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Now I can instantly spend it whether I'm checking out online with Venmo or using a Venmo debit card. Say more. More. Exactly. Because the more you do with Venmo, the more you get like earning up to 5% cash back with Venmo Stash on a bundle of brands. So order more pizza. The math demands it. Get the Venmo debit card. Venmo Stash Bundle Terms and exclusions apply. See terms at venmo me stashterm venmo checkout not available at all merchants. Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank NA 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 and come back again soon. Thank you so much. I hope you enjoy. This happened during the summer of 2021. My wife and I were sitting in our living room together. She was playing Minecraft online with our mutual friend while I was watching something on YouTube. It was a very typical weeknight for us and we were both well within our comfort zones at the time. It was probably around 9pm when there was a knock at the door. Now I should probably explain. We had been living in our house for several years by this point. Long enough for us to know that someone at the door at that time of night was very unusual. So right away this put us on edge. We live in a very quiet neighborhood in a quiet town. Nothing threatening really ever happens here. So my wife peeks out the window to try and see who is there. She tells me that she sees a man at the door between our screen door and close enough to our main door that she can't see his face. Now, right away I didn't want to answer the door, but a little time passes and this guy doesn't leave and knocks again. So against part of my better judgment, I decided to answer the door. But I put the chain lock on first just in case whoever this was tried to immediately force their way in. To my initial relief, when I opened the door, there wasn't a mad attempt to get inside. Instead, I met with a disheveled, shirtless man standing in the doorway. The man was probably in his 30s, but he was in such a worn state it was honestly a little hard to tell. He was maybe half a head taller than me, but much thinner and I seemed to remember him having a lot of tattoos. I definitely remember his body language and the vibe he gave off though. There was something very off about him. His eyes kept darting around, hands were restless and he kept shifting back and forth from one foot to the other. I say to him, can I help you? He responds, yeah, can. Can I. Can I use your phone? No eye contact during any of this. I very quickly said no, sorry, closed the door and locked it. I was not letting this guy into my house. I looked over towards my wife, but my eyes landed on our cat first. She was standing on the arm of the couch, eyes locked on the door, and all of her fur was standing on end. She was absolutely freaked out. I had never seen her react like that to a person before and haven't seen it happen again since. My wife is still talking to our friend over the phone, their Minecraft world still up in the background. During this, our friend was freaking out listening to all this happen. I moved over to look out the window myself and and my wife and I both see this guy still standing at our door, jamming himself as closely to it as he could and letting the screen door just press up against his back. It almost felt like he was hiding in our doorway with him not leaving and no idea what else we could do. I handed my phone to my wife for her to call the police, keeping our friend on the other phone just in case something happened. And during the time my wife was speaking with the police dispatcher, something did happen. The man eventually turns around but doesn't leave our doorway. Instead, he looks out towards our front yard into the darkness. I should mention right now that despite living in a typical neighborhood, our end of the street has no street lights, so it is always particularly dark around our house at night. In the porch light we could see the man talking. We couldn't tell what he was saying, but he kept speaking and making gestures towards the darkness like he was speaking with someone that we couldn't see. Even the thought that there actually could be someone else waiting in the dark was bone chilling. But I just knew by the way the man was acting that he was speaking to someone that existed only in his head. So he was either on something or he was in the middle of a psychotic episode at our front door, refusing to leave. We kept the police dispatcher and our friend both on their respective phones while we watched this unnerving display. So good. So good. So good. New summer arrivals are at Nordstrom Rack stores now. 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Our brand new movie Voicemails for Isabel is all about those little moments that feel like the universe is looking out, feeling homesick. Then your sister calls, hearing that perfect song exactly when you need it. Please stay. Sometimes life rigs things in our favor, like learning about Your new favorite Rom com voicemails for Isabelle now playing only on Netflix. They continue on Trying to stay hidden behind our blinds the whole time. I didn't really want to take my eyes off him just in case he tried to move to a window or something similar. I don't know how long we waited there watching this man talk to nothing, but he eventually stared off towards the end of our block for for a long period the talking stopped and then suddenly he ran off towards the street. We watched him disappear into the darkness and of course just a minute or two later that is when the police arrived. We both gave the police our statements and they said they would have patrol cars search the neighborhood. After the cop we spoke with left, we closed the door and tried to make sense sense of what happened. I don't remember everything we discussed, but I do remember that we both realized that the police never went into our backyard to check around our addition. We have a small studio apartment sized guest house in our backyard that we would rarely use ourselves, but it would be the perfect place for someone to hide out if they broke into it. I don't remember which of us put that together, but I do remember that it was me who decided to go check the guest house. I do realize now how dumb this was and that I should have waited to hear back from the police first. Instead, I grabbed a flashlight and this thick Irish blackthorn wood walking stick I own called a shillelagh and I set about my foolish nerve wracking task. I checked the outside of the guest house first and didn't see any broken windows or other signs that someone tried to enter. So then I went inside and checked every closet and anywhere I could think of for someone to hide. My mind and heart were both racing the whole time, but fortunately the house was empty. I headed back into the main house, which I feel like I should mention is a small house. Despite us having the detached addition, we aren't rich by any definition. That guest house has a whole separate story of its own. My wife and I both just sort of stayed huddled in our living room for a while, all previous thoughts of YouTube and Minecraft gone. It was a short time later that the police arrived again. They told us that they actually did catch the guy. He was found trying to enter someone's house through a window. That someone also happened to be an off duty police officer. They did mention that they have had incidents with the man before and that this night his symptoms seemed pretty bad. Looking back at it now, I hope that man was able to get some help. He very clearly wasn't having a good night that night. But that didn't change the danger he could have been to himself or someone else. And it doesn't change the fact that the whole experience to this day is the most frightening thing to ever happen to me. For context, I grew up in a small South Brazilian town. It's a very nice but very cold place up in the mountains. I have had an amazing childhood and still remember most of it fondly. Being now a 27 year old woman, however, something happened to me and my friends one night that will forever haunt me. When I was in high school, the teachers used to organize an annual gymkhana. It's a very common thing over here, a three or four day event full of competitive tasks, riddles, puzzles and scavenging with teams competing for the final award. It used to involve the whole school and pretty much the whole town. So in one of those events there was one particular task called something like look for your teacher where one teacher would hide somewhere in the town and we as teams had to decipher the riddles and go look for them. This was the absolute favorite activity between me and my friends. Looking back, I don't really know how the teachers thought that having a bunch of kids actually out in the night would be a good idea. But our town was, and still is, pretty safe with an incredibly low crime rate. So when I was about 12 or 13, I was right in the middle of a gymkhana when something terrifying happened. It was a freezing cold night and my team had solved the look for your teacher riddle. Me and my best friend Junior and a few other kids hopped into some older kids car and followed the clue until we reached a very dark residential neighborhood surrounded by woods. It was in the suburbs so the streets were dead quiet and the only light came from the overhead poles. It was probably around 10 or 11pm and our small squad was very excited to be out in the night this late. We found some other kids from another team so we figured we were in the right place. Junior and I got our flashlights and anxiously started to look for our science teacher. Since we are best friends since preschool, our feelings and interests are very much in sync. I've always felt safer with him by my side. We were walking and discussing where we thought the teacher would be hidden. Maybe behind a tree or up in one or perhaps even buried in some leaves. So we decide to head into the woods. It was very dark, but there were so many kids with flashlights that it didn't feel creepy. At first I was feeling that bubbly, childish enthusiasm kids feel when they are having a lot of fun. We were a few minutes into the search when I suddenly flashed my light to the side and illuminated a man standing by a tree looking at us. I didn't recognize the man, but I also didn't pay much attention since it could have been a parent or someone from another team. So Junior and I kept walking and laughing when suddenly I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and saw the man again. I remember that he was tall, middle aged, bald and had big green or blue eyes. He didn't seem familiar and now I suddenly felt my stomach tighten a little by the sudden contact with a stranger. The man smiled and asked us if we knew where the teacher was. He spoke to us, but only looked at me, trying to seem amicable. Being a shy and careful kid, I didn't feel good about this at all. So I said no and turned around. Junior and I kept walking fast, both pretty apprehensive. Junior never really liked physical contact very much, but he actually grabbed my hand and helped me go through the dark trees further away from the man. I remember we kind of tried to run from him, getting closer to other kids and adults. We turned around many times, but thankfully didn't see him again. The search went on and we kind of forgot about this guy. We had a blast and someone from another team found our science teacher hidden in a tree, literally sitting on a high branch. It was all pretty fun until we emerged from the woods and started making our way to the cars. It was then that we heard some commotion behind us. We didn't really understand what was being said, but some older kids and teachers were discussing something and their faces were pretty serious. Junior and I went closer to the adults and understood that a little girl from another team was missing. There were some people still in the woods, but they were supposed to be coming back since the activity was over. This was before everyone had cell phones, so I'm pretty sure most kids didn't have a way of communicating like we do now. Even so, we all heard our teacher speaking loudly that the search was over. After some adults went looking for the girl, we got a little bit more info and I actually realized that I knew her. She was a tiny blonde little thing, probably around seven years old. I don't remember her name though. Before we could do anything to help, the adults and older kids told us to quickly go back to the team's building. We went back then home. The gymkhana went on normally like nothing ever happened. I guess my team made it to second place. I kind of thought it was all very weird about the girl, but didn't really connect the dots until a few days later back in school. Our class was talking about the missing girl who was actually found hours later that same night. As it turns out, she was briefly kidnapped by that older man that we saw in the woods. Somehow the guy had lured her away from the group and managed to basically walk her to another neighborhood. As they were making their way to the man's car, some parents and older kids from my school found them and called the police. I discussed this with my frightened parents later, but I don't remember seeing it on the news or anything. Not only that, but me and Junior were not the only kids who saw the man. Pretty much my whole class had seen him or talked to him in those dark woods. I can't help but wonder what would have happened to the little girl if they hadn't found her. Or even what would have happened to me if I were a little less careful. Back in 2018, I had just graduated and found a job in another city and after searching for a long time, I finally moved into a shared house with four other roommates. The house was in the city center area, 10 minutes away from my work, but it was very old and creaky. It was impossible to walk from one room to another without waking up the whole house and I found it really hard to get used to the noises. But what made my life easier is that I got along really well with all of my roommates as I knew a few of them from high school. We hung out together to play games and watch TV or just have dinner and talk about random things. A few months later, around Christmas time, all of my roommates were going back home to spend the holidays with their families, but I had to stay for a couple of days as I was new at work and too shy to ask my co workers to swap shifts with me so I can spend some time with my family. One day before Christmas, my roommate Emily was the last one to leave that morning. It was a really busy day. Everyone was rushing to do last minute shopping. It all seemed magical and peaceful and full of life. I finished my shift around four in the morning and headed home. As I was walking I felt a whole different vibe in the air. The streets were empty and calm in an eerie way. I have always finished around this time, but it was never this empty in this area. Suddenly I had this feeling in my stomach. The kind of feeling you have when you know Something bad is about to happen and you regret every decision you made that led to this place and this moment in time. I kept checking behind my back to see if there was anyone around. I pretended to talk on the phone at some point just to try and calm myself down as if this would stop anything from happening. As I'm holding my phone and still pretending to talk to someone someone, I hear footsteps. I stopped talking just to hear a bit clearer, hoping that I was just imagining this, but I could still hear the footsteps behind me getting closer and closer. I suddenly realized that I haven't said anything in a while and continued to talk and try to make it sound as if someone is waiting for me. I was only a minute or two away from my house but I decided to cross the road just so I could check behind me without looking suspicious. So I started crossing and scanning the area around me. I didn't see anyone. I couldn't hear the footsteps either. I started doubting myself. I held my keys tight in my fist, 1 to use them as a weapon if needed and 2 to open the door as fast as possible, which is exactly what I did. I checked to make sure no one is around and I crossed the road running to my house where I opened the door and locked it behind me. I wish the story ended here, but it doesn't. Before I even had a chance to catch my breath, I walked around the house and turned on the lights. I also turned on the tv thinking whoever is out there would think there are more people in here and would leave me alone. I grabbed a knife and went upstairs to look from my bedroom window for a better view to the street, trying to see if anyone is around. I kept looking in all directions for an hour but didn't see anyone or anything unusual. I felt silly for doing all this for nothing, thinking it must have been a lost cat or something. Then I went downstairs to eat before I headed off to sleep. I finished the meal and decided to take out the trash which is right in front of the door. It would only take a few seconds and nothing can happen in this very short period of time, right? I grabbed the trash and looked around from the small window next to the door. I couldn't see anything, so I decided to go ahead and open the door. I threw the bag in the bin and went back in. But as I was your next chapter in healthcare starts at Carrington College's School of Nursing in Portland. Join us for our open house on Tuesday, January 13th from 4 to 7pm you'll tour our campus, see live Demos Meet instructors and learn about our Associate Degree in Nursing program that prepares you to become a registered nurse. Take the first step toward your nursing career. Save your spot now at Carrington. Edu introduction events. For information on program outcomes, visit Carrington. Edu Sci the Colonels cooked up a new $10 bucket of the day just for you. Monday 24 nuggets for $10 Tuesday 8 piece fried chicken for $10 Wednesday 10 wings for $10 Thursday 8 tenders for $10 Friday 24 nuggets for oh, you guessed it, didn't you? $10 the $10 bucket of the day deal every weekday only at KFC. It's fin and participation Variable supplies Last round available on third party ordering platforms. Tax extra this episode is brought to you by Fox 1. Watch all 104 matches of the FIFA World cup live in 4K for just $19.99 a month with 3 days free. Build your own multi view, choose up to three streams and follow player Spotlights. Stay on top of every moment with live stats, highlights and instant replays. The FIFA World cup, streaming live on Fox One, offers a subject to change. See fox.com for complete terms and conditions. Closing the Door A man sprinted across the street towards me. I don't know how I managed to close the door and lock it, but I did. The man started pounding on the door and shouting, let me in. Let me in. I was terrified. I felt I couldn't move just standing there looking at the door. Then I pulled myself together and ran to the kitchen to grab the knife again and call 91 1. After waiting behind the kitchen door, shaking and crying in despair, the police finally arrived and arrested the man. They said he had a pocket knife and a screwdriver hidden in his jacket. Apparently it was not his first time to break into someone's house and attacking the residents. I try not to think of what could have happened that day if I had moved just a little bit slower. On a rainy Valentine's Day evening in February of 1971, 19 year old Jesse McBain drove over to meet his girlfriend, Patricia Mann, at her college dormitory in Durham, North Carolina. They had arranged to celebrate the most romantic day of the year by attending a Valentine's dance at the nearby Watts Hospital. Patricia was studying nursing and her practical lessons took place at Watts, so as a potential future member of the nursing staff there, she had managed to land an invitation to the dance. At approximately 11:30pm Jesse and Patricia had one last dance, said their goodbyes, then began to walk back to Jesse's car. They then drove over to a deserted housing development area that would later become the neighborhood of Crowsdale. No house had been constructed yet, but a few sections of road had been laid out in an area that was shrouded by a quarter mile's worth of greenery. Those that ventured down there were likely to find collections of beer bottles and cigarette butts strewn among the trees. It was a place people went to screw around. Exactly the kind of private, out of the way place that two young lovebirds might need to get a little alone time. Patricia's 1am curfew came and went, and her friends back in the girls dorm assumed she would sneak back in at some point on her tiptoes. Yet little did they know, they would never see her or her boyfriend ever again. The following morning, Patricia still hadn't returned from her date with Jessie. This was the first time the young woman had ever broken her dormitory curfew. And those close to her were quickly beginning to worry. They knew Patricia to be a deeply mature and responsible young woman who always played by the rules and took authority seriously. And to their knowledge, Jesse was an affectionate, respectful boyfriend. One that Patricia seemed very much in love with. But not even youthful romance would be able to make the young nursing student break curfew slowly but surely. As the day progressed, the concern of Patricia's roommates went from mild to grave. What started with a few questions to turned to them calling around local hospitals in case they had been in a car accident. They then filed a missing persons report with the Durham County Sheriff's Department, but were still so anxious that they began to physically search for their missing roommate. On foot, they roamed the surrounding area, canvassing her usual hangout spots around town and on campus until someone had the idea to go search the lover's lane over at the housing development. It was here that the searchers would find Jesse's empty car parked in one of the quieter spots on the development. The car was locked and on the back seats were two warm coats, presumably belonging to Jesse and Patricia. There was no damage to the car. Everything about the scene seemed perfectly in order, except of course, for the fact that the last two people to travel in it seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth by this point. Local police have informed both Jesse and Patricia's parents that their children are missing. At first, all involved had entertained the idea that the couple's disappearance was nothing more than a misguided but romantic attempt to elope, to skip town, get hitched and settle down somewhere new. But investigating police quickly began to realize that there was something distinctly sinister about the case. There had apparently been no attempt by either Jesse or Patricia to inform anyone of their plans, not even close friends, and the idea that neither would at least leave a note or letter to a relative seemed highly unlikely. Over time, those closest to Patricia began to assume the worst. I just got the sickest feeling in my stomach, said a cousin of Patricia's. I just knew something terrible had happened. For two weeks after they were declared missing, a team of police officers and local volunteers mounted an intensive search of the surrounding area, combing through the wooded areas around Lovers Lane for any trace of the missing couple. They followed up lead after leading and tip after tip, but no one could find hide nor hair of Jesse or Patricia. With frustration mounting, police decided to widen the range of the search area and enlist the help of helicopter support and specially trained forensic divers. But in the end, it was the misfortune of a surveyor in nearby Orange county that provided the police with their most important lead. On February 25, 1971, a full 12 days after Jesse and Patricia went missing, Robert Kirby is walking along a dirt road in the backwoods of Orange County, North Carolina, when something catches his eye. Among the trees. Maybe 50 meters or so off the trail, the surveyor thinks he sees what appears to be the limb of a mannequin laying among the fallen leaves. Curious, he wanders over to check it out. But the distinct shape of a human leg he sees is not that of a plastic mannequin. It is real human flesh. He rushes to a nearby roadside diner to have someone call the police, and by the end of that, forensic investigators discovered not one, but two human corpses up in the woods of Orange county, and they turned out to belong to none other than Jesse McBain and Patricia Mann. Finding the young couple and that they were decomposing was bad enough for the searchers, but the manner in which they had obviously been dispatched was massively disturbing to them. The couple had their hands tied, and they were made to stand back against a tree so another, larger rope could be wrapped around them. Once their killer had secured them in place, he began to torture them. Jesse's ear and mouth were both found to have blood in them, and a variety of large and small abrasions to his lips and forehead suggested he was beaten senseless before he was killed. At some point, Jesse and Patricia's killer had ripped their eyelashes off before continuing to savagely beat them. Then, when whoever had tied them up had grown tired of beating them, they wrapped rope collars around their necks using a kind of knot that could be repeatedly tightened over and over again. We can only assume that the killer used these rope collars to slowly choke the life out of Jesse and Patricia, Gradually tightening the rope collars Over a drawn out period of time until neither was able to breathe. Each of the couple's bodies had all of their valuables intact. Jesse was still wearing an expensive wristwatch and a class ring when his body was found. Patricia was also wearing jewelry, and her purse was left back in the abandoned car. Their deaths were not part of some robbery. Their killer had absolutely no monetary gain in mind when he had taken them. Neither were there any signs of indecent assault on Patricia. She had a great deal of bruising around her face and neck, but nothing below the waistline. There was no ulterior motive. All their killer wanted to do was torture and kill them. The investigation that followed was severely hampered by different agencies complete lack of collaboration. For example, the FBI seemed to consider the local sheriffs as frankly beneath them. And a feeling of contempt quickly grew between the two groups. Everyone worked on the case as individuals. As detective Tom Horn once put it, not a lot of information was being shared by the various agencies, and the rivalry was tremendous. A lot of work was done, but it was individual, so there was definitely some missed opportunities. Yet even with the appalling level of disorganization that pervaded, A number of likely suspects emerged As a result of some tip top police work. Some had to be ruled out after taking polygraph tests which proved their innocence. But one of the men who failed was actually a doctor at Watts hospital who had previously worked with Patricia Mann. When the police sought to question him again, he completely refused to cooperate and would only release a statement Through a defense attorney he began to keep on retainer. This made him the number one suspect in the entire case. And to this day, there's never really been anyone else who had garnered such legitimate scrutiny. But without the proper evidence to charge him, Very little action was taken against any of the supposed killers. No one ever really zeroed in on anyone, Detective Horn stated, and as a result, the case quickly went cold. 43 years later, in 2014, Detective Tim Horn was still working for the orange county sheriff's department When a cousin of Patricia's, Carolyn Spivey, Contacted him with some fresh information regarding her cousin's murder. Along with his partner at the time, Detective Horn opened up the previously closed case file. Poring over old statements and boxes of evidence, they reanalyzed the possibilities of former suspects, Considered new ones, and began to condense as much of the multi agency information as possible into the pursuit of one solid suspect. And they succeeded. Detective Horne then contacted almost every single one of the detectives who worked the case back in 1971 and gathered them together for a presentation. It was one which would show them how he had pieced together multiple pieces of a decades long puzzle, only to come to one solid conclusion. That it was the Watts doctor, a man Patricia had actually known, that had murdered her and her boyfriend Jesse. When the presentation was finished, what followed was a prolonged silence to all in attendance. Tim Horne's hard work had presented them the best opportunity yet to end a mystery that had persisted for almost half a century. They had their suspect, they had evidence. Now it was time to make their move. Using what's known as an M Vac, Detective Horn was able to extract a DNA sample from the knotted ropes used to tie up and strangle Jesse and Patricia. An M Vac is basically a wet vacuum DNA collection system that is designed to extract strands of DNA from difficult to reach places. Places just like the fibrous folds in a length of rope. What came back was a DNA sample that didn't match either Jesse or Patricia. So in all likelihood it belonged to the killer. Detective Horn then requested a DNA sample from their number one suspect, the watch doctor that Patricia had worked with. Horn's argument was that after all this time, the doctor would finally be able to clear his name and prove that it wasn't him that executed the young couple. But the doctor refused having his defense attorney contact law enforcement to release a statement in legales. And that just might be the most suspicious thing about our doctor. Because it really does raise the question of what does he have to hide. Yet despite such obvious suspicion, this doctor has never been charged. And whatever new evidence led to him being asked to provide a DNA sample hasn't been shared with the public. We can only assume that the Durham County Sheriff's Department are in the process of putting a serious case against the man and are trying to find some way of forcing him to give a sample of his DNA. And with that DNA sample, law enforcement might just be able to end the 40 year old mystery of who could be cold and cruel enough to wrench a loved up young couple away from one of the happiest nights of their lives, only to torture and eventually execute them in a secluded wooded area, turning a romantic Valentine's Day night into the very last that each of them would ever spend on earth. I was traveling through Europe from mid August all the way through January. While I was in Greece, I met this really cute, sweet couple named Maggie and David. They were from the UK and lived along the border of England and Scotland and they invited me to come and stay with them from October to mid November. Their youngest child was attending university and they felt like they wanted Starting a business can seem like a daunting task unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond. Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into Sign up for your $1 per month trial@shopify.com specialoffer another youngin around their cottage house since they found they didn't enjoy the empty nest as much as they thought they would. So I agreed that when I was finished exploring Thessaloniki I would come and stay with them and maybe help around the house and see some of the countryside. I don't know why Maggie called it a cottage house. It was much larger than a cottage. Old. Definitely. Very fancy, but old. It was very long and narrow. I suppose she called it a cottage because it was out in the country. I don't know if there was any houses for kilometers in any direction. Maggie was just about the sweetest person I had ever met. Still is, and her and I talk all the time. To this day I don't really talk to David, but that's because David is just not much of a talker. Whereas Maggie was bubbly and warm and loved to tell the stories and jokes, David was more stoic and stern. That isn't to say that he was mean or anything. He was quite friendly, but he just didn't talk very much and certainly didn't joke around and wasn't much of a storyteller. Most of the time Maggie would be singing in the garden or talking on the phone with somebody while David would just sit in his armchair and read a history book. I spent a lot of time helping them out by chopping a lot of firewood for the fireplace due to the house being drafted in cold quite often. Maggie was really friendly and she introduced me to all of her son's friends and today in turn introduced me to some really cute girls and we would leave the countryside and go to the nearest town and get a few pints at the pub. Halloween was soon approaching and we made plans to have some sort of celebration, maybe by going out to one of the old cemeteries and playing with the Ouija board or something. No plans were yet solidified, but we were in the midst of making something, so that's basically the backstory. Onward with what leads up to the event the cottage was a long, narrow one story house and I got to stay in the guest bedroom that was located sort of in the middle of the establishment and it was placed closest to the kitchen. It was my second or third night there when I woke up in the middle of the night to hear somebody walking upstairs. Now, as I have already established, this was a one story house, so I was confused. How could somebody be walking up and down stairs when there were no stairs? The first time I heard this I figured maybe I was in the middle of a dream perhaps, or maybe there was just something outside that was hitting against the walls, or maybe I was just tripping. I shrugged it off and went back to sleep. The day after, I had completely forgotten about it as the excitement of being in the UK was overpowering any anticipation I might have felt. I went out with the other folks that Maggie had introduced me to and went out for more pints at the pub and played darts and other things. I got home late and crawled into bed. It was near midnight now and there it was again. Unmistakably, it was something walking up and down a set of stairs. I knew I hadn't gone off to sleep at this point because I was still scrolling through my phone for sights to see. The next day, curiosity got the better of me and I got out of bed and opened the door and peered into the kitchen and down the hallway one direction and then to the other. But there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. Being a bit spooked and feeling a chill, I approached the fireplace, put a log on it, sat in David's armchair for a moment and watched the log get eaten by flame when I heard a creaky door close. It wasn't a slam, but it was loud, almost as if the door was heavy. Okay, I said to myself, this is too weird. The morning after at the breakfast table, I casually brought up the stair stepping. You folks got an invisible staircase or something? I joked. Oh. Maggie's face brightened up with a mischievous smile. You hear the steps, don't you? Yeah, I admitted. Don't you worry about him, love. He's just the butler. I was confused at this point. The butler? I asked. You guys have a butler? No, no, silly. Maggie laughed. Here, I'll show you. Maggie gets up from the kitchen table, takes a few steps and removes a corner of a rug. And there's this small sort of hole. It turns out there was a handle there because the next thing I know, Maggie lifts up the floor with this arduous, freaky creaking sound that revealed a doorway in the middle of the floor. See, she said, we have a wine cellar. Oh. I gasped, surprised. Back in the middle of the 19th century, this house belonged to some high class people, royalty and all. This is where the butler slept down here. So you mean. That's right, mate, david said. Our house is haunted. Oh, don't scare him, Davey. Maggie slapped at David's shoulder, continuing to say, listen, love, most people never even hear the footsteps. Just ignore it. The butler's harmless. The phone rang and Maggie answered it and went into the next room. Aye, the butler's harmless, david said. Then, whispering almost to himself it seemed, he continued, it's the other one you gotta worry about. I asked. The other one? Aye. He leaned forward a bit as he spoke. The lady of the house. You're trying to scare me, aren't you? It's almost Halloween and all, and you're poking at a bit of fun with the foreigner, right? I'm afraid not, mate. David was all seriousness. Like I said, he really wasn't a jokester. This was the most I'd ever heard him even speak. Listen, A long time ago the lady of this house lost her child after a few weeks of the infant being born, and she became stricken with grief. Grief, naturally. Not long after she went completely mental, or so the story goes. The husband tried to get her help, her family tried to get her help, but nothing was to be done of it. The husband left, many of the servants left, and the only one who stayed was the lady of the house and the loyal butler. Losing a child made her start to become a bit touched, but her husband leaving had made her go completely nutty. The family was concerned, of course, but more so they were embarrassed. It didn't look good for a family of that stature. They wanted to quietly whisk her away and have the lady put into an asylum. The lady of the house found out about this news from the butler herself. Well, after losing her husband and her baby, the last thing she would ever want to lose is her home. She swore that nobody would ever remove her from her house. She swore it. And hearing this information coming not from her closest family but from her servant, well, that sent her into a rage and paranoia and a sense of betrayal. Rumor has it she poisoned the butler and he died down there in the cellar. When her family came to have her taken away in A straight jacket and placed into an asylum is when they stumbled upon a horrific stench of a decomposing body down below. She denied nothing, Being dragged out of her house by her own family and by policemen. She swore she would never leave the house, not completely. She vowed one day, one day that she would return, and when she returned, she'd be at home for good and forever. Or so the story goes. I was in shock. I was mortified. I couldn't finish eating my breakfast. And the lady? I asked. Well, lad, david said, she's the lady of the house, of course. Course. And she's still here, lingering in the walls. And she's a part of the window panes and the floorboards. She's in the lamplight and in the dark corners. As long as we never forget that, and as long as we are respectful, no worries are needed. I only hear the footsteps, though, I concluded. Oh, give it time. David was riding from his chair at the kitchen table. She makes her presence known when she wants you to know. Is she an angry, scary sort of spirit? Well, she doesn't much care for people living in her house, lad, but she's not of this world anymore, so she's not in charge anymore, as much as she would like to be. Davey. Maggie entered the room yelling, what are you telling the boy? David grimaced at her, saying, the truth, Margaret. I was telling him the truth. And with that, David sauntered away and sat in his armchair by the fireplace and began to read the newspaper. Like nothing, bone tingling was just dumped on my lap. The next few nights were rough. I had trouble sleeping as soon as the footsteps up and down the stairs started. My hair would stand on the back of my neck and I became paralyzed, too scared to open my eyes and search the room. I couldn't help but shake the feeling someone was in the room with me, standing in the dark corner behind the shadows, just glaring at me with disapproval. This could have all been in my mind. I understand. I heard a scary story, and the next thing I knew I was convincing myself I was not imagining things. It happens to everyone, right? For three nights in a row I lay in bed, too scared to move until the break of dawn, and if I had to use the bathroom, I just held it. On the fourth night after the story, I lay in bed, shivering. The footsteps began, and then there was a knock at my bedroom door. Hello? Maggie? Is. Is that you? No answer, David? Hello? No answer. Then there was a scratch, scratch, scratch on the other side of the door. It had been holding up until that point, but shortly After I relieved myself unknowingly and lay in a wet puddle, still too horrified to move. The morning after was Halloween. I did my laundry because. Well, yeah, because of my little accident. After it was all done, I didn't spend much more time in the house. I hung out with some friends that I had made in the village and we lounged about basically before it got dark. Everybody had to go home and meet up with their families and we decided we would all reconvene later that night. I was dropped off at the cottage and I hesitantly went inside. Maggie and David were by the fireplace watching television. I didn't want to be alone, so I sat on the sofa and watched some sitcom with them. I couldn't understand a word of it, though the dialect and the slang were all still very foreign to me. It didn't matter, though. It's not like I was able to focus anyway. It was nearing dark and I found myself constantly peering out the window, hoping to see the headlights of one of my friend's cars approaching. Ever wonder where Tropicana got its name? The Tropics. And every time you enjoy a glass, you're not just drinking juice. You're taking a trip, stepping into sunshine and embarking on a flavorful journey into the tropics, where ripe fruit is crafted into wildly delicious juice. And the best part? No passport required. Tropicana. Give life some juice. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per intro rate. First 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms@mintmobile.com no such luck. Boom. A door slammed. The lights all went out. The television turned off. Pitch black. Silence. Bloody hell. Maggie said. She's here. The lights flickered back on quickly. The television turned back on to a blue screen. Boom. Another door slammed across the hallway. David yelled, get out of here, lady. I cowered in fear, balling up in the corner of the sofa. Another door across the hall opened so violently its doorknob hit the wall. Then there was total silence. Suddenly, faintly, a crying sound was heard. Oh, she's at it again. Maggie said, seeing me absolutely petrified on the sofa. She came and sat down next to me and held me. The crying turned into a woeful sobbing, louder and louder it grew, traveling about the house through the hallway, in and out of bedrooms, bed. Boom. Another door slammed. The lights went out. Pitch black. The violent sobbing turned into screaming. A lamp by the TV flickered on, then off, then on, then off. The kitchen light turned on. Boom. Another door slammed. Then it violently was thrust open. Then it slammed again. Then the screaming turned into some sort of shrieking. Maggie was holding me tighter which only scared me more. I didn't know if she was scared too, or if she was just trying to comfort me. Then I had a disturbing what if this isn't Maggie clutching me in the dark. It was too dark to see so how could I know? Next thing I knew all the doors in the house violently opened and were stopped by the walls. A terrible woman's voice wailed, get out. The lights came on and I ran out the open front door like a little kid who just saw a monster. For all I knew I did just experience a monster and it had turned me into every bit as vulnerable as a little girl. I got to the road and stood there crouched, panting heavily until one of my friends pulled up. I got in the car and began crying, sobbing, shaking. What's with you man? My friend asked, her hand worriedly resting upon my shoulder. I tried to explain many times. I don't think she ever knew what to make of it. I don't know if she believed me. Obviously she knew I was upset. I was a bummer for everyone to be around that night and we didn't do much Halloween celebrating. I kind of killed the mood. I spent the night at one of my friends houses and the next day they came with me to help me go inside and grab my stuff from the guest bedroom and then they took me to a hotel where I stayed for my duration. In the uk. I still speak with Maggie and David and Maggie especially feels awful. I know she wasn't trying to deceive me as she said people rarely heard the footsteps and she explained the lady of the house never attacked when there were guests. The incident was such a rare occurrence that even Maggie and David themselves were surprised. I don't know how anybody could ever live in such a house. Every Halloween I think about this event and it has stuck with me in some of my nightmares and my daydreams. I certainly believe now that All Hallows Eve is a paper thin portal for spirits to easily enter our realm and make their intentions known, good or bad. Many spirits. I can feel sorry for. Some I don't. But never again do I want to be anywhere near the lady of the house. It's. It's.