and was now under constant supervision while his memory was virtually gone. He never lost his ability to play cards. So during my training I often spent time playing cards with Him. And it goes without saying, I lost pretty much every game. While this information does seem trivial, it is relevant to what I am about to tell you. As I mentioned before, Jimmy is now deceased and is buried in a local cemetery which is adjoined to the church. In the evening I bring my dogs for walks and one route I often take is through the church grounds and I cut through the cemetery. There is a large view of the village and the valley in which it is situated from the cemetery. The cemetery is on a gradual slope and as you'd expect, all the graves are in rows. My dogs, who are both Jack Russell terriers and in being so, are very feisty and nothing ever really spooks them. One evening last week I decided to cut through the graveyard like I often do. But when we reached the gate of the graveyard, both of the dogs demeanors changed from that of being happy, with tails wagging in general contentment to get out for a walk, to that of which their heads were down and tails between legs and showing stubbornness to pass through the gate. Thinking nothing of it, I pulled the two dogs through the gate, jokingly scolding them and asking them in the quaint country Irish way, what is wrong with you? We walked up the gradual slope, passing by graves of folks who had passed on along the way. Some of the names I recognized and some were unfamiliar. Nothing strange in that. Normally when I reach the last grave on the slope, I would be passing by Jimmy's grave. I would normally stop for just a brief moment and in my head I would say to myself, how are you, Jimmy? Now I am a quality manager at work, so it's fair to say that I do notice a lot of things. And I know for a fact that Jimmy's grave was definitely the last one on the slope in the very front row. I at least passed it once a week since he passed away. And I know that it was definitely without a shadow of a doubt, located right there the evening in question. As the dogs and I reached the last grave, my heart nearly went into my mouth. Jimmy's grave was not there. I couldn't understand it. A completely different gravestone stood there of a woman who I also knew from the locale. But how could this be? Jimmy's grave was definitely there. My eyes started darting from grave to grave, looking for Jimmy's grave in despair. I eventually found it three or four rows back, but nowhere near the top front row where I had seen it before so many times. Miffed about what had just happened, an uneasy feeling came over me. And the hairs began to stand on the back of my neck. Maybe I too was sensing what the dogs had felt earlier. I noticed the breeze had disappeared and the cemetery was eerily silent, as you could normally hear birdsong from the surrounding trees. I couldn't get out of there fast enough that evening. I have since passed through the cemetery, and still Jimmy's grave is still in the mix with all the others, completely out of place of where I know it used to be. I really cannot understand what happened. It's not as if they moved his plot or that many people have been buried since he was. Reflecting upon this story, I recalled something that happened to me a few years earlier in that cemetery. Every July, on the last Sunday of the month, the local priest holds a ceremony called the Blessing of the Graves. As my grandparents are buried there, I would normally attend such an event, not so much for the religious aspect, but just to catch up with my relatives who would attend. Last year, I wasn't feeling well on this Sunday, so I actually missed the ceremony. Feeling a little guilty about this, I decided in my free time to go to the grave to maybe say a quiet prayer for my grandparents. I have been to the grave many times, as I often help my mother maintain it by weeding and decorating it with flowers, as well as the annual visit for the blessing of the graves. But this particular day I could not find the grave, and I spent a good 20 minutes looking for it. Blaming myself. I just put it down to my own ignorance as to why I couldn't find it. But now, in hindsight, I wonder if instead of my ignorance, was there something a little more sinister and paranormal at play?
