Scary Stories For A Rainy Night - Ep. 290 - New York Minute

Summary

Scary Stories and Rain – Ep. 290 – New York Minute

Hosted by: Dane ("Being Scared")
Release Date: November 17, 2025
Theme:
Chilling, real-life scary stories recounted with soft rain sounds, perfect for late nights or anxious minds. Episode 290 pulls listeners into a series of deeply unsettling tales: haunted houses, near-supernatural woodland encounters, inexplicable disappearances, and brushes with malevolent strangers. The tone is confiding and atmospheric, blending nostalgia with dread.

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Main Stories and Key Discussion Points

1. The Uninvited Roommate in a Foreclosed House

[02:53 – 12:06]

Overview:

A narrator, firmly skeptical about ghosts but open to the idea of "good and evil spirits," recalls moving into a large, mostly-abandoned house with little furniture and sparse company. Most nights were spent alone, which gradually revealed the house’s disturbing secrets.

Key Points:

• Living Situation:

  • Four-bedroom house, cheap rent, semi-legal occupancy; roommates rarely present.
  • Narrator: “I was just starting to drift off to sleep and could hear someone walking around downstairs.” [05:24]

• The Encounter:

  • Sound of someone sprinting up the stairs at night.
  • The storyteller, armed with an unloaded pump-action weapon, attempts to catch the ‘intruder’ in the act but finds the house empty (“All the doors were locked, no cars outside. I was totally alone with no explanation for what I had heard.” [06:19]).

• Shared Experiences:

  • Later, both remaining roommates admit to similar chilling episodes.
  • Brad: “I heard someone walk up the stairs … then his door slowly swung open and then back shut. … he feels his bed do that lean that beds do when someone sits on it. … when he slapped, there was nothing there.” [07:06–08:00]

• Final Visit:

  • After moving out, the narrator returns with a friend. Friend waits outside, but “Right after you went in, those curtains moved to the side … I never told her about the stories.” [09:10]
  • Rationalizes it as wind, but there’s no power or moving air in the house.

Notable Quote:

“I’m glad I didn’t live there longer than I did because obviously we had a roommate of some kind that we were completely unaware of.” [11:31]

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2. The Disappearance of Khalid

[13:37 – 23:45]

Overview:

A childhood recollection of exploring the woods with best friend Khalid turns into abject terror and lifelong trauma when a stranger armed with a butcher’s knife appears under their favorite tree.

Key Points:

• Setting:

  • Woods, summer heat, adolescent freedom and camaraderie (carving “Goku” into a tree, swapping jokes).

• The Stranger:

  • “Suddenly, a man spoke from right below us. ‘Hi.’” [15:11]
  • Disheveled, menacing, tries to coax them down with promises to “show you this cool thing I just got,” brandishes a large knife (“It’s so sharp now.” [16:46]).

• Khalid’s Courage:

  • Khalid shields the narrator (“He’s not getting down. We just got here and we’re just hanging out. We’re not being bad.” [17:45])
  • Ultimately, Khalid agrees to come down, clearly out of protective instinct (“I’ll come down and see it. But just for a second and then we have to go.” [19:07])

• Aftermath:

  • Khalid and the stranger disappear. The narrator runs home to alert adults, triggers a search—Khalid is never found (“They never found Khalid. They didn’t find any trace of him at all.” [22:08])
  • The trauma colors the narrator’s adulthood: “Not knowing has made my life black and gray, sadness and without faith in goodness… The only thing that helps is telling myself I was wrong. The strong and protective big brother never left him that day.” [22:56]

Memorable Moment:

“Khalid looked up at me one more time with pure fear on his face. That strong, protective big brother was gone.” [20:44]

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3. Law Enforcement and Maintenance Horror Shorts

[24:56 – 35:01]

a) Deputy’s Night Watch:

• Deputy left to guard a home where a suicide occurred.
• Spooky rustling noises inside; a terrifying face at the window—turns out to be the victim’s cat (“For a quiet moment, man and cat eyed each other before both turning away, feeling stupid I guess.” [26:52])

b) Motel Maintenance Nightmare:

• Maintenance man discovers decomposing guest; graphic description of decomposition, clean-up (“The poor maintenance guy got stuck disposing of the mattress soaked with the man’s fluids.” [28:55])
• One day later, staff rents the same room to a young woman.

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4. Parental Hypervigilance Haunting

[35:01 – 37:34]

Overview:

A new father describes his extreme alertness, especially after seeing, for a split second, a large man standing in his living room between himself and his infant son—only to discover no one is there.

Key Insights:

• “I saw the figure of a large man standing alone in my living room between the doorway and my son, seemingly staring down at him.” [35:35]
• Frantic, thorough search finds nothing; the sense of dread lingers.
• “The more I sit and dwell on it, the more and more I’m convinced that there may have been something more at work here that was not meant to be seen.” [37:29]

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5. Mourning and Cemetery Vision

[38:09 – 42:19]

Overview:

Peter, a 90s stoner and guitarist, recalls the suicide of his bandmate’s younger brother Gary, and a twilight encounter with Gary’s spirit while high in the cemetery.

Key Points:

• Gary, troubled and “not deeply engaged by others,” gave Peter a prized guitar and Black Sabbath shirt with a noose motif.
• After Gary’s suicide, Peter sees Gary sitting against the cemetery wall: “He was just staring off into the cemetery. I was completely freaked out and did a double take. He was still there.” [41:07]
• An affecting example of grief, guilt, and paranormal experience: “Maybe I was the cool older dude who bonded with him when others weren’t listening.” [41:43]

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6. Forest Guardian or Wendigo?

[42:32 – 51:29]

Overview:

Growing up on the edge of a tiny Wisconsin town, the narrator and sisters played with a mysterious, seven-foot-tall woodland “friend” wearing a deer skull—a benign presence—until a real threat arrived.

Key Points:

• Protective “creature” plays with children, coos, builds forts; youngest sister calls it “Stinky.”
• Grandmother’s alarm when she sees a man in the grass leads to increased vigilance.
• Narrator sneaks out at night, is attacked by a man, blacks out, but is inexplicably saved (“I could see a blurred black mass with my flashlight just barely lighting the edges of it.” [47:31])
• Police find the would-be attacker brutally killed and dismembered in the woods. Locals blame a bear, but narrator believes the forest creature intervened.
• Lingering trauma: “This whole experience made me into the homebody I still am today … I can’t handle being in the dark…”

Notable Quote:

“I have become obsessed with the Wendigo due to it having similar features of the creature that I remember.” [50:38]

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Notable Quotes

• On Protection:
  “He was my brother and he protected me. I think he knew what would happen, but he made sure it wasn’t going to happen to me.” [22:56]
• On Grief:
  “I would rather know that he was killed than not know. Not knowing has made my life black and gray, sadness and without faith in goodness.” [22:38]
• On Unexplained Presences:
  “All I told her was, yeah, must have been the wind. But inside I knew there was no power to the house.” [10:12]
• On Paranormal Vision:
  “I saw the figure of a large man standing alone in my living room between the doorway and my son … My heart began to flutter to stomp as my vision began to narrow, my mind racing in response to this.” [35:35]

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Episode Flow and Tone

• Atmospheric and Unsettling: Even mundane spaces like a suburban house or childhood woods are re-enchanted with terror.
• Confessional and Introspective: Many stories are recounted as memories; the narrators express vulnerability, regret, and deep emotional impact.
• Calm, Somber Delivery offset by the soothing rain, making the stories feel both comforting and chilling.

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Timestamps for Segmenting

• Story 1: Haunted House: 02:53 – 12:06
• Story 2: Khalid’s Disappearance: 13:37 – 23:45
• Deputy/Cat Story: 24:56 – 27:11
• Motel Maintenance Horror: 27:11 – 35:01
• Parental Vigilance Haunting: 35:01 – 37:34
• Cemetery Vision: 38:09 – 42:19
• Wendigo/Forest "Friend": 42:32 – 51:29

---

Memorable Moments

• Khalid’s Final Sacrifice – A rare portrayal of childhood heroism and loss.
• The Bizarre Comfort of a Monster – A “Wendigo” as protector, subverting horror’s usual tropes.
• The Cat at the Crime Scene – A perfect release of tension, reminding listeners that not all fearsome moments are supernatural.
• Survivor’s Guilt in the Cemetery – “I still have that T-shirt Gary gave me … with the noose in the background.” [42:03]

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For New Listeners

This episode is an evocative example of what makes Scary Stories and Rain so beloved—true stories told with eerily calm narration, set against the endlessly comforting tap of rain. It lulls with nostalgia and unnerves with the unknown; it’s for those who crave quiet horror, unresolved mystery, and human darkness softened only by reflection and memory.

Transcript

[Dane]

Hey this is Dane and this is Scary Stories in Rain. Please join my family and follow this.

[Storyteller]

Podcast on Spotify or Apple.

[Dane]

And if you want the ultimate experience, you can get rid of all of the ads and be entered to win all of my giveaways every month by subscribing for just 299amonth. All of the ads gone, every single giveaway automatically entered. And starting now today, every Sunday, I'm going to release the ultimate episode. 6 to 12 hours long ultimate Scary Stories for a Rainy Night Subscriber Exclusive and as a reminder, we are now four months away from my first movie release in theaters. Gale Yellow Brick Road A dark and.

[Storyteller]

Terrifying reimagining of the wizard of Oz.

[Dane]

If you want to check out the first trailer, click the link in the description to this episode and if you're not following my other two podcasts, please.

[Storyteller]

Go check them out.

[Dane]

Scary Stories and Fire and Scary Stories After Dark. The links are in the description. Thank you so much for being here and I really hope you enjoy this episode.

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[The Replacer]

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[Dane]

Call of Duty Black Ops 7 available now.

[The Replacer]

Rated M for mature.

[Storyteller]

I should start my story by letting everyone know that I decidedly do not believe in ghosts. I was raised in a religious home and I still hold those beliefs. Now as an adult. The Bible is fairly clear about ghosts. It's okay if you believe something different, but I think it's important to the context of this story for you to understand mine. However, I do believe in spirits, both good and evil. I'm not sure which of those was involved in this experience, but I do believe that is what I encountered. When I was a senior in high school, my teenage angst reached a fever pitch. I was convinced that I was more knowledgeable about the real world and what I considered fairness than my dad and stepmother. As such, I moved out of my home about six months before graduation. I knew a group of guys that lived in a house about 30 minutes away. This house belonged to one of the guys parents until they had let the bank foreclose. I'm not sure of the details exactly, but the bank hadn't completed the foreclose and we all lived there with only the utilities as expenses. It was a large house, two stories, four bedrooms, two and a half baths. There were only three guys living there at the time, so they had an open room. I somehow got them to agree to my living there for only 100 bucks a month, which was a big steal, especially considering I only had a part time job at that time. One of the guys was never there at all, living with his girlfriend. I think one guy will call him. Jimmy was going to college and working full time. He would crash in town sometimes, so he was only there for about two nights a week. The other roommate who will call Brad, was only there two or three nights a week. I don't remember why though. Obviously I spent a majority of the week at the house alone. One of these nights I was alone I turned the light out and got on my mattress on the floor. I had nothing to my name but a mattress and a weapon at this stage of life. I was just starting to drift off to sleep and could hear someone walking around downstairs. I thought Jimmy was home as he was the only one who would get home at this hour. One other thing you should understand about the house was that all of the bedrooms were upstairs, mine being right at the end of the stairs. The stairs went up halfway, turned 90 degrees and continued up to the second floor to a hallway. So anyone who went up the stairs went to my bedroom door. I hear who I think is Jimmy walking around downstairs. Then all at once I hear them come up the stairs at a full run, violently stomping on every stair as they go.

[Dane]

It was very fast, like sprinting up.

[Storyteller]

The stairs while trying to make as much noise as possible. I thought Jimmy was trying to be funny and scare me. So to be funny back, I took my weapon, a pump action, and was going to jump into the hall and rack it really loud while I did. I didn't have anything in it. It was empty, totally safe. Well, imagine my surprise when I flung the door open and nobody was there. No lights on, nobody home. I went room by room and carefully checked the entire house. All the doors were locked, no cars outside. I was totally alone with no explanation for what I had heard. Fast forward a month or so. Brad and Jimmy are at home with me. We are talking about the house and how it looked like the bank was finally going to take possession and we would all have to move. I mentioned that I wasn't terribly disappointed by this because the house kinda gave me the creeps. Brad and Jimmy exchange a look at that comment. Brad then asks why I say that I tell them the story about the stair stomping. Again, they exchanged a look without saying anything. When I asked what was going on.

[Dane]

Brad said that he had a similar.

[Storyteller]

Experience just a week or so before. Brad's room was the master bedroom. His floor had a spot that we called the squeak. You could probably guess that we called it this because if you stepped there, the floor would squeak loudly. Not uncommon for a two story home. We all just avoided that spot when walking around. Anyway. Brad went on to say that he was at home alone, drifting off to sleep when he had heard someone walk up the stairs to the second floor. He assumed it was me getting home. Then his door slowly swung open and then back shut. Brad said that he sat there in the dark thinking I was sneaking in his room to scare him or something. Then he hears the squeak make its usual noise and finally he feels his bed do that lean that beds do when someone sits on it. Thinking that he would get me first, he reached out to slap what he thought was me sitting on the side of his bed. Only when he slapped, there was nothing there. Brad got up, turned the light on, searched his room and eventually the entire house. Nobody was there. In fact, I was 40 minutes away at the time, staying with a friend. At hearing each other's stories, we all didn't really know what to make of it. In fact, we didn't really discuss it much further because I didn't want to acknowledge what we could not explain. Finally, the time came for us to move out. The power had been turned off, there was no water, and we had all found new places to live. I had been staying at my new apartment for over a month when Brad calls me to tell me that if I had anything left at the house that I needed to get it within the next couple, couple of days. So I asked a friend, we'll call her Mary, to ride over there with me to grab a couple things. We get there and I tell Mary that I'll be right back and to just wait in the car. I go in, go right up the stairs, go to my room, grab my things and then leave. I didn't want to be there more than I had to. When I get in the car, Mary asks me, I thought you only had stuff in your room. I did, I told her. Then why were you in that room? She asks, pointing to the office on the opposite end of the house. I wasn't, I said. I went straight to my room and then right back out. Mary has this really confused look on her face now. I never told her about the stories about what we had experienced there, so I know she wouldn't try to tease me. Well, right after you went in, those curtains moved to the side, stayed pulled back a minute and then went back to normal just before you came out. Must have been from the AC or something, or maybe a ceiling fan. All I told her was, yeah, must have been the wind. But inside I knew there was no power to the house. No ac, no ceiling fans, and no person at the end of that house. No logical reason for those curtains to move. I quickly put the car in drive and left. My roommates and I had great times in that house. We played a lot of pranks, we had some great laughs and made some lifelong memories together. However, I'm glad I didn't live there longer than I did because obviously we had a roommate of some kind that we were completely unaware of. I was lucky. When I was a kid, I lived in the country and had open minded parents that didn't really care where I went, what I did, or how late I stayed out. Call it bad parenting if you want, but they trusted me to not get into too much trouble. I, of course did still get into trouble, but not of my own making. Usually. Khalid was my best friend. He lived right next door and during the summer it wasn't a question whether or not we were gonna hang out. It was understood that we were. Every single day he was one year older than me and he kind of acted like my big brother. When crossing a small stream or walking through thorns, I would hop onto his back and he would hoof it with no complaints, even though many times afterward blood would trickle down his leg. I never really saw him get scared, not of anything really, except the last day that I ever saw him. One day in early July, we decided to pack a backpack with snow, snacks, capri suns and waters, hike through the wilderness to a big beautiful oak tree that we favored among so many around the area.

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[Dane]

And one of the flight attendants asked Bronx if he wanted to see the flight deck and meet Kath and Andrew.

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I got to sit in the driver's seat.

[Storyteller]

I grew up in an aviation family and seeing Bronx kind of reminded me of myself when I was at age.

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[Storyteller]

These small interactions can shape a kid's future.

[United Airlines Customer / McAfee Advertiser]

It felt like I was the captain.

[Dane]

Allowing my son to see the flight deck will stick with us forever.

[Storyteller]

That's how good leads the way.

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[Storyteller]

This tree was perfect for climbing. It had plenty of shade. It was the ideal place for two kids to chill on a summer afternoon while discussing video games and naked ladies. We walked over two miles without any problems. But as we neared the tree, I swear I could just feel this looming sense of something different. Not necessarily Something wrong, just different from the norm. We had done this same walk and climbed this same tree dozens of times, and I never had this feeling before today. We reached the tree, both of us sweating. It was really hot that day and I was anxiously waiting to gulp down 80% of my water that I brought. As we climbed the tree, I heard something. It sounded like someone or something was below us, but when I looked down, nothing was there. We settled onto the fattest branch that was great for sitting with maximum shade. Khalid unzipped the pack and tossed a turkey and cheese sandwich at me, laughing as I almost dropped it. I said, dude. He laughed and responded, relax, I knew you wouldn't drop it. We began eating and talking. He was going on about a substitute teacher that he had earlier that year who he swears had a crush on him. Meanwhile, I was carving Goku into a tree right next to the faded cloud strife. Suddenly, a man spoke from right below us.

[Dane]

Hi.

[Storyteller]

Khalid stopped mid sentence and we both stared down at this man like a couple of deer about to get plowed on the highway. Honestly, this man scared the crap out of me. We were in the middle of nowhere and had never seen another person around here. I was frozen, but Khalid replied, hi. The man looked as if he was intentionally trying to look creepy. He wore a dirty plain white T shirt and what looked to be old brown slacks that were missing the button and were only held up by the zipper. He had long brown hair that was slicked back into a ponytail. He stood there with an exaggerated upwards glare at us. Imagine standing right up against a tall skyscraper, putting your chin up to it and looking straight up. That's what he was doing, all the while smiling from ear to ear. Can you come down here please, so I can show you this cool thing I just got? I looked at Khalid, shocked at his question. Khalid, without missing a beat, replied, no thanks. The man's smile vanished and was replaced by utter devastation, as if you just told him his house burned down. The way his expression changed in an instant was nothing short of terrifying. That will break my heart, baby. Look, it's so sharp now. I'm honestly not sure what was more alarming, him calling my friend baby or the giant butcher's knife that he revealed from behind him. He held it up so we could see it clearly. It looked brand new and shined, as if it were covered in some kind of oil.

[Dane]

Khalid usually didn't show fear or hesitation.

[Storyteller]

When it came to adults, but at that moment when I looked over at him, expecting him to shut this guy down his eyes were wide and I saw them fill with water. In that moment, Khalid's reaction made this real. We were in a very serious situation. Khalid looked at me for the first time since this stranger appeared. I could read his mind in that moment. He was scared. He had no idea what to say or do. Somehow, don't ask me how. I summoned courage that I didn't know I had and said to the man, it's really cool. The man shifted his gaze from Khalid to me. Get down here. His smile returned. The courage I just spoke of was gone in an instant. My eyes welled up. Khalid forced words out and I could hear the innate protective instinct he had for me. He's not getting down. We just got here and we're just hanging out. We're not being bad. Those last words haunt me. To this day, they haunt me. When Khalid spoke those last four words, I could tell they were spoken while holding back full on tears. I had never heard him sound and act like a little kid, but in his pure fear in that moment, he sounded like a six year old.

[Dane]

It was heartbreaking.

[Storyteller]

He was scared. I looked down at the man, tears streaming down my cheeks. At this point, you're not in trouble. I just want to show you this and I'll leave. Promise. The man could definitely see that I was crying and it didn't seem to bother him, which was absolute confirmation to me that he was in fact there to do us harm of some kind. What happened next is the reason I have therapy three times a week for over 20 years now. Khalid looked at me and shut his eyes tight, preparing to unveil every ounce of courage that he had at his young age. Okay, I'll come down and see it. But just for a second and then we have to go. The man smiled wider somehow at this.

[Dane]

I thought you said you just got here.

[Storyteller]

What's the hurry now? Khalid hesitated and responded after four or five seconds. I know, but his mom said we couldn't play anymore if I got him home too late. I looked back and forth at Khalid and the man, having zero clue what was happening now or what would happen next. Good idea. Better get home before it gets dark. That's when the monsters come out. The man's smile abruptly vanished again. Come on now. Get down.

[Dane]

Hurry up.

[Storyteller]

Khalid looked at me and I shook my head as tears erupted from my eyes. As if to urgently say no. Khalid whispered, I'll be right back. I started shaking my head and was mortified to see the man smiling and staring at me. As I looked down at Khalid as he descended. When Khalid was within reach, the man put the knife away and with both arms grabbed Khalid's arms gently.

[Dane]

Here, careful. I gotcha. I gotcha.

[Storyteller]

Here, come over here and I'll show ya. The man started walking Khalid away. And Khalid looked up at me one more time with pure fear on his face. That strong, protective big brother was gone. They disappeared from my view. And there was nothing. It was as if nothing had happened. I was sitting in this tree alone, listening to the wind make its way through the branches. And for a moment, I imagined that I had made this trip solo. None of this just happened. Khalid was safe somewhere else and everything was fine. But it wasn't. I heard nothing. As I focused on hearing anything, anything at all. Minutes passed like hours. And I eventually came to the horrifying conclusion they were not coming back. Adrenaline started to kick in now, and I needed to get down to see where they were, to leave, to just not be in this tree by myself anymore. When I reached the bottom, with the backpack tightly strapped, I looked around. Everywhere. Silence. And nothing. They were gone. I realized I had to get to adults now. I had to let them know what happened. And so I ran. Faster than I ever have before or since. And when I reached my house, I threw up on my front lawn from exhaustion and pure desperation. My mom was on the phone sitting on the porch. She promptly ended her call and came over to me. The details from that point are typical. Calls were made. Searches were done. They never found Khalid. They didn't find any trace of him at all. It's been many years and I think about my friend who was taken almost every day. I would rather know what happened to him than win the lottery. I would rather know that he was killed than not know. Not knowing has made my life black and gray. Sadness and without faith in goodness. The only thing that helps is telling myself I was wrong. The strong and protective big brother never left him that day. It was never gone. It's the only reason I'm telling this story now. He was my brother and he protected me. I think he knew what would happen, but he made sure it wasn't going to happen to me. And that's not something I will ever take for granted. You're tuned into Auto intelligence live from AutoTrader, where data, tools and your preferences sync to make your car shopping smooth. They're searching inventory.

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[Dane]

An acquaintance of mine who happened to have been a cop once told me this little tale he experienced several years ago. Back then, he was a deputy and still new to the patrol scene. Since he was new to it, he got called often to more simple tasks, tasks that made the more experienced deputies jobs easier. One night, the deputy got a request on someone that took their own life. The victim was still inside the home and they needed the deputy to sit and guard the main entry to the home until the coroner got there to take the body. They didn't want any relatives or anyone else to enter the scene and mess up evidence. That was a standard procedure. So the deputy got to the home of the victim and confirmed with the cops already on the scene that he was there to wait for the coroner. It was the middle of the night, so the deputy grabbed his flip phone out of his patrol car and settled on the front porch to play some snake on his phone. All was totally quiet around him. After everyone else left, all the deputy could hear was the occasional sounds of distant barking dogs and the faint sounds of the sparse highway traffic. The silence did indeed make him a little nervous, especially considering what lie only a few feet away and invisible to him only because of a wall. So it was only natural that his instincts had his ears on high alert. So he was startled when he suddenly thought he heard a rustling sound, seemingly coming from inside the house behind him. All he could do was sit there and wait and listen intently. A few minutes went by though, and he didn't hear anything else, so we just figured he probably heard the house settling or something. Over half an hour went by and the deputy was starting to get a little drowsy, staring at Snake on his small flip phone. So he flipped it shut and sat back for a few minutes to relax. But then suddenly there was that sound again, which seemed louder that time. A strange rustling sound, like maybe rustling papers. He thought to himself, puzzled. As he sat there and listened hard. He heard it again and that time he was sure it was coming from inside the house behind him where the victim was. At that point, the deputy admits he was pretty scared. He didn't want to call for backup until he was sure there was someone in the house. But he also didn't want to go inside the dark, creepy death scene by himself to investigate either. So he stood up and waited once again for any noise while resting his hand on his weapon on his belt. Then the deputy drew his weapon as a loud sound from behind him caused him to spin around and face a large window by the front door covered by vertical hanging blinds. As he turned around to face the window, an explosion of movements disturbed the blinds. The deputy did admit to me in telling of this story that he did in fact jump and scream as almost anyone would. The deputy's vision quickly cleared and he stared at the face on the other side of the window, definitely not expecting to see what particular face stared back at him. The deputy screamed and went wide eyed. The face stared back at him and it made a startled sound with wide eyes as well. Then for a quiet moment, man and cat eyed each other before both turning away, feeling stupid I guess. The victim had a pet cat which ended up most likely going to a relative. The deputy admitted to me after telling me this story that he felt that that was one of the most scariest things that's ever happened in his entire career. I once knew this maintenance guy who told me this gruesome story. At the time this story took place, he worked at a lower class motel that sat in the heart of his downtown area. The motel featured a historic two story building with individual cabins near the back of the property. For this particular story, an older gentleman requested one of the private cabins for a week while his home was being either worked on renovated, but no one really remembers exactly. Everything went normally with the guest. At first, his comings and goings were as expected. As far as normal motel guests go, he would come and go maybe once or twice a day. In fact fact, the guest was so normal that no one even noticed that they had not seen him in about four days or so. As per usual protocol, the motel front desk staff first attempted to check in on the guest on the day that he was set to check out after a few attempts to speak with the guest by calling his cabin and also by knocking on his door. The front desk staff had no other choice choice but to call upon the maintenance guy for the master key. When the maintenance guy tried and failed to get an answer at the cabin door, he had no other choice but to use his master key to open it. But as soon as he opened the door, a horrid smell hit him like a freight train. Take into account that it was a hot summer day, and where we live does get hot, and I mean desert hot. Unfortunately, in this case, the AC in the guest's cabin was not on that day. So as you can imagine, the maintenance guy started to gag without even having entered the room. For inside the motel's cabin, laying on the bed, was what remained of the missing guest. The man had decomposed so much already that he was practically beyond recognition already. According to the unfortunate maintenance guy, the body was literally pooling in its own liquid on the bed. When a body rots within the four walls of a small room, especially the moisture from the rotting body stays in the air inside the room. As a result, the body can't dry out, and that encourages more insect larva to form faster than outdoors. That and the lack of direct sunlight as insect larvae prefers shadier conditions in order to thrive, causing decomposition to take place faster indoors. So when the coroner arrived to pick up the body, they were only able to get most of the body instead of all of it. So unfortunately, the poor maintenance guy was stuck picking up the pieces. Literally, in my opinion. And his hazmat should have been called to clean up the gruesome scene in that small motel cabin. But unfortunately, the poor maintenance guy got stuck disposing of the mattress soaked with the man's fluids. After all, the maintenance guy was only doing what his boss told him to do. The real kicker is that the very next day, after the room was cleaned, the motel staff moved a young woman right into that very same cabin. Overall, the new experience of fatherhood to me is packed full of positives that far outweigh any negative aspects of having children. You really do feel more exhausted than you ever have felt. You really won't be able to balance everything you used to and still have time to function. As a father, you become extremely aware and hyper vigilant. Your dad isn't crazy. He really can tell that somebody touched the thermostat. He really does know when you walked into a room, even if you didn't touch anything, a lot of Fathers with strong parental instincts tend to basically know where their kids are, what they are up to, and generally speaking, what's going on at all times, seemingly without prying into any details. Such seems to be the case with me so far. That being said, I am extremely guarded in public these days and I watch my family like a hawk. What happened next would flip on all my switches and keep me up late for days. I saw my wife out the door for work and my stepson to school shortly after, down the narrow wooden stairwell with an echoing clatter of steps, silence, and the loud stomps of an 11 year old boy trudging down the stairs every other step and slamming the door behind him. Silence. I had the house to myself for about an hour to drink some coffee and wake up in the warm glow of the peaceful morning sun beaming through into my still and serene apartment. Before my son was up and going after a quick bottle and a change, I had him in his activity center to watch some sensory shows. Our apartment is small. The nursery adjoins the living room and the living room adjoins the kitchen where my desk and computer area is in a nutshell. My son can watch television in his activity center in the living room and from the other side of the apartment, sitting at my desk, I can keenly observe the movement of a bouncing static crop of fresh blonde hair glowing in the warmth of the incoming sunlight like the top of a fuzzy cactus illuminated in the window. I had been sitting at my desk grinding through a piece I was writing. Three or four cups of coffee, deep and still without breakfast. I was stuck in writer's block at this point point and just sort of staring at the screen, trying to figure.

[Storyteller]

Out where to go.

[Dane]

I needed some air. I grabbed my cup of coffee and my vape pen and opened the curtain so I could easily see in through the window to watch my son. From this angle I could see him happily playing away, turning and bouncing from this way to that, occasionally stopping to glance up at the television. This balcony looks out forward, far into a field on one side and has a thick grove of trees to the left, shadowing my backyard and the neighbors in a thick blanket of lush green and dark shade. My back deck has since become a quick escape for me and something I found grounding. It would take me a while to find that peace in my space again. When I looked over to see some recycling that didn't quite make it into the bin and I bent down to grab it, I looked up and at a quick glance through my reflection in the double pane of glass. Just ahead of my nose, I saw the figure of a large man standing alone in my living room between the doorway and my son, seemingly staring down at him and observing for whatever reason, I don't even want to know. My heart began to flutter to stomp as my vision began to narrow, my mind racing in response to this, I quickly barreled in through my kitchen door and basically leaped into the kitchen in a panic. There was no one there. The apartment was empty save for my son bouncing away and babbling away playfully. I quickly checked all the exits and the potential open windows, closets, and down the old stairs to the front, to no avail. It didn't take me very long to realize that there was no possible way that in that time I got into the living room. I wouldn't have heard somebody making a quick exit down the stairs or out of a window if there were indeed an intruder in my home. Relieved that my boy was safe and everything was okay, I started to let my guard down and settle down. As in, the experience came to an apparent end, but it still left me pretty shaken up. Maybe I was just tired and stressed. I'm not sure what happened or why, but the more I sit and dwell.

[Storyteller]

On it, the more and more I'm.

[Dane]

Convinced that there may have been something.

[Storyteller]

More at work here that was not meant to be seen.

[Dane]

As time goes on, I often try to forget about it. But on those restless nights when I find myself awake, I can't help but recollect as I hear the soft creaking of the stairwell now louder than ever before. Back in 1997, when I was a senior in high school, I was part of the guitar player, skateboarder, stoner groups. My name is Peter. I had a good friend who played.

[Storyteller]

Bass guitar in my band.

[Dane]

His name was Reuben and he had.

[Storyteller]

A younger brother named Geary who was a freshman. We let him play keyboards in the band.

[Dane]

Reuben was very charismatic and outgoing, but Gary was more quiet and reserved. One day I was hanging out at their house in La Mirada, California and we were all getting stoned and drunk. I wound up hanging out with Gary in his room and we listened to Black Sabbath, Zeppelin and Pantera. He winds up giving me a T shirt that was Black Sabbath. Please note in the background of the shirt there was a hanging noose. More about this later. Anyhow, most people didn't really engage him too deeply, but we had a good conversation and he started opening up to me about life and stuff. He wound up selling me an epiphone, Les Paul Guitar that was black. It was a really cool guitar that he really liked. But for some reason he let it go to me for a good price. I remember several weeks later when we were all getting wasted at Zappapan park in Rosemead. Gary took off from the group on foot to take go see a gal he really liked. He came back the following day looking dismayed. I got a call from my lady friend Alexis on April Fool's Day and.

[Storyteller]

She told me Gary was gone.

[Dane]

I called bs but Alexis wasn't one to mess around like that. She had a big heart, the hippie type.

[Storyteller]

She told me that he took his.

[Dane]

Own life in the garage I couldn't believe was a hanging.

[Storyteller]

I wasn't very close with him, but.

[Dane]

It was very tragic nonetheless. It turned out he was into some heavy stuff like crack and smack. I never knew that. Several months later I was hanging out with some character named Skyler. I met him at work where I used to scoop ice cream. We would smoke up and do other things.

[Storyteller]

He was a weirdo, but then again, I'm weird too. He was okay by me.

[Dane]

One night me and Skylar decided to get wasted in the San Gabriel Mission cemetery. He started rolling up joints on the headstone. I told him to have some respect for the dead and use some notebook paper. At least I had some in my backpack. He did as I told him and a short time later we were smoking up. After I took a few rips, I felt someone or something watching me.

[Storyteller]

I turned to the left of me.

[Dane]

Where the wall was and I saw someone sitting with their back to the.

[Storyteller]

Wall, cross legged and cross armed. It was Gary.

[Dane]

He was wearing his typical skater stuff. A beanie, some old school vans, black dickies and a Cheech and Chong sweater. He was just staring off into the cemetery.

[Storyteller]

I was completely freaked out and did a double take. He was still there.

[Dane]

I did a triple take and he was still there. I was scared, but more flabbergasted than fear.

[Storyteller]

It was just so bizarre.

[Dane]

Giri was like 15ft away from us. I had looked away and when I went through my thought processes, he was gone. The final time I looked, I don't know why he appeared to me as no one has ever mentioned this happening to them. Maybe I was the cool older dude.

[Storyteller]

Who bonded with him when others weren't listening.

[Dane]

I'm not sure. I wish I kept his guitar that he sold me.

[Storyteller]

But it's in good hands.

[Dane]

I had shortly sold it to a.

[Storyteller]

Neighbor friend who still plays it to.

[Dane]

This day 27 years later. Alex, the Punker. But I still do have that T.

[Storyteller]

Shirt Gary gave me. The Black Sabbath shirt with the noose in the background.

[Dane]

Giri, I haven't forgotten you. I know we weren't close, but I will always appreciate you visiting me that.

[Storyteller]

Day at the cemetery.

[Dane]

I'm from a small town in northwest Wisconsin and to give you an idea of how small this town was, we had a gas station and a bar. The population was about 112 people I think at the time and it was mainly older folks. I lived on the outskirts of this town with my grandma and my two sisters. We lived in a parsonage and if you don't know what that is, it's basically a house that's close to a church. That way the pastor could live there and stay close to it. But this house was rented out by the church and my grandma was the one paying. Was a very nice house. It was across the road from the church and when looking at it from the road we had a graveyard on the right side of the property. It had four bedrooms, one bathroom, a two car garage and everything was on one level besides the basement. Now surrounding the left and back side.

[Storyteller]

Of the house was thick woods.

[Dane]

It was a mix of pine trees, oak woods and very tall grass. During the summer it was a very beautiful spot and me and my sisters would play in the forest all summer long. Now onto why I'm telling this story. The other day I had a conversation with my grandma. She's getting up there in age and has started telling old stories from when me and my sisters were kids. And this one had me remember that I had this friend that would play in the forest with us. They were tall and dark and they never came out from behind the trees. I remember him being tall, like really tall. Like seven feet up the tree is where his head would poke out from. The only part I remember seeing was the deer skull that it wore on its face that would poke out every once in a while. I don't feel fear when thinking about this creature. I'm just gonna call it that because it definitely was not human. I feel protected when I think of it. Me and my sisters always played hide and seek with it and this creature actually made noise when we found it while playing or talking to sounded almost.

[Storyteller]

Like a low cooing sound.

[Dane]

This creature was so much fun to be around and made the forest light up. It seemed like it did stink though, man. My youngest sister, who would have been six at the time, called it stinky because of this. I remember seeing this creature climb the Trees like no other. It almost seemed like a shadow with how silent it traveled through the woods. One day after school, my sisters and I got home and went to the woods and we saw a small fort.

[Storyteller]

Built out of sticks and whatnot.

[Dane]

And we assumed it was built from the creature and we played in it.

[Storyteller]

And made mud pies and whatnot.

[Dane]

But then we heard my grandmother screaming for us to come, come inside. And in a panic since grandma never did this, we all quickly ran inside. And once we asked her what was wrong, she locked the door behind us and told us to duck down while she tried calling the police. And then she whispered, there was a man lying flat in the grass.

[Storyteller]

How did you not see him?

[Dane]

I was in shock and was wondering what the man wanted. My younger sisters were crying at this point and me and my grandma tried to calm them down, but nothing was working. About 10 minutes later, the local cop shows up and my grandma explained what she saw. The cop went around the property to.

[Storyteller]

See if the guy was still around.

[Dane]

But he didn't find anything. Then he informed my grandma that if he shows up again, call them asap. And then he left. My grandma didn't let us play outside for a few months and it really sucked because I was just coming into my preteens, so I was giving my grandma a hard time, which is something I still feel really bad about. I'm sure you can see where this is going. Later on that night, once everyone was asleep, I took a flashlight and headed.

[Storyteller]

To the forest as quickly, quickly as I could.

[Dane]

I know it was dumb of me to go out by myself and not tell anyone, but 9 year old me wanted to go check on my friend. Once I got to the edge of the forest, I panned the flashlight around trying to look for anything moving. And once I thought I was in the clear, I entered the woods and started walking towards the stick fort. Then I heard some grass move to my back, right, which was deeper into the woods.

[Storyteller]

I stopped in my tracks and listened.

[Dane]

I thought it was a man from the way it was breathing heavy. And I was right. I'm assuming it was the man my grandma saw a few months back. I turned my flashlight in that direction and yelled, who's there? And next thing I know, this man jumps on me and starts choking me. Last thing I remember was waking up to a crunching noise and I could see a blurred black mass with my flashlight just barely lighting the edges of it. I passed out again and woke up an hour or so later and I assumed that due to it still being Pitch blackout. Once the adrenaline came back, I started frantically patting all over my body, checking myself for injuries and whatnot. But all I could feel was slight discomfort in my throat. I stood up slowly and looked around to see if anything was around me. I could see the porch light on the house peering through the trees. And without a second thought, I ran right for it. When I got to the door, I opened it and slammed it shut and locked it. My grandma woke up and ran down a hall with a weapon. I said, grandma, it's just me. She came around the corner and started asking me all these questions. And I told her what had just happened. We called my aunt, who lived not too far up the road. To come and watch my sisters as we went to the ER that was about 35 minutes away. Once there, the doctors took a look over me and said that I had bruises on my neck that I could not have inflicted myself. So they reported it to the police. The next few days were a blur. I wasn't able to sleep very much.

[Storyteller]

Due to the trauma.

[Dane]

From what my grandma told me the other day, the police came out to the house and started a search in the woods. They had two dogs on the scene as well. This is where it gets graphic. The dogs found a bloody trail. They saw where the struggle between me and this man was in the tall grass. And there was blood about 20ft to the north of where this struggle was. I wouldn't say a pool of blood. But they said that the blood trail went on for about one and a.

[Storyteller]

Half miles into the woods.

[Dane]

They called for more officers before heading in further. But once they got to the end of it, apparently they found the man.

[Storyteller]

He was ripped to pieces.

[Dane]

His limbs were hanging up on the branches in the nearby trees. His eyes were missing. My grandma kind of got sidetracked with the story. But at the end of it all, me and both of my sisters went to different aunts. And we stayed with them for about.

[Storyteller]

Three months before we could go back.

[Dane]

Apparently, my grandma went to stay with her sister while our house got put under investigation. We heard no news about it. Nothing was said about the man who was spread around all over the trees. The cops say it was a bear. But the more I think on had to have been my forest friend. I never treated the woods or nighttime the same. I have become obsessed with the Wendigo due to it having similar features of.

[Storyteller]

The creature that I remember.

[Dane]

I got a tattoo of one not too long ago.

[Storyteller]

But the trauma is a lot.

[Dane]

I can't handle being in the dark. I definitely can't go camping or anything like that. This whole experience made me into the homebody I still am today. We moved out of the house when I was 14 due to the new pastor wanting to move in and I have never been back inside. I did go and drive by it the other day when my grandma told me the story and so much has changed. A lot of the trees were cut.

[Storyteller]

Down in the yard, the little garden.

[Dane]

Fence we had was gone, but the woods and the tall grass of course are still there. I only wonder if he's still hiding.

[Storyteller]

In there.

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[Storyteller]

It It's.