Scary Stories and Rain – Episode 284: "Blood Shot Eyes"

Host: Being Scared (Dane)
Date: November 9, 2025
Theme:
A collection of unsettling, true stories—half chilling paranormal experiences, half infamous true crime tales—told against a calming backdrop of rain. This episode plunges listeners into eerie personal accounts, cursed artifacts, and enduring mysteries, all delivered in Dane’s signature soothing but suspenseful tone.

Main Stories & Discussion Points

1. The Death Mask of Mateo Salazar

[02:22–15:13]

• Obsession with True Crime:
  Dane recounts his lifelong fascination with the macabre, especially infamous killers. This is established as a “morbid curiosity," not admiration, but a need to understand how people could actually cross the line into murder.

• Road Trip to the Home of a Serial Killer:
  Dane and his roommate Matt—a fellow true crime enthusiast and “death tour” traveler—visit a ghost town in Arizona, infamous as the hunting ground of Mateo Salazar, a killer whose victims were tattooed and skinned alive. The site has become a grim, deserted tourist attraction.

• The Cursed Artifact:
  Under glass in the empty post office-turned-gift shop, they find Salazar’s death mask and read his chilling final words:

  “My work is not finished. It will never be finished. I'll be back.”
  (Dane, 03:25)

• Matt’s Crime:
  Matt steals the mask, intent on displaying it in their dorm, though Dane feels instantly uneasy. Guests start to report “radiating evil” from the mask.

• Descending Behavior and Paranormal Parallels:

  • Matt begins to isolate, talks to the mask, and exhibits disturbing personality changes.
  • After a party, Dane returns to find police at the dorm: Matt has committed a series of murders almost exactly like Salazar’s.

  “The details of Matt's crimes came out over the next few days, and to me they sounded exactly like Mateo Salazar's. He abducted three people, two girls and a guy, and killed them. Rumor was he also gave them tattoos and skinned them."
  (Dane, 13:44)

• Mysterious Removal:
  Right as Dane tries to dispose of the mask, two hairless individuals in orange coveralls from “The Catadesmos Museum” buy it without hesitation and remove it from his life.

• Lingering Dread:
  The unique fusion of true crime and supernatural horror leaves an unsettling question: was the mask truly cursed, or just a catalyst for evil already brewing?

  “I couldn't help but think of Salazar's death mask … if I wasn't already freaked out by it, hearing the details of Matt's crimes was the straw that broke the camel's back.”
  (Dane, 13:29)

2. Dares, Abandoned Houses, and the Reality of Nightmares

[16:17–22:44]

• Dared into a Haunted House:
  The narrator relates being dared to enter a notorious abandoned home as a teen. Inside, they feel watched, encounter whispers and shifting shadows, before a grotesque apparition attacks.

  • The harrowing climax—rendered almost dreamlike—turns out to be just that: a nightmare upon waking.

• Reflecting on Homelessness and Nightly Oddities:
  Now living unhoused but not hopeless, the narrator finds beauty in sleeping outside—describing peaceful dawns but also “exceptional events,” such as a raccoon nose-to-nose encounter.

3. The Witching Hour and Mysterious Melodies

[22:44–27:04]

• A Nighttime Encounter:
  The narrator, a seasoned lucid dreamer, wakes at 3:30 AM (“the witching hour”) and experiences an inexplicable, metallic chord reverberating above—an eerie, almost musical phenomenon unlike anything heard before:

  “Take two tubas and have them attempt to hit a middle C, and then have a few more French horns join in, only they are an octave above and all of them are slightly out of tune…”
  (Narrator, 23:40)

• Lingering Mystery:
  The sound lasts nearly 20 minutes, never heard again, leaving them confused and wondering if it really happened or was a product of the mind.

4. Voices in the Dark: A Personal Haunting

[27:04–32:17]

• On the Run in Missouri:
  The narrator and girlfriend move into a friend’s house, immediately feeling something is "wrong." The friend (Stoney) laughs off their suspicions—until he experiences it himself and refuses to sleep alone.

• Sleep Paralysis or Demonic Experience?:
  After a group prayer, the narrator is overtaken by paralysis and hears two voices—one deep and nonhuman, the other female. The deep voice boasts of immortality, calls humans “stupid beasts,” and predicts doom for the narrator while deriding his fear.

  “They were literally getting off on my fear. It was a bloodthirsty evil that I can't even put into words.”
  (Narrator, 30:19)

• Aftermath and Doubt:
  Though people tell him it was “just sleep paralysis,” the narrator insists this was no hallucination. The incident becomes a permanent reminder that “true evil exists.”

5. Mysteries of History: The Somerton Man

[32:17–37:00]

• True Crime Spotlight:
  The story shifts to the legendary unsolved case of the Somerton Man (1948, Australia):

  • Well-dressed man found dead with all his labels removed and no cause of death.
  • Only a cryptic message (“Tamam Shud,” or “It is finished”) and code in a book link him to a mysterious nurse and a tangle of espionage theories.

• Quote:

  “The tale of the Somerton man represents a baffling enigma that has persisted for over seven decades.”
  (Narrator, 36:27)

6. The Keddie Cabin Murders

[37:00–40:52]

• 1981 Sierra Nevada Tragedy:
  The savage murder of the Sharp family and their friend in Cabin 28 of the Keddie Resort. The crime scene is brutal; investigators follow leads ranging from ex-husbands to local criminals. Despite fresh evidence years later, the case remains unsolved, haunted by rumors, lost suspects, and dead witnesses.

• Quote:

  “Despite the emergence of new evidence and suspects, justice for the Sharp family remains an unfulfilled promise. The shadows cast by the Sierra Nevada pines continue to guard their secrets.”
  (Narrator, 40:23)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On True Crime Fascination:

  "Lots of people look at me odd for claiming I have a favorite serial killer or when I explain that I love true crime and all its gory details. It's not like I am dangerous or anything. I just want to know how someone could go ahead and actually kill someone."
  (Dane, 02:55)

• Describing the Death Mask:

  “Beneath it were the last words he spoke, and when I read them, it sounded more like a curse. ‘My work is not finished. It will never be finished. I'll be back.’”
  (Dane, 03:25)

• On Unexplainable Events:

  “It was as if the tubas and French horns were not real. More realistically, it was a replication. That's the best way I could describe it.”
  (Narrator, 23:51)

• On Confronting Evil:

  “I want people to know that true evil is real and not just an imaginary thing that we humans use to blame all our flaws on.”
  (Narrator, 31:32)

Key Timestamps

• Death Mask and Haunted College Roommate: 02:22–15:13
• Dare in the Abandoned House / Living Outdoors: 16:17–22:44
• The Witching Hour and Sky Music: 22:44–27:04
• Demonic Voices in Missouri: 27:04–32:17
• The Somerton Man Mystery: 32:17–37:00
• Keddie Cabin Murders: 37:00–40:52

Tone & Style

Dane’s retelling is methodical, absorbing, and laced with an undercurrent of dread, yet softened by rain sounds. The stories transition seamlessly between personal confessions, atmospheric dread, and historic mysteries, all meant to be unsettling while delivered in a calm, almost hypnotic style.

For listeners who want true crime chills and the uncanny, this episode is an eerie tapestry of first-hand hauntings, cursed objects, terrifying defenses against evil, and unsolved deaths—perfect for a stormy, sleepless night.