Loading summary
Transcript18 lines
- [00:00]
A
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. This story I am about to tell only a few people close to me have ever heard. However, I never actually explained in detail what happened that night to absolutely anyone. For this story specifically, it is necessary to explain my general area I live in as it pertains to this event. I live next to Yellowstone national park, which in of itself has drawn millions of tourists each year. Part of the reason I am telling this is merely a warning to people who decide to visit during the summer months. Last year, in the summer of 2020, me and some of my buddies decided to go have a night out and do some camping out near a spot where we have been to multiple times in the past. After all, this was right after things started to become normal again and lockdowns were lifted. I decided to head up to the camp spot early in an effort to make sure my gear was still set up from earlier that day. I did this as an effort to reserve the spot as it's first come first serve. Therefore, with everything in hand, I left my house right before sunset. We were all supposed to meet up within the hour, so I didn't really have any concerns of being by myself. I then began my 30 minute drive up to the location. When I finally arrived, I immediately noticed my tent and everything inside was gone. Now, just for some context, I staked the tent down in multiple areas just to be sure it stayed for the period I was gone. Inside was my sleeping bag and a few other miscellaneous items I left just to keep it weighted down. However, everything, literally everything, disappeared as if it was never there. I looked around and even the stakes and rocks I placed on the outside were missing. I immediately knew something was wrong because I did not see any campers on the way up. Also, keep in mind I do not have cell service as it's a couple miles back into the wilderness. I then decided to drive back down from where I came to get service and get a hold of my friends and let them know what happened. Least to say I was not happy with the situation and knew that whoever took my belongings were still in the area as it had only been there for an hour or two. However, my friends insisted that I stayed and at least hang out for a few hours as it took weeks of planning. So once I made sure everyone arrived, I then decided to go around the area in search of any sign of footprints or indications that maybe these people were close by. As you can guess, I wasn't able to find anything. I eventually played it off and decided I would just look for it in the morning and contact the Forest Service to report it missing. I also didn't want to ruin the party for everyone and decided to stay. In hindsight, this was by far one of the worst decisions I could have ever made. As the night went on, everything seemed fine, so I thought around one or two in the morning. Most of my friends decided to call it a night. I ended up sleeping in my truck. This was perhaps one of the better decisions I made that night. That along with always making sure to bring my bear spray and sidearm for protection from Unexpected guests. I eventually fell asleep. However, it's important to note that I was still a bit on edge, as only a couple hours before all of my belongings were taken. I decided to leave my window rolled down a bit just in case I heard anything creep up on us in the middle of the night. After about two hours of me being asleep, my worst nightmare came true. At first, I just heard something moving around outside of our camp. This was enough noise to wake me up, and I immediately froze and I didn't move whatsoever. Therefore, this was partially because I knew whatever was making the noise was large, not just a raccoon or any other smaller creature. I then was paralyzed, just listening intently to whatever was happening outside of our camp. My first thought was that it was a bear. We also had sightings recently in the area. At one point, I swear, it could have only been maybe 20 or 30 yards away. Also, another key point I noticed was that there was absolutely no other noises. Usually there's grasshoppers or birds, but it was complete and utter silence. Now, in a wilderness, that's never a good sign. It means there's a large predator or something of the like in the area. Meanwhile, it's pitch black outside and our fire had completely gone out after about 15 minutes, minutes of not hearing anything, I decided I just needed to stop being paranoid. But just as I was about to fall back asleep, I saw something to the right of our campsite. It was just a few yards away from our fire pit and probably about 20 yards from me. To my absolute horror, it was a person. I immediately freaked out. This was no average person person either, let alone the fact that it's three or four in the morning and you're in someone's campsite. This person was wearing what I made out to be some kind of mask. I got a very good look at whoever it was, and it was a deer skull on their face. They were wearing a black robe, and that's about all I noticed. I sure didn't want to leave my truck and confront this person, So I did what I thought was best. I turned my truck on and began honking the horn until all my friends were awake. I rolled down the window and told them, we need to get out of here. Immediately after seeing what I saw, then did exactly that. Meanwhile, this person hasn't moved, mind you. Just as I thought it was bad, the situation got even worse. More of these figures began appearing in front of us through the trees, Wearing the same outfits as mentioned earlier, but with a multitude of different masks. I immediately put my truck into reverse and began speeding away. They began walking closer and closer, but luckily I was able to drive out of this spot in time. As I began to speed down the road out of there, three more of these figures appeared out from the side of my truck, this time with a dog and way more aggressive than the previous ones I saw. They began throwing rocks at my truck and chasing after me. At one point they were literally right next to my passenger window until I accelerated even more and eventually lost them. As I looked back in my mirror, I saw only one figure left, just simply peeking and staring at me behind a tree. This image is forever seared into my head. From this night on, I refuse to ever go back up there. I have never, ever spoken of this to anyone. Even when I was around my friends that experienced this, we never mentioned it to each other. It's been over a year now since this happened, and all I can say is that I believe these people were in some sort of cult. I heard other stories about similar events happening and even cattle completely disappearing. It's very barbaric. And you wouldn't think that such a beautiful national park that attracts so many people year round would have such dark and disturbing secrets. My advice to anyone that decides to travel to these mysterious and preserved parks of intrinsic beauty would be to always bring protection of some kind. Likewise, make sure you let others know about your plans and never go alone. There are hundreds of missing persons reports across the national parks inside the United States, and I could have very well been one of them if I had stayed just a few minutes longer. Nature has a way to attract very different types of people. Some want to explore and push themselves to their limits. Meanwhile, some simply don't want to be seen and lurk in the darkness of night. A former Green Beret once told me, the key to survival was always being aware of your surroundings and listening to your instincts. If a particular situation doesn't feel right, chances are it's not. Stay safe, everyone. I'll tell you the story about the two times that I was almost kidnapped in the same spot. I was in high school and in the best shape of my life. I wasn't an athlete or anything, but I was growing into a woman's body. Five' eight and a long, youthful body, almost completely muscle. For that short period of my life, I was actually interested in maintaining myself. So I started a morning routine of going for a walk before breakfast. I lived in the neighborhood adjacent to this great park where I spent my life growing up. Soccer practice, dates, you name it. I believed that by hanging upside down on the monkey bars once a day before breakfast that I would stretch my spine just enough to keep growing taller and to alleviate any compression that might cause pain. And I got older. On a hot summer morning before 10:00am I rolled out of bed, got dressed, and headed for the park. I don't think it's necessary to describe the area beyond the fact that it was completely surrounded by houses. It was a pretty safe spot. The parking lot comes first between my street and the park itself. In the lot I could see a white van. The park district has vehicles that look just like it for things like picking up litter, sanitizing the playground, and bringing out the mowing equipment. I thought this van was here to trim trees or something, so I paid it little attention and headed for those monkey bars. Before I could make it to the playground, a voice stopped me. Hey. A man called from the driver's seat. A second voice came from the passenger seat. Come over here. I walked away disinterested, but knowing that two men had rolled their windows down to watch me and talk to me made me feel self conscious. I didn't want my shirt to roll up while I hung upside down or stretch my hamstrings and give them a show of any kind that would give them the satisfaction. These were grown men and I was in high school. Needless to say, I was prey and I knew it. Pretty creeped out, I decided to go for my routine walk, determined not to let two idiots change my workout. A woman has the right to go about her business. Fear turned to anger as the white van with the windows rolled down crept alongside me. I was on the sidewalk, so a safe enough distance from the van on the road. I couldn't remember what they were hollering at me, but you can bet it was degrading, sexual, and not at all what grown men should say to a minor. My anger boiled up inside, and before I let them get away with making me feel so violated, I decided to express myself too. I shot my middle finger high in the air and wagged it around. Now here is where the big oops happened. I know that this road darts into several no outlet neighborhoods, and turning into one, especially if you're not from around here like these guys were, means that you're going to u turn and come back around. That's exactly what they did. As soon as I saw that white van accelerate angrily and swoop into the adjoining street, I knew they were about to come back for me. My stomach dropped and I knew that I had only seconds to hide. No, I wouldn't reach the park in time. I knew that by the time I reached it, they would spot wherever I was going and attack me. I was close to a turn off into another neighborhood where I knew Mr. D lived. Mr. D was a police officer and whose son happened to be dating my sister at that time, so I had his number. I never ran so fast in my life. I dove behind a conifer tree in his front yard and made myself as small as possible in the shadows. Sure enough, that white van came from the opposite direction, inching down the road at only five miles an hour. The windows were rolled up this time, probably to make it easier to get away with stuffing a screw screaming girl in the back without anyone hearing. They stopped at the intersection where I disappeared. I took my phone out and texted Mr. D. Hi, it's me. There are two guys following me and I'm hiding in your tree. Help. I watched through the pine needles as the guys pulled over and got out, talking quietly and looking around. I hated them just watching as they talked about me. The front door swung open and Mr. D came out in full uniform. It turns out that I had texted him while he was leaving for work. He did not look for me, but stamped down to the end of his driveway and looked down the street. Seeing those men notice a cop staring at them and watching that white van speed away was a magnificent sight. The second time I was almost kidnapped on that curb happened the same summer, but this time it was raining lightly. It was dim and kind of muggy outside, so I remember that no one was outside except for me. I started jogging regularly in the evening and that day was no exception. I thought that the rain would keep me cool and enhance how much longer I could go. Indeed, indeed. I was helped somewhat by the rain, for I had been running for a while and wasn't that tired yet. I kept my eyes focused on the sidewalk in front of me, but I could see the park slide past me in my peripheral vision. I was on the opposite side of the street as the last incident. A pretty beat up olive green sedan came rolling quietly up the road with a text, headlights off. I thought that was weird, but knew that it would soon pass me. The sedan was in the oncoming lane, so we were face to face for a few meters and I noticed that it slowed down significantly before pulling over to the curb. I was running towards this parked car which already rang my alarm bells. My suspicions flared into overdrive as the driver's side door opened and a tall bald man built like A refrigerator came out of it and crossed over to the passenger side. But I tell you, I amazed myself in that second before he even crossed in front of the first headlight. Before my foot could finish another rhythmic step of a long jog, my brain sent a flaming hot shiver of adrenaline through my body so fast that I actually sprang up in the air. When my foot landed and pushed me off the pavement, I spun around in midair and darted in a new direction, away from the man. The phrase fight or flight ceased to be a figure of speech as I actually witnessed it transform my body and put my conscious self into autopilot. If there's something I learned that day, it's that you can't choose fight or flight. Your body will do whichever it wants automatically. You might be programmed to be a fighter, or you might be someone like me, whose flight mode is so powerful that it thrusts you into space like a glitch in the Matrix. I didn't spring in the direction of the sidewalk. No, that was too dangerous. He would just follow me in his car. I actually saw houses whirring past me as I made my way through backyards and patios. I wish I could say I never ran so fast in my life, but as you can recall, I had already run from my life once before. About this fast. I dared to look over my shoulder and I could see a dark blur of a large human maneuvering unnaturally through the backyards on my trail. I don't know how, but I outran him. I think it was my knowledge of the neighborhood, having lived there all my life, and knowing which house had a fence, which ones led to more cover, which would lead to dead ends, etc. I burst into my house and blubbered the whole story out to anyone who could listen. To be blunt, no one really cared. It's not like I had evidence of this happening, and because there was room for possibility that I misinterpreted his stopping and getting out to maybe ask for directions or check on a tire. That's exactly what my family chose to believe. For a long time I felt angry. Angry that these men came to my turf, my home, my neighborhood, and made me fearful. I couldn't think of a way to violate someone even if I wanted to. But men like these do it in their free time. I stopped working out after my second close encounter with abduction. I guess I look fine as a 23 year old shut in, but that's mainly thanks to my strict diet of vegan chocolate, antidepressants and atheism and that's my story.
- [20:24]
B
New Year, new me. Cute, but how about New Year, new money? With Experian, you can actually take control of your finances. Check your FICO score, find ways to save and get matched with credit card offers giving you time to power through those New Year's goals you know you're gonna crush. Start the year off right. Download the Experian app based on FICO scoring model. Offers an approval not guaranteed. Eligibility requirements and terms apply. Subject to credit check which may impact your credit scores. Offers not available in all states. See experian.com for details. Experian Lifelock how can I help? The IRS said I filed my return, but I haven't.
- [20:59]
A
One in four tax paying Americans has paid the price of identity fraud. What do I do?
- [21:03]
B
My refund though.
- [21:04]
A
I'm freaking out. Don't worry, I can fix this. Lifelock fixes identity theft guaranteed and gets your money back with up to $3 million in coverage. I'm so relieved. No problem.
- [21:13]
B
I'll be with you every step of the way.
- [21:15]
A
One in four was a fraud.
- [21:17]
C
Paying American.
- [21:18]
A
Not anymore. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com podcast terms apply Disney wants.
- [21:25]
C
To know, are you ready?
- [21:27]
A
Yes.
- [21:28]
C
For Marvel Studios Thunderbolts the New Avengers now streaming on Disney+ let's do this. One of the best Marvel movies of all time is now streaming on Disney plus.
- [21:38]
A
Hey, you weren't listening to me.
- [21:40]
C
I said Thunderbolts the New Avengers is now streaming on Disney plus.
- [21:45]
A
Meet the New Avengers.
- [21:47]
B
That's cool man.
- [21:48]
C
Marvel Studios Thunderbolts the new Avengers rated PG13. Now streaming on. You guessed it, Disney Plus.
- [22:03]
A
This story may not be scary to some, but it remains as one of the most unnerving things I have ever experienced. In the summer of 2017, I was working at a satellite campus of my university as a residential assistant. Allow me to give a description of this campus before continuing the story. It was once an estate and for a college campus, relatively small. To put things into perspective, I was one of only 22 students on the entire campus in the spring semester and one of 60 in the fall. I am not sure what the population was during the summer, but you get the idea. Not only was it small, but it was very old. The former estate was built in 1712 over 300 years before this story takes place. Place to save on budget when acquiring the property, my university did not demolish any of the older buildings. They just stood there empty and condemned. One of these buildings was a big mansion at the center of the campus, which served as the administration building for the university that owned the property prior to my own. The most prominent feature of the campus is the old windmill, a historic landmark and a playhouse for the daughter of the family who owned the estate. The story behind the windmill goes that the daughter used to run to the top floor, waving to the seafarers as they sailed on by. One night, while coming down from the top floor of the windmill, she fell down the steep stairs, broke her neck, and died. Rumor has it that her ghost wanders through the windmill, and while the structure remains locked throughout the year, some say they can sometimes see a lit candle coming from the top floor window. I wish I could say this is where my story takes place, but unfortunately it doesn't. With all of this being said, this campus is no stranger to the paranormal. As this campus is very small, there are only six residential buildings for the students to live in. These buildings are all named after historic nearby towns, and one of which, Sagaponak, is said to be haunted. The dorms are arranged in two. Three in the front and three in the back. Each dorm is only two stories, with two suites on each floor. When you walk in, there are doors to the left and the right leading to each suite, and a staircase leading to the second floor where the two other suites are. As an ra, one of my duties was to make rounds. This involved us going to each suite to make sure that the main doors were locked and that the residents didn't need anything. One night, it was time for us to perform our nightly rounds before closing the RA office for the night. The other RA and I decided to do them together since it was a rather tedious activity. To expedite the process, I would check the first floor doors while the other RA would go upstairs to check the second floor doors. As we are in Sagapanak, I am standing around waiting for the other RA to come back downstairs when I notice a couple of pairs of shoes at the bottom of the staircase, A pair of brown work boots and black sneakers. Nothing too far out of the ordinary. Right? We make our way to the next building, and seconds into stepping into it, the other RA and I stop dead in our tracks. At the bottom of the staircase is a pair of brown work boots and black sneakers. I quickly stepped outside to check what building we were in, and to my disbelief, I found myself staring at the sign for Sagapanak. Dumbfounded and creeped out, we decided to end our rounds there and close up shop for the night. To this day, I am still not sure if what had happened to us was due to paranormal activity, a glitch in the Matrix, or an unusually silly mistake that neither I nor my partner noticed. How did we end up back in Sagapanak? If this does have a supernatural explanation? Who or what wanted us back inside? I will never truly know. This story happened when I was a kid, probably around 12 to 13. The story is based on something strange that happened to my younger sister that lasted a few weeks. At the time she was about 9 or 10. Her bedroom was on the first floor of the house facing the driveway, while mine was the whole upstairs. Because we lived in a bungalow style house. One night in the middle of the night, my sister wakes me up from a dead sleep to tell me that someone is outside of her window whispering to her. This was in the summer and we did not have central air at the time, so she kept her window open. I immediately asked if she told my dad who at the time was a police officer. She told me that she was too scared to wake him up and if I would please come check it out. So reluctantly, I began to get out of bed and follow her downstairs to her room. As I went in, everything was normal. She pointed to the window and told me to go look and listen. As I looked outside, there was nothing but a quiet street and the humming of a street light near our yard. I told her she was probably dreaming and that she should go back to sleep. She was scared but said okay. I went back to bed and nothing else happened that night. A few nights had passed and I had totally forgotten about it when suddenly I was awoken around 3am by my sister Again. She told me the person was back. I said, who is back? She told me that it was the person from the other night whispering to her from outside the window. I asked her what they said to her and she said they kept saying piece me free. At this point I was confused. That's not even a correct sentence. What does that even mean? I asked her if they had said anything else and she said no, just piece me free over and over in a child's voice. At this point I was starting to get scared. I almost woke my dad up but figured I would just tell him about it in the morning. Fast forward to the next morning. I told my dad about what had happened and he told us that he was sure it was nothing and that my sister must have been dreaming. At first I agreed I didn't see or hear anything. She was just a kid and sometimes kids have very vivid dreams. We left it at that, even though I knew she believed it to Be real. At this point my sister was afraid to sleep in her room. My dad told her to just keep the window shut and she would be fine. Unfortunately, keeping the window closed was going to be tough. We were in the middle of a hot summer summer and with the window closed it was almost 80 degrees in her room. No one could sleep in that kind of heat so she had no choice but to keep the window open. She said that she heard the voice again after this a few times, but was scared to tell anyone, even me for some reason. Now what happens next will not only be the end of this bizarre saga, but will leave my sister and I scared to sleep at night for quite a while. A couple nights later I was once again woken up by my sister. This time she told me the voice was not only telling her to piece me free, but to save me please. I had enough so I went downstairs and looked out her window to see a shadow running towards the back of our house. A small shadow, a child sized shadow. I couldn't make out any features so I immediately ran to my parents room, woke up my dad and told him that my sister heard the kid again and that I saw someone running to the back of our house up the driveway. My dad instantly jumped out of bed and put on his robe, told us to stay inside. He grabbed his weapon he kept in a safe next to his bed. He then ran to the back of the house where a sliding glass door leads to the deck. Me being the wannabe tough guy, I followed him. As we went outside, my dad began to search the area as he would do as a police officer. I stayed just outside the doors on the deck while he went around the garage and shed. All of a sudden I hear my dad yell stop Loudly Then put your hands up where I can see them and don't move. My heart dropped into my stomach. Stomach in pure fear. It was real. Someone was actually there. My dad then yelled for me to go inside and call the non emergency number to the police department which I knew by heart and to tell them that my dad had caught a prowler in our yard. I did as I was told and the dispatcher said they were sending someone right away. I informed my dad that someone was coming. As I did, he began to march the person from behind our shed up to our deck. It was dark and it looked just like the shadow of the person I had seen. I thought to myself it must be a kid. Why would a kid be doing this? Why wouldn't they be at home in bed? During the times this all happened. Well, it wasn't a kid. It was a short old lady, probably in her 60s or 70s. My dad told me to go out front and and wait for the police, then send them to the backyard. I stayed inside with my sister and my mom while everything was sorted out outside with the police. After a while they took the lady away and my dad came back inside and explained the entire situation. As it turns out, this older woman was the mother of a criminal my dad arrested some months prior. He had been charged with various child abuse charges. Charges I won't get into the details, but it wasn't good. His mom believed him when he said he didn't do anything wrong. She told the police that her son was so mad that my dad was the one who arrested him and told her to go to our house and quote unquote haunt us. Haunt us really. Well, she did a good job. Why she said piece me free then please save me. We'll never know. But that is just downright creepy. We never heard from her again. Back before the quarantine I was on a mini road trip with a couple of friends and their girlfriends. I was single myself, so we filled up the five seater, which was enough of an excuse excuse as any to not pick up any hitchhikers or people in need of a ride. We had a horror encounter before with that exact thing and didn't feel like explaining that to someone whenever seeing them. Hopefully any hitchhiker would see the full car and get the point. Not that we won't call for help if they ask us, of course. So we were driving down a desert road. My group consisted of myself, a male in his 20s, Tony and Jane, which are fake names by the way, Bruce, Lila and Lila's dog, a Lhasa Apso female named Doris. Lila and Tony were the ones with the driver's licenses and Lila was driving at the time around 8pm it wasn't dark out yet, but you could make out the beginning of the sunset as she said ooo look. And began slowing down. Bruce and Lila had only been together for a month or two at that point and he had yet to share the story about the hitchhiker last time with her, so she didn't know better than to pull over for a rough looking dirty man with a cardboard sign saying the name of a town an hour away. We began to protest too late as she had almost stopped entirely and rolled the window down an inch and kept the motor going. The hitchhiker walked up to the car and glared with the most intense crazy eyes Nothing like the charming psycho of last time. He stared and made a huge grin asking for a ride. Lyla told him the car is full but she can call him a ride if he needs one. She even put a hand down to her side about to hand him some money for fare. He didn't even listen to what she had to say as he walked a step to his side and stared into the car right next to my window. I am a walking staircase stereotype, the most dude bro looking person you could find, but it didn't seem to do more than make him look me up and down a bit before tilting his head and staring at Tony and Jane. I can ride in the trunk, it's no problem, he said and without being given permission he walked around the car and grabbed the handle of the trunk. Doris woke up from all of this and the black tones window of the back of the car had him unable to see her. As he tugged the locked trunk, Doris set off this extremely loud high pitched cutting bark. It's hard to describe how loud Lhasa apsos can bark compared to dogs even three times their size. The sound splits and cuts your ears painfully and as Lyla is getting ready to drive off from this weirdo, he looked stunned as we drove away, waving his arms up in the air. Maybe he was on something, maybe just sick in the head or maybe a combination of both. But we drove off and everyone began to take it more easy. But just five minutes later we see a 247 gas station and pull over for gas and snacks. Lila traded places with Tony for driving and took her dog out of the trunk to walk it a little for a potty break I think. Jane went inside the gas station with Tony while I stood outside chatting up with Bruce. When Jane finished inside she went around the corner for the bathroom as I went inside for some snacks for myself. I didn't take long and when I got out, by pure coincidence, I looked down the road and I see the hitchhiker again. He is not holding the sign and he is walking in a fast pace. He's a blurry red dot down the road but there's no mistaking the brown jacket and bright red pants. I quickly tell Tony and Bruce as Tony goes to fetch Jane to look around for Lila who have walked the dog out to a field. I don't know why we all went into such a panic. Bruce began shouting for Lila who said Doris hasn't gone number two yet and got almost loud with her telling her we had to leave now. She looked at him a bit puzzled, puzzled, began walking and that's when Doris stops dead in her tracks to go to the bathroom. Tony came around the corner with Jane and began loading in the snacks as Bruce and myself stood there waiting for Lila, watching the hitchhiker come closer. He's no more than 400 yards away and he must have recognized us as he began shouting wait there. Hold on to us. Doris finally finished and Lila's speed walked over. She put Doris in the travel crate in the back and got in the car. The hitchhiker was just over 40 yards away from speed walking over to us when Tony drove out of the gas station. That is enough for one day. Jane said as she laid her head to Tony's side. He chuckled and nodded in agreement asking if we would be okay with going to a motel A city earlier than planned. The gas station employee had recommended a nice place without cockroaches and shady staff. Two towns over, one town further than the goal of the hitchhiker. We all agree that that's a nice idea and two hours later around 10:20pm we drive into the nicest looking motel parking lot I've ever seen. It had a concrete fountain surrounded by steel pillars to protect it from cars set up in the center. The entire motel was U shaped with mint panels outside and dark brown roofs. You park along the inside or outside and the reception would be at the bottom, short end in the middle. An overweight bald man sat there smiling sweetly at me. I couldn't tell if he was just happy to have a customer or maybe a bit into me, but I played into it, leaning in, giving him a smile as I booked us a double room. Basically he had a wall taken down with the pillar supporting it and making two small rooms a bigger one. He gave me 20% off as well and that's when I asked if he was okay with a dog staying with us. I waved Lila over and picked up Doris, saying she would be scared sleeping alone in the car. He awed at her and pointed down between his legs. We were all a bit taken until a similar dog to Doris jump jumped up in his lap. He laughed and said that it would be fine as long as we do a pet deposit of $50 and that we would get it back when he checks the room when we leave. We all got situated and made our beds, checked for creep cams and turned on the TV for a rerun of Chuck. We all sat on the two beds on the same side, snacking away, talking of work and stuff as Jane recommended I give one of her friends A call. She had said that I was cute and showed me very pretty pictures of her. We had all pretty much forgotten about the hitchhiker at this point and went to bed around and went to bed around 2am At 3am I wake up to Doris's wet nose poking me in the ear. I had the bed by the window and she made a smile as I woke up. All the others were dead asleep and I thought maybe she needed a walk. My own dogs were at a sick her and I was a good friend of Doris and I really liked Doris. So I put her collar on and walked up and down the grass along the windows before going back inside. But the entire time I felt like something was staring at us. Doris then makes an odd stance and I see that the motel clerk's dog is walking around freely and looking very happily at Doris. However, I didn't have Lila's permit or information about letting her say hello to other dogs. So I just went back inside. Once inside I heard scratching at the door. First very soft, then more intense. I walked up to the door and shushed the dog outside and back to bed. Then I heard it scratch and bark. Not the loudest barks, but loud enough. I pull the curtains aside and I don't see a dog. There's nothing there. So I go back to bed. But as soon as I do, it starts up again. I look over and the other four are fast asleep as I sit up in bed and put a shirt on. About to go open the door when Doris stops me indirectly by standing in front of me and blocking the door. She stood in the guarding stance and looked up at me. For those who don't know, Lhasas are a smaller breed with ever growing long hair if not cut short like Doris's. They are very strong and muscular for their size. However, I looked at her and it was like if she could speak with words. Looking at me as if she said don't open the door. She wasn't barking either, which was kind of odd. The scratching picked back up and I went to the window faster this time, swiping the curtain off. And just as I do, something moved out of sight. Now I know it's not a dog, it's a person. A person wearing bright red pants. I immediately remember the hitchhiker and wonder how he knew where we were going. I guess the gas station employee must have told him or something about the suggestions he gave us. I considered waking up the others or something but settled on grabbing the motel phone. Even though the double room had all beds on one side and the couch and dining setup on the other side. Both phones were still in so I sat myself down on the couch and called the reception. Nobody picked up, but then again it's about 4am and I wasn't expecting it either. So I google the motel and look for the owner's name to see if I can call him directly. I found his number and he picked up confused and a bit annoyed until I told him who called. I explained the situation from start to finish and he told me that a homeless person had tried to get a free room for the night. He had obviously declined him and told him to leave but the guy kept shifting his eyes around the cars like a paranoid sicko until he finally left the area. He had then double checked all rooms were locked and went to the back office. He told me he was going to get his big dog and scare him off with a weapon if he had to and just asked me to keep an eye out. I walked up to the window where the door for the further room had been before and opened the curtain a bit to see him stand there waiting outside the door. He knew of he didn't realize the double room feature and thought that he was sneaking like a pro on us. Lila and Bruce woke up at that point and asked what was going on but as I hushed them I told them not to move and stay in bed and they kind of laid down. Bruce began texting me asking what's up as I informed him. A little while later I'm on the phone with the owner again telling him I can see the guy. He hung up and said that he was going to get his dog. As I waited he started barking again but this time I could see his silhouette moving with the sounds as he scruffed out barks before I heard the pleasing sound of the owner screaming leave before I put you down. The owner was walking from the reception area looking angry with a smaller dog on his side walking freely and what looked like a 160 pound American Akita or something. The dog was massive and looked angry and if the overweight owner wasn't anchoring it to slow down I think it would have bolted off and ripped the hitchhiker apart or something. The hitchhiker ran off scared, scared and the owner returned to the reception area dropping the big dog off before coming down to talk to me. Bruce and Lila Doris greeted the other small dog for a moment and we discussed again how we met him and declined him a ride. The owner let out a well, at least no one's hurt and smiled a smile that went away slowly as he looked down at the door, squinting a bit as he let out a what the heck? And pointed. It turned out the scratching at the door had been scratching with a knife or some other sharp object. The door's lower hinge was stabbed and scratched. Some wood chips lay on the ground and it makes me wonder what could have happened if I had opened the door while he was pretending to be a dog. We let Jane and Tony sleep while going out to the reception area and having some cold sodas and beers with the owner to keep watch in case the hitchhiker came back. He told us some stories about weird motel guests deaths and strange things happening in the motel, like the one time he claims a day was missing one week. The rest of the early morning was lovely and we caught up Tony and Jane around 9am they didn't understand how they slept through the whole deal and Jane got seriously creeped out compared to Tony who brushed it off as not as bad as last time. We got in the car around 10am and I said goodbye to the owner after adding him on Facebook and being made clear that we were very welcome back anytime. We all gave him a five star review. As we got in the car and drove around the corner to continue on, I looked into the tumbleweeds on the roadside and saw the red pants, brown jacket and a pair of shoes dumped on the ground before them. I didn't see or hear him, but I could not shake the feeling that he was watching somewhere. We got on the road and drove over five hours before stopping again and by then we all stopped worrying. The rest of the trip was uneventful and on the way back we saw that just one shoe and parts of the jacket remained. We stayed at the motel again and nothing happened, but the motel owner informed us it's not entirely unheard of for people to be going out in the desert and not coming back. Whether he went out and died, stole new clothes or just hitchhiked somewhere naked, I still to this day am just so very happy that I did not open the door when I thought that it was a dog. It's.