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Hey, welcome back to the podcast. I am so crazy, unbelievably excited to tell you that tickets for Gale Yellow Brick Road are now on sale. Click the link in the description, or you can go to fathomentertainment.com or fandango. Just type Gale. The movie will come up. You'll be able to find a theater near you. It's in over 800 theaters across America, so you should be able to find one close to you. So I just want to say, if you really, really want to support this podcast, if you want to support me, if you want to say thank you for all of the podcast episodes, if you're familiar with my YouTube channel, if I have over 300 videos on there, if you want to say thank you, please go to fandango, go to fathomentertainment.com, type in GAIL or click the link in the description and buy a movie ticket. Buy one for your friend. If you really like horror films, dark fantasy, thriller, it's not a slasher. It's not a gimmick. It's not like some other public domain popular IP movies that have come out recently. It actually has heart. It has a really good story. We put passion in everything that we had into making this film, and your support would mean absolutely the world to me. Please, please buy a ticket. Go support the film. I know you're gonna love it. A dark wizard of Oz film. And I promise you're not gonna want to miss it. It's only in theaters for one day, February 11th. If you miss it, it's gone. It's over. Don't miss it. Get your tickets now. Oh, one last thing. Did I mention that I'm in the movie? So if you've been waiting for a face reveal, this is the ultimate face reveal. If you can spot me in the movie and comment. If you're one of the first people to comment who I play in the movie, I might just send you a little surprise. Thank you so much for listening, and I really, really hope you enjoy this episode. I work in food service, front of house. So in the early days of the pandemic, with restaurants closed, I was taking work wherever I could find it. An old friend clued me into a medical office that needed someone to come in and do a bit of light filing. I was able to go in at night to limit direct contact with people, so I jumped at the opportunity right away. Ironically, the medical office job had been the safest gig I had been offered thus far. I wanted to avoid the bus if I could, due to crowds, so decided to swing for a rideshare app. It's not all that expensive in my area and I really didn't want to get the virus. I headed in at almost 3am because it was after the cleaning crew had left. I was kicking myself for being so cautious though, because I was exhausted. I stumbled onto the block looking for my ride and to my tired self's great relief the car spotted me almost immediately and pulled up asking Uber while I cluelessly wandered up and down the street searching. The ride was taking a while, but I had only just moved here last year so I'm not familiar with all of the surrounding areas and thought nothing of it. I was pretty alert at first so I was trying to pass the time playing games on my phone and stuff, but the car didn't have a compatible phone charger and I wasn't sure the building would have one, so I wanted to save my battery to be able to call a ride back. I shut my phone down into airplane mode and eventually drifted off from a combination of tiredness and boredom. I don't often take rideshare, so being alone with a strange driver often put me a bit on edge, but this guy had a pretty boring car and a very standard look about him. He looked a little like my brother, even young, clean, kept listening to jazz, nothing that screamed you need to micromanage this trip. When we arrived, the driver tried to wake me up by calling to me from the front, but I was in too deep of a sleep and couldn't fully distinguish it from my dream. Finally, he awkwardly jimmied my leg to wake me up and kept saying ma', am, ma', am, we're here now. I was embarrassed that I had been that out of it, so I just gave a hurried thanks and booked it out of the car and into the building. As I looked around, I began to realize nothing was what I had expected of an office park. I had seen a street view of the building when I first looked up the business and it had appeared to be a strip mall plaza. The further I went, the more loudly alarm bells were ringing in my gut. The structure was semi dilapidated and it was pitch black dark past the entryway. I expected some lights to be off in the nighttime, but not to the whole building. I skittered across the concrete foundation comprising what was left of the lobby area, told myself they must just be renovating, and followed signs for the stairs after what felt like ages, but was likely just a few minutes. All I had passed was construction equipment, a couple locked doors and some smashed windows I was certain I was not going to find a medical office and figured maybe I had mixed up the address. I took out my phone to double check. We heard you. Nine years of bring back the snack wrap and you've won. But maybe you should have asked for more. Say hello to the hot honey snack wrap. Now you've really won. Go to McDonald's and get it while you can. Check. But once I got it out of airplane mode, I could barely get a signal. I kept moving around in the building, pacing, looking for a stronger signal. I eventually confirmed in my texts that I had written down the correct address just by scrolling back, which didn't require service. Since I had only been inside for a few minutes at most. I figured I would try to get in touch with the driver because if I entered the correct address, then it was only fair he should continue my ride to the correct place and save me the added fees of calling a second trip, considering this was all his mix up. The app was taking forever to load with my slow service, but before I could get to a cloud of reception, I heard a rustling sound in the lower level of the building. I was on the top floor and the only stairwell I was aware of was the one I had taken up so it would force me into the middle of the building. There was no way to exit the situation without encountering whoever was downstairs in an abandoned building in the latest hours of the night. I figured the chances were high that it was a tweaker, and I had no desire to try slipping past a tweaker, especially when it was late enough that they were probably on something so jumpy and on edge. I tried to get a text out to a group of friends with my address and a request to call 911 to help get me from the property because I didn't feel safe walking in that neighborhood at night and didn't have enough reception to call a new ride. But the message wasn't sending. Reception was too weak. So I gave up on getting my phone going and started checking for another stairwell or even a window with a balcony or dumpsters that could be used to exit the second floor as a last resort in the event whoever was downstairs came upstairs. I scrambled over to a door with a stairs sign on it, but the stairs were completely dilapidated and it was essentially just a straight drop down to the first floor. At that point, the worst case scenario began to unfold. I heard whoever was downstairs begin making their way up the stairs. I thought fast and figured based on my walk, the floor was basically a giant loop So I would have to wait for whoever this was to come up the stairs, wait for them to come all the way up, and then sprint the opposite direction of wherever they were going, and try to get down the stairs and out of the building in time to make it to the road without encountering them. I was not anticipating being chased or anything, but didn't want to piss off a druggie or have a homeless person who might have been living there feel as though I had trespassed and become hostile towards me, or have any sort of interaction that could possibly occur at that hour in an abandoned industrial park. I held my breath for what felt like five minutes, but was likely closer to just 30 seconds, and the person appeared at the top of the stairs. To my great relief, it was just the Uber driver. I figured he had come back from me, realizing he had left me in the wrong spot, a place that could have worked out to be dangerous. So I came out from the beam I was hidden behind and started to wave him down. But then I processed There was no way for him to realize this had been the wrong address. My stomach lurched forward and my blood chilled to slush. I made eye contact with him very briefly, and he was completely calm and composed, but breathing pretty heavily and blocking the stairwell down. On a normal, rational day, as an outside observer, I could think of a dozen innocent reasons he might have returned, but in that moment, standing across from him, I just knew in my gut that this was someone with ill intent. I can't remember much more from the ensuing few minutes. Operating solely on muscle memory and instinct, I Superman dove from the second stairwell's opening and just let myself fall down the drop. Thankfully, I don't think he had seen where I had gone at first, and though I was in too much pain to know it then, plenty was bruised, but nothing was completely broken. I scrambled up and threw myself at anything that seemed like it could be the door. It was too dark to tell. I was disoriented from the fall, and I wasn't in a calm enough mindset to think to use my phone flashlight. Plus, in hindsight, some part of me probably knew it would call too much attention to my location. Just before I was able to reach the door, it flew open with a blinding light beaming straight into my eyes. My first thought, though not totally coherent, was, there's another one of these guys. And I stumbled backwards, trying to find something to hide behind. Before I could, a voice called out, alright, this is the police department. Everyone get on your knees with your hands in the air. I Didn't believe it was the police at first. I was in such a fight or flight mode and had already committed to flight that I continued looking for ways to get out. But he kept shining the flashlight right at me as I teetered around, and he yelled, hey. I said, get on the ground right now. Hands out. Hands out where I can see them. He sounded so authoritative that I just automatically did exactly as he asked. He approached me and finally shined the light away from me. It took a second to get my night vision, but once I did, I could see he was really a police officer. I tried to explain what was happening, but first he started asking me all these questions, and that combined with what had just happened and my fear of the driver coming back all snowballed into my being, unable to perform a single articulate sentence. He was even asking easy questions, too, like, can you tell me your name? Do you have any knives, needles, or anything that could poke or cut me? Would you rather talk in here or outside? And my total stunned babbling in response at first led him to believe that I was on something. He directed me out to his car, and once I was safely out of the building, I was able to start getting my bearings just a little. I sat on the edge of the backseat of the squad car with the door open, facing out, while he stood across from me and asked the same questions again. The first thing I could think to ask was, did my friends call you? What did they tell you? And he explained, no, nobody called him. He was patrolling the area and noticed a car idling outside of the building that is known to be condemned and nobody is supposed to be inside. And he said when they are, they are not up to no good. He was launching into a speech about how if I had gone to shoot up or meet a john, he had resources he could direct me to and that this was not an ideal place to do either of those things. And asking if I had somewhere safe to stay that night. But I was stuck on something else he had said. Finally, it all clicked. The car. I spilled my whole rideshare story in a frantic word vomit. He looked around and the car wasn't there anymore. The officer guessed the guy had driven off while we were talking inside the building. He asked me all the details I remembered and I told him, but there weren't many. I had been too tired when the ride started to track much, but the officer realized I could pull up my Uber app and get all the information. There wasn't really enough reception there, even outdoors, so we sped down the road and once I had enough bars the app roared to life and I had four missed notifications from Uber. They said hello, I've arrived and I don't see you. Can you confirm the pickup address is correct and I am flashing my hazards? And finally, unfortunately your driver had to cancel. At first I thought the driver was so cunning as to pick me up while sending these fake messages and canceling so the GPS wouldn't track us, knowing I wouldn't notice because I was asleep with my phone off and exonerating himself. But instead I checked the car details, checked again and it was definitely not the same driver. The person who had driven me there had not been my Uber. My driver was somewhere else on the street when this guy pulled up to me. The policeman took my statement and said they would keep an eye out for the guy, but the best I could give them to go off of was basically young looking man with brown hair, sideburns, goatee and four door sedan, wearing a zip up sweatshirt, maybe had a hood which is basically one out of every four guys in this city. I feel so blessed to have survived this near miss. Suffice it to say I do not take rideshare services anymore. Quadruple check your license plate and driver name. You just never know. A few months ago I, 22, was at the local coin laundromat. I went late because I had been studying around 10pm the laundromat is pretty small, closer to the edge of the beach town I live in. The town is pretty well known for drifters and people experiencing homelessness. Most people are friendly and there is a lot of drug use. But I had never really felt scared. Scared. Everything was fine until I went to move my laundry to a dryer. I was listening to music on my headphones, but not super loudly. Suddenly I just got the feeling that someone was watching me. I can't really explain it, I just felt the presence. I turned around and there was a man standing just a few feet away from me. He had pink hair, wearing a full face mask like a ski mask, a hoodie, gloves and sunglasses. Even though it was dark out, the gloves and sunglasses especially immediately made me feel uncomfortable. I thought maybe he was a drifter or high, but I didn't want to be rude. I tried to laugh it off and told him he surprised me. He immediately started talking. A lot of it was disjointed and just didn't make sense. He was talking about coming up from Brazil to bring his brother money to get a classic car. None of it made much Sense. But he would ask me questions and wait for me to respond. So I tried to just play along. I still thought he was probably just high or something, but he was standing between me and the only door. And I started getting this gut feeling that he was blocking the door on purpose. Not just accidentally as he talked to me. He was getting closer to me as he talked and the feeling got stronger. Logically, something was off. But mostly I just had this feeling in the pit of my stomach that I needed to leave and keep him talking until I could. I started to edge to the side, but he stayed in front of me and the feeling got more intense. I started to grip my keys in attack position just in case he talked more and then backed off a little. He took off his backpack, which was a child's unicorn backpack, and set it on a nearby dryer. I looked over to the door just for a second, and when I looked back, he was pulling something I couldn't see out of it and holding it to the side behind him where I couldn't see it. But I did see what was in his backpack. Duct tape. Instantly, it was just like an alarm went off. There was no more worrying about being rude. No more second guessing myself that he was just off but harmless. It was like this cold, numb dread just washed down over me. I almost felt calm, like I knew the next steps, knew I had to do something. Time seemed to move in slow motion, and then he turned back to me, not saying anything anymore, and took a step forward. I gripped my keys as tightly as possible and tried to mentally prepare to fight. I remember being afraid that I would move too slow or be too weak like in a nightmare. But all of a sudden, the door to the laundromat opened and a woman walked in, barely even looking at us as she went in to get her laundry. It was like a scene in a movie. A moment of intensity just interrupted by something innocuous. And suddenly it's over. He just turned, got his bag and left. I was so scared. I just stayed there a minute until I could get my laundry and just go home. I didn't report it. I never knew what to say since nothing had actually happened. But when I think about it, I think the scariest thing is that he left as soon as someone walked in. If he was just crazy, it wouldn't have mattered. I think a stranger's laundry timer saved me from something terrible. I don't go to the Laundromat anymore. I joined a laundry service. The extra cost is worth it. To never have to go back. For some background. There's an app called Life360 where you can add your friends and family on and essentially you can all see each other's current and past locations. You can set alerts to be notified when someone comes home or leaves, arrives at work, etc. It's a really great app and I recommend it to everyone. You can never be too safe nowadays 2 months ago I was at home waiting for my boyfriend to get home. I got an alert at around 6 o' clock letting me know that he had left work. It usually took him around 45 minutes to get home. I got up from the sofa and headed upstairs to run myself a bath. My bath was ready in about 10 minutes and and as I was doing other things waiting for it to cool, I heard a thud downstairs and through the closed bathroom door assumed that it was the front door. I shouted something along the lines of I'm taking a bath. I heard him walking along our very creaky floorboards and assumed he was in the kitchen grabbing some dinner. It was about five minutes later when I picked up my phone, put on some music and realized I never got an alert on my phone from life 360 saying my boyfriend arrived home. So I went into the app to make sure and I kid you not, my blood ran cold when I saw that my boyfriend stopped at a gas station and was still about half an hour away. I could still hear the floorboards creaking downstairs very lightly as if someone was trying to tiptoe but was unable to. I had no idea what to do. I called my boyfriend. He didn't answer and when I didn't hear his phone ring from downstairs, I freaked out even more. I have horrible anxiety and I could feel an attack coming on. I left the bathroom and walked into the bedroom as quietly as possible. I shoved my desk chair under the knob as it didn't have a lock. I don't know why, but I didn't think to call the police. Then I was so focused on getting out that all my other thoughts and senses just disappeared. I say this lightly now, but this was not the case in the moment. I proceeded to basically mission impossible out of the room. We had a shed under the window large enough for me to safely get on top of it and then jump off of it into the garden. The only issue was that I had to make my way down the garden alley where I would have to walk past the large window and door where he would be able to see me very clearly. I was so scared. I kept taking peaks into the window and couldn't see anyone. I felt more confident to run past and took one last peek and he was there, looking right at me, not even a foot away from the window. I can't even begin to explain the sheer fear and horror I felt looking him right in the eyes. He had such a cold expression, totally emotionless. I ran, didn't look back. I was terrified. I remember nearly tripping in my slippers and having to shake them off so I could run faster. There was a long road between us and our neighbors where I was running to. I did make it. Their lights were on and I started pounding on their window. I was let in and they called the police for me as I was inconsolable at that point. I kept telling them to please call my boyfriend as he was on his way home. When the police arrived, they found no one there. We didn't have any cameras and neither did my neighbors, so we had no way of telling when or how he entered and left. I later found out he came through the window. That was the noise I heard, which I assumed was the door was actually the window that fell downward and shut loudly after I assume the man came in. There were also some scratches on the top of the chair that I put under the doorknob signaling he had tried to push it open but was unable to. There wasn't much of a case. I couldn't ID him and he was wearing a face mask and a beanie. I don't even know what color hair he had, only that he was tall, slim and a man. I only looked right at him for a mere second. If that. Nothing was stolen either. We have cameras and a security system now, never making that mistake ever again. Something recently happened to me, an event which I cannot seem to get my head around. It has left me perplexed and quite frankly a little freaked out. I live in a small village in the west of Ireland, not far from the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The village has hustle and bustle with around 2500 people living in the local area. As you can imagine, with such a small populace, the community is fairly tight knit and a person would know everyone pretty well or at least know them by their face. A man from town who is now deceased named Jimmy used to frequent a pub quite regularly where I used to work and I often had chit chat with him on the regular. In more recent years I did some training in the local nursing home where Jimmy was a full time resident. He was suffering from Alzheimer's and was now under constant supervision while his memory was virtually gone. He never lost his ability to play cards. So during my training I often spent time playing cards with him. And it goes without saying I lost pretty much every game. While this information does seem trivial, it is relevant to what I am about to tell you. As I mentioned before, Jimmy is now deceased and is buried in a local cemetery which is adjoined to the church. In the evening I bring my dogs for walks and one route I often take is through the church grounds and I cut through the cemetery. There is a large view of the village and the valley in which it is situated from the cemetery. The cemetery is on a gradual slope and as you'd expect, all the graves are in rows. My dogs, who are both Jack Russell terriers and in being so, are very feisty and nothing ever really spooks them. One evening last week I decided to cut through the graveyard like I often do. But when we reached the gate of the graveyard, both of the dogs demeanors changed from that of being happy with with tails wagging in general contentment to get out for a walk to that of which their heads were down and tails between legs and showing stubbornness to pass through the gate. Thinking nothing of it, I pulled the two dogs through the gate, jokingly scolding them and asking them in the quaint country Irish way, what is wrong with ya? We walked up the gradual slope, passing by graves of folks who are had passed on along the way. Some of the names I recognized and some were unfamiliar. Nothing strange in that. Normally when I reached the last grave on the slope, I would be passing by Jimmy's grave. I would normally stop for just a brief moment and in my head I would say to myself, how are you, Jimmy? Now I am a quality manager at work, so it's fair to say that I do notice a lot of things. And I know for a fact that Jimmy's grave was definitely the last one on the slope in the very front row. I at least passed it once a week since he passed away. And I know that it was definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, located right there the evening in question. As the dogs and I reached the last grave, my heart nearly went into my mouth. Jimmy's grave was not there. I couldn't understand it. A completely different gravestone stood there of a woman who I also knew from the locale. But how could this be? Jimmy's grave was definitely there. My eyes started darting from grave to grave, looking for Jimmy's grave in despair. I eventually found it three or four rows back, but nowhere near the top front row where I had seen it before so many times. Miffed about what had just happened, an uneasy feeling came over me and the hairs began to stand on the back of my neck. Maybe I too was sensing what the dogs had felt earlier. I noticed the breeze had disappeared and the cemetery was eerily silent as you could normally hear birdsong from the surrounding trees. I couldn't get out of there fast enough that evening. I have since passed through the cemetery and still Jimmy's grave is still in the mix with all the others, completely out of place of where I know it used to be. I really cannot understand what happened. It's not as if they moved his plot or that many people have been buried since he was. Reflecting upon this story, I recalled something that happened to me a few years earlier in that cemetery. Every July, on the last Sunday of the month, the local priest holds a ceremony called the Blessing of the Graves. As my grandparents are buried there, I would normally attend such an event not so much for the religious aspect, but just to catch up with my relatives who would attend. Last year, I wasn't feeling well on this Sunday, so I actually missed the ceremony. Feeling a little guilty about this, I decided in my free time to go to the grave to maybe say a quiet prayer for my grandparents. I have been to the grave many times as I often help my mother maintain it by weeding and decorating it with flowers, as well as the annual visit for the Blessing of the graves. But this particular day I could not find the grave and I spent a good 20 minutes looking for it, blaming myself. I just put it down to my own ignorance as to why I couldn't find it. But now, in hindsight, I wonder if instead of my ignorance, was there something a little more sinister and paranormal at play. A few years ago I was working as a healthcare assistant at the hospital and recently, having moved out of my dad's home, I had started renting a small detached home in the countryside. I had one neighbor on this street, a man in his late 30s who I will call Jake. He was single and lived alone. My first encounter with Jake was when I was moving in. My dad couldn't accompany me on my first day of moving due to his work schedule, so I was unpacking by myself. Jake walked up to me, introduced himself and offered to help with moving my heavy items. I am very small, so I appreciated the help. My first impressions were that he was very kind, open and polite. He chatted to me about his job, told me that he liked to play instruments and write in his spare time. We bonded over both loving the band tool and we both enjoyed playing the bass. The next day I brought him some beer as a thank you. He wasn't in however, so I left it by his front door and included a thank you note for all the previous help the day prior. Over the next few weeks, as I settled in, Jake would pop by. We would chat about music, discuss shared hobbies, drink beer, and occasionally even watch movies together. I was new to the area and didn't have many friends yet, so he helped provide some social interaction outside of my job. But as you can already tell, things didn't stay so good. I got home one evening to see a basket full of flowers on my doorstep and an included card which read that it was from Jake and he wanted to speak with me. When I had the time, I walked inside with the basket. I didn't even get a chance to put it down before I heard knocking at my door. It was around 11pm and I wasn't expecting anyone. I looked through the window next to the door to see Jake waving at me. I opened the door and that's the first time I can recall where I started to feel uneasy around him. He asked if I saw the basket and if I liked it. He asked to come in, but I said something along the lines of how tired I was and that we should just speak tomorrow. He didn't say anything for a few seconds before he asked if I would want to grab a coffee with him before work tomorrow. I said sure and closed the door. That next morning we grabbed coffee that was close to the hospital I worked at. He seemed very excited and giddy. Soon after he asked me to be his girlfriend. I had to decline as we had only known each other for a few weeks and well, he was significantly older than me. He suddenly dropped his cheery demeanor as if he had become someone else. In a matter of seconds, he grabbed his things and left, saying only that he had to go to work. I went to work too and tried not to think too much on it. I had to work overtime that night and started heading home at around midnight. When I pulled up to my home, I saw Jake sitting on my doorstep. I really, really didn't want to get out of my car, but I did and walked up to him. He started off politely asking if I had thought over his proposal. I said no, that I'm sorry but I'm not interested. Once again, as if a switch had flipped, he went off on me, calling me spoiled and Ungrateful. I was scared at that point and asked him to leave. He wouldn't. I managed to get to my car with him following me and showed him through the window that I'm calling the police. He swore at me and left. I didn't call the police that night. I gave him the benefit of the doubt, thinking he was just frustrated. One of my biggest regrets was not calling them. The next morning, I found wildflowers that looked like they were picked from a garden at my front door, as well as a post it note with the word sorry and a sad face drawn on it. At work that day, I was called by the nurse in charge who took me aside saying my boyfriend was here to see me as it's urgent. She also told me to tell my boyfriend that he should not come to see me at work again, especially since I wasn't on break as it's unprofessional. It was Jake. He wanted to ask me if I had gotten his flowers and message. I went off on him saying things along the lines of how dare he come to my work, getting me in trouble. No less, pose as my boyfriend. All of this took place in the canteen. He didn't say anything, didn't apologize. I told him to knock it off and I left. Things only got worse from there. He would often wait for me when I got home, try to bribe me with gifts, more flowers. He even went as far and got me a new guitar. I accepted nothing and always left everything where he had put it. I eventually broke down to my dad who asked if I wanted him to speak to Jake. I said no. He offered for me to move back in with him, but I had too much pride and declined. My dad was really worried about me. One day, everything came to a halt when I came home to my front door ajar, though not broken. My front room looked absolutely ransacked. I ran to my car and called the police. Nothing was missing. Absolutely nothing. But my front room, kitchen and bedroom were all rummaged through. I told the police I had an inkling it was Jake who they ended up questioning, but his friend vouched for him and said they were together that evening so it couldn't have been Jake. I still don't believe that. I tried to tell the police everything that has been happening with Jake and how I was starting to feel very unsafe. However, I had no proof but the notes he had left me, which weren't threatening. So since there was no threat to life or well being, they literally could do nothing. My dad helped me clean everything up and I had my locks changed. Jake actually left me alone for a little while after that. I started looking for a new place to live around that time. Then one evening I had come home, ate some food, showered and went to bed, only to be awoken, I'm not sure when, to somebody standing in my doorway. I didn't move. I remember originally thinking I was having a sleep paralysis episode. But after moving my fingers, I realized I was fully awake with a dark figure clearly standing in my doorway. My phone was under my pillow, so I rolled over to my side pretending to still be asleep and I just waited with my hand under my pillow on my phone. There was no way I could call the police without alerting the person in my doorway. Eventually I could hear the footsteps fade and I called the police, only telling them my address and that someone just broke into my home and that I think they're still here. I got out of bed, grabbed the keys on my nightstand and got out of the house by going out my window and bolting to my car. I had on a tank top and shorts. I didn't even have shoes on, which made driving horrible. I saw him then when I was pulling out, standing in the kitchen through the window. It was Jake. I had a small essential oil diffuser next to the window that shined enough light to be able to tell who the figure was. I drove as I spoke to the police. I remember just completely detaching from reality. At least that's what it felt like. I drove to my dad's house. After looking over my house, the police drove to my dad's home where I was. I told them everything about Jake, how he had been following me, coming to my work, waiting for me when I got home. And Now I was 100% sure he broke into my home and was planning to do God knows what. I was told that they found my front door locked when they got there and went to knock on Jake's door. He answered and looked as if he had just woken up. They asked him some questions and left him alone. It is so unimaginably hard to prove that you're being stuck stocked in the uk. I managed to get a restraining order on the grounds of harassment with proof that he had come to my workplace posing as my boyfriend and a co worker who could support me in this as she had overheard our conversation where I had asked him to stop following me. I had also saved some texts that he sent me where I asked how he got my number and told him to stop contacting me. But he went on to send some vaguely threatening messages along the lines of I'll be waiting when you come home today. Which along with the workplace incident as well as the fact that I had mentioned Jake to the police when my house was broken into, managed to get me my restraining order. I went back to that house once with my dad and his friend to gather all my things. I did not see Jake that time or ever again for that matter. I had to transfer workplaces back to my original workplace as I moved back in with my dad. I am now moved away and live alone again, trying to put the past behind me, but this definitely messed with me a little. I had to get some therapy and found it difficult to develop friendships, especially romantic relationships. He said somewhat ruined that for me. I have not made any new friends since. Never had a boyfriend either. I find it very hard to trust people outside of work, colleagues and family. The nightmare I am about to share is one I had from age 6 to age 9. However, I didn't find out it was more than a nightmare until two weeks ago. Go. I hope you enjoy When I was six, my mother and I moved into an older home. It was in good shape for the most part. It was a one story home with a sun room, nice backyard, attic and unfortunately a basement. It had two bedrooms so after my baby sister was born we ended up sharing a room. It wasn't long after we moved into the house that I started having a messed up nightmare. It was the same one over and over again. I was laying in my bed when a man would come into my room and grab me by my leg. He would then start dragging me off my bed and onto the floor. When he got to the top of the basement staircase he would stop for a moment then continue dragging me down the stairs. I would scream in my dream, but he never stopped. The basement was all white. White walls, white tile flooring. There was a dentist chair, an old vintage one. He would pick me up and slam me down into it. As he would start applying the restraints to my wrists, ankles and my forehead, I got a good look at him. He was dressed in all white. White long lab coat with one of those round silver things on his forehead. The only thing not white was his dark brown dress shoes. He was an older man, white facial hair. There was a long white table with jars and jars all lined up with teeth in them and the gums were still attached. He had an empty jar and his tools all laid out. He then grabbed a knife and started cutting into my gums. There was blood everywhere and I was screaming it would always end right before it felt like I was going to die. I never watched scary movies as a child so my mother couldn't figure out why I was having this dream. I would wake up with tears running down my face wondering why I am having this nightmare. When I was nine, we moved because my mother got married. I haven't had that dream since. Fast forward to two weeks ago. My husband and I were talking about the homes we grew up in. That got me thinking about that house so I looked it up. Luckily I was able to pull up the house's history online I loved reading about Was amazing until I seen that a man who was very close with the family not only helped get electricity into the home but also used to rent out the basement for a while. He was a man of science and had a career at a local university as a professor. Very well respected. He even shared my husband's last name but was not related. I looked him up to show my husband but once I saw his face I screamed and covered my mouth. My husband asked me what was wrong and I told him about the dream and then said that's the man who would cut out my teeth. Once I got off work one night I went straight to bed and that was around 5 o' clock in the evening. I guess you can say I'm not really a night owl because my job schedule varies throughout the week. Either I'm working at night or I'm working in the morning. This day I had to work in the morning so I stayed up the night earlier. I Woke up around 9pm I got up to talk to the family, watched some TV, then started getting tired again. This was around 1am and I decide to go back to bed and I actually felt the weight of sleeping this time. Once I got my bed ready, I put YouTube on for a little background noise and just started to drift off. Then all of a sudden everything was quiet. Then I dreamed about waking up in a building. A building I have dreamt of before, but not for a long time. I was laying on a sleeping bag in a decrepit room with no furniture. I wasn't scared, but confused. The door leading outside suddenly swings open with someone walking in, then slamming it shut. Then I was automatically pushed out of the dream as I was jolted awake. I was laying there thinking maybe I was just experiencing sleep apnea and tried to get up but I couldn't. I couldn't move my arms, my legs. It's like I left my body for the next minute of what I'm about to tell you. I have had experiences with sleep paralysis before, but not to this extent. Once I knew my body went numb, I started to panic, started to breathe heavily. It was unbearably longer than it should have been for me. It would last around 30 seconds at most. And I haven't even experienced the large weight on my chest yet. That's what I was actually waiting for. And I guess my body was trying to prepare for it because the dread was like a sharp knife point and it just kept jabbing me each passing second. Then I stopped breathing because what happened next made my heart stop and my blood cold. In close proximity of my ear, I heard someone say, hey. It sounded like a woman whispering in my ear. I was so disturbed. I tried to call out for help, but I knew that couldn't work because I couldn't even breathe out a syllable. I tried to break free of this invisible bind, but I gave up and knew I I had to rough through it. The next thing I know, something sits on my chest. But it wasn't the normal weight I would experience in these episodes. It was something lighter that felt less aggressive. It felt like fingertips caressing across my chest in a sensual way. Laying down on my right pec, it was followed by a leg wrapping itself on the front of my thighs. The next thing I know, the left side of my body was being weighed upon like someone would be cuddling up next to me. Just for the record, I don't have a girlfriend and I doubt anyone in my house would start sneaking into my room at night. I was frightened and confused. I still couldn't move. Then the woman's voice came back. What are you doing? It said in a very quiet, sincere tone. I didn't know what was happening, but I knew I had to respond. So as calmly as I could, I said, I'm trying to sleep. That's when I noticed my face can move and my hands can move. But I refused to open my eyes because I didn't care for what there was to see. The next thing I knew, the weight on my left side started to diminish and my body can move again. So I shot up, looked around the room. No one was there. My senses started to come back and the sound of my computer comes back to me like it was never turned off. I didn't bother going back to sleep. I guess this was a wake up call. I need a better sleep schedule. Probably need to change a few things from now on, but my mind is still stuck on it. Was it a spirit? Was it part of the dream I was having. If it was a spirit, maybe it was just lonely and it just needed a body to lay with. Maybe it was a dream, but I don't dream that often, especially if the touch I felt is real. I don't know what to think. I guess I'll just chalk it up to a hallucination and get on with my life. I am telling you all this as a warning, something I wished I had gotten before my visit. A bit of backstory about me as this will be important later. I am 18 years old and I have to drive out of state to visit my girlfriend as we met online. This drive usually takes us around an hour and a half. An hour and 15 minutes on a good clear night. This was one of those nights I was cruising down the empty freeway, the lights of a car on the opposite side flashing occasionally. I was listening to some quiet music, taking in the surroundings and enjoying the cool wind blowing in through the sunroof. Now, I will be honest, I wasn't paying as much attention to the road as I should have. I was tired and sick of sticking to my leather seats. So I pulled over to the right side of the road and got out to scratch my legs. I left my car running. I wanted to make sure that I could see in front of me with the headlights just in case anything came out of the woods. By anything I mean bobcats and bears. Nothing supernatural. It's not that I didn't believe in the supernatural, I just hadn't experienced anything. I was parked on the side of the freeway, standing to the right of my car, staring at the pitch black black forest and just listening to the sounds of the night. I really don't know why I did it, but something told me that I should look around, that something was off. That's when I saw it. The billboard. It was one of those roadside signs, the expensive ones that big businesses use to advertise. The backdrop was a faded blue with very pale yellow writing on top of it. The text Ashland Motel, exit 72. There was nothing inadvertently wrong with this sign. It was so basic and lacking. But something was off. The billboard couldn't be seen from the road. The trees covered it just the right way, making it impossible unless you were pulled over in this exact spot, looking this exact way. Maybe it's just an old sign nobody took down, I told myself. There's nothing wrong with an old motel sign. The place is probably gone by now. I felt like that wasn't right, but it was a pure gut feeling. I wanted to investigate a little bit further, but my body wouldn't move. My legs felt like lead and jelly at the same time, but I mustered the courage to take a few steps forward. That's when I saw the text at the bottom. Vacancy since 2020. I don't know why, but these words sent such a disgusting feeling into my stomach. This sign was altered recently, so why was it so hidden? What purpose did this sign hold if it wasn't meant to be seen by the public? I felt so sick I just started vomiting off the side of the road. It was uncontrollable. This sign was absolutely the reason for it. When I was sure that I had emptied out my stomach plus a little bit more, I ran back to my car and jumped in. I have never locked a car door so fast. I am not a religious man, but I prayed that my car would start and I could just drive 90 miles an hour home as far away from the Ashland Motel as possible. My 1999 Toyota turned over and the fear in my stomach began building again. I stopped turning the key and waited for a second, hoping a brake would help the car start. I looked around and for a split second I saw him. He was tall, featureless, shaded by the night. His silhouette was pure blackness. It seemed to consume the moonlight, so it was obvious this wasn't just a tree or plant or animal. This was something otherworldly. I retched the key in the ignition again and after desperate pleas to whatever God was out there, it sputtered and started. I slammed my foot on the gas, tires squealing, and I got away from the Ashland Motel sign. This was two weeks ago. The Ashland Motel sign had haunted my mind every day. I told two of my friends about this experience. I didn't want them to think I was crazy, so I left the bit about the tall man out. They of course wanted to find the motel. I begged them not to, that it wasn't meant to be found and we should just leave it like that. They told me that they were going with or without me. Me being the overthinker and constant anxiety ridden boy I am, I couldn't think to let them go without me, just in case something happened and I wasn't there to help. We left after dinner time around 5pm the sun was setting, which made me even more nervous. I put the Ashland Motel into Google Maps. Nothing. I looked it up on Google. Nothing. I searched Facebook for a while looking for an address and only found one post talking about the Ashland Motel. The post read, the Ashland Motel. Five stars, safe rooms and lively staff. This honestly Sounded like someone who was trying to make you think something while meaning something else. My friends gave me a slap on the back and told me that I was overthinking again. I laughed nervously and agreed, although nothing about this was funny. We ended up putting exit 72 in the GPS and it began taking us there. I made my friend Ethan drive. I didn't want to have to sit behind the wheel if that man came back. It took us about 35 minutes to get to exit 72, and we got off right away. Immediately, I had a bad feeling. The motel wasn't in sight at all, and I was sure that it wouldn't be, especially because of the placement of that sign. I didn't mention this, though. I didn't want to find the motel. Sadly, Ethan remembered my comment about the sign being invisible from the street and decided to just start pulling down blind driveways and gravel roads. We searched for a while until Will, my other friend in the backseat, told Ethan to stop the car. He had seen something in the trees. A small building hidden in the woods. We reversed slowly until we saw it. The rectangular building hidden by the forest. A sign reading Ashland Motel. My stomach felt sick instantly after seeing this. The words were in the same pale yellow text, somehow looking more faded than the sign on the freeway. There didn't seem to be a road leading to the motel, meaning that we would have to park the car and walk through the woods to get to it. I begged my friends not to go. We had seen the motel. We could leave. It exists. I warned them about the bobcats and the bears, about ticks and bear traps. Nothing seemed to shake their drive to investigate. I knew that I had to go. If the man appeared. I knew that they wouldn't be able to shake off the fear the same way that I would be able to. We all grabbed a torch from the backseat of Ethan's car and began our trek into the woods. The motel was set back about 100 yards and there was no path leading to it. We had to shine our flashlights at the ground to make sure we didn't fall into a large hole or step on a venomous snake. With each footfall, a branch would snap and leaves would rustle under us. Finally, we made it to the clearing, and I wanted to run back as soon as we arrived. The building was a pale yellow with a brown roof that obviously hasn't been cleaned in a long time, if ever. We stood at what seemed to be the front of the motel, but there were no signs or roads to guide us. The best Way I can describe it, the motel seemed to have dropped from the sky, removing all the trees under it and just sitting there for years. The grass was overgrown. There were vines growing over the lattice moss on the doors. There were around 10 rooms. Each of the doors were separated by a window and a small empty pot. I was heavily analyzing the motel, speculating the reason for its placement, when I had the same feeling I did at the sign. My stomach lurched and I placed my elbows on my knees. Ethan tapped my shoulder. I didn't move. He tapped me again, harder, but he wouldn't say anything. I looked up at him and the color had drained out of his face. He was staring at the forest behind the motel as if he were mystified by that spot. Will was staring back at the car. Color drained from his face, too. Only then. Only then did I realize why they were staring with so much fear. The sounds of branches cracking and leaves crunching were surrounding us. Like a hundred people were running in a circle around the motel woods. I whirred around, trying to catch a glimpse of what was making the noise, but it was beyond fast, if it was one thing. I couldn't catch my breath. I began to hyperventilate and sweat aggressively. I saw Will begin to cry silently, and Ethan began to apologize for killing us. I had to get it together. I knew I did. That's when the urge hit me again. I felt so drawn to it. I couldn't stop my head from turning to face the motel. I began to sob when I saw them. Pale faces, all of them star, staring at us from the windows of the motel. They were illuminated by something otherworldly as the rest of the area was pitch black. All the faces had a disgustingly large smile, too large to be human, stretching from ear to ear, each showing too many teeth, all of them perfectly white. The eyes are the reason I am telling this now. They had hollow eyes set into their heads too far back. I realized that I wasn't looking at the eyes, but the lack of them. All of the holes were filled with the same darkness that outlined the man at the motel sign that night. I repressed the need to vomit, but my sobs did not stop. They were deep and uncontrollable. I knew I had to run, even if the thing running around the motel would stop us. I just knew that it was better to deal with that thing than whatever was in the motel. Those faces would do something worse than kill us. I knew it. I grabbed my friend's arms and started running. My vision was blurring. The footsteps and crunching got louder and louder. I drowned them out. I could feel myself choking on my own mucus and tears. I screamed to hurry up and we sprinted deeper into the woods. It felt like we were running through the woods for hours as the footsteps echoed around us. Screams flooded my ears. They were louder than any noise I ever heard before. I knew it was coming from the motel. The faces were so angry and hungry and horrible. The screams were so loud I thought I was going to die. As I dragged my friends through the final stretch of the woods, the screams suddenly stopped. The lack of noise was deafening, but I knew we were still being chased by the forest thing. I saw the car. The stupid Ford Focus was the best sight I had ever seen. We had finally made it, and the footsteps stopped. As soon as we made it to the car, I began to vomit profusely. It felt like I was bleeding from my stomach and it was too dark for me to check. I couldn't tell if the liquid running down my face was tears, mucus, or blood, and honestly, I didn't care. Ethan was vomiting aggressively as well, sobbing between hurls. Will was on the ground in the fetal position, sobbing. I turned around to look back at the Ashland Motel. And there it was. The shadow man. The one who was at the sign. The one who was staring at me. He was illuminated with the same sinister light that cast upon the windows in the motel, but he still was as dark as ever. He had no features. He was taller than me, and he felt sinister. I could tell that he was smiling at us, trying to lure us back in. I grabbed my friends and threw them into the backseat of the car. I didn't want them to see him. I knew they would never forget his darkness. We drove home in silence and eventually arrived. I got my car from Ethan's house and headed back to my house. No matter what I do, the screams still play in my head and I can feel the smile on his face. That's why I'm telling this. Does anybody know anything about this motel? The Ashland Motel? Is it possible to forget all of this? Will he follow me? I don't want to keep seeing this place. Can someone please help? This year's tax changes Better not get caught snoozing. Miss one deduction, lose thousands. Not amusing. Big tax changes can mean bigger refunds at Jackson Hewitt. And right now, get a hundred dollars just to try us. Don't worry, tax filers. If money is tight, get $100 from Jackson Hewitt so you'll sleep better at night. Limited time offer for New clients Participating locations only details@jacksonhewitt.com. Now to start this off. I am a 22 year old dude with lots of energy. So much so that I usually take midnight walks around my house to get me ready for bed and I cannot sleep before 2am My parents recently told me that they were going on vacation and that they needed a house sitter. Being the cheap parents they are, they asked me to watch their cabin in the forest. 30 miles to the nearest town and 3 miles from the nearest neighbor. Cabin in the middle of nowhere, all alone with a lakefront view. Who could say no? I told them goodbye and wished them luck in their trip and I arrived at the cabin the next day. The first day went well because I thought that they didn't have cable or service. I was wrong because they did. I fished, swam and ate good food. But the second day is when the nightmare started. The time was about 1 o' clock in the morning and I couldn't sleep. I put on my boots and headed out into the cool night air for a little walk. I walked around the house a couple of times and stood by the edge of the thick forest. Just when I was about to head back to go back to bed, I heard footsteps in the trees. Now I am used to deer being everywhere around my house, but the footsteps sounded way heavier than a normal deer. Being the curious guy I am, I threw a rock in the thick brush to see if it would run off. Silence at first. Then I heard something I wish I didn't. Laughing not from a normal person, but from someone who sounded insane. Then the same rock I threw was thrown right back at me. I never ran so fast in my life. I ran to my truck. When I started the ignition and the headlights came on, I could see a bald man still laughing, standing in the same spot I was just standing. I sped until I reached the end of the long driveway. I then called the sheriff and had to wait for about an hour. When they got there they thought that I was just joking. But when they checked where I told them to, they found rope, a knife and a faint bloody trail leading to another cabin far away into the trees. Inside was just a bunch of scribbles like a child does and a rag covered in blood. The police looked all around and even checked our cabin. But this person was never found to my knowledge. The next day my parents cancelled their trip. I still wonder whose blood was in that cabin and what would have happened if I didn't find the man in the woods.