Listener Tales 84 | Morbid | Podcast | Forensic Files

Some very big news today, weirdos. Are you ready? Of course I am. So, a year and a half
ago, I released my very first little book baby. They call it a debut. A a day a day butt. A debut. It's a debut.
A debut. Uh it was The Butcher and the Wren and you guys made my legitimately wildest dreams come true and made me a
New York Times best-selling author, which those words don't even feel like they should be coming out of my mouth, but I
am eternally grateful. And now, truly, truly, truly because of your enthusiasm and support, I am so [ __ ] excited to
announce there will be a sequel. Party. A sequel called The Butcher Game and it's coming out September 17th. I'm
quite literally so excited I'm going to die. So close. We're so close to it. Sorry, it's ready to go. Ready to go.
It's going to be out there. So, let me So, The Butcher Game picks up right where The Butcher and the Wren left off.
So, if you have not read The Butcher and the Wren yet, what are you doing? Oh my
god. Go get it. Get it. Go read it. Go listen to it. Go do something like that. Ingest it.
I'm going to spoil it. So, so stop listening now if you have not read that book. Go read it and then come back to
me, okay? Thank you. go get the sequel on September 17th. But this time we are going to some new
territory. Ooh. We are headed to Massachusetts, baby. I love it there. We're headed to the
Berkshires, specifically, where our ruthless serial killer, Jeremy Rose, has now fled New Orleans and is on his way
up to Massachusetts to evade capture. Dr. Wren Muller, being astute as hell, you know her, she sees that there is a
fresh trail of bodies that seem to be calling her back to the case. But by following that trail, is she going to
walk right into Jeremy's trap? Maybe. Eventually. This one is a truly twisted cat and
mouse game and I mean it. You've been warned. This one's twisted. And it's going to culminate in a violent clash of
past and present where Wren is prepared to sacrifice everything just to bring Jeremy to justice. I'm literally so
excited. This one we got it's longer, guys. It's longer. It is twisted. I'm telling you, but what's really cool
about this, besides, you know, being really exciting that there's a second one coming out, our friends at Barnes &
Noble are offering exclusive signed copies for a limited time. So, head to the links in the podcast episode show
notes for more details and we'll share them out, too. Um there's also going to be a fun poster for this one, too. We
did that for the first book. Well, I can't wait to see it. I'm very excited about it. So, pre-order
now wherever you like to buy books and receive a signed poster with your order. So, head to the butchergame.com
to claim your free poster while supplies last. There's not going to be an an endless amount as much as I would love
for that to be. I can't thank you enough for being on this truly incredible author journey
with me. You guys rule. You made this happen and I hope you love all that's to come in the Dr. Wren Muller series. Yay.
what I said. A series. Series. Hey, weirdos. I'm Alina. I'm Ash. And this is Morbid.
It's listener tales, which means it's brought to you by you, for you, from you, and all about you, [ __ ]
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Hell yeah, brother. We're excited about this one. This seems
like a crazy, wild, fun Yeah. spooky listener tale. It's giving unhinged. Especially with the first one that you
have cued up. I'm I saw that one and it was the first in the little folder and I was like, we're
doing this one. Thank you. You're like, yep, that's it. like, I don't even know. I'm I'm not
reading any further. We're we're doing this one. This is it. Should we just start? I
think we should. All right, cool. This one's called uh listener tales. My dead grandma saw me give my first blowy.
Welcome to the show. Welcome to listener tales. All right. Now you see why I was like,
okay. You were like, I can't argue this. All right. I'm so sorry. It's loading. You should be sorry. How dare you?
weird. It's never done that before. Whoa. Dare you. Our internet's being a little
like kooky crazy. It is. And then it was like, do you want to take a tour? And I
was like, uh I use Google Docs. I don't want to take a tour of Google Docs. I'm good. I was
just going to ask of where. Google Docs, I guess. I thought they were just asking like, do you want to
take a tour? Just period? Like, do you just want to go on a tour? Like, sure, I guess.
Tour us. All right. It says, "Hey Deb Deb, you read that right and hopefully I'm making it through your amazing
gatekeeper skills." You did. You did. At this point with a subject line like that, I don't think you really
have the ability not to read this one. Again, you're right. Correct. And yes, sadly, it's completely accurate. If I've
made it through the gatekeeper, hello, my amazing Morbid weirdos. Hey. Hello. If you're reading this, it's time
for the standard poo-poo in the in the pantaloons and [ __ ] all of the dicks. You guys can call me Claudia and
feel free to use that name as it's not my real one. Hey, Claudia. Hey, Claudia. My dead grandma already
knows what I've done, so there's no reason to bring shame onto the living members of my family as well. If my dad
ever heard this story, he may join his mother on the other side immediately. I love the gallows humor in this, for
real. I also apologize in advance for the grammatical errors that I inevitably will make because this is a long one,
but well worth it. I promise and grammar is hard, especially with ADHD. Also, I would put a fight if I could a fight.
I'll try to attach it as a Word doc. You did. You did. But I learned back when you could do the
cool palm tree border and printers made of rapid fire noises. The palm tree border.
That was like the first computer class I ever took in like third grade. We did the palm tree borders. Wow.
thought that was groundbreaking. That's nuts. But Claudia says, "I'm old and without kids to show me how to work this
newfangled technology crap." I love that, too, that your first computer class was in third grade. Yeah. My first
computer class was in high school. Well, yeah, cuz you're 10 years older than me.
That's wild. It's crazy. I'm a new member, relatively speaking. I found you not that long ago, but I work
8-hour shifts with you in my ears, so I've definitely been plowing through the episodes rather quickly. I do want to
admit the first time I turned in, I had just had words with a coworker because, you know, coworkers are jerks sometimes
and I was in a horrible mood. That first time I listened for about 2 minutes to you guys laughing and joking and shut it
off and went, "Nope, not for me." and I moved on. Trust the process here. I know
I sound like a douche. She don't. You were going through it. No, it's fine. want to hear us laughing at you. Yeah,
[ __ ] that. At that moment, I needed my ears to be filled with angst that can only be satisfied by singing along to
the entire Jagged Little Pill album. We won't hold that against you. If you know, you know. A few A few weeks later,
while in a much better mood and none of my coworkers had annoyed me, I listened and I was immediately and completely
hooked. See, you just you weren't the right mind frame and that's okay. We accept that.
So, I wanted to say with 100% scientific certainty that the only reason that anyone wouldn't like your show is
because they're [ __ ] in the head at the time they listen. And like I said, that shit's official. I
did a case study. I mean Claudia did a case study. That's fair. I We're going to use this
forever. That's science. I work in production and it's very loud and I have no interaction with the people around me
all day long, even though I can clearly see them. It's just too loud to interact
and you have to be continuously moving. It's so weird to be in a room full of people and still be basically alone. And
for somebody like me who loves to word vomit on people on the daily, it's very hard to not have that connection.
That is really strange. To see people all day But like not talk to them and I don't like a loud environment.
This would destroy me. No, it stresses me out. But that's where you guys came in and we have imaginary
conversations all the time. And Ash, you and I do tell the same jokes often. Hell
yeah. I love how you both say [ __ ] a lot. It makes me feel like I've truly found my family and how you're
empathetic and really care for the victims. I love the caution that you approach your listeners with, but it
still gives the details that you know we're looking for. I mean, this is called Morbid, am I right?
Precisely. You're right. I truly feel like I hang out with my friends all day while I'm at
work and I have to thank you for saving my sanity with what with what little there is left of it. Aw.
So nice, Claudia. So sweet. Nice Claudia. Okay, I think that's enough gushing and I'm sure you
want to get to the part where my dead grandma sees me giving a blowy and hell, I can't blame you. It's a pretty
freaking awesome story now that I now that I don't feel the overwhelming level of shame that I did for many, many years
whenever the memory popped in my head. Instant cringe. Ugh. That being said, if listeners have their kids listening with
I'm like, I hope you don't. That being said, if listeners have their kids listening with them, earmuffs, y'all.
This one this This one mentions bobbing ON THE KNOB. EARMUFFS, Y'ALL. EARMUFFS, Y'ALL. All
right, back to my story. My grandmother was like my mom. We were together all the time for most of my
life and I was definitely her favorite. That's the best. When I was 17, she lived in Florida and I lived in New
York. I'd recently moved back up to New York to be with my boyfriend because, you know, teenage hormones and [ __ ] make
you do dumb stuff. You know, like when you'd be on the phone and you'd say, "You hang up. No, you hang up. No, you
hang up." And then you would end up falling asleep on the phone together cuz it was just so nauseatingly [ __ ]
adorable. Yeah, that [ __ ] Absolutely. Except I always hated the phone, so you'd be like, "You hang up."
And I was like, "Okay." Okay. Click. I love that. I I definitely did the "No, you hang up." Which is so
stupid, but adorable. hang up, but adorable. Young love. We'll call him Dave, mostly
because that's his actual real name. And guys don't get slut-shamed. He'll probably get high-fived for this story,
so [ __ ] him. We'll use his real name. Hell yeah. saw it. Don't worry, everybody. Claudia
sent us an image where Dave consented to his name being said. Yeah, so don't worry. I wasn't allowed
to talk to Dave on the phone after 9:00, so me being a young [ __ ] MacGyver badass, I went to RadioShack and I
picked up a phone line splitter. Wow. You are taking it back. I never experienced a phone line
splitter. Holy [ __ ] That's pretty That's like badass. You are MacGyver. god. I Wow.
Did you ever do a a phone line splitter? I think I tried to once, or I think um Peppa tried to
make one happen in our house. I remember that being a thing for sure. Cuz then like do you get your own phone
line from it? able to like split the phone line. But so like only calls will could be like
coming to you where like other like could it could make you be on the phone at the same time in the house, but like
with different people? I think that was the idea. Okay. Yeah. Uh I don't know about this. This is
foreign to me. But in our home office, I attached the splitter behind the desk and bought my own awesome cordless
phone. You know, the kind with the metal antenna that telescoped out. Yes. Oh my god.
Yes, one of those bad boys. I bought with my allowance. Take that, Mom, and your dumb phone rules. Side note, those
last two sentences, other than being complete run-ons, make me sound so freaking old. Yes, young Yes,
youngsters, I did happen to get my internet in the mail on a CD. You're speaking to Elena soul. She spits hot
fire. that all the time, the AOL CDs where you get like 20 free hours of AOL on a CD.
That [ __ ] was gold. Yeah. That was like That was like Charlie getting the golden
ticket. You would open that [ __ ] and be like, "Yes!" That's wild. Go. That's internet.
That is wild. Yeah. So, one of the evenings after my parents went to bed and I was using my
MacGyver sneaky sneak cordless phone in my bedroom talking to Dave. We were on the phone and I'm sure gushing gushing
about our pure eternal love or some crap like that. I started sobbing hysterically out of nowhere. I could not
even get any words out. And it was to the point that Dave was terrified because he thought something happened or
thought something was happening to me. I was overcome with all-consuming grief suddenly.
I felt my heart breaking into a thousand pieces and I could barely breathe. It was a dark, cold, snowy January evening
when a huge flash of light illuminated the entire sky. So much so that my boyfriend on the phone 3 miles away from
me saw the light and yelled, "What the [ __ ] was that?" Ooh. I was able to sob out the words, "That was my grandmother.
She just died." Woah. "I have to go. My dad's My dad's going to call me now." And I hung up.
The crazy part was that I had no reason to think that's what was happening at this moment, but I knew. I could feel
her. Almost like if you've ever seen the movie Powder and he touched the deer, he
could feel it dying, slipping away into darkness. That's what I felt. I felt my grandmother leave this earth. And when
that white flash filled the night sky, I knew she was gone. I'm not kidding you.
I haven't Can you see the goosebumps on my arm? Holy [ __ ] I'm so sorry. That's awful.
Also, taking it back to Powder as well. I don't know that movie. Sean Patrick Flanery is in that movie.
Hell. Yeah. I quickly turned off my phone and just like I had and just like I had said, 2
minutes later the real phone rang. It was my dad who let me know that my grandmother had passed away at home in
her bed. Wow. Wow, that's That's just bonkers that you knew. Wow. The next day was Martin Luther King Day, so we didn't
so we actually didn't have school. And thankfully though, because I was so distraught, Dave came over to console
me. Remember when you were just a ball of anxiety and hormones all at once? Well, the consoling started turning into
the heavy petting. And then somehow, even though I was the one grieving, I ended up being the one in the kneeling
position. I'm literally obsessed with you, Claudia. I guess he was just trying to
wipe away my Definitely, if you have kids, earmuffs. I guess he was trying to wipe wipe away
my tears with his penis, but I digress. And I'm screaming. And that mid-mouth hug, I felt it.
Mid-mouth hug. No, not mid-mouth hug. And I don't mean it was anything from my boyfriend. I mean, I felt a presence and
it was overwhelming and filling the entire room. So, I stopped mid-stroke with with a mouth full of man meat. I'm
having a mental panic attack realizing that I can feel my grandmother's recently departed spirit in the room
with us and there was no denying it. No. Then somehow it got worse. Dave gasped, "Oh my god, she's here."
I was like, "You need to put your man meat away because I can't do this." Shut up. The feeling and presence was so
overwhelming that even he could feel that she was there. Hopefully, she wasn't there to critique my technique
because holy heaven, did everyone else know that you're not really SUPPOSED TO BLOW?
DAMN YOU, CATHOLIC school sex education failing me again. No No, stop the next sentence. Oh my
god. This is just getting This is the best listener tale we've ever read. Are you guys ready? So, there I am
cranking out some raspberries on the skin flute while my dead grandma was second-hand cringing with embarrassment
for me. I wish I could tell I wish I could tell you I wish I could get through this. I wish
I could tell you what happened after she made herself known, but I'm pretty positive that I blacked out from sheer
embarrassment and emotion. I can tell you that for a very long time afterwards, I did have to do a ghost
vibe check to make sure that Grath to make sure the gram wasn't getting another performance. Although, if she
did, I had improved greatly. Any [ __ ] If I had stopped there and written and written that
Oh my god. This is so good. If I had stopped there and written that there were stories
where gross ghost gram saved my life and my husband's life, you guys would have said, "Damn it, why didn't you include
them?" Plot twist, I did. Yes. Even though my grandmother had seen her Jezebel granddaughter in action, she
clearly thought I was still worth saving because there are numerous occasions where the only way that I'm still alive
is due to her angelic intervention. When my grandmother originally passed away, the movie Titanic had come
had come out right around that time and the Celine Dion song "My Heart Will Go On" always made me cry.
Fast forward a few years later, I'm driving like a maniac, like I always did, in my little Geo Tracker, which was
basically a soda can with wheels and a diaper for a convertible top. So, you know, really safe. One night I'm driving
this death trap down a three-lane highway that that all lanes go in one direction.
It's absolutely pouring, but I'm still driving fast because I'm young and I'm dumb and I'm indestructible.
Obviously. Suddenly, Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" comes on the radio. It's been a few years, so I just got
chills immediately. It's been a few years, so it's not one that they play often, but still anytime
I hear it, it brings me back and immediately makes me tear up and think of her. With tears filling my eyes and
the rain coming down so hard, I have to slow down a little bit. And then the chorus hit and I really started crying
and couldn't see, so I had to slow down even more. I'm in the left lane and out of a side street, a car turns into my
lane going the wrong way. Headed right for me with its headlights blinding me. There's a car to my right
and a guardrail to the left of me, so with nowhere to go, I had to slam on my brakes.
With the slick road conditions, I started to skid and he did the same and we both propelled toward each other
uncontrollably and I closed my eyes waiting for impact, but it never happened. With the sound of the wipers on full
speed and the heavy rain hitting the windshield, I opened my eyes slowly and the chorus sang out again, "You are safe
in my heart and my heart will go on." I just got chilly. the Yeah, there it is. He had skidded to a stop so close to
touching that I could no longer see his headlights. You could barely fit a piece
of paper between our cars, but we never actually connected. Holy [ __ ] If that specific song had not come on
the radio at that exact second causing me to cry, forcing me to slow down, I would have plowed into him at 80 miles
an hour in my little tin can of a car. You would not be writing this story. No way. And what a [ __ ] shame that
would be. Wow. That song and my gram brought me a few seconds or bought me a few seconds
and saved my life and possibly the other drivers as well. Wow. Another instance with me driving
down a three three-lane highway. There are a lot of them in my area, so it was not that crazy and I was on them
multiple times a day. But I was driving along coming down a hill with a bend to the left. There was a light that had
just turned green. The first lane had a car in it, the second lane had an 18-wheeler, and the third lane, from
what I could see, was empty. So, I was coming around the bend. I couldn't see around the 18-wheeler, but went to go
into that third lane so that I could pass the rig that was still just starting to get moving.
The wheel was violently jerked out of my hand and pulled back to the left keeping
me in the second lane. I thought I hit something, like one of those potholes that makes your car shake
and your spirit leaves your body for a moment. But no, I was physically not able to
turn the steering wheel to go around the right side of the 18-wheeler. I slammed
on my brakes trying to figure out what the heck was happening. Was my wheel damaged? Did it fall off? I ended up
staying behind the big truck. And as we just started going to go past the light,
I saw it. There was a motorcycle stalled in that right lane still sitting at the
light. [ __ ] How I was approaching the turn, the 18-wheeler was obscuring the view of it.
And if I had passed around that right side of the truck at 65 miles an hour on the blind turn, I likely would have
killed the motorcyclist and possibly even myself. But I know that my grandmother pulled the wheel from my
hand and didn't allow me to go into that lane. Again, she saved my little trollop
ass again. Damn, her little angel wings must get tired. Then again, a few years later, she saved
not my life, but my husband's and an entire plane full of people. Damn. One day, I was driving along and I got a
visit a vision so strong I had to pull over. It was of my husband on a plane and I could see him taking off and a few
minutes after they were in the air, the plane was malfunctioning and it was starting to fall from the sky. Sorry,
Elena. I'm having a moment. Elena, that's like one of her biggest fears. Yeah. So vividly, he called me and I
answered the phone and he told me they were going down and that he loved me. This was not just a daydream or
something I was imagining. It was what was going to happen. It was very clear. I also saw myself give give my husband's
eulogy and be at the church with his casket. Oh my god. Woah. Jesus Christ. The truly terrifying part was that my
husband was away on business currently and was scheduled to fly the next morning to come back home. I called him
immediately frantically telling him to go rent a car or ride with the trucks that would be bringing the gear back,
that he should travel with one of them, but do not get on that plane because you're going to die. Woah.
Understandably, my husband was clearly startled because he answered the phone while at work to his wife yelling,
"You're going to die!" and was taken aback and jokingly said, "Okay, crazy lady, I got to get back to
work." And he had to go. After we hung up the phone, I realized how I sounded like a raving lunatic. He still had many
hours of Oh man, this poor man. He still had many hours of work to go before he was able to get back into his hotel
room, but when he did, he called me as soon as he got there. Once we started chatting, he did not
bring up my kooky phone call at all. I think he was hoping that I'd forgotten about it or maybe if we ignored it, it
would go away. Clearly not the best for relationships, but hey, we're human. It had been a long day and he said he'd
call me in the morning before he was heading out. I barely slept that night because I knew the next day I was going
to be a widow. Oh my god, you poor thing. I have a crazy fear of flying just like Elena.
Oh man, I'm sorry. projected it on my husband. I could only assume that's what he thought I was
doing as he called me from the airport that moment or that morning and I told him one last time, "Don't get on that
plane." He told me not to worry and that he he would be home in just a few short
hours and I would see that it was all going to be okay. My husband has flown hundreds of times
for work. He flies all over the world and planes don't bother him even though he's been in one that's been struck by
lightning before. How [ __ ] crazy, I would never get on a plane again, but hey, that's me.
Don't worry, they have like all these systems that like disperse the lightning, the electricity out Yeah. on
the wings of the plane and out into the atmosphere. Listen to our omen episode. You did a
really good job explaining that. Cuz it made me feel better. Yeah. He told me that he had to shut off his
phone as they were about to take off. I told him I loved him and we got off the phone because I could see my pleas were
not going anywhere and I didn't want to totally freak him out anymore on his flight. When we hung up, I cried and I
screamed to my grandmother to save my husband's life. Oh. I begged her with everything I had
in me to watch over my husband and make sure that plane never took off because they were all going to die. I said,
"Gram, do not let that plane take off. If you love me at all, do not let it happen." Again, I saw all of it play out
so vividly and I saw him call me as the plane was going down to tell me goodbye.
I knew it was inevitable. His flight was at 9:30 a.m. and I was a sobbing mess in my bed pleading with my
grandmother to save him. At 9:56, my phone was ringing and it was my husband's name on caller ID. My heart
shattered and I stared at the screen not knowing if I was even strong enough to answer this call. Could I be strong
enough to hear his final goodbye? Right before it went to voicemail, I reluctantly answered knowing my life was
about to crumble. I sheepishly said, "Hello." My husband replied immediately and
loudly, "I will never doubt you again." What? god, what happened? He told me that as
soon as the doors closed, he was filled with dread for the first time ever while
flying. The plane began to back up and all the power shut off. Everything turned off. It came back on and they
tried again. Seven times they tried to back up and seven times the power shut off completely.
My husband flagged down a flight attendant and asked what was happening because he wanted to get off this plane.
People in the next row heard him and immediately chimed in that they wanted off, too. In the next few minutes,
everyone wanted off. Woah. When the power came back on, they were able to taxi back to the gate and
let everyone off. He called me to tell me he was going to rent a car and drive the 8 hours back home because he was not
getting onto a plane today. Holy [ __ ] My grandmother did it. She made sure that plane never took off and she saved
my husband's life and all the other passionate passengers' lives. Wow. chills that are just like like
consistent chills. They're not going away. Wow. I know the first story was totally funny
and embarrassing and I'm great and I'm great goofing during that one, but I do get serious when thinking about
how if I didn't have my guardian angel grandma, myself or my husband might not be here.
That's unbelievably crazy. It really is and I believe it. So those are just some of my crazy stories.
Honestly, there's so many more, but I don't want to take over a total listener tales episode, although I probably
already did. No, thank you for this. I love it. I've included pics of me and my fur babies,
mandatory, am I right? Hell yeah. Correct. Don't read their names because people will know whom I
embarrassed ass is. I'm not saying them, but I don't Oh, those are great names, though. Yeah, those are fantastic names.
Trust us, they're great names. My very alive husband and myself and my BJ boyfriend Dave from back in the day 20
years ago. Uh those pictures were included. I also included a screenshot where I told him I
was going to send this story in for a listener tale and not to worry, I would change our names and he told me not to
change his because how else was he supposed to get famous? You will notice though, he did not ask what story
because he damn well knew what story because even 20 plus years later, you don't forget ghost gram watching you get
dome. Thanks, weirdos. Stay weird, but don't Take it away, Ash. Uh Keep it weird, but
not so weird that your grandma sees you to do your first [ __ ] because that's absolutely terrible and you'll never
move on. I'm literally obsessed. Oh my god, Claudia is a queen. That was That is among the best listener
tales we've ever received. That was so funny and also so on a skin flute. And also that was like
so touching and so sweet and so amazing and like You took us on a journey, Claude. You really did.
it. Like you really did it. Oh my god, you and your husband are beautiful. I know and the wedding pictures.
Yes, they're gorgeous. Oh. Why That was amazing. That was amazing. I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed with you. I'm
obsessed with it all. And grandma's so pretty. Grandma's beautiful. Did you see grandma?
ghost grandma for the win. Seriously. She's working overtime, that gal. Can we talk about your visions? You're [ __ ]
like damn. That vision? That's a that like as soon as for your husband to suddenly be like, "You know what? I want
off this plane." and then for everyone else to be like, "Same too." Like cuz a lot of people will ignore
that. They won't ignore They won't listen to their gut. Yep. So it's like she grandma was being like,
"No, everybody get the [ __ ] off the plane." Grandma was working OT. Yeah. Seven
times, I'd be like, "I'm opening the window and getting out." be like, "Catch me on the tarmac." You
are getting me off this plane or I'm causing an international incident that will make me get off that plane.
At that point, seriously. Like oh, what a wild tale. All the way through. So, I guess what we will do
now. How do we follow up on that? Uh we'll go to the next one is listener tales, you weirdos. Perfect. I like
that. And this listener's name is Josh. Ooh, and you included some photography because you're a photographer and holy
[ __ ] Wow, that first one is so eerie. Your photography is so vibey. So cool. Ooh.
it. The bicycle one, the trike. Okay. I dig this a lot. book. I dig this. Wow, you're really
talented. Damn, Josh. This is great. Damn, Josh. Damn, Josh. Um all right, it says, "Hey, Ash and Elena. First off, I
love the pod. Thanks. My name is Josh." Hi, Josh. Hello. "I'm a photographer from Toronto,
Canada. We love Canadians." And poutine. "I've always been drawn to supernatural
and true crime stories, so naturally this podcast drew me in right away. Me and my girlfriend have been listening
together for the past year and you two normally join us on many trips up to our cottage."
Oh, I love that. "This might be a little bit of a tale, but it's one of my favorite stories that I have to this
day. I would say that I've had more than the normal amount of supernatural things
happen to me. The childhood house that I grew up in was haunted, but it was a chill spirit to the point where when I
never felt threatened, but things definitely happened that couldn't be explained.
That's kind of how we felt in our house. Yeah, exactly. My mom's house she grew up in was the opposite. That spirit was
a dick. It would do things like turn on the gas stove in the middle of the night
god. or hold a pillow down over my sleeping grandpa's face. Uh that sounds like a
demon. Yeah, that's a diamond. Lots of stories there, too, but this one is still my favorite. This one takes place
in a more more than spooky location, an abandoned asylum. To give you a little bit of a backstory, my good friend Matt
and myself are photographers. Again, phenomenal photography. If we can share your photography, we'll reach out and
ask because I would love to share it. It would actually be perfect to use for this listener tales
like episode post. So we'll reach out and make sure that you're cool with it, but we would love
to share it because he's killing it. Pretty much. My good friend Matt and myself are photographers. We've gone on
a couple of photography trips to shoot abandoned buildings and places that are left to decay through time. I love that
kind of photography, too. Like decaying abandoned buildings, I love that [ __ ] A
lot of the places have quite a bit of history behind them and more often than not, it's not pretty. I'm talking about
abandoned hospitals, asylums, churches, morgues. These are you're saying the morgues aren't pretty?
No, I'm just kidding. What are you trying to say? These are the kind of places where spirits tend to overstay
their welcome. This particular occasion, we were headed to Letchworth Village in
Upstate New York. This place was heaven for us. At its peak, Letchworth Village consisted of over 130 buildings spread
out over many acres of land. It was closed off to the public as most of these abandoned sites were, but as
usual, that didn't stop us. Party. We did our research. Party. We did our research and hopped in the car,
bags packed, and a list of spots to hit along the way. This sounds like a [ __ ] awesome trip. I was like, I kind
of want to plan a trip like this. Let's go. Letchworth opened in 1911 and was there to give care to the
uh mentally impaired, epileptic, and poor children. Hm, that's sad. Not sure why the last one ended up
there, but hey, to each their own. History is rough. Now, the history in this place was dark.
When I say dark, I mean like wearing a blindfold in a basement cellar with all the lights turned off while being
covered up by a burlap sack dark. Holy [ __ ] Due to inadequate funding and improper care of the residents,
including children, there were reports of patients being found unclothed, unbathed, and neglected. So sad.
These places are always so horrifying. Just so bleak. There was a ton of abuse towards patients and staff, which
included incidents of Trigger Warning here. This is going to get a little rough, everybody. So, skip over if you
don't want to hear it. Um including incidents of rape, beatings, and testing done on patients, and I'm sure there
were many more things that happened on these grounds that would make you sick to think of. Despite the doctors doing
testing on these patients, there was one good thing to come out of this place. It's where they developed the vaccine
for polio in the 1950s. Oh, wow. It's a pretty good thing. I would say so. This test vaccine was
given to an 8-year-old boy who was given the dose, and when he experienced no side effects, it was then administered
to 19 more child child patients. These experimentation trials were the first step towards a better polio vaccine, and
the doctor was praised for his efforts. But just think, if it didn't work and had some horrible side effects, I bet it
would all be swept under the rug and more testing on innocent children would have continued.
Yeah. Anyways, I'm starting to get distracted because of the history here, but let's get back to it. After about 8
hours of driving, we pulled up to the area the village was close to. Since it was fenced off and abandoned, it had
been overgrown and not well maintained. It was a bit of a trek to get to. We parked the car in a discreet location
and grabbed our bags, hopped the fence, and started our hike into the forest. After about 10 minutes of walking, we
stumbled onto our first building. This sounds [ __ ] awesome. It sounds like a movie. The excitement
and anticipation grew as we made our way closer to the decaying structure. Windows shattered and a front door
swinging back and forth in the wind, paint chipping off the walls, and moss growing on the roof. It was perfect.
Exactly what we hoped when we first looked into this place. Once we got inside, it got even better. It was like
everyone here just stood up from what they were doing and walked away, leaving everything in place for the next 50
years. Oh. I love the that that sentence is so great. Like everyone just stood up from
what they were doing and walked away. Yeah, you can you can just you're there. feel that. There were bed frames lined
up in a row, dirty ripped mattresses on some of them still, patient files scattered across the floor, toys left
broken covered in dirt and dust, everything left behind. It was crazy. The craziest thing was the writing on
the walls in some of the rooms. Diving into the mind of someone stuck in an asylum was a chilling experience. We
could have stayed here all day and explored, but seeing as the sun would eventually go down, it wasn't a spot we
felt like spending the night. We continued exploring the various buildings, each one a little different,
and spent hours shooting and wandering around the grounds. We decided to stop and have a smoke out in front of the one
of the buildings. Bad habit, I know, but we're just chatting about the exploration while going through the
photos on our cameras. Looking off into the distance towards the north, this is important later.
We can faintly see two figures walking towards us. Judging by the speed they were moving, it didn't seem to be
security or anyone that made us feel like running, so we stayed put and waited until they got closer.
Took about 10 minutes for the couple to make their way close enough to make to us to make out who they were. To our
surprise, it was an elderly couple, husband and wife, who were going for a walk together as they normally did
through the grounds of the village. This didn't seem odd to us at the time, so we chatted with them for about 15
minutes while standing outside. They said they didn't know much about the area, but frequently walked around here.
We, on the other hand, knew a shitload about the grounds, so we're more than happy to They were more than happy to
hear a little history lesson on the village from us while we talked. They explained that they had walked together
here for the last 20 years or so and enjoyed hearing about the grounds they spent so much time on.
We chatted a little more and then said our goodbyes, and as they continue to walk to continue to walk away from us at
the speed of an 80-year-old couple, we waited and watched them walk south out of our view as we're as we were
trespassing and breaking into some of these buildings. Once they were gone, we turned and walked in the opposite
direction to put some space between us and headed north into the next building. I remember they went south.
Mhm. This was exactly the same as the last building we were in, so decided to head out and keep walking to see if we
could find what we could find. As we turned to start walking, we noticed that off in the distance, to the north again,
we could see faintly two figures walking towards us. I looked over at Matt and said in a
surprised voice, "Hey, there's another two people coming towards us." We were both a bit shocked by this as the
grounds were closed off, but neither of us had had any idea how shocked we were about to be in a few minutes.
We continued walking towards the figures, and once we got closer, we realized it was the same old couple we
had run into 15 minutes ago. There's no way that's them. It can't be. We passed them and waved briefly saying,
"Hi, how are you again?" to the couple and watching them walk off once again into the distance. This is when it got
weird. Both Matt and myself were looking at each other with confused looks on our
faces. Just a few minutes before, we had watched this couple walk off into the south out of view, but somehow, they
made a full loop of the grounds and were walking in the same direction they originally came. These grounds were big,
hundreds of acres big. In order for this to make any sense, they would have had to have gotten in a car as soon as they
were out of view the first time, sped through the closed off overgrown roads, parked, gotten out, and started walking
towards us again from the north. As I mentioned before, the couple walked the speed you would imagine an
80-year-old couple to walk, slow as [ __ ] They wouldn't have been able to run, no, sprint all the way around to
the end to end up where they did. I think it was a good 15 minutes Matt and I sat there trying to figure out how
this was possible, running every possibility through our heads, but none of them made any sense. It would have
been hard for us, two 30-year-old guys at the time, to cover the amount of ground this 80-year-old couple did in 15
minutes. The creepy thing about Letchworth Letchworth Village is that when it closed down in 1996, it was
extremely overcrowded. It's said that many of the patients just mingled into the surrounding areas and blended into
society. I looked over at Matt and asked him if he remembered how old the couple was,
and after some quick math, we realized that they would have been in their early teens when Letchworth was in its prime.
Oh, that gave me chills. they had been walking around these grounds for the last 20 years or so,
which would be the amount of time the grounds have been abandoned for. I remember turning to Matt and saying to
him, "What if they've been walking around these grounds for the last 20 years because they never left?"
Oh my god, I'm I'm wobbling so hard right now. The hair on my arms and neck stands up when I think about saying that
to him. Dude, my arms just got full chill bird. I feel like my back has chills. We decided this was
when we were going to call it a day Fair. and head back to the hotel for the night. I recall Matt saying to me on the
way that if we run into this couple again, he's going to lose his [ __ ] especially after thinking that they were
patients who never left the grounds. Every so often, I'll have to call Matt when explaining this story to someone so
he can verify what happened and tell the exact same side of things, but every time I tell it, the hair stands up
straight when I get to the part about running into them for the second time. Thankfully, we didn't run into them or
any security on the way out and made it back to our car waiting outside the forest we walked in in from earlier that
day. To this day, I wonder about that old couple and still can't make any sense of the whole situation. Were they
patients? Were they ghosts? Are they still wandering around there today, years later? I guess we'll never know,
but I got one of my favorite stories out of it and I'll have that forever. That's all for now. Maybe I'll write
again Maybe I'll write in again about the time we got separated in another asylum and had to backtrack alone
through the tunnels underneath the building in the pitch black looking for a very expensive camera that got left
behind. god. time we walked into an abandoned morgue and could visibly see the breath in
front of your face in the middle of summer in 30° weather. That's for another time, but if you guys read this
one, that'll be enough for me. Once more, love the show, love you, too, and keep it weird, but not so weird that you
You know what? [ __ ] it. We don't need to bring that old couple back for a third
time. That was great. Wow, Josh. Also, I want to hear those other stories, so yes,
please. write those in. And also, we are definitely going to reach out cuz I people need to see these photographs.
They're so cool. The bike one is my favorite. The bike and the book. Yeah, the book is really So, we'll we'll
definitely reach out and make sure that you're cool with that, so we'll we'll give you credit and all that, but we'd
love to share them for you. So cool. That story, haunting. Needs to be like It needs to be part of a movie or it
needs to be a movie. Like that's that whole thing is just so chilling. definitely
when you were reading it I was like picturing it as a scene in a movie. see it in my head 100%. That was so
good. Oh, I wonder who they were. I know. The idea that they're like patients that
never left. It's so sad. And but they're just like, you know, holding hands walking together.
Yeah. I know, it's interesting. Damn. Oof. All right, next one is listener tale. Who
the [ __ ] is that kid and why is he in her bedroom? You know, that's great. We're always wondering. We're we're
always wondering. All right, it says, "Hey Elena, hey Ash. First let me say, you [ __ ] get me
through my every [ __ ] day. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. I listen to the podcast, love
it while I'm working and I believe with every fiber of my annoyed, sick of stupid people being that the two of you
are what keep me from punching people in the face daily. I love that. So thank you for keeping me out of jail and for
the abundance of gruesome, horrifying, hysterical, what the [ __ ] just happened
episodes that you provide. And now let's with the bush, let's begin. As you may have guessed or not, I have
no idea because I don't have a psychic [ __ ] bone in my body. I don't particularly like people with the
exception of a very elite few of which you are both included, so you're welcome. The honor is all yours.
Honestly, you're part of my little elite few as well, girl, so Same. And I tend to not be a talker, so
this shouldn't be too long. If you need it feels to be edited for content, please feel free to do that. It's all
pretty relevant. We will not. I'll start this story by saying I have no [ __ ] idea what the [ __ ] I
experienced. Love those kind of stories. I know, same. I don't know if what happened to
me has happened to others or if there's a logical explanation for it. Any thoughts you have on the experience
would be most welcome and I'm sure hysterical. Anyway, here's my story. I was extremely
pregnant and feeling like a beached walrus minus the mustache and laying in my bed and my husband, who was not
pregnant and felt perfectly [ __ ] fine and is now my ex, but that's a whole other [ __ ] show. Ooh. Was sitting next
to me chicken scratch chicken scratching in a tablet, probably making a list of things to do to do the next day or
writing what he considered poetry or something equally as lame. You're an icon and I love you.
icon. The bedside lamp was on and was the only light on in the house. Our bedroom was very small, basically room
for the never [ __ ] big enough bed and about a foot and a half of space around the bed to walk and that was it. Don't
[ __ ] judge, we were just starting out. Yeah, I feel you. I feel that. We have all had that
bedroom. Yeah, absolutely. So we're in the bed and at the time it felt like I was in
that semi-sleep state where you're on the verge of sleep, but you're not actually asleep. Yeah, that.
Yeah. As I'm laying there, I saw at the foot of our bed a boy, about 10 years old. Hmm. He had a dark complexion and
thick hair, possibly Middle Eastern. He was wearing a white button-up shirt and dark pants. He was in a He was in a very
crowded outdoor marketplace Huh. like you would see in um Marrakech Marrakech or someplace. Not that I've
ever been there, but I do watch television. I watch the TV, you know. And he was looking about as if lost or
searching for someone in the crowd. He looked in my direction a couple of times, but never spoke, at least not to
me or that I could hear. Thank God he didn't seem threatening because I doubt if I would have been able to get my
pregnant fattery out of the bed or out of the door fast enough, but I digress. While I was looking at the boy, for some
[ __ ] reason not questioning why or how he was there in my bedroom because that's not at all creepy. You were
pregnant. You don't question a lot of things when you're pregnant. Yeah. You get a free pass at that point.
But while that was happening, my husband nudged me with his elbow and [ __ ] annoyed, I looked at him. He put an
index finger to his lips as if to say, "Shh." and then pointed at the boy at the foot of the bed. Oh. Oh my god.
My first instinct was to was to crank him in the [ __ ] mouth and be like, "Did you just shush me?"
But then I thought, "Wait, is he seeing that kid, too?" Why isn't he grabbing him up and
throwing his ass out the door? Be a [ __ ] man and protect your pregnant wife. Throw that kid out the door. But
as one does in these situations, I didn't do or say any of that. I simply looked back to the foot of the bed and
continued watching this strange boy like it was a perfectly [ __ ] normal occurrence that we do every [ __ ] day
of the week. Next thing I knew, I was waking up the next morning. But wait, there's more. When I got up the next
day, my husband already left for work, so I didn't get the chance to mention the odd occurrence to him. I shrugged it
off as just a weird-ass dream, went through my daily routine, went to work. I was working the afternoon shift. I
won't regale you the details of my daily routine because that would truly be a but not so weird that moment.
For some reason during our lunch break, my co-workers, people, and I got into conversations about dreams. I shared the
dream, {quote} {unquote}, that I had about the boy and how very real it felt to me in my dream and how my husband saw
him, too. They half-jokingly said I should ask him about it when I got home from work.
The rest of the work day was extremely hectic because my life is a [ __ ] show and work is part of it and I forgot all
about the boy and my dream. I went home and started preparing dinner. Insert hysterical laughing because me cooking.
Anyway, the hubs came home and he went straight to the shower as instructed and then sat down to watch TV until dinner
was ready. We didn't really have any conversation to speak of and as I said, I'd forgotten all about the boy and my
dream. Out of the blue, my husband said to me, "You know this house is haunted, don't
you?" Side note, I can neither prove nor debunk the existence of insert entire mega list of paranormal beings here, so
I'm on the fence. I just want to put that out there. Please read on. After a moment of surprise, I asked him,
"What do you mean? Why do you say that?" If you just read that in a somewhat high-pitched, frantic voice, good job.
You nailed it. I'm going to do it again. What do you mean? Why did you say that?
He said to me, "Didn't you see that [ __ ] kid at the foot of our bed last night?"
you guys. This is so casual. I love it. Like I love that it's just like so much time has passed and then you're just
like He's like, "By the way, you saw that kid at the end of our bed last night. I meant to mention that
earlier. And when I asked, i.e. interrogated, he proceeds to describe in great detail the
boy I saw in what I thought was simply a dream. He described the boy, what he was
wearing, the marketplace, everything. That's the other thing. I'm like, you had an entire portal open up in your
house. That's the thing cuz like I've seen like I believe that I've seen spirits before
in figures, but never in the setting that they're in in a setting. Yeah, that's picturing that is really cool.
That's something altogether different, I feel. Yeah, and I also just can't believe that you're like, "Well,
nighty-night." Yeah, this is a marketplace in my room, I guess. Pop up. And they wrote, "What the actual fuck?"
Exactly. Now I don't know if what I experienced was a shared dream, a spirit of some type, a portal that we had the
opportunity to look through to another place, just a dream, a temporary loss of the last shred of my [ __ ] sanity, or
if there's some other explanation, but I cannot explain how my husband was able to describe exactly what I saw if he
didn't see it, also. Can somebody please explain this to me? Even after I divorced this asshat, we've
had at least two other shared dreams where it's the same dream just from our our respective perceptives. Say that
three times fast fast. Ash, I hope you're reading this one because I love when you trip over your own tongue. It
is very endearing and makes me feel not so alone. You're welcome, friend. You just knew.
These experiences don't scare me, but I often wonder what they are and why they occur. Thank you for reading my lame-ass
story. It's not lame at all. No. After hearing the other listener story, mine is really not on that level. It is.
You saw a whole ass portal in your room and then and your husband saw it, too, and then you also had two other shared
dreams from your respective perspectives. had a shared dream. I was trying to say
it three times fast. Respective perspective. Respective perspective, respective perspective,
respective per [ __ ] I was so close. But yeah, I've never had a shared dream. I don't think.
I don't think I have, either. I've had dreams that like were premonitions. Yeah, but I've never had a shared dream.
No. That I know of, anyways. I still Do you ever still think about the girl that
wrote in the tale? Yes. And yeah. The entire village That she would always go back there. No,
I'm literally obsessed with that. I think about it like once a month, I think. Yeah. Uh anyways, okay, sorry, let's
finish this. If I am a fan girl lucky enough to get my story in a listener tale episode, please feel free to use my
name while I bottle my tears of joy as a creepy memento. Don't worry, I don't plan to send I don't plan to send them
to you or anyone. I'm weird, but not send people I don't know my bottled tears weird. Don't keep it that weird.
Love you both and love the podcast. Love you. P.S. I know Elena is an accomplished
author. Congrats. So please don't judge the horrendous grammar. Girl, never. Not
my [ __ ] forte. I also said grammar, yeah, grammar. I would never judge your horrendous grammar.
But then it says, "Keep it weird, bitches." and I don't know if you said we could use your name or not.
Yeah, she said, "Please feel free to use my full name." It's Sheila Feather. Sheila. Sheila Feather is a cool name.
Sheila Feather. Love. You're the best. You guys rule. I love your attitude. I could feel it.
Yeah, I got a little bit of bit of spice and I love that. I love a spicy also love that you guys don't get mad
when I stumble over my words. Thank you. I love that. Thank you. Thanks for mentioning the whole author
bit and I didn't pay you to do that, so thanks. Like your check is in the mail. I appreciate it because the sequel to
The Butcher and the Wren, called The Butcher Game. Yay. Is coming out on September 17th and you can pre-order
your copy at thebutchergame.com. So go claim your free poster because there's there only going to be a certain
amount of free posters while the supplies last, so go get it. Is it ever going to be a tinyurl.com ever again? I
feel like we need to make it a tinyurl.com. Can you talk to your people? to I'll talk to my people.
Okay, thank you. Uh because I want to say tinyurl.com/thebutchergame. Yeah, I also want that.
that. But go get your copy of it because that's going to be a It's going to going
to be the theme for me or something. Somebody go get her. Go get her. She's reading like a
thriller. This one's longer, too. That's my input. So, get on it. It's really good. I've read some of the
chapters. Uh so, my next one is aliens. Just aliens. Love that. title. Fantastic.
Um it says, "Hi ladies, I have a listener tale in the attached. Please let me know if the doc doesn't come
through. You know what? It came through." Uh listener also wants to be called Betty. Betty? Betty. I think I
know why. Hey Betty. I think I also know why. "Hello ladies of maybes." I like it.
"So, writing this in is way outside my comfort zone. I'm not a sharer when it comes to regular type life events, let
alone the bonkers, bizarre, and creepy. Particularly not this experience as you'll see it's pretty unbelievable, but
it happened. And your listener tales provide a fun place for people to talk about experiences that we can't always
talk about elsewhere. It's practically a community service." I like the way you look at that.
that that's how you look at it cuz that's how I always look Yeah. You can tell us any of your weird, crazy
experiences because No judgement here. Never. "I listen to your podcast all the time and the listener tales are probably
my favorite." Wow. We don't get that a lot. However, "However, while I've decided to finally
put down in writing what happened, I'd prefer not to share my name, so please call me Betty." You got it, Betty.
Bell I almost said belly. Belly. She said, "Please call me Betty." Not belly. "Okay, belly."
"I'm from Canberra, which is actually which is the actual capital of Australia."
Oh [ __ ] I did not know that. And she said, "Please tell the world Here we are.
Um I I live a couple of hours drive from the Thank you so much for the phonetic.
Uh Yeah. Eurobodalla Shire. Yeah. Eurobodalla Shire. There it is. The southeast coast of Australia. This area
is gorgeous and remains one of my favorite places in the world. It's so peaceful and beautiful and my soul no
matter what's happening in my life. I love that. So, you can imagine how best pleased I was when one night I was over
it was overtaken by aliens. Damn. My family have regularly gone up to this area for weekends and holidays as why
wouldn't you? Every Christmas my family would rent a house somewhere along the coast and we'd stay there for a couple
of weeks. My friend, let's call her D, would come and stay with us for the second week of our stay and had done for
years. The last time this happened D and I were 16 and had well and truly started
our teenage nonsense. One night the house was full of two families and younger children, so we did what any
teenagers do and swipe a couple of beers and a flashlight from my parents and headed down to the beach.
Living Just a short walk away. Being a regional area as far as we could tell we were the only people on the
beach slowly sipping on our beers which weren't going down so well as they were warm and nasty.
But when you're 16 you're like, "It's fine. I love this." So, there there we were sitting on the sand near the waves
under the moonlight chatting away. D was in the middle of explaining an ongoing drama with her friends at high school.
While she chatted away I was watching a light way out in the distance on the water. It was an orange light and looked
like it belongs to a belongs to a passing ship. Nothing unusual. I kept watching the light on the horizon
as my friend rabbited away. After 15 to 20 minutes, however, this light had gotten bigger like it was closer perhaps
and I realized it was not sitting on the water, but significantly higher up. Hard to tell when something is so far
away, but guessing at least 100 m off the water. So, it was no longer looking like a ship or a boat. Hmm. After
staring at this for a while I interrupted D's "And then Adrian said" story with "Do you see that?" indicating
the light in the distance. "Yeah," she says and forgets about Adrian and becomes equally as focused on figuring
out this strange orb. We both stared at it for several minutes waiting for it to
explain itself. It was certainly bigger than anything that belonged to a plane or ship and it just moved weird. Still
confused and not thinking about it, I decided to pick up the flashlight and flashed at this mysterious light. Well,
[ __ ] The moment I turned on the flashlight and pointed it at this thing, it immediately responded What?
to our flashlight and to us. have [ __ ] my pants. from far out in the horizon to about 100
m away from our heads in the snap of your fingers. There was no sound, no clear acceleration or deceleration. It
just moved several kilometers to a dead stop right near us in next to no time. All of a sudden there was this large
bubble of light meters away. D and I got up and bolted. We turn we turned towards
the dunes away from the beach and just ran. When we got to the top of the dunes we both paused and dared to look
backward. It was still there just chilling. It was big and made of light like the
light you might see from a street lamp, but it had a clearly defined outline. No
metal, opening, or features, just opaque light. It was just about the size of a double
decker bus. Its shape is hard to explain. It could have been changing shape slightly or it could have been
slowly spinning and revealing different sides. I couldn't tell. At one point it looked like it was a perfect sphere
sphere and at others more like a rounded banana or sausage. Either way it just hung in the air soundlessly slowly
moving across the water just where the waves were breaking about 50 to 70 m off the water. Maybe it was exploring. Now
that I think about it, we really should have done a better job hiding rather than standing on the highest point of
the beach gaping and frozen. Yeah, what are you going to do? At this point we had time to think. What
the [ __ ] was going on? Is it looking for us? Can it already see us? Did it think
our torch light was one of its own and excitedly sprint to greet us only to have to explain, "Oh [ __ ] thought you
were someone else." It's like when you wave at somebody, but they're not waving at you.
"Oh no, this is weird." "But we had no idea. But for the next maybe 30 minutes we just clung to each
other on the sand watching this thing float in the air." "After a while it slowly moved upwards
into the sky and we could still see its glow beaming from behind the clouds, but
we got cold and headed home." "When we got home we didn't tell my family as they would have not believed
us and instead just went to bed. Years later I told my best friend about this experience, but she is still highly
skeptical and told me I only thought I saw something." What a [ __ ] She wasn't there. That's not right.
"Fuck you." It says. Yeah. I didn't say it. She did. "Fuck you," says Betty. "Luckily she has many other qualities
and is still my best friend to this day, but as you can imagine this is not a story I share with people.
Since this experience I've kept a casual eye on other encounters that might be similar to mine, but there's not a lot.
If anything this has made me more skeptical about other people's experiences and definitely YouTube
videos. As soon as I hear things about saucers and metal count contraptions I'm like, "Nope, that's not what aliens look
like." Wrong. Though in truth I can't say exactly what I what it was that I saw, but I saw it and it was something
extraordinary though terrifying at the time. I'm only up to about episode 160 on your
podcast, but catching up fast. I like how you describe the unknowns in your stories and theorize on possibilities.
So, ladies please feel free to tell me your thoughts. Would love to know what your maybes and explanations could be.
While you're baking your noodles, let me add this. A few days later D's father and stepmom unexplained expectedly paid
us a visit. They had to give D the awful news that her mom OD'd a couple of days
before ending decades of struggles with heroin. Well, that's awful. very close and protective of her mom and
was devastated. Related? Probably not, but that was two big events that happened very close together.
Thanks for reading, ladies. I know how much you love Australia, so hopefully I have provided you with another tidbit to
add to your basket of creepy Australian tales. Keep it weird. Love, Betty. Betty. I think you guys saw aliens.
You saw an UFO. I think so. And I do feel like people's experiences with like sightings can be different because I
don't think all aliens come from one planet. we're seeing all kinds of different
ones. Yeah, they are they all have different places where they live. But I don't know what else what other
explanation there is for that. No, you saw aliens. Like you saw aliens. said they're real. Betty saw aliens.
deal with it. You just did. You just you just saw them. Deal with it, Betty. Yeah.
I don't know how I feel. I'm very I'm very in the middle of if I'd like to see aliens or not. I want to.
Really? Yes. For like a hard 100% you need to see it. Wow. I want to see it. I I feel like we've had experience with
You don't want to see them. I I'm not sure. I I don't want to and I do want to. I I want to see them, but like not
get abducted, please. Yeah, I don't want to get abducted. I I Yeah, you're like,
"Let me be clear on that." me be clear. Like I I'm a homebody. I don't like going anywhere. So, like I
don't you won't catch me out. So, you're not going to catch me in an alien ship.
I also don't like flying, so that's Yeah. many issues for me there. Yeah. I'm a Capricorn, so don't touch me. And
like yeah, no. None of this is going to work. I want to see them though from the
distance. And just give a little wave and be like, "Sorry." I feel like we've seen your
photos together. We've like like driving I feel like we've seen things and been like, I've seen some weird things that I
can't Yeah. And John's seen something at least one thing that he's positive is is a like an UFO.
That's a crazy story. You should actually I feel like he's not going to come on, but
have him tell the story. write it down at least so we can read it. him pop on and maybe tell the story if I
can force him to. We'll have to bribe him heavily. We absolutely will, but it's okay. Well,
I'll I'll think of Yeah. Yeah. You know, we'll figure it out. But yeah, I think Betty saw a [ __ ] alien. I think
so. So, you can be comforted in that fact, Betty. Yeah, and I'm sorry about your friend's
mom. That's really terrible and to have all of that to process in a very short span That's a lot to process for poor D.
Yeah. Woof. All right. right, we love Australia. We love our Australians. Let's finish it off with
one more. Let's do it. We have listener tales, the disappearing lady in the ditch and a possible spirit
stalker. Also, yeet. You're welcome, Ash. Thank you. Hello, you beautiful baked potatoes.
That is how I identify. Thank you. just going to say I will not answer to anything else. So, thank you.
a beautiful baked potato. potato. It's like in a bug's life. I am a beautiful butterfly. I am a beautiful baked
potato. With sour cream. I love it. I used to despise podcasts until one day I found yours. That's
wild. Thank you. And it's basically the only one I consistently listen to. I tried listening to other ones, but it
just felt wrong. The other true crime ones are too monotone or depressing. Plus, it made me feel like I was
cheating on you guys in a way. If I listen to a true crime podcast that wasn't you, which I know you encourage
us to listen to other people, but I don't care. I only want you. LOL. Like I won't. Don't make me.
many other good ones, though. So, give them a try. But, thank you. That's so kind. Anyway,
you guys keep me company on car rides to school every single night while studying
for my exams. Med school, baby. Hell yeah. Working hard now so that everyone I love
doesn't have to later. LOL. What a badass. That's queen behavior. Or king behavior.
And basically, anytime I'm doing anything, i.e. cleaning out my car, cleaning the house, walking, breathing,
etc. It's safe to assume that if I'm awake, I have headphones in and Morbid is playing. That's so nice.
that. feel like the big sisters I always wanted. So, thank you. We are. Below, I have attached a double
space potpourri for your reading pleasure. Even though I literally write creatively for fun, I am not a good
storyteller. So, I apologize if we end up bouncing back and forth a bit. I'd like to one day write in about my truly
horrifying experiences, such as the time my possibly possessed neighbor threatened to kill us, broke into our
house, and tried to kidnap my 2-year-old at the time brother. Aw. But, every time
I sit down to write it, I have to stop before it's night time. Otherwise, I will get nightmares and I can't sleep.
So, for now, we're sticking with this less spooky tale. Ooh, I want that one, too.
I want both. Hope you enjoy and my babble is not too chaotic to understand. Mama, I'm a Gemini. Nothing is too
chaotic to understand. This happened recently, around 2 or 3 weeks ago. Mid end of August.
Though it's not my spookiest experience, it is my most recent. Let me start by providing some background. I attend
college near my house and commute every morning to my classes. On this particular morning, I remember being in
a rush. I had slept past my alarm, which in turn had thrown off the rest of my usual morning routine. I took a 5-minute
shower, which I had not thought to be possible for me previous to that morning, threw lunch together, and ran
out the door. I arrive every morning around 6:00 to study for a few hours before my morning class. So, it's
usually still dark out when I leave in the mornings, around 5:15. You could literally never catch me doing that
morning routine. Early. I give you a high five. To get to the campus, I take a lot of
backroads surrounded by cornfields and farmers to get there because there's less traffic and I prefer to avoid the
congestion when possible. I drove past a red barn as I do every morning, and today there was a woman clearly upset
with her Oh, [ __ ] With her car halfway in a ditch across the street from the barn.
She was standing by the back of the car holding her phone to the air as if she couldn't get signal. I found this weird,
even though we were in an area surrounded by cornfields, I always have pretty decent reception. I blast Morbid
on the Bluetooth speaker on my way to school. LOL. But, we probably just use different
phone companies. As a young female, I've always been told to be careful in situations like this, as it's sometimes
a tactic used to hurt or kidnap people. We've all heard those stories where a lady or a child pretends to be hurt and
a guy comes out of nowhere and hits you over the head with something and you pass out or you die. Or maybe that's
just me, since I watch Forensic Files with my mom all the time. But, something felt really off.
I passed her fairly quickly. Speed limit in the area is 45 mph. As I drove by her, we made eye contact for a brief
moment, and I swear time slowed and chills immediately ran down my spine. My gut started twisting into knots and I
felt an indescribable heaviness. I felt like if I didn't stop, I would deeply regret it or something bad would happen.
I got the terrible feeling that this woman was in danger. I quickly estimated in my brain that the probability of
getting kidnapped, raped, or murdered if I were to turn around and asked if she needed help. She was the only other one
out there, and I'm absolutely certain that there weren't any other people or cars. But, just to be on the safe side,
I decided I'd stay in my car, pull up to her with my window rolled down a slight
crack, and ask if she needed help. I turned around in the big driveway of the red barn across the street. As I got
closer to the ditch, I realized she and the car have completely vanished. That's
What? I would [ __ ] myself. Again. It was bizarre, as it couldn't have taken more than 2 minutes for me to turn
around and get back to that ditch. An eerie feeling came over me, but I decided I was probably just paranoid and
should forget about it. So, I unpaused Morbid and continued on my route to school. Everything that day went fine.
Nothing out of the ordinary. The next morning, however, things got weirder. Once I drove by the barn again, there
was another car in the ditch. It wasn't the same kind as the woman had, and nobody was outside the vehicle. The
lady's car was a dark color. This car was white. It looked too clean to belong on these roads, honestly.
I don't know much about cars, but it looked nice to me. All the windows were completely tinted, so dark you couldn't
even see by the driver's side window, which is illegal where I live. Ooh. I also noticed there was a black
There was black writing on the side of the car, but I couldn't read what it said because of how far away my car was
and the speed I was going. Totally wasn't speeding. Winky face. Winky face. Never.
Never. Don't speed. Be careful. This time, I drove straight by it and didn't even consider stopping. My gut
was screaming, "No. Run." to me. I'm not quite sure why. I just got a terribly gut-wrenching wave of anxiety. So, I
kept going because kindness is for dead people and I have an exam that morning and I wanted to study anyways. Everybody
in these stories is having like gut intuitions. Yeah, that's the theme. Yeah. Skipping to the end of that school
day, my friend Peter always gets there to study with me and walks me to my car because we park next to each other.
After class, we had walked to our cars and were just chatting, putting our books away, etc. When a white car with
tinted windows and black lettering on the side pulled in and parks in the spot directly next to mine. My friend found
this odd since there were tons of open parking spaces surrounding us. We park way out in the back lots to avoid all
the congestion getting out. Yet, this car chose to park right next to me. I was internally freaking out a little bit
now, as this was the same car that I'd seen in the ditch earlier. I asked Peter if we could go back inside the building,
and he And he saw the look on my face and knew something was off. He walked me back
inside the building and I told him what happened. We looked out the window and saw the the car pull out of the spot,
roll down the driver's side window slightly, as if it rolled painfully slow by my car, and then out of the lot.
What? That's [ __ ] weird. Oh, I hate that. Oh. Peter walked me to a campus police car
and explained the situation to the cop. We ended up leaving and the officer told
us that the Sorry, the officer told us the next morning that though he saw the encounter on the security footage, he
really couldn't do anything, which I knew and I didn't expect him to. I just guess I wanted somebody to know, I
guess. It made me feel safer at the time, but looking back, maybe it was a waste of
time. No, I would I wouldn't have known what to do, either. Yeah, I feel like I would have done the
same thing. the right thing. After that, I didn't see either cars, but weird things have
been happening. The next morning, I was loading my own car for school, lunch, endless piles of books, scrubs, etc. I
tip I typically have to make three or four trips back and forth Sorry, back and forth from my car in the
mornings because I always forget things and I'm I'm obsessed with being dreadfully over-prepared. Anyways, as I
made my way to the car for the first time that morning, I noticed that the driver's side door was ajar. This was
weird, since I park in the garage and my father leaves even earlier than I do to
get to work in the mornings. He parks right next to me, and with the way that our garage is set up, he would have hit
my door with his car if it were left open when he pulled out. It threw me off, but I brushed it off and assumed
maybe I just left it open the previous day and somehow my dad got around it. Or maybe he needed something from my car
and grabbed it before he left, forgetting leaving the door open. I shut the car door and went back inside
to get my laptop bag. When I came back out, the driver's side door was open again.
I walked around the car cautiously, using the flashlight on my phone to shine under it and around it quickly,
making sure that I was the only one in the garage. I was hit with the overwhelming feeling that I was not. I
swear I felt like I was being watched. Slamming it shut and locking it this time, I went inside to grab my lunch.
When I came back, the garage light was off. This is a [ __ ] horror film. Yeah, it literally is.
Feeling around in the dark, I found the switch and turned it on, only to find that the driver's side door was open
again. At this point, I was quite scared, but also just pissed off. "Oh, [ __ ] off." I found myself groaning to
nobody in particular. I feel that I'm too young to be this over it, but whatever. I'm an old
spirit. I yelled something along the lines of, "Leave me alone. You most certainly are not welcome here, so get
the [ __ ] out or I will get a shovel and a frying pan and beat you until you're
dead twice." That's badass. Damn. Now, this is not where the weirdness ends. All the
uneasiness and gut feelings I had before have ceased. I no longer feel like I'm being watched, but now the people around
me are experiencing weird things. it onto everybody else. That's not good. It's like it follows.
For example, a family friend was over and she fell, {quote} {unquote}, and broke her ankle. She was outside in the
yard and she said she swore she felt a hand push her down onto the concrete. Oh, damn.
Her ankle was red and swollen from the way she land on landed on it. But, do you want to know the scariest part?
Yeah. She showed me her side and there was a swollen red mark that looked like an inflamed handprint. Wow. I don't know
what's been going on. Maybe I just have an overactive imagination or I'm thinking too much into it, but ever
since seeing that woman in the ditch, things have been weird. And that's it. Wow.
I don't like that. I'm worried for you. At all. And just I hate the fact that like as you locked eyes, you immediately
felt weird. Yeah. that's when all the weirdness started happening. It really is like an
It Follows kind of vibe. Yeah. Where she it's like she passed something to you. I
don't like it. were like, I'm not into this. I don't I don't accept this. I don't claim this.
And then and then it went on to everybody else. Very scary. Ooh, that was a fun batch of
listener tales though. and fun. love a spooky ooky moment. we needed some spooky ooky moments
because we have had some really really rough cases lately. So we figured a good, you know, spooky, fun,
chilling listener tale episode was due. It was. You know, and I loved it. Thanks
so much, guys. You rule. Yeah, so we hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that you
don't write in your spooky tales to us because holy crap, we love them. Write them in. Bye-bye.

BIG, BIG NEWS AHEAD!!!! We are SO excited to announce that The SEQUEL, yes, the 2nd book of The Dr. Wren Muller Series- THE BUTCHER GAME will be released on September 17th, 2024! To Pre-order go to https://zandoprojects.com/books/the-butcher-game/ (https://zandoprojects.com/books/the-butcher-game/) PLUS! If you preorder the book, get an autographed poster while supplies last by visiting thebutchergame.com (http://thebutchergame.com/)

Also-- IT'S LISTENER TALES!!!!! And this month's episode is brought to you by gut feelings! In this episode, we hear about a ghostly visitor during an awkwardly intimate moment, a run in an elderly couple near an abandoned asylum, a portal to Marrakesh in a Weirdo's room, a UFO sighting on a beach, and a weird encounter with a car in a ditch!

If you’ve got a listener tale please send it on over to Morbidpodcast@gmail.com with “Listener Tales” somewhere in the subject line :)

Connect with Wondery http://wondery.com/shows http://facebook.com/WonderyMedia http://twitter.com/WonderyMedia http://instagram.com/WonderyMedia

Brief Summary

Alina announces her new book and listeners share spooky tales of paranormal encounters.

Key points

Sequel Announcement. A sequel titled 'The Butcher Game' is coming out on September 17th!
A Haunting Connection. Claudia shares a chilling experience of sensing her grandmother's death.
A Life Saved by a Grandmother's Spirit. The storyteller recounts how her grandmother's spirit saved her from a fatal accident.
A Terrifying Premonition. A vivid vision of her husband's plane crashing leads to a frantic warning.
A Close Call on the Plane. Her husband's flight experiences multiple power failures, leading to a dramatic escape.
Mysterious Encounter with the Old Couple. After running into an old couple twice in an abandoned area, the narrator questions their reality.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I'm literally so excited I'm going to die.

Expressing excitement about the sequel announcement.

1:03WatchMar 28, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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