Scary Stories For A Rainy Night – Ep. 316 – Infected

Host: Being Scared
Date: February 4, 2026

Episode Overview

In this evocatively atmospheric episode, “Infected,” Being Scared presents a collection of chilling, true accounts as told by listeners—a lonely night in rural Maine interrupted by a mysterious presence, the disturbing side of internet chatrooms, a childhood brush with Irish folklore, the horror of discovering a lifeless party guest, a babysitting job gone terrifyingly wrong, and a bear encounter in the Appalachians. The episode weaves real-world anxieties—of isolation, unpredictability, and the unknown—through stories delicately delivered in the podcast’s trademark calm, rain-soaked narration.

Key Discussion Points & Story Summaries

1. A Power Outage in Rural Maine

Story begins at [02:05]

• Setting: Beddington, Maine, an extremely rural, isolated town (“the very definition of a one stoplight kind of town”).
• The narrator shares a memory of an all-night power outage, noting the unsettling quiet and deep darkness (neighbors are a mile or more away).
• His usually calm, unbothered dog, Teddy, reacts uncharacteristically—growling, barking, even urinating on the floor out of intense fear.
• The narrator arms himself with a hunting bow and becomes convinced something more than a bear—a massive, unknown creature—is stalking outside.
• He describes hearing “two distinct crunches on the gravel” and states, “whatever was outside my house that night was way, way bigger than a person” ([12:20]).
• The story ends with the narrator shaken, thankful that whatever the beast was, it eventually left his property.

Notable Quote:

“I don’t scare easy, and what happened during that blackout scared me to death.” (Narrator, [16:30])

2. Disturbing Omegle Encounter

Story begins at [16:40]

• The storyteller reminisces about the randomness of Omegle and Chatroulette during 2012, detailing both the fun and the deeply unsettling.
• A specific encounter: the narrator is connected to a strange man who stares directly at the camera, not interacting, not responding verbally.
• The stranger eventually grips his own front tooth and, to the narrator's horror, painfully pulls it out live on camera, blood streaming down his chin, holding the tooth up “like he’s all proud of himself.”
• The storyteller is left in shock, haunted by the experience and the questions it raises about the stranger’s state of mind.

Notable Quote:

“As crazy as it sounds, he seemed to just know what he was doing...the sense of pride at the end. It all just gave me this distinct feeling that he had done that kind of thing before.” (Storyteller, [18:20])

3. The Irish Banshee in the Garden

Story begins at [20:53]

• Set in rural Ireland, with three young sisters having a sleepover in their beloved “Wendy house” (a child’s playhouse) at the edge of their huge garden.
• The eldest, Kathleen, shares a banshee legend, terrifying her little sisters with tales of ghostly screams presaging death.
• That night, they are woken multiple times by terrifying, blood-chilling shrieks (later revealed to be mating foxes), convinced it’s the banshee.
• When Kathleen runs to get help, she runs into a tree in the dark, returning to the playhouse bleeding from the face—further convincing her sisters that the banshee has attacked her.
• The situation is only resolved after their father arrives and the truth eventually emerges years later.

Notable Quote:

“If you put a weapon to my head and asked me for the scariest moment of my life, I would say the banshee when I was seven years old. I am deadly serious. Scarier than childbirth, scarier than finding the lump in my breast, scarier than confronting my first husband about his drinking.” (Narrator, [35:28])

4. Party with Death on the Couch

Story begins at [36:27]

• The narrator describes an out-of-control teenage house party: drunkenness, destruction, and a mysterious, unmoving partygoer on the couch.
• The next morning, amidst hangovers, the storyteller tries to rouse the person, only to find them cold and dead.
• Paramedics are called, but the chilling realization is that a corpse was at the center of their revelry for hours.
• The traumatic experience serves as a grim lesson the narrator passes on to their own children, hoping to spare them the feeling of encountering death so abruptly.

Notable Quote:

“Have you ever touched someone only to realize they’re dead? ... It’s one of the most mind breakingly awful things you will ever experience in your life.” (Narrator, [36:55])

5. Babysitter Versus Stalker

Story begins at [38:13]

• Set in the early '90s, a teenage babysitter is watching two boys for a well-off family on Valentine’s Day.
• At the video store, the youngest boy innocently tells a strange man they’re home alone; the sitter feels uneasy.
• That night, back at the house, the family becomes the target of a frightening stalker—the strange man bangs on the windows, disables the phone line, and eventually breaks in.
• The babysitter heroically barricades in the children, enduring a harrowing period as the man searches the house, whistling “here, boy,” and dragging a leash.
• The intruder flees just as the parents arrive; police never catch him. The experience leaves a deep mark on the storyteller, who swore off high-end babysitting afterward.

Notable Quote:

“The only thing about this whole experience I will never forget is that the stranger started to whistle for us like he was looking for a dog. ... I swear I have never been more scared in my life.” (Babysitter/Narrator, [42:25])

6. Bear Encounter in Appalachia

Story begins at [44:59]

• Lena, a Malay student, shares a summer hiking memory in the Appalachian Mountains with classmates and a guide.
• During a snack break, a black bear wanders into camp, approaching the frozen group. The guide's voice, filled with fear, causes Lena’s “blood to turn to ice.”
• The bear sniffs around, stands over her, then moves on to the others before losing interest and wandering away.
• Lena describes being left with profound awe and respect for the wildness of nature, deeply moved but thankful there was no attack.

Notable Quote:

“When it stood up like that, I swear my heart nearly stopped beating altogether... Never in all my years have I ever had such an up close and personal encounter with such a powerful wild beast.” (Lena, [45:45])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Isolation (Maine Power Outage):
  “That kind of isolation is made all the more obvious whenever there’s a power cut... out here, you really are alone in most senses of the word.” ([02:20])

• On the Unknown (Omegle):
  “Nothing has ever topped that for me in terms of pure creepiness. I have so many unanswered questions about that guy, and each time I think I get close to figuring it out, it just opens me up to a hundred other questions.” ([18:28])

• Childhood Terror (Irish Banshee):
  “We tell that story every Christmas now, especially when there’s a new boyfriend or husband making an appearance. … I think if you put a weapon to my head and asked me for the scariest moment of my life, I would say the banshee when I was seven years old.” ([35:25])

• Confronting Death (Party Story):
  "I just never want any of my kids to have to know what it feels like touching flesh that’s gone cold. Looking at someone’s face and knowing they’re no longer with us. I don’t want them to know what death feels like.” ([37:35])

• Real Life Horror Movie (Babysitter):
  “It happened just like a horror movie, too. He was standing outside the door because I could see the silhouette of his shadow peeking under the master bedroom door.” ([41:45])

• Raw Fear of Nature (Bear Encounter):
  "I am just so thankful that it wasn’t a grizzly or something out in the Pacific Northwest, because if it was, I probably wouldn’t be telling this story." (Lena, [46:37])

Segment Start Timestamps

• [02:05] – Maine Blackout & The Beast
• [16:40] – The Tooth-Pulling Omegle Encounter
• [20:53] – The Night of the Banshee
• [36:27] – Death on the Couch
• [38:13] – Babysitter and the Stalker
• [44:59] – Bear in the Appalachians

Tone & Style

The episode maintains a gentle, conversational, sometimes humorous tone amid deeply unsettling events—with authentic self-reflection, regional color, and a palpable sense of dread. Being Scared’s narration remains calm and measured, turning the ordinary into the uncanny and making fear feel as real and close as the listener’s own darkened room.

For those seeking quiet, rain-drenched horror for sleepless nights, this episode stands out for its chilling authenticity and the memorable imagery conjured by the storytellers’ own fears and close encounters with the unknown.