Scary Stories For A Rainy Night – Ep. 252 – The Cornfield

Podcast: Scary Stories and Rain
Host: Being Scared (Dane)
Date: October 8, 2025

Overview

In this episode, Dane presents a haunting curation of true, unsettling experiences shared by listeners, perfect for a stormy night. Blending calm narration with the soothing patter of rain, these stories range from disturbing encounters with strangers and eerie sleep paralysis to unexplained supernatural happenings. Each account is told in first person, deeply personal and immersive, exploring the way ordinary life can take a terrifying turn.

Key Stories and Discussion Points

1. The Staring Customer (00:56 – 08:29)

• Summary:
  A grocery store worker describes her escalating fear of a homeless regular she nicknames “Squinty.” Initially odd but harmless, his quiet, intense staring and odd comments become increasingly menacing. The tension peaks when he appears after hours and waits for her in the parking lot.
• Details and Insights:
  • The customer rarely speaks, but when he does it’s erratic—ranting about drugs or the Antichrist.
  • Behavior intensifies after a report is filed—he starts lurking near her after closing.
  • The support of her manager provides some relief, but his unpredictable presence continues to unsettle.
  • Direct sense of dread: “Maybe I’m just being paranoid, but every time he enters the store my stomach drops.” (08:17)

Memorable Quote:
“He just stands still and stares at us, specifically the employees. Sometimes he’ll just stand in front of the checkout lines, not holding anything, not wanting to check out. He just stands still and stares at us. It’s starting to ramp up and I am genuinely afraid of him.” (02:47)

2. The Short Man Under the Streetlight (08:30 – 14:27)

• Summary:
  Two friends encounter an unnervingly disproportionate figure late at night after visiting an aunt’s house. After being startled by his unnatural, jerky movements, the friends run as he charges at them, but when they look back, he’s mysteriously vanished.
• Atmosphere & Notable Details:
  • The street is unusually silent, amplifying their unease.
  • The man is described as “a cross between a man and a child… about 4ft tall with a really muscular chest and arms, scrawny pimples, and Hansel legs.”
  • His approach switches from erratic swaying to sudden speed.
  • The moment captures both visceral fear and the unreality of the encounter.

Memorable Quote:
“I remember hearing the pounding of his feet behind us when I flung myself into the driver’s seat, starting the ignition and locking all the doors. I was so scared I couldn’t get myself to start driving away because my hands were shaking so badly...” (13:17)

3. The Bed Guest – Sleep Paralysis or Something Else? (14:28 – 20:10)

• Summary:
  A recurring sufferer of sleep paralysis is confronted with a new, disturbingly tangible nighttime visitor who sits on her bed, pulls at her duvet, and terrifies her with unexplained presence. The experience blurs the line between dream and reality as physical evidence seems to remain.
• Key Points:
  • Physical sensations: the mattress sinks, sheets rustle, the presence touches her back.
  • Terror escalates as her blanket is yanked away by an invisible force and she resists, convinced “if I let the thing pull my duvet away and expose myself, I’d be a goner.” (18:49)
  • The episode ends abruptly at dawn with no physical traces, but the latent fear lingers.

Notable Reflection:
“Perhaps my eyes were really open and looking at my room in reality, but my exhausted brain somehow slipped into that realm between dreamland and consciousness.” (19:50)

4. The Haunted Twins’ House (20:11 – 28:09)

• Summary:
  A woman recalls two chilling overnight stays at her aunt’s reportedly haunted house—a property with a tragic history involving twin sisters and unexplained deaths. Each stay is marked by unexplained disturbances: a violently rattling closet door and the repeated sound of footsteps stopping outside her room at 3 a.m.
• Details:
  • The home was originally two conjoined houses, steeped in local grim legend.
  • First visit: noisy, desperate turning of the closet doorknob.
  • Second visit: persistent, rhythmic footsteps of “heeled shoes” ending outside her door, prompting her to barricade herself.
  • The culmination is unyielding fear; she vows never to sleep there again.

Memorable Moment:
“The closet doorknob started frantically rotating as if someone was trying to get out… to this day, I am happy nothing ever did.” (22:40)

5. The Shadow Man and the “Floating Dream” (28:10 – 36:30)

• Summary:
  A teen experiences a vivid out-of-body event during a sleepover at a friend’s trailer. From above, she witnesses a faceless, shadowy man enter through the patio door and silently hover over her sleeping body, casting dread and paralysis for hours.
• Details:
  • The entity is described as a black mass, void of light, its entry punctuated by jerky, impossible movements.
  • The encounter’s impact is compounded when her friend reveals a similar dream and mutual acquaintance shares the same vision of a “man who peered out of her closet.”
  • The narrator concludes: “The creature was not just a physical energy; it was full of dread and malice, and it was looming off of it as it stood near me.” (35:16)

6. The Skid Row and Hotel Cecil Incident (36:31 – 46:55)

• Summary:
  A listener recounts a harrowing trip to Los Angeles with friends and family, navigating food allergies, musical overload, and a near-miss in the city’s infamous Skid Row, only to experience a final terror closer to home: a group of people, eerily dressed in white, crowds and chases their car late at night.
• Details & Timestamps:
  • (40:35) - They realize, mid-excursion, their burger stop is in Skid Row.
  • (41:51) - The group spots the "Cecil Hotel" and feels palpable unease.
  • (45:12) - Driving home on rural roads, narrator sees “at least 15 people… all wearing white,” gathered and then following the car, their intentions unknown.
• Reflection:
  “I could hear it through the window and over my music. And they started sprinting towards me, trying to get my attention and following along… Some were dressed similarly to KKK members… perhaps something more sinister.” (45:43)

7. The Backyard Intruder, Salem, Oregon (46:56 – 52:35)

• Summary:
  A teenager’s insomnia places her at the center of a late-night scare when a homeless person is discovered lurking in her backyard. Quick action from her mother and the police likely prevents a more frightening intrusion.
• Notable Details:
  • The layout of the house allows easy backyard access, “the perfect view of our quarter acre backyard from my room.”
  • The protagonist’s mother is first alerted by the sound of a glass recycling bin being kicked.
  • “[The officer] offered to send someone over and survey the house until sunrise. So, just to clarify, yeah. Someone who wasn’t supposed to be here was here. And not only that, but if they had gone one or two more steps forward, there’s no doubt they would have seen me and I would have been none the wiser.” (51:33)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On escalating fear at the workplace:
  “He isn’t the most sensitive person… but even he was telling me, ‘He never comes in this late.’” (07:37)
• On the reality of strange events:
  “I know in the scheme of things these aren’t big deals, but by the time they all added up… it drove me up the wall.” (43:39)
• On protecting oneself:
  “Yeah, someone who wasn’t supposed to be here was here. And not only that, but if they had gone one or two more steps forward, there’s no doubt they would have seen me and I would have been none the wiser.” (51:38)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Story 1: The Staring Customer: 00:56 – 08:29
• Story 2: The Short Man: 08:30 – 14:27
• Story 3: Sleep Paralysis Visitor: 14:28 – 20:10
• Story 4: Haunted Twins’ House: 20:11 – 28:09
• Story 5: The Shadow Man: 28:10 – 36:30
• Story 6: Skid Row & The White Figures: 36:31 – 46:55
• Story 7: The Backyard Intruder: 46:56 – 52:35

Tone and Atmosphere

Dane’s narration maintains a calm, steady delivery, juxtaposing the rain’s gentle ambiance with the underlying tension of each account. The episode’s overall mood is quietly unsettling, emphasizing the often ambiguous border between the possible and the supernatural.

Conclusion

This episode of “Scary Stories and Rain” offers listeners a chilling batch of real-life horror tales—each uniquely unsettling yet eerily plausible, made all the more immersive by the sound of rain and Dane’s measured voice. The stories collectively reflect the unsettling reality that the unknown—and sometimes the truly frightening—can be much closer than we realize.