Encounters x298 - Terrifying Stories from Appalachia with Ghosteas and… Grandparents?

Summary

Two Girls One Ghost: "Encounters x298 - Terrifying Stories from Appalachia with Ghosteas and… Grandparents?"

Release Date: September 11, 2025
Hosts: Corinne Vien & Sabrina Deana-Roga
Guests: Macy and Natalie from Ghost Teas Podcast
Theme: Appalachia’s spine-chilling supernatural—demons, cryptids, and haunted family lore

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Overview

This special crossover episode features the hosts of Two Girls One Ghost teaming up with Macy and Natalie, sisters behind the Ghost Teas podcast, for their first-ever collaboration. Together, these four self-proclaimed spooky enthusiasts dig deep into ghostly encounters, listener stories from Appalachia, and the unique power of family lore and local superstitions. The episode is a blend of personal narratives, analysis of Appalachian legends, and genuinely creepy listener submissions—plus, a viral photo that haunts both the hosts and listeners alike.

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Meet the Ghost Teas (00:59–07:45)

• Crossover Excitement: The hosts celebrate fulfilling their audiences’ requests for a partnership and draw parallels between their shows and listener experiences.
• Origins & Family Influences: Macy and Natalie share their roots in paranormal curiosity, heavily inspired by their grandmother’s spiritual interests—more “angels and past lives” than ghosts, but foundational to their worldview.
• First Podcast Hauntings: Both shows recount bizarre technical failures and “haunted” episodes—especially while covering notorious cases like the Smurl family.
  • Macy: “Sometimes our camera will just stop working for no reason... Right now we have a mirror behind our camera just in case.” (04:35)
  • Natalie: “When we're talking about the demon specifically, it won't open for me anymore.” (05:03)
• Listener Impact: Listeners reporting haunting experiences after listening (e.g., strange noises, electronics acting up), leading to existential podcast anxiety and amusement.

Quote:
Corinne: “Why is there so much difficulty? Like, it’s almost cock blocking our listeners from listening to us.” (07:02)

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Personal Paranormal Encounters (07:46–25:07)

Family Ties and Ghostly Legacies

• Grandma’s Role: A lover of the otherworldly (“angel wing tattoos” and past life stories), instilling early openness to the paranormal.
• Childhood Hauntings:
  • Macy’s First Experience (Age 3): Hears ghostly footsteps—later finds out it may have been a recently deceased great-grandfather (08:20–08:53)
    • “In my mind, it was around Christmas time… Later on my mom told me... she had seen her grandfather walking that same path.”—Macy
  • Eerie Family Pattern: Each birth in their family is preceded by a death (“one in, one out”).
  • Natalie’s First Major Encounter (Age 8): Experiences terror in a high school bathroom—sees a black, misty shadow figure pursuing her.
    • “I got this rush of… intense fear, primal fear. I was like, I’m in danger.” (10:35–11:41)
  • The Mimic Incident: Sister Kayla repeatedly sees a “Natalie” in a black shirt running by her room – but both sisters were elsewhere (12:31–13:41)
    • Dread and the possibility of doppelgangers (“mimics”)

Ongoing Nighttime Terrors

• Natalie:
  • “Hear someone whisper my name”—believed it was normal childhood auditory experience (15:38–16:05).
• Macy:
  • Ongoing Nightmare/Demonic Attachment:
    • Recurring, escalating dreams of castles, forests, and a “birdlike” evil red-aura creature. Dreams end with a scream and paralysis, continue in different locations through college life—tied to a thrifted desk.
    • Physical hauntings: three knocks under her bed that intensify; an upside down cross later discovered carved into the hidden wood of her desk. (16:19–22:21)
    • Describes intense measures for protection (Jesus statues, crucifixes, prayer).
    • Family sands down and stains over the desk; hauntings cease.

Quote:
Macy: “[The demon] had a red aura around it and it snapped its head to me and screamed... I woke up still hearing the scream.” (18:15)

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Appalachian Listener Stories & Unsettling Evidence (31:01–53:40)

The Viral Appalachian Cryptid Photo (31:13–34:53)

• Listener "V" shares an image from an Appalachian game cam:
  • Features a disfigured, hoofed creature. V and the family now believe it’s a “flush pedestrian” (“SW”)—avoiding the real name for safety.
  • The story is so unnerving, opening the photo allegedly leads to real-life paranormal activity.
• Reactions from Ghost Teas:
  • “Oh… No. The way its arms…”—Natalie (33:45)

Generations of Appalachian Rules & Survival (35:02–40:50)

• Listener Shay’s Story:
  • Generational rules for camping: “Don’t run, whistle, or sing in the woods.” Family honors rules with deadly seriousness, no explanation.
  • Shay, physically exhausted, dreams they become a predator stalking their own family’s campsite—sees it crawling into her tent, then wakes up to find deep scratches down her back and her tent open at 3:59 A.M.
  • Emphasizes the ancient, predatory feeling: “This wasn’t a dream. This shook me to my core. It felt old. Ancient.”

Quote:
Sabrina: “The darker version is that it had its sights set on Shay for so long... to make the experience even more terrifying.” (45:31)

• Group wonders: Was this a failed “Freaky Friday” body switch with a cryptid?

Cherokee Wisdom & Knocking in the Night (48:23–52:11)

• Listener Lucy’s Story:
  • Multiple paranormal events within one week: state of constant fear, orbs, and ancient “rules of survival.”
  • Grandfather foresees trouble, stays up all night guarding the family. Lucy later sees a pale, humanlike creature at the tree line. At midnight, something knocks and calls her name from outside her window. Lucy’s mom later reveals she had identical experiences and refuses to return.
  • Grandpa’s stoic silence underscores the generational/Indigenous knowledge around local entities.

Quote:
Macy (reacting to the knocking): “We had a story like that where they had knocking on their window and were trying to lure them outside. I would feel such primal fear.” (52:11)

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Reflections, Coping Mechanisms, and Culture (54:06–54:32)

• Stories from Appalachia, Mexico, and the Philippines are noted as especially terrifying, possibly due to the ongoing presence of their paranormal beliefs in daily life.

• “What always gets me is when things are luring people out. If you went—what now?”—Natalie

• The hosts admit that after years of podcasting, “we still have no answers” for these phenomena.

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Lighthearted Moments & Coping After Hauntings (34:56, 30:33–31:01)

• The group regularly decompresses after recording with comfort TV (Gilmore Girls, Family Guy, Modern Family) and by calling friends so as not to be alone with the darkness—relatable, funny breaks amid the tension.

Quote:
Macy: “I have to call someone on the phone while I drive home because I’m so scared. I have to drive through a wooded area... ‘Don’t look around, don’t look around.’” (30:19)

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Where to Find Ghost Teas (54:53–55:13)

• Ghost Teas podcast streams on all major platforms, including YouTube and Instagram (@ghostiespod).
• To complete the crossover, the TGOG hosts then appear on Ghost Teas’ show.

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Memorable Quotes

• “Sometimes our camera will just stop working for no reason... right now we have a mirror behind our camera just in case.” —Macy (04:35)
• “It’s almost cock blocking our listeners from listening to us.” —Corinne (07:02)
• “At just eight years old, I saw… a black, like misty shadowy figure thing, like following me. And in my little 8-year-old mind I was just like, I’m literally about to die.” —Natalie (11:41)
• “The darker version is that it had its sights set on Shay for so long…to make the experience even more terrifying.” —Sabrina (45:31)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:59 — Show introductions and podcast origins
• 04:35 — Paranormal technical glitches
• 07:46 — Personal haunting stories (grandparents, childhood, mimics)
• 16:19 — Macy’s recurring demon dreams and haunted furniture
• 31:13 — Appalachian cryptid photo/intermission
• 35:02 — Shay’s Appalachian camping premonition
• 48:23 — Lucy’s Cherokee family & rules for Appalachian hauntings
• 54:06 — Reflections on cultural hauntings and unanswered mysteries

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Tone & Takeaways

The tone is conversational, spooked yet playful—four women with a deep love for creepy tales, bantering and supporting each other through both laughter and genuine fright. Listener stories provide the show with new chills, each more disturbing than the last. Whether the encounters are familial, demonic, or cryptid, the throughline is simple: trust your instincts, respect old rules, and be careful what you bring home from the woods—or from the thrift store.

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Next up: Listen to Macy and Natalie host Sabrina and Corinne on the Ghost Teas podcast for more haunted tales.
Find Ghost Teas: All major podcast platforms & Instagram @ghostiespod

“We’ll see you on the other side.” 👻

Transcript

[A]

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[C]

Hi, everyone. We're really excited for this episode because we have some very, very special guests.

[A]

Spooky women, spooky sisters, Macy and Natalie.

[C]

From Ghost Tease podcast, which we've seen you, we've heard you, you wanted us to do a collab. And so here we are. Here it is. Check out our episode where we have Macy and Natala said Nacy.

[A]

Oh, they're little sister. Like little sister name together.

[C]

Corinna.

[A]

Once again, their middle sisters left out. Sorry to your middle sister.

[C]

Yeah. Is Ben our middle sister. Never gets a word. Yeah, never gets to get a word in. That's why he has to haunt all of you. But anyway, we have Macy and Natalie from Ghost Tease on the podcast. And then we, Corinne and I are on the Ghost Tease podcast as well. So go check out both episodes and we hope you enjoy this one, which is full of Appalachia demons and grandparents.

[A]

Enjoy.

[C]

Very spooky. Hi.

[B]

Hello.

[C]

Welcome. Natalie and Macy from Ghost Tease.

[D]

Hi.

[B]

We are so excited.

[C]

We're so excited to have you. We just found out that this is your first ever collab and we couldn't be more excited and honored that you're doing it with us.

[B]

Yes. Thank you.

[D]

And we've had several people in our comments saying that we need to, like, y' all should collab with two girls, one ghost. And I was like, okay.

[B]

It's highly requested on our end.

[D]

Yes.

[C]

Well, that's great. Ours too. And I feel like our listeners have have a lot of things in common, but one of them is that they're sick in the head for Appalachia. So we did pick a couple listener stories. That take place in the Appalachia region. But before we get into those, we want to hear both of your personal encounters with the other side. What have you experienced? I know I've like seen on your Instagram stories that as ghosties podcast like you have, you have fallen a victim to the haunted podcast experiences that we too have experienced. Give our listeners a little bit.

[A]

Who are you?

[C]

Start from the beginning. Were you born haunted? Yeah.

[B]

I think yours started earlier than mine.

[D]

Yes.

[B]

So you can, you can jump on that.

[D]

Yeah. We've been obsessed with paranormal literally from the beginning. We used to talk about ghosts and guardian angels and anything woo woo with our grandma, like our entire lives. And so that's like a big connection we have together. And it started with tea. We wanted to try new teas together because I'm a big tea drinker and Natalie wasn't so much. So I was like, okay, well let's, let's have an excuse to get together and drink teas all the time. Let's talk about ghosts. And so it just. Ghost teas was born naturally fell into place. Really.

[C]

It's also the most like, perfect title.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Ghost.

[D]

Thanks.

[A]

And it's also, it's like a play on words because it's like a little tease too. Like tease into the paranormal.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Or tea from the paranormal. Like the ghost.

[D]

Oh, you get some tea, spill all the ghost tea.

[B]

Yeah. Macy came up with that. I fully credit her with that because this was. This whole thing was her idea basically. And we thought really only our grandma was going to watch it. Like she said that it was never, it was never planned for this many people to be watching. And so when people showed up, we were like, oh, oh, hi, welcome.

[C]

But we get it.

[D]

Yeah. We have had a few little paranormal experiences with the pod. Sometimes our camera will just stop working for no reason. Right now we have a mirror behind our camera just in case because we record with our phone so we can see the reflection to make sure that it keeps going. Because that's happened several times.

[B]

And then recently with we did an episode on the Smurl Family. They're what the new conjuring movie is about. And normally we like do the edit and then I'll go back and I'll take clips and you know, post things like that. It wouldn't open the file just completely won't open, will not open on anything. I reset the computer. I could open everything else. That one specific thing when we're talking about the demon specifically was like, it won't open for me anymore. And So I just kind of was like, okay, we're going to leave that open.

[D]

She texted me. She said, we're just not having any short form content from this episode because I'm not messing with it. It doesn't want to be talking about it.

[A]

You know what? That makes me kind of nervous because we covered the smeral possess a year ago, and that was one of, like, every once in a while, I'm sure you guys experience this too. Every once in a while, there will be an episode which we. We can't predict which ones will kind of, like, elicit hauntings from listeners, but that was one where our inbox started being flooded by people who were having, like, tech issues or weird hauntings. Strange noises, animals acting bizarre around them. Just like.

[C]

Well, because it was also one that when we recorded it, we both had, like, some weird feelings, but it wasn't anything too bad.

[A]

That's wild. So you were able to put out the full episode, but it wasn't allowing you to, like, pull specific.

[B]

I can't even open it on the computer anymore. And so after trying a bunch of times, I was like, you know what? I'll leave it.

[D]

It just is what it is.

[B]

That's fine.

[D]

Yeah, we can export our full video. And then it just. No more.

[A]

You have to listen. You just have to be like, okay.

[D]

That'S what we hear you.

[C]

You know, you did as much as you could.

[D]

Exactly.

[C]

Would you say that's your most haunted episode that you guys have done so far?

[B]

For us, I think. But we've had, like, y' all have people comment like, oh, my God, I was watching this, and then I heard something call my name. Or I was watching this, and then there was, like, knocks on my window. Like, we get comments like that that.

[D]

Really freak me out. The video will just stop playing and they'll start back over for no reason. Like, won't even be near their phone or touching it, and it'll just start back over for no reason or skip around. Yeah, yeah. We've had several people, but it. It kind of jumps around per episode.

[A]

It's so unexplainable. Like, I don't. Well, I feel conflicted because sometimes I'm like, well, I'm glad sometimes that this stuff is happening, because then it's, like, kind of fun, and it adds to the spookiness of being a paranormal podcast.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. It's like, it's good press for us in the paranormal world. Right. But then on the flip side, I'm like, why is there so much difficulty? Like, it's almost like cock blocking our listeners from listening to us.

[C]

Right. But then it also makes me think, is it because the people who are listening to our shows are so interested in. In the paranormal that they're open and, like, is it the ghost from the stir, like the Smurl family possession, or is it a spirit that's perhaps around our listener that's interfering in their life?

[D]

Yeah, I'd like to go with the second option.

[C]

Yeah, fair.

[D]

I prefer a friendly ghost, maybe someone who's also interested in the podcast, and they're like, hey, go back. I want to hear that part again.

[B]

Yeah, we're hoping.

[C]

Yeah. Better than a demon.

[A]

So do you think your grandma was a witch?

[D]

Oh, no. She's very into angels. And, like, still today, she's, like, talking to us about getting an angel wing tattoo, and it's just very in tune with just spirits and angels and just loves anything to do with that.

[B]

And she's really into, like, past lives and stuff like that. So that's kind of more her thing. She's really afraid of, like, ghosts or demons. She doesn't want to talk about it. But for angels or, like, things like that, she's always into it. So that's kind of where we started. And then, of course, we had our own little paranormal experiences down the road.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

What's happened?

[D]

My first experience that I can remember is I was, like, 3 years old. I don't even know if Natalie was born yet. And I was laying in. In the living room of our house, and I heard footsteps walking through our kitchen and dining room, which was, like, right across the way from where I was laying. And in my mind, it was around Christmas time because I was so. I was like, santa's here. Oh, my gosh. I better go to sleep. But later on in life, my mom told me that this house belonged to her grandparents. And she had some seen her grandfather walking that same path that I heard the footsteps through. And so that's my very first, I'm positive, was a paranormal experience.

[C]

Well, that's such a sweet one.

[B]

It's a sweet one. What's weird about it?

[D]

And I wasn't scared, so I thought it was Santa. It was someone bringing me gifts. So.

[B]

Yeah. But it's really strange because I don't know if this is creepy or if this is just sad, but every time our mom had a baby, like, had one of us, someone in the family would pass right before that. And so it's just very, like, very weird.

[D]

Strange connections.

[B]

Yeah. Cause our middle sister, Kayla, she was born right after that grandpa had passed away. And so it's just very, very spooky energy over there.

[A]

Do you guys have any connections or like weird similarities to those relatives who passed? Or do you think your family has like a quota and it's like one in, one out?

[D]

I don't know. Not that we've been told. But it's interesting. I look a lot like the family of the person who passed, so there's at least a physical connection, but I'm not sure.

[B]

But yeah, I don't know much about those people, but it was just a strange observation. A weird coincidence that every time our mom had a baby, someone had to be like, I'm out.

[A]

But only your mom.

[B]

Yes. When Macy first got pregnant, she has two kids. When she first got pregnant, I told her after she had the baby, I was like, I was thinking like, am I next? Like, who's okay?

[A]

That's where my mind went. It's like instead of being super excited for everyone to have like give birth, you're kind of like, who's gonna die.

[C]

Waiting like bated breath, Practical magic curse where anyone they fall in love with is bound to die. Yeah.

[D]

Well, hopefully it just stays with our.

[A]

Mother and we're seeing more.

[C]

Wow.

[D]

But you've had a couple of experiences.

[B]

I. Yeah, I haven't had as scary as Macy. I think Macy's had a run in with a demon, to be honest. But she can tell you about that.

[C]

Yeah, we need to hear that.

[B]

My first experience that I remember was when I was probably like 7 or 8. We went to a basketball camp. Macy, myself and our sister Kayla. And I was in the lower age group so I had to be by myself. And I had went to the bathroom in this high school that they were hosting it in. And I remember just, you know, walking in there, just doing my thing and I heard footsteps and I was like, hmm, okay, someone's, someone else is coming in the bathroom, that's fine. But then out of nowhere I got this like rush of just like intense fear, like primal fear. I was like, I'm in danger. And so I got out of the bathroom and I started running. I don't know why I started running. And I turned around and this is the only visual thing I've ever seen. I saw like a black, like misty, shadowy figure thing, like following me. And in my little 8 year old mind I was just like, I'm literally about to die. Like I have to run. And I ended up running into like the boys area where they were doing shirts and skins. So then I was petrified that way. I was like, there's so much going on. And so that was my very first experience and probably my scariest because I actually saw a visual thing.

[C]

And the fact that at 8 years old, like, your instincts aren't to think, oh, my gosh, I'm gonna die. So, like, when your gut. I mean, we say it all the time, but trust your gut. But when Your gut at 8 years old is insinuating that much fear.

[A]

Yeah. Extreme danger.

[C]

It does sound like it was something.

[D]

Yeah, we feel the same way. Always trust your gut. If you feel negativity, then don't play around. It's probably negative, and you should just do whatever you can to protect yourself.

[C]

Get out. Yeah.

[A]

And I feel like every time I've gone against my intuition, I've regretted it so deeply.

[B]

Yes. With everything. Honestly.

[C]

Yeah. Not even just paranormal. Yeah.

[A]

So you saw, like, basically this scary, misty shadow being.

[B]

Yes. And that's at just eight years old, I had ever seen anything. And then we'll hear stories from our listeners. And I'm like, I wonder what that's like. And, like, I want to see it. But then I'm like, wait, no, I don't.

[D]

Maybe not.

[B]

I'm good. I saw my one, and that's fine. And we think that our middle sister also. Well, we know she saw something, but she's not afraid of, like, anything. So Macy and I, we grew up being just terrified of our own shadow. And our rooms were connected, like, on one of the walls. And so we would, like, have a little knocking system to be like, hey, are you awake? Or like, hey, can I come sleep in your room? And so there was one night where we were just laid up in her room, just chatting, having a good time. And our sister Kayla was in there with us. And she's like, all right, I'm gonna go to bed. Like, see y' all later. And me and Macy are like, okay. Like, we're just gonna hang out. About 20ish minutes later, Kayla barges in there, and she's like, natalie, stop running by my room. And we said, excuse me.

[D]

What? No.

[B]

I was like, I haven't left. I was like, kayla, stop playing. She's like, natalie, you're wearing a black shirt. I saw you. You keep running by my room. Stop. I'm trying to go to bed.

[C]

You have a mimic.

[D]

And me and Macy, I turned to her, I said, we've been in here the whole time. I promise, no one has left this room. I don't know who you're talking about. And we were the only kids in the house at the time. And she was like, oh, okay, okay. And, like, turned and went back to bed, and me and Natalie sat up all night, like, oh, no, there's someone here.

[B]

Terrified. And she just said, okay, I'm going back to bed. And that's very much her. So.

[C]

So is this why she is not on the podcast? Because she's more like blinders? Don't want to talk about it, don't want to think about it, Pretend it doesn't exist?

[B]

Basically, yeah. And she also lives an hour away. We live, like, five minutes from each other, so it's a lot easier.

[D]

It worked out.

[C]

Oh, my gosh.

[A]

Now I feel bad for her because she's the middle sister, right?

[D]

Yes.

[A]

And she's not on the pod. Isn't this, like, the typical middle sister? Left out. Yeah, left out.

[D]

No. Well, we invite her, and she wants to come on again, so eventually, probably.

[C]

She'Ll come on if she is.

[B]

No, I'm just kidding.

[A]

Okay. This knocking thing is so cute that you guys had this sort of code, but where I was thinking the story was going to go, I thought, yeah.

[D]

Looking back.

[A]

Yeah. I was like, that is just like the classic, like, beginnings of a horror movie where it's like the kids are knocking and you're getting knocks back.

[C]

What happened is pretty similar. Like, there was a mimic.

[A]

Yeah. Something that looked enough like you.

[B]

Oh, that just gave me a chill.

[D]

I've thought about it before, but I don't like to go there very often because I get scared. Like, what if sometimes when she was knocking at me, it wasn't her?

[B]

I can't think about it. I can't.

[C]

Seeing that iteration of you only happened once, Right. Like, your sister didn't see.

[B]

As far as we know, she wouldn't be one to get freaked out and tell us, so. But there have been a lot of.

[D]

Weird things that happened, particularly in that house that we grew up in. Like, even our dad, who isn't super big into this, has had his experience where he's heard things like whispering in his ear at night. And, like, one time, Natalie was sleeping in my bed, and she was whispering at me in the middle of the night, and I, like, shine my light on her face, and she completely stopped whispering. Closed her mouth, closed her eyes because she. Her eyes were wide open, staring at me. She closed her eyes and just went to sleep. And a lot of weird things.

[C]

Is it fair to say that, Natalie, you're the creepier one?

[D]

Maybe.

[B]

You know what she's probably had more.

[D]

Experiences, but I've had maybe scarier ones.

[B]

Yes. I've probably had more little things because I, on one of our earlier episodes was like, oh, yeah, Macy, you know when you're just, like, kind of sitting there and you hear someone whisper your name? And she was like, what do you mean? I was like, no, like, that's a normal thing, isn't it? Like, you just hear someone say, like, natalie. And she was like, no, that is not. I was fully under the impression that that was just kind of like an auditory thing that everybody heard. But.

[C]

So how often does that happen to you?

[B]

It hasn't happened in recent years, and I think if it happened now, I'd probably throw up. But it happened a lot when I was younger. And I just, like, for some reason, I told myself, like, oh, that's just something that happens. I don't know. Just everybody hears that once in a while, so.

[C]

Okay, well, now, Macy, we need to hear the time you saw a demon.

[D]

Okay, well, I don't think I saw it. Not in person, anyway. So it started in that house. And I have a few theories about the. Its origin, but I can. I can save those for the end. But it started in that house. I started having really bad dreams. And it was the same dream over and over again where I would be touring this castle, and I'd go down in the basement. And the further I walked, the more, like, ruinous it became. It was just, like, crumbling at its edges. And it led into a forest. And I found this little girl in the forest, but she was kind of, like, had an aura of blue, and she looked really scared. And so I was trying to help her. And I was like, do you need help? What's wrong? What's wrong? And she would look at me, gasp, and disappear right in front of me. So I was like, okay, I have to find this girl. I don't know. I don't know what's wrong with her, but she needs help. So it happened a few more times where she would. I would find her, and she would disappear in front of me. And then finally, at the end of my dream, I found her. And I was like, do you need help? Tell me what's wrong. And instead of looking at me, she, like, looked up into the trees and, like, got this immense fear on her face. And so I followed her gaze and saw this creature. It was, like, bird like, but I can't even describe it. It was very scary, but it had a red aura around it. And it snapped its head to me and Screamed this high pitched scream. And I woke up still hearing the scream. My whole body, like tingling, just, just chills and I couldn't move. It was horrifying. And it happened several times towards the point where I told my dad, I'm scared of my room. I don't, like at night I feel like there's something in there with me and I don't know what to do. I can't go anywhere. So he brought like a Jesus statue and a crucifix and everything into my room just to. So I could feel some sort of protection. And that helped a little bit. And I pray a lot. So like that's kind of what I go to when I'm feeling scared. And so it helped a little bit. But I still had this feeling like in the back of my mind that something wasn't right. That was my freshman year of college and my sophomore year of college. I moved out into a fully furnished apartment. So I didn't bring any of my things except for my clothes and, you know, a few little personal items. And it stopped. I didn't have any dreams anymore. I didn't have these feelings anymore at all. Like I didn't feel haunted in any way. And then the next year, I moved into another house, but I brought all of my furniture from my old room into that house. And almost immediately upon moving into that house, I started having bad dreams again. And it wasn't the same dream, but it was still, it was scary. And it felt like something was watching me in my dream. And I never saw anything. But I just kept waking up with this overwhelming feeling that something wasn't right and I wasn't alone. Well, one night, my boyfriend, who, he actually ended up moving into that house, but he was staying in my room with me when I fell asleep, I woke up to three knocks under my bed. It was just like under my bed. And it woke me up and I was like, jake, leave me alone. I'm trying to go to sleep. And I just rolled back over and then it happened again just underneath my bed. So I thought he was pulling a prank on me.

[B]

I hate this.

[D]

And I sat up and I looked around and I didn't see him. And I was like, I know that's you. Please leave me alone. I'm really tired, I gotta go to sleep. And I laid back down. I started falling asleep again. And then it happened again, but it was like really intense this time. Just like, ugh, really hard. And so finally I jumped up and I was like, please stop it, you're scaring me. And I bent down over the bed, thinking he was hiding under there for some reason. He's never done anything that mean to me before. But I was like, I don't know. I'm like half asleep. I look down and there's no one or nothing under there. So I sit back up and I'm like, maybe I just can't see cause it's dark. So I called him to try to like, get this gotcha moment. Like, ha. I know it's, you know. And he answers, but he's outside and I'm all by myself in my room. And so I start crying. And I'm like, you have to come in, please. Oh my gosh. I don't know what's going on. And I jumped up and I'm like, looking for all of my religious, like, paraphernalia. Anything possible for protection. And I'm like, praying. And he thinks I'm crazy. And it was a whole ordeal, but it was very scary. Well, eventually, like, I was talking to my grandma about it, and we prayed a lot and it stopped. But I still had this feeling, like, in the back of my mind, you know, that. Like, it's there. It's in the periphery. Like, yeah, it's. It's not left me, but I. I just ignored it and went about. Went on about my life. Well, it was about, I think, two years later and I was moving out of that house. Cause I had graduated college and I started having those dreams again. After I had started moving my things in these dreams, I could finally see it, but it was getting closer to me. And it was like right behind me most. Most times. So I'd wake up.

[C]

Did it look the same like it had in that first dream?

[D]

No, it. It looked different every time. It was like a different monster. But I could tell. Like, you know how when you dream and you see someone and they don't look like them, but you know it's them? Yeah, it was like that. It had the same energy, it had the same feeling behind it, but it looked different every time. And the final dream that I had, I remember I turned around. It looked kind of like the nun. Like the conjuring movie, I think. Yes, it kind of looked like that, but more distorted. And that was the last dream I remember having of it. And it was right behind me. Like, I turned around and it was like in my face. And I like, screamed, no. And I woke up the day after. I went back to gather the last of my things. And I moved a pile of notebooks that had Been on this desk probably since I graduated. So it had been months. When I moved that pile of notebooks, there was an upside down cross, like, carved into the desk. And I thought someone was playing a prank on me. I don't. That's where my mind goes immediately.

[C]

This is horrifying.

[D]

I have a picture of it still. Because after I talk to everyone who's ever been in my room, and they said, no, I'd never do that. I took a picture because I was like, there's. I have to remember this. There's no way, like, I'm. I'm seeing this. Right. And it was horrifying. And I talked to my grandma, and she, like, helped me do some protection things, and it hasn't happened again.

[C]

How did you not get rid of, like, every piece of furniture that was in that room?

[D]

I did get rid of the desk. I told my. I called my grandma and my mom, and I'm like, this desk, because that's where I got it from. They. And I don't even know where they got it from. They throw. Thrifted it long time ago. And so I said, you. We're like, I'm burning this. I don't know what else to do. We need to take it, and we need to have a bonfire and, I.

[C]

Don'T know, say goodbye. Good riddance.

[D]

Yes. And they're like, okay, well, we'll come get it. My grandma took it and she just sanded it down, and I don't know.

[A]

Where it's at now, but she gave it a new stain and thought that that was fine.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

And this is a different grandma. This isn't our Mimi. Yes.

[C]

But.

[D]

Yeah, because, like, ah, we'll get rid of this. It'll be fine.

[B]

They don't get rid of things. They don't get rid of stuff. They're gonna keep it. If it's working, they're gonna keep it. So she sanded it down and said, good as new.

[C]

Yeah. And she hasn't had anything.

[D]

Not that we know of. And it's either with her or with our cousin right now, and neither of them have told us, so maybe. I don't know.

[A]

Interesting. You know, this is a totally new approach to how to treat haunted artifacts. Because I feel like sometimes people add stuff or, like, they'll paint something or, like, right over a Ouija board, perhaps. We need to bring it back. We have to take things away from it.

[C]

Right. Sand it down.

[A]

Sand it down.

[C]

Restain it.

[D]

It worked for the day.

[B]

It's working so far.

[D]

But I told him I never want to see it again. And I haven't had those dreams or those feelings anymore. So my thought is it was attached to the desk somehow. And maybe just in times of great stress, like I was moving and starting new chapters of my life, maybe it was, I don't know, brought out more.

[A]

Yeah. But.

[C]

Yeah, the knocking under your bed is probably the scariest.

[D]

I know.

[A]

It's so creepy.

[C]

Especially the way it intensified.

[D]

It was horrifying. It was like, no, it's not Jake, it's me. To this day, I still kind of get a little scared at night when I think about it.

[B]

She never told me this because when she moved out, I was still living at home because I was in high school. And if she would have told me that, I would have passed away on the spot. So she didn't tell me. And she told me for the first time while we were recording an episode. And I felt betrayed. Like all this time. All this time you've gone in life not telling me this, but.

[C]

Oh, my God, I hate this story.

[D]

It was for good reason.

[A]

I hate it. I hate to think of what was actually underneath your bed, because I know you said you didn't see anything, but it was also dark. And like, thinking, Natalie, of when you saw the, like, kind of dark Misty being. Like, what if something like that was there? What if she were face to face with something, Macy, and you had no clue?

[D]

Well, you just made me convulsed.

[C]

Well, you basically were face to face with it. Yeah.

[A]

Almost. Booping noses.

[C]

You've already survived it and you haven't experienced it since. So I feel like that's one positive.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

Yeah. What's scary is I felt something brush my arm. But all these years I've told myself that maybe it was just a blanket. Like my blanket just maybe fell. But I felt something brush my arm down by the ground. And to think that it was actually under there, that gives that a new meaning and makes me sick.

[B]

Honestly, I hate that story so much.

[C]

That was not a blanket. I'm sorry.

[A]

Yeah, no, I'm sick for you, too.

[C]

And you know it wasn't a blanket.

[D]

I know.

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[A]

Like you guys didn't lead into the extremeness of your stories. You guys were like, oh yeah, we've had a few experiences and these are not. These aren't just like oh yeah, I heard a whistle and smell my grandma. Like this is.

[C]

And also you both like start out like oh yeah, we started this podcast to to Explore. More tea. Like, so sweet and innocent. And then, oh, but a demon was under my bed.

[B]

See, I know about that.

[C]

And.

[B]

But I think the reason that it feels so, like, not exciting, it's. It's because we get so many. We do listener stories every Thursday, and we get stories that are, like, bone chilling. I literally, like I said, I would have passed away on the spot. So then I think about mine. I'm like, oh, it was just a little shadow figure. Cause some of the stories that we get are like, I can't believe that they happened. And I believe our listeners. I don't believe all things online, but I believe our listeners, they like, how.

[A]

Did you survive this? Yeah, I agree. Exactly.

[C]

Well, that's actually a great segue because we have a couple listener stories where similarly, and I would say Corinne especially has had so many encounters. But then, yes, when we read our listener stories, we're like, oh, no, we're good.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

And I don't need to experience anything that they're experiencing. But we're also glad that you experienced it and survived it so that you can tell it to us and we can share it.

[A]

But. But also, if. Sometimes if you flip the script on yourself and say, okay, if I wrote this in to my own podcast and, like, didn't know it was me, would I think that this is a horrifying.

[C]

Experience and the answer is yes to both of your encounters? Yeah. Okay, just for people who are finding out about ghosties for the first time, what episode of Listener Stories do you think is the scariest for people to go check out?

[D]

Oh, we actually.

[B]

Would it be 100?

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

When we did our. Our 100th episode, we revisited all of our scariest listener stories. The ones that we still think about.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

There's.

[B]

There's one that someone said they heard a gummy smile. And I think about it almost every day. I think about.

[D]

That's such a yucky description.

[B]

It's disgusting. And that's one that has stuck with me. It's not even the scariest one, but that one, it just like the description of it.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Yes.

[D]

So definitely episode 100. That's where all of our scariest stories lie.

[C]

Amazing. I'm gonna listen to it. Oh, not tonight, but maybe not at night.

[A]

Maybe.

[C]

Maybe in a, like, sunny day.

[A]

Oh, my God. When we first started recording. Now we're very lucky that this gets to be both of full time jobs. But when we first were recording, Sabrina was working a writing job with just like really long hours. I was in grad school and Working. And so we would record either super, super early in the morning or super late at night. So it's like always dark.

[B]

That's what we do.

[A]

So scared. And there was for like a good year and a half straight, every time I had to shower or get ready for bed or, like, use the bathroom after recording, Sabrina had to stay on the phone with me for like a good 30 minutes and be my support system. My support system.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

Cause we record at night most of the time. And I have to call someone on the phone while I drive home because I'm so scared. I have to drive through a wooded area. And every time I get through there, I'm like, don't look around. Don't look around. Don't look around.

[A]

Right? Oh, my God. Do you guys have a show that.

[C]

You watch to unwind?

[A]

Unwind?

[D]

I usually watch Gilmore Girls. That is where I find comfort.

[B]

I'm usually turning on Family Guy.

[C]

Both. Both great choices.

[A]

I'm closer to Family Guy. I'm a Bob's Burgers.

[C]

It changes. I like, binge through a show. So, like right now I'm doing Modern Family. Modern Family.

[A]

It has to be something light. Some sort of like sitcom family.

[C]

Completely change. Yeah.

[D]

Completely detached from the paranormal.

[C]

100%.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Okay. We each picked a story from Appalachia, but I really want to show a photo that we showed in a recent episode.

[A]

Are you gonna start with that?

[C]

I think I need to.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Cause it's so creepy and I just want your opinion.

[A]

We're taking a photo intermission.

[C]

Yeah. Photo intermission. Okay. So one of our listeners sent us this photo and we read it on a regular episode. But I feel like you two will appreciate it, so I'm just gonna read it again and show it to you. This is from our listener V. She said, you2 have been my go to late night listen when I'm too creeped out to sleep. But I'm also too curious to stop listening. So naturally, when something downright bone chilling comes across my path, I have to send it to you. And this came across my path recently. I am a mental health therapist working in the deep woods of Appalachia. Cue banjos, fog, and generational ghost stories. I get to hear all kinds of stories. Some that science can explain and some that leave even the most grounded among us saying, nope. That is definitely something else. This story is the latter. A client of mine who gave full permission to share this story and image recently told me about a chilling experience on the grandparents farm. It's a remote property surrounded by thick woods, the kind where the silence feels alive. For safety, they've got hunting cameras posted around the land. One night, they start getting motion alerts, and they check the footage, and what they saw was not human, not animal, Just wrong. There's a figure standing upright, half naked. Its face and body are distorted in a way that makes you want to look away, but also not blink. And its feet are hooves. Everyone who has seen it believes it's a. And we don't say this word. So we call it a flush pedestrian or a sw.

[D]

Yes.

[C]

And I'm not saying what it is or isn't, but I have not stopped thinking about it since. Warning. The photo attached is a picture of the device displaying the original image. So there is a glare, but you can still see the figure clearly open at your own risk. And our listener did say that ever since opening the photo, they started experiencing hauntings. Oh, no. So.

[A]

And we can't tell you if that is the same for us, because the episode that Sabrina read this in was one that we recorded this morning, so we haven't had much opportunity to know how bad viewing this is.

[D]

Okay, well, we do not claim this energy.

[C]

Yeah, exactly.

[A]

We should have asked.

[B]

Do you want to see it?

[D]

Yes, we do.

[B]

We want to see it. Close your eyes, you guys. Oh, yes.

[D]

Yes, I want to see. Yeah. I'm excited, but scared.

[A]

It's a confusing one.

[C]

Oh.

[D]

Oh, no. The way its arms.

[A]

Right? We're like, is that an arm? Is that a tail? Like, what's going on with that long.

[B]

The long little situation.

[D]

Oh, my gosh. No. Whatever. That. That is not human. No.

[B]

Oh, God.

[D]

And that's in Appalachia, you said?

[C]

Yep.

[A]

Yeah, on, like, a wildlife cam out in the middle of the woods.

[C]

And that's the thing is, like, they live on farmland, so it's not like, oh, a neighbor's taking a nightly stroll in their furry boxers that they like to wear to sleep. Yeah.

[D]

That was so animalistic, right? Oh, I did not like that.

[A]

That was super creepy.

[C]

Creepy.

[B]

And we just talked about Windigos, like, a couple days ago. I'm not liking the cryptidy things right now.

[C]

Anything in Appalachia, too. It's just, like, you don't really know. Especially because we've talked about how I think there's just such, like, a profound, almost ancient energy in the Appalachias that while I do believe some of these entities are there to, like, protect and honor, like, the history of the land, I do feel like you don't know what's gonna Set them off?

[B]

Yes. And I don't wanna find out, and.

[A]

I'm not willing to test it out. Test it out?

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

No, that will unsettle me for a few days.

[C]

I think you unsettled us with your personal stories. And we unsettled you with a photo.

[D]

Thank you. It's only fair.

[A]

I have an email that was sent in from our listener, Shay, and I feel like this is a really good one. Ever since I was little, my family and I have camped in the Appalachian Mountains. Those ancient whispering hills that hold more secrets than people realize. We'd go every summer like clockwork, sometimes with big groups of family, sometimes just me and my mom. But no matter what, the Appalachians were our sacred space, our second home. The smell of pine, the creak of the trees, the soft hum of the cicadas at night. It is the soundtrack of my childhood. My mom and I have always been very spiritually in tune. We see things, feel things. I've had dreams since I was a kid that end up coming true. Like deja vu on steroids. Some would call that a premonition.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And she's the same way. Which made our bond super strong. We would just get each other. We've always believed that there's more to this world than what most people want to admit. Growing up, my siblings and my cousins and I were all taught the same eerie but sacred camping rules from our grandfather, who sadly passed away last September. His rules were never to be broken, no matter how silly they sounded to others. Don't run in the woods. Don't whistle in the woods. Don't sing in the woods. Ugh. It was always said with deadly seriousness. He wouldn't even joke about it. We didn't know why. We just knew not to ask any questions. And we listened. This story takes place three years ago, when I was 15. We were on another family camping trip, just like always. It was me, my parents, my aunt, my uncle, and my two cousins. And we set up camp in one of our favorite spots. A little clearing surrounded by dense woods about a mile from a massive rock formation that we used as a kind of landmark. That rock always meant home, and you knew you were close to the camp when you saw it. The days were typical and magical. Fishing in the cold mountain streams. Bike riding through the dirt trails. Mountain. Wait, what is this? Mountain Pies over the Fire. Do you know what a mountain pie is?

[B]

Never heard of that.

[C]

It's s'. Mores.

[A]

Is that another name for s' mores.

[C]

Or just, like, some type of food? Over the fire? I don't know. Now, wait, hold on.

[A]

What? We gotta Google mountains.

[C]

We gotta learn. It's basically a campfire Hot Pocket.

[A]

Oh, okay. Look, we're learning things. Okay. Mountain pies over the fire. Everything felt warm and familiar. Until the third night. That is when things shifted. I remember feeling exhausted, which was totally out of character. I'm a hardcore night owl and I'm usually the last one asleep. But that night, around 8 or 9pm I just felt like something had switched in me. I had to go to bed. I climbed into my tent, I zipped myself in, and I was out cold. And then came the dream. Except it didn't feel like a dream. It felt like I was inside of someone else's body and I wasn't in control. And I wasn't human. I was low to the ground, moving fast, faster than anything should move. I realized I was on all fours, weaving through the trees like a predator. My vision was low, wide and wrong. It felt off animal, but not quite. I could hear the crunch of the leaves, the rapid breathing, the way the dirt kicked under the claws instead of the feet. And then I saw it. That rock formation. The same one near our campsite. My heart, or whatever passed for it in that moment, dropped. I realized I was only a minute or two away from our tents. The creature slowed, rising up from all fours to stand tall, unnaturally tall. Its body was black, shadowy, long limbed. The arms bent at angles that defied biology like broken sticks poorly glued together. It had no face that I could make out, at least just darkness. It crept into the clearing, silent as fog, and circled our dying fire. I saw the lantern still glowing dimly on the picnic table. The chairs we'd been sitting in still held the warmth of our bodies. Everything was exactly how we'd left it just a few hours earlier. And then it turned to my tent.

[D]

Oh, to me, I feel like I'm in a scary movie. Or I'm like, no, no, no, right?

[A]

I have, like, chills down my body as I'm reading this. It walked over, slow, deliberate. And I could hear the zipper being tugged down a soft. My heart pounded. The creature's hand reached through the flap, long, bony fingers that bent like spider legs. And it crawled into the tent. Nope. I saw my cousin sound asleep. I saw me curled up in my sleeping bag. And it reached out for me, its hand inches from my face. And then I woke up. Except my tent door was wide open.

[D]

No. No.

[A]

I sat straight up, heart racing. Everything was quiet, still. My cousins were asleep, untouched. I grabbed my phone. 3:59am on the dot. I did not sleep another second that night. I sat there in the dark, flashlight in one hand, pocket knife in the other, waiting for something, anything, to move. And the next morning, I went to the campground showers. I turned around to rinse my back and I froze. Three deep, angry red scratches ran from the base of my neck into the middle of my spine. I hadn't felt a thing when I woke up. No pain, no itching. But there were the marks. I told only one person. My mom. She didn't question it, not even for a second. She immediately cleansed me with sage and salt and whispered prayers. Under her breath, she said that we may never know what came to our camp that night. But this wasn't nothing. This was not a dream. I've had all kinds of experiences with spirits and shadows, and that stuff doesn't scare me. In fact, it's always been almost a comfort. Proof that my loved ones who've passed are still close. But this. This shook me to my core. Yeah, it felt old. Ancient. Like something that had been there long before any of us and would be long after.

[C]

We're gone and now is a part of you.

[A]

Oh, I don't know. From one spooky girl to spooky ghostesses. Shay.

[C]

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[A]

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[C]

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[C]

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[A]

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[C]

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[C]

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[D]

My first thought was picturing the photo that y' all showed us before, like, crawling around through the trees. That's what I was envisioning. And what would have happened if she didn't wake up?

[C]

Well, okay, here. And this is very unlike me because usually I like to, like Corinne, make things worse and theorize more terrifying potentials. But what if this entity, because it almost felt like Shay was inside of the entity, but still conscious enough of herself, right?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

What if the entity was like, in Shay, having like, normal girl dreams and was like, this isn't right.

[A]

Was trying to recollect they were trying.

[D]

To like, switch back, find it like a Freaky Friday.

[B]

Oh my God.

[A]

Oh my God, you Freaky Friday with a crypto. Wait, that is actually. That would be such a fun like, hokey play on a horror movie.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Freaky Friday with a cryptid.

[B]

It's like the hot chick.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Yes, it's me. I just watched that.

[A]

Yeah, I made Sabrina watch it. She'd never seen it, but. Yeah. The description of, like, the limbs being put together, like, what. What do they say? Like, broken sticks or something.

[D]

Together.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

So Appalachia seems to be such a. Like, a place of peace for the people that go there. Like, it was for Shay and her family just, you know, like somewhere they go to get away. And I like to think that, like you said, like, it was just, you know, there just trying to get itself back because they have, like a. Like a symbiotic relationship. They come, they enjoy the nature, and they're. They're kind and good and respectful of the nature, and so it wasn't there to harm them because they, you know, they know each other.

[B]

No.

[C]

Right.

[B]

I'd like to think that, but I don't think so.

[C]

No, I know. Ooh.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Because the dark, darker version is that it had its sights set on Shay for so long that it was, like, able to put Shay into its mindset to make the experience even more terrifying.

[A]

Yeah. That's horrible. You know what also freaks me out is this is not something that she wrote in the email at all. But now I'm just thinking, so, like, the rule of, like, not to sing, not to do these different things in the woods, but I feel like, you know, sometimes, like, intrusive thoughts or just, like, you're not supposed to do something, your mind just starts thinking of doing it, like, that's all you want to do.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

And who's to say she wasn't. Shay, wasn't sleep talking and maybe accidentally summoning this creature singing in her sleep.

[D]

And so it uses that way to get into, like, their mind to locate Shay.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

But think about how many people sing out in the woods. Like, even just, like, camp songs. Yeah.

[A]

Thinking of how many missing persons there are in the woods, too.

[C]

There are a lot of missing persons, so don't sing.

[A]

So I'm, like, holding our skeleton for.

[D]

Support if I ever go to the woods, which I'm not much of a woods gal, but if I find myself there and someone starts singing, I'm. I'm leaving.

[C]

You're out.

[D]

You're out.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I was going to ask if either of you have ever been to Appalachia, but it sounds like, no.

[D]

No, we don't go very far. We're in Texas and we've kind of been here Most of our lives. I mean, we go. We venture out every once in a while, but never to Appalachia.

[B]

No, I would like.

[C]

Texas has its fair share of creepy places, though, so. Yes, everywhere has its fair share of creepy places.

[D]

That's true. We went to Galveston, which is super.

[B]

Supposed to be super haunted.

[D]

And it was a lot of fun and very, like. You can almost feel it.

[B]

Yeah. Because, I mean, we. We've lived in Texas all our lives. We've been there like, a million times. But then for the pod, we went and, like, did, like, ghost tours and history tours and stuff, and it was so, like, I didn't know all this was out here, but it explains the feeling you get when you go to Galveston.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

I was think Galveston supposed to be, like, the most highly concentrated pocket of, like, hauntings.

[D]

Yeah, it's.

[A]

It's super haunting. Something like that. Yeah. My brother lives in Houston, and he went and did, like, one of the walking tours, and he immediately called me after him. Tried to regurgitate as many facts as he could remember.

[D]

Yeah, we did the walking tour, and I was like, our guide around with a notebook, trying to take notes. It was a little embarrassing, but I didn't want to miss a thing, you.

[B]

Know, it was embarrassing because she was chasing, like. I would use the word chasing. She was trying to get to the front, and then I saw other people be like, oh, like, let her go. And I was like, macy, no, stop.

[D]

I just didn't want to miss anything because the guides there were so good, but there's just so much. There's so much in Galveston. But, yeah, I think Appalachia is on our list, but maybe not at night. No, like, in the woods at night, anyway.

[C]

Okay, well, I'll read one last, like, short story to help. This is not gonna convince any of us to go.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Oh, God.

[D]

Okay.

[C]

Okay. Okay. This is from our listener, Lucy. And Lucy has two stories that happened within the same week. One involving what they believe is a sw. A flush pedestrian, and the other, potentially Bigfoot.

[A]

I love a Bigfoot story.

[D]

Me too.

[C]

My mother and I were living in the mountains outside of a small town called Jewett. We were living with her boyfriend at the time and his family, and they lived off the grid their entire lives. So I was about 6 years old at the time when we moved there. I would come home from school around 4pm and one night, my grandfather came to visit us. And for some context, his side of the family is full blooded Cherokee. So he had told me lots of stories growing up about these Woods. And he had warned me to never go in the woods at night. That night, we had a bonfire, and everything seemed normal at first, just really dark by the tree line. When my mom and I heard rustling, we thought nothing of it because there are coyotes and deer all the time. But my mom got this weird sinking feeling, and she looked at my grandfather. He told them to move quietly back to the house. We did, and my grandfather stayed outside all night, and he refuses to tell us what he faced. Two days after that, he was still staying with us. I came home from school as usual. We had dinner, and then after dinner, they would shut the lights off in the dining room. And I was always terrified because I would see orbs in that room. My mom had to take the dogs out, so I decided to follow with her. I had a flashlight, and I saw a huge moth on the ground and told my mom to come over, but she was afraid that the coyotes would come out, so she kept walking our dog. Then I looked up at the treeline because one of our dogs started to growl. I saw something lurking. I didn't know what it was then, but now I know. It was pale. Looked kind of human on all fours. That's all I can make out in the darkness. I looked away to see where my mom went. She wasn't far, but she wasn't seeing what I was seeing. And when I looked back, I saw yellow, glowing eyes. But the body was gone. We went back inside. I told my grandfather what I saw, and he said, good night, kid. Tonight I'm going to close your curtains. And I said to him, okay, but I never close my curtains. And he said, just for tonight. Then around.

[D]

Oh, my gosh. That scared me so bad.

[C]

Was that wax? Was that just wax?

[A]

Yeah. Why'd it pop out and hit me?

[D]

I don't know.

[C]

It flew.

[B]

What the fuck?

[D]

Yeah, it, like, leapt from the candle.

[B]

Did you see that?

[D]

Yes.

[A]

I didn't see anything, but I felt. I felt getting hit. All right, well, great. Wait, we're recording in the same room. Before we made this our, like, podcasting space, I was standing in here after I had first moved in, and dirt just materialized out of nowhere and fell from the ceiling and hit me.

[C]

And now it's wax.

[A]

And now there's wax falling on me.

[B]

You're not meant to be in there.

[A]

I know.

[B]

Go ahead.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

I might turn this into my kid's playroom one day.

[C]

It's also the one room where your kid has been terrified of something like this room.

[D]

Oh, my gosh.

[C]

But then he does love Sven, but.

[A]

He comes in for to give the skeleton kisses and then dips.

[C]

All right.

[D]

Okay.

[C]

Around 12am I hear knocking on my window. Everyone was asleep. I pull the covers over my head, but the knocking continues. And I hear from outside the window, Lucy. I cried for hours until I passed out. And I never told my mom until recently. She told me that she had experiences almost identical to mine. And she refuses to go back up to that house.

[A]

I can't believe she just cried herself to sleep. I would have been running for someone.

[C]

It's the terror. Like it's freeze. Fight, Flight. Freeze.

[A]

Oh my God.

[D]

Oh no. Natalie's crying scared me so bad. We had a story like that where someone like they had knocking on their window and they were like trying to lure them outside. I would feel such primal fear.

[A]

Yeah, but I hate being lured. Like the idea of like being summoned by something. Something knowing your name.

[D]

I mean, whatever it is. Grandpa knows. Yes.

[A]

How does Grandpa know exactly?

[C]

He's indigenous, you know, I feel like he just knows.

[D]

He just knows the land and the.

[C]

Land and the history and like what was he doing?

[A]

Culture.

[B]

What always gets me is when things are like luring people out. I always ask like, if you went what now? What's going to happen? Is that like.

[C]

Well, the reason we don't know is because the people who have gone out, that's what I'm not here to tell us the tale.

[D]

They never come back.

[B]

Were those the missing people?

[A]

There was one story that we read and I'm trying to remember the details. Do you remember it? It was like someone's uncle and dad. They were like walking home from church and church was at like midnight like once a year or whatever. And they had like 40 minute walk home or something like that. Do you remember? It was two hours to walk home. This was normal. And then they had to cut. It was 40 minutes. If they cut through like their uncle's yard or something, like through this giant field. And they saw basically like a beast, like a Bigfoot like beast or something like that. And the. The dad was like chasing it. Everyone else ran home and the guy didn't return for like hours and hours.

[C]

And won't talk about what happened.

[A]

And when he finally came back, he. It basically like he was hiding from this thing, trying to stalk him.

[D]

Oh my gosh.

[A]

After he was trying to like scare it away.

[C]

Yeah, stories. Stories from Mexico and stories from Appalachia. I feel like those two really get.

[A]

Me and the Philippines to the Philippines.

[B]

Yes. We get a lot from the Philippines and Mexico. That's.

[D]

Those are two that are so much there.

[A]

Like not just a lot of activity but like horrifying activity.

[C]

I feel like the belief in the paranormal is way more prevalent in those cultures and like lives. Like, is that partially why there's way more encounters and much more terror? Because it's like less closed a daily part of their lives?

[D]

That would make sense to or to me anyway.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I don't know what I don't know going on.

[C]

We have no answers. And I think that's one thing we've learned about the paranormal in all the years of podcasting is we still have no answers.

[A]

No. And we're going to ignore the candle thing that happened even though we might have just jointly experienced something.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

That was actually really scary. I want to see that back. That was actually really, really frightening.

[D]

Yeah, I'm scared.

[C]

Will you real quick just tell everyone where to find Ghost Tease and then we would love to have you do a sign off with us and then.

[A]

We'Ll see you over on your episode.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Where we will join as guests.

[D]

Yeah. You can find us on wherever you get your podcasts. It's Ghosties and on YouTube. It's Ghosties pod on YouTube. We're also on Instagram. We post there from time to time. Ostiespod and all the socials. All the socials.

[B]

Ghostiespod I believe. G H O S T E T.

[D]

E A S. Yes. Like T. Great.

[C]

And we'll link it in the show notes too. But thank you both for joining.

[B]

Thank you so much.

[C]

We'll be joining you on your feed where you're gonna share some of your scary listener stories to us.

[D]

Yes.

[A]

We will see you on the other side.

[C]

Very spooky. Olivia loves a challenge. It's why she lifts heavy weights and likes complicated recipes. But for booking her trip to Paris, Olivia chose the easy way. With Expedia, she bundled her flight with a hotel to save more. Of course, she still climbed all 674 steps to the top of the Eiffel Tower. You were made to take the easy route. We were made to easily package your trip. Expedia made to travel flight inclusive packages are atoll protected.