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Hey, before this episode begins, I just want to let everyone know that my film that I've been producing for the last two years, Gale Yellow Brick Road, is now streaming on Chilling. So if you weren't able to go see it in theaters a couple months ago, no worries. Click the link in the description to this video or just search Chilling in your app store and you can watch Gale Yellow Brick Road tonight at home. I really hope you enjoy. Please leave an honest rating and review on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes. Thanks again. Hey, welcome back to the podcast. I really hope you enjoy this episode and if you'd like to hear more stories like these with a different background sound, please check the description to check out my other two podcasts. And if you want to get rid of all of the ads, you can subscribe for just 2.99amonth. Last thing I really appreciate you being here and I'd really love if you would follow the podcast and come back again soon. Thank you so much. I hope you enjoy. My wife and I traveled back to her hometown in Brisbane, Australia for the New Year holidays to spend some time relaxing in the sun with the extended family and friends. Unfortunately, it was ruined by an encounter with a creep who insisted with a very vicious persistence that I wear the party hat that came out of the bonbon I shared with him. For those who don't know. A bon bon is like a party cracker that two people pull from each end and break open. They contain a small trinket, like a whistle, balloon, party hat, etc. I knew hardly anyone at the party except for my wife's immediate family, which totaled four people. There were about 20 people gathered after dinner. Dessert was served and along with it some festively decorated bonbons. I was seated next to a man of about 30. He looked relatively normal, except he hadn't touched a drop of alcohol the whole night and as far as I could tell, he was nursing the same ginger beer I saw him with when I first walked in. Apart from exchanging a friendly nod when I sat next to him, we had not said a word to each other. Then the bon bons came out and I suddenly found myself being presented with one end of it by him. Other guests were already pulling theirs apart, so I obliged and pulled my end. A small folded square of paper flew out and into my lap. It was a party hat, purple, shaped like a crown and made from what looked like tissue paper. I laughed and offered it to him. He stared pointedly at me, really cold, hard eyes. Put it on, mate, he said. It sounded more like an order. I instantly felt awkward and didn't know whether to laugh at his reaction or not. I excused myself and told him I'd give it to one of the kids as it was clearly far too small to fit on my head. He did not like this answer. Hey, come on, it's a party. Just have some fun and put the hat on. He was visibly angry when he said it. My awkwardness peaked to an intolerable level and I told him I'd go find one of the kids to give it to. I found my wife and asked who the guy was. She said she didn't know him, but knew his name was Jono and took the hat for me. I saw he wasn't seated at the table anymore but was mingling about the room talking to other guests. But as he was talking to them, he would look over at me and even point me out and say something to the person. They looked confused and a little creeped out themselves by the way he was making a gesture like putting a hat on too. Then he would screw up his face when looking at me. A little later I was having a small talk with my wife's brother in law when Jono came out of nowhere and said to him, you see this guy here? He looked disgustedly at me. He wouldn't even put the hat on. It's new Year's Eve and he wouldn't even have any fun. Her brother in law looked really confused and sort of just steered the conversation back to ourselves while trying to ignore him. As Jono left our chat, he said to me, coming in close to my ear, you'll wear that hat even if I have to put it on ya dead head myself. Well when someone says something like that, what do you do? The whole rest of the evening was spent in nervous anticipation of another run in with Jono. He was still there of course, watching me from one side of the room or the other. Sometimes he would grin and make a weapon with his finger and go bang bang bang silently from across the room. I did however come face to face with him again that night as I went to the toilet. It was occupied and I stood waiting by the door. I heard the toilet flush and then the door open. It was Jono. He looked me up and down then put his arm across the doorframe. Sorry, only for people who wear party hats. He looked defiant, psychotic and very dangerous. Then he laughed and removed his arm. A few moments after I had entered the toilet, there was a massive bashing sound on the door. The door shook on its hinges once, twice, then one final time, which knocked the door handle off completely.
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Then Jono screaming at me from outside in the hall, wear the hat. It's a party. Wear it. Then there was a weird silence. The only sound was the muffled music coming from the living room. Everyone was silent. It stayed like that for a few minutes, maybe more. Then I exited. Everyone seemed to be acting normally and what's more, there was no Johnno to be found. One guest, I didn't know their name, asked me if I had heard the guy banging his head against the toilet door and I wasn't going to stick around to see if he was still there. I grabbed my wife and made an excuse to leave and we got out of there. But it didn't end there. The next day around 3am There were three or four sharp knocks on my front door. They definitely weren't from somebody's hand, sounded more like a hammer or something heavy. I opened the door very slowly and found no one there. Then I noticed it nailed to my front door with a tenpenny nail. Through it was the purple party hat that I had pulled from the bonbon. We cut our holiday short and flew home the next day. In 2007, when I myself was 7 years old years old, my single mom began dating a man who lived in a campground and she, my older brother and I soon moved in with him. While most campgrounds are seasonal and not intended for residential use, this particular campground had a large area up front dedicated to campers and a row of trailers in the background that people lived in full time. Most of the trailers were occupied by elderly folks who wanted a cheap place to live that was close to nature and there was only one other family there with kids my age. It was lonely during the off seasons when no families came to the camp, but during the summer numerous families would stay there, giving me the opportunity to make new friends and in some cases reunite with the families that would visit on a yearly basis. Summers in the campground were lots of fun for a kid my age. There was a large pool in the center of the campground, a pavilion that would host parties practically every night, and plenty of new people coming in and out as the summer progressed. However, this influx of strangers made my mom weary and she always stressed to me that not all grown ups were nice, especially given how many were intoxicated during their vacation. Thankfully, I never really encountered anyone truly malicious in the seven years I lived there, a few oddballs and more Drunks than I could count, of course, but most people were either nice or simply kept to themselves. However, one summer a rumor had begun to spread amongst the kids in the campground. I was told that there was an elderly couple visiting that summer that had been caught a number of times staring into people's windows, following them at night, and even supposedly intentionally walking in on people as they use the public showers. I didn't take this warning very seriously, since scary stories told between kids were the norm in a place like that and I personally hadn't encountered any creepy old people. I suppose word of this got to my mom because she reminded me to always close my blinds at night just in case. Since she began to take it seriously, so did I, until the nights became unbearably hot and I began keeping my window and blinds open at night in order to let cooler air into my room. I had gone days without any strange encounters, so I figured the rumors were simply rumors and continued to leave my windows open at night. One night I was in bed playing my DS and watching old Disney Channel sitcoms at around one in the morning or so when I started to hear rustling outside. This wasn't particularly unusual since we had outside cats who liked to play in the leaves, and it wasn't uncommon for deer, raccoons, coyotes, and other wild animals to pass through our yard, entering and exiting the woods behind the line of trailers. When you live in the country, the nights can be just as lively as the days due to wildlife. However, the rustling seemed to be much louder than I was accustomed to. Whatever was making the noise wasn't nearly as light of foot as a typical animal. My bed was directly in front of my window, so I would have to turn my body completely around to look outside, and I was simply too tired to do so, even if it meant catching a glimpse of an elusive coyote. After a while, the noises stopped, so they completely faded from my mind as I continued to play my game. About 15 minutes later or so, I heard an incredibly strange noise. However, it sounded like a fingernail scratching against the mesh screen in my window. I immediately started to feel anxious. The cats couldn't reach my window, and no wild animal would care to come that close to a bright window. Instinctively, I turned around to see what made the noise. Right outside my window was an elderly man, wide eyes and a big toothless grin face, practically pressed against my window. His expression wasn't at all what I would have expected. He looked so genuinely happy to see me, as if he had been waiting all that time for me to turn around and notice him. Instead of screaming for my mom or my brother, I froze up just staring at this face in my window for what felt like minutes, but was probably more like seconds before. I grabbed the blinds rod and rapidly twisted it, closing my blinds and throwing my blankets over my head. I remember trying to take shallow breaths as though I were afraid he would hear me despite already having seen me. I tried to convince myself it was just a hallucination, or maybe even my own reflection distorted, but I knew that what I saw was real. It was inches away from me, separated only by a thin mesh screen. At some point I must have fallen asleep because as soon as I woke up I rushed to tell my mom what had happened. She immediately called the campground's owners, pretty close friends of ours, and they informed us that the old man, along with his wife, had already been kicked out. Apparently, after I closed my blinds and shut him out, the old man went to another trail trailer with an open window, one belonging to one of my neighbors who was also still awake. She called the campground owners, who immediately called the cops and they evicted him along with his wife, who was apparently making her rounds peering into the windows of the campers up front. They had been doing this for over a week and finally had been caught. To this day, I am not really sure what their motives were. It could have been a source of perverse pleasure to them, or it could have simply been an exciting hobby of theirs, seeing how long they could stare at people before they noticed. Regardless, this event shook me quite a bit, and it was a long time before I was comfortable even having my blinds open whatsoever. I was more than willing to suffocate in the summer heat if it meant not risking being spied on again. I lived in that camp campground for seven years and my childhood was certainly interesting due to it. I mean, what kid doesn't want to live in a place that's a 24? 7 vacation? But the voyeuristic couple who came to visit in the summer of 2008 definitely changed my perspective. Anybody who has ever camped up in the Adirondack area of upstate New York knows just how breathtaking and beautiful it can be any time of the year. Last year I stayed with my family in a cabin that rested in the mountains. I had recently split up for my longtime girlfriend, and it seemed like a wonderful place to go to clear my head. At first my theory was correct. It was therapeutic and beautiful being out in nature, and it was nice spending some time with my family. One of the really nice things about this cabin was that it was truly separated from any other residents. The closest cabin or campsite was probably at least a mile or more away. This meant we had total and complete privacy. Or so we thought. One late afternoon, probably around 5pm, we heard some shuffling coming from the front of the cabin. We were sitting on the back porch and heard some movement that sounded like footsteps. A little on edge, my brother and I got up and got ready just in case we needed to leap into action. All of a sudden, two middle aged men walked into the back where we were sitting. I asked in a very abrasive and annoyed voice, hey, what are you doing? Can I help you with something? The men just looked and laughed and said in a cheery voice, why hello there young man. My name is Louis and this is Tito. We just really wanted to check the view out at this place. We have heard so many wonderful stories. The man seemed sincere, but something just didn't seem right to me. I still looked at them with an uneasy feeling in my stomach, but my mother, who is a very friendly person, made small talk with the man. Perhaps the most unsettling thing of this entire interaction was the friend Tito who was just standing around looking at the house with seemingly no facial movements or anything. Louis was charismatic, smiled a lot and made lots of eye contact where Tito was almost the opposite. After several minutes of small talk they vanished back out into the woods. I was not a fan of this at all and quickly let my family know about it. Where were these guys coming from? I thought. As I stated previously, the closest place was about a mile mile or so away and the place belonged to the guy who owned the cabin we were staying in. So Louis and Tito must have been hiking for a little while to get to our cabin, which is not unlikely up in the Adirondacks. But something was off about that entire interaction. It bothered me all night. Around 11pm My family went to bed and I sat around a fire with my brother and his fiance. Every little noise I heard caught caused me to jump. My brother told me not to worry about it and I was just worrying too much over nothing. I pretended everything was okay, but really I was still uneasy about our unwelcomed visitors. Shortly after midnight, it was just my brother and I around the fire. We decided to let the last few logs burn out before we went inside. This is when Lewis decided to pay us another visit, but this time he was not so friendly. My brother and I jumped out of our chairs and were now facing Lewis and Tito who were coming out of the woods. They looked crazy. Lewis did not have that same charming personality as before. His eyes were bulging from his head and he flashed his pearly white teeth in an almost sadistic way. Tito, who was almost a statue earlier in the day, stood next to Louis, also smiling and slowly approaching me and my brother. Louis started to slowly approach us and said, this cabin really is lovely. I think we will be staying here now. He reached into his bag as if to pull something out. Tito, who was slightly behind him, was already wielding some sort of bushwhacking sword. Not trying to take any chances as to what Lewis was pulling out of the bag, my brother decided to tackle him. He went down with relative ease. As Tito approached my brother with the sword, I ran over and pushed him, strictly only using adrenaline as my motivator. Both men got up and backed away. Lewis, now standing about 10ft away, kept saying, you have no idea who I am and who you are messing with. I built this house. This is my land. After repeating this a couple of times, Tito finally spoke up as well and said in an almost robotic voice, we shall have our land back. We must wait for the right time. Tito grabbed the shoulder of Lewis and they both ran into the woods. Remember, this is after midnight in the woods, so it was pitch black other than a soft orange light from the dying fire. We put the fire out rather quickly and went inside the cabin and made sure all the doors and windows were locked. My brother and I stayed up all night and basically watched the property to make sure they did not return. I have never been so happy to see the sun in my entire life. The next day we went to see the property owner and told him about the entire night. He said he had never heard the two names before and assured me that no Lewis ever built the house. The owner who we were renting the cabin from, told us that he had built the cabin 10 years ago. So who were these two that claimed they had built the cabin? The owner was kind enough to refund us the rest of the the nights we were supposed to stay at the cabin. I know this could have ended much worse for us, but all things considered, I am very lucky that I left with no more than some minor psychological damage. Be safe everybody.
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Work your magic and always lock your doors. You never know who could be creeping around. When I was a junior in college, I took a Modern American literature course under a professor who I will call Dr. H. Her class took place right after the lunch period. So many of her students would come into the classroom looking like they were ready for a nap. Dr. H sympathized with us, so before she started the day's lecture, she would tell us an interesting story in hopes for waking us up a bit. Usually her stories were tidbits about the author we were studying that day. Some stories were more successful successful than others in getting our attention. But there was one story she told that got everyone's attention. She said that the story was a little long, but she thought we would find it interesting because, as she put it, the devil is in the details. Dr. H was a senior in college at the time this story took place. She shared a room with another senior who she called S. They had both. Both spent the day reading and working on papers for the week ahead, only breaking once to eat some sandwiches while listening to the radio. About 8pm Dr. H&S. Decided to reward themselves with the rest of the night off. Dr. H had a novel that she had been dying to read. While S. Wanted to treat herself to some cocktails. S told Dr. H that she would only be gone for an hour, tops. She then said, said in a joking manner, if I'm not back in two hours, make sure the police find my body. S. Decided to have a cocktail or two at a bar that was popular with her classmates because it was so close to campus. She sat down at the bar and ordered a dry martini. She did not notice that she was seated right next to a man until she looked up from her glass and was greeted with a smile. The man tipped his tumbler at her and said, said hello. S. Was immediately embarrassed, especially because there was an empty seat to her right. She was about to move to the other seat, feeling as if she had violated one of the unspoken rule of bars. But before she could get out of her seat, the man said, you don't have to move if you don't want to. I like the company. The man extended his hand to S. And introduced himself as Chris. He said that he worked in construction and was renting a room in the area. He asked S. What she was studying and she told him she was a psychology major. Chris's eyes lit up and to S's surprise, he began to talk about Freud and Young. She told him she had to do an experiment for her final project and he asked her which method she would be using, an observational study or a survey. She told him she wanted to make a link between lack of empathy and the potentiality for criminal behavior. She told him she wanted to do an observational study, something similar to Milgram's controversial studies, but based on posing scenarios rather than shock experiments. Chris shook his head. You should do a survey instead. S. Pointed out that people could lie on a survey without thinking twice about it, but that it was a lot harder to lie to someone's face. Chris chuckled. Sweetheart, a psychology professor could look at a student, the same student for three years, and never have an inkling that the kid killed his mother and has her buried in his backyard. People can lie to your face if they want to keep a secret bad enough, but a true sicko can't refuse the chance to show his true colors on a survey because that guy wants to shock you. S. Listened as Chris argued that Jack the Ripper's letters from hell proved his point, but she had already decided that though Chris knew some things about psychology, his lack of knowledge was beginning to show. Nevertheless, S. Still appreciated how passionate Chris was about helping her make the right decision regarding her project. She eventually told Chris that she would bring up all the good points he had made to her professor, and this seemed to satisfy him. Though S. Was attracted to men her own age, Chris had a certain appeal. He was not bad looking for an older man, and most importantly, he was easy to talk to. Over the course of 45 minutes, they had talked about various subjects, including psychology, politics and political places Chris had traveled to while working various construction jobs. In all that time, Chris had not hit on S. Once. If Chris was trying to seduce her, he was being admirably patient in his approach. He did offer to buy S. Another martini when she finished her first, and though S. Would have normally said no to the offer, she felt so comfortable around Chris that she let him buy her a drink. While she had carefully nursed her first martini, S. Quickly drained her second, and without asking permission first, Chris bought her another. S. Did not mind because she wanted to spend more time with Chris. It pleased her that Chris seemed to have no expectations for sex in return for his generosity. S's attention quickly turned momentarily from Chris to the television. Behind the bartender, the newscaster was giving a preview for the evening news, which included a story about a fatal car accident that had occurred earlier that morning. S. Told Chris that she had heard about the accident on the radio that afternoon. She said that she felt terrible because a whole family had been killed in a head on crash. Chris replied, I wonder if anyone was beheaded. Then he chuckled. S. Was stunned by this sudden change in Chris personality, it was like an invisible mask had quietly slipped off of Chris face to reveal the true man underneath. S. Had an urge to leave the bar, but the psychology major in her was intrigued. She had read about inappropriate effect and emotional personality disorders, but she had never met someone who displayed any of those characteristics before. Any desire that she had to sleep with Chris was now over, but she thought that he might be an interesting story to share with her fellow psychology majors. S. Continued to listen as Chris started talking in graphic detail about some of the accidents he had seen at construction sites, including one guy whose hand and wrist got pulled into a cement mixer and another guy who fell four stories from from scaffolding and wound up in a twisted mess on the rubble below. The whole time he was talking about his fellow co workers being maimed or killed on the job, Chris was smiling and giggling. S. Tried not to show her disgust, but when Chris followed up on a story of one of his co workers being impaled by a piece of rebar by inviting S. To his room for some real drinks, S. Suddenly remembered that she told her roommate she would be back in an hour. Chris's face was suddenly indifferent. Not angry or sad, but more cold and expecting. Most men would have tried to turn on the charm in hopes of salvaging the night with a potential conquest, but Chris had already caught the eye of a blonde that had just walked into the bar. S. Said good night. Chris gave her a little wave, but said nothing. When S4 finally arrived back to her room, S. Apologized for being late. She told Dr. H that she had been talking with a man. Dr. H smiled at the news and said, so what was he like? S. Replied, he was interesting, but not in a good way. Early that morning, Dr. H was woken up by a pounding sound on their door. She heard the RA shouting on the other side of the door, door, wake up. The campus is on lockdown. Dr. H had to shake S awake. They went outside to the hallway and saw the other occupants on the floor, standing in nightgowns and pajamas, crying, whispering, or just looking dazed and confused. The RAs looked panicked and they spoke to each other in whispers. Dr. H learned through the various conversations that multiple girls had been brutally attacked on campus just minutes ago. Police believed that the killer could still be on campus. No one in that dorm at that moment knew the extent of what had just taken place. Later that morning, each girl in the dorm was asked if they had seen anyone strange that night. For a moment, S thought of Chris, but she told herself more than likely that Chris was with a woman right now. S. Told the officer no and thought nothing more about it. When a news report finally broke a month later showing that the campus killer had been apprehended, there was a collective sigh of relief and a few loud cheers from the young women gathered around the television. Dr. H. Smiled, but when she turned to look at S. Her roommate was staring at the television. Her eyes were wide and her face looked pallid. S. Said, I think I'm going to throw up. It was not until two years later, when Dr. H. Who had just finished her master's degree, and S. Who was now a law student, were having brunch, that the subject of that horrifying night was brought up again. Dr. H. Said that S. Suddenly looked like she was not feeling too good. Dr. H. Asked S. What was wrong. There was a pause as S. Took a sip of her orange juice. Dr. H. Could see that S's hand was shaking. S. Finally spoke that night at the bar. If Chris had asked me to go to his room 30 minutes into our conversation, I would have gladly gone. S. Began to tear up. She then added, I wonder if I would be here right now. The man S. Had drinks with that night was Ted Bundy. This happened back when I was 14, but even with my bad memory, I remember remember this years later. I honestly think that this memory will haunt me for the rest of my life. I would often go walking either alone or with my neighbor Jim, but this specific night she didn't go with me. I usually went walking around nine at night, but was impatient that night, so I left about 15 minutes early. It was summer in Texas, but I grabbed my black hoodie anyway. The reason for this was because I was a pretty small kid, even for my age, and I would walk with a knife in my sleeve in case of a problem. There was security in this area, but they were pretty much useless and weren't fond of the kids anyway, so the black was to avoid them seeing me and to maybe help avoid being noticed by anyone else too. The area was heavily wooded and the roads had no street lights. I had literally lived there my whole life, so with the moonlight this wasn't really an issue. I could see things as much as I needed to. I walked to the park in the area and sat down on the swing set like I had a million times before. The park was old and wasn't very well taken care of, so the swing set creaked. The wooden picnic tables were half rotted with the paint mostly peeled away, and the metal slide was Cut, covered in rust. There was the main road that ran in front of the park and a branch off road that ran along the side of the park with a thin line of trees between the side road and park. After a while, a favorite song of mine came on and I of course started singing it. Since singing was a big way, I let out stress. Despite my stage fright, I had a tendency to not hold back when singing at this park since there was there was rarely people near it during the day, let alone at night. My blood ran cold though, when I saw the shape of a person maybe 50 to 100ft in front of me on the main road. The main reason for the chill was the fear that this random person heard me sing. But then I got a deeper bad feeling. Something was just wrong about them. I noticed that the person was walking really fast, like really fast, almost running speed. I figured he might have been running from something or after something. But when I looked around, everywhere that I could possibly see from where I was, I saw nothing else but them. They soon passed by the park, not seeming to notice me. And after a few minutes of waiting to make sure they were gone, I continued singing. After a couple more songs, I decided that it was time to go home. I still had that bad feeling, that uneasy pit in my stomach that you get when you're being watched. I even thought I saw something behind the treeline between the side road and the swings. But I brushed that off as an animal or something. Deer were really common, so were dogs and things like that. So it was probably me getting spotted, spooked by an animal again. But the feeling was eating away at me. So I cut my usual 30 minute to an hour walk to about 10 minutes. So I got up and started to leave the park, turning onto the main road to go home. As I was leaving, I saw a person walking toward the main road from the road that ran alongside the park. It looks like the same person as before. It was a man. He must have been this visiting a friend or something, right? Even if that was the case, I crossed to the opposite side of the street so I wouldn't pass directly by him. He didn't look particularly dangerous or unusual. So sadly no weird, creepy homeless looking man for this story. I just got a bad feeling from him, which is probably what makes him even more terrifying.
B
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He got to the intersection before me and stopped. I passed by and glanced at the man, taking in what details I could. Under the moonlight that came from between the tree branches, he looked normal. He was probably an average height, wearing a pure white ball cap with no logos that casted a shadow over his face and a pure white polo type shirt. There wasn't a speck of dirt on the man. He looked well kept and it made the moonlight almost shine on him like some kind of ghost, which just added to my uneasy feeling. He watched me as I passed by and I tried to pretend that I didn't notice. I would occasionally look around as if I was just looking at the woods so I could see the mountain man out of my peripheral vision. I didn't want or need to see the man in detail, partly because I was scared of the possibility of seeing something else too. Just because the man was much larger than me didn't mean that he wasn't probably armed too. Once I was around 15ft past the intersection, I glanced and my stomach dropped as I saw him turn and start to follow me. Maybe he was just just going for an extra long walk or something. He probably isn't following me right then. Another thought popped in my head and sent my stomach to my feet. I had been there for probably 10 minutes or so, singing after he passed. What if he wasn't visiting anyone? What if he was the thing I saw just beyond the tree line? That's kinda obvious now that this was almost definitely definitely the case. But let's be fair, when do 14 year olds ever Think through all the details of a situation completely during the situation. He was probably watching me the whole time. He could have snuck up and done God knows what at any time. I kept doing my glances and noticed that he was getting closer and closer. I gripped my knife tighter, ready in case I had to use it. The chance of it going well wasn't the best, but it was a better chance than not trying at all. But I wanted that to be a last ditch option. I tried to make sure it wasn't obvious I was keeping tabs on him. I didn't want him getting anxious and having to decide to speed up or whatever his plan was. I was only halfway home and this was before I had surgery on my ankle, so I was absolutely sure he could catch me before I reached the house if I started running where I was, so that wasn't an option whatsoever. I didn't have many current options, so the one I chose was to bide my time until an opportunity opened up. I kept walking at a rather quick but unpanicked pace, keeping tabs on the man as he inched closer and kept an eye out for opportunities. And an opportunity came. I saw headlights. A car was rolling towards me at a careful pace like normal, considering the animals I mentioned earlier. It was Jem's dad. I recognized the shape of the lights, and as the car got closer I became convinced it was him. I was never so relieved to see that tiny white car. I tried signaling him without letting the man know I was, but he just passed by. He must have thought I was just saying hi. I glanced back again. Even though he didn't stop, he did exactly what I needed. He slowed down a bit as he passed. The man backed up a lot and crossed to the other side of the road. The headlights were on him and he couldn't see me. At least for around five or six seconds. Maybe a bit longer, including readjusting to the dark. I walked faster. I didn't run that way my steps wouldn't be too loud. But I rounded the corner before he would be able to readjust and get sight of me again. Once I could turn and no longer see him, I rushed home and locked the door. I knew better than to leave it unlocked, since after all, I lived in the woods. Just because I couldn't see him anymore didn't mean he wasn't nearby and didn't mean mean he couldn't see me. As stupid as this next part is, it's probably for the best that I did it. I texted Jim. I asked her to meet me outside right now because something happened and I needed to come over. She said okay. And we both went outside. And as soon as I saw her in the driveway, I sprinted to her house. I didn't want to be outside any longer than I had to be. She. She kept panicking and asking what happened and what was wrong. And once I caught my breath, I told her everything. Right after I got done explaining, her dad walked in the house. He looked at Jem seeming worried, then noticed me hiding behind her. He looked relieved and told her I was about to tell you to ask her to come over here. I asked him if he saw the man following me. He said he did. He didn't really see his face, but that he was trying to make it look like he was on the phone when he wasn't holding anything. But that wasn't even close to the worst part. I think this was the first time I have seen this man scared. And I am not sure if I've ever seen fear like this from him since he told us the man wasn't alone. There was a gate at the front of where I lived that needed a card to get in. Apparently there was another man outside the gate who looked similar to the first, standing by a van. That mean they didn't live there, didn't want security knowing they were there and wanted to get out quickly and quietly after they did whatever they were there for. Needless to say, I spent the night at Jem's that night and I have no clue what would have happened had Jem's dad not driven by or or if I would have left at my normal time. My name is Riley and I am a 26 year old guy from Milwaukee. This story I'm about to tell is true and took place about three years ago. Here's a bit of background information. It was late summer, probably early September, and a group of my friends and I decided we wanted to go on an urban exploration. This was something we had done often in some of the more run down areas of Milwaukee, usually its northern side. It was pretty risky stuff because of the area's history of drugs, gang violence and squatters. However, we were. We were always very careful in these situations and had pretty good luck with never running into any crazy people. You could say we were just fascinated about what was inside the buildings and it gave us a bit of a rush. The night we left there was a small group of us going five in total. It was me and my friends Jamie, Kevin, Vin and Ty. We were all relatively the same age except except ty who was 29 and had gone to the same high school in the suburb of Bayside where we had lived. My friend Jamie was the only girl going and also happened to be the one who would drive us there because she had a large SUV that could fit us all. She also happened to be Kevin's girlfriend at the time. Anyway, we drove up to North Milwaukee past some very bad neighborhoods and many run down buildings buildings. The location we were going to was an old elementary school that had shut down back in the late 90s. We had learned about it through an Urban Explorer Facebook group and managed to get in contact with a guy who had been there twice. He told me that the building was quite large and had three floors as well as a basement floor that was completely destroyed due to flooding and exposure. He said that it still had a stage stage down there where the little kids would perform in plays and musicals. I also remember him telling me that he found some old costumes the kids used to perform in. But he also warned me that there was a lot of black mold and asbestos. Nonetheless, we parked in a large parking lot behind the school that at one point was a busy plaza but was virtually empty now and was extremely cracked and had we weeds growing all across it. We approached the back fence that separated the school playground and the lot. Most of the playground equipment was broken, rusted or missing. We all walked together to a small opening in the fence by the swing set that would just allow you to get through if you were careful enough. Kevin stood at 65 and weighed about 230 pounds so he knew he couldn't couldn't get through. It didn't matter because we wanted one person to wait by the car so it wasn't broken into and keep an eye out for cops or any weirdos who came in after us. However, Jamie sort of chickened out due to the weather and wanted to wait with Kevin so we let her. Ty, Vin and I got through the fence relatively easily and made our way across the playground towards the back doors of this school. Along the way I noticed a no trespassing sign a few feet away from the fence but quickly pushed it out of my mind. There was once a chain on the double doors that kept people from entering the school, but someone had cut it long ago and kicked it off to the side where it laid coiled up and rusted. Now I'm going to talk about the weather that night because I think it adds a lot to the story. It was in the high 80s but it felt much much higher due to the humidity in the distance. I remember there were Large storm clouds, so I knew we had to hurry with the exploration. Vin had brought a camera with him and Ty was recording with his cell phone and had a flashlight app open. We never ended up needing the flashlight because enough light was trickling in through the broken ceiling and busted windows. As we entered, the door opened with almost no not noise, but the floor was covered with pieces of broken ceiling, paint chips, trash and dust. The air smelled very wet and musty. The temperature inside felt much hotter and more humid, but we just wiped our foreheads and held our water bottles in our hands. We looked around the floor, which was the ground floor for about 15 minutes before we decided to move to the second floor. TY significant suggested the basement, but the Facebook guy's description and the condition of the staircase changed all of our minds. Vin led the way, followed by me and Ty at the rear. The stairs were covered in debris, so our steps made very loud crunching noises all the way up the staircase. Keep this in mind. We had gone on these explorations many, many times and had never ran into anyone except a very nice homeless woman and her dog many years ago who told us to stay off drugs. You could say we were overconfident and had our guard down. We reached the second floor, which had many more classrooms than the bottom floor. Many of the rooms were completely trashed, either due to the weather or vandals who had come in. The desks laid all over the floor, either broken or knocked over. Most of the windows were boarded up or broken and graffiti covered almost every inch of the building that we had seen. However, some rooms were spared and looked as if the students who once sat in them had just vanished into thin air while nature slowly took the building. Many of the desks still had supplies in them, the coat hooks still had coats on them and the chalkboard still had writing on it. Ty even found a desk plate with a teacher's name on read Ms. Johnson. After we wiped away the dust, I eventually found a folder in one of the desks that belonged to a kid named Kiana. I gathered that she was a girl who was in fourth grade and even saw a date on one of her old assignments that indicated it was from February of 1999. Many of the rooms that were in better shape had had things like this, so we eventually got bored and decided it was time to move on. As we approached the staircase to the third floor, I had a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. The kind of feeling you get when you think someone is about to jump out and scare you any Minute I told Ty and Vin about it and Ty told me not to be a wimp and to just keep moving because he was starting to hear thunder in the distance. I noticed that it was starting to get cooler in the building and it was much easier to breathe. As we walked up to the third floor, it was here where we would run into a strange and frightening situation. I noticed that the third floor of the school was different from any other floor. The floor had much more trash on it, trash that appeared to be fairly recent. A lot of the old furniture was put in the back part of the first first hallway we had turned into and piled very high. Then Ty said something that for whatever reason, gave me a cold chill up my spine. He noticed that the floor was not nearly as dusty and had fresher footprints than any we had seen earlier. We walked for a few more minutes and I could tell that we were very nervous about running into someone. Just before we reached a hallway with a lot of cloud classrooms, I decided to text Kevin to see if there was any strange activity outside. He replied within 10 seconds and said that it looked normal but that it was going to rain any second. I told him to stay focused and message me if anything odd happened. We looked through many of the old rooms and found nothing but trash, old furniture and rubble. One of the rooms Vin had walked into had half of its floor caved in. He was lucky that he saw it when he did. A few more minutes went by and I heard Ty say, dude, check this out. Me and Vin walked over to him and saw that he was holding a bag full of old used syringes. The needles looked very old and the plastic Ziploc bag holding them was torn and tattered. I told him to drop the bag before he got hepatitis Titus or something. We all sort of chuckled and continued to walk down the hall toward the furniture pile. We noticed that behind this pile was a staircase that was completely filled with old shelves, chairs and tables. To our right was a large room that was relatively clear but had mattresses scattered about. There were a lot of cigarette butts laying on the floor and an old rusted oil drain drum was in the middle of the room. Vin said that the room used to be a library because of a small plaque he had seen above the doorway. It made sense to me why there were so many shelves and chairs piled up right outside. As we got closer to the far end of the room, we examined the mattresses. There were about five of them and they were all very dirty and torn up. Some had disgusting looking slightly stains and had horrible body odor smells to them. Vin noticed a small stack of dirty magazines by a bed on the farthest side of the room. We all got a giggle out of it. The room had two large windows parallel to each other, but they were boarded up and allowed almost no light into the room. As we got to the back of the room we heard the sound of music being played. All of us froze in unison as the the door swung open. There was a man at the entrance of the door. The look on his face told us that he was not happy that we were there. He was average height, had a shaved head and a short scruffy beard. He wore a faded brown shirt and some old white basketball shorts. His shoes were white at some point but now they had a stained brown look to them. He was the white man. His whole body was covered in a thick layer of dirt. I will never forget his eyes. They were a very pale blue and looked like the eyes of a wolf. However, at the same time I noticed the man behind him who gave me chills. This man never once stood up and sat on a lawn chair. With his left shoulder pointing towards us. He turned his head to look look at us. The man had bright pink hair tied in a ponytail and appeared to have no teeth at all. He looked very skinny and his skin looked tight and pale. His eyeballs bulged slightly and gave him an even more frightening appearance. He wore a white T shirt and black shorts. This man never once said a word to us. The man at the door spoke and a very rough and direct voice. He asked us what we were doing in the building and if we were cops. Ty answered first and told him that we were just documenting the old historical buildings in the area and that we had no intention of bothering anyone. The man appeared to relax more and asked us how long we were wanting to stay. I jumped in and told him that we were just about done and that we had to head out before the weather got bad. The man lit a cigarette and asked us if we wanted one but we all declined. He then offered to give us a tour of the building but we all quickly and in unison said no to the offer. The man's demeanor changed again as a dark and angry look fell on his face, almost as if we offended him by refusing the tour. He eventually chuckled and said okay. He introduced himself as Walter and said the pink haired man was Ronnie. To our surprise, the man cupped his hands as he hollered out quite loudly for someone named Marty. There was no reply and the bald man said that he Must have gone to go number two somewhere. As we talked for a few more minutes, I took out my cell phone and saw that Kevin had messaged me several times. The messages said that a man had walked into the building about a minute ago and that we needed to get out of there as soon as possible. The man asked us how many of us there were altogether. I lied and told him seven because at this point I was ready to crap my pants and the feeling in my stomach was coming back. There was something off about these guys. Something told me that they were very dangerous. Vin and Ty obviously felt the same way and had very worried looks on their faces. All the while. The radio continued to play but Walter ordered Marty to turn the radio off and that it was giving him a migraine. As he did it, two things entered my head. He said the pink haired guy was Ronnie, not Marty, and that as Ronnie or Marty or whoever the heck Rick reached for the radio, I noticed a bungee cord wrapped around his arm and a syringe in it. I don't think Walter noticed any of the things I was picking up on. But before anything could happen, another man entered the room. This guy was by far the weirdest and most unsettling of the group. He was fairly short and had medium length Bieber style dark hair. His clothes looked much newer but far too big for him. He had a blue Milwaukee Brewer's T shirt tucked into his oversized red sweatpants. His face looked sharp and leathery, but he appeared to have some sort of skin condition. His eyes were a beady black color and wide open parts of his face were a very bright pink and he had a large amount of bumps on the lower corner of his bottom lip. He spoke in a more high pitched rural accent. The other two men remained where they had been, Walter in the doorway and Marty or Ronnie in his chair. The new man said that his name was George and that he was very interested in Vin's camera. He asked what kind it was, where Vin got it, how much it cost and why he had it. Vin expl explained that his hobby was filming videos and that he would often photograph at weddings and other events. This was all true and the man immediately perked up and smiled the kind of smile that gives you an uneasy feeling in your gut. The best way to describe it would be how the Grinch smiled in the old animated movie. As creepy as that was, this is when it gets really creepy. He asks Vin if he has ever recorded any little girls beauty pageants or stuff along that line. Vin told him no and the man genuinely looked disappointed. He went on to say some more creepy stuff about how hot the girls in these pageants were and that he would die to be able to be alone with them. Our faces told the story of how we felt hearing this, but the man seemed obliterated. He asked us all if we had any kids of our own. Ty slipped up and told him that he had two twin girls who were 2 years old. The man giggled in a very creepy and cringy way. He then asked Ty if he ever left the girls alone by themselves or if he had a babysitter. Ty told him that he and his fiance watched the kids the majority of the time, but would occasionally have his aunt babysit them if they could not. George asked Ty if he had any photos of the girls. Ty showed him a few on his phone and the man asked a very strange question. He asked if he would allow his daughter to date a guy like him. By this point, I'm sure Ty wanted to drop this creep, but he also knew that the other two were behind us and could possibly have knives or something else. So instead he said he would have to get to know him more. The man giggled again and said that he could get to know them when he babysat them. The tone of his voice still gives me chills. It was said in such a slow, seductive type of way that left little doubt as to what this guy was. I saw Ty's brow drop and knew that he was getting pretty upset. I took my phone out and texted Kevin to honk his horn a bunch of times. As I did this, the creepy weirdo stepped toward me and asks me who I was messaging. He was close enough for me to smell his bourbon breath. I leaned back slightly and told him we needed to leave soon before the weather got really bad. Walter spoke again and said that we might as well stay. Stay? Since the storm would begin any moment and he didn't want us to get wet. Vin explained that we had two friends waiting in a car for us outside. Just as he said that we could hear a car horn blaring outside. Both the creep and the bald man showed no reaction to what happened and insisted that we stay and invite our friends in. We all stood there and explained that we had to leave and eventually they agreed. Nonetheless, George insisted that he walk us out and so we walked and got to the ground floor. As we crossed the floor we could hear this creepy man muttering to himself and giggle every now and then. We stepped outside and the weather was much cooler. The air smelled of ozone and there was a static feeling in the air as small droplets of rain hit my face. George walked us over to the area of the fence we had entered. You thought this was your Run Club era. Turns out it was more of a thinking about Run Club era. The good news? Someone's marathon training is about to start. Sell your workout gear on depop. 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slipped out first, followed quickly by Vin. They both stumbled down the steep hill and were waiting for me to go. As I tried to go through the fence, George pushed it against my chest. I was on edge but it still caught me off guard. I gasped and he leaned in real close. The smell of bourbon made me turn my head slightly. I will never forget what he said to me in a very quick burst. I know you know what I am. It doesn't matter because I like it. You're Lucky that fine girl was in the car with that fat guy or I would have done whatever I wanted to her. As he said whatever, he said it much slower, seductively and emphasized like he had earlier and licked his lips slowly at the end of the sentence. His beady eyes widened as he let go of the fence. I quickly slept. I slipped through and tumbled down to the concrete. I was totally fine but I looked up to the creepy psycho. Ty, Vin, Kevin and Jamie were all there to help me up. They all looked up at the man in shock and Ty hurled an insult at him. George slowly rose up and looked at Ty through the fence. He put his tongue on the chain link fence and made a licking motion. He winked, giggled, flashed his Grinch smile and said his last words to us for your girls and gave a very direct point to Ty. It took everything we had to keep Ty from going after him. But eventually we lost sight of George and we got Ty to calm down. We sat in the car as our adrenaline rushes damp and left us feeling exhausted. We told Kevin and Jamie everything we had seen, heard and felt. It was in the car that we decided to make this our last urban exploration ever. We all agreed unanimously that this was too close of a call. As I sat in the car I kept thinking about each of the men we had seen. Who exactly were they? They were obviously obviously addicts of some kind. But something seemed off about each of them. The pink haired man said nothing and was like a ghost. The bald man said little but his wolf like eyes spoke so much and the creepy man couldn't stop talking. I would later try to find these men on a website that posted jail mugshots. I could never find them until a few weeks ago. Vince sent me a link to a sex offender registry website. My heart nearly stopped. Pictured was the guy who said his name was George. He looked much younger and his hair was shorter but it was undeniably him. He even had the same creepy smile in the photo. However, his real name was Charles Earl Daley. He was a wanted sex offender from Arkansas who was confused, considered to be a very high risk offender and possibly armed. Reading about his crimes made me want to vomit and made me angry that it had taken us so long to find something on this guy. But I was amazed that Vin had found something. I eventually told the police about how we ran into this guy, but nothing came of it because the old school was officially torn down several months ago and I had no idea. Life has gone on normally. Our groups of friends still talk, hang out and reminisce about our exploration days. Nonetheless, the number one thing we always talk about is whatever happened to those men? Where is Charles Earl Daley who wasn't fortunate enough to escape from these guys? It still sends a shiver up my style spine to think about the danger that we were in. A cold, cold shiver.
Podcast: Scary Stories and Rain
Host: Being Scared
Date: May 20, 2026
This episode embodies the distinct style of Scary Stories and Rain: real accounts of disturbing, supernatural, or eerily mundane experiences, set against a backdrop of calming rain. Today’s curation features true horror stories about unsettling strangers, near-misses with danger, and brushes with evil intent—from a menacing partygoer in Australia, to stalkers outside country cabins, to a horrifying run-in during urban exploration. The calm narration contrasts with the deeply unnerving tales, perfect for listeners seeking both chills and comfort as they drift off.
“You’ll wear that hat, even if I have to put it on ya dead head myself.” — Jono (05:40)
This segment explores how quickly something as mundane as a party can become the stage for relentless psychological threat.
“Right outside my window was an elderly man, wide eyes and a big toothless grin face, practically pressed against my window...” (09:59)
“We shall have our land back. We must wait for the right time.” — Tito (20:55)
This story highlights the fear of isolation: that out beyond civilization, boundaries can blur between landowner and trespasser, sanity and delusion.
“If Chris had asked me to go to his room 30 minutes into our conversation, I would have gladly gone…I wonder if I would be here right now.” — S. (36:47)
“He watched me as I passed by and I tried to pretend that I didn’t notice…Once I was around 15ft past the intersection, I glanced and my stomach dropped as I saw him turn and start to follow me.” (39:20)
“He asks Vin if he has ever recorded any little girls’ beauty pageants or stuff along that line. Vin told him no and the man genuinely looked disappointed…He then asked Ty if he ever left the girls alone by themselves or if he had a babysitter.” (56:47-57:30) “I know you know what I am. It doesn’t matter because I like it. You’re lucky that fine girl was in the car…or I would have done whatever I wanted to her.” — George (1:04:08)
The episode is marked by the host’s soothing, narratorial cadence—a style that almost lulls, even as the stories jangle the listener’s nerves. The common theme is how dread often lurks in the familiar: parties, family cabins, neighborhoods, schools. It is a masterful pairing of atmospheric calm and visceral unease, making it ideal for horror lovers or those seeking the catharsis of confronting fear in safety.
Final advice from the host:
“Work your magic and always lock your doors. You never know who could be creeping around.” (22:58)