Howl

Summary

Podcast Summary: Snap Judgment - Episode "Howl"

Introduction

In the "Howl" episode of Snap Judgment, listeners are taken on a gripping journey to the remote North Slope of Alaska. The story intertwines real-life experiences with eerie supernatural elements, creating a cinematic and dramatic narrative that challenges perceptions of isolation and the unknown.

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Setting the Scene: The Isolation of North Slope

The episode opens with the narrator describing the desolate and unforgiving landscape of the North Slope, Alaska. Forrest, an engineer for a gas company, frequently travels between Seattle and this remote region, where he and thousands of other workers reside in a large facility designed to feel like a small, self-contained community.

“The north slope is remote, hundreds of miles away from any city, just tundra and mountains for as far as the eye can see.” [05:08]

The facility is equipped with amenities such as dormitories, gyms, movie theaters, and cafeterias, which aim to provide a semblance of normalcy despite the harsh environment.

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The Storm and Initial Strange Encounters

One chilly Saturday marks the beginning of the narrative. Forrest arrives back on the North Slope during a severe storm, triggering a phase three storm alert that brings the entire facility to a complete shutdown. With winds exceeding 60 mph and temperatures plummeting below -20°F, the workers are confined indoors, leading to extended periods of isolation.

“It's a complete whiteout. You can't see your hand in front of your face.” [06:13]

As days pass, the monotony of being snowed in takes a toll on the workers. Forrest becomes restless and notices unusual tapping sounds on his window, which he initially dismisses as ice or debris caused by the storm.

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Mysterious Figures in the Snow

The tapping persists, and upon further investigation, Forrest and his colleague discover a lone figure under a yard light in the facility’s parking lot.

“I can't make out any details other than a head and some shoulders and some legs. But there's just somebody out there. What the hell.” [09:25]

This sighting is corroborated by other workers, including Forrest’s supervisor, who reports seeing a second figure. Attempts to involve security are thwarted by the extreme weather conditions, as doors are buried under waist-deep snow.

“How could these guys get outside if the security forces have to dig their way out?” [11:52]

Despite efforts to locate the mysterious individuals, no physical evidence—such as tracks or traces—can be found, leaving the workers baffled and unnerved.

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Legend of the Tuniat: A Supernatural Explanation

During a conversation in the mess hall, Forrest shares his unsettling experiences with his friend John, a local Inuit. John introduces the legend of the Tuniit, an ancient people who mysteriously vanished after conflicts with the Inuit.

“After they left and they went wherever they did go, they will periodically come back and pull pranks on the local Inuit. Sometimes you'll even have people disappear from the villages.” [15:07]

This folklore provides a haunting backdrop to the unexplained phenomena the workers are witnessing, suggesting that the Tuniit may still be present, lurking in the harsh Alaskan wilderness.

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Escalation: Damaged Equipment and the Black Wolf

As the storm subsides, the workers begin the arduous task of digging out their vehicles and resuming their operations. However, they encounter disturbing signs of tampering:

• Vehicle Damage: Radiators crushed as if punched through, tires slashed, and cabins destroyed without any logical explanation.

  “It looked almost like a fist went through it, like somebody was sitting there and punching it.” [18:47]

• Supernatural Encounter: Forrest and his team encounter a massive, jet-black wolf with a missing eye and torn skin, exhibiting unnaturally aggressive behavior.

  “He's got a big toothy smile on the right side of his face. His left eye is bright red, and he's massive. He's probably about 6 or 7 feet long.” [19:28]

The bear police are summoned, but the wolf remains unnervingly focused on the truck, leading to its eventual demise after being hit by a beanbag gun.

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Climactic Confrontation and Unanswered Questions

The tension peaks when an associate, Eric, describes a terrifying encounter with the wolf—now standing on two legs—before it vanishes without a trace. Despite the bear police finding only vague hind tracks that lead nowhere, the evidence suggests something beyond the ordinary is at play.

“I do not want to believe what he's saying, but also, I can't deny what my eyes have seen.” [30:53]

Equipment malfunctions and inexplicable data readings further deepen the mystery, leaving the workers questioning the very reality of their experiences.

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Conclusion: Open-Minded Skepticism

In the aftermath of these events, Forrest reflects on the possibility of supernatural phenomena. While he maintains a skeptical outlook shaped by his engineering background, the unexplainable occurrences challenge his belief system, opening him to the idea that some elements of the world may remain beyond human understanding.

“I'm still a skeptic on most things, but I now have a little bit more of an open mind on what could possibly be out there.” [33:38]

Forrest's journey underscores the profound impact of isolation and the unknown on the human psyche, leaving listeners to ponder the thin veil between reality and the supernatural.

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Notable Quotes

• “We know that isolation from our familiar, it changes us. We adapt, we transform. We understand this. What we may be less aware of is that isolation forces us to see, to really see and experience our environments in wholly new ways.” - Narrator [05:06]

• “How could these guys get outside if the security forces have to dig their way out?” - Forrest [11:52]

• “He goes into this legend of... some people think they just went to the other world.” - John [15:09]

• “I'm an engineer. My whole life is based on hypothesis testing, theories, you know, proof of execution, things like that.” - Forrest [13:03]

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Final Thoughts

The "Howl" episode of Snap Judgment masterfully blends narrative storytelling with atmospheric soundscapes, immersing listeners in a tale of mystery and the supernatural. Through Forrest's experiences, the episode explores themes of isolation, folklore, and the quest for understanding in the face of the inexplicable. For those seeking a story that dares to see the world through another's eyes—complete with a compelling beat—"Howl" delivers a haunting and thought-provoking experience.

Transcript

[Narrator]

Snap Studio.

[Sponsor]

Snap Judgment is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the name your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates Price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states.

[Narrator]

I've avoided it for a long time, for years. But finally, one chilly Saturday, hoodie clutched tight over my head, I take the ferry over the water to this fortress like building set against the San Francisco Bay Alcatraz prison commanding its own island, once the flagship prison of the federal incarceration system, now decommissioned, empty. And stepping off the boat, my guide marries. She leads me past the plaque, past the three foot thick concrete walls, into shadow, up this metal staircase, through the imagined screams of thousands of angry men, past one tier, then to another, until finally we turn, turn again, walk past lines of iron bars, where she directs me into this tiny, tiny cell that I do not wish to enter. Five feet by nine feet, tiny. Just a metal bed, a sink and a toilet. Not enough room for the two of us. No window. You can't see the bay that is just outside, but somehow you can feel the wind whipping over the winter waters. We sit in this gloom, cold. Cold from the walls, cold from the bars, from the floor. And Mary tells me that in the not too distant past, when this was an active men's prison, because of some peculiar trick of sound and acoustics, the person caged right here at night can hear across the water, can hear voices from very different circumstances. Men chatting up the beautiful daughters of high society. Cocktail parties, music, the tinkling of wine glasses. And when Mary leaves here, leaves me alone, when her footsteps finally vanish, I listen for the creak, for the shift, the rattle of this rotting building. And I imagine the happy, cheery voices, the sensuous whispers just over there. So close. So very close. On the other side of these concrete walls, Zookstein's now so very close. We know that isolation from our familiar, it changes us. We adapt, we transform. We understand this. What we may be less aware of is that isolation forces us to see, to really see and experience our environments in wholly new ways, sometimes giving us a chance to finally witness what's always been out there. Today we meet Forrest.

[Sponsor]

He's an engineer for a gas company.

[Narrator]

On the northern slope of Alaska. And the north slope is remote, hundreds of miles away from any city, just tundra and mountains for as far as the eye can see.

[Sponsor]

Forrest travels between Seattle and Alaska for.

[Narrator]

Work and when our story begins, he's just arrived back on the North Slope sp.

[Forrest]

It's a huge facility that houses about.

[Supervisor]

5,000 workers at any one time.

[Forrest]

And they have dormitories, they have gyms, movie theaters, cafeterias. They have everything to kind of make you feel like you're at home even though you're, you know, thousands of miles away and in the middle of nowhere. I'm getting settled into my room, I'm getting things unpacked. I turn on my work computer, I'm checking emails, and there's an email alert for a phase three storm alert. So a phase one is it's just a regular snowstorm. A phase two is a little bit more severe. But a phase three is a total shutdown of the North Slope. You have winds above 60 miles an hour. You have temperatures below negative 20 degrees Fahrenheit. It's complete whiteout. You can't see your hand in front of your face.

[Supervisor]

Most of the work that we do is always outside. It's always on, well, site. So we can't work. It basically shuts us down completely.

[Forrest]

So they call a phase three. And, you know, I kind of grumble and settle down because I know it's going to be. It's going to be a while.

[Supervisor]

We're just trapped inside for however long the storm lasts.

[Forrest]

The storm just did not let up. We'd been up there for about five days at that point, just sitting in a little bunk room, watching tv, sitting on the Internet, going to the gym. It gets old. I'm getting ready to go out and get some breakfast and then probably go to the gym and hang out. And I hear this tapping on my window. I just think it was, you know, I just leave it up to the storm.

[Supervisor]

Maybe it's ice hitting the windows or maybe something that's hanging off the roof and smacking against the window.

[Forrest]

And so, you know, I open up my blinds, but looking out there, I.

[Supervisor]

Don'T see anything that could possibly explain it.

[Forrest]

I just get dressed and I go down to the gym. After I get back to my room after working out, I hear that tapping again and I open up the blinds.

[Supervisor]

From my window, looking down, I can see into the facility parking lots where we usually park our equipment. And the only illumination is from a pair of streetlights or yard lights. I can see a person standing under one of these yard lights.

[Forrest]

It's dark. I can't make out any details other than a head and some shoulders and some legs. But there's just somebody out there. What the hell.

[Supervisor]

It Is incredibly cold.

[Forrest]

It is with the wind chill. I believe it was around negative 60. That's instant frostbite. If you have exposed skin, you don't survive cold like that for very long. So I need to get this person help the guy dorming next to me. I knock on his door and I'm like, hey, you need to take a look at this. And we go out to his window. He opens up his blinds and he's.

[Supervisor]

Like, what the hell is this guy doing out there?

[Forrest]

So now I feel confirmed. It's not just me hallucinating or my mind playing tricks on me. There's somebody else that has actually seen this guy out there. So we get ahold of our supervisor, we're on speaker phone, and we're telling him what we're seeing. There's a guy out there. Do you mind looking out your window and seeing if you can see him? And sure enough, he can see this guy under this lamp. But he's like, you guys didn't tell me that there was a second guy out there. And we're like, what are you talking about? He's like, well, there's two people under the streetlight. So we go back to the window and look out, and now there is a second guy. Not only am I worried for these guys, I'm also weirded out by the fact that now there are two people out there.

[Supervisor]

My supervisor says, I got a hold of security.

[Forrest]

They're gonna head out there and see if they can find these guys. The only problem is they have to dig out of the door because we're snowed in. All of the doors leaving the building are covered in waist deep snow. How could these guys get outside if the security forces to go rescue them have to dig their way out?

[Supervisor]

I go down and try to help the security guards move away the snow from the door and try to get the doors open. And as we're working on this, we're all realizing that the storm is way too severe for us to even think about trying to get out there. You take a shovel full of snow and move it, the wind just brings it right back in. I go up to my room to look back out there, down into the parking lot, and I don't see anybody out there. I don't see anything going on. The next day, the security team was able to get some snowshoes, and they were able to pair up and go out there on top of the snow.

[Forrest]

I ran into one of the security guards at the mess hall, and I was asking him about it, and I'M like, you know, did you guys find anything out there? Did you guys see anything? And he's. He just says, no, no, there was no tracks.

[Supervisor]

There were no marks in the snow. There was just nothing. No trace of anybody.

[Forrest]

You guys were, you know, probably just hallucinating. And I'm like, all of us were hallucinating. Some people up there think if you get trapped or snowed into the building for long enough, you start to just get so bored that your brain starts to play tricks on you to keep you entertained. But it's just not possible because it was seen by not only me, but several co workers and my supervisor from different angles. I'm an engineer. My whole life is based on hypothesis testing, theories, you know, proof of execution, things like that. And to have something make totally no sense, it's just really unnerving.

[Supervisor]

Later that day, I end up going down to the mess hall for dinner.

[Forrest]

And I see my friend John. He's a local Inuit, he's a good friend of mine. So I sit down with him to have dinner and we start talking just about what's been going on, how being locked up in the man camp for a few days has been. And I relay him this story of seeing these guys out in the snow and several other people seeing it. And he just laughs. And I'm like, well, what's. What's so funny?

[Supervisor]

And he goes, you guys saw a tuniat?

[Forrest]

And I said, a what?

[Supervisor]

And he said, a tuniat.

[Forrest]

He goes on to explain that before the Inuit came to Alaska, before they crossed the Bering Sea, when they got here, there were already people here in what is now the North Slope.

[Supervisor]

And they called them the Tunia.

[Forrest]

He's telling us the Inuit and the.

[Supervisor]

Tunia lived together for generations.

[Forrest]

And he goes into this legend of.

[Supervisor]

One of the Inuit ended up killing one of the tunia over a canoe.

[Forrest]

And at that point on, the Tuniit were worried that they would become targets of the Inuit, so they disappeared off the face of the Earth. He goes, some people think that they went to the ocean. Some people think that they went into the Earth and they live in the permafrost. And he says, some people think they just went to the other world. To me, this is a totally captivating story. I'm like, what? I've never heard of any of this before. He says that after they left and they went wherever they did go, they will periodically come back and pull pranks on the local Inuit. Sometimes you'll even have people disappear from the villages. They're not necessarily friendly.

[Narrator]

Hold on. Because after the break, something continues to lurk on the north slope. Stay tuned.

[Sponsor]

Welcome back to Snap Judgment. We're dancing in dark celebration with our supernatural sister podcast, Spooked.

[Narrator]

You're listening to our howl episode. When last we left, a storm was raging on the North Slope in Alaska. And something is out there in the snow. Something watching, something waiting. Spooked.

[Supervisor]

He was telling me when he was.

[Forrest]

A kid, his grandfather saw a tuning out on the tundra and they went inside. And when they came back out the next day, all of their hunting equipment was destroyed. I'm thinking that's a really cool legend.

[Supervisor]

But I don't think that I saw a tunia out there.

[Forrest]

He's just telling us ghost stories, trying to freak us out. We're on, like, day 13 of the storm going on. It was like somebody snapped their fingers and this storm just stopped and the skies cleared up. You could see stars and auroras. It was really pretty. Like, it was kind of like a. Like a fireworks show. After the show was going on, then the work began. We get out to the parking lot and we start the long process of digging out our trucks, which are under probably about 20ft of snow at this point. There's about seven or eight of us out there. We've all just got hand shovels and we're digging through this snow. The first thing we notice as we're digging the front of the truck out is the radiator has been, like, crushed.

[Supervisor]

It looks almost like a fist went.

[Forrest]

Through it, like somebody was sitting there and punching it.

[Supervisor]

It's totally confusing. There's no way to really rationalize how.

[Forrest]

The radiator ended up like that. We keep digging everything out. We find several of the tires have been not slashed. There were chunks of rubber missing from these tires. They almost looked like a wild animal had chewed on them.

[Supervisor]

But there's. There's no tracks out there anywhere. There's no signs of any kind of animal.

[Forrest]

And we get to the back of the truck, and that's where the. The cabin is. Me being the engineer, I've got to jump up there and start turning things on and seeing if everything's working properly. I open this door, and what I'm seeing doesn't just send shivers down my back, but it just basically stops my heart. It looks like a complete disaster zone. All the electrical panels have been shorted. Like, you can see actual burn marks and scorch marks on the electrical panels. The joystick that we use to move the winch up and down has Been snapped off. The chairs that we sit on are all torn up. I don't even know what to make of this. It looked almost like you'd let a polar bear loose in the cabin for an hour or two, just totally destroyed. But that door was locked. Nobody should have been able to get into that and do the kind of damage that they did.

[Supervisor]

My blood's kind of running cold. The hair on the back of my neck is standing up because none of this is making any sense.

[Forrest]

We come back after a long day of digging out snow and trying to fix this truck. And we're talking with several other people from different divisions at dinner, and we're talking to them about what we saw. Like, hey, man, our truck is totally destroyed. And they're like, oh, you too? Yeah. Our tires were all slashed up. Somebody broke out the front windshield of our truck. It seemed like somebody bent the frame on this one truck and moved it over here. Everybody in the camp had something affecting their equipment. I'm like, what is going on?

[Supervisor]

There's no way that it could have been vandals.

[Forrest]

With the whiteout conditions and the snow and how deep it was, it would be impossible for anybody to drive.

[Supervisor]

Animals don't make sense. Ice flying around or rocks flying around. Nothing's making sense. It's slowly kind of coming over me that maybe John's right. Maybe it was something supernatural actually happening. It's creepy, it's unsettling.

[Forrest]

But I can't come to any other conclusion other than the legend of the.

[Supervisor]

Tunate actually is real.

[Forrest]

It's April, so it's only a few months after this snowing. In event we go out to a well site and we have to have a bulldozer go with us because he needs to clear the site of snow. Nobody's been on that site since the blizzard happened. The bulldozer goes out before us about two hours. I'm getting my equipment ready with my crew, three other guys. Bulldozer operator gets on the. On the radio and he's like, hey, I just want to let you guys know that I've cleared the site. Everything looks good. I just wanted to give you guys a heads up that I saw what I think is a wolf out on the pad. And we're like, well, that's. That's unusual. Wolves are not on the north slope. The closest wolves live up there is on the Brooks range, which is like a 100, 150 miles to the south. And it's very rare for a wolf to get separated from their pack and end up Way out on the tundra. The bulldozer operator lets us know, hey, just keep an eye out for him just in case. I drive out there with my crew. We set up our equipment. We get cranes in the air. We're getting the equipment onto the wellhead. We're working on the oil well just to make sure everything is good to go. I need to use the bathroom. So I go out behind the well house and I do my business. While I'm out there, I get a call over the radio. It's one of my workers, Eric. And he's like, hey, I just saw that wolf that guy was talking about. And my heart stops. And I don't have time to think about whether this is a prank or not. I just need to get out of there as fast as possible because I'm completely vulnerable. I'm completely helpless out there. I'm running back to the truck as fast as I can. My heart is racing. I feel like I am on, like, five cans of Red Bull. I throw the door open, I jump in the cab. Once I'm safe inside, I look back and there's this giant wolf just trotting along right where I was, Just right behind me, coming towards the truck. His fur is jet black. He's missing his right eye, and he's missing the skin on his. On his mouth. So he's got this great big, almost like, smile, a toothy smile on the right side of his face. His left eye is bright red, and he's massive. He's probably about 6 or 7ft long. So we get on the main radio to call for the bear police. They keep a lot of the more dangerous wildlife away from the work sites and away from the people. It's not unusual to see polar bears. We have grizzly bears. The caribou and the musk oxen aren't really, what I would say vicious, but they do get ornery. So they do need to be shooed away from time to time. Bear police are like, yeah, well, we'll get out there as soon as we can. And we have to wait about 40 minutes for them to make it all the way out to our location. And this whole time we're waiting, this wolf is just watching us. He never leaves our line of sight the whole time. He just kind of paces back and forth, and he never lets his eye off of the truck as he's pacing. The bear police show up. It's two men. They honk their horn. He doesn't even acknowledge that the truck is there. He just keeps his eyesight right on us. They try to kind of push the truck towards him and he does not move. So they move on to the beanbag gun and they take a shot and they hit this wolf right in the ribbon and he lets out a yelp and he trots off into the tundra. Before they left, they told us, hey, if you see him again, just give us a call. The bear police leave and I'm right back to work. The sun is starting to go down. Our equipment starts acting up. It starts not giving us the right data. It's almost like it's recording things backwards. It's just not making any sense. I tell Eric I was like, hey, can you walk out to the wellhead and just see if all the cables are hooked up? Like, see if there's anything that's going on out there. Maybe the cables are loose, maybe that's why it's giving us these weird readings. And he goes, yeah, yeah, no, no problem. He walks out there. I'm still trying to figure out the problems troubleshooting in the cab. And we hear this blood curdling scream followed by the deepest howl you have ever heard.

[Supervisor]

And I see this giant dark figure on two legs running out of this well house. Seven, eight feet tall.

[Forrest]

It's huge.

[Supervisor]

And just like a flash, it's just gone into the dark.

[Forrest]

And I'm like, wait, wait, is that Eric? And then I see Eric running out immediately afterwards and I'm like, well, who was that? Eric is running at full speed right to the cab and he jumps in and he's. He's as white as the snow. Like he's just sheet white. He's out of breath, he's panicking like he's having a full blown panic attack. We're like, what happened? And he can just get out. Wolf, wolf, wolf. You know, we're like, just drink some water, just breathe, you're fine. Nothing, Nothing. Got you. We get him to calm down and he finally gets to the point where he can kind of talk a little bit. And he says, I went out to the well house and I noticed some of the cables were loose on the wellhead. So I start tightening them up. And I hear somebody walk up behind me and I think it's one of you guys. I say, hey, hand me that wrench. And there's no response. Eric's like, what? Why is nobody talking to me? And he turns around and there's this great big wolf and he's standing on two legs and he's got this big toothy half grin and a Big, blazing red eye right behind him. Eric's like, he had to have been 7ft tall. He was gigantic. And he said the only thing I could do. I took my wrench and I threw it at him and I hit him square in the nose. And he just let out this loud howl and ran off.

[Supervisor]

Everything Eric's telling me is. It's kind of cutting me to the core. Like, I can feel it in the pit of my stomach. I don't want to believe what he's saying, but also, I can't deny what my eyes have seen. I am totally sure that I saw something on two legs run out of that well house.

[Forrest]

The bear police get there. They're driving around the well site, flashing their lights, just looking around, scanning the whole area. It takes them about 10 minutes to scan the entire well pad. They were like, well, we found these hind tracks, but they don't really go anywhere. They just circle the well house for a little bit and then they just kind of disappear. Eric was feeling better, and he's like, yeah, you only found hind tracks because it was walking around like a person. But the bear police, like, well, wolves don't do that. And they just. They leave at that point and go on their way. I did not want us out there in the night any longer.

[Supervisor]

I don't know if this thing's going to come back. We're just on our own. So I'm hurrying with my crew to pack up as fast as I can, and we're constantly looking over our shoulders. I'm totally on alert, checking my surroundings every chance I get.

[Forrest]

As soon as we got in the truck and started to leave location, it was kind of like a wave of relief when we got back to camp. That was when we really felt like we were safe again.

[Supervisor]

After this event, I'm trying to replay over my head what I actually saw. I clearly saw something big upright on two legs walking out of there. But that doesn't make any sense. I try to rationalize why we might have been targeted. It's entirely possible that, you know, they were not happy with the operations that were going on up there with the oil and gas exploration. They could have been trying to warn us off or in their own way, tell us that we were not welcome there.

[Forrest]

I've always considered myself a huge skeptic, but the things that I've seen on the north slope have opened me up to the possibility that there are things that we just can't explain in this universe. I'm still a skeptic on most things, but I I now have a little bit more of an open mind on what could possibly be out.

[Narrator]

A big, big thanks to Forrest for sharing his story with the Spooked.

[Sponsor]

The original score for this piece was by Doug Stewart.

[Narrator]

It was produced by Zoe Frign. Now, Snappers, if this story spoke to.

[Sponsor]

You know that Snap's evil twin podcast.

[Narrator]

Spook is dropping all new material. Magical, Mysterious, Mythic Spook, Season of the Wolf.

[Sponsor]

Amazing stories from people who can scarcely.

[Narrator]

Believe it happened themselves, available right this moment on each and every podcast platform each and every week.

[Todd Narin]

Spooked.

[Narrator]

Now, after the break, there's another creature I'd like you to meet. Stay tuned.

[Sponsor]

Welcome back to Snap Judgment, the Howl episode featuring magical journeys from our evil twin podcast, Spooked. My name is Lynn Washington.

[Narrator]

Spooked.

[Sponsor]

I don't know if you remember, Todd Narin took us all over North Carolina chasing cat bone curses and boating around Barbara Nichols Pond. Well, Todd, Todd is back, but this time he's got a whole different kind.

[Narrator]

Of story sp.

[Todd Narin]

I've written the story down about having always wanted to tell it out loud, but after all these years, I'd like to tell it for you. The story began in 1979 and all those kids had just gotten back from school after Christmas and New Year's break. So when I walked into my classroom in Mrs. Dean's eighth grade class, I saw something strange. It was a little fellow sitting at my desk. Now this wasn't just a regular desk, it was the best seat in the house, right beside the radiator and big window to look out of and daydream anytime I wanted to. I intended on keeping that desk. So I went up and told him to get up or get beat up. He looked at me and said, you ain't got your name on it. Of which I said, yes, I do. And I pointed to it. Todd Curtis Nairn in the right hand corner. After seeing my name, he licked his fingers and smudged it out and began to tell me it was his desk now for me to get lost. About this time, the teacher showed up and told everybody to have a seat for roll call, pledge allegiance and flag, and a prayer to the Lord. The teacher then introduced our new student to the class as Luther Riggs and asked us to make him feel real welcome. I made him feel real welcome all right, as I took a nearby seat and made threatening gestures to him while the teacher wasn't looking, he just rolled his eyes and mouthed, come on and get some if you think you can. I mouthed back to meet me at Rick's in the boys dugout. The news of the upcoming fight spread fast, and by the time I got to the dugout, it seemed as if half the school was there to see a Muhammad Ali fight. I then jumped into the dugout. To my surprise, he was already there, all 60 pounds of him. I thought to myself I was going to put a whooping on him until he cried. And at about that time, that little rascal popped on the top of the eye. Now, with us other boys, we would fight, but we would never hit each other in the face. So after I got over my shot, I grabbed him around the neck and tried to squeeze his head off with a powerful 8th grade headlock. And then basically I just put my weight on him and he hit the ground first, which we all know made me the winner, even though my eyebrow told another story. We got back to class. I took my desk back. Life's hard on the little things. And he just happened to be one of the little things. Anyway, so that was my first day with Luther X. The next day at school, me and Luther just kind of stared at each other and shrugged our shoulders and smiled. And after that we became good friends. So he lived just down the road from me, and I would help his family on the farm and he would help us on our farm. When we kids weren't working. We played war in the woods every war from the Civil War to Vietnam. Luther Ricks was small in stature, but he made up for it in heart. He would do anything from riding hogs, jumping off barns with umbrellas to see if he could float down. I could tell he was hurting sometimes, but he would bounce right back up and do it again. The neighbors accused us of raiding gardens and stealing watermelons, but they never really saw us. Yes, sir, we became good friends, me and Luke Riggs. Sadly, his daddy died next year from a heart attack, and that just left him and his mama. And they grew to be very close. I at least had a stepdaddy that treated me well, so I didn't have all the pressures of life like Luther X and his mama had. We passed the summer together, working to keep things going for the little farms, raising cucumbers and tobacco. Time seemed to just roll along as we grew up together. And Luther Rex ended up being bigger than me by our junior year. I sometimes think he just kind of carried me around like a brother as he grew bigger and faster, as he became playing sports in school, his mama would go to every game to cheer him on. And right beside her would be me. The next Summer finally came when it was time to pick cucumbers and carry them to the market before the tobacco season started. His mother had gotten some money after Luther's daddy died and she bought two more acres of land. Unfortunately, she borrowed a field right beside Buck Parker's cow farm. And the fence came right up to Luther's field. And standing in it was a big red bull with a ring in his nose. Mr. Parker teased and poked at that bull, trying to make him aggressive so he might put him in nearby rodeos and make a little change for himself. On this particular day, Luther and I started working on the far side of the field. As we went up and down the roads, we got closer and closer to the fence holding that bull. I could tell Luther had his mind on that bull, so I finally asked him, what are you doing staring over there at that bull? Luther said that he wanted to try to pull the ring from the bull's nose and get back over. I told Luther, sometimes you just gotta turn down a challenge. And that we should just finish to work and go home. After a while, we got right beside the fence working, and that bull walked up to about 20ft from us. I saw Luther drop his cucumber sack and walk toward the fence. As Luther climbed the fence, I started to tell him to stop, but Luther kept going. When he stepped into the pasture, the bull and the Luther just stood there staring at each other until Luther made a quick run toward the bull with his hand and arm outstretched to get at the prize. I started across the fence to maybe stop what was about to happen when I saw the bull put his head down in charge. Luther collided with the bull as the horn sunk deep into his Luther's chest, and it started to grind Luther on the ground and the fence. I screamed and even took my shirt off and started waving it to get the bull's attention. But it was too late. The bull was mad and only pushed harder into Luther. After a while, the bull quit and walked away, leaving my best friend dead. Halfway hanging on the fence, I ran to loo for not believing what I was seeing. Mr. Parker came because he heard me shouting and somehow got the bull penned up so he could get him out of the pasture. Well, I was right up there holding Luther until the ambulance people got there. And then they told me to back up, so I just backed up. But I couldn't believe what I was seeing really, which is they worked on Luther for quite a while before pronouncing him dead. As they were taking him away, I reached for his hand and felt the cold nose ring held tightly in his hand. But back then, you couldn't really cry in front of men. But I would go to the woods and cry, or I'd cry to my mama. I kept the nose ring. And I just pulled out and look at it. And I couldn't believe it. My friend had died for this. And it hurt me to see it. Well, when we went to the funeral and I waited till they were about to close the casket. When they did, I walked up to Luther Rick's and I put the ring in his hand. And the mama saw it, but nobody else saw it. And I knew they were fixing to close the gasket. I put it in there. I don't really know why other than just show him that he might have got killed, but he got what he wanted. But, I mean, it really wasn't worth it. His mama saw what I had done and didn't say a word while I was doing it. That was the last time I saw Luther Riggs. But a few days later, his mama called me and asked me to come over. And I did as she wished. As we sat down at the kitchen table, she brought out a handkerchief and pulled the nose ring out of it. It scared me. Cause I had knowed what I'd done. I knew where the ring was at. I knew it was the ring. It had a little gap in it. It's a little gap in it. And it was red right around one of the gaps. It felt cold. No matter how hot in the room, that nose ring always felt cold. Kind of like ashes of cold after a fire. I knew it was the same ring. And I just. I just couldn't figure it out. The mama couldn't figure it out. In my stomach, my chest and my arms felt real heavy, like they were full of blood. And I just didn't know how to handle it. She started to tell me. In the night, she heard noises. And when she awoke, she found the ring on her nightstand. I didn't know that it was the. That things could move. The way the ring moved and how far away it was. We talked four miles from the house. She continued to tell me that she took it back to his headstone. But it always appeared as a gift to her every time she woke up. I think bringing the ring back to his mama showed that he was maybe a little harder than the grave. She finally carried it back, laid it down, and told Luther to please rest in peace and that she would see him again in heaven. I eventually grew older, got married and moved on. But I've always carried Luther's memory with me. Just like his mama said, we'll all be together someday.

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Thank you, Todd Narran, for joining us one more time on the Spook. Big love out to everybody in North Carolina. Now it's on. You know it's on. This episode may be over, but the journey continues.

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Spooked.

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Spooked is produced by the team that always holds each other's hands in the nighttime. Mr. Mark Ristich. Anna Sussman, our chief spookster, Eliza Smith. Annie Nguyen. Renzo Gorio. Ann Ford. Leon Morimoto. Jacob Winnick. Lauren Newsom. Now, when you feel the unseen hand, you might not know whether it intends good or ill? It may have risen from your past or be torn from your future. Unknowns abound, but understand this. Whatever you do and wherever it came from, never ever, never, never ever, never, never, never, never, never ever, never, ever.

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