Scary Stories and Rain – Ep. 255: Scary Stories For A Rainy Night – “Abandoned Tents”

Host: Being Scared (Dane)
Release Date: October 11, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode of “Scary Stories and Rain” features a collection of true, unsettling accounts narrated calmly and accompanied by the gentle, immersive sound of rain. The stories focus on moments of fear, danger, and the uncanny, with themes ranging from home invasions and unsolved murders, to surreal encounters and brushes with death. The host curates a mood designed for nighttime listening—inviting you to drift off in a thunderstorm’s lull while contemplating some of humanity’s darker experiences.

Key Stories & Insights

1. The El Paso Apartment Intruder (02:40–06:40)

• Summary:
  An 8-year-old is left home alone while her mom works a graveyard shift. Ignoring bedtime rules, she stays up reading, only to wake to an eerie sense that something is amiss. On investigation, she finds the front door unlocked, someone twisting the lock from the outside, and hears a raspy male voice laughing and speaking unintelligibly. After a harrowing confrontation—her locking the door as the intruder tries to get in, followed by the sound of tapping and laughter at her window—her terrified call brings her mother home. They subsequently move to a safer upstairs apartment.

• Notable Quote:

“My heart drops when I start to hear laughter... the laughter turns into unintelligible words and although I can't make out what they're saying, I know it's a man. He had a deep voice and it sounded really raspy.” (04:16, Storyteller)

2. The Unsolved Murder of Beryl Atherton (06:51–14:09)

• Summary:
  Set during the Thanksgiving weekend of 1950 in Marblehead, Massachusetts, this story centers on the grisly and unsolved murder of Beryl Atherton, a reclusive schoolteacher. After a historic snowstorm, her milkman discovers her dead in her kitchen, her body nearly decapitated and her loyal dog Esky injured while defending her. The murder scene is peculiarly clean, devoid of clues or forced entry, inspiring wild rumors around her small town as the case goes cold.

• Notable Quotes:

“Ms. Atherton was lying on the floor, face up in a pool of her own clotted blood, with Esky lying near her body, mewling in a considerable amount of pain.” (08:55, Storyteller)
“Not only had he cut her neck open horizontally, but had also inflicted a dreadful vertical wound from her ribs to her chin... essentially stabbing a cross into her neck.” (10:03, Storyteller)

• Memorable Moment:
  The storyteller's description of the snowstorm's hush masking such brutality, and the dog Esky’s injuries, amplifies the loneliness and horror.

3. Theme Park Disaster – The Big Thunder Mountain Incident (15:37–21:38)

• Summary:
  A former military brat recounts a harrowing visit to Disneyland with his mother, intended to distract him from his father's deployment in Iraq. While on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the train derails inside a dark tunnel. Amid confusion, screams, and the sight of blood, the storyteller realizes the gravity of the accident, learning later that one passenger died and several were injured. The traumatic event leaves the speaker unable to visit theme parks again.

• Notable Quote:

“It’s horrendously tragic that someone should lose their life when all they wanted to do was go to Disneyland and have fun on a few roller coasters.” (20:48, Storyteller)

4. Witnessing a Suicide at a Train Crossing (21:38–28:05)

• Summary:
  A mundane trip to a neighborhood store turns into a traumatic experience as the speaker observes a disturbed woman arguing with a bus stop sign, locking eyes, and then running across traffic. After the speaker gives her a cigarette, she calmly waits for a train, then steps in front of it as it passes at high speed. Both the narrator and the store owner are deeply shocked, with the story lingering as a haunting memory and sparking a plea for awareness about mental health.

• Notable Quote:

“She just simply stepped right in front of it, like it wasn’t a speeding train, but a fluffy cloud.” (27:33, Storyteller)

• Memorable Moment:
  The sense of surreal detachment—the woman’s calm, the aftermath, and the storyteller’s reflection:

“I gave her her last cigarette.” (28:01, Storyteller)

5. The Mark of the “Easter Bunny” (28:06–32:03)

• Summary:
  A childhood memory turns sinister when the speaker, excited for the Easter Bunny during a family sleepover, hears footsteps and feels a pointy fingernail trace an 'X' into the back of their neck in the dark. Frozen in fear, the child eventually falls asleep, believing this was no holiday visitor.

• Notable Quote:

“It felt like hours that I could just hear the heavy breathing above me, piercing through the silence of the room until suddenly a long and pointy fingernail touched the back of my neck...” (30:50, Storyteller)

6. Liminal Spaces and The Echoing House (32:31–45:51)

• Summary:
  A former deputy sheriff describes his fascination with “liminal spaces”—places that feel transitional, familiar yet eerily empty. He recounts a haunting work incident involving the search for an absconding parolee, leading to a surreal house in Detroit inhabited by a disturbing, gray-skinned woman. As they search, the laws of space and time seem to warp: hallways loop, the upstairs is inaccessible then transforms into an attic, and the woman crawls and shouts a single name. Only after leaving do the speaker and his partner realize more time has passed than thought. The experience launches his obsession with the “back rooms” and liminal spaces eternally.

• Notable Quotes:

“I’m addicted to liminal spaces... I seek what you are too afraid to find. I have been in the back rooms and survived.” (33:13, Storyteller)
“Every time I left a room, I swear I was in a part of the house I had not just been in. Like I entered a dimensional gap or something.” (41:51, Storyteller)
“We have not returned to this house. We didn't tell anyone the true story of what had happened.” (44:20, Storyteller)

• Memorable Moment:
  The woman’s crawling, repetition of the name “Chamile,” and the sensation of non-Euclidean space (doors opening onto the outdoors, rooms shuffling) elevate the story into the realm of cosmic horror.

Notable Quotes

• “Fear is what drives me. Fear keeps you alive.” (33:41, Storyteller)
• “It felt like we were there for well over an hour or two. I don't know what was more unsettling... Her quietly showing up right behind me when I had not heard her move. Or the fact that she was standing at the door, just staring at us as we left.” (44:05, Storyteller)

Episode Flow & Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment/Story | Highlights | |-------------|-----------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------| | 02:40–06:40 | El Paso Apartment Intruder | Terrifying encounter during childhood | | 06:51–14:09 | The Murder of Beryl Atherton | True crime, cold case, snowy New England | | 15:37–21:38 | Disneyland Railroad Accident | Survivor’s trauma, disaster at theme park | | 21:38–28:05 | The Train Crossing Suicide | Suicide witnessed, shocking aftermath | | 28:06–32:03 | Childhood “Easter Bunny” Encounter | Home invasion or supernatural? | | 32:31–45:51 | Liminal Spaces and The Back Rooms | Surreal police search, cosmic horror |

Style & Tone

• The narration is calm, measured, and engaging—striking a balance between soothing bedtime story and unnerving horror.
• The stories are delivered with empathy for victims and survivors, occasionally philosophical about fear and memory.
• Rain ambiance throughout forms a cozy but uncanny atmosphere.

Final Thoughts

This episode stands out for its rich blend of personal trauma, unsolved mysteries, brushes with the supernatural, and the unexplainable. The host's curation and the subdued yet immersive rain create a paradoxically calming space for the chilling content — perfect for introspective late-night listening.

If you or someone you know struggles with mental health or addiction, the podcast echoes: don’t go it alone. Seek help.