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- [00:01]
Narrator
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- [00:27]
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- [01:02]
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- [01:30]
Narrator
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 $2.99 a month. 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. I have been A long time victim of sleep paralysis. I had my first experience as a young boy around five or six years old. There's something super unsettling about waking up and not being able to move any part of your body. You feel entirely and utterly vulnerable to to everything. You have no way of defending yourself or calling for help. You're just a sitting duck and anyone or anything can take advantage of it. For years, I would wake up in the middle of the night unable to move a muscle to save my life. But I didn't have to yet as I did not experience anything scary at that time and all it took was for me to go back to sleep, as you might think. It wasn't that bothersome to me back then and honestly I didn't think much of it. Though as I got older, the paralysis got more frequent and more intense. It only took a few years before I started hearing sounds and seeing shadows, as you hear often in stories of sleep paralysis experiences. But there is one that that haunts me every day. I was about 15 years old and it was a cold winter night. I love staying warm under the sheets as the cold air entered my room through the crack in my window. The feeling of warmth in an otherwise cold environment is somehow soothing to me and it helps me sleep. This night was no different. I was snuggled up under my blanket as I drifted into a comfortable sleep. It didn't feel like more than a few seconds before I opened my eyes again. After feeling the cold winter air on my skin, I managed to look down at my body being unable to move anything but my eyes, only to see that my blanket had disappeared and there was no warmth protecting me from the biting cold that entered the space. My body was shivering in this cold, but I could not feel it. I could not feel my body at all. As I was trying to figure out where my blanket had gone, my eyes looked around my room, scanning it slowly, only to spot a swift and fast movement from the corner of my eye. I quickly shifted my vision towards the window in the right corner of my room. The window I had left open a crack for the cold air that now pierced through my skin. It was then that I spotted something that froze my body in yet another manner. A hand came from outside my window, grabbing the frame inside. It wasn't a human hand or any hand I would be able to recognize. It was entirely black. From wrist to fingernails, pointy long shadowy fingers were moving alongside the frame of my bedroom window, looking for the handle that would push it out of the lock so they could open the window entirely. Screaming internally, I desperately tried to move any part of my body, starting with the tip of my finger. Slowly the hand reached the height of the handle and the pointy black fingers curled around it and pulled it down as the window slowly slipped out of the lock, making a creaking noise. The hand slowly pulled back outside the window, giving me a second to catch my breath, only to lose it entirely again when the window slammed open with such force I thought it ripped the hinges right out of the wall. I started drowning in my fear as as the arm I saw opening my window from the outside finally made its way into my bedroom. It grabbed my window sill and slowly pulled its body through the window. I watched in horror as an impossibly skinny and fully black colored humanly shaped creature emerged from the darkness outside and fell onto the floor outside of my vision. The figure was now inside my room, blocked from my sight by the right bottom corner of my bed. Everything went dead silent after the loud thump of its body hitting my wooden floor. The only sound that could make its way to my ears was the sound
- [06:55]
Narrator 2
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- [07:27]
Narrator
matchday as Doug reaches for a buffalo wing. He's got it.
- [07:31]
Narrator 2
Oh, and he's gone for a can of Pepsi too. What a finish. There's no doubt about it.
- [07:36]
Narrator
It just tastes better. Match days deserve Pepsi. Study and play come together on a Windows 11 PC. And for a limited time, college students get the best of both worlds. Get the unreal college deal everything you need to study and play with select Windows 11 PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 Premium and a year of Xbox Game Pass ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn more@windows.com studentoffer law supplies last ends June 30 terms at aka Ms. College PC beating viciously through my chest as I stared at the corner of my room where it fell without a single blink. Just as the silence started to feel comforting and I asked myself if it was over, I could hear something dragging across the floor behind my bed. I closed my eyes and started begging for this Nightmare to be over all while hearing multiple unidentified sounds coming from all around my room. With my eyes closed, I kept trying to move my body as this enables you to wake up from whatever state you might find yourself in during sleep paralysis. My efforts were interrupted by a million sharp cracking sounds coming from the foot of my bed. Unable to keep me in the dark any longer, I slowly opened my eyes to face whatever made these sounds. My eyes slowly started to adjust to the pitch black room only illuminated by a shimmer of moonlight, able to peek through the thick winter clouds. Finally, the objects in my room started to stand out. I saw my light dangling from the ceiling, the closet in the corner of my room, the glass of water sitting on my nightstand, and the shadowy figure standing at the foot of my bed. It was tall, taller than any person should be, and skinnier too. It was as if this creature skin only covered the bones inside. His arms were way too long for the body. They reached what can only be called a knee, but looked more like a round ball poking out from under its thick, thin skin. Practically crapping my pants. My eyes slowly ventured up the long body and retreated to the back of my skull as I glanced upon what can only be called a face. But it did not have eyes, a nose or ears. No, all it had on that dark canvas that is supposed to be its head was a malevolent and deeply disturbing smell smile that was entirely disproportionate to the rest. I could not stop the horrific thoughts from flowing into my mind as my eyes hid behind my eyelids. I had to open my eyes and at least look at what it will do. Instead of closing my eyes and subjecting myself completely, I opened my eyes. And just as the creature noticed it was looked upon, he bent his neck as if to lay his head on his shoulder, making a million sounds of cracking bones in the process. With every small movement, he made his bones seemingly break and splinter inside his body. I stared into where his eyes should be as he slowly stepped onto the bed and stood over me. He bent down slowly more and more towards me until my entire vision was only the sight of his psychotic smile. Slowly, the rows of teeth started to come apart and what I can only describe as black glue tore apart as he opened his mouth wider and wider until it was big enough to fit my entire body inside. In only a split second, I went from being swallowed whole to screaming at the top of my lungs as I launched upright in my bed, drenched in sweat. Almost instinctively, I looked at my window, only to find it opened a crack just like I had left it before going to bed. Finally it was over and I could move again. I had woken up from the horrible nightmare I had been stuck in. I have never slept through the same after that night. I still see the creature in my dreams even a decade later. He has appeared in multiple instances, places and houses, not just in this bedroom. It sucks being so tired all the time but never feeling truly rested because at any moment he can enter my room again and swallow me whole. I should start this story by saying that I'm not one who scares easily. I'm a blue collar dude who's been an outdoorsman my entire life. I was born a fighter and know how to take care of myself. I digress. I grew up outside of Detroit in the 90s and early 2000s. As a pastime I would go out to the abandoned buildings in the city. We'd go explore and cause a little harmless trouble as teenagers are known to do. On a brisk late October night I found myself sitting in my truck, bored. On a Friday night. I got the bright idea to go out to the city and explore some of the abandoned houses in the more shady areas of Detroit. In the past I would always go with other people. Me being the moron I was at the time, I went alone. Of course. I drove out to the shadiest neighborhood I knew of at the time and picked an abandoned house at random. I decided that I was going to park my truck about a block away and walk to the house as to not draw too much attention to myself. As I'm walking to the house I saw the typical streets of Detroit characters, a couple of ladies of the night dealers and a more than normal amount of homeless guys. As I'm walking through that back alley to get to the back door, I hear faint noises of someone behind me, not usual for this situation. I keep my hand on a good sized hunting knife that I always carry just in case I need to defend myself. Thankfully I have never had to use it. I hear the gravel become louder and louder. I look behind me and see three people turning the corner onto the same alley I went down. So I did what anyone would do. I booked it as fast as I could and hopped a fence into a yard and hid in an overgrown bush. My heart thumping and breath sharply panting. I stay as quiet as I possibly could. I sit there, concealed. I see the three guys walk no further than five feet away from me. I hear them say it can't be far. I know we've jumped a fence as they keep walking down the dark Alley. I start to regain my composure. I think to myself, I came all the way here. I'm going into an abandoned house. I turn around and start my way towards the back door of the house. The houses have plywood all over the windows and doors, so I pry open the wood from the bottom of the door and crawl into the house. Once I get inside, I see the typical things you see in an abandoned house. Spray painted walls, trash, holes in the floor, etc. I make my way upstairs to the top floor to see what's up there. As I make my way from room to room, I hear a loud thud on the wall closest to the backyard, after which I hear, I know you're in there. I hit the sprint through the hallway to the room. Across from the room I was in. I hear another thud and voices saying, come out here. You don't belong here. I freeze, trying to figure out what I'm gonna do. As I'm racking my brain, I hear them say, there's no way out. We're going to catch you in a raspy smoker's voice. I then hear faint popping sounds coming from the first floor. Then I smell the unmistakable smell of smoke. It was then that I realized that I am in very deadly trouble. They lit the house on fire. I start running from room to room, losing my mind. I then think to myself, get it together. Your life literally depends on it right now. As the flames start traveling up the only stairwell, I start pushing on every board or window I could find. Not a single one of them would budge at this point. I have never been so fearful in my entire life. It was just then that I remember the windows leading to the roof in the attic. I start frantically searching for the stairs that lead to the attic. By this time, the hallway is filled with black smoke and flames start bursting the top of the stairs. I came from the flames licking the ceiling and quickly making their way to the end of the hallway. Finally, by the light of the flames, I find the way to the attic. I pull the string to the hideaway stairs and run up them faster than I've ever ran before. I make my way to the window and kick out the glass. I make my way onto the roof and take the most refreshing breath I have ever taken in my life. However, I know I'm still not out of the woods yet. I frantically start looking for a soft place place to land. The house being three stories, I knew that wasn't an option. In my head I'm saying, it's better than dying. Just then I run past the peak of the roof to see the house next door is only a 10 foot gap to the other roof. I take about a 15 foot running start and jump to the other roof. Then I make my way towards the overgrown tree so I can climb down. I have never been more grateful to plant my feet on solid ground. It was at this moment I hear a voice say he's over here. I take off jumping fence after fence in the direction of my truck. I come out to the front yard into the street and run into two more guys who grab my shirt. I break their grip and start running. As my feet feel like I'm floating I reach my truck. I put my hand in my pocket and grab my keys like a bad movie. My hands are trembling so badly I dropped them. I bend down to grab them and look to my left and see three men no more than 15ft away from me. I manage to get the key in the slot and unlock the door. I pull the door open and go to step into the truck. Then I feel a wet heat on the side of my head and and my ears start ringing. I turn the key in the ignition and start the truck. I take off with the door still open and one of the guys hanging onto the bed of the truck. I mash the pedal to the floor and swing my back end around to turn and look at the rearview mirror. Thankfully the guy is no longer holding onto the truck and is now tumbling down the street. I close the door and start making my way to i75 to go back home. Bloody head, coughing and smelling like fire. I say out loud I'm never doing this again. This happened to my mom in the 80s when she was younger and still dating who would eventually be my dad when they were still young adults and dating. My father used to go with my mother's family to their beach apartment when I was a child myself. I used to love that place and never felt anything other than happy and comfortable there. My mom however had two very weird and uneasy experiences that she has given me permission to share. The first one happened when she and her sister, my aunt, were asleep in one of the bedrooms. They were in their twenties. One thing to mention is that the door to that bedroom didn't open in a conventional way. It was a heavy wood sliding door which also had to be opened with some force because it was very old. It made a loud noise whenever someone opened or closed it so it was basically impossible not to notice if it was moved. This one night it was around 2am and my mom was sleeping in her room. My dad was asleep in the guest room close to my mother's. He always snored very loudly, so that was usually the way to confirm he was fast asleep. My mom tells me that she was suddenly awoken by a weird sensation of being watched. She opened her eyes and couldn't see anything at first. Then she focused on someone else's eyes staring right at her from the opposite side of the room. Not my aunt's, but her then boyfriend's eyes. My father. He was standing in front of the sliding door in his pajamas, just glaring at her. She said she felt suddenly very cold, like a jolt of adrenaline released by a bizarre or dangerous situation. She had never seen or experienced something like this from him. Her first instinct was to ask my aunt, who was technically asleep next to her, if she was seeing what she was seeing without specifying what it was. My aunt was awake then and answered, yes, I see him. My mom, sensing something odd, called out to my dad, asking him what he was doing. My father didn't answer, he just kept glaring. My mom recalls feeling very weird since the bedroom was pitch black and she could still see him perfectly. That was when she this episode is
- [22:36]
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- [23:05]
Narrator 2
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- [23:36]
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- [24:02]
Narrator
Colgate Optic White fell silent and heard my father snoring loudly in the other room. The person standing in the doorway turned away as if to open the door and disappeared into the absolute darkness. My mom and aunt were paralyzed for a few moments, then quickly got up and went into the other room to check if my dad was playing a weird un unprecedented prank on them. They saw that he had clearly been sleeping for hours, snoring away in his bed. My mom and aunt went back to back but they could not fall asleep. The next day my dad swore up and down that he never woke up. He never played a prank on them or anything of the sort. My mom brushed it off and decided to let it go. A few months went by. The next summer they both went back to that beach apartment and something very similar happened again. This time though it was mid afternoon and they were both in the living room area. My grandparents apartment used to have an open living room with a low cabinet dividing it from the kitchen. You could essentially see into both rooms as they were something like an open concept. The kitchen sink faced the opposite side of the apartment door and it had a mirror right in front of it. One afternoon after lunch my mom was doing the dishes and my grandparents were out. Through the mirror she saw my dad lie down on the sofa behind her and announce that he was going to take a nap. The door to the apartment was open as usual. Back then my grandparents used to leave it open for neighbors in the summer breeze as it was a very safe coastal town. My mom was very chill, just minding her business and washing dishes when she suddenly saw what seemed to be my dad standing in the open door behind her. She watched through the mirror as the figure just stared at her with a blank expression. Like that very frightening last time. She stopped what she was doing and asked him why he was staring at her. The figure did not answer. It was then that she decided to check the couch. Through the reflection she managed to see my actual father's legs stretched out on the couch. He was fast asleep just like last time. My mom was horrified and turned around immediately, thinking she was going to face a stranger getting into her house. She saw nothing and no one. She left the kitchen and ran to the door checking the corridor. Nothing. My dad was sleeping on the couch, completely unaware of my mother's haunting. Again she woke him up and told him about the Strange situation, but they both had no answers as to what it could possibly be. My mom recalls feeling uneasy and chilled to the bone during these sightings. Like she wasn't supposed to be seeing what she saw. To this day, she believes it was some sort of astral projection or some kind of out of body experience of my father's. Since my aunt actually saw the same thing at the same time the first night. I still don't know what to make of this. Maybe she imagined it both times or something. Since she is not a person that usually makes up weird things, I believe her when she tells me what she saw. I don't know what to believe, but it's definitely a bizarre situation that I would love to never experience myself. I was in my room listening to a scary video. One of those where you listen to scary voices that say creepy things or eerie children laughing or a creepy woman crying or something like that. Don't ask me why I like to scare myself like that, but I do. There's something about that adrenaline rush that you get from being scared that I find super fun. The video I listened to was a Five Nights at Freddy's video where the animatronics were talking in a creepy way and saying eerie things. Nothing more than that. I lie in my bed while I listened to it. Suddenly the lights went out. Hmm, that's odd. I thought to myself. I paused the video, getting scared. I brushed it off, thinking there was probably a natural explanation for it. I had to check the fuse box. I went out of my room and the whole house was dark. I pulled out my phone from my pocket and turned on the flashlight. I started to make my way towards the fuse box, but while doing so, I couldn't help but feel like someone was watching me. The entire house was engulfed in silence. I brushed the feeling off, reassuring myself that I was just scared. I got to the fuse box and flipped the switch. The lights came on and I sighed, feeling relieved. The feeling of being watched disappeared and I felt much better. I got back to my room and resumed the video. After about one minute, the lights went off again. What in the world is going on? I thought to myself. I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight again and made my way back to the fuse box. This time I felt more scared than I did the first time. I opened the door to my room to find my house once again pitch black. It was nighttime, so there was absolutely no light coming from outside. I made my way cautiously towards the fuse box, feeling like someone was watching my every move. I suddenly Got the feeling of someone standing right behind me. But when I checked, there was no one there. I looked around to see if I could split. There was nothing. I stopped to listen for a while, but I couldn't hear anything either. I got to the fuse box and flipped the switch again. The lights came back on. I stood still for a moment, listening. Nothing. Even though the lights came on, the feeling of being watched would not go away. This time I had an idea. I would put some tape over the switch. That way the power wouldn't go out again. I went downstairs and looked in the kitchen drawer for tape. To my luck, I found some. I went back up and taped the switch so it would stay in place. It made me feel a little better. But still I couldn't quite manage to shake the feeling that someone was watching me. I got to my room again and sat on my bed. My room was just the way I had left it. Nothing suspicious. I listened for a little while longer. Nothing. I'm probably just scared and that's why I keep imagining that I'm being watched, I told myself. I tried to calm myself down by saying that it was just my imagination. After all, it was impossible that someone was watching me. I live alone. No wife, no pets and no kids. Just me. I moved out of my parents house when I was 20 years old and now I live in another town far away. That's the way I liked it. I liked being alone, focusing on myself and doing exactly what I wanted to do. I pressed play on the video again. I was still feeling a little on edge. There was a part of me that actually thought this was fun. But at the same time, the light incident freaked me out. I listened to the video for about five minutes. When the lights went out again, the light went off for a third time. I paused the video and got really scared. This time I knew that someone had to be in the house. I grabbed a pair of scissors that was on my bedside table. I don't really know why I had scissors on my bedside table, but right now I thanked myself for it. I was going to use the scissors in case there was someone in my house. I pulled out my phone and switched on the flashlight once again. I slowly made my way to the door and listened to nothing. I listened a little while longer. Still nothing. I opened the door quietly. Everything was dark. The only light came from my phone. I stood in the doorway with my guard up. I tightened my grip on the scissors and listened. Nothing. I looked around but couldn't see anything. I decided to check the fuse box. Again. Maybe the tape wasn't as strong as I had thought. I tried reassuring myself that the tape must have just fallen off on its own or something, but to no avail. I could not get rid of the feeling that someone was in my house. I made my way to the fuse box again, steadily, with the scissors in one hand and my phone in the other. I looked around for the slightest movement, but found nothing. I had a gnawing feeling that someone was watching me, mocking me from the corner of my eye. I turned to look. Nothing there. I couldn't hear anything other than my heart pounding loud in my chest. I just knew that someone was in my house. I got to the fuse box to find that the tape was completely gone. I searched all around for it, but it was gone. That's when I heard it. The most awful sound I have ever heard in my life. A loud screeching sound. I covered my ears, thinking that I was going to die. It stopped after 10 seconds. I stood still, listening. Nothing else. Nothing else happened. I was too scared to move. I stood holding the scissors and my phone, listening, waiting for something else to happen. I waited for what felt like an hour. I suddenly heard footsteps coming towards me in the dark. And a little girl's voice said, wanna play? At one point a few years back, I ended up working in a small privately owned restaurant. It was set on a small main drag in a tiny historic community. Community. The restaurant definitely stood out amongst the locals and tourists due to its multicultural food variety. The restaurant served everything from American cuisine to Indian, Thai, French, and Middle Eastern foods. The small restaurant was formerly a popular privately owned Chinese restaurant and a local favorite. But unfortunately, the older man that owned and operated it passed away inside the restaurant one day. So suffice it to say that the local townsfolk didn't take too kindly to the foreign city woman that bustled in shortly after his death and purchased his restaurant. Not only was my former boss flaky and irresponsible, but she could also come off as quite curt and rude at times. So she had a rough go at first, obtaining the proper permits and whatnot in order to renovate the historic building. The thing is that when you do certain renovations in an old building like that, the local laws require you to then update a lot of other things that could be quite costly. So that meant that she decided to just use the staff that she had hired, which was us to help her with most of the renovation work. Everything was going pretty smooth, you know, nothing out of the ordinary. That is, until one overcast drizzly day when we were all gathered in the dining area for a staff meeting. As we all sat there quietly listening to the boss lady, something a little strange happened. The front entrance door to the restaurant suddenly opened to about halfway and then carefully closed after a second as though someone had seen simply stepped in. Of course there was no one there as the door was almost entirely glass and we would have seen a person on the other side. We all looked at one another confused, but we just chalked it up to the breeze. Since the back door was open, though, there was a set of closed kitchen doors in between. The second odd thing to happen happened to another employee when she was there alone one night. According to her, just after she turned a corner, passing a shelf with some tools on it, an empty cordless drill case went flying past our head. It barely missed her and smashed into the wall in front of her. She definitely seemed pretty put off when she told us about it in the kitchen the next day. Following that, random small things would happen here and there. Like our boss would ask us once in a while why one of us didn't come into her office when she had seen one of us walk by her open
- [38:33]
Narrator 2
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- [39:03]
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- [39:59]
Narrator 2
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- [40:26]
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- [40:54]
Narrator
Door but we were usually puzzled by that as none of us had ever walked past her office during that time. Besides that, we'd get the occasional strange sound like a faint voice or a door opening or closing. Also, when I would be in the kitchen putting together some ingredients for a recipe and I would have to walk away for a second to go grab another ingredient off the back shelf or something. But when I would return less than 15 seconds later, one of the ingredients I had set out prior to leaving the area would be gone. I would end up having to measure out and prepare the same ingredient again, annoyed. But I had no idea that it was about to get a whole lot more terrifying for me. The final thing to happen to me and my other coworkers was the worst experience I have ever had. That was paranormal hands down. But in order to properly explain this part to you, I'm going to need to explain a couple things about restaurant kitchens. In a typical restaurant kitchen setup you have a cook line. And the cook line is literally that a line, as in a skinny walking or standing space typically between the oven, fryers and cooktop with the prep surfaces and small fridges on the opposite side, leaving about a three to four foot walking aisle forming a cook line. Besides that, there is a dishwasher outside of that line, followed by the rest of what you'd expect to find in a restaurant kitchen. You know, like fridges and freezers, all on a large scale. You also got your giant hood fans above the cook area and a hot water heater. The reason why I'm pointing all of these out is because together they all constantly make noise. Think like louder ambient background noise. Constantly. So this one day there are three of us working in the kitchen. Me, my boss and another employee on the dishwasher. My boss and I were on the cook line while the dishwasher was a few feet away from the cook line. We were all free working as normal when all of a sudden it got quiet. Think of when you don't realize you've been hearing a constant low sound until it suddenly stops and then you notice the sudden change in the noise environment. Except for I mean it absolutely got dead silent. Almost like an invisible sound proof blanket got thrown over the three of us. As soon as I noticed it, I looked around at the other two and they also looked puzzled. What the heck? I questioned out loud. Why is it so quiet all of a sudden? I asked the dishwasher guy suspiciously. I don't know, my boss replied, drawing out her words nervously. She turned to face me as I was standing directly behind her on the narrow cook line. Nora, go make sure that the fridges and hood fans are still running. Maybe the power is out. So I ventured the 10 or so feet to outside the cook line area and weirdly enough I could hear the hood fans and even the dishwasher, the hot water heater and all the fridges and freezers running like normal. I went back to my boss and with a confused look I told her everything's working fine. That was the first creepy part of that, but when I stepped back onto the cook line to tell my boss, all was silent again. Well Nora, get back to work grilling those peppers. She snapped. So I got back onto the cook line beside her. After a couple of minutes though, I suddenly started to get tunnel vision and I felt really dizzy and nauseous. I told my boss and she told me to go sit out back for a few minutes to get some fresh air, which I promptly did. As I was sitting outside trying to feel better, I could see my boss go into her office, which was kitty corner from the back door. Since the back door was open with just the screen door closed, I was able to hear her while she made a phone call. She sounded urgent and shaky as she asked the person on the other end of the line to please bring in an abalone shell, some sage and some kind of weird oil. Now the reason she needed those particular items was because, according to her, she had felt something walk through her on the cook line. That wasn't good. The crappy part is that I was standing right behind her, inches away on that cook line. I waited for her to finish her phone call and return to the cook line before I went back in. By the time I got back in, everything sounded normal again on the cook line when I got off my shift about an hour later. Believe me when I say that I made the normally 4:45 minute drive home in just under 30 minutes. All night that night I tossed and turned, unable to really sleep. But the few times I managed to slip into sleep, I kid you not, I got jolted right back awake because I would see a screaming demon like thing right in front of my face. Quite a few years ago, long before my haunted restaurant days, I did in home care for the county that I lived in. That particular job entailed me traveling from one client's home to another pretty much all day. I met the peeping Tom of this story at my second client's apartment. That day he was introduced to me by my client as the maintenance man for the apartment complex that she lived in. He would just do basic handyman fix it duties in the tenants apartments as well as the yard work around the small complex. I say small complex because that apartment complex was only two stories tall and only had about 20 or so apartments in it. On the day that the maintenance man and I were introduced, everything seemed fine and normal. No red flags as of yet. Anyways, my client and I sat and talked with him over lunch since she was a sweet person and he had come over on short notice to fix her leaking faucet. He told us a little about his wife and kids and how much they loved playing outdoors on his expansive property in their new side by side atv. He even jokingly said that if I were ever near his neck of the woods that I should stop by and meet his family and take a ride side by side to tour his woodsy property with its beautiful views if I wanted. Fast forward to a few weeks later when I needed to hire him at my new house to do some emergency plumbing because my normal plumber was away on vacation at the time. My client agreed that he would be a great fit for the job and plus he really needed the extra money. So she gave me his business card and I called him up to schedule him for the next morning. He showed up on time and did the work. Although I found it to be honestly a little bit janky if I may say so what he did worked. It was just that he didn't even bother to go get the right parts to make the plumbing permanent. So I ended up with sort of a long term temporary fix. Everything was fine. After he did the job he left, still showing no red flags or anything until later that month. That is when he began calling me for really weird reasons like he would just want to know if I was working with a client the next day, day or whenever. He wanted to know that because according to him he needed to do some work she had called him about but he was unable to reach her on the phone. Weird, I thought, especially since I thought he had worked in her apartment complex almost every weekday, so why couldn't he just knock on her door or let the manager know? I brushed it off though, considering I had just moved into that house and I had a lot of work to do on it still to make it more livable and comfortable. But soon enough, the calls came more and more frequently over the next couple of weeks until I woke up with 17 voicemails from him one morning. Enough was enough with that, I decided right then. And so when I went to work for that client the next day, I showed her all of his voicemails. She was absolutely appalled at seeing them all and she immediately called the apartment's manager and informed them of the situation with the maintenance man and I. I would be lying if I said that it wasn't totally awkward after my client made that phone call, but unfortunately it was. At first I was able to just simply ignore him and go on about my job duties as per usual. But I wouldn't be telling this story if that's all that happened now would I? The calls began to really amp up and eventually they turned into incessant texts. Some of the texts were angry and some were almost sexual in nature. They were all still nonetheless quite creepy indeed. To my great dismay though, I thought I was beginning to hear strange noises outside outside of my isolated house some nights. At first I figured that it was just some local wildlife, which we got a lot out in the country where I was. But since I happened to know a little bit of tracking, I got bored one late afternoon and decided to go out exploring and tracking a little. I was horrified to find several human man sized 13 inch outsole boot pro all around my house and field. I brought out my tape measure just to make sure, and sure enough, it looked as though someone had been traipsing around my house and outside my bedroom window. I just knew deep in my gut that it was all the strange sounds I had been hearing late at night outside. I went out to a local electronics store that very next day after I got off of work and purchased a motion sensored night vision camera for still pictures and a small night vision live camera for outside that I could view on my tv. At first, unfortunately, the game camera didn't really come up with any good pictures except for some deer and a skunk. But one night as I sat in front of my TV by myself, I decided to switch from the satellite dish to the live camera that I had placed outside a couple of days prior. I didn't see anything at all for the first few minutes, but that all quickly changed. I began to hear the faint and then familiar sounds of light footfalls outside. Then, to my absolute and complete and utter horror, I watched on my TV as a man in a dark hoodie walked right past my camera. I instantly froze, not knowing what to do. I didn't dare move a muscle or even breathe as I listened to him creep past outside my window. In my mind, my heartbeat must have been audible to him as he slipped past outside. I don't know why I didn't call the cops right then and there, but I figured he was probably already gone since all had gone silent outside once again. It wasn't until about two weeks later when I returned home from work to find both my front security screen that I had locked standing open along with my previous locked front door that I was forced to call the police. They sent an officer out, but all he could really do was look at the footprints outside my bedroom window and
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- [55:50]
Narrator
When you're a mid sized business, you
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Narrator 2
need every competitive advantage you can get.
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Like an AI solution that works for you, not against you. SAP Grow is built with AI embedded at its core, working across every system and it's ready to go from day one so you can hit the ground running. Bring it with SAP Grow AI Cloud ERP for any size business fortunately, the handyman was fired shortly after that due to unknown reasons to me and all the weird activity outside my house at night stopped. If I learned even one thing from that whole scary experience, it was that you should always watch who you invite out to your house, especially if you're a single female. In January of 2008, a 911 dispatch center in Detroit, Michigan received a terrifying call from a cell phone somewhere in the city. But when the operator answers, asking what the caller's emergency is, it initially seemed like there was no one on the other end. But this is not a classic accidental case of butt dialing 911. As the horrified dispatcher began to hear something hideously unnerving coming from the other end of the line. Let us go. A female voice screamed. Hello? Is there anyone there? The dispatcher asked frantically, but still there is no direct reply. However, what she heard next made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. So you're gonna kill us and then put us in the trunk? I'm not gonna put you in the trunk, a voice is heard to say. It's a gruff male voice, full of malice. Then what about afterwards? The female on the other end of the line is heard to ask. There is no afterwards, comes the ominous reply. The dispatcher then heard the man mention something about going to prison forever. Then something sexual, along with another garbled piece of speech that seemed to reference some kind of murder weapon. The dispatcher acted fast. Since the call was coming from a cell phone, the dispatcher was able to Make a note of the longitude and latitude that the call was being received from before passing the information along to their lieutenant. The coordinates showed it was coming from Pinewood street near Hoyt in the city of Detroit. But suddenly, the phone call cuts out and the dispatcher feared the worst. Yet, thankfully, just minutes later, another call came in from the same number with the same girl crying in the background. Only this time it came with a different set of coordinates. This happened over and over again, a repeating cycle of calls and hang ups until police were able to fix the cell phone at a stage stationary location, immediately sending units out to patrol nearby streets. I'm not trying to sneak out. The same girl screamed in the background of yet another call. Don't hit me, please. I'm sorry. Just please don't hit me again. The dispatcher who received the call worked frantically to relay as many details as was possible to nearby units, listening intently for anything that could end up slipping, saving the girl's life. But all he could hear is a girl screaming over and over again as if suffering through an ungodly amount of pain. Then suddenly, switch off the hazard lights. The male on the other end of the line begins to roar. In a flash, the dispatcher relays the information to nearby police units, quickly telling them to look for a stationary vehicle with its hazard lights flashing. Help us. Please help us. The girl begins to scream, seeming like she can actually see police officers from wherever she is. A wave of relief washes over the dispatcher at the next thing he hears over his radio contact with the Detroit Police Department. Unlock the car. Police officers, unlock the car now. They scream. Show me your hands.
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Medical Advertiser
Don't move.
- [60:28]
Narrator
Do not move. The girls are heard screaming. There is a brief scuffle as the kidnapper is put into cuffs while the dispatcher listens. The entire time, one of the girls had managed to call 911 while keeping her cell phone hidden in a pocket to hide the fact that she had attempted to contact emergency services. This is what helped guide the police onto their location, probably saving their lives. We have this under control. An officer is then heard to say, thank you, dispatch. Then both the radios and the cell phone go quiet. East Point and Detroit police took the suspected predator, a man by the name of Derek Smith, immediately into custody. Smith had apparently only just gotten out of prison just a few months months before, after serving a prison sentence for sexual assault. The two women that police found kidnapped in his vehicle were actually sisters who said they had met Derek Smith that very same evening at a local nightclub. And it was down to the quick thinking of one of them, as well as the actions of the 911 dispatcher that received their call that their torturous kidnap and assault was cut short before Smith had time to do any permanent injury. It's an ironic twist that today's seemingly intrusive surveillance technology is not used for society's detriment, and that the same technology that can be used to infringe on human rights can actually be used to preserve human life as well. So right when I was fresh out of college, I managed to land myself a job with an engineering firm over in Pennsylvania. It kind of sucked having to move away from Rochester, New York where all my friends and family were, but the salary this firm was offering was so sweet I just couldn't turn it down. So I went online and got looking for apartments just outside of Philly, eventually finding an advert from a guy who was looking for a roommate for his super swanky apartment. I mean, this place was really nice and I could get why the guy would be looking for a roommate to split the rent with, especially since he seemed to be a younger dude who was probably in a similar position I was. However, I. I didn't have the time to drive down to actually look at the place or meet the guy in person. So I pretty much made all of the arrangements by phone, which maybe now that I look back on it, was my first big mistake. So I move in with this guy Darrell, who was super chill and pretty much spent all day playing 2K. Since he worked nights, I figured he must have had a pretty high paying job since he had this huge flat screen tv, lots of expensive clothes, a nice car, the works. We didn't talk all that much since we were on such different schedules. But eventually when I asked him exactly what it was that he did for a living, he gave some super vague answer about having some kind of accountancy job. And no matter how I pressed him for details, he always gave some wishy washy answer until he got tired of the questions and changed the subject. Like a lot of you hearing this, I started to suspect that Darryl wasn't quite telling the truth about what he did for a living. Like not once did I see him wearing anything like a shirt and tie. All his clothes were super upmarket, sure, but they were all super casual. He also had a lot of visitors in the evenings before he left for work. Whatever it was. At first I figured they were just friends of his, but there were a handful he didn't seem all that close with. And every time they Stopped by to see him. At some point they would just scuttle off into Darryl's bedroom for a while, talking in hushed tones before the visitor eventually left. I knew something was going on, but as embarrassing as it is back then, I was pretty naive. And besides that, I really didn't think it was any of my business. The last thing I wanted to do was upset my new roommate and piss away such a sweet living arrangement. So this one Saturday, I'm in the local 711 just like a block away from the apartment when this guy comes up to me as I'm looking at coffee and asks me if I'm the guy who lives with Darryl. Obviously I answered, yeah, good to see you too, man. I didn't recognize the guy, but I figured he had visited the apartment one time and I just couldn't quite remember his face. He's being friendly and whatnot, making small talk about this and that before he asks if I know whether or not Darryl was home. Right then I told him I didn't know, but that since it was like mid afternoon that he probably was since he worked nights, whatever that entailed, the guy is like, okay, cool. I might stop by and say hi and all this stuff. Then makes some excuse and leaves the store. I pick up a few things and head back to the apartment, half expecting to see the guy from the 7:11 When I walk through the door. Only he's not there. And when I tell Darryl about how I saw one of his buddies in the store, he has no idea what I'm talking about. Even when I describe the guy in quite vivid detail, he has absolutely zero clue who I'm referring to. He starts reeling off names, asking if it was desean or Robbie or Angelo. And it's then I sort of realized that the guy hadn't given me a name at all. Which is weird, right? I mean, I thought it was. You think the dude would have been like, hey, tell him such and such said hi. Or at least something like that. I didn't really think anything of it at the time, but Darryl seemed just a little too freaked out by the encounter for my liking. And in the moments after I told him, he marches off into his bedroom and stays there for the rest of the evening talking to someone I'm guessing on the phone in those same hushed tones that I was used to hearing. A few days after this, I'm walking back up towards the 711 to grab some milk for coffee when I see the same guy again, parked up at the side of the road. He calls out to me, greeting me and making chit chat in that same warm way that he had before. Before again asking if Daryl was home. This time I straight up lied to him, telling him that yeah, Darryl was home, only this time he was with a bunch of his friends playing 2K. He wasn't. He was actually out visiting family across the city. But there was something about this guy that I really, really didn't like.
- [67:41]
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- [68:11]
Narrator
You mind if we make one more
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stop before heading back?
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Narrator
I need to run a target 100%.
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Narrator 2
Let's RTT.
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Narrator
You thinking of stuff for the dorm? Yeah, my mom gave me some good tips on must have essentials. We for sure need underbed storage, handheld iron for wrinkles, maybe even a mini Keurig for Mondays.
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Advertiser
Am I right?
- [68:25]
Narrator
All right, bet.
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Narrator 2
Because I was already thinking about keeping my clothes looking fresh at college, so you better be sharing that. Of course, man.
- [68:31]
Narrator
Whatever I get on this run is yours too, Twin.
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Narrator 2
But for real. Let's go before they close.
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Narrator
quickly made an excuse telling him that I had to go and it was only then that this guy's demeanor started to change. He wasn't all smiles and laughs anymore, he just eyeballed me as I walked away and he was still there when I walked back, just watching me as I walked towards our apartment. I should have seen it coming and I feel like such an idiot for not knowing what I was headed for. But I guess Hindsight is always 2020 because a couple of nights later I'm just about to catch some sleep when Darryl finally comes home from work. He seems a little shaken and asks me if anyone had called the apartment that evening. I tell him no, it's been pretty quiet, but the answer does not satisfy him. He asks me if I've seen anyone at all, anyone hanging around the area that I didn't recognize. I had already told him about the second encounter I'd had with the 711 guy and this time it had creeped him out even more. He asked if I had seen that same guy at any point that evening and I told him no, that I hadn't seen him since that weekday evening. I turned the whole thing around and asked him what he was so nervous about. If anything had happened at work that evening and he was his usual cagey self, he just retreated to his bedroom where he apparently went straight straight to sleep. Which is exactly what I did too. Next thing I know I'm waking up to this loud banging on the front door of our apartment. I pretty much knew exactly what the deal was. Daryl had gone out to make a call, as he sometimes did at this time of night, and had left his keys in the apartment. This had happened a handful of times before and I was honestly getting really sick. Sick of being woken up by it. I had suggested that he actually put his car keys and apartment keys on the same key ring, but no. Apparently that meant if he lost one set, he lost both, which maybe was quite a smart idea in the long run, but that's beside the point. So I'm all bleary eyed, shuffling towards the front door in my underwear and a T shirt. When he starts banging again I'm all like alright, alright, I'm coming. Stop with the banging before I undo the deadbolt and open up the front door. I start saying something like you really should just attach those keys when I see it's not Daryl at all. In fact, I have no idea who the guy at the door is because he's wearing a ski mask. And I have absolutely no time or will to ask him or the other two guys he was with, because as soon as I open the door, he sticks a weapon in my face. And then Frog marches me back inside the apartment before locking the door behind them. The ski mask guy makes me kneel on the floor in the TV room and whispers to me that if I shout or anything, he's going to blow my brains out. I was absolutely terrified. I mean, more scared than I've ever been in my life. I had these uncontrollable shakes. Like I had trouble just holding my head up. It was more comfortable for me to just rest my chin against my chest and pray that it would all be over soon. This had a dual purpose, too, because the last thing I saw before I did so and shut my eyes tight was one of the guys placing an empty plastic bottle over the muzzle of his weapon. Naive over some things, I was, yes. But I knew enough to know that this was some kind of ad hoc way to silence a shot. I didn't want to see what happened next, and I'm glad I didn't, because they burst into Darryl's room, and I heard the pop of that pistol as they shot him. I thought he was dead for a few minutes. I was convinced they had just straight up executed him right there in his bed. That was until they dragged him out of the bedroom, bleeding and cursing, and threw him down on the TV floor a few meters away from me. The one guy kept his weapon to the back of my head while they pretty much tortured Darryl right there in the TV room. One guy stomped on the bullet wound he had, leaning onto it with his sneaker, while the other forced his face into a couch cushion to muffle the screams. I mean, it was all obviously horrible what they were doing, and that was disturbing enough. But what really got to me was how they seemed to enjoy the whole thing. How they seemed to take an immense amount of personal pleasure in causing us both as much pain and distress as was physically possible. It was like hearing Darrell's cries of pain was the funniest joke they had ever heard. How the sight of his blood was the most fascinating, satisfying thing they had ever seen. And it was then that it all came out. Like I said, you might have guessed what the deal was by now, but I pretty much had no idea. Back then, I was just young and dumb. Darryl was a dealer, and this was a robbery. So they beat the heck out of him until he finally spoke up and told them where he kept the money and his Stash. But I mean, for a while there, I thought they might have gotten the wrong place. Darryl flat out denied knowing what they were talking about and insisted they had gotten the wrong place and how there was nothing to find here. But in the end, he broke and told them. They then took to clearing him out. And from what he told me, after he had been discharged from the hospital for a fairly superficial gunshot wound to the shoulder, they had taken him for about $20,000. Plus I had to cover Darryl's rent for a few months until he was well enough to get himself a real job. Turns out he was an actual college graduate with a business degree and was dealing in college to make a little money. When he graduated, the money came too easy that he just didn't bother to get a legit job. He wasn't a gangster. He just didn't have that kind of personality. Which I suppose is what made him the perfect prey for the actual criminals that broke in that night. We got over what happened eventually, but obviously Darryl still has this big old scar on his shoulder. A reminder of one of the worst nights of our lives. One that will always be with us, no matter where we go or what we do for who we become. This story is 100% true and I haven't been able to stop thinking about this terrifying experience. This happened a couple of weeks ago. I live in San Diego and for those of you who don't know, there is a place there called Old Town. Old Town was a settlement from 1821 through 1872. It lost its dominant position downtown and became a tourist site. There is a lot to see, but one of the biggest attractions is the Whaley House. It is also known as one of the most haunted places in San Diego. And there were many tragedies and violent deaths in the house and in the courtyard. These are a few of the events that took place there. A man was hung in the courtyard. A young girl ran into a low hanging clothesline and broke her neck. A woman ended her life by shooting herself in the head. And Thomas Whaley himself died in the home. Moving on to the story. It was around 2am and my friends and I decided that it would be a good idea to sneak into the back of the Whaley House and have a drink in the courtyard. In the courtyard there are very tall hedges, but the bottom of the hedges has about a foot open so you can see through them. While we were drinking, I had the brilliant idea to tell scary stories. At the beginning of our time there, nothing happened. We took a break from the stories and decided to shotgun some beers. All of a sudden we heard what sounded like metal dragging across the brick pathway on the other side of the hedges. I looked through the open space and saw what looked to be men's shoes walking down the path with a sharp object. Then it disappeared behind a wall where the hedges ended. I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me, so I turned to my friends. Their faces showed me that they were in utter shock. Eyes wide and their mouths slightly hanging open. I asked, did everyone else see that? And everyone did a slow nod. We were all waiting to see if anyone came out of the other side of the wall. No one did and the sound stopped. I once again looked at my friends and caught a glimpse of a silhouette out of the corner of my eye. I jerked my head in the direction of the shadow and my friends turned turned to see what I was looking at. A chill went down my spine. Near a lamp post, there was a silhouette of a large man. I was unable to speak. Everyone was completely silent. All of us stared at the figure for what felt like an eternity. He started walking slowly toward us. I was paralyzed and in disbelief. He stepped into the light of another lamppost that was only about 10ft away. He was a very large man, dressed in olden day clothes, holding what looked like to be a noose in one hand and a sword in the other. He let out a blood curdling scream and yelled out. Get out. Right after he yelled, a huge gust of wind hit us, almost knocking us off our feet. We turned and ran as fast as we could, looking back to see if he was following us. He wasn't. He was just staring at us as we ran as fast as we could, head turned to the side with a huge smile on his face. We got to the car and practically jumped inside. I locked the door and turned to look into the backseat at my friends. My heart was racing and it was hard to breathe. All of a sudden one of my friends yelled, oh my gosh. Turn on the car and go. I turned around to start the car and saw the man speed walking towards us, a sword in one hand and a noose in the other. My friends were yelling, go.
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Narrator 2
Go Go.
- [81:07]
Narrator
I attempted to turn on the car, but my hands were shaking and I kept fumbling with the keys. I finally got the engine started. When I looked up, he was standing right in front of the car, holding up the noose and smiling. I put the car in reverse, slammed my foot on the gas pedal and peeled out of there. While I was driving out of the dirt parking lot. I looked back and the man was gone. The worst part is I loved going to Old Town. But I don't think I'll be able to go back for a while. And I will never go there at night again.