Episode 723: Listener Tales 103: Halloween 2025 | Forensic Files

Welcome foolish mortals. Hey weirdos, I'm Ash. I'm Elena and also Pennywise's side piece. Yeah.
And this is Morbid. [Music] Happy Halloween, y'all. Hey, welcome back to listener tales.
>> We got We got Pennywise's side piece and me, Madame Leota. I mean, a moment. A
moment for me, the table. >> for this. Shoutout to my husband for making this for me mostly. Shoutout to
Drew. He made like the head thing and the table and then I decorated it. >> It's I hot glued. I burned the [ __ ] out
of my fingers on some hot glue. Oh, I never I love that you have to do this to look at me.
>> Yeah. Cuz you look like you're like Yeah. I can see your future. >> I always burn the [ __ ] out of myself
when I use hot glue. I cannot not burn the [ __ ] out of myself. >> It's hard. Welcome to the club. It's a
hard knock life. >> a hard knock life. We're trying something new today. Um it was
absolutely impossible for me to use my laptop in my current state. >> Yeah. In my current state.
>> current state. So the TV is behind one of the cameras and we're going to read
off of that. And if it works out, I think it could be better for filming. >> Yeah, cuz we will we'll have our hands
more and we'll be able to use more props and [ __ ] >> Well, some of us don't have hands, but
>> some of us don't. Maybe later you'll get some. >> Or maybe in the future they'll grow
back. >> Yeah. You can see the future, so tell us. I feel like hands. I feel like hands. I feel like hands.
>> You heard it here first. Madame Ray Leota said that. I should have done some kind of crazy
spin on this. Like Mick missed opportunity. >> Hey, I have the table and I'm trying to
use it much much more in the future because this is too good to not use all the time.
>> We're going to use it again. >> Imagine I'm Madame Ray Leota. Damn. Oh my god.
>> some Goodfellas [ __ ] in there. >> Absolutely. >> All right. What You know what? We'll put
in our pocket. >> wound in my head. Put in our pocket and we'll figure it out next time. Yay.
>> Um so hold on, I'm done with my my coffee, I suppose. So we're going to try this. We're going to
read on the thing and if it works out, it works out. >> Yeah. And if it doesn't, we'll go back
to laptop. >> then [ __ ] it. We'll be laptop first. I'm laptop forward again. Yeah.
>> Okay. So tell us what you think. And also my audio might be like a little bit
different. I'm in a globe. Yeah. That's it that that will that will be a little different.
>> Yeah. We'll be different. But it'll be good, I think. >> I think so. Mikey's the producer. He's
nodding his head. I don't produce this. I'm just it. >> It's fine. >> Yeah, it's fine. So who's starting here
cuz we have Halloween tales. >> We have Halloween tales. >> Halloween. Thanks to Deb Deb.
>> I need to curve my spine a little bit more. Oh, yeah. >> That's uh That's the stuff. She's really
committed, guys. I'm super committed right now. >> Very committed. All right. Do you want
to start or do you want me to? Yeah, I'll start. >> Okay, start. >> So this one's called He said his name
was Bart Simpson? Who knows? Me. Hey Ash and Elena, long time listener, long time
lover of you both. Oh my god, I love you too. >> Thank you. Your voices keep me company
at work, at home, insert literally any activity here including when I'm trying to sleep. I adore your banter.
We love when someone adores the banter. Most people do, I think. >> so, too. >> Yeah. Thank you for loving us.
>> you for that. And the clear love you have for each other makes listening feel
like a warm haunted hug. >> That's so sweet. I like you. >> I like you a lot. >> Yeah. I'm going to move this so I can
see you. There you go. We can high five. See, I saw hands. You saw hands, Ray Leota. My name is Manda and you can use
my name. There are 1 trillion of us, so it's not like it's mysterious. I've even
dropped the A because I'm still dirty at mom for I'm still dirty at mom for using
such a popular name. Although she did want to call my younger sister Echo. Wow. Imagine if you were Manda and Echo.
Manda and Echo. >> I'd be real pissed. I begged her not to and said the teacher will do roll call
and get her to get to her and say Hate it, he said. >> He said hate it? He said ancient. Oh, I thought he said
hate it like hate Echo. >> Oh, that would have been funny. Uh the teacher will do roll call and get
to her and say Echo Echo Echo. Which would kind of be funny to be honest. She thankfully decided on Gemma, so maybe I
dodged a bullet. >> Ooh, Gemma's pretty. >> That is pretty. Now let me take you back
to the early 2000s. I was 12. My little sister was eight and we lived in a cozy little Australian suburb. Not quite
rural, but outside the city. Directly across the road were two other sisters, exactly our ages. Dream come true,
right? Built-in besties you could walk to barefoot. Everybody wants that. >> that's awesome. At the time our family
had just converted the garage under our house into bedrooms for my sister and I.
It felt like the pinnacle of independence, far enough from mom and stepdad to feel like big kids, but still
within yelling distance if needed. We even had an intercom system, which we definitely abused.
>> Oh, that's cool. >> As you should. >> I want an intercom system. >> If you have an intercom system, abuse
it. >> Abuse the [ __ ] out of it. >> That's me telling you. Uh one afternoon, probably inspired by
one of my late night Charmed or Buffy binge sessions. My kind of girlies. We decided to make
our own Ouija board. Succeed. >> He said go forth and find success with your Ouija board.
>> will succeed. That kind of thinking is successful thinking. Did he just say come forward and kneel?
He gets so [ __ ] reckless. I don't know what YouTube takes off, but like I feel like that's borderline
YouTube offensive. I don't know what to say about that. Like I'm That was a message for you.
That's awesome. >> of feelings. >> like that one. He gets so spicy. Like okay, Nicholas.
Damn. >> Nicholas. That's wild. >> Come forward and kneel? No, thank you. Never have, never will.
I I need to move on from that. That was a lot. >> Okay. >> We should all move on. Clutch my
balloon. I see the future and we've moved on. I know we have moved on. That like really sent me. I was like
>> Yeah, it's not good. Feel assaulted. You should. >> Okay. A piece of A3 paper ripped like
Nicholas, okay. A piece of A3 paper ripped from one of our art assignment books, some scrolled letters and
numbers, yes and no in the corners, the alphabet and so on. A shot glass from the bar and four little knucklehead kids
thinking this would be a fun time. Voila. Hello, nightmare fuel. >> Nightmare nightmare nightmare.
>> At first it was all giggles. The glass barely moved, but when it did, it was jagged and slow. We put down We put it
down to our giggles. We must be bumping it. We slowed our breathing and decided we would get super witchy with it.
Really get in the zone. But when we did, the glass did, too. The slow smooth glide of the glass started moving faster
with more certainty. Not really spelling anything out, just zipping around the board. We asked for its name and the
letters spelled out B A R T. Bart if you're nasty. I M P S O N. There you go. We all looked at each other with
slight smiles, but also a little scared. Bart? Not a name I would have thought of
and neither family were big Simpsons fans, so it felt off, but also a tiny bit comical and surely not really an
entity called Bart. We continued to ask questions, probably how old he was and when and how he died. The questions and
answers are foggy and I can't quite recall the details here, probably as a coping mechanism, but I definitely
remember the fun little make-believe witch coven vibe shifting fast into something more sinister.
>> That sinister vibe. Without speaking out loud or deciding as a group, we all just
individually started asking if if we could stop. All of us with vague understanding that it was something you
were meant to do. You were not meant to take your fingies off without saying goodbye or being granted permission to
leave the session. We just kept begging, can we please stop? We want to leave. Can we please stop? I hate that.
>> Yeah, that's awful. >> I hate that. You were smart, though. Can you not just say like okay, we're
stopping now? I I think you can. I think you can declare >> like I'm ending this now. But maybe cuz
they were young, we were like we need to get a permission. >> But I don't know. I'm not positive, so
don't take me. Damn, I guess I won't be doing a Ouija board with you. I know. I need to get I need to read up on my
[ __ ] Yeah, you better. >> Uh so the glass started between the center of the paper and back to no over
and over, aggressively fast, maliciously and with what felt like evil intent. And
that's when things snapped. My sister started bawling. My friend began dry heaving. Damn.
My friend's little sister Me though, just barfing everywhere. Just dry >> Fingies still on the planchette yakking.
Everyone's so upset. They're like stop, THAT'S GROSS. I MEAN, I WOULD GET so overstimulated. I'd like GET OUT.
I CAN'T take my fingies off the planchette. I'm like YOU JUST HAVE TO DIE THEN LEAVE. I CAN'T LISTEN TO THIS DRY HEAVE.
In the beginning of this she said she liked me and then she just said I guess you have to die then leave.
>> heaving during the Ouija board session where we're getting like possessed by some evil entity.
>> Your rules are they they have no serious boundaries. >> they're real. They're solid.
>> Yeah, I know. Crazy. I know. >> I say from inside of a people. I am. Did he say sit? Sick. Oh, sick.
>> said you're sick. Thanks, girl. Um okay. My friend's little sister, white as a ghost, blank stare, obviously
unable to compute what was happening. I couldn't help it. All spooky logic went out the window and in that moment I
decided to break every spirit communication rule in the book and pulled the cup from the paper and
snatched the paper and threw it behind me. And we all just sat there cross-legged scanning the room to try to
find some understanding to what just happened. I began trying to comfort everyone while comforting myself that
maybe we somehow, I don't know, subconsciously fell into our role too much, became little actresses, and
didn't realize the talent we were held to, really lean into our witchy characters. But by the distressed look
on all of our faces, I knew deep down that wasn't true. We bolted upstairs and through breathy
pants explained the situation to my mom, who basically rolled her eyes and said,
"You're all being silly. That didn't happen. It's in your imagination." That's so rude. But her generation was
not one to entertain these types of things, and how could she help anyway? March down and wag her finger in the
invisible demon's face and scold it for tormenting us? Yes. Feeling awkward and scared, the girls headed home, and I sat
with our sister in our new cool rooms pretending to be adults and address the bunker situation again without our
friends near and desperately tried to calm each other down. Seeing my sister too afraid, I decided to do something,
make a big move, something that goes against everything I stand for. Lie. I lied. I lied. I told her I'd move the
glass. I had to ease her fear in that moment. I knew she would forgive me, and even though it hurt to see her little
heartbreak at the thought that I did just try to frighten everyone was super sucky. But she wasn't afraid anymore.
She was mad, but I knew that wouldn't be forever. You're a good sister. You really are.
>> to just box that [ __ ] up and sent it back into my noggin. I couldn't make sense of it and it was terrifying, so I
saw no other option. Fast forward, I'm now 16 living with my dad with a whole different group of friends in my last
year of high school. No one in my pack with any knowledge of Bart. It was but a vague memory that sat in the back of my
mind locked in a box, no key in sight. I wasn't afraid of the thought the box was
there, but I had not even acknowledged it since that day. I'd completely disconnected. The memory was just a
weird shitty horror movie I once watched. One weekend, my friends and I were hanging out at my dad's while he was
away for work. Correct. Correct. >> "That's right, baby." >> "Hell yeah, have a party." Classic teen
chaos. Snark snacks and snarks, I bet. Laughs pretending to be adults but with no responsibilities. What a bloody time.
>> Aw, I miss it. What a bloody time. As the afternoon went on with a friend in the corner playing guitar, some friends
up and down the back steps from playing pool under the house, when someone brought up doing Ouija. I noped out.
It's not that I felt afraid or that the memory was brought to the forefront of my mind. I was still very disconnected
from it being a real memory at all, but I knew for sure I was not joining in on the seance. I hung in the kitchen while
some friends got together together their makeshift Ouija board, while I continued
chatting with another friend. Then I heard one of them laugh and say it. Bart. And remember, she just said she did not
tell any of her friends this. I should have seen this coming. I imme- You should have, right, Leota? I imme-
I immediately looked over, and while most of my friends were laughing at the hilariousness of this Simpsons wannabe
ghost, one friend sat on the lounge had her eyes pinched shut. It caused me immediate discomfort to see her, and as
I watched her eyes slowly open, I could see that her pupils were large and started to roll back into her head.
Sorry, what? >> was rising and falling fast as she sank back into the couch. Shallow breaths,
then really fast breaths. The visual of her felt too intense to register what was happening, but the sign finally
caught the attention of everyone else in the room. Disturbingly, I remember her tugging at her denim skirt looking as
though she was using all her strength to drag it to her knees. What? >> Eyes still shut and her breathing her
breathing intensifying, panic set in. This was my house. I was responsible. My friend is not breathing. I have to call
an ambulance. My mind raced and I ran into the hallway and picked up the phone to call emergency services. I started
going through what I would say in my head. Um, yes, hello, we need an ambulance. My friends are doing Ouija
and Bart and breathing heavy and she's not okay. >> Not in Bart. >> Honestly, in Bart.
>> Not in Bart. >> her name being yelled out with sounds of relief. I rushed back into the living
room, everyone crowding around her. She was pale, misty-eyed, and looked exhausted. When she looked directly at
me with purpose on her face and said, "Don't worry, Manda. My sister got rid of him for you."
Oh, I just got full chills. Under this table, it's chilly. Her older sister had passed away from an asthma
attack when she was young. What the [ __ ] I can't explain the cold that settled in me. No one there knew about
Bart, not a soul, but somehow Because they just didn't know Nicholas. >> know. He shouldn't tell them, okay?
Sorry. I'll be clear. Shh. She didn't inform her new friends of her old entity, Bart. I love
Nicholas. What? I'm sorry. Sometimes he scares me. I just like when he goes, "What?"
[Laughter] "What?" That was so funny. He He was just like, "Can you please explain?"
I did say it really fast, so sorry, Nicholas. Um, so yeah, she just hadn't let her new
friends in on her old friend, Bart, okay? Woo. Anyway. No one knew about Bart, not
a soul, but somehow he had followed me or had been with me since then or something. I like the dot dot dot or
something. >> I just kept saying to myself in almost a chant, "It didn't hurt me, so it's okay.
I was never scared. Nothing happened. I'm fine. It didn't hurt me. I was never scared. Nothing happened. I'm fine. It
didn't hurt me." Aw. We are doing a lot of fast forwarding here. I apologize. Never apologize.
>> You're fine. But over a decade later, a memory jogged that moment loose from whatever dusty mental box I'd shoved it
in, and I needed to know, did that day really happen? Surely it was some weird memory I'd formed after years of
listening and watching morbid material. Tia. Tia. I decided to message a friend who was
there, someone I hadn't spoken to since high school. "Hey, do you remember that afternoon at my dad's, the Ouija board?
Tia." It sat on red for a week. Then finally, I I'd be like, "Fuck you then." Yeah.
Guess you don't. But honestly, if it was me, it would also sit on red for a week,
so double-edged sword there. Then finally, I got a reply. Was that English? >> What did he say? He called me annoying.
Wow, rude. I love that he's not doing it to me this week. Who's he doing it to? I mean, you're
reading. I did just say it would also sit on red for a week with me, and he said annoying.
>> Yeah, he said it's annoying. He said that's a yucky tactic. >> I I accept that, Nicholas. I accept it.
That is annoying. I'm trying to work on it, okay? She's working on it. >> on it.
>> She's going to get it really hard. Takes more fast. >> my best. >> Yeah. Um, I'm sorry, but I can't go
there. I worked really hard to get over the trauma of that day, seeing our friend like that, the feeling in the
room. It was terrifying. I had nightmares for years. I love that you just like completely re-traumatized this
person, like It's kind of iconic. >> That message, that response broke my heart, but it also confirmed something
I'd doubted for years. Bart was real. He was there, and I think he was right beside me for all those years doing who
knows what. Twerking. Anyways, I'm almost 38 now, and I'm still very disconnected from that experience. Still
super close with my sister, though. Hell yeah. Aw. >> And I've confessed to her only recently
that I did lie to her that day, that I did not move the glass. >> I lied to you about lying.
>> shuts that [ __ ] down quick and says she doesn't want to talk about it anymore,
ever. I just say, "It didn't hurt me, so it's okay. I was never scared. Nothing happened. I'm fine. It didn't hurt me. I
was never scared. Nothing happened. I'm fine. It didn't hurt me." That's a great ender.
>> That's a good one. >> I like that one. >> Also, that was like a really spooky way
to end. It's just chanting that over and over. >> Yeah, honestly. Damn. Spooky. >> I like that one. I like that one, too.
>> Manda, you killed it. I was looking at the wrong camera. Manda, you killed it.
>> Good job, Manda. Am I just giving this to you? >> Yes, please. >> this. Put it on my hand.
>> let me put it under your Goodbye. Bye. How do I go to the next one? You just two fingers and scroll. Oh. They're on
the same thing. I think this is the move, everybody. This one is called The Void With Eyes,
my own passenger demon. It's a void with eyes. All right, it says, "Greetings, ladies of Morbid."
Nicholas, I got to read every now and again. What did he say? >> Nicholas. Should I turn him off?
>> Did he just say bedroom? He said bedroom. What the [ __ ] is happening? >> First, he's like kneeling in front of
me, and now he's like, "Bedroom." Nicholas. You got to wine and dine a lady first, okay?
Anyways, greetings, ladies, which we are of Morbid. In case you didn't know, Nicholas.
>> Treat us like such. Attached is my submission for listener tales at the request of my wife. Hell yeah. We are
both fans, and she thinks this tale of possible demon possession {slash} interaction will pique your interests. I
think it will do. In exchange for your time, I offer you no less than three photos of our
kitties, Maximus and Giles. Bet you can't guess who he's named after. Rupert Giles.
>> I love it. I love that. I hope it is. I hope so. I mean >> Not Giles Corey. Yeah. Giles. That's a
Giles Corey. Giles Corey. Giles Corey. >> Oh, could be Giles Corey, too. Well, let us know.
Attached is the story in a 14-point double-space PDF that when it was 12-point and single-space was roughly
six pages and took me about 4 minutes to read aloud. Please feel free to edit as
much as needed or reach out if you have any questions. Never will edit it. >> but we won't edit.
This is from Chris. Greetings, Morbid Mistresses, Queens of the Cast, Wonderful Weird Women of the
Interwebs. >> Oh, I love when people come up with very elite names for us. >> It's fun.
>> Love that. >> Yeah. Queens of the Cast is fun. >> Queens of the Cast, yeah. Wonderful
Weird Women of the Internet and Interwebs. I like it. >> I like it all. Yeah. My name is Chris,
and you can use my name. That's good cuz I happen. Chris? >> Everyone else does. At the request of my
lovely wife, Britney, please use her name. She will be stoked on life. Chris and Britney? Chris and Britney. Hell
yeah. Who introduced me to your show. I am now submitting one of my personal favorite tales from my wildly
irresponsible years. Yes, we love those kind of years. >> come with great stories.
>> They do. Some quick backstory on what to expect. I dabbled with cursed objects
and came back haunted, unfortunately without Trent Reznor. I'm sad for you. >> I know, that's a bummer. For the
obligatory fandom, I've thoroughly enjoyed your take on true crime and overall style of your podcast. I've been
pleasantly surprised with the content and overall humorous bantering that you both provide.
>> People are loving the banter. >> People like the banter. Oh my god. Also, I'm late to the party, but
congratulations Elena on The Butcher and the Wren. Thank you. And congratulations
Ash on your marriage. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Oh, what did I do? Oh, no.
Okay, we're good. We're done. I wanted to thank you both for making our hourish each way drive from to and
from work more bearable, giving us plenty to discuss. You're welcome. >> You're welcome. Also included with this
tale are pictures of our meow pals, Maximus and Giles. We love that. Yes, Giles is named after Rupert Giles from
Buffy. Britney and I also enjoy listening to the Rewatcher almost as much as Angel and Giles diving into
piles of trash for rats in becoming part one. >> Oh my god. Chris. Listen to the
Rewatcher. Chris. That was iconic. >> That was iconic. To slip that into a listener tales next level.
>> Truly. And to have a cat named Rupert Giles, come on. All of the above. You're
really killing it at life. Queen magic. Well, apologies for the length of length
of this if you Never apologize. Never. If you do deem it long, feel free to edit as needed. No. No. I feel there was
some important context here, so I hope you enjoy. Moving on to the tale. >> Let us travel back to the ancient times.
>> Let's go. The '90s. I know, it hurts me, too. Did he say sick? What? What did he say? Did he say throbbed? I
think he said sick and then drowned. Drowned? Okay. >> He says drowned a lot. >> I think he drowned. Did you drown,
Nicholas? >> I'm worried for you. I know. You can tell us. It's okay. Even though you're
being gross, you can still tell us. All right, so Ugh, I do miss the '90s, Chris. Me too. Those four years were
awesome. Well, here we are, back in the '90s where an angsty child was exposed to
dark I was going to say jeans. Dark jeans. To dark genres entirely too early and the
macabre spoke to them. Ugh. That honestly describes both of our upbringings. >> Yeah. One because I had you and you
because you are just creepy. Yeah, because I'm just naturally weird. So, I grew up on science fiction, horror, and
fantasy. No regrets. But, this led to a natural and very active interest in the supernatural. Fast forward to the late
teens/early '20s when I was living my high my high life as an hourly manager of Spencer's Gifts in Utah.
>> Oh, you really killed it with that. >> You really killed it. >> I ended up working at Spencer's
immediately out of high school and made friends with the odd ducks working there
already, namely John, my manager then and now long-time friend. We love John. The best part about my interview was
being told later that he effectively stopped listening to my job experience after I mentioned previously having a
pet bat. He was confident that I met his expectations after that. >> I love you and John.
>> I'd like to know a lot more about your pet bat, please. >> Yeah, I really want to know about that.
John spoke to all my inner '90s kid angst and we shared most of the same interests and history growing up. We're
just listening. We're listening. >> What's going on, doll? What do you have to say? He said, "Please listen."
So, John spoke to all my inner '90s kids angst and we shared most of the interests the same interests and
history growing up. This was a nice change for being characterized by the or chastised by the locals. I was that guy,
always wearing black trench coats, not fearing the sky not fearing sky grandpa, etc. Not fearing
Sky grandpa goes >> Sky grandpa goes crazy. I love it. John was the big brother I never had and we
got along swimmingly. Now, that is all the gushy [ __ ] Oh, now that all the gushy [ __ ] is out of the way, you can
now understand why John took me under his wing and began to teach me about magic, supernatural forces, and that
which I always felt calling out to me, but never knew how to answer. John sounds awesome. He does. You're kind of
my John. I Oh my god. >> Yeah. I'm your John. You're my John. That sounds weird. You're my Chris. Yay.
There you go. All right, so spoilers. Should have sent that That called a voicemail.
Oh. Oh. I'm scared. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. What's going to happen? We started small. John was trying to determine if I
had any ability to detect or otherwise sense these types of things in my vicinity and whether I had any
connection at all to the forces at large. The specific tests aren't important to what follows, but necessary
according to John based on what I told him about my life. I've always been a bit weird and I've had on multiple
occasions been exposed to strange or inexplicable events with others present. I don't know why I'm a magnet for weird
stuff and the weirdness of life had come knocking several times before. I've encountered ghosts on multiple
occasions, future sight Say. Madam Realiota. I cannot get over that. And accurately predicting the future.
And also having been temporarily possessed. Asterisk. Future listener tale if you would like. That's what we
call burying the lead. We would like. Yes. >> The specific item I do need to call out
here as relevant is a vivid, terrible, and specific recurring dream of me versus me that I have experienced off
and on. I essentially dream battle the Cenobite-empowered version of myself for domination of my mind and presumable
soul. That's the coolest thing I've ever heard in my entire life. >> that you don't do that.
Why have I never fought the Cenobite version of myself? Why have I never seen the Cenobite version of myself?
>> Elena's deeply pissed right now. I can feel it. It's like ruminating. I want to see the Cenobite version of
myself. I don't know if I want to see the Cenobite version of myself. >> I smell another costume.
Uh-oh. Here we go. >> coolest thing I've ever heard. Well, the dream has afflicted me ever since the
said possession episode. Good times. Yeah. John decided to really see if I've got any sort of ability and goes to his
room and locked cabinet. Oh. I don't I don't like that he went to a locked cabinet.
>> Yeah. Now, despite being pretty fookin weird, I am a very rational and logistical
person. What did he say? He said, "Down there." He is getting so spicy these days.
I'm not sure about this. Nicholas, is that you or is this like somebody else? I'm I'm feeling a little bit
feeling a little bit Did SK follow us from the SK period? >> Honey, SK didn't follow me, he followed
you. I got to go. Want her, remember? >> I got to go. All right, so now despite being pretty fookin weird whoa what?
Pretty fookin weird. Pretty fookin weird. I'm a very rational and logical person. Yeah. When I see a locked
cabinet, I immediately assume valuables or weapons, which makes perfect sense to
me why those would be locked up. >> Yeah. What did not make sense was the immediate sense of uneasiness that I
felt wandering into this room where the cabinet was and the increasing feeling that followed once the cabinet opened.
I assured myself it was nerves and all in my head. At this point, knowing John, this was the first time I'd been to his
apartment, so this was all new to me anyway. John removed only one item from the
locked cabinet, an object wrapped curiously in ornately marked in in ornately marked silk cloth and its own
individual bindings keeping the cloth in place. Ooh. This was ominous as hell. Yeah, it sure was.
>> Yeah. And once unwrapped, I could see what the hubbub was about, a mirror. Ooh. A round, single piece of glass with
a silver-colored metallic rim. The mirror itself was blackened glass, but otherwise plain. That sounds sick as
[ __ ] >> awesome. I like that. Is it like a scrying A scrying mirror. That's exactly
what I was just thinking. >> Look at that. The one specific phrase that John said as he did this was, "Do
not look directly at yourself in this mirror." >> Oh, no. I'd immediately look directly at myself
in that mirror. >> My vain ass. >> The second someone tells you, right? I'd be like, "How am I looking, though?"
It's just the second someone tells me not to. We were We did an investigation recently where they said, "Don't look at
the symbol." Did you look at the symbol? >> I kept looking at the symbol. Oh my god,
Chris. >> She said this person said, "Don't look at the symbol You looked at it?
>> you in a trance." And I was like, "Well, fuck." And I just started looking at the
cuz I was like, "Oh, no." >> Did you go into a trance? >> Stop. No, I didn't because I kept
stopping myself. But, the second you tell me not to do something cuz I'm going to go into a trance or I'm going
to explode, I'm going to do it. You know what, though? Jeez. Even if they tell you you're going to explode, you know I
don't want to. It's just I'm built that way. You tell me to do something not to do something, I'm like, "Broop." You are
pretty defiant. She told me not to look at the symbol and I said, "Got it." She said, "Don't look at the symbol." And I
said, "Ugh, I'm going to look at it so hard." And then I did. >> the right scenario, I I'll listen. Like
if there's You put me in the room with like a button and it says, "Don't push this." I'm going to struggle.
Struggle, but don't >> to struggle. Try to succeed in the end, you know? I try. Oh my table's moving.
That's so weird. Maybe my leg's tired. Anyway. Maybe the table is tired. Maybe the
table is tired. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe it's yawning. I don't know that table's life.
You know, it's sentient. So, don't look at yourself in the mirror, he explained. And he explained
that it was a type of seer's glass or special device used to see what normal eyes are not attuned to. It's fair to
say at this point I was skeptical skeptical. And next, he showed me how to hold the mirror in such a way that I
could see reflections, but not myself. He said he would he would explain why not to look at myself once I proved that
I could see with the mirror. Okay. I I would want some explanations beforehand. Yeah.
I absolutely would. I may have some certifiable smooth brain moments in my lifetime. We all to I know how to hold a
mirror, I know what they do, or I thought I did. This is the part where I apologize if
you brought the whole seat because you're only going to need the edge for this [ __ ] show. That was funny.
sentence. I like that a lot. Remember the uneasy feeling I mentioned going into the room with the cabinet? I do. I
do. I held the mirror over my left shoulder as John directed, positioned the mirror
so the reflection was facing the doorway to John's cabinet room, and almost immediately dropped it.
An ethereal hazy outline of what appeared to be a person standing in the doorway of the room, mimicking the shape
of a humanoid but was clearly not. Oh. I hate it here. No. The only distinguishable features I could focus
on were a claw hand on the door frame, small protrusions on the head, and shoulders resembling spikes or bones,
and two eyes that I could tell were looking at mine as I did theirs. [Laughter] [Applause]
[Laughter] What did you just say, Africa, Nicholas? He said, "It's getting too heavy."
IT'S GETTING TOO WEIRD in here. I'm going to laugh at you. I got to laugh at you. I got to bring a flash of
geography. Nicholas, so freaking hot. >> to crap on them. I can't cry on them. >> Oh my god, I can't cry either cuz I have
no hands. Oh my god. >> saw them once or twice? No, you didn't. Thank you. Africa, what boy?
>> Africa. Maybe he misses the rains. >> He blessed the rains down in Africa. Damn, Nicholas. All right. Wow.
>> Wow. Appreciate that little palate cleanser. So, the being almost looks like it was trapped in that space by the
tenacity it was exhibiting to move toward me, but it stopped by It was stopped by some sort of barrier. I'm
assuming the look on my face was what caused John to burst out laughing. What a dick wad. Kind of love John. Yeah,
you're the John. He took the mirror from my hand before my shaky hands dropped it. He explained
that this being arrived after he was previously attempted or after he had previously attempted to perform
incantations unsuccessfully. Oh. >> And stressed to me the importance of not meddling with natural order.
I love that he was like, "Just taught you some shit." >> Yeah, he said, "You don't see him." Some
[ __ ] That's wild. >> Damn. That's crazy. And he said, "I shouldn't do that when learning about
the magic when learning about magic and paranormal." Um, what? That's all I get?
Don't do that? [ __ ] you, John, if you're listening. Love you, though. Did I listen? [ __ ] no, of course not. Of
course not. Like I would send you a story that ends with smudgy glass. Just kidding, it wasn't smudgy glass. I did
try to clean it, though. Going back to the mirror, I did the same thing and saw the being in that room
watching, glaring. I could feel the intensity of it as I moved around the living room. Any angle I directed the
mirror at the room's doorway, I could see this being focused very intently on me. John even walked through the doorway
to prove to me that there was nothing in or on the mirror that could simulate what I had seen.
It wasn't long after this that things began to escalate. They always do. It hasn't already? I know, right? Damn.
Fast forward a couple more months to where my mother decided to run away from her abusive husband, and I needed a new
place to live because I didn't want to become the new target of abuse. Oh. Big brother John took me in, of course.
I love that. Okay, I take it back. John is not an [ __ ] >> I always believed in you, John. Right?
After moving in with John and the entire time leading up to, I grew increasingly
curious about the mirror and other occult objects that he had. I don't blame you. But never as curious as I was
about the mirror. His only request was that I only use or study these items in his presence for safety, as he said.
[ __ ] I've been possessed, I thought. I can handle this. I waited for John to leave one day, and
then I opened up the horror cabinet, which I now had access to regularly. Oh, no. I removed the mirror from its
encasing and held it in my hand. Chris, you are [ __ ] up right now. >> Chris? You know those moments where you
tell yourself you shouldn't do something and you do it anyway? Yeah. I looked at the mirror. I raised it
slowly, and with my eyes closed. Once at face level, I opened my eyes, and initially the panic did not set in.
It was seemingly a normal dark mirror and otherwise worked as a mirror should. Insert hecken concerned. Hecken
concerned. >> When I felt the same unusual feeling from the first time that I entered the
room months before, and what I felt the first time I used the mirror, but did not see the same entity I had before.
Instead, I only saw the room reflected in the dark glass and myself. This next part I'll do my best to
explain, but I don't know if I can truly divine the horror of this moment. I felt internally. Oh, I thought that
was a new sentence. LOL. He said, "I don't know if I can truly divine the horror of this moment that I felt
internally." I was getting really ghost with it. >> You were. I very distinctly remember thinking to
myself, "I must have been crazy to think that this was anything more than just a
mirror." And saw the reflection smirk in the in the way that I normally would, except
that I hadn't physically moved. Oh. I was almost paralyzed everywhere except my eyes. My attention focused intently
on my reflection in the mirror. I doubted what I saw at first. What? She told me.
Oh. Dang. I didn't tell him. What did you tell him? I didn't tell him [ __ ] >> Elena definitely told him something. Do
you guys believe her? I don't. >> I didn't tell him anything. >> Oh, wow, hands.
>> I didn't. I promise. Oh my god, I didn't see it. What? Nope. No one did. So, I noticed that my expression in the
reflection changed from my own, turning into a scowl and gradually changing into
wide wicked a wide wicked smile. Oh. As the mirror moved farther away from Why is he getting so loud? What did he
say? >> said he said Was that just okay? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. >> Cuz he's like, "God." Do you want me to
turn him down? No, it's like No, it's weird. >> like raises his voice sometimes.
>> He yells at me. Yeah, he does. >> like when He yells at you. >> men yell at me. Doesn't end well for
them. So, as the mirror moved farther away from my face and overall my reflection
faded out, the hazy outline of our previously mentioned hellish version of myself from my recurring dreams stared
intently at me. It's the Cenobite version. The Cenobite. I can't tell you how jealous I am that you've seen the
Cenobite version of yourself. We laughed. I want that so bad. know if you do based on this story. I just want to
see it. >> I'm not sure. I want to know what I look like as a Cenobite. Maybe somebody can
just draw it for you, and you don't have to go through all this. Okay. There's three
>> versions of me as a Cenobite, maybe. That's what it is? That's what I'm thinking. Well, we lost eye contact. I
panicked and wrapped up the mirror, placing it back in the cabinet, then closing the door to John's room. Smart.
That was the first time I saw myself outside of a dream. This was the first time I truly started to fear that my
previous experiences I know I don't really know what happened there. >> of let it go. to fear to fear to fear
that my previous experiences were real. A little. Did you say I'm scared? A little.
>> Are you scared? Yeah, I am scared. I am a little, Nicholas. Well, I sat I sat what Hold on.
Fear. I just sat for what felt like an eternity trying to wrap my mind around what I had just experienced, and
infinitely made this worse by going to our bathroom to try to wash off my face and gather myself.
As I walked past the mirror in the bathroom, out of the corner of my eye, I could see that my reflection was not the
same as what I was wearing. Oh. Scars, cuts, and abrasions covered my face and exposed flesh made me appear
almost ghoulish. But when directly looking at the mirror, I appeared as I normally did.
That's not okay. That's so scary, John. >> Imagine seeing yourself all [ __ ] up.
You just look in the mirror and you go, "That's a scary mask, bro." >> mask, bro.
Another fun imagery I began to see was violent outbursts, such as punching the reflection surface and breaking the
glass, even killed. Okay. You were killed. >> Another was smashing my face into the
mirror and then reveling in the blood and gore of my shredded flesh. And this is a vision
that he's getting? >> No, I think this is what he's seeing in like in >> Like he's seeing. out of the corner of
his eye, yeah, in the mirror. Like he looks directly in the mirror and he just sees himself, but if he gets himself out
of the corner of his eye, I think that's what happens. >> smashing his face into a glass. What the
[ __ ] And he said this would only happen for a moment before being whisked back
to my current state, confused and simply standing in front of a reflection. >> Holy [ __ ]
>> Always pain, torment, and violence, but never in reality, and always always the
face that haunts me from the reflection. Oh. Over the following weeks and the remainder of the time that I had
of that Sorry. I'm so freaked out by this. Over the following weeks and the remainder of
time that I and others occupied the premise with me, there were many instances of strange unusual behavior
occurring, even after John ultimately moved out to be with a cursed vahini worse than Buffy. Worse than Buffy. Oh
my god. >> Woah. That's pretty cursed. >> That's cursed. He He left me alone to battle whatever
demons I had inadvertently summoned. We eventually moved out, but this brings us
to the most important part of the story, confirmation. Two distinct moments I feel are why I
now have a passenger entity tied to my being. You better call Rachel Stavis. You better.
John and I went on many adventures together. One that followed the events described
was meeting a friend and mentor of his that was supposedly a mystic. Insert actual title here. I'm not sure what she
had was a mystic other than cryptically horrifying my ass. 10 out of 10 would be
horrified again. So he wanted me to meet her in the context to the types of magic and energy
that we studied, which was fine. No problems there. The problem was when walking into this
person's home, she stopped what she was doing, looked at me, and in an unusually
callous way pointed in my direction and asked, "Are you here to get rid of that?"
[ __ ] And she motioned to what was an empty space beside me. Or what you thought was empty. Are you here to get
rid of that? I'd be like, "I am now." >> Imagine if you're like, "No." No, I'm going to keep it. Thank you. Maybe don't
be rude. God. We're taking our [ __ ] elsewhere. >> Why isn't everyone welcome here? Come
on, Steve. Come on, Steve. So she proceeded to confirm visually what I saw in the mirror from the first
time I used it. Obviously I was perturbed without me telling her any specific details about it before, which
I took as a sign that she knew what she was doing, or she was the real deal. She
and I spoke at length following this, and she was even able to speak to events in my childhood that I never told
anybody about, including my wife and my family. Woah. To this day I cannot explain how a person I had never met
before was able to tell me about events in my life that I'd never spoken about out loud to any other human being, but I
trusted their judgment because of it. I would. I would, too. The second moment was honestly a bit
scarier because it came from someone I knew, and not the same woman that John could have slipped a 50 to to mess with
me beforehand. That's funny. Years later I was living with a bunch of friends, the standard two broke to live
on our own arrangement in a house of five. Been there. By this time I had a friend under my wing as a brother of
sorts, and John had Uh sorry. Let me say that again. I'm wearing fake eyelashes, so it's hard
to read. By this time I had taken a friend under my wing as a brother of sorts as John
had with me. Blue we'll call him, since I don't want to get him in trouble for this. That's a good friend. He was
experiencing with an uh experimenting with a substance like DMT. I mean, to each their own. It was a rough time.
Blue wasn't an addict, but he just hit a rough spot and tried something that he never tried again. Okay. It's not like
he was hooked on it like how Angel was hooked on rats and diving into piles of trash and becoming part one.
This is chef's kiss. I'm obsessed. I love rats. You're just melding our two worlds worlds together.
Anyway, the reason this is important is that Blue was not somebody who had ever known or been told the story about my
passenger entity. So there's no way that he could have known to say what he said.
While he was under the influence of this substance, I was walking by him as he sat on a couch. He stopped me and said,
"What is that?" Ooh. And I could tell from his tone and response that he was not excited about
what he was seeing. "What?" I asked, confused, as it was just he and I at home at that moment, and we didn't have
any pets. "That void with eyes, the white thing?" Ooh. Insert clip of my Oscar-winning performance of playing it
of playing it cool when every fiber of my being was screaming to flip out. What the If somebody said, "What is that?
That void with eyes, the white thing?" >> Yeah. I'd probably just start crying and never
stop. >> You know what the end of that Marcus video when he just takes to the sky? I
think I would just take to the sky. Yeah. You should You should say Nah. Like he does and then takes to the sky.
Nah. Nah. Uh so I asked him again, and he described a translucent white hazy creature resembling the shape of a
human, but specifically with red eyes following closely behind me and looking directly at him. No.
You got to No. You got to shower that [ __ ] off or something. >> to the sky. >> to shower with holy water.
I eventually told him the entire story once he sobered up. What he described he saw before, and I explained the story,
it shook me Wait, sorry. Jesus Christ. Uh I eventually told him the entire story once he sobered up. What he
described before I explained the story shook me to my core, though. He had seen what I had seen and described exactly
how I'd seen it without having any means to know what was pre what was seen previously. He didn't even know John or
the mystic. >> Oh. What's more is that as he described it, I could feel that same energy. When
he called it out as I once had before when I first was exposed to the mirror, as if my dark passenger was trying to
remind me it was there. >> Oh, [ __ ] that. You need one of those spray bottles of holy water.
Like a like a cat you're just like You just like it. Yeah. Yeah. Damn. You need to like blanche Devereaux it and be like
s- Yeah, honestly. Since then I still have an aversion to mirrors and my reflection. I don't like
seeing my reflection, nor do I like being in front of mirrors and reflective objects for extended periods of time,
either. Can't say I blame you. I have had others mention unusual energy in my presence. The mystic I spoke to
explained that if this was truly a malevolently malevolent being that it would have certainly acted on that by
now, and instead offered me an unusual explanation of it needs me, and our semi-symbiotic relationship must be
required for it to exist in our realm, and therefore it has no reason to hurt me. Oh. Well, it hasn't helped me,
either. Yeah, real nice. I didn't get cool powers. I wasn't sh- I wasn't shown such sights it wanted to show me.
>> Oh my god, you and I are meant to be friends. >> Yeah, 100%. >> Like truly. My unusual dreams of self
versus self have also changed over time, becoming less frequent, but now more vivid. When they happen now, it almost
feels more like a conversation between this being and I. Ooh. The void with eyes. Oh.
I love that. Wow, that's terrifying. >> That's so scary. >> Thank you for taking the time to
consider my tale. Thank you. >> Consider it considered. >> You and your wife forever. You and
Britney. And John. >> Chris and Britney and John and >> Chris, Britney, John >> and Blue. Blue.
>> Everybody. Yeah. And the void with eyes. Forever. Maybe not the void with eyes forever. I
hope you figure out a way to get rid of it. I appreciate the wonderful content you
lovely gals bring into the world. Thank you. I plan to keep it weird long into my elder years if my dark passenger
allows. I hope this brings at least a little bit of excitement into your lives, and if anyone ever tells you to
look into a cursed mirror, maybe don't. Take it away, Ash. Keep it weird, but not so weird that you
go into a locked room in a locked cabinet with a locked mirror, and you look into it even though John told you
not to, and then you get a dark passenger for the rest of your life unless maybe he decides to leave at some
point when you spritz yourself like Blanche Devereaux with holy water. Wow, that was a good one.
>> Thank you. I I really tried. >> I literally lifted this to look for the thing.
>> I was wondering what you were doing. >> "Where is it?" To look under my table.
>> To look under my table. You never know what you'll see under there. Such sights to show you under
there. All right. This one is called listener tale. A kinky ghost choked me in a haunted castle. Hot.
Let's go. Nicholas is ready. Yeah, Nicholas is came ready. He been ready. Dear Ash and Elena, please find attached
my double-spaced PDF for your reading pleasure. My praise and adoration for you are at the beginning of the story. I
have also attached some pictures of my gorgeous pup, Derek. Derek. is an iconic name for a dog.
>> dog name. I love it. Also attached is a picture of myself and younger sister.
She's in the story. I really hope to hear this on the podcast one day, and love you, ladies. All the best, Chelsea.
Here you are. On the pod. Welcome. There you go, foolish Chelsea. Welcome, foolish Chelsea.
>> There it is. Uh hi, uh Chelsea. Uh hello, Ash and Elena. Greetings from Scotland.
[ __ ] We want to go to there. My name is Chelsea. If I'm lucky enough to hear you read this on the podcast, I
will [ __ ] myself and pass away. Don't do that. >> Don't Wait, I'm looking into the future.
You didn't. You come back to life. >> There you go. You would also probably hear my name
again as there are some people I would seriously haunt. Feel free Please feel free to use my name and all the names
within the story. Firstly, I want to shower you with praise and adoration. Cool. Oh, stop it.
>> You're absolute goddesses. Um What does this say? Imaho de benevolent amazing
and beautiful souls. Thank you. I loved that. I recently moved to Scotland from uh from the northeast of England, and it
had not been an easy adjustment. I've many lonely days. Who would have believed making new friends at 32 would
be such a chore? >> Oh, yeah. It's hard. However, your podcast keeps me company when I walk my
pug. His name is Derek, and pictures are attached. Derek the pug. >> It makes it even better that he's a pug.
>> I love a pug named Derek. Or commute to my job as a teacher. Hell yeah, teacher.
Uh it is lonely here. However, when I walk my many miles a day, I listen to you and feel like I have two best
friends keeping me company. You do. Aw, here we are. You and your podcast really
make an impact, so thank you from the bottom of my heart. Also, I always dreamed of writing a book. However, the
confidence was never there. Listening to Elena has inspired me to start writing,
so thank you. >> That's awesome. >> than life. Write that book. You can do it. That's awesome. Let me know when you
have a tiny URL link. >> Yes, and we'll we'll scream it from the rooftops. I've rambled enough, so let's
get into the story. I recently listened to your episode about Chillingham Castle. That's a fun one. As I
mentioned, I'm from a small town in the northeast of England called Sunderland. Sunderland is about an hour and 20
minutes away from Chillingham Castle. It is two councils north. Well, that's a councils.
>> I like that, too. Uh growing up in the northeast England, we had a lot of access to castles and
took this for granted when we were 13 lying to our parents about where we were. In reality, we were breaking into
castles and Why is he here? He or she? Why is she here? Are you talking about me?
I work here. I like how he just assumed. Like you're talking about me. >> talking about me, Nicholas? That's what
it is. Um so uh let's see. Let's see. Into cat. So they were In reality, we were
breaking into castles and uh mental health facilities, exploring. Uh the fact that you just got to break into
castles and old institutions in your youth. I mean, you broke into institutions in your youth.
>> do that, but castles? >> Castles goes crazy. Castles? Like you're just like, "Oh, bye mom. Just going to
go ghost hunt in the castle." Unfortunately, the institution that you used to break into burned down by the
time I was cool enough to break into it, so. Yeah, it was pretty awesome. >> Yeah, I'm super jealous. Side note, if
you're interested, you can look into an asylum called Cherry Knoll. Ooh. Okay, I
feel like that's familiar. This was exactly a stone's throw away from my house, and my friends and I
spent many nights in that abandoned building. It was almost as if just up and left one day. Medicine bottles,
beds, etc. all left as they were. Ooh. It has since been demolished, but the history is very fascinating. I digress,
so back to the castle. Maybe we'll feature that on one of our episodes. A few years ago, my two best friends and I
did a legitimate historical tour of Chillingham Castle, trying to be all cultured and [ __ ] rather unlike the
weirdo teens sitting in an abandoned asylum trying to contact the dead. The tour is very much sold as a history tour
and not a ghost tour, but we were hopeful some spooky [ __ ] would happen, and they did tell us that the castle was
haunted, and ghost stories are part of the deal. It was in the middle of November, bollocks freezing, and a rainy
night. The tour started at 9:00 p.m., so it was pitch black, too. When we arrived, our tour guide was very quick
to tell us that there would not be actors running around or jumping out at us during the tour. I assume people show
up expecting some type of pantomime. We learned all about the history of the castle and the ghosts which frequented
the the different areas. Our guide was fantastic, and I can confidently say absolutely nothing happened. Ooh.
>> sightings or feelings. We drove home with our brains full of historical facts, however, slightly disappointed as
we really went for a ghost hunting. Upon returning home, I told my ma- my ma'am all about the visit. She had no
interest in history or ghosts, so I was surprised when she said she would like to visit the castle. She saw it as part
of a local concert culture she wanted to experience. A few weeks later, my ma'am,
my younger sister, who was 14 at the time, and I went for a night tour of the castle. What a cool family. I know,
that's so fun. This one got off to a more eventful start. On the drive up, I was telling my ma'am and my sister about
some of the ghost stories, so the atmosphere was set. When we arrived, I parked the car. It would help to know
the driveway which you park is only lit by lanterns and candlelight. That's gorgeous. Iconic.
>> I was getting ready to park the car when a lady knocked on the passenger side
window. She had platinum blonde hair, which somehow seemed to illuminate and glow in the pitch black.
>> Cuz she was a ghost. >> She was. >> a ghost host. >> My ma'am, who was sitting in the
passenger side seat, let out a scream and almost flew through the roof. The poor woman almost brought the castle
down screaming back. The four of us four of us ended up bent over double laughing, and my ma'am
profusely apologized, relived some of the ghost stories, and said she was I won't leave you, Nicholas.
>> Nicholas. Uh and she was said she was already spooked out. As we tried to calm
down and Brother? Brother? Are you calling us brother as in hell yeah brothers? >> brother.
>> Or is there a brother in the room? Or are you our brother from another mother?
>> Explain the brother. As we tried to calm down and regain our composure ready for the tour, the whole
atmosphere of the castle felt different. I put this down to the eventful start which had not happened previously. The
tour took the same route as previously, though the castle through the castle gardens, cemetery, basements, bedrooms,
living rooms, and finally the grand dining room. We were taught of the brutal history of the castle jailer,
John Sage, or as he was more commonly known, John Dragfoot Sage. This is important later. Sage was part of King
Edward the First's army and despised the Scottish people. I remember covering this. Yeah, what a douchebag this guy.
During a battle, his leg was injured, and he became known as Dragfoot. He was no longer able to battle, and so he
became the head jailer and torturer. Sage was a seriously pissed off at the world angry man, and has been quoted to
be the most evil ghost in history. >> I believe it. We were all instructed to take a seat around the dining room table
exactly as last time. There were around 10 people on our tour and 15 seats around the grand table.
Both my sister and ma'am were to the left of me, and there was no one sitting to the chair on my right. The chair to
my right was smack-bang in the middle of the table, and I was the last in our group to sit down. Everyone else was to
the left of me. The chairs were huge. I looked like I had been photoshopped sitting in them. Our guide told us all
about Sage and his treatment of the Scots and his desire to torture and kill as many people as possible. Our guide
was full history teacher flow when the gigantic chair to my right, which would have easily weighed 50 kilos, flew back
around 5 feet. >> Damn. >> made the most blood-curdling sounds as all four scraped along the wooden
ancient floor, and it seemed to create a loud bang as it came to a stop, although
it did not fall over. I was frozen in absolute horror, but could not take my eyes off the chair.
You could have heard a pin drop in that grand dining room. I was terrified. I questioned my sanity, and I truly
believe my soul left my body for a moment. >> Right. Trying to comprehend what I was
seeing, I turned back to face the group. Everyone was clearly having the same internal crisis I was experiencing.
Frozen faces full of horror, questioning eyes darting around the room, and color
drained from already pale British faces. Our guide eventually broke the silence after what seemed like an eternity. He
stated the chair, which was smack-bang in the middle of the grand table, was the preferred of Sage because he could
see the kitchen. I kind of like Sage's style here. I'm not sure how either. He asked us how
to take He asked us to take a seat on the grand dining chairs, but uh we all did as we were instructed. Suddenly, I
felt all oxygen leave my body as if someone had grabbed me by the throat. I'm sensing they did. The sound which
left my body was the most inhumane thing I have ever heard, still to this day. In
utter panic, I grabbed for ma'am's hand, and I am not ashamed. Uh strangely, my ma'am did not take my
hand. My ma'am is the ultimate mama bear, protective and extremely loving, and it was but it was clear that she
could not fathom what was going on. As quickly as the oxygen left my body, it returned. At the same time, the chair
swung backwards, replicating a rocking motion. However, it had four very stable legs.
Yeah. >> I do like you, Nicholas. I could not stop rubbing my hands over my throat and
wondering what the actual [ __ ] had just happened. I soon heard the voice of our
guide again stating he had seen this type of incident before, especially around the dining room and discussions
around Dragfoot Sage. Turns out Sage got his kicks from strangling people almost
to death and then finding alternative methods of torture. Have I really just been tortured by a
14th century ghost? Well, [ __ ] Rings a whole new meaning of choke me. Dazed, horrified, but also in a trauma
response way, I was feeling special. Is it me? Is it me? I stood up from the I Where am I? I
stood up from the chair without taking my eyes off of what was apparently Sage's chair. It is said that Sage
pulled his chair far out from the table to ensure his injured leg remained comfortable.
Everyone makes their their own mind up about that night. However, I truly feel that second experience at Chillingham
Castle was dark, sinister, and Sage was hanging around. I find it strange irony in fact that I now reside in Scotland
and have not had the best time. Was it some type of warning from Sage? No, Chelsea, stop it.
Safe to say I was silent for the rest of the tour, and the discussion on my way home was all about dissecting our
experience and agreeing a third visit was not necessary. He said we will not be going back there.
>> what we came for. I feel strongly you ladies would love to visit our small part of the world. Haunted castles,
fairy pools of Skye, and the thin areas of North- Northumberland and Scotland are the most
magical but haunted places places on Earth. I want to go so bad. Thank you for reading my story, and I
would love to hear your opinions about my experience. Thank you also for being my company and inspiring me to follow my
passions. I wish you all love and happiness in the world. Wow, and then Nicholas just called us
elderly. >> Wow, Nicholas. >> That's super rude. >> That was rude. >> Chelsea, that was a [ __ ] terrifying
but sick story. You were choked. You were choked by Sage. >> And not in the hot way.
>> Not in the hot way. I don't think Sage has that in him. No, he's not hot. >> Uh I don't think that at all, and I I do
that's horrifying. Imagine then it just the fact that the first time you went to
the castle, nothing happened. >> Yeah, that's interesting. It was like he remembered you, and he was like, "Well,
you came back, so." >> like, "You came back for more, so here I am." >> Here it is. And that he pulled his chair
like far away from the table to make sure his injured leg was comfortable. >> Yeah, that is crazy.
>> That was [ __ ] him. You got choked by a 14th century torturer. Nicholas says you shouldn't go back.
>> Yeah, don't come back. >> leave. >> He said no, you shouldn't do that again. >> might have told us to leave here, but
I'm under a table. >> I'm putting this below your table. Thank you. Here you go. All right. This one is
called that awkward moment when your friend gets possessed at Pennhurst. Uh-oh. That's pretty awkward.
>> So awkward. Ladies. >> Ladies. >> My name is Matt, and you can use my real name. Hi, Matt. Hi. This is the crazy
story of when my skeptical friend, who never believed in anything paranormal, ended up getting possessed at a
historically haunted location. Apologies, I know it's long, but I hope you like it.
>> Enjoy. Already. It was the start of 2012. I was a junior in college and unhealthily obsessed with ghosts,
aliens, and Bigfoot. Never unhealthy. That's not unhealthy at all. Let me just say that when I use the word possession,
I'm not talking about somebody getting thrashed around on a bed and shoving crucifixes up there, you know.
I guess spiritual attachment is a more accurate term to describe what happened to my friend Lawrence.
>> Okay. A once skeptical man whose life was forever changed when he accompanied
me on one of the most haunted places in America, Pennhurst State School and Hospital. I want to go there really bad.
>> we >> think I covered that, didn't I? Yeah, I think you did. >> Yeah. But first, if you don't know
Pennhurst, if you didn't listen to my [ __ ] episode Um hopefully you did cover it. I feel like you did.
It is dangerous. >> no. I don't think I did cover this. >> No, I think we talked about covering it.
So, we'll cover it. >> Yeah, I it's I shouldn't have yelled at you about not listening to my episode
cuz I didn't cover it. And Nicholas was like, "That place is dangerous." >> It does sound dangerous. So, but first,
if you don't know Pennhurst, here's a recap. Its history is so disgusting. >> Yeah. This was a school and a hospital
for quote-unquote sick children. But back then, what did sick mean? Anything. You thought if if you thought maybe your
kid had Down syndrome, you sent them to Pennhurst. If you thought they had OCD, you sent them to Pennhurst. Your kid was
in a wheelchair, you sent them to Pennhurst. There were too many patients and hardly enough staff. Rooms that
could fit only 10 or 20 people would be filled with like 100 or more patients, tied to their beds for days on end,
going to the bathroom on their own sheets without medical care. And if you got in trouble, punishment was tooth
removal. We have not covered that. >> No. Wow. No, we have not. >> That's horrible. My life was changed
forever when my friend John, who used to work at Westchester University radio and
happened to know the right night watchman of the school, called me one afternoon and said he was able to
arrange a private ghost hunt for us and our friends. >> Okay, that's sick. It was the happiest
news of my life. >> Yeah, honestly, I get it. >> Mark had also previously gone to
Pennhurst on his own ghost hunt where endless creepy stuff happened. Oh, I'm sure. The scariest story he told me was
when the watchman was looking up locking up a door on one of the catwalks, he heard a noise, turned around, and saw
someone in a hospital gown marching toward him. >> Oh. And then they jumped off the
catwalk. >> Oh. Off the catwalk. I had to. Damn. When the watchman ran over to look over the bridge, there was
no one there. They were too sexy. They were too sexy. >> They are too sexy for this hospital.
So, Mark picked me up with a couple other friends and we amassed at his house. The plan
was that after the ghost hunt, people would sleep over at my house if they were too afraid to go home. That's so
hostly of you. >> That is very hostly of you. >> Oh, ghost host. We arrived at Pennhurst just after dark
and holy [ __ ] it was huge. Otherworldly, innocent, yet sinister. The quiet was what unsettled me the most
when we pulled up. I couldn't even hear animals or cars and it was as if the wind had stopped the instant we got
there. Before the possession, a lot of weird unexplainable things happened throughout
the night that made my skeptic friends almost crap themselves. Here's a list. In the hospital, I heard a man groan
behind me as we were walking down a hallway. Don't groan behind me. Don't do that.
>> Don't do that. Under one of the tunnels, the K2 meter went berserk and it started
giving us intelligent responses. In addition, we asked the spirits to light up the meter and we would instantly hear
loud bangs just a few yards from us. Oh. We went into one room where all the women, just the women, started feeling
severe pain just above their pubic region. >> god. One of the women, my friend Katie,
suddenly groaned and grabbed above that region. And at the exact moment she did,
one of our walkie-talkies started going crazy and gave off static. >> Holy [ __ ]
>> That's so [ __ ] up. [ __ ] I would leave at that moment. >> Yeah. The night took a huge turn,
however, when we entered Quaker Hall, a claustrophobic room famous for exhibiting the most violent paranormal
activity. When we were warned to never make provocations out or sorry, we were warned to never make provocations out
loud. This part of the location had the most abysmal history. It is said that many
many patients were trigger warning sexually assaulted and punished most severely in Quaker Hall.
We entered the room and stood around in a semicircle. I started asking questions
to the spirit and it had been just a minute when suddenly, "We need to leave." said Lawrence out of nowhere.
"What?" I asked. "We have to go. We have to go now." His face was paler than Edward Cullen.
When I skipped to this, I saw Edward Cullen and I said we will be doing that, so everybody get your voices ready. We
harmonize. Back to the story. >> Good job, everybody. "Buddy, what is it?" >> Serious. Good good job, everybody. All
right, back to the story. "Buddy, what is it?" asked my other friend Nick. "Something's grabbing my
heart and I'm having trouble breathing." >> Oh [ __ ] "Lawrence, it's okay. I think
you're just freaked out." "No, I'm not." he interrupted me and started walking to
the exit. "I can hear something in my head. Someone's talking in my head. Please, let's go."
>> Oh my god. I would [ __ ] my pants. >> hearing something I'm hearing something
in my head, something's talking in my head. Oh god. I would cry. >> me up. >> and cry and cry.
The rest of us looked at one another. What the hell? >> What? >> You would dry heave. I would dry heave.
No, I would be doing a lot more than dry heaving. I would wet heave. That's the new term for throwing up.
>> All the kids would say in it. So, what the hell was going on? Something was grabbing at his heart.
Something was in his head. I stared at Lawrence and his head was beginning to rock back and forth. His hands were out
of his pockets and his eyes were glued to the floor. Something wasn't right and for his safety alone, we needed to
leave. >> Yeah. The night went on and Lawrence wasn't getting better. We left Quaker
Hall the worst of the worst. Why was Lawrence still behaving like this? The night was coming to a very strange close
and soon we arrived back at our cars. We thanked the watchman 100 times for allowing us to investigate for free. It
was midnight or so and as we were talking to him, I noticed Lawrence wasn't with us. I turned around and
there he was in the backseat of my friend Chase's car, hood up and just staring blankly at the ground.
His body was there, but his mind was some place else at some place else. "Dude." I nudged Nick and pointed at the
car. "I don't know what to do." he said and chortled a little trying to break the worry on our faces.
"Okay, let's just get out of here. Let's go home." I said. A group of us in court including
Lawrence drove back to my house to sleep. We got to the living room and started setting up our sleeping bags.
Lawrence still looked so uncomfortable. After rolling out his sleeping bag, he sat right on my couch and just continued
to stare straight forward, mouth agape, eyes wide, not saying a word, completely
lost and scared looking. "So." I stammered trying to break the ice. "What the [ __ ] do I do?
What a night, am I right? How do I wake up Lawrence? Should I slap him? Should I
put a funny YouTube video on that I know he'll laugh at?" Valid. No one answered.
We just stared at our friend. I went upstairs to get more pillows and make Nick come made Nick come with me. We go
to my We got to my room. "Nick." I whispered because my parents were asleep in the next room. "I'm actually freaking
the [ __ ] out. I don't know what to do. And if he brings any ghost into my house, so help me god." Bang.
The back up the back door of my house slammed shut. >> Oh, [ __ ] that. >> Nick and I sprinted down the stairs.
Chase was standing just outside the door. "What the hell happened?" I asked him. "Matt, he just should he just stood
up and yelled, 'I need to get out.' and then slammed the door." My heart was palpitating. The three of
us walked outside. Lawrence was walking around in circles in front of my shed. His right hand raised silently over his
head. Oh. His finger was bent but pointing. What the hell was he doing? "Lawrence?" I
asked suspiciously. "Hey, what are you doing? Come on, you got to talk to us." Hey, buddy. Hey, it's cool.
>> "There's a voice in my head. I can't get this voice out of my head and I'm freaking out. God." Oh.
>> He screamed and walked back to the steps. Oh, I'm so stressed for him. >> I'm so stressed for him. This poor kid.
This reminds me of Talk to Me. >> Yeah, like I'm like, "Stop." Nick, Chase, and I backed up fearful that
Lawrence was going to clock us or something. He put his arm on the tip of the railing and collapsed his head on
top. Something had followed Lawrence from Quaker Hill. That much was clear. "I can't make the voice stop. I can't
make the voice stop." >> so stressful. moaning in frustration. I needed to do something.
"Lawrence, do you want me to speak to the voice?" Pause. >> That's a good friend. I know, you're the
best friend ever. >> friend. "Lawrence, let me talk to the voice." "No." he interjected. "No, that
won't" he kept stammering. "Let me just go in." He hopped up the steps and went back
into the house. Holy [ __ ] Nick, Chase, and I stared at one another in more than
disbelief. I was willing to drop Lawrence off at a Holiday Inn and look for an exorcist in the yellow pages.
There was a historic Presbyterian church near my house. Did they have any exorcist? I mean, these are all very
real questions. >> what? Desperate times call for desperate >> are the questions.
>> desperate measures. Does every church have exorcist? What do I do? My parents
were also upstairs. Could the spirit leave Lawrence and possess one of them? Um my hand's shaking. I think he just
needs to sleep. Let's just let him sleep. He'll be fine tomorrow. Honestly, I'd probably do the same. We're like,
"Yeah, I don't know. Sleep it off. It's like being drunk." Go to bed. We walked back to the living room. Right there,
sitting up in his sleeping bag, was Lawrence, hood down, texting on his phone. "Hey, guys." he said, totally
normally. "Lawrence?" said Chase. "Are you okay?" You good, bro? "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" "Oh, yeah." he said still texting on his phone. "Matt, there was something bad in your
shed, so I came back in." "I'm sorry, what?" I asked, taken aback. "Yeah, there was something bad in your
shed. Good night." He said, put his phone down, and got under his sleeping bag. Lawrence confessed to us later that when
he was in his living room or in when he was in my living room, he was texting himself what the voice was telling him
in his head. He then immediately deleted it because he wanted to study abroad in
Florence and wanted to forget about this incident. "I'm sorry, what?" He's like, "Sorry, I can't bring this to
Florence." >> Sorry, Florence will not allow this kind of behavior. Florence will say, "Get the
[ __ ] out of here." if I, you know, remember this experience. He was fearful that the spirits would
follow him internationally. Wow. Whatever happened to him was very real and very scarring.
>> to know what was in the shed. Yeah, I'm like what did he put the thing in the
shed? >> just put it in the shed and be like, "Cool, it's gone." Maybe. To this day, if I bring up Penhurst to
Lawrence, he won't say anything. He doesn't crack a joke. Sometimes he just leaves the room or politely asks us to
change the subject. I have not been back to Penhurst since and I doubt any of my
friends want to return, either. It's not your typical answer when somebody asks,
"What happened to you in college?" and you say, "Oh, yeah, my friend just got possessed."
I mean, it's not your typical answer when somebody asks you, "What happened in college?" and you say, "Oh, yeah, my
friend just got possessed." Damn, Matt. Matt, that was crazy. That's a scary one.
>> You should never go in your shed again, I feel. >> I don't think you should you should
light that shed on fire. Yeah, light it a blaze. >> Do it. Commit arson. >> It's fine. Why not? What's-her-face got
away with it. Pen- Penhurst is terrifying. >> Yeah, I don't want to go to there.
>> The energy there must be wild. I do want to go to there, but I would be scared,
too. [ __ ] This [ __ ] really just said, "I do want to go there." >> I do want to go there. I want to like do
a ghost hunt there. I don't know if I want to get something in my head. Yeah, I don't want that,
either. >> There's already a lot going on up there. So, maybe there's no room. And right
now, I'm just a head, so. >> You are just a head. That's all you got. >> a head.
He is touching you. Wow, what a way to end that with Nicholas saying, >> "He is touching you." Damn, Nicholas.
>> Don't touch me. I'm under people, anyway. >> always just lawless. He's just the most
reckless [ __ ] lately. He is. >> What are you doing, bud? >> Nicholas, what's going on? I didn't know
we were taking our relationship to this level. I'm going to tell John. I'm telling John on you. I'm telling
John on you, Nicholas. Guys, those were great tales. >> They were so scary. I'm freaking out
right now. >> scary. Guys, I hope you guys have the best Halloween Be safe. Samhain ever. Be
safe. Don't talk to strangers. Check your kids' candy. And Dress up as whatever you want.
>> Yeah, dress up as a [ __ ] table. Do it. >> Live your life. We almost forgot to
mention we're going to have our very own Morbid Tarot cards that you guys can order. So exciting. I'm so [ __ ]
excited. We partnered with this sick-ass artist. She is so talented. Um Marissa Aragon Ware. She's so cool. Um they're
going to be They're like made-to-order cards. There's only a limited amount of them. They're going to be available for
a limited time. I think they're going to go live at midnight on Halloween and they can you can buy them up until
December 21st. Again, they're limited run. When they're done, they're done. Uh super excited because it ends on the
winter solstice, which is like witchy. From Halloween to the winter solstice. >> And they're only available at
morbidtarot.com. >> Yes, and they're going to have like little Easter eggs, like fun little
morbid Easter eggs in them. >> Little quotes, maybe. >> Gold and silver foil accents. They're
like beautiful. So, yes, go to morbidtarot.com on midnight on Halloween and again,
these are made-to-order and we're actually going to reveal the first five major arcana cards at launch.
>> Yes. So, keep your eyes peeled and then we'll gradually reveal the rest of the
deck, like, you know, throughout the ordering window. >> Yeah, exactly. So, keep checking in cuz
more will be let out, but we're very excited about this. It's going to be really fun.
>> Yeah, we've been having such a blast working with Relatable on this >> They're amazing. Maybe there will be
more cool things in the future. Maybe there will cuz we love them. So, >> Nicholas is mad about it, but Nicholas
said it's mad sick, like a New Yorker. Yeah. So, guys, go order those. Keep listening to the pods and have a happy
Halloween. >> Happy Halloween. We hope you keep listening. >> And we hope you keep weird.
>> But not so weird that you don't order our [ __ ] tarot deck. Do it. Love you.
[Music] [Music]

Episode 723: Listener Tales 103: Halloween 2025

ITS HALLOWEEN and we are reaching into our candy bowl to give you a spooooooky episode that's brought to you BY you, FOR you, FROM you and ALLLLL about you! Debdeb has gathered a batch of terrifying tales that will get you in the mood for the most wonderful time of the year!

LISTEN to this (nearly)Nicholas-free version on all podcast platforms OR WATCH the Nicholas version on Youtube!

If you’ve got a listener tale please send it to DEB by emailing us at Morbidpodcast@gmail.com with “Listener Tales” somewhere in the subject line- and if you share pictures- please let us know if we can share them with fellow weirdos! :)

Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022) Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023) Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Listener Tale Theme Music licensed from Www.purple-Planet.com Main Theme: Matti Paalanen — Trick or Treat — Provided by Jamendo Ad Music: Title: Artist: BlueJay Studio — Spooky Waltz — Provided by Jamendo

Brief Summary

Listeners share chilling Halloween tales of Ouija boards, haunted mirrors, and a friend's possession at Pennhurst.

Key points

Welcome to Morbid. Join Ash and Elena as they kick off a spooky Halloween episode with listener tales.
A Haunted Ouija Board Experience. Manda shares a chilling tale of a childhood Ouija board session gone wrong.
The Return of Bart. Years later, Manda's past with Bart resurfaces during a friend's Ouija session.
Listener Tale Submission. A fan shares a tale of possible demon possession and offers cat photos.
Curiosity About the Mirror. Chris's curiosity about a mysterious mirror leads to unsettling experiences.
The Cenobite Reflection. A haunting encounter with a dark version of oneself in the mirror.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I feel like hands. I feel like hands.

1:32WatchOct 31, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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