37 Seconds - Classic

Summary

---

Spooked — “37 Seconds - Classic” (August 7, 2026)

Episode Overview

In this episode of Spooked, host Glynn Washington shares the harrowing, firsthand account of Stephanie Arnold, a woman who, while pregnant with her second child, was plagued by constant premonitions of her own death during childbirth. Despite her fervent warnings to family, friends, and doctors, Stephanie is dismissed—until her chilling visions come true in the delivery room. The episode intimately explores the intersection of intuition, fear, the supernatural, and the power of being believed, all against the tension of impending doom.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Premonitions Begin

• The Blood Fountain Vision

  • Stephanie first experiences a disturbing vision while walking in Tribeca Park:
    • “...in my mind's eye, the fountain turned to blood and started gushing blood. And I grabbed onto the stroller. I felt the blood hemorrhage in my body, like all the blood was rushing out.” (03:46 — Stephanie Arnold)
  • She rushes to the ER, but there’s no physical problem; her symptoms are dismissed as a false alarm.

• Death on the Table

  • The very next night, Stephanie has a vision of herself dead on the operating room table:
    • “I saw my body flat dead on the operating table. I saw my body cut from sternum to pelvis...just cut wide open and dead.” (04:51 — Stephanie Arnold)
  • She mentions that these visions become relentless and vivid, even showing her own burial and her family’s life without her.

Seeking Help, Feeling Alone

• Stephanie informs everyone—her husband, friends, doctors—about her fears, but she is repeatedly dismissed.
  • “People would stop talking to me...I wasn't being poetic. I was scared.” (06:20–08:23 — Stephanie Arnold)
• Stephanie goes as far as contacting every possible doctor, including the anesthesiologist, to ask for preparedness:
  • “I pick up the phone and I call, and then I say, what happens if my placenta previa turns into an accreta and I need a hysterectomy?” (07:19 — Stephanie Arnold)
• She prepares for her possible death, writing goodbye letters to her family and posting online about needing her blood type.

The Day of the Birth

• Reality Matches Premonition

  • The week before her scheduled C-section, Stephanie begins to hemorrhage at home:
    • “‘Mommy, why are you peeing red?’” (09:24 — Stephanie Arnold, quoting her daughter)

• Despite nurses’ reassurances, Stephanie is certain she will die after the delivery.

• Her last messages to her husband are painfully honest:

  • “‘You've made me the happiest woman in the world and please take care of this baby and be a great father...’” (12:08 — Stephanie Arnold)

• The Code Blue in the OR

  • After giving birth, Stephanie begins to gag and flatlines; she is pronounced dead for 37 seconds.
  • Rapid response, including an extra crash cart (set up because the anesthesiologist added a precaution flag to her file), saves her life.
  • During the crisis, her placenta previa does in fact become an accreta, just as she had predicted.

Aftermath & Searching for Answers

• The Struggle to Reconnect

  • Stephanie is placed in a medically induced coma. When she awakes, she’s confused, swollen from kidney failure, and deeply shaken.
  • She feels disconnected from her newborn son, Jacob:
    • “I was scared of Jacob because of the fear that he was going to kill me. I thought I was going to die and stay dead.” (15:39 — Stephanie Arnold)

• Hypnotherapy & Revisiting the Death Experience

  • After several failed attempts at therapy, Stephanie tries hypnotherapy to revisit the moments she was dead.
  • Under hypnosis, she experiences an out-of-body vision:
    • “What I saw was spirit Stephanie perpendicular to my body...my spirit is tapping physically on the monitor...counting down slower and slower and slower...” (18:47 — Stephanie Arnold)
  • She reveals a profound sense of being guided back by deceased relatives and recounts the sensations of surgery in vivid detail:
    • “I see my uncle Marvin. I see my grandmother...My uncle is standing there...you told the doctors what was going on. You need to go back.” (21:14 — Stephanie Arnold)

• The Skepticism of Her Husband

  • Stephanie’s husband, Jonathan, is reluctant to engage emotionally or acknowledge what happened:
    • “The reality is I'm fine. And so it was very frustrating for me...I feel there's something else going on.” (25:37 — Stephanie Arnold)
  • In a poignant moment, Stephanie discovers letters and mathematical calculations Jonathan did while she was in the ICU, revealing his suppressed fear and regret:
    • “What am I to do if you're gone?...How did you know? I can't lose you. I would be a shell of a man. If you die. Please don't die.” (26:58 — Jonathan’s letter, read by Stephanie Arnold)

Critical Validation

• Stephanie shares the video of her hypnotherapy session with the anesthesiologist, who confirms that the behaviors Stephanie describes and re-enacts were exactly what happened in the OR:
  • “She looked in horror. And she said it looked exactly like that.” (24:24 — Stephanie Arnold)
• The anesthesiologist admits that Stephanie’s insistence caused her to flag Stephanie's file—ultimately saving her life:
  • “And the only reason I am alive is because they had the blood and they had the crash cart available.” (25:12 — Stephanie Arnold)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It's not a false alarm. It's a warning.” (04:39 — Stephanie Arnold)
• “I was looking at a ticking time bomb that was going to go off the day I gave birth.” (06:20 — Stephanie Arnold)
• “What are the last words I'm going to say? ...If you're being buried alive and that last bit of dirt is hitting your face, what are your last words going to be?” (10:01 — Stephanie Arnold)
• “I was afraid of Jacob because of the fear that he was going to kill me.” (15:39 — Stephanie Arnold)
• “My spirit is tapping physically on the monitor, counting down slower and slower and slower...” (18:47 — Stephanie Arnold)
• “You always knew what to do. You told the doctors what was going on. You need to go back.” (21:32 — Stephanie Arnold, recounting her uncle's words during her out-of-body experience)
• “Did it look anything like this? ... It looked exactly like that.” (24:24 — Stephanie Arnold and anesthesiologist)
• “Do you believe me? ...With tears rolling down his face, he said yes.” (29:58 — Stephanie Arnold, regarding her husband)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:46] — Stephanie’s blood fountain vision in Tribeca Park
• [04:51] — Vision of her own death on the operating table
• [06:20] — Vivid premonitions of family life without her
• [07:19] — Conversation with anesthesiologist about worst-case scenario
• [09:24] — Hemorrhage and departure for delivery at the hospital
• [12:08] — Farewell messages to husband, being wheeled to operating room
• [13:34] — C-section, Stephanie flatlines, 37 seconds “dead”
• [15:39] — Post-coma trauma, fear of newborn
• [16:43] — Decision to pursue hypnotherapy
• [18:47] — Hypnotherapy session, reliving out-of-body/death experience
• [21:14] — Encounter with deceased relatives
• [24:24] — Video of hypnotherapy matches real hospital events
• [26:54] — Jonathan’s hidden letter, his emotional reckoning
• [29:58] — Husband’s final affirmation: “Yes, I believe you.”

---

Theme & Tone

The episode is intense and intimate, alternating between Stephanie’s clear-eyed, heartfelt storytelling and the compassionate yet eerie guiding narration by Glynn Washington. The mood is foreboding, reflective, and ultimately cathartic—driven by the need not just to survive, but to be heard, believed, and reconnected with loved ones after unimaginable trauma.

---

Conclusion

“37 Seconds - Classic” is a strikingly personal account of premonition, the supernatural, and the desperate need for validation during crisis. Stephanie’s story reminds listeners of the mysteries still unsolved by medicine and science, the enduring power of intuition, and the importance of belief—both in oneself and in those you love.

---

Transcript

[Glen Washington]

When Stephanie was pregnant, she had premonitions of her own death. She told everyone. Her husband, her friends, her doctor. But no one believed her. Still, she knew that when she got to the delivery room, she was gonna die. From SnapJudgment's underground lair. You're listening to SP. Stay tuned.

[Hershey's Cookies and Cream Bar Narrator]

One crunchy bite of a Hershey's cookies and cream bar, and I'm taken right back to college. Move in. Day I was a little overwhelmed by the newness of it all. Boxes were everywhere. I needed a break from unpacking.

[Stephanie Arnold]

But just as I was able to

[Hershey's Cookies and Cream Bar Narrator]

take a breath and open my Hershey's cookies and cream bar, mine and roommate Rachel walked in. I offered her a piece, but she said no. Then after a beat, she said, actually, those are my favorite ones.

[Stephanie Arnold]

We left.

[Hershey's Cookies and Cream Bar Narrator]

The ice was broken, and we've been friends ever since.

[Grainger and Hershey's/McDonald's Advertiser]

Hershey's. It's your happy place.

[McDonald's Advertiser]

Hear that? That's now crispy and McCrispy strips meeting. Creamy Caesar sauce. Sounds extra crispy. Caesar's sauce at McDonald's for a limited time.

[Glen Washington]

Bada ma pa pa. Grainger knows.

[Grainger and Hershey's/McDonald's Advertiser]

When you're a procurement manager for an office park, you're not managing one building, you're managing all of them. And to stay ahead, you need to see through walls and around corners. Lights about to fail. Filters ready to clog H Vac on its last leg. If you wait until something breaks, you're already behind. Count on Grainger for quality products, easy reordering, and 24. 7 support. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.

[Glen Washington]

I remember picking up the phone before it even rang. Where are you? I ain't even had nothing to eat. Tell me where you are. Tell me where you are. My phone went dead. And I think that sometimes you just know. Maybe you know when your child needs you before they call out. Maybe you know not to make that left turn. Maybe. Maybe you feel like it's better if you wait for the next bus. You don't know how you know, but you know. From Snap Judgment's underground lair. My name is Glen Washington. Know this, however you know we believe you. Spook starts now. Stephanie Arnold was pregnant with her second child, and she couldn't have been more excited. The pregnancy started off easy. Stephanie had no complaints until she reached her 20th week spooked.

[Stephanie Arnold]

I was walking through Tribeca park in the middle of winter with my daughter in a stroller, and I was explaining how this fountain is so beautiful when it's flowing. And then all of a sudden, in my mind's eye, the fountain turned to blood and started gushing blood. And I grabbed onto the stroller. I felt the blood hemorrhage in my body, like all the blood was rushing out.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Stephanie stood in the park clutching her daughter's stroller. She was due in a few months and this was not a good sign. So she rushed to the emergency room. And when she got there, she realized she wasn't actually hemorrhaging. There wasn't even any blood. The doctor said whatever she felt was just a false alarm.

[Stephanie Arnold]

And I'm like, it's not a false alarm. It's a warning.

[Narrator/Reporter]

A warning because just the night before, Stephanie was sitting at her desk when she got a vision.

[Stephanie Arnold]

I saw my body flat dead on the operating table. I saw my body cut from sternum to pelvis and across the pelvic area, almost in a tumor, just cut wide open and dead.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Stephanie was starting to feel like what happened at the fountain and her vision from the night before were somehow related.

[Stephanie Arnold]

I had seen it all happening like flash before my eyes.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Stephanie had recently found out that she had placenta previa. But her doctor told her that the risk of death was pretty low. Still, the vision to her was more like a premonition.

[Stephanie Arnold]

I'd be grocery shopping and I'd be in the aisle, you know, getting the flour because I was making bread that night. And all of a sudden I would see the Sabbath dinner table and the mother seat would be empty the next day. I'd be walking and I'd have a flash of my burial.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Stephanie lay dead in a shiny coffee colored casket wearing her husband Jonathan's Air Force dog tags. Right next to the casket, Jonathan stood crying with her daughters. In his arms was their newborn son, Jacob.

[Stephanie Arnold]

Flashes of life continuing without me. I was looking at a ticking time bomb that was going to go off the day I gave birth. I was in Starbucks getting, you know, hot chocolate or something. And the barista was like, was pregnant also in New York. And she's like. She's like, oh, how's the pregnancy going? I'm like, I'm gonna die. So people would stop talking to me. I'd have ultrasounds, baby's fine. I'd have blood tests. I'd meet with the psychologist. I am trying to figure out what I need to do and who needs to be in that operating room in order to save my life.

[Narrator/Reporter]

With only five weeks until her C section, Stephanie had gone to every doctor she could think of. The only one left was the anesthesiologist.

[Stephanie Arnold]

So I pick up the phone and I call, and then I say, well, what happens in the event that my placenta previa turns into an accreta and I need a hysterectomy? And she was startled by it. She was quiet. And she says, you know, Mrs. Arnold, you're in a teaching hospital, and you're in very good hands, and we're aware of your condition, and I hope I made you feel better. And I, you know, I sat down there for a moment and I. And I finally, you know, let out a sigh, and I said, it is what it is. I felt alone through the whole process. Nobody was believing me during this time. And so it was up to me to do something. And I just felt very, very alone.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Stephanie's husband commuted from their home in Chicago to his office in New York. So most weeknights, Stephanie was by herself. After she put the kids to bed, she would sit in the rocking chair in the living room on her laptop.

[Stephanie Arnold]

I took to Facebook. I posted, if anybody has my blood type, I'm gonna need it. I wrote goodbye letters. Every time I started to write something to Jonathan, I would break down crying because I. I knew that whatever letters I would write would be something that he would be holding on for the rest of his life and continue to read. And I wasn't being poetic. I was scared. I tried to write letters to each one of my children, including my unborn child, and thought, you know, where do I even start? It's the pain of not being there to kiss a boo boo better. It's the pain of not. Not cooking a family dinner and having Thanksgiving around the table.

[Narrator/Reporter]

One week before her C section, Stephanie wakes up and walks downstairs to prepare breakfast for her youngest daughter.

[Stephanie Arnold]

All of a sudden, a rush of blood comes out of me and lands on the kitchen floor. My daughter looks up and says, mommy, why are you peeing red? You know I'm smiling. And I said, you know, we're just gonna have your today, so you're going to get to meet him.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Stephanie strapped her daughter in the car and drove herself to the hospital. As soon as she arrived, the nurses hooked her up to the monitors and told her to relax. But Stephanie knew that once the doctors wheeled her into that operating room and delivered baby Jacob, she wouldn't come back out.

[Stephanie Arnold]

I was focused on what. What the heck is going to happen in the next few hours? Is Jonathan going to get here on time? What are the last words I'm going to say? What does one say as they're running out of breath. If you're. If you're being buried alive and that last bit of dirt is hitting your face, what are your last words going to be?

[Hershey's Cookies and Cream Bar Narrator]

One crunchy bite of Hershey's cookies and cream bar, and I'm taken right back to college. Move in. Day I was a little overwhelmed by the newness of it all. Boxes were everywhere. I needed a break from unpacking. But just as I was able to take a breath and open my Hershey's cookies and cream bar, my new roommate Rachel walked in. I offered her a piece, but she said no. Then after a beat, she said, actually, those are my favorite ones.

[Stephanie Arnold]

We left.

[Hershey's Cookies and Cream Bar Narrator]

The ice was broken, and we've been friends ever since.

[Grainger and Hershey's/McDonald's Advertiser]

Hershey's. It's your happy place.

[McDonald's Advertiser]

The snack wrap plus Caesar sauce equals extra crispy chicken Caesary greatness. Sounds delicious. Caesar sauce at McDonald's for a limited time.

[Grainger and Hershey's/McDonald's Advertiser]

Grainger knows. When you're a procurement manager for an office park, you're not managing one building, you're managing all of them. And to stay ahead, you need to see through walls and around corners. Lights about to fail, filters ready to clog H Vac on its last leg. If you wait until something breaks, you're already behind. Count on Grainger for quality products, easy reordering, and 24. 7 support. Call 1-800-granger. Click granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Stephanie's doctor came in and told her it's time.

[Stephanie Arnold]

So I start texting Jonathan. And I said, you know, you've made me the happiest woman in the world and please take care of this baby and be a great father like you are, but not just to our two girls, but to Jacob as well. And he still wasn't getting it. So he said, honey, where do I meet you? And I said, eighth floor recovery, hopefully. And I closed the computer and, you know, Adina is there. And I had a smile on my face. My doctor's like, you know, we'll be back with mommy and your brother so soon. And I kissed her a million times. As soon as the gurney turned the corner out of the room, I broke down crying because I knew I wasn't going to see Adena again. I get into the operating room, the noise in my head felt like it was just a pulsating of my heartbeat ringing in my head like, you know, ba bump, bum, bum, bum, bum. I felt this bomb getting louder and louder and louder.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The nurses strapped Stephanie's arms on the bed and Put a curtain in front of her face.

[Stephanie Arnold]

So at that point, I was done. There's nowhere to run. There's nowhere to hide. I can't escape this.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The doctors began the C section, and they delivered baby Jacob. Then Stephanie started gagging. Seconds later, she flatlined. The doctors called the code blue. They scrambled to revive her, bringing in a crash cart with extra monitors and extra blood. The first one didn't work, and time was running out. Stephanie was losing blood fast, so they brought in a second crash cart. She had been gone for 37 seconds. Finally, the monitor picked up a pulse, and Stephanie came back to life. The doctors put her into a medically induced coma, and during that time, Stephanie's placenta previa turned into an accreta, just like she saw in the visions. She started to hemorrhage, and the doctors performed a hysterectomy. On the sixth day of her coma, Stephanie finally woke up. Her body had swollen up to £200 from the kidney failure, and the first thing she saw was. Was her big, swollen belly. She was confused. She thought she was still pregnant.

[Stephanie Arnold]

Now I'm terrified. I haven't gone through it yet. Like, I was on pause. Then my husband whispers in my ear, sweetheart, you know, no, you're not pregnant anymore. You gave birth six days ago. And that blew my mind. So when they transferred me back to the maternity ward and they got me settled in, Jonathan, with the head nurse at, wheeled Jacob in, like, as a surprise. And I just broke down crying, and I'm like, you need to get him out of here.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Her husband, Jonathan, thought it would be healing to have the baby there.

[Stephanie Arnold]

I. I could tell he was disappointed immediately. He went and he held Jacob and he put him on his chest. You know, to be perfectly honest with you, I was scared of Jacob because of the fear that he was going to kill me. I thought I was going to die and stay dead. I'm alive now, on the other side of it, and it's not the bliss and the gratitude. I was afraid of being. I was afraid of any kind of emotions that would lead to another fear of foreboding.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Stephanie visited therapist after therapist, but no one could explain how she got those premonitions or what happened in the 37 seconds that she died before she came back to life. A friend suggested hypnotherapy. Stephanie figured she'd try it. It was online, and she could do it from the comfort of her own home. But when she told her husband, he

[Stephanie Arnold]

was like, why would you ever want to do that? And I'm Like, I want to go into the fire, rip the band aid off, and then come out of it on the other side. Because what if I, you know, am crazy with my children? What if I get divorced with my husband? I didn't want the anger to grow into something else and then take its toll.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The hypnotherapist told Stephanie that she could take her into deep meditative states that would allow her to observe what happened in those 37 seconds when she flatlined in the OR.

[Stephanie Arnold]

I had never been hypnotized before, and I didn't know if it would work. I didn't know whether I'd remember anything, whether or whether somebody was tampering with my mind.

[Narrator/Reporter]

She decided she would videotape herself while she was in her deep meditative states.

[Stephanie Arnold]

There was something about the therapist's voice. So she's a Cuban Jew. And this woman's voice sounded almost identical to my grandmother. We were just starting. She's like, do you think you're ready to go into the or? And I said, well, let's try it.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The next thing she knew, Stephanie was back in the or, back to the moment when her heart was beating loudly in her ears.

[Stephanie Arnold]

And I'm laying flat on the operating table, and I'm alive and my arms are out and attached to the gurney. I have a curtain in front of my face. I am completely catatonic. They were talking to me and saying things to me. Are you cold, Mrs. Arnold? Do you need a blanket? Your husband should be here soon. I wasn't. Acknowledging was like a muted conversation. Like it was just noise.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The nurses put the soap on her belly, and they wait. Stephanie begins to slip under.

[Stephanie Arnold]

And then what I saw was spirit Stephanie perpendicular to my body. The only thing I could hear was the beat of the machine and the tapping of my finger on top of the machine. My heart's getting louder. The beat is getting louder and louder in my head. I am tapping. My spirit is tapping physically on the monitor, counting down slower and slower and slower until they were gonna take the baby out of me.

[Glen Washington]

When we return spooked. The 37 seconds episode continues. Stay tuned.

[McDonald's Advertiser]

Sa.

[Glen Washington]

When we left Stephanie, she was deep in the middle of hypnotherapy, and she was going back, back, back to the moment she died on the operating table. Spooked.

[Stephanie Arnold]

The only thing I could hear was the beat of the machine and the tapping. My spirit is tapping physically on the monitor, counting down slower and slower and slower until they were going to take the baby out of me.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The doctors delivered Jacob and The minute

[Stephanie Arnold]

that Jacob was removed and they were

[Narrator/Reporter]

delivering the placenta, and Stephanie's body begins to seize and convulse.

[Stephanie Arnold]

You hear the flatline beep, and you see my spirits, like, shoot up like a shooting star, this bright white light shoot up.

[Narrator/Reporter]

A nurse jumps on her chest, breaks her ribs, and begins to give her cpr.

[Stephanie Arnold]

My doctor kept saying, this can't be happening. This cannot be happening. I see my uncle Marvin. I see my grandmother. I see people that I know that had passed. So my uncle was standing right there. And if you look at it like there's three steps going up to whatever platform all these spirits were at. I was three steps below. And as I'm walking in, my uncle is standing there, and, you know, he's saying, you always knew what to do. You told the doctors what was going on. You need to go back. I physically feel that scalpel hitting my skin. And I could feel the cutting and the incisions and hacking away at my stomach and the feel of an umbilical cord being pulled from high above me down into my body. I can't breathe.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Stephanie was in her living room, clutching her stomach. And at that moment, the therapist's voice came in.

[Stephanie Arnold]

Okay, okay, we're gonna come down. We're gonna take you past this moment. We're gonna go to the moment where you held Jacob for the first times. In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. When I got done with that therapy session, I felt a sense of relief. Just a lot of pain released from my chest. And Jonathan came upstairs, and he said, you know, is everything okay? Because he had heard me screaming. And I said, I need to take a look at this. And so I showed him about, I don't know, five seconds. He slammed down the computer. He said, I want you to stop this therapy. It's hurting you. It's really. It's traumatic, and you're re traumatizing yourself. And I said, I feel better. Like, I feel a little more connected, Like I'm connecting the dots of what happened. And he looks at me, and he says, how do you know any of what you just said was true? It could be an episode of Grey's Anatomy in your head. And I looked at him, and I was really pissed, but I looked at him, and I said, you know, it's a fair point.

[Narrator/Reporter]

So Stephanie called one of the anesthesiologists who was in the OR when she died on the table. She asked what it looked like when she went into cardiac arrest.

[Stephanie Arnold]

And she said, you know, it wasn't like a normal Cardiac arrest. It was like you were having a seizure and you were gagging.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Stephanie pulls up the video of her hypnotherapy session. It's queued up to the part where she sees herself start to seize and convulse.

[Stephanie Arnold]

And my eyes rolled back. I said, did it look anything like this? My chest was out. I stopped breathing, and I had a seizure. And she looked in horror. And she said it looked exactly like that.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Then the anesthesiologist told her that back when she was pregnant, you said something

[Stephanie Arnold]

that would haunt me forever. And she said, you said, it is what it is.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Even though the anesthesiologists had told Stephanie not to worry. Afterwards, she flagged Stephanie's file for delivery day. She made sure to have an extra crash cart with blood and medical supplies, just in case.

[Stephanie Arnold]

And the only reason I am alive is because they had the blood and they had the crash cart available. Because she flagged the file,

[Narrator/Reporter]

Stephanie felt she had enough validation and she didn't need to be afraid of the premonitions anymore. But the one person who still didn't seem convinced was her husband.

[Stephanie Arnold]

After me trying to get him to talk several times, and him saying, honey, I'm fine. I'm like, I know you're not. And he's like, I think you're just trying to get me to say something and be emotional about. But I'm okay, really. The crisis averted. Now let's move on. Let's move on with our lives. And I'm like, no, I feel there's something else going on. And he's like, don't feel anything. It's what's happening. The reality is I'm fine. And so it was very frustrating for me. So I'm just, like, you know, keeping myself busy.

[Narrator/Reporter]

So one evening, she was sitting at Jonathan's desk tidying up, when she found

[Stephanie Arnold]

a small prayer book, a paperback version of the Torah. So it's just a little Bible, and there were papers stuffed within it. So I open the prayer book, and I see a folded piece of paper with numbers on it. And it's only numbers. It's mathematical equations.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Stephanie's husband was an economist. And while she was in the coma in the icu, Jonathan was calculating how many amniotic fluid embolisms happen in a year and how many are fatal and what the chances of Stephanie surviving could be.

[Stephanie Arnold]

And then there was another piece of paper. And then I opened the piece of paper and I started reading it.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It was a letter written to Stephanie.

[Stephanie Arnold]

So the letter read, my only Love of my life. I am sitting here in the still of the night, listening to the machines beep around you. You look like an angel, which devastates me. What am I to do if you're gone? How will I ever reconcile this to our children, to myself? I should have listened more. I should have been there. If for nothing else but to hold your hand, I should have prayed for you. Rabbi told me this is a test of faith. If I was being tested, why isn't this happening directly to me? Why to you? What did all this mean? How did you know? I can't lose you. I would be a shell of a man. If you die. Please don't die. I don't. And then he stopped mid sentence. So he came home later that day. I let him finish playing with the kids and put him to bed. And he was upstairs and he was watching tv. And. I told him I found the letter. And first he brushed it off. And he was like, you know, what letter? What are you talking about? And I'm like, the one in your prayer book. He's like, oh. He was watching television. His phone was next to him. And I sent him a few texts. And I said, do you believe that I could see dead people? I was standing behind him. I had tried to have so many conversations, and I think it was easier to have him answer in black and white without having a big emotional conversation, just to ask straight questions, to get a straight answer, than to look into his eyes and have him answer me directly that way. And he responded with yes. And I said the last question, do you believe me? With tears rolling down his face, he said yes.

[Glen Washington]

Big thanks to Stephanie Arnold for sharing her story. Stephanie lives in Chicago with her husband and three children, including baby Jacob. You can find a link to Stephanie's book on our website, spoofedpodcast.org. The Spooked Monster team includes Mark Ristich, Anna Sussman, Adeza Egan, Eliza Smith, Jody Collie and Jasmine Aguilera. Spook theme music was by our own Pat Mesiti Miller. Original soundtrack by Pat Mesiti Miller, Renzo Gorio and Leon Morimoto. There are more full episodes of Spooked. Download or stream the show right now. Where you got this one? Spookedpodcast.org as we count down to All Hallows Eve. Be afraid. And if you like stories with heart and soul, remember to check out the magical Snap Judgment podcast. And if you feel time space closing in on you from all sides, threatening to trap your very soul, I have the remedy, the antidote, the back door. Please remember and never forget to never ever Never, never, ever turn out the light.