Scary Stories For A Rainy Night - Ep. 245 - Classic Scary

Summary

Scary Stories For A Rainy Night - Ep. 245 - Classic Scary

Podcast: Scary Stories and Rain
Host: Being Scared
Date: October 1, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode of Scary Stories and Rain delivers a collection of unsettling, true tales relayed with calm, immersive narration complemented by the gentle sound of rain. The stories traverse childhood hauntings, roadside dangers, stalking encounters, and a personal journey from skepticism to paranormal belief. Each story is presented in the signature tone of Being Scared—soothing, direct, and quietly chilling—perfect for dark, stormy nights or restless listeners seeking an eerie lullaby.

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Key Story Summaries & Insights

1. The Whispering Window: Childhood Haunting

Timestamps: 00:47 – 07:29

• Premise: The narrator recounts a bizarre and frightening experience involving his younger sister, who hears whispering from her bedroom window at night.
• Events:
  • The sister reports someone outside her open window whispering, "piece me free" (02:35) and later "save me. Please" (04:22), in a child’s voice.
  • The narrator finally sees a shadow outside, prompting their police officer father to investigate, leading to the apprehension of an elderly woman.
  • The woman turns out to be the mother of a criminal previously arrested by their father. She was sent to "haunt" the officer’s family as revenge.
• Memorable Quote:
  • "She told the police that her son was so mad that my dad was the one who arrested him and told her to go to our house and quote, unquote, haunt us. Haunt us, really? Well, she did a good job." – Narrator, (07:07)

Tone: Nostalgic, eerie, incredulous.

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2. The Persistent Hitchhiker: Roadtrip Terror

Timestamps: 07:36 – 21:20

• Premise: A group of friends on a desert road trip encounter a menacing hitchhiker who persistently tracks them over several stops.
• Events:
  • Despite a full car, a ragged man insists on a ride, even volunteering to ride in the trunk. Only the dog Doris scares him off (09:16).
  • Later sightings at a gas station reveal he's following them. Despite their evasive maneuvers, he appears again at their motel, scratching at their room door under cover of night.
  • The protagonist resists opening the door, suspecting something far more dangerous than a persistent traveler. Motel staff later confirm sinister intentions as the door is found damaged, scratched by a knife.
• Memorable Quotes:
  • "I am a walking stereotype, the most dude bro looking person you could find, but it didn't seem to do more than make him look me up and down a bit before tilting his head and staring at Tony and Jane." – Narrator, (09:18)
  • "I still to this day am just so very happy that I did not open the door when I thought that it was a dog." – Narrator, (21:20)

Tone: Tense, suspenseful, with touches of humor and relief.

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3. Stalked in the Store: A Near Abduction

Timestamps: 21:20 – 25:12

• Premise: A young woman, wary due to prior experiences, is stalked at a second-hand shop while her boyfriend steps away.
• Events:
  • The woman spots an expressionless man staring at her, which escalates to a chase around the furniture aisles.
  • A tense standoff ends when her boyfriend appears, his protective presence driving the man away.
  • The stalker continues to watch them in the store and lingers by the exit as they leave—but does not follow.
• Memorable Quote:
  • "He honestly both looked equally pissed off. The guy doesn't say anything, just walks away, but every few minutes or so we see him looking at us a few aisles away wherever we are in the store and I am extremely anxious at this point and just want to leave." – Narrator, (25:14)

Tone: Anxious, vigilant, wary but empowered through support.

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4. Johnny in the Wall: From Skeptic to Believer

Timestamps: 25:12 – 39:30

• Premise: The narrator, formerly skeptical of the paranormal, is shaken by a chilling event involving their young son and a possible ghost.
• Events:
  • After his father shares ghost stories, the narrator’s son, barely talking, suddenly points to the wall and cries, "Johnny in the hole in the wall" (kitchen area), though they know no such Johnny.
  • Rushing out to safety, the narrator recalls that the previous tenant, Fran, lost her husband Johnny, who never died in the apartment but was connected to it (relayed via a neighborly chat months prior).
  • In a poignant moment, the son later unerringly identifies Johnny's photo, giving comfort to the grieving widow.
  • The narrator concludes the spirit may have been protecting the boy from kitchen knives, and peace is made with Johnny’s lingering presence.
• Memorable Quotes:
  • "My son saw an entity in our apartment and I was seriously considering never going back." – Narrator, (29:36)
  • "He walks right up to it and, heavens to Betsy, he without hesitation points right at Johnny. Fran immediately broke into tears and I was right behind her." – Narrator, (38:02)
  • "That, to this day, always brings a smile to my face whenever I think about the incident that made me a believer in the paranormal." – Narrator, (39:30)

Tone: Transformative, heartfelt, softly breathtaking—moving from fear to acceptance and even gratitude.

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Notable Moments and Quotes with Timestamps

• "Please me free": Sister recounts the recurring phrase (02:35)
• Discovery of the old woman: Realization that the shadow was not a child, but the vengeful mother (06:11)
• Dog Doris as unexpected heroine: Doris’ bark scares off the hitchhiker (09:16)
• "Don’t open the door": Doris blocks the narrator, saving the group (16:00)
• Chilling aftermath: Discovery of knife marks at motel room door (19:23)
• Boyfriend’s protective stare-down: Intense, silent confrontation in thrift store (25:14)
• Encounter with Johnny’s spirit: Child identifies ghost in photo, comforting widow (38:02)
• Acceptance and gratitude: "I never felt creeped out in that apartment. Nothing ever happened. And my kid never saw Johnny there again." (39:30)

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Flow & Tone

• Narrative Style: Calm, immersive, and gently suspenseful, with authentic self-reflection and soft dark humor throughout.
• Emotion: Blend of chills, relief, regret, and in the final story, genuine emotional connection and healing.
• Listener Benefit: The stories build from classic childhood fears to adult dangers and supernatural encounters, offering both fright and emotional catharsis—a perfect collection for sleepless nights or stormy weather.

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Episode Timeline

| Time | Segment/Story | Highlights | |-----------|------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:47-07:29 | Childhood Haunting | Whispering voice outside window, vengeful mother, family terror | | 07:36-21:20 | Roadtrip Hitchhiker | Menacing stalker, loyal dog, motel close-call, relief & lessons learned | | 21:20-25:12 | Store Stalker | Near-abduction, vigilant boyfriend, lingering threat | | 25:12-39:30 | Skeptic Becomes Believer | Ghost encounter, child’s innocence, emotional reunion for grieving widow | | 39:30-end | Outro (excluded) | |

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Final Thoughts

Scary Stories For A Rainy Night - Ep. 245 artfully balances supernatural suspense, real-world danger, and emotional resonance. Whether you seek ghostly chills, cautionary tales, or stories of unexpected connection, this episode offers a memorable selection—told, as always, in the reassuring yet haunting tones of Being Scared.

Transcript

[Narrator]

Welcome to Scary Stories and Rain. A couple things before we begin. I have two new podcasts that I.

[Co-narrator]

Would love for you to check out.

[Narrator]

It's the same type of stories, but one with a crackling campfire background and one with more of a dark, eerie background. Scary Stories in Fire and Scary Stories in the dark.

[Co-narrator]

The links to each of them are in the description to this episode.

[Narrator]

Please check them out and give them a follow. It would really mean a lot. And if you're not following this podcast.

[Co-narrator]

Yet, please do that as well so.

[Narrator]

You get reminded when a new episode comes out every single night. Also, if you haven't subscribed yet, you can get rid of all of the ads for $2.99 a month and be automatically entered to win every single giveaway that I do every month. Just $2.99. No more ads.

[Co-narrator]

All the giveaways.

[Narrator]

I want to say thank you for being here and I really hope you enjoy this episode this story happened when I was a kid, probably around 12 to 13. The story is based on something strange that happened to my younger sister that.

[Co-narrator]

Lasted a few weeks.

[Narrator]

At the time she was about 9 or 10. Her bedroom was on the first floor of the house facing the driveway while mine was the whole upstairs because we lived in a bungalow style house. One night in the middle of the night my sister wakes me up from a dead sleep to tell me that someone is outside of her window whispering to her. This was in the summer and we did not have central air at the time, so she kept her window open. I immediately asked if she told my dad who at the time was a police officer.

[Co-narrator]

She told me that she was too.

[Narrator]

Scared to wake him up and if I would please come check it out. So reluctantly I began to get out of bed and follow her downstairs to her room. As I went in everything was normal. She pointed to the window and told me to go look and listen. As I looked outside there was nothing but a quiet street and the humming.

[Co-narrator]

Of a streetlight near our yard.

[Narrator]

I told her she was probably dreaming and that she should go back to sleep.

[Co-narrator]

She was scared but said okay.

[Narrator]

I went back to bed and nothing else happened that night. A few nights had passed and I had totally forgotten about it when suddenly I was awoken around 3am by my sister. Again she told me the person was back.

[Co-narrator]

I said who is back?

[Narrator]

She told me that it was the person from the other night whispering to her from outside the window.

[Co-narrator]

I asked her what they said to.

[Narrator]

Her and she said they kept saying piece me free at this point I was confused. That's not even a correct sentence. What does that even mean? I asked her if they had said anything else and she said no, just piece me free over and over in a child's voice. At this point I was starting to get scared. I almost woke my dad up, but figured I would just tell him about it in the morning. Fast forward forward to the next morning. I told my dad about what had.

[Co-narrator]

Happened and he told us that he.

[Narrator]

Was sure it was nothing and that my sister must have been dreaming. At first I agreed I didn't see or hear anything. She was just a kid and sometimes kids have very vivid dreams. We left it at that, even though I knew she believed it to be real. At this point, my sister was afraid to sleep in her room. My dad told her to just keep the window shut and she would be fine. Unfortunately, keeping the window closed was going to be tough. We were in the middle of a hot summer and with the window closed, it was almost 80 degrees in her room. No one could sleep in that kind of heat, so she had no choice but to keep the window open. She said that she heard the voice again after this a few times, but was scared to tell anyone, even me for some reason. Now what happens next will not only be the end of this bizarre saga, but will leave my sister and I scared to sleep at night for quite a while. A couple nights later I was once again woken up by my sister. This time she told me the voice was not only telling her to piece me free, but to save me.

[Co-narrator]

Please.

[Narrator]

I had enough so I went downstairs and looked out her window to see a shadow running towards the back of our house. A small shadow, a child sized shadow. I couldn't make out any features so I immediately ran to my parents room, woke up my dad and told him that my sister heard the kid again and that I saw someone running to.

[Co-narrator]

The back of our house up the driveway.

[Narrator]

My dad instantly jumped out of bed and put on his robe, told us to stay inside. He grabbed his weapon he kept in a safe next to his bed. He then ran to the back of the house where a sliding glass door.

[Co-narrator]

Leads to the deck.

[Narrator]

Me being the wannabe tough guy, I followed him. As we went outside, my dad began to search the area as he would.

[Co-narrator]

Do as a police officer.

[Narrator]

I stayed just outside the doors on the deck while he went around the garage and shed. All of a sudden I hear my dad yell stop. Loudly Then put your hands up where I can see them and don't move. My heart dropped into My stomach in pure fear.

[Co-narrator]

It was real.

[Narrator]

Someone was actually there. My dad then yelled for me to go inside and call the non emergency number to the police department, which I knew by heart, and to tell them that my dad had caught a prowler in our yard. I did as I was told and the dispatcher said they were sending someone right away. I informed my dad that someone was coming. As I did, he began to march the person from behind our shed up to our deck. It was dark and it looked just like the shadow of the person I had seen. I thought to myself, it must be a kid. Why would a kid be doing this? Why wouldn't they be at home in bed during the times this all happened? Well, it wasn't a kid.

[Co-narrator]

It was a short old lady, probably.

[Narrator]

In her 60s or 70s. My dad told me to go out front and wait for the police, then send them to the backyard. I stayed inside with my sister and my mom while everything was sorted out.

[Co-narrator]

Outside with the police. After a while they took the lady.

[Narrator]

Away and my dad came back inside and explained the entire situation. As it turns out, this older woman was the mother of a criminal my dad arrested some months prior.

[Co-narrator]

He had been charged with various child abuse charges.

[Narrator]

I won't get into the details, but it wasn't good. His mom believed him when he said he didn't do anything wrong. She told the police that her son was so mad that my dad was the one who arrested him and told her to go to our house and quote, unquote, haunt us. Haunt us really?

[Co-narrator]

Well, she did a good job. Why?

[Narrator]

She said piece me free then please save me. We'll never know, but that is just downright creepy. We never heard from her again. Back before the quarantine, I was on a mini road trip with a couple of friends and their girlfriends. I was single myself.

[Co-narrator]

So we filled up the five seater.

[Narrator]

Which was enough of an excuse as any to not pick up any hitchhikers or people in need of a ride. We had a horror encounter before with that exact thing and didn't feel like explaining that to someone whenever seeing them. Hopefully any hitchhiker would see the full car and get the point. Not that we won't call for help if they ask us, of course. So we're driving down a desert road. My group consisted of myself, a male in his 20s, Tony and Jane, which are fake names by the way, Bruce, Lyla and Lila's dog, a Lhasa Apso female named Doris. Lyla and Tony were the ones with the driver's licenses. And Lila was driving at the time around 8pm it wasn't dark out yet, but you could make out the beginning of the sunset as she said ooh look and began slowing down. Bruce and Lyla had only been together for a month or two at that point and he had yet to share the story about the hitchhiker last time with her, so she didn't know better than to pull over for a rough looking dirty man with a cardboard sign saying the name of a town an hour away. We began to protest too late as she had almost stopped entirely and rolled the window down an inch and kept the motor going. The hitchhiker walked up to the car and glared with the most intense crazy eyes. Nothing like the charming psycho of last time. He stared and made a huge grin.

[Co-narrator]

Asking for a ride.

[Narrator]

Lila told him the car is full but she can call him a ride if he needs one. She even put a hand down to her side about to hand him some money for fare. He didn't even listen to what she.

[Co-narrator]

Had to say as he walked a.

[Narrator]

Step to his side and stared into the car right next to my window. I am a walking stereotype, the most dude bro looking person you could find, but it didn't seem to do more than make him look me up and down a bit before tilting his head and staring at Tony and Jane. I can ride in the trunk, it's no problem, he said and without being given permission he walked around the car and grabbed the handle of the trunk. Doris woke up from all of this and the black tones window of the back of the car had him unable to see her. As he tugged the locked trunk, Doris set off this extremely loud high pitch cutting bark. It's hard to describe how loud Lhasa apsos can bark compared to dogs even three times their size. The sound splits and cuts your ears painfully and as Lyla is getting ready to drive off from this weirdo, he looked stunned as we drove away, waving his arms up in the air. Maybe he was on something, maybe just sick in the head or maybe a combination of both. But we drove off and everyone began to take it more easy. But just five minutes later we see a 247 gas station and pull over for gas and snacks. Lila traded places with Tony for driving and took her dog out of the.

[Co-narrator]

Trunk to walk it a little for a potty break.

[Narrator]

I think. Jane went inside the gas station with Tony while I stood outside chatting up with Bruce. When Jane finished inside she went around the corner for the bathroom as I went inside for some snacks for Myself, I didn't take long and when I got out, by pure coincidence, I looked down the road and I see the hitchhiker again. He is not holding the sign and he is walking in a fast pace. He's a blurry red dot down the road but there's no mistaking the brown jacket and bright red pants. I quickly tell Tony and Bruce as Tony goes to fetch Jane to look.

[Co-narrator]

Around for Lila who have walked the.

[Narrator]

Dog out to a field. I don't know why we all went into such a panic. Bruce began shouting for Lila who said Doris hasn't gone number two yet and got almost loud with her telling her we had to leave now. She looked at him a bit puzzled, began walking and that's when Doris stops dead in her tracks to go to the bathroom. Tony came around the corner with Jane and began loading in the snacks as Bruce and myself stood there waiting for Lila watching the hitchhiker come closer. He's no more than 400 yards away and he must have recognized us as he began shouting wait there, hold on to us. Doris finally finished and Lila's speed walked over. She put Doris in the travel crate in the back and got in the car. The hitchhiker was just over 40 yards away from speed walking over to us when Tony drove out of the gas station. That is enough for one day. Jane said as she laid her head to Tony's side. He chuckled and nodded in agreement asking if we would be okay with going to a motel. A city earlier than planned. The gas station employee had recommended a nice place without cockroaches and shady staff two towns over, one town further than the goal of the hitchhiker. We all agree that that's a nice idea and two hours later around 10:20pm we drive into the nicest looking motel parking lot I've ever seen. It had a concrete fountain surrounded by steel pillars to protect it from cars set up in the center. The entire motel was U shaped with mint panels outside and dark brown roofs. You park along the inside or outside and the reception would be at the bottom, short end in the middle. An overweight bald man sat there smiling sweetly at me. I couldn't tell if he was just happy to have a customer or maybe a bit into me, but I played into it, leaning in, giving him a smile as I booked us a double room. Basically he had a wall taken down with the pillar supporting it and making two small rooms, a bigger one. He gave me 20% off as well and that's when I asked if he was okay with a dog staying with us. I waved Lila over and picked up Doris, saying she would be scared sleeping alone in the car. He awed at her and pointed down between his legs. We were all a bit taken and until a similar dog to Doris jumped up in his lap. He laughed and said that it would be fine as long as we do a pet deposit of $50 and that we would get it back when he checks the room when we leave. We all got situated and made our beds, checked for creep cams and turned on the TV for a rerun of Chuck. We all sat on the two beds on the same side, snacking away talking of work and stuff. As Jane recommended, I give one of her friends a call. She had said that I was cute and showed me very pretty pictures of her. We had all pretty much forgotten about the hitchhiker at this point and went to bed around 2am At 3am I wake up to Doris wet nose poking me in the ear. I had the bed by the window and she made a smile as I woke up. All the others were dead asleep and I thought maybe she needed a walk. My own dogs were at a sitter and I was a good friend of Doris and I really liked Doris so I put her collar on and walked up and down the grass along the windows before going back inside. But the entire time I felt like something was staring at us. Doris then makes an odd stance and I see that the motel clerk's dog is walking around freely and looking very happily at Doris. However, I didn't have Lila's permit or information about letting her say hello to other dogs, so I just went back inside. Once inside I heard scratching at the door, first very soft, then more intense.

[Co-narrator]

I walked up to the door and.

[Narrator]

Shushed the dog outside and back to bed. Then I heard it scratch and bark. Not the loudest barks but loud enough. I pull the curtains aside and I don't see a dog. There's nothing there so I go back to bed but as soon as I do it starts up again. I look over and the other four.

[Co-narrator]

Are fast asleep as I sit up.

[Narrator]

In bed and put a shirt on, about to go open the door when Doris stops me indirectly by standing in front of me and blocking the door. She stood in the guarding stance and looked up at me. For those who don't know, lasses are a smaller breed with ever growing long hair if not cut short like Doris's, they are very strong and muscular for their size. However, I looked at her and it.

[Co-narrator]

Was like if she could speak with.

[Narrator]

Words, looking at me as if she said don't open the door. She wasn't barking either, which was kind of odd. The scratching picked back up and I went to the window faster this time, swiping the curtain off and just as I do, something moved out of sight. Now I know it's not a dog, it's a person. A person wearing bright red pants. I immediately remember the hitchhiker and wonder how he knew where we were going. I guess the gas station employee must have told him or something about the suggestions he gave us. I considered waking up the others or something but settled on grabbing the motel phone. Even though the double room had all beds on one side and the couch and dining set up on the other side, both phones were still in so I sat myself down on the couch and called the reception. Nobody picked up, but then again it's about 4am and I wasn't expecting it either. So I google the motel and look for the owner's name to see if I can call him directly. I found his number and he picked up confused and a bit annoyed until I told him who called. I explained the situation from start to finish and he told me that a homeless person had tried to get a free room for the night. He had obviously declined him and told him to leave but the guy kept shifting his eyes around the cars like a paranoid sicko until he finally left the area. He had then double checked all rooms were locked and went to the back office. He told me he was going to get his big dog and scare him off with a weapon if he had to and just asked me to keep an eye out. I walked up to the window where the door for the further room had been before and opened the curtain a bit to see him stand there waiting outside the door he knew of. He didn't realize the double room feature and thought that he was sneaking like a pro on us. Lila and Bruce woke up at that point and asked what was going on but as I hushed them I told them not to move and stay in bed and they kind of laid down. Bruce began texting me asking what's up as I informed him. A little while later I'm on the phone with the owner again telling him I can see the guy. He hung up and said that he was going to get his dog. As I waited he started barking again but this time I could see his silhouette moving with the sounds as he scruffed out barks before I heard the pleasing sound of the owner screaming leave before I put you down. The owner was walking from the reception area looking angry with a smaller dog on his side walking freely and what looked like a 160 pound American Akita or something. The dog was massive and looked angry and if the overweight owner wasn't anchoring it to slow down I think it would have bolted off and ripped the hitchhiker apart or something. The hitchhiker ran off scared and the owner returned to the reception area, dropping the big dog off before coming down to talk to me. Bruce and Lila Doris greeted the other small dog for a moment and we discussed again how we met him and declined him a ride. The owner let out a well at least no one's hurt and smiled a smile that went away slowly as he looked down at the door, squinting a bit as he let out a what.

[Co-narrator]

The heck and pointed.

[Narrator]

It turned out the scratching at the door had been scratching with a knife or some other sharp object. The door's lower hinge was stabbed and scratched.

[Co-narrator]

Some wood chips lay on the ground.

[Narrator]

And it makes me wonder what could have happened if I had opened the door while he was pretending to be a dog.

[Co-narrator]

We let Jane and Tony sleep while going out to the reception area and.

[Narrator]

Having some cold sodas and beers with the owner to keep watch in case the hitchhiker came back. He told us some stories about weird motel guests, deaths and strange things happening.

[Co-narrator]

In the motel, like the one time he claims a day was missing one week. The rest of the early morning was lovely and we caught up Tony and Jane around 9am they didn't understand how they slept through the whole deal and.

[Narrator]

Jane got seriously creeped out compared to.

[Co-narrator]

Tony who brushed it off as not as bad as last time. We got in the car around 10am and I said goodbye to the owner after adding him on Facebook and being made clear that we were very welcome back anytime. We all gave him a five star review. As we got in the car and drove around a corner to continue on, I looked into the tumbleweeds on the roadside and saw the red pants, brown.

[Narrator]

Jacket and a pair of shoes dumped.

[Co-narrator]

On the ground before them.

[Narrator]

I didn't see or hear him, but.

[Co-narrator]

I could not shake the feeling that.

[Narrator]

He was watching somewhere.

[Co-narrator]

We got on the road and drove over five hours before stopping again and by then we all stopped worrying. The rest of the trip was uneventful and on the way back we saw that just one shoe and parts of the jacket remained. We stayed at the motel again and nothing happened, but the motel owner informed us it's not entirely unheard of for people to be going out in the desert and not coming back. Whether he went out and died, stole.

[Narrator]

New clothes or just hitchhiked somewhere naked.

[Co-narrator]

I still to this day am just so very happy that I did not open the door when I thought that it was a dog. There have been three instances in my life where I have felt like I was going to be abducted. I am a woman and I am currently 23 years old. I am also on the petite side, standing at a whopping 5:3 and weighing around 115 pounds. Because of this I typically wear heels or platform boots so that I can appear taller than I actually am. This story happened this spring while at a second hand storm store. I was looking to find a good side table styled cabinet and my boyfriend came with me because I have already been nearly abducted twice in my life and I suffer from CPTSD in part because of that. So I am not really able to go out in public by myself unless I am with someone, going to class or going to work. Lucky for me, my boyfriend is six three, lean but muscular, has a very deep intimidating voice and has absolutely no issues with taking physical action if I needed that kind of defense. So it's nice basically having my own caring personal bodyguard for context the area I live in is bad for trafficking. I live in northern Wisconsin but close to Minneapolis. The I94 runs basically straight to Minneapolis from the Dells. I grew up near that area and I know full well that the Dells has bad trafficking issues too because of the high levels of tourism in the area. Plus Baraboo, the next town over from the Dells still has running cargo trains that are rumored to contribute to trafficking, but that's not entirely relevant. The town I currently live in is split in half by the same interstate and there's a Walmart right by the exit, also infamous for trafficking. There have been many abductions of women in our town in various locations all over and it isn't a secret to anybody that it is an issue for the area. Now moving on, my boyfriend and I go to the next town over to look for a cabinet styled side table because the second hand shops in our town don't sell furniture. We get inside and look around for a little bit before my boyfriend says that he needs to go to the bathroom. I keep browsing nearby the bathrooms in a display area for desks, dressers, etc. And I find this really neat vintage vanity with hidden organizers in the top of the desk and I start looking at it and checking out its little features. While doing so I feel eyes on me. So I look around to see if I'm being watched by someone. Sure enough, in the row of desks behind me there is a middle aged man looking at me with no facial expressions. I am dressed in a skirt and knee socks and this is one of my go to looks. So glaring at creepy men eyeing me up isn't something new to me. But since I am alone at the moment and don't want to upset the guy, I give him the cliche midwestern half smile and move up the row away from him but towards the corner of the section. All of a sudden this guy practically runs to the row I'm in so I take a right and head up towards where he was standing when I spotted him. Initially he picks up pace and I am now half running trying to get away from him and after a small chase around furniture we end up in a situation where I am standing on one side of the row of desks and he is standing in front of me on the other side waiting to see which way I go at a standstill at this moment I try looking to my left towards the other furniture.

[Narrator]

And bathrooms to see if anyone is.

[Co-narrator]

Around to witness this and thank Gaia. My boyfriend is out of the bathroom already walking towards us with very squared up posture. He looks absolutely livid and his eyes are locked solidly onto this creep that was chasing me around furniture just a second ago. My boyfriend reaches my side and puts his arm around my shoulder protectively and he and this creep make eye contact. They honestly both looked equally pissed off. The guy doesn't say anything, just walks away, but every few minutes or so we see him looking at us a few aisles away wherever we are in the store and I am extremely anxious at this point and just want to leave. But my boyfriend is trying his best to reassure me and calm me down in ways he best knows how with little avail. He eventually distracts me from the guy by finding a perfect side table for what I was looking for. Dark cherry wood glass door shelves. Absolutely beautiful and only $30, not to mention a student discount. We pick it up and head to checkout and the entire time I am paranoid and looking around to see if this guy is near us. He is currently being checked out at the register and we are being separated by two other customers. My anxiety spikes again but I try not to let it show. When he is done he walks through the first set of doors to exit but is still in the first entrance of the store just standing there. He looks at me and we make eye contact a few times while I am in line and then checking out. I make it a point to stand on the right side of my boyfriend carrying my new find out and holding eye contact with the creep the whole time we exit and get into the car. He doesn't say or do anything. He didn't follow us, he just stared at me and we get into the car safely. Although I am still paranoid and trying to get the side table in the car and secured as fast as possible, which is just making me fumble even more. But regardless, we left safe and made it home okay. I can't say for certain that this man was trying to abduct me, let alone if he was working with traffickers, but I highly doubt he was chasing and stalking me around the store with pure intentions. I just want to start off and say that before this incident I have always been a skeptic of the paranormal. Growing up, my mom and dad would tell me stories that they encountered with the paranormal in their early years, so I always had an open mind to the possibility. But since I personally haven't encountered anything, I have always thought if I didn't see it then there might have been a logical explanation to their experience. So who knows if it's actually true. Moving on to the incident that made me a believer. This all happened back in the early fall of 2011. Me, my son and his mother lived in a two bedroom second floor apartment on the east side of Cincinnati, Ohio. My son at the time was a little over two years old and was starting to say words and communicate in ways typical kids his age would say or do with body language and gestures. I say that because this ties in with the story later on. On this particular afternoon, his mother was over at her mother's house for the past two days and was staying one more night there to help her cope with the loss of a relative that recently passed. So me and my son, who I will call Kevin to protect his identity, had the place to ourselves for the night. Around 5pm that early evening I I invited my longtime buddy who I'll call Tony, who I've known since fifth grade and also lived downstairs in the same apartment building, over to my place to watch a baseball game. I also called my dad over to my place to partake in the makeshift guys night I set up during the game. Everything is going well. We ordered pizza and soda and we were having a good time during all of that. For reasons I can't remember, my dad started retelling me and my buddy his paranormal experiences that he told to us as kids. Even in our mid-20s, we still felt like nine year old boys hearing those ghost stories for the first time. Regardless of my skepticism, my dad is an amazing storyteller so hearing them again is never a drag. With that said, it's approaching 10pm at this point and the baseball game was over so my dad headed out to make it back home at a decent hour. Tony stuck around a few more minutes to smoke a cigarette with me on my balcony and then head back down to his place. So before bed I decide to clean up some of the pizza boxes and soda cans laying around the living room while my son was rolling his toy cars on the laminate floor in the kitchen to give you a quick layout of the apartment to get a better visual as this story continues to the creepy stuff as soon as you walk in the door of my second floor apartment, the opening to the kitchen is right in front of you. To the right is the small closet and to the left is the living and dining room. If you were to be standing in between the living room and dining room, straight ahead opposite the wall where the front door is, there's the opening to the hallway going left and right to each bedroom and straight ahead is the bathroom. So let's get to where things get spooky. Remember me saying my son was just starting to communicate with words and gestures. I am in the living room still cleaning and in the midst of my son joyfully playing with his toy cars, I hear him abruptly stop it Johnny. And then immediately began to cry. I froze. We didn't know a Johnny so how does he know this name? I think to myself. I I then head into the kitchen to see my son on the floor holding his hand in tears. I get down to examine it but see no injuries, no red marks, no blood, etc. I quickly calm him down and asked him what happened. It was at this point he turns his body and points at the kitchen wall and says in mumbled crying two year old broken English Johnny in the hole in the wall, every hair on my body stood up met with a shiver down my spine. To give you an idea of how terrifying it was seeing my young child point towards a wall and say a random man's name. Kids at that age don't fully grasp the concept of lying or playing a prank. If he is pointing at something and calling it by name, that means he had learned it and is doing his best to communicate with me about what he'd experience. It was in that moment I knew I had to get out of there, so I picked him up and grabbed My keys, wallet, phone and phone charger and was heading to my dad's for the night. He lived 10 minutes up the road. But then it hit me. I would need the mattress from his car bed. See, behind that wall my son pointed at was his bedroom. I stared at the door handle for a moment, debating whether or not to just leave, but knew if I was going to, that I at least need his mattress. With a swift jog into the bedroom, I pulled that bed up with one hand and got out of there asap. I leave, calling my dad and waking him up, telling him that I was heading there for the night and that I would explain it all to him when I got there. He said he would leave his door open and to just come on in when I get there. Now, this story isn't over yet. It gets even weirder. As I was driving to my dad's, I decided to call my buddy Tony to tell him what happened. Immediately upon him learning that I bolted out of the apartment in a manner that I did, he laughed. I can't blame him. I'd probably laugh at me too if I heard he ran out with a toddler in one hand and mattress in the other at 10:30 at night. But I wasn't him. My son saw an entity in our apartment and I was seriously considering never going back. However, in the middle of his laughter, he remembered something. He stops and says, hey, wasn't Johnny the name of Fran's husbands that used to live there? Let's rewind to a few months back. I was just moving into the apartment, unloading things from my pickup truck, and I noticed a sweet little old lady walking her dogs out in the courtyard in front of the apartment complex. As I was walking by her, I introduced myself and told her I was moving into the building. She introduced herself as Francis, but went by Fran, by people who knew her. We exchanged pleasantries as I walked into the building. She followed because her two little pups finished their business and we all started walking upstairs stairs to the second floor to our apartments. My apartment was on the corner of the building, so I went left when I got up there and Fran went straight to her apartment. But as I was walking to mine, her little dogs followed me. I said, wow, I must have made a great first impression. But Fran replied, no, honey. I actually used to live in that apartment with my husband for 15. But when he died six months ago, I couldn't live there anymore and had to move. I sat there, not knowing what to really say besides, oh, I'm so sorry for Your loss. Fran replies with a slight frown on her face. It's not your fault. When it's our time, it's our time. And then immediately follows up with and just to let you know, he didn't die in that apartment. It was at the hospital. I immediately reply with I wasn't thinking that, but thanks for at least letting me know. But in the back of my head I was wondering that and glad she informed me. Fast forward back to the night of the incident. My buddy Tony tells me I probably need to talk to Fran about what happened and to maybe see if she had a picture of him and to see if my son could point him out. Just to see if that's what really happened. I tell him I'm not sure how I feel about bringing this up to her, not trying to stir her emotions not even a year after her husband's death. We hang up and I arrived at my dad's. I go in and explain everything to him. He understands and then during the night convinces me that I need to talk to Fran as soon as I could to make sure that Kevin saw her husband in the apartment instead of something possibly sinister. So the next day I decided to do it. I decided to bring this up to Fran and not to just clear up if my son saw the ghost of her deceased husband in my apartment. But if it were him, maybe Fran could get some comfort in knowing that her husband was still there for her. I pull up and who do I see outside walking her dogs? You guessed it, Fran. I approach her saying if she has a few minutes, I would like to talk to her in private about something important. Confused, she politely invites me up to her place to talk. We go in and sit down on our couch. I start off with informing her that I wasn't there to tell her any BS considering how the last year has gone for her. She looks at me, still confused, so I tell her that I'll just get right to it. I tell her that I think my son saw her husband in my apartment and told her to just give me a few minutes to explain why I thought that I told her the story and how I thought if this wasn't her husband, that I would like to at least make sure that it was nothing sinister before I bring my kid back in there. She understood but seemed skeptical. I can't blame her. I would be too. Hearing all of that, I then asked Fran if she had a picture of Johnny, perhaps one with him with multiple other men in it, so that if my son points him out that it would Prove even more that he did see him. She obliged and brought out an old photo album from her bedroom. She opens it and flicks a few pages over and then shows us a photo of three men. In the photo, it looked like three guys at a cookout enjoying each other's company around the grill. I then asked Kevin if he remembers Johnny that he saw last night. He looked at me and nodded his head yes. I look over at the photo and ask my son to point Johnny out to us.

[Narrator]

He walks right up to it and.

[Co-narrator]

Heavens to Betsy, he without hesitation points right at Johnny. Fran immediately broke into tears and I was right behind her. I reached over and hugged her as we both cried. She said in a sobbing voice that almost a whole year has passed and that she was feeling alone. Her husband for 27 years died and.

[Narrator]

She had really nobody.

[Co-narrator]

And to know that he was still here looking after her took away some of that loneliness. After wiping away the tears, I told her that anytime she wanted to come in there and talk to him alone to just let me know. She said that she would and I told her that I was going to hold her to that. She then told me what probably happened was when my son was playing in the kitchen, that he might have reached.

[Narrator]

Into the drawer where we kept certain.

[Co-narrator]

Steak knives and that Johnny possibly closed the drawer on his fingers and was making sure he didn't get a hold of those knives. Whatever the reason, I know that nothing odd ever happened to us in that apartment before that night. I think when my dad was over telling those paranormal stories. Perhaps Johnny felt that this was the best time for him to communicate. I was telling Fran that it's time for me to leave and asked if she wanted to come with me to maybe talk to him. She politely declined and said that she needed to let all of this soak.

[Narrator]

In before she tried to do anything like that.

[Co-narrator]

I understood and told her to never hesitate to ask me to talk to him. When she was ready. She said she would and I hugged her and left. Me and my son headed back over to the apartment. I walk in realizing I left the door unlocked all night due to me running out of there the previous night. I set my keys down and began to talk out loud, saying hey, Johnny, it's me. Me, the guy that ran out of here last night because he's too scared of ghosts. I just want to let you know that Fran is three doors that way and that she would love to have you go over there and keep her company instead of me who scares too easy. Anyway, thanks for protecting my kid from the knives. Please don't try to communicate with me, though I obviously showed signs last night that I cannot handle it. Anyway, thanks. And again, Fran is three doors that way, buddy. After that, I never felt creeped out in that apartment. Nothing ever happened. And my kid never saw Johnny there again. Fran never came to me to talk to Johnny. And when we would talk after that, the topic never came up. Seven months later, we moved out. I walked up to Fran's door and hugged her goodbye. I handed her the keys and said if he wanted to go over there that it's all hers to do so until they rent the place to a new tenant. She took the keys and hugged me with a tear in her eyes. We said goodbye and that was it. I don't know if she ever went back in that apartment to talk to him or not. However, I do know my son. Seeing him that night and pointing him out in a picture to her must have made her feel not alone. That her husband was still here with her. And that, to this day, always brings a smile to my face whenever I think about the incident that made me a believer in the paranormal.

[Narrator]

It's.