Scary Stories For A Rainy Night – Ep. 264: Country Lost

Host: Being Scared (Dane)
Air Date: October 20, 2025
Podcast: Scary Stories and Rain
Theme: Unsettling true accounts and mysterious disappearances, infused with atmospheric rain ambience—perfect for sleepless nights, uneasy dreams, or anyone captivated by dark true tales.

Episode Overview

This episode of Scary Stories and Rain (Ep. 264: “Country Lost”) features a collection of unsettling, true stories centered around brushes with the paranormal, close calls with evil, and dark mysteries—some rooted in history, some in personal experience. Each story explores the razor-thin boundaries between safety and danger, haunting the listener with the idea that being in the wrong place at the wrong time can change—or end—lives forever.

Dane’s calm, evocative narration blends chilling tales with the soothing sound of rain, making for an episode that’s as meditative as it is terrifying. The episode includes:

• Personal experiences with sleep paralysis and “shadow people”
• Near-encounters with infamous serial killers
• Encounters with ominous presences in remote settings
• True crime: unsolved disappearances and mysteries
• Supernatural happenings in cemeteries and haunted properties
• Tales of last-minute escapes and haunted consciences

Key Stories & Discussion Points

1. Sleep Paralysis and the Shadow Man

[02:37–07:45]

• Personal Account: Dane describes recurring sleep paralysis episodes in childhood and his 20s, with increasing fear and intensity.
• The Shadow Figure: He details multiple encounters with a “shadow man”—a featureless, dreadful apparition fixed on him during these events. Despite initial skepticism of the paranormal, the sensations and perceived happenings left a lifelong impression.
  • “I couldn’t see its eyes or any other features, but I felt its gaze fixed on me.” (05:00, Dane)
  • The final episode escalates—he feels the being kneeling on his chest, nearly face-to-face. Through sheer will, he breaks the paralysis, experiencing an out-of-body vertigo before “snapping back” into himself.
  • Afterward, a girlfriend unrelated to his experiences has her own terrifying shadow beast encounter in the same bedroom.
• Reflection: Dane is “open to the possibility” that it was supernatural, but admits: “With something like this, I just have to say, I don’t know what really happened.” (07:01)

2. Ed Kemper’s Near-Victim: Alexandra’s Story

[07:45–11:42]

• Setting: 1970s, California.
• Close Call: Alexandra, a cautious college student, declines a ride from a polite stranger. Her acquaintance accepts—and years later, Alexandra recognizes her friend’s face among Ed Kemper’s murder victims.
  • “Not only that shocked Alexandra, though, but also the fact that she herself had looked into serial killer Ed Kemper’s eyes.” (09:30)
• Reflection: Dane explores the randomness of fate and how “wrong place, wrong time” can be the simple, terrifying truth behind many murders.
  • “To me, that part of reality is truly terrifying.” (10:52)
• Safety Advice: “Please, everyone, stay safe, keep your safe practices, and most importantly, follow your gut instincts.” (11:45)

3. Alone at the Haunted Cabin

[14:33–20:30]

• Property Inheritance: A woman inherits an isolated, “crappy” cabin in the woods. Despite family teasing about its haunted nature, she visits to fix it for sale.
• Ominous Signs: Immediately feels unease and witnesses shadows at the forest’s edge.
• Escalation: Hears metallic sounds (like a weapon sharpened), sees silhouettes watching her from the tree line, and shadows passing the window—unsure if inside or out.
  • “I froze when I heard the metallic sound again. This time I was sure that it was inside the cabin.” (18:12)
• Flight: Overcome by fear, she flees and gives the property away, vowing never to return.

4. Cicero, the Trapped Man – Cemetery Encounter in Brazil

[20:30–26:25]

• Boyfriend’s Story: A skeptic recounts a surreal encounter while running through a historic cemetery in Brazil.
• The Old Man: An elderly, sand-caked man in old clothes, clutching an ID and suitcase, repeats “Hello, my name is Cicero and I’m trapped in here. I can’t leave.”
• No Escape: Despite directions, Cicero insists he’s trapped. After a desperate plea—“Please help me. I want to leave, but I’m trapped. I don’t know how. Please help me.”—he vanishes.
• Aftermath: Boyfriend has emotional disturbances for weeks, and no one else has seen Cicero. His mother believes Cicero was a spirit.
  • “Now, of course, we know this encounter could be explained as a confused person… but the way Cicero asked for help and the way his old clothes looked… haunts my boyfriend to this day.” (26:20)

5. The Pilot’s Nightmare – Private Jet Over Nigeria

[26:25–32:53]

• Aviation Anecdote: The friend of Dane’s uncle, a private jet co-pilot in West Africa, faces mechanical chaos and unsafe conditions but has never encountered anything like this night.
• City Disappears: As they prepare to land, entire city lights vanish. With systems failing, the pilot freezes in terror—leaving the co-pilot to “guess” where to land.
  • “All the lights just disappear like the city itself was just swallowed up by the earth.” (28:10)
• Survival and Trauma: They escape disaster; the pilot never flies again.
  • “Of all the times you don’t want to get a power cut, landing a plane is definitely up there.” (32:10)

6. Infamous Disappearances & True Crime

a) Madeleine McCann: The Disappearance, Theories, and the Death of the PI

[33:12–44:25]

• Case Timeline: The 2007 disappearance of 3-year-old Maddie McCann in Portugal, the missteps and shifts in suspicion from parents to stranger abduction, and multiple international investigations.
• Private Investigator Twist: The McCanns hire Oakley International. Its CEO, Kevin Halligen, is later accused of fraud and found dead under “unexplained” circumstances.
  • “The fact remains that when the police broke into Halligen’s home, they found blood stains all over the house.” (43:12)
• Conspiracy & Open Questions: Links to wider child kidnapping networks are floated; the case remains a terrifying modern mystery.

b) Martha Jean Lambert: The Girl Who Vanished

[44:30–56:35]

• Background: 1973–1985, Florida. Martha was a happy but vulnerable child in an abusive home.
• Disappearance: Last seen on Thanksgiving eve 1985. Initial theories: runaway, but suspicion of foul play soon dominates due to conflicting family accounts and shaky stories.
• Brother’s False Confessions:
  • Her brother David gives several confessions over the years, each varying in details but never corroborated by evidence.
  • “David often told lies in order to get attention and doubled down on her claims that some kind of outsider was responsible.” (53:45)
• Unsolved: No body, no conclusive evidence, just chilling speculation:
  • “It is a truly terrifying thought that a young girl can simply vanish from the face of the earth with no closure to her friends, family, or society as a whole.” (56:24)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Fate & Danger:
  “To me, that part of reality is truly terrifying.” – Dane, on random murder victims ([10:52])

• On Bravery and Instinct:
  “Follow your gut instincts.” ([11:45])

• On the Paranormal:
  “I just have to say I don’t know what really happened.” – Dane, about the sleep paralysis entity ([07:01])

• On Conspiracies:
  “If we ever do uncover the truth, we might just lift the lid on a terrifyingly well-organized conspiracy that has been responsible for the disappearances of children all over Europe.” ([43:40])

• On Hopelessness:
  “It is a truly terrifying thought that a young girl can simply vanish from the face of the earth with no closure…” ([56:24])

Important Timestamps

• [02:37] — Sleep paralysis and The Shadow Man
• [07:45] — Alexandra’s near-miss with Ed Kemper
• [14:33] — “Haunted” cabin inheritance and escape
• [20:30] — Cicero, trapped in the cemetery
• [26:25] — Story of the pilot’s nightmare landing
• [33:12] — Madeleine McCann disappearance & the PI’s death
• [44:30] — The Martha Jean Lambert case

Tone and Atmosphere

The narration is calm, measured, and slightly melancholic, making the horror all the more potent. Dane never resorts to melodrama, allowing the true stories and subtle rain ambience to amplify the unsettling nature of each tale. There is a continual thread of uncertainty—“we may never know”—which makes every story feel open-ended and resonant.

Takeaways & Final Thoughts

• Trust your instincts and beware the random dangers lurking in everyday moments.
• Many true-life mysteries remain unsolved or inexplicable, imbuing the ordinary with chilling uncertainty.
• Even the most skeptical are left with “I don’t know what happened,” highlighting the limits of rational explanations when confronting the uncanny or tragic.

“Stay safe, keep your practices safe, and—most importantly—follow your gut instincts.” ([11:45])

For those new to the podcast or this episode:
Here you’ll find true tales blending the supernatural, true crime, and the existential terror of loss and the unknown—all delivered in calm, rainy, meditative tones. Perfect for late-night listening, and for contemplating just how thin the veil is between safety and catastrophe.