I'm Not Your Brother

Summary

Spooked – Episode: "I'm Not Your Brother"

Podcast: Spooked by KQED & Snap Studios
Date: November 21, 2025
Host: Glynn Washington
Storyteller: Luis Pena
Producer: Fernando Hernandez

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Episode Theme & Purpose

This episode of Spooked explores the chilling phenomenon of doppelgangers through a firsthand account from Luis Pena. Set in rural Mexico, the story navigates family bonds, supernatural encounters, and the haunting legacy of the past. Listeners are drawn into an eerie family drama that blurs the line between sibling rivalry and otherworldly impersonation.

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Key Discussion Points & Story Breakdown

1. Sibling Pranks & Rivalry (04:59–07:35)

• Host Glynn Washington opens with a light-hearted anecdote about pranking his younger brother, creating a thematic segue into the nightmarish tale to follow.
  • Memorable Quote:
    “I think about this often. My brother with his bicycle, how scared and afraid he must have been waiting alone at the 7-Eleven for any sign of his savior... And I laugh myself wretched. Just like older brothers everywhere.” (06:25)

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2. The Night Visitor: Luis’s First Encounter (08:56–11:14)

• Luis Pena recounts being awakened at 3:30 a.m. by his brother Alvaro, who calls him by his nickname “Mega.”
• Luis questions Alvaro’s presence, since he should be elsewhere.
• The figure chillingly says:
  • “I’m not your brother.” (10:13)
• As realization sets in, the figure laughs and vanishes before Luis's eyes.
• Luis spends the rest of the night terrified, waiting for daylight.

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3. Parental Doubt & the Second Encounter (11:14–13:10)

• At dawn, Luis tells his mom, who dismisses it as a nightmare.
• Two weeks later, his mother experiences a similar event:
  • She sees the doppelganger, who uses Alvaro’s voice and beckons her to follow.
  • The apparition vanishes in the backyard shadows.
  • “I saw him just like he said, just like your brother’s silhouette. And he had the same voice.” (12:12)

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4. Seeking Spiritual Help & Exorcism Ritual (17:19–20:29)

• Disturbed, they consult both a priest and a local spiritist.
  • Both advise that such entities often target the most vulnerable member of a family, impersonating them to try to usurp their place.
  • The solution: a cleansing ritual involving candles, salt, and prayers to guide the entity out.
  • “It was somehow a beautiful spiritual ritual, but at the same time, it was creepy.” (19:41)
• They do not tell Alvaro about the ritual, fearing to worry him.

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5. Continued Hauntings & Family Relocation (20:50–22:04)

• Despite the exorcism, Luis continues to hear the brother’s voice calling him.
• The family eventually decides to permanently move away to Puerto Vallarta for peace.

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6. Years Later: The Father’s Encounter (22:04–26:35)

• After a year, Luis’s father moves back into their old house with Alvaro.
• On December 24, the father visits Luis and describes his own haunting:
  • The familiar voice of “Alvaro” calls to him at 6 a.m. He follows the silhouette, only to have it disappear.
  • He then sees the real Alvaro asleep and an entity that looks like his son pointing at him through the window.
  • “That’s the point where my dad thinks, what the fuck is going on? He thinks that that thing pointing at my brother is going to kill him.” (25:06)
• The father is shaken and moves out immediately.

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7. Family History & Revelations (29:39–33:37)

• Luis later confides in his grandfather, who shares a story about Santiago Garcia, a previous owner of their house:
  • Garcia was tall, thin, and sarcastic—fitting the figure everyone saw.
  • Garcia murdered a neighbor during a drunken brawl on New Year’s Eve, then was killed by an angry mob in the very house.
  • The house, built on the site of violence, may be at the root of their troubles.
  • Grandpa’s warning:
    “There’s just some things that are meant to remain hidden.” (33:27)

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8. Epilogue: Family Moving On (33:37–35:05)

• The family never investigates for hidden treasure or tries to contact Mr. Santiago’s spirit.
• Despite everything, the real Alvaro remains nonchalant about the haunting, to the exasperation of his family.
  • “I can’t believe how you can be so concerned about someone and he’s not concerned at all about himself. I mean, I love him. I’m still gonna be here for him, but he’s not gonna change. What are we going to do?” (33:55)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Luis Pena, upon seeing the doppelganger:
  • “I’m not your brother.” (10:13)
• Mother’s validation of the haunting:
  • “I saw him...just like your brother’s silhouette. And he had the same voice and he said to me, ‘Please come, I want to show you something.’” (12:12)
• Priest and spiritist’s warning:
  • “There’s this demon or entity that usually picks the weakest person or the weakest soul in a family, and that’s the person they impersonate because they want to take their place in that family.” (17:54)
• Luis’s father, shocked:
  • “I just saw this thing, this silhouette that looks like you. He sounds like you. Are you okay?” (25:23)
• Grandfather’s caution:
  • “There’s just some things that are meant to remain hidden.” (33:27)

---

Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | Speaker | |------------|---------------------------------------------|------------------------| | 04:59–07:35| Host’s brother prank, theme introduction | Glynn Washington | | 08:56–11:14| Luis’s first encounter with the doppelganger| Luis Pena | | 12:08–13:10| Mother’s encounter with the entity | Luis Pena | | 17:19–20:29| Spiritual consultations and cleansing ritual| Luis Pena | | 22:22–26:35| Father’s encounter and the family’s flight | Luis Pena | | 29:39–33:37| Grandpa shares the history of Mr. Garcia | Luis Pena & Grandpa |

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Tone and Language

• The episode moves between familial warmth and playful ribbing (in both Luis's anecdotes and Glynn’s opening monologue) and genuine terror as the haunting escalates.
• The storytelling is candid and direct: “Are you okay? I just saw this thing, this silhouette that looks like you. He sounds like you.” (25:23)
• Despite supernatural chills, the story remains rooted in the love, frustrations, and resilience of a close-knit family.

---

Closing Reflections

• Host Glynn Washington closes with a meditation on the company we keep and the dangers of letting monsters—literal or metaphorical—into our circles:
  • “If you are the five people you spend the most time with, choose wisely. Never ever ever. Never. Never ever ever ever. Turn out the light.” (38:47)

---

This episode artfully weaves supernatural terror and family dynamics, leaving listeners with unresolved questions and a warning: We may not always recognize the “monsters” standing beside us—be they family, ghosts, or something in between.

Transcript

[Host]

I am my brother's keeper. That's what I vowed to be. But while I watched my brother shadow watch for me, you've crossed over to Spooked. Stay tuned.

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[Luis Pena]

Welcome to Walgreens. Looking for a holiday gift?

[Host]

Sort of. My cousin Freddie showed up to surprise us.

[Luis Pena]

Oh, surprise. Sounds like a real nice surprise. Exactly.

[Host]

So now I have to get them a gift, but I haven't gotten my bonus yet.

[Luis Pena]

So if we can make it something really nice but also not break the.

[Host]

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[Luis Pena]

Get up.

[Host]

His head pops up and slams against the upper bump. Get up, I said. Murderous rage. What is your problem? You don't understand, I tell him. Jesus has returned.

[Luis Pena]

Huh? Jesus? Fool.

[Host]

Jesus was here. Mom and dad took off with him. The rapture's happening right now. Horror on his.

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What?

[Luis Pena]

Jesus?

[Host]

Ain't much time. I told Jesus you'd meet him at the 7:11, but you gotta go now.

[Luis Pena]

Huh?

[Host]

Go. Quick as you can. No time to argue. He leaps out of the bedroom, up into the garage, jumps on his bike and starts pedaling away with a speed. Hurry, Hurry. So then I makes me a snack. Peanut butter and jelly. Watch a little tv, chilling. My mom, dad, baby brother, sister return from the grocery store. Mom starts cooking. I help my sister with her homework. Then mama's like, where's your brother at? It's almost time to eat. Hmm. Midway through dinner, he comes in, boiling with anger, with fury, with shame. Where you been? Mama asks. Now he can't really say nothing. Cause he ain't a snitch, right? So he mumbles at my parents, hisses at me, and heads off to plot his revenge. I think about this often. My brother with his bicycle, how scared and afraid he must have been waiting alone at the 711 for any sign of his savior. No Snickers bars, no Skittles. Just standing by the slurping machine under the fluorescent lights, knowing the world had come to an end, hoping Jesus would not forget him like our pastor promised. Now think about this. That frightened boy. And I laugh myself wretched. Just like older brothers everywhere. Spook starts.

[Narrator]

Now.

[Host]

Okay, so picture this. You're just 12 years old, living with your mom's in a big house in a small village near Puerto Vallarta. Yeah, Pope sleeping. And you're definitely not expecting any guests tonight. But, well, Fernando Hernandez brings us a story of Luis Pena spooked.

[Narrator]

It's almost 3:30 in the morning and Luis Pena is in his bed sleeping.

[Luis Pena]

The only thing you would get to listen to is crickets and nature or wind. I'm pleasantly sleeping. And then I hear my brother Alvaro calling me, mega, mega, wake up, wake up, please, against my wheel. I wake up and I see him right there. It's his voice, his thin, tall silhouette. He's just there, laying on the door frame as he usually does. I'm like, what's going on? What do you want? He's like, what are you doing? And I tell him, well, I was asleep until you woke me up, you asshole.

[Narrator]

Oh, to have a big brother. But yeah, Luis's brother Alvaro was infamous for dropping by in the middle of the night. But the thing is, Alvaro was not supposed to be home that particular night.

[Luis Pena]

Then I tell him, I thought you were gonna be waiting for Mikaela in bus station to go and pick her up. So what are you doing here? He says, I'm not your brother. And then I just have this freaky moment of realization and I started shaking and I'm even afraid to ask him, so who are you? And the only thing he does is laughing. He started disappearing by his waist and then boom, he's all gone. He just vanished completely. I stopped breathing. It took me 2, 3 seconds to just come back to myself.

[Narrator]

Luis covers his head with a pillow and waits until his mom wakes up.

[Luis Pena]

At 6am she goes to my room. She just sees me there, shaking and crying. And she asks me, mijo, what's going on? Are you okay? I'm like, there was this spirit that pretended to be my brother. She just says, so relaxed, oh, no, no, no, no, calm down. It was a dream. It was a nightmare. You were half asleep. It was not a ghost. So just go back to sleep and it's going to be okay.

[Narrator]

Then two weeks later, again, at 6am his mom walks into his room, but this time she's the one shaking.

[Luis Pena]

And she's like, mijo, wake up, wake up. And I'm like, what? What's going on? And she said, I saw him. I saw him just like he said, just like your brother Silhouette. And he had the same voice and he said to me, please come, I want to show you something. So I just followed him.

[Narrator]

Louise's mom followed this silhouette into the kitchen, her heart pounding in her chest. But in a blink of an eye it was gone. It was now outside walking through the backyard.

[Luis Pena]

She said, and then I saw him just keeping walking. And all of a sudden he just disappeared in the shadows.

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[Luis Pena]

And as my mom keeps telling me the story, I was kind of drowning in emotions because it was a combination of shock and at the same time, joy because I was not the only one experiencing it.

[Narrator]

Louise's mom knew they had to do something so soon after this night. They went to a church after mass. She pulled the priest aside for a hushed conversation while Louise waited nervously outside.

[Luis Pena]

What this priest told my mom is that there's this demon or entity that usually picks the weakest person or the weakest soul in a family, and that's the person they impersonate because they want to take their place in that family.

[Narrator]

But this explanation wasn't what she wanted to hear, so she got a second opinion from a spiritist that lived nearby.

[Luis Pena]

And funny enough, he tells my mom the same thing that the priest told her. He told her that usually this person is the one who always gets in trouble. And he was right. Because that's my brother. He's a troublemaker. He's usually picking on classmates, even picking on teachers. As for me, he's always bullying me. He's always picking on me or giving me nicknames like Meghan. So what the priest and the spiritist told my mom is that we had to close all of the windows and alternative exits in my house. Light up everything with candles, but also adding salt, salt pots. That led the ghost or the entity to the exit, to the main door of the house and asking this entity politely to leave.

[Narrator]

So that's what they do. A couple of days later, Luis and his mom gathered candles and proceeded with this cleansing ritual. But they decide not to tell any of this to Alvaro. Why make him worry?

[Luis Pena]

We had to open all of the windows and all of the doors. There were at least 20, 30 candles all around the house because they had to lead to whatever window or door we had. As soon as we started lighting up the candles, we had to start praying. And we said, we are showing you the way to leave our house because this is not your house. It was somehow a beautiful spiritual ritual, but at the same time, it was creepy. One night, I had this very light sleep. I hear a voice. Mega, mega, wake up, wake up. You're gonna be running late, and the teacher is gonna be picking on you. When I hear that, I think, he's back. He's trying to pull out my nerves, and I got the goosebumps. Maybe the ritual didn't work.

[Narrator]

Luis couldn't shake the feeling that this thing was back. He told his mom the next day, and she, too, had enough. It wasn't long before she made up her mind. The whole family, including Alvaro, was moving to Puerto Vallarta to get away from this house.

[Luis Pena]

When we finally moved to Puerto Vallarta, I felt happy. My brother now seems to be more connected to my mom. He was making more money. He was having new stuff to do.

[Narrator]

Things seemed to be going well for the family. No unwanted nighttime visitor. But after a year of peace, Louis learns that his dad, after many years in the US Was moving back to Mexico, back into the house in La Huerta. Alvaro is most excited to hear of this homecoming.

[Luis Pena]

My brother had always been a daddy's boy. So as soon as he hears the news, he wants to go back to La Huerta with my dad. So they live together for a few Months, like three months. And everything seems to be fine at this point.

[Narrator]

Luis still hasn't seen his dad since he moved back. But that all changed on December 24th. It's early morning. Luis is at home with his mom when he hears a knock at the front door.

[Luis Pena]

I open the door and I see him there now. He has these gray hairs and very, very thick eyebrows that you see in people when they start to get older. He's also so surprised to see me because now I'm a big boy. And he tells me right away, you grew up a lot. Now I'm six foot two. We were talking for just a while, you know, about school and friends. And funny enough, 10, 15 minutes later, he asked me, hey, son, when you were living in La Huerta, did you ever see or hear anything odd or weird? I asked him back, what do you mean by odd or weird? So he tells me, well, one night, it was 6am and I heard someone knocking at the door and calling me, alo, wake up, wake up. And you know, I thought it was your brother, because he was calling me, alo. You are the only people that call me Allo? So my dad says, what happened, son? He looks back to the door, and that's where this silhouette of my brother is in the dark calling him. So he asked him, are you okay, son? And he goes, oh, yes, I'm okay, but I want to show you something. Come with me. So that's what my dad did. He started following the silhouette until the exit of the house. And somehow he sees that this silhouette just disappeared. My dad then went to my brother's room and he saw him sleeping, but then he saw this silhouette behind the window. And this thing was just pointing at my brother while he was asleep. This entity looks just like my brother. So my dad is seeing my brother twice. That's the point where my dad thinks, what the fuck is going on? He thinks that that thing pointing at my brother is going to kill him. So he runs towards my brother and starts shaking him. And he's like, mijo, mijo, mijo. He's crying. And then my brother, all confused, just wakes up. He's like, what's going on? And my dad told him, oh, my God, I just saw this thing, this silhouette that looks like you. He sounds like you. Are you okay? So my brother just answers. I mean, yeah, Nacho and my mom have been telling me that there is this ghost that pretends to be me, but I've never seen him. I tell him, yes, yes, that's exactly what we've been through. So because all of this happened, I felt a little relief because not only was me and my mom, it was my dad. My dad asked me, why did you never tell me any of that? And I told him, well, you were not living with us and you were not even in the country actually, and my brother seemed to be doing just fine.

[Narrator]

Hearing that Luis and his mom had seen this doppelganger was enough for Luis dad, he immediately decided to leave La Huerta for good.

[Luis Pena]

He preferred to rent a house downtown because of how worried he was about my brother and his soul and this thing showing up. So he decided to leave that house behind.

[Narrator]

Foreign.

[Host]

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[Narrator]

Yet still, the identity of this thing still haunted Luis. So the next time he visited his grandpa, who had spent his entire life in La Huerta, Luis shared everything that had happened to him and the family.

[Luis Pena]

I remember he was laying and hanging on a hammock he used to have in his porch. And I started telling him there was this entity that pretended to be my brother. I see my grandpa's face, and he's just closing his eyes. And he starts telling me, you know, there used to be this guy called Mr. Santiago Garcia. I'm just like, who? He said, Santiago Garcia used to be the previous owner of the house. He used to be really tall, like six foot five, very, very thin. And also very sarcastic and annoying. And in many ways, he looked and sounded like a brother. Now I had new questions. I thought this was just a spirit impersonating my brother. And then I asked him, so what happened to him?

[Narrator]

Luis's grandpa told him the story of a tragic night back in the 1970s that started out as a new year celebration.

[Luis Pena]

On New Year's Eve, when the bells ring, Mistress Santiago Garcia wanted to fly. Fires some shots from his favorite gun. That's usually the tradition in some places in Mexico. But he couldn't find his gun. And what his wife told him was that Mr. Angel, one of his neighbors, had stolen the gun. So for New Year's Eve, everyone gathers in the main plaza. Everyone's there. And Mr. Santiago sees that Mr. Angel pulls out a gun. He thinks that's his gun. It is identical. When he sees him firing it, he's just raging. So maybe because of the alcohol, he decided to shoot him in front of everyone else in the main plaza. After realizing what he just did, he tried to escape. And the whole community wanted to get him because he had just killed a neighbor. They chased him and killed him right there, right in his house.

[Narrator]

After Santiago Garcia was killed, his house remained vacant for years until Luis's grandpa bought it. Then he gave it to Louis father, who tore the old house down and rebuilt a new home on the same forsaken land.

[Luis Pena]

After hearing the whole story, I felt shocked. My reaction was disbelief. I was telling my grandpa that this entity was always guiding my parents somewhere and that we thought that maybe he was guiding us to some sort of treasure or buried belongings. And my grandpa said even if there was anything buried in there, no one should just discover it because you don't know what you could unleash. There's just some things that are meant to remain hidden.

[Narrator]

Luis says that they have never tried to connect with Mr. Santiago, even after dad moved out. They never disturbed the land, never searched for hidden treasures. The land holds dark memories the family would rather forget.

[Luis Pena]

A year ago we celebrated my brothers birthday and he seemed so happy. He just couldn't hide his smile when he was blowing up the candles. My brother tells the story of how everyone in the family saw a ghost that pretended to be him. And he says, you know, my dad was getting all paranoid and odd things started happening to me, so everyone was freaking out and I just remained so calmly till this day. He takes it as a joke, obviously, because he didn't go through the stress we had. I can't believe how you can be so concerned about someone and he's not concerned at all about himself. I mean, I love him. I'm still gonna be here for him, but he's not gonna change. What are we going to do?

[Host]

Thank you Luis for sharing your story with Spooked. If you'd like to hear a Spanish version of this story produced by Fernando Hernandez for his podcast Esto no es Radio, you can find the link in our show notes. The original score for this story is by Dirk Schwarzoff. It was produced by Fernando Hernandez. Please understand we here at Spooked are trained professionals equipped to seek voices in the night. So if you have a story that you want to share but are afraid of any potential unforeseen consequences, not to fear, let me know. Spookednapjudgment.org because there's nothing better than a spooked story from a spooked listener. The entry to Spook Studios is a quantum state that blinks in and out of existence under and above KQED in San Francisco. Don't seek to find it, lest it seek to find you. We've got this special incantation from Spook Legal reading that no SNAP Studios content may be used for training, testing or developing machine learning or AI systems without prior written permission. Spook is brought to you by the team that eats vegetarian several times a week. Except for Mark Ristich, who eats vegetarians several times a week on Team Spook, the union represented producers, artists, engineers are members of the national association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians Communications workers of America, AFL CIO, Local 51. And there's David Kim, Zoe Frigno, Eric Ganez, Teal Ducat, Marissa Dodge, Myles Lassie, Su Yi Chu, Evan Stern, Yves Jeffcoat, Ishell Lopez, Jack Darrow, and Doug Stewart. The Spook theme song is by Pat Mesiti Miller, who My name is Glenn Washington and Jim Rohn, the American entrepreneur said something like, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And I consider this. Do I credit the people who embrace me or do I shame them? Chris Rock said something like, if 10 regular guys hang out with one Nazi, you've got 11 Nazis. Because you've become who you stand next to. You become who you allow to stand next to you. Your circle of associates is a signal. It's a sign, a warning, an invitation. And it's interesting then to watch so many of us express allegiance. The very worst amongst us, sporting signals, identifiers, sigils that say I am on the side of the monster. I am Team Dark Mask. In the night we wear the raiment. We wave the flags and twist every slight against the monster into an attack against ourselves. Instead of becoming our brother's keeper, our neighbors keeper, become our monster's keeper. All of this to suggest that if you are the five people you spend the most time with, choose wisely. Never ever ever. Never. Never ever ever ever. Turn out the light.

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[Host]

What about toys? Do they have brands kids have been wanting all year?

[Luis Pena]

Yep, Barbie, Tonys and Lego gifts that.

[Sponsor Announcer 1]

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[Host]

Do you mean they have all the brand brands I adore?

[Luis Pena]

They have Nintendo, Nespresso, Apple and more.

[Sponsor Announcer 2]

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