The Night Owl: True Ghost Stories
Live Campfire Tales at the Spirit Social 2025
March 30, 2026

Episode Overview

This special “Live Campfire Tales” podcast episode transports listeners to the 2025 Spirit Social in Austin, Texas—a gathering where members of the Night Owl Paranormal community come together to share true, deeply personal paranormal encounters. Hosted by Stephen Belyeu, the night features three storytellers, each recounting a unique brush with the unexplained:

1. A paranormal investigation into America’s first reported possession case that may have turned disturbingly personal.
2. A late-night drive that reveals a mysterious, spectral encounter on a remote Texas highway.
3. A police officer whose years patrolling Austin led to an unnerving brush with the city’s darkest history and its possible lingering spirits.

Each story not only entertains, but also warns and invites reflection on what lies just outside the realm of the explainable.

Story One: Danger of the “Friendly” Spirit – Damian and Nicole of Parapeculiar

Segment Begins: [04:05]
Summary:
Damian and Nicole—a dynamic paranormal investigation duo—detail their brush with the infamous "Watseka Wonder" possession case of 19th-century Illinois. What was meant to be a historical investigation quickly turns into an unnerving personal haunting.

Key Points & Insights:

• Background (Watseka Wonder):

  • 1878: Lurancy Venom, a young girl, allegedly becomes possessed by Mary Roff, a deceased child from the same town. The possession was unique for being “friendly”—the spirit claimed knowledge only the deceased would know and even “jumped” between living individuals during séances.
  • Quote:

    “Anyone here ever heard of the story of the Watseka Wonder? ...it is considered America’s very first possession case.” – Damian [05:43]

• Damian & Nicole’s Preparation:

  • Inspired by strange synchronicities (a watery mishap while being told about the case).
  • Damian, after reading The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts (noting deception by allegedly communicating spirits), confronts unseen entities:

    “After I had that conversation, everything felt weird. Something felt like it was not happy. Our house was in disarray… We have a very haunted house that we live in. It’s our fault.” – Damian [10:53]

  • Both (unbeknownst to each other at the time) invite the spirit to possess them, thinking it could not happen.

• Investigation Night 2:

  • Nicole uses altered state goggles and frequency machines for a séance. Both make flippant invitations to the spirit to “hop in.”
  • Nicole reports an immediate sense of a dark, invasive presence:

    “Like, one second later, I start seeing in my mind’s eye and feeling this big black mass coming up behind me. Just did not feel good.” – Nicole [14:46]

• Damian’s Experience of Possible Possession:

  • Eyes roll back, speech becomes strange, then a period of missing memory.
  • The group’s attempt at grounding after session—Damian is left with a soaking wet face (but no memory of crying) and unable to speak or communicate, even in writing.

    “What we experienced was not that...We’re all sitting around a table...when it was done, all I remember was...my face, it was soaking wet. Soaking wet.” – Damian [17:27]

  • Nicole describes him alternating between weeping and hysterical laughter, refusing to meet her gaze, demanding that she “get the light off” him, then lapsing into unresponsiveness.

• Terrifying Manifestation:

  • As Damian “comes to,” both see a human-shaped shadow figure in the woods, filling them with terror.

    “It was the scariest shadow figure I’ve ever seen in my life because this thing is standing between two trees...and you could just feel fear, like you could cut it with a flipping knife.” – Damian [23:14]

• Aftermath (the Attachment Follows Home):

  • Their dog is traumatized; odd voices are heard in the empty house; Nicole hears Damian’s voice behind her when he is not present.
  • After attempting a spiritual cleansing, the phenomena subside, but only temporarily.
  • Damian is left anxious and unable to work for weeks.

    “It’s not possession, but it’s a spiritual attack. And it is a warning. For anyone that does this kind of thing, please just have the due diligence to think to yourself, I can’t take everything at face value.” – Damian [29:40]

Takeaway/WARNING:

• Spirits encountered may be deceptive.
• Be cautious in investigations, diligent about boundaries and aftercare.

Story Two: The Shadow on I-35 – Elaine Ireland

Segment Begins: [36:08]
Summary:
Veteran psychic medium Elaine Ireland recounts a hair-raising experience on a rainy Texas highway—an encounter that blurred the line between poltergeist and potential predator, and later matched chilling patterns in local lore.

Key Points & Insights:

• Setting the Scene:

  • 38 years ago, late-night drive from Austin to Arlington, after a psychic fair.
  • The storm makes visibility difficult; the rural highway is eerily empty.

• The Encounter:

  • Ahead, a car appears to be backing up, surrounded by three “energies”; trunk open.

  • As Elaine and her friend switch drivers, she rounds the back of their car:

    “Get in the car. Get in the car. Get in the car now. Now, now, now, now. You know, it’s panicky. This woman never panics over anything.” – Elaine’s friend [41:53]

  • Elaine sees a floating, human-shaped shadow crossing the highway’s median—likened to a Death Eater from Harry Potter.

  • As they flee, Elaine loses a high heel, “sucked off my foot and stuck in the ground, pointed south,” while they were driving north.

• Police Confirmation:

  • Days later, Elaine calls the Texas Highway Department, worried it could’ve been real people in distress. Dispatcher reveals:

    “We get at least three to five calls a week about that area of strange things that happen...our guys won’t go in a car [in that area] alone anymore.” – Highway Dept. Officer [45:10]

  • Weeks later, police return her (untouched) shoe, found embedded facing the wrong direction. Officer confides: the area has a grisly history as a dumping ground for women’s bodies since the 1930s.

• Chilling Realization:

  • Officer shares: “Other people have had very unpleasant issues happen out there...That’s area was known as a dumping ground for bodies, all young women. You might have been very lucky.” [52:10]

Takeaway:

• Some roadside hauntings may be echoes—or warnings—tied to real tragedies.
• The uncanny may join hands with true crime, deepening the mystery and the danger.

Story Three: The Midnight Beat – Officer Greg Lawson, the Paranormal Detective

Segment Begins: [59:07]
Summary:
Greg Lawson, once a police officer and later a “paranormal detective,” recounts the convergence of Austin’s forgotten, institutional history and persistent spectral sightings.

Key Points & Insights:

• The Backdrop:

  • 1980s: After new mental health laws release patients into the streets, young Officer Lawson is assigned to mental health cases, many linked to the old Texas State Lunatic Asylum.
  • Late-night patrols along Guadalupe Street (once Asylum Road), memories of the abandoned hospital.

• Evidence from the Snake Pits:

  • Greg explores condemned State Hospital buildings after hours, reading century-old case files in the basement “snake pits.”
  • Repeatedly hears disembodied voices in empty corridors:

    “This is the only time that I ever could speak, say that I heard a disembodied voice...It was very, very disconcerting.” – Greg [61:51]

• A Consistent Ghostly Pattern:

  • Hears similar stories from unrelated people: “a black woman in a white dress” asking for directions on Guadalupe. She appears solid until people realize she is translucent or off—always wandering, always lost.

• A Historical Connection:

  • Digs through archives to confirm a pattern. Among the “Servant Girl Murders” of the 1880s—possibly America’s first serial killer—the story of Rebecca Ramey, a Black domestic attacked alongside her daughter, is found.
  • Rebecca survives but suffers memory loss, is committed to the State Hospital, and for years is seen daily wandering from the asylum down Asylum Road, searching for her lost daughter:

    “Every morning...she would look for her daughter and she would walk down Asylum Road to Guadalupe...They would find her down there...and give her a ride back every day.” – Greg [71:55]

Takeaway:

• Modern hauntings often map directly onto historic trauma.
• Reports of ghosts may be literal echoes of individuals forever imprinted in the city’s “residual” past.

Memorable Quotes

• Nicole:

  “We fuck around and find out, if you will, bada boom.” [12:51]

• Damian:

  “It attacked me in a way that I’ve never been attacked before, to the point where it did feel intrusive, like something was in me there for a moment and I’m still trying to process it.” [28:50]

• Elaine (on the aftermath):

  “She said, ‘I know if we...had not gotten out of there, we would not be alive.’ And she said it over and over.” [44:11]

• Greg (on history, hauntings, and patterns):

  “Why would there be a bunch of people on Guadalupe that talk about a black woman in a white dress...that’s what I’m going to leave you with.” [74:39]

Timestamps for Major Segments

• Opening and Campfire Introduction – [00:00–04:05]
• Damian & Nicole: Watseka Wonder & Aftermath – [04:05–29:40]
• Historical Context: Watseka Wonder – [29:40–36:08]
• Elaine Ireland: Shadow in the Headlights – [36:08–53:24]
• Greg Lawson: The Midnight Beat – [59:07–75:10]

Thematic Links & Final Thoughts

• Each story emphasizes the unreliability of the world we see—spirits that lie, shadows that turn into warnings, and trauma that resists the passage of time.
• The storytellers blend humor, humility, and a healthy skepticism, highlighting the emotional danger and lasting impact of paranormal encounters.
• Host Stephen Belyeu closes by reminding listeners:

  “The unexplained doesn’t just belong in old legends or dusty archives. Sometimes it happens to ordinary people. Sometimes it happens close to home.” [75:10]

Resources & How to Connect

• Damian and Nicole:

  • Podcasts: The Real Ghost Of and Parapeculiar
  • Social: @therealghostof, @parapeculiar

• Elaine Ireland:

  • Psychic readings: elaineireland65@gmail.com
  • Latest project: www.conversationswiththeancients.com

• Greg Lawson:

  • Website: www.theparanormaldetective.com
  • Social: @eghlawson

• Host/Show:

  • www.thenightowlpodcast.com
  • Instagram/Facebook: The Night Owl Podcast

For New and Veteran Listeners

This episode is a compelling showcase of how personal and raw the paranormal can be when told directly by those who live it. It’s a must-listen—and a caution—both for enthusiasts and for those who may think these stories are “just old legends.”

“Stay restless out there.” —Stephen Belyeu