Podcast Summary: Scary Stories and Rain — Ep. 296: Holiday Trick

Host: Being Scared
Release Date: November 29, 2025
Main Theme:
This episode, “Holiday Trick,” immerses listeners in a series of chilling true stories—each narrated calmly over the soothing backdrop of rain. The episode is tailored to those seeking unsettling yet reflective tales, perfect for rainy nights and sleepless hours. This installment focuses on eerie experiences during holidays or seasonal breaks, weaving together the mundane and the supernatural.

Key Stories & Discussions

1. The Pumpkin Knife (India, Durga Puja Festival)

Timestamps: [02:38] – [09:55]

• Setting: West Bengal, India, during the autumn Durga Puja festival—a time of family gatherings and late-night celebrations.
• Main Plot: After a family outing to view festival pandals at midnight, a narrator and their family spot a suspicious elderly man in an elaborate sherwani, walking around their secure apartment complex carrying what appeared to be a “pumpkin knife.”
• Suspenseful Turn: The next day, they learn a neighbor was murdered—killed with the same type of knife the man was carrying. The case is quickly closed by authorities.
• Reflection: The family debates whether to contact the police, grappling with guilt and ‘what if’ scenarios.

Notable Quote:
“Should I be concerned that this man has a pumpkin knife in the dead of night?” — Narrator [04:18]

Memorable Moment:
The horror dawns as the family connects the man’s presence and the weapon to the neighbor’s murder, leading to a haunting question:
“What if it had been us?” [09:26]

2. The Women in Pigtails (Hotboxing Gone Wrong)

Timestamps: [09:55] – [13:48]

• Setting: Rural USA, pandemic era. A group of high school friends smoke in a car near midnight to break the monotony of lockdown.
• Main Plot: Driving through empty roads while listening to creepy music, they spot a well-dressed woman and a second shadowy man approaching their car at a desolate intersection. The woman runs toward them, screaming for help, but something instinctively feels off.
• Escape: The narrator urges the driver to speed away, and they narrowly avoid the encounter, left shaken and theorizing about the strangers’ intentions.
• Reflection: Even under the influence, the group's “fight or flight” instincts override, leaving them with lingering fear and morbid curiosity.

Notable Quote:
“It would be terrifying if we found a humanoid like a Wendigo or something right now.” — Narrator [11:24]
“There’s a woman coming. Turn the car now.” — Narrator [12:20]

3. Dark Road Fatigue (Stranger Danger on a Backroad)

Timestamps: [15:14] – [20:51]

• Setting: Remote country road, late night. A young man pulls over to nap after visiting a friend, feeling dangerously tired.
• Main Plot: As he dozes in his locked car, other vehicles begin circling. A figure approaches and tries every door before knocking repeatedly on the window.
• Tense Moment: The narrator feigns sleep, paralyzed with fear, as the figure tries to gain entry and then sits in their car, shining headlights at him before leaving.
• Outcome: Deeply rattled, he flees and never returns, warning:
  “If you’re tired and you need to drive somewhere, just don’t. At all costs, just don’t.” [20:44]

4. The Haunted House at the End of the Dirt Road

Timestamps: [20:51] – [29:16]

• Setting: North Carolina countryside, narrator and cousin sneak out to a local “haunted house.”
• Main Plot: Exploring a decrepit, cursed house supposedly plagued by the spirit of a woman practicing black magic, the kids experience unexplained screams, dangerous structural collapse, and a direct encounter with a terrifying female apparition.
• Supernatural Encounter: The narrator is briefly trapped, witnesses a “silhouette of a woman crouched in the corner, staring at me beyond terror,” and escapes only after an intense struggle.
• Aftermath: Both suffer real physical injuries. The narrator is haunted by recurring nightmares of the spirit.

Notable Quote:
“She was so close I could smell the death on her.” — Narrator [28:21]

5. The Electrocuted Pool Man

Timestamps: [29:17] – [34:02]

• Setting: Suburban vacation home pools, hot summer day.
• Main Plot: While relaxing after lunch, a pool worker is electrocuted due to faulty wiring in a new underwater light. Paralyzed and sinking, he musters enough strength to yell “Don’t. I’m being electrocuted” to prevent others from jumping in and suffering the same fate.
• Resolution: When his feet touch the pool bottom, he grounds out the current and narrowly survives, underscoring the unpredictable dangers in everyday environments.
• Reflection: The narrator is left shaken by how quickly a peaceful moment can turn deadly.

6. Jamaican Resort Visitor

Timestamps: [34:03] – [44:19]

• Setting: Old Jamaican resort during a wedding trip; the narrator stays alone in a room with mysterious quirks.
• Main Plot: The narrator experiences unsettling knocks at the door, strange, rhythm-less phone calls to the room’s bathroom phone, and recurring issues with keycards.
• Heightened Uncanniness: The narrator is convinced someone or something is haunting the room, especially after knocks seem to emanate from inside the suite.
• Creepiest Moment: A maintenance worker, half-jokingly, says:
  “This is an old resort. Some strange things happen here sometimes.” [44:05]

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “The most spine chilling part was what we learned the next day…the woman … was murdered in her bed, and the door lock was burnt to ashes.” — Indian Festival Story [07:52]
• “I started to freak out and told my buddy Jordan, there’s a woman coming. Turn the car now.” — Hotboxing Story [12:20]
• “If you’re tired and you need to drive somewhere, just don’t. At all costs, just don’t.” — Dark Road Story [20:44]
• “She was so close I could smell the death on her.” — Haunted House Story [28:21]
• “Don’t. I’m being electrocuted.” — Pool Story [33:05]
• “This is an old resort. Some strange things happen here sometimes.” — Hotel Maintenance Worker [44:05]

Flow and Atmosphere

• Tone: Calm narration with an undercurrent of tension, punctuated with personal reflection and unease.
• Rain Ambience: The gentle rain throughout heightens the intimacy and eeriness, creating a cocooned late-night storytelling feel.
• Story Structure: Each account is long-form, detailed, and immersive, allowing listeners to live through the tension and aftermath with the storytellers.

Conclusion

This episode artfully illustrates how ordinary holidays and mundane moments can quickly lurch into horror, whether through criminal acts, supernatural forces, or near-fatal accidents. In true Scary Stories and Rain style, these unsettling true accounts are not only about fear but about survival, lingering memories, and the unresolved questions that haunt us after the storm.