Hi, ghosties, I'm Macy, and I'm Natalie. - And Happy Birthday. - Thank you so much, thank you so much. Feels great to be 97. - Yes, it is Natalie's birthday, so everyone was sure Happy Birthday. Also, just to get this out of the way, I have braces now. So, for the next year and a half, you'll see me with glittery stuff in my mouth. Woohoo, I'm 27, Macy has braces. It's a good day, people. - So this episode is dedicated entirely to you, and it was curated to give you the biggest scare of your life. - Oh no. - Oh no, after the day I've had brother. - Oh, you're gonna love this. - Oh God, okay. - So, what is the one set of circumstances that you think would be the most horrifying to Natalie? Lock in, are you asking me? - Choose your answers, or the people. - The people, you already know. - Well, you know what would hurt you. If you guessed froggers living in your home unbeknownst to you, then you'd be correct. I just felt a tear come up to my left eye. Today, I've gathered several stories from our listeners who had people in their homes creeping down their addicts at night to steal their food, digs their belongings, and live a secret life right under the homeowners' nose. This is a listener's stories episode. - Yes, so it's not all of our listeners, but they know people, or they have experienced it, yeah. - Oh no, this is worse. So, we're deviating a little bit away from the paranormal for a day, but I promise, I brought us back with a little ghostly dessert at the end, too. - This is scary. This is scarier than ghosts. So, I was originally going to do a, I'm sorry, part two. - Okay. - Sorry, Natalie, part two. - Okay. - And I started doing that, and then you said froggers, and people started sending them in, and I was like, okay, I gotta do it. But I did keep it, I'm sorry, Natalie, at the end. - Okay, if you're new here, and I'm sorry, Natalie, episode is when people send an email that starts out with, I'm sorry, Natalie. Like, this is never going to horrify you, yeah. - I feel like I have gotten better, though, as we've gone on, because at the beginning, I was like, over every story, I can handle it more now. - Sometimes. - I think. This one, I'm really horrified. - You're gonna hate this. - I'm already scared, yeah, thanks. But our tea today is not tea, because it's Natalie's birthday. We are honoring her with a chocolate milk. And it's not any type of brand. It's ATP brand, a milk with, Hershey's chocolates are stirred in there. - Yup. - Ooh, I'm nervous. Let's go. (gentle music) - Fall is just around the corner, and everyone knows you can't have a cozy spooky season without an extra cozy blanket. And if you've been around here the last couple of months, then you know there is one blanket that we will always, always recommend. It's our sponsor for today's video, Lola Blinkets. They are soft, stretchy, literally the most comfortable thing I've ever owned. It's the blanket I'm always reaching for, especially when I need that extra comfort. - Hey, needing extra comfort? It's school time. Educators lock in. This is the thing that I am thinking about while I'm at work. But I'm at work, I'm like, man, how many hours until I can go lay down with my Lola Blinket and I'm not joking? - No, no, we're not joking at all. Jake and I, my husband, fight over this blanket. It's large, it's big enough for us to share, but we both just want to be wrapped up and curled up in this luxury. Lola Blinkets are the world's number one blankets with over 20,000 five star reviews, crafted with an ultra soft luxury faux fur and a signature four-way stretch that sets it apart. It's machine washable, which is good because we use it so much that the, the blankets in the washing machines are friends at this point. It is double-hammed for durability and stays flawless after those repeated washes. They have so many colors and designs that there is bound to be something that will go with the feel of your home and is sure to elevate whatever room you're bringing it into. It's a luxury that makes the end of my day so much more enjoyable that I seriously bought several more blankets. I bought one for our little brother's birthday and for my children and our niece. They are the best gifts. And I know that the lucky person on the receiving end, even if it's you, would love it. For a limited time, our listeners get 40% off select Lola Blinket products with code ghosties at checkout. Just head to LolaBlinkets.com and use code ghosties to get 40% off your order. After your purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and let them know that we sent you. Wrap yourself in luxury with Lola Blinkets. Thanks, Lola. - And I didn't wanna get a mug dirty. And so this is indeed a shaker cup with a spoon in it that I made my chocolate milk in. So no cute mug today because I didn't wanna do dishes. - That's okay. - It's your birthday. He's ignored the unsightly cup in my hand. Well, let you pass. Thanks. Our first story today is unsigned, so anonymous. Titled My Mother's Terrifying Encounter. Hi, I've been binge watching your videos for a while and I've been contemplating whether or not I should share this story. This story isn't mine. It's my mother's and I've asked her if I could share it and she said yes. She believes this story has a good message behind it all. At the time, my mother was 15 or 16 years old and it happened in my grandparents' house, which they currently still live in. It was late at night when this happened and everyone was asleep, apart from my mother who had woken up to go to the bathroom. She said she remembered waking up and felt this strange pit in her stomach, but didn't really think much of it. The bathroom was at the opposite side of the house to where the bedroom was, meaning she had to walk across a creaky landing in hallway. It was pitch black and she went about her business. She left the bathroom and as she was halfway across the landing hallway, she heard a noise behind her, like a rustling sound. And her first thought was that it was my auntie, her sister. She was at the door of her bedroom by now and she did a glance over her shoulder to see a figure crouched down. It was peeking behind a cased opening that was in the area of her sister's room and the bathroom. For a moment, she got scared, but she thought it was her sister trying to scare her. She said it looked like her as she could only make out the messy long hair. She went into her room and didn't think anything of what she had just seen. She went to sleep like any normal night. And then was woken up in the early hours of the morning to the sound of people talking and the flash of police lights peeking through her curtains. She went downstairs and opened the living room door to see her parents talking to two policemen. They explained everything that happened and long story short, her father had gotten up for work and found a man in the kitchen. The man was a frogger. My mother said that when all this information was being unveiled to her, she felt her whole body go numb as she realized that the person who she thought was her sister was a grown man. Oh, my God. She said for months after that, she couldn't sleep properly. She was haunted by all of the what if scenarios. I know this isn't necessarily paranormal, but prior to the incident, my mother did have moments where she thought she was experiencing paranormal events. Movement was common at night and stuff would go missing and everyone in the family was blaming each other. The notable missing items were laundry piles, food, cutlery, and most strangely, a framed family photo of my mother and her sister that was amongst other photos of the rest of the family. It was so eerie to hear it was only that photo that was missing. PS, all items were later found in the attic which was located in the room just before the bathroom. Ew, this is so creepy. My mother believes that her gut instinct that night was her body in survival mode. And what terrified me the most was when my mother said to me along with the missing items laid a sharp knife. Thanks for reading, feel free to share this story. I know it's not paranormal, but just as terrifying if not worse. No, that's worse, that's worse. It's pretty bad. This is horrible. This is horrible. That's like worse case scenario. I would rather it be a ghost. Me too, like I said, this scares me more than anything. I am so afraid of someone entering my home. I don't even like having guests. Like, I really don't like this is my, this is the only place that I feel safe. And I can fully just be myself and unwind and have no, just no disturbances. And then someone's in my attic. It would be hard for me to feel safe in my home again. Oh, that's horrifying. I'll be checking, I'll be having cameras in the attic. Oh, yeah, ooh. BP, I don't know how to do that. That's a good idea. Thank you, you should. I need a camera in my garage too. Much, much to ponder. Thank you. Next story is from Lexi, titled Frogger, Ghost, or Dream. Hello, ghosties. I've been meaning to write this email forever. I am a long time lurker and just recently joined your Patreon. I'm writing this while going through the backlog of loose leaves. Whenever I watch your listener's stories, I always think, I wish I had something to write in. And after a few times of realizing the implications of that and saying, wait, no, never mind. Into the ether of the universe, I realized I actually do have a story. For context, my mother and I live together and she will periodically go away to visit family or friends and I will be alone in the house. I have a bad habit of watching a bunch of paranormal content, pretty much non-stop since Halloween 2024. I'm sure you're both aware of the feeling you get after consuming too much of that content, especially when you're alone. Everything is scary. I know that feeling all too well. Every noise, sometimes I have to take breaks from true crime even because I'm like, not every person I pass is a murderer. Yes, but they could be. And I gotta stop. The chance is number zero. No, one weekend, my mother went away. She loves to leave all the doors open and all the lights on, but I hate it. Whenever she leaves, I immediately close her bedroom door, especially since there's a mirror reflecting towards you whenever you walk by, which routinely scares the hell out of me. Everything this night was normal, except for the fact that I was alone. I go to bed and at 4/12 in the morning, I grogly wake up and go to the bathroom. When I'm done, all I can remember is staring at you.
into my mom's open bedroom door. I start freaking out. How the heck did that door get open? I quickly closed it, lunged into my room and locked my door. I wasn't really able to get back to sleep after that. My immediate thought is that there's someone in the house, but two hours of intently listening and clutching my pepper spray prove there's no movement inside. In the morning I had my boyfriend look through the house. I live in a condo and there aren't many places you can hide, especially since all our closets and cabinets are full to the brim with stuff. Both exterior doors were locked. The windows automatically lock when closed. Take two people to open from the inside and are impossible to open from the outside without breaking glass. The tiny attic space that we don't use was completely empty as well. This rule out froggers, unless there's a hole somewhere we can't find. Our next theory was ghost. This is self-explanatory. Something scary and unknown happens. Blame a ghost. I did check the door. It will not open if you put pressure on it without twisting the knob. When I told my mom this story she suggested it was my grandfather trying to protect me. She thinks this because she never closes her door so that she can hear me in the night in case something's wrong. A habit for my childhood health issues. If it was a ghost, I don't think it was my grandfather because why would he be doing something that scared me? The last theory, I was sleepwalking. But I don't sleepwalk. I'm usually semi-aware when I get up in the middle of the night and nobody I've lived with has said anything about me ever sleepwalking. I do, however, get nightmares that make me jump up and run out of my room. Very scared. When I do that, I usually realize it was a dream when I get into the hallway and turn around and go back to bed with my heart beating out of my chest. Perhaps this was a dream thing. Maybe I open the door and then woke up and scared myself? As I'm writing this, I'm realizing that the nightmare might be caused by a mix of bad anxiety and a mirror at the foot of my bed. I know, I know, but my room is tiny and my vanity needed to go somewhere. Anyway, I lock my bedroom door when I'm sleeping in the house alone now regardless of the answer. In about a week, her room will become my bedroom and my boyfriend will move in. Hopefully nothing scary will happen. There will no longer be a vanity at the foot of my bed once I move rooms. Wish me luck. Lexi. Oh, good to hear. Good to hear. Remove the mirror. It's funny. They said I lock my door when I'm at a home alone now or whatever. I lock my bedroom door every night. Do you? Yes, which is kind of dumb because what really is my little like thing, like little tiny lock going to do on my bedroom door? If there's already someone in my house, give you time. I hear them messing with it, but like all you have to do is like kick it. It's a bedroom door. You know, it's not like solid wood. You have long enough fingernail and you just, uh, create no, no, no, mine's like it's like that little tiny hole where you have to like put in the little thing. Mine are the, you know, the long split. Oh, yeah, those are easy to unlock, but my kids can. Yeah, I'm sure, but it's just like, I don't know. I think that's funny because I lock mine every night. Why? It's really not going to do anything for me, but I feel like that might be a fire hazard too. Like adding an extra step for getting in and out of the room, but also they say emergency. Hmm. True, I guess, but anyway, that's the point. It's definitely a mirror. They gotta go. They gotta go. That's to me. That's both mirrors. Both mirrors. All of them. Or at least, you know, at night, just cover them. If you have a small room and you have to put your mirror somewhere and it faces your bed because your room is like a small square, just cover it. Put a blanket, put a towel, a jacket, a flat sheet or something. Something. Yeah. I think that's easily solvable. Okay. I think until it moves in the night or something. Stop. I knew you were going to say something. Why do you think that the door opened? I don't know because the boyfriend came and checked it out. So it's like, maybe it was. They're gone now. Well, I mean, would the intruder be like, oh, I snuck in? Let me make sure I lock every door back and make it look like nobody was here. No, that's more paranormal to me. I think you. I don't know. Hmm. I don't know. Well, we'll move on to our next story. It's from Aaron. Hi, ghosties. I just started listening to your episode 112 Ouija boards and haunted houses and you mentioned you were interested in Frogger stories. I have a story that happened to my dad back when I was in high school and it still makes me sick if I think about it for too long. My dad's grandparents had a tobacco farm in rural North Carolina. He spent all of his summers up there and even lived with them while he was in college. His aunt inherited the farm after his grandparents passed but she was elderly and needed help with repairs. It was vacant at the time and no one had lived at the property for about 20 plus years. My aunt lived in the same town but not at this house. It consisted of two large expansive fields and a small two bedroom farmhouse. It was on an isolated country back road and there was only one trailer on the property beside the house. My dad would spend every other weekend up there working on fixing up the house and general maintenance on the farm. We lived about an hour and a half away so my mom and I never went with him except for when we'd go to family reunions in the area. Every time I went, I felt so creeped out. The house was small but very old and had no updates done to the interior yet. It just had a very heavy feel to it and I felt like I'd see something if I looked over my shoulder too fast like someone was always watching. I probably took about three trips up there while I was a teenager and I made sure that I shared a bed with my mom every time. I think we were both creeped out but felt better having someone to hold on to. My dad slept by himself in the other bedroom, a little about the layout. When you walked into the front door, the first bedroom where my mom and I slept was to the left. It was just big enough for the bed and a dresser and that's about it. The formal dining room was on the right and as you walked down a very short hallway, you walked into an open room that was the main sitting area and the second bedroom where my dad stayed was on the left. Past the living room was the kitchen in small dining area. The room my dad stayed in was much larger than where my mom and I stayed and for some reason the light switch was on the other side of the room from the door. My dad is an electrician so I don't know why that wasn't the first thing he fixed when he started working up there because that for sure would be my first move. Fast forward to about five to six years after my dad completed the work on the farmhouse and he gets a call from a random number. When he answers, it's a man who says he knows my dad's aunt. I don't know all the details of how this happened but apparently he had been breaking into the farmhouse when my dad was there working on it and staying there. I'm not sure if he figured out where a spare key was or if the doors and blocks were just so old that you could get in somehow but my dad told me the story once and never wanted to talk about it again. He said the man told him that he'd found God and was trying to write his wrongs. He told my dad, quote, I was in the bedroom when you came in one time and I was thinking fast on what I do if you turned on that light and saw me there unquote. Apparently my dad was just going into the bedroom to put something away or get something and didn't need the overhead light on for it so the man was just laying there on the bed waiting to see if he'd get caught if my dad turned the light on. It gives me chills just thinking about someone hiding in the room debating on hurting my dad. From the rest of the combo it sounded like the man tried to stay there when he knew my dad wasn't coming up but timed it wrong this time and was there the same weekend. My dad said he did notice that the food he bought seemed to disappear fast but just assumed my aunt might have taken some with her when she'd stop to check in on him. Because why would he think some man who'd been living in the house had also been eating the food. There was a lot of family drama with my aunt but my dad helped her out on the principle of him caring about his grandparents property and that she was family but my mom and I both suspected she might have known this was happening. I don't know how long this was going on for how many times he was there in the house my dad was or even if he'd been there when my mom and I were staying there too. If he was purposely staying there when my dad wasn't I think he'd hide in the other bedroom which is why I think my dad showing up this particular weekend scared him because it was out of his normal schedule. This story still creeps me out and I don't like to think about it too much but I had to share when you mentioned you were looking for frogger stories. If my story makes it to the pod thanks for reading and listening I love listening to girls while I crochet and have been a fan for about two years now wishing you all the best and plenty of spooky stories to come Aaron. First of all listening for two years is actually crazy when we just started this like two days ago. Yes. Actually it's been almost three years. That is disgusting. That is crazy. It is. It does not feel like that but anyway. So thank you for being here. I don't think I've ever thought about what happens when you catch them. What happens when you walk in when you weren't supposed to be home and they're in the fridge? Do they run out or do they attack you? I didn't consider the attacking option. I think about that every time I like punch my shower curtain when I walk into the bathroom. Like what if someone actually is in there? Yeah. Yeah. And I've said it and I'll say it a million times getting a shower that doesn't have a shower curtain for the first time in my life has literally like lower to my anxiety level. Yeah. Because it's just like the door, the little glass door can be hiding in there. I can see straight in there and it it gives me comfort but that really is scary when you think about it because if they're a frogger they're down on their lock. They're desperate in some way if they're breaking into your home. I mean the first guy had a knife. I like I never it scares me and I never was even considering the like the danger of them snacking or coming after you. Yeah. It just scared me knowing that someone was like watching that someone else was there. This is this is really terrible. Thanks. We have more. I'm about to send Ryan into the garage in the attic to check after this because I'm not going to sleep well until he does. I second that. Oh my gosh. All right. We'll move on to our next one. This one's from Julia titled Frogger or Haunted Home. Hi friends. My name is Julia and I'm a huge fan. I listen to you all the time and especially on my drives to and from San Antonio and Waco. Sorry if this is too long and feel free to use it on the pod if you'd like. Woo Texas!
For starters, I'm at military spouse and move around fairly often, but for a solid couple of years, while in Kansas, I couldn't tell if my home was haunted, or secretly had someone else living there that I had no clue about. Everything started as soon as we moved in. I just had the most eerie feeling, almost like a sixth sense that something was going on. The first couple of nights that we were there, we were sleeping on an air mattress, barely had anything in the house, and when we would go to sleep, I would lock our bedroom door and barricade it with all our suitcases and then put the air mattress on the other side. I just had this horrible feeling that something bad was going to happen, or that something or someone was lurking. It was validating that on our second day there, our cat Percy, who is the sweetest fat cat ever, started growling and puffing up at the coat closet under the stairs. Oh no. It turns out that this closet had a small door in the back that led to a tiny creepy hole in the house somewhere. As creepy as it was, it would soon feel so much worse, because at the end of our first week, we woke up and brought our cat and dog downstairs for the day to find that not only was our front door wide open, but so was the coat closet and the tiny door at the back. After this happened, naturally we got a security system with cameras for the interior and exterior. Everything else seemed to settle down a little bit for a while, but all of a sudden, at night, we would be in bed sleeping and be woken up by incredibly loud crashes. It would sound like someone swooped their hand over a fully set dining table and just let everything crash to the ground. We would check our cameras and wouldn't see anything out of place. We would go downstairs, check the house out and wouldn't find anything. It started to make us feel like we were going crazy. Until one night, I was awake when it happened. My sister and I were downstairs putting together a puzzle. It was probably almost four o'clock in the morning. When all of a sudden, this incredibly loud noise, it sounded sort of like a popping and crashing ring through the air. It was loud enough that I screamed, and my sister said, "Nope, I'm going home instead of spending the night." We couldn't tell where it came from, but it was so loud that it woke my husband. Or that could have just been my screaming. At this point, I started feeling like maybe it wasn't a frogger. Even though I would have put money on it when we first moved in, because in the middle of the night, our dresser drawers and their handles started being messed with, and we could hear it. At first, I thought it was just the dog, which now feels like a silly excuse, but I had no explanation when we would wake up with multiple drawers all the way open. And then one night, while we were laying in bed, my husband was fast asleep. It sounds fake, saying it out loud, but I swear, I saw a tiny blue orb right above the bed. It moved around just a little bit, stood still, but as soon as I sat up to get a better look, it darted off into the darkness. Things took a little bit of a turn when we felt like it was targeting me. Anybody who knows me knows that I will go to the end of the earth for my pets, and we think whatever was in the house knew that. Because one night, while I was brushing my teeth, my husband goes, "Babe, go get the cat." He's meowing at the end of the hall. Once I finished, I could hear him meowing, too. I go get my glasses from the nightstand, just to see my cat crawled up on the side of the bed. Even though I could hear him meowing from the hall still, we just shut the door, locked it, and went to sleep like nobody heard a thing. I just had a disgusting thought. Better to pretend like it's not that, right? I just had the like, humans can lick, too, kind of thought. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Imagine at the end of the hallway, it's just some dude that's been living in your attic going, like, "Meow, meow." Just messing with you. Trying to get you out there. Yeah. Oh my god. My feet in my legs and my knees and stuff just went numb. Yeah, it's not good. That's a horrible thought. Oh my god. Soon after this, my husband went on a rotation for six months, and I went straight to the church and asked the priest if he could bless the home. It sounds cliche, but after he was finished, the house did feel better, but I was so wrong. Because a couple of days later, I woke up with scratches, and I have no idea how they got there. And one day, I woke up at five o'clock in the morning to my bedroom door, slamming shut, and I was the only one in the house. I hope this email finds you and gives you that same sort of chill that it gave me as I wrote this. If you're interested, I also have a video of my curtains opening like the ghost was trying to take a peek outside, and then the curtains falling back into place, I can definitely send that your way. Thank you so much for doing what you do. And please never stop because I don't know what I would do. Yes, we should do another proof episode. I was thinking that the other day, again, other like, send us the photos and videos you have because that was fun. Yeah. So PSA, you can have proof, send those for a proof episode. That is so terrifying. That is so scary. And I'm so glad you're okay. They said that was in Kansas. Yes, I think thank God you're out of there. That is horrifying. I agree. All the doors being open. Mm-hmm. Door closet and tiny whole door. They ran out. That is disgusting. And then they somehow were back. I mean, the little blue orb thingy is, I mean, like it makes it all feel paranormal, but I don't know. It's possible to be a mix. It could be just like an old house that had like a haunting or something, but this is horrible. I've heard a lot of stories of people saying like the base housing is very haunted. Yeah. At a lot of places. Yeah, a lot of people even have stories like that. Yeah. Yeah. But we'll move on to our next story. This one's from Maddie. I'm AC and Natalie. My name is Maddie. First of all, I must say that I'm obsessed with your podcast. I don't really have any paranormal experiences. And honestly, that's okay with me. I believe in ghosts the same way that Natalie does. In that, no, I don't. Yes. They exist when I'm safe in bed and nowhere else. Since I haven't seen a ghost, imagine my sheer excitement when you requested "Roger Stories" for Natalie's birthday. And I have one. So allow me to begin. And please feel free to share it on the pod. My dad's cousin, my uncle, has a beach house down in North Carolina. They don't live their full time. They live about two hours away. But my uncle goes down here and there to check in on the house, maintenance, etc. For some background, the island this house is on. Used to be tiny. My dad's side of the family has been going to the beach there since my dad was a kid, so for 50 plus years. The island used to be super secluded. No grocery stores or gas stations or shops or even central hair air and electricity. Obviously, it's now classic, overcrowded beach town. Anyway, this house is second from the end of the canal that opens up to the sound. The house on the corner next door on the corner of the canal and the sound was the same sort of vacation home that my uncle has, but the owners come down much less often due to a living far away. So this house was empty four months out of the year. Apparently, there was a man living in the house for months. Full on living there, using the kitchen, sleeping in the bed, showering in the bathroom, all of it. The owners didn't know for months, like five or six months. This whole time, my uncle was in his house next door to check on the house probably once a month and had no idea there was a frogger in the house. Eventually, the owners check their cameras at the house and sell this man coming in and out and roaming around the house. They called the police and he was arrested. But I always think, what if he chose my uncle's house? What made him choose the house next door? So scary. I know it's kind of short and unaventful, but it's so terrifying to me. Thanks for reading, and I love you girls. So much best, Maddie. Oh, um, no, I'm still spooked. It's scary. It's a scary thought. I feel like something in my brain has been unlocked in like the oh my god. Froggers are actually dangerous zone of my brain because yes, because like I said, I've never even considered that they could be desperate or I thought that was the main fear here. That's the main reason I don't like that. I didn't even I don't even cross my mind that they could be out to like get you if you caught them. I just was like, ooh, creepy. Someone in my house watching me sleep or you know, yeah. I didn't think like, oh, what if they have a knife? What if they have a weapon? Yeah, this is much worse for me. Now, I do feel kind of bad that I made it worse, I guess. It's real like I'm not even joking. Ryan is going to the attic as soon as we leave immediately. Yes. On to the next one, this one is anonymous again. Hello, ladies. I've been a listener since the beginning and I'm so excited about the growth you've had in your channel. You all keep me entertained while doing chores or crocheting. Thank you for sticking with us for so long. Thank you. A few videos ago, you ask for Frogger stories for Natalie's birthday and boy, do I have one for you? This is not my own story, but a story from an old coworker. We worked in the home decor store and often talked about spirituality and the paranormal during lulls in our shifts. She was an older woman who lost her husband in her 20s in a tragic car accident. He left behind her and their four young children. After his passing, she had to find a cheaper place to live. She found an older house spacious and beautiful that was surprisingly in her price range. She said she was suspicious of the cost, but was so desperate to find a house large enough for her children. She shoved her doubt to the back of her mind. She got the home and shortly after she moved in, she started hearing things around the house, most often when she was either in the home alone or after everyone was in bed. Reeking like footsteps, thuds, sometimes even hushed whispers that she couldn't understand. She also noted a faint smell of urine around the house, which she talked up to the previous owners having, maybe having animals since there were some scratches on the old wood floors that looked like claw marks. She said one room was colder than all the others, which was on since this home did not have central air conditioning and it was summertime in Texas. Most of the time, the temperature in the house was too warm, but this one bedroom felt as if it had a 20 degree difference. The kids soon started hearing the noises too, and would wake their mom up in the night scared. One even said she saw a woman with long hair standing on the far side of her room in the middle of the night. My coworker was fearful, but re-earned.
I assured her daughter that it was probably a dream. My coworker shoved that fear into the back of her mind too. My coworker told me that one day, about a month after they moved in, she was in the home alone. Her kids were with family members and she was cleaning and continuing to unpack things from the move. She was in her bedroom when she heard a woman's blood-curt-linked scream from across the house, sounding like it was coming from the bedroom closest to the front door. The cold room that she left empty. She said she bolted out the back door and straight to the neighbors. She called the police from her neighbors to have the house checked. She watched the house from the neighbors window until the police officers showed up. What they found while checking the house was horrifying. There was an attic in the house that my coworker never opened. She had actually intended on putting some things up there that day after sorting through her belongings. When the officers checked the attic, a man was up there trying to hide behind the rafters. They arrested him and explained to my coworker he may have been living up there for months, and before she moved in. There was evidence of food, food wrappers, numerous bottles and containers with human waste in them. The man was filthy and emaciated. The officers revealed to her that this man was the previous owner of the home, but was sentenced to prison for murdering his girlfriend in the house the year before my coworker moved in. Oh my god! He had escaped from prison three months prior. I guess no one had thought that he would return to the house since it was on the market. Hello. Apparently he was taking leftover food from the trash can in the middle of the night to survive. Sorry, there's more, but I'm giving you time to react. No one thought, hey, let's check his home. I know. Where else would he go? That is the place he would go first, right? This is horrible. My coworker said she and her children stayed with family members immediately after that. She couldn't afford to sell the house and find a new place, but she did have a priest come bless the home to clear any negative energy. She believes the woman was murdered in the room that was cold, and that the claw marks in the wood floor could potentially be from the woman fighting for her life. She was likely who my coworker's daughter saw in her room. The sounds she had been hearing were likely a combination of the ghost woman and her frogger murderer living upstairs in the attic. My coworker also suspects that the blood curdling scream was the woman trying to warn her not to go into the attic that day. Oh my god. The man was sent back to prison to serve his life's sentence. After the blessing of the home, my coworker and her kids moved back in. The cold room was no longer cold, and she felt a sense of peace in the home. She didn't hear any other creepy noises for the rest of the time she lived there. She did eventually sell the home when the kids got older, but she said that experience still haunts her. She doesn't know whether that man would have murdered her too had she found him in the attic herself. I hope this didn't freak you out too much, but when I heard a call for frogger stories, I knew this one would be perfect to send in, since it also had a hint of paranormal in it. Have a great day and stay spooky, anonymous. Man, coworkers always have the most insane stories, truly. I had a coworker once that told me a story about three men breaking into her home when she was by herself asleep with her kids in the home too. Oh, that's so scary. Broken her house still to this day have never been caught, and they held her in her room tied her up. It was a whole thing. Whole thing. Yeah. And she was telling me the story because we were staying overnight at an event, and she had a route like someone that was in the hotel with her, and they came in super late. And she woke up like terrified. Oh, she has PTSD from them breaking into her home while she's sleeping, tying her up and trying to rob them and stuff. Yeah. And so to this day, they have no idea who it was. They're just out there. They're so scary. Co-worker stories. Oh, my gosh. We should do. We should do a coworker episode. Your best coworker gossip. No, not even gossip. Just like the most insane, like scary, either paranormal or crime or whatever story that a coworker has told you. Okay. Because you'll be sitting like slow day at work, huh? Let me tell you about this traumatic event that happened to me. And then you'll go about your day going like a customer. Yep. Right. Sometimes I like people and like the humans, sometimes humans are so funny because like, what do you mean? I barely know you, but I'm going to tell you the most traumatic thing that's ever happened to me. So this story was so terrifying. But the woman protecting them, keeping the room cold, screaming, making sure she did not go in the attic that day. That makes me want to cry. She was like, I lost my life, but I'm not going to let him take anybody else. That makes like my stomach hurt and I'm so glad the kids weren't there. I think it's for me. It's not even about myself. It's the thought of some stranger in my home with my children at night while I am vulnerable and sleeping and I can't protect them. And because not everybody's sleeping in the same bed? No. They have their own beds in their own room. Yeah. Ooh. See, I'm too paranoid to have a child. I wouldn't be able to survive. It's honestly scary. I don't know how you all do it. I think about my dogs and I know my dogs are safe inside, doors are locked, windows are locked, they have colors on. If somehow they were to be able to escape so people could call me and tell me like this is where your dog is. Yeah. I don't know how you'll do it with children. Because I'm thinking about my dogs all day like, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. There's like a separation you have to do to not drive yourself crazy, I think. I don't have whatever trait that is in me. I just don't have it. I'm worried all the time, I'm on everything. Is it going to make it any better? No, this is honestly like such a bad day to do this. We're recording this on Monday. That's such a bad day. I'm sorry. It's so much worse. Okay. We'll move away. We're moving away from Froggers and into Areselli's story. This is scary. I'm sorry, Natalie, but an evil entity got me and I'm here to share my experience. It got you? Okay. We're warning here, so if you can't handle this stuff, totally get it, skip on to the next story. Self-harm, suicidal ideation, essay, and PTSD. So there are talks of that in this story. Is this the last story or are there multiple at the end with ghostly? There are a couple, um, palate cleansers at the end. Okay. One scary, one palate cleanser. Okay. Cool. Hi, ghosties. My name is Areselli and I'm not sure if you've had a chance to see my previous email, but I couldn't wait to send you this one. So sorry for spamming you. I'm gonna have to apologize for that, send me all of your stories, every single one I want to hear them. I've never spoken about this to anyone, but my brother's now ex. So this is kind of raw and still makes me shake when I think about it. But I'm finally at a point in my life where I feel like I'm ready to share it. I often hear you guys talking about what happens to a person when a ghost gets you. So I thought I'd share my experience with you. Natalie, I'm so sorry for what you're about to hear. Okay. But I promise you that you are doing everything right to protect yourself. So you don't need to worry. I'm also constantly saying protection pairs for both of you because you are both too precious to have anything bad happen to you. Like, I will find a way to fist fight whatever ghost tries to haunt you. No, don't do it. I'm too emotional. That is so nice. I'm way too emotional. That is so kind of you. Thank you so much. Anytime anyone says that they are praying, sinning positive vibes, doing whatever it is for protection towards us too, I feel like it makes my heart hurt. I really feel like since we started the pod, the amount of good energy we've had sent our way has genuinely positively impacted my life. And I'm not joking. And positivity is community like 99.9% of the people who are here and watching and commenting are just here for the positivity and they match the vibe and I like it. It breaks me out because you hear so many stories of people getting such negative hate, mean comments. And we rarely get them knock on wood. Yeah. But it's just like, I genuinely, it's already be like, happy for a minute, but I really feel like since starting the pod, my life has improved because of the good energy that is sent our way. Yeah. Why am I going to cry? Okay. Never mind. Let's get him back to his story. Okay, ladies. Buckle up and grab your blankets. It's going to be a long, wild ride. To recap, I've been a practicing witch for 80% of my life. But I've never used a Ouija board or dabbled with demons while I do work with gods of death. They are in no way demonic and my soul focus is in working with them is helping lost souls find their way to peace and bringing peace to their living loved ones. My sister however did everything you shouldn't. She never gave me specifics, but she did tell me not to piss her off or she would make my life miserable. I didn't believe her, so I didn't do much in the way of personal protection against spirits, which was my first mistake. When I was 17, my sister would come and go, sometimes staying at home, sometimes staying with her boyfriend. As I mentioned in my previous email, her room was just a cesspool of negativity, chains rattling, the doorknob shaking, pounding on the door from inside her room when she wasn't home, stuff like that. I would generally brush these occurrences off because at this point in time, it was mostly confined to her room. I preferred to stay in my own bedroom and read books, meditate, listen to music, work on stories, and just have a good nap. My mom worked most of the time, my younger brother played video games in his room, or was at his friend's house, and my older brother and his boyfriend were in the process of moving out in-between working, so I was often home alone. I should have known something was wrong when my candles would sputter out for no reason. I liked to write at night by candlelight, you know, angsty emo teen going for the full gothic aesthetic. I ignored it and just talked it up to burning my candles for too long. I continued to ignore the signs, knocking, lights flickering, whispering in the middle of the night, shadow figures out of the corner of my eye, etc. As the hauntings began to ramp up, so did my depression. I became so depressed that I was self-harming and content.
some plating suicide. And I basically became a shell of myself. I would lie in bed for hours and stare at the ceiling, but I wouldn't see anything but darkness. - Darkness. - That scared you guys out. - No joke, that scared me. - Oh my God. She just said darkness and the computer died. One moment, intermission. I honestly thought that if I died, it would be okay. Like I felt like my whole family would be better off without me. And I wasn't too sure if I wanted to keep going. Looking back, I think by this point, whatever evil was in the house, had a firm grasp on me mentally. One night I was home alone. It was close to midnight. I had a candle burning because my mom bless her soul. She had her own struggles and wasn't the best parent at this time, hadn't paid the power bill. And I was setting my battery power to alarm clock for the morning. I remember setting my clock back on my bedside table and feeling a sudden shift in the room. It was the middle of fall, but I live in North Georgia, so it was cool, but not embarrassably so. But when I felt that shift in the air, I also felt something entered the room. And it felt like pure evil. I swear, the temperature had to drop at least 15 degrees. And I saw a movement across the room where my door was. To this day, I can't really put into words exactly what I saw. The best way I can describe it is a black mask, but it also was oddly human-shaped. Almost like I was looking at a person, but the edges were blurred and hazy. I remember feeling a primal fear, but I couldn't move. And I wasn't sure what I would do if I could move, because my windows were these weird, roll-open 1970s windows that a person couldn't fit through. So to get out of my room, I would have to move this thing out of the way and go through the door. I could hear a voice, but it wasn't speaking out loud. I heard it in my head. It told me that it could take my pain away if I came with it, that it would, quote, "Heal my weary soul," if I just, quote, "gave in." Oh, no. Ladies, by this point in my life, I was exhausted. I had been abused as a child. We never had a stable source of food, water, or power because my mom and dad were fighting, and he wouldn't help with the bills. Allegedly, I think my mom was using the money for drugs. And I was always sick. I'm talking passing out for no reason, sudden flu-like symptoms, missing 50% of school, because I just couldn't move sick. There's a lot more that was happening in my life, but to be honest, I've blocked out a lot of it. I was tired to my bones. So in my mind, I said, okay. One minute, thing was across my room. And as soon as I said, okay, it was directly in front of me. I could feel hands all over my body, but the ones that I focused on the most were the ones on my neck. I felt like I was being strangled, but not physically strangled. It was more like the version of me inside myself was being killed, like my soul was being forced out of my body, and this thing was taking over. I kept hearing the same phrase repeated over and over again. I can help you. I'll make the pain go away, et cetera. And I believed it. I remember being gone when I felt someone else in the room. It was weird because I knew I was home alone, but there was someone in the room besides me and the thing. I didn't recognize him, but he was waving his arms and yelling at me. I couldn't hear him, but the desperation on his face caught me off guard. He looked like he wanted to come closer, but something was stopping him. I don't know why, and honestly, I'm still confused when I think about it, but a part of me kind of woke up. It was almost like I had been looking at the scene from around me, and I was suddenly snapped back into my own body. My fight or flight finally kicked in, and I jumped up and away from the thing. There was this loud screeching, wailing, and the thing that had been on me charged at me. I don't really remember what happened after that, but the next thing I knew, I was outside and running down the road away from the house. I could actually hear the sound of the wailing as I ran. I swear, that sound still haunts my dreams, and makes me sweat when I think about it. I stayed outside until my brother's boyfriend got home from work at 8.20. He was confused because I was sitting outside in a t-shirt and shorts in mid-October, and was shivering. I told him everything, and we cried together. Then we sat, and he prayed with me. He prayed to God, and I prayed to my gods, and I could just feel this overwhelming sense of peace. I was still hesitant to go inside, but by this point, I was freezing, starving, and had to pee, so I caved and went inside. My room was just as I had left it, but now it wasn't as cold, and I didn't feel any negativity. My brother's boyfriend took me to a pagan shop we had in town at the time, and we bought all sorts of crystals before hitting up Walmart for herbs. Whatever works, right? I poured my heart into making a protection charm and hid it behind a dresser so that it wouldn't be disturbed. I'll be honest, guys. I could still feel the presence of the house, but it was never able to come into my room after that, and it didn't seem to have the strength that it did before. My sister moved out a few months later, and I opened all the doors and windows and staged the F out of our house. The whole time I'm doing this, I can hear the voice I did that night, but it sounded distant, weaker, and by the time I finished the cleansing, it was gone. That house is still haunted, but it's by the man that died in the house before my dad bought it. I actually think he was the man that broke me out of the thing's pool and saved me as strange as that may seem. I think that when I started practicing my craft and trying to communicate with lost spirits, he took it upon himself to protect me. I don't know if it's because he watched me grow up in the house or that I would include him in everything I did when I was younger and still talk to him when I visit, but I truly think he was the one that pulled me back. Sometimes, especially when I'm outside at night, I can feel the presence of the thing looking for a way back in. Lately, there's been a lot of knocking on my window when I'm home alone. That startles my dog and makes my cat hiss. He's such a chill dude that hasn't hissed since we brought him inside over a year ago. I can just feel in my bones that it still stalks me to this day. However, I'm happy to say that not even a year after that initial incident, I met my now husband in environmental science class and we've been together ever since. He helped me overcome myself harming, showed me how to love myself, and even stepped up when I got pregnant right out of high school. Now we have a beautiful, albeit annoying, 16-year-old son, and we just celebrated our 17th anniversary together. I have also worked on my mental health and I'm thrilled to say that with the help of medication, I'm the happiest I've ever been and finally truly love myself and all my imperfections. I've started taking online classes again and I'm working on getting my creative writing degree because I love writing stories. Mostly paranormal smut, go figure. I say all this because I know for a fact that the thing used my depression to feed on me and that the more depressed I became, the stronger it got. Natalie, you are 100% right that having a strong will and just being positive keeps evil at bay. For a brief moment when it had total control of my body, I saw what it wanted. Death. Ooh, I was to be the first. Then my younger brother, then my mom, it just wanted to cause as much harm and pain as possible. Wanted to feed off the negativity until it became strong enough to hurt someone without needing to feed off the depression and sadness. I know that this is a wild story to believe and it's totally okay if you don't believe it, but I know what I experienced. I think that this is something that I will be fighting off until the day I die, but that's okay. I know my value. I know I'm loved and I know that being here brings joy to my loved ones. I'll never be in the headspace that I was in before so I know that it can try all at once, but it'll never have that kind of power over me again. Anyways, I'm sorry for the long email, but I just had to get this off my chest. I know that someone out there is struggling too, but please believe me when I say that you are valued, you are cherished and we go, Steve's love you and are happy about to cry. Oh my gosh, okay, and we go, Steve's love you and are so happy that you're still with us. Thank you ladies for your wonderful podcast and keep up the great work. You have a whole community behind you and we love you very much. Endless love, Araceli. Oh no, oh no, oh my gosh, thank you. Hard to agree to all of that. You are loved, you are cherished, you are valued, you mean so much to the world and the people around you and us and if you are ever feeling that down and dark and depressed, please, please reach out to somebody because all of that is true, you are cherished and you belong here and it always gets better. Yeah, I don't want to say words 'cause I don't want to cry. Araceli, thank you so much for trusting us with that story. So sorry, you went through so much darkness and felt that way at any point in your life. And I do believe you and I do believe you a lot like one because you're here and I believe like all of our listeners, but also because when you are in that state of depression and you're feeling that bad, that's when the things can get you. So I have 100% believe that story and that was horrifying. And the fact that there was that man that used to live in the house that was like, hey, don't, don't, don't. Get out of it, yeah. That whole story made me want to cry. I'm unwell, scary, emotional and I'm so glad you have a happy ending, Araceli. It ended up being a beautiful story at the end. I'm so glad you found your worth because you have value. You have so much value to this world. Oh, yep. Okay, well, we have a couple short little things. First, a spooky picture that I just felt like was a good way to end the story. And then second, a major palate cleanser. Okay, great. Great. So this is from Bear. Hello, girls. My husband recently found a studio space in our old textile factory. It has really long and creepy corridors. Some parts have flickering motion sensor lights and some no lights at all. Sound also travels weird here. For now, just wanted to share a photo of one of the corridors.
- Nothing creepy has happened yet. Love your podcast, bear. - Ooh, okay, nothing creepy has happened yet at this location that we will show in three, two, one. - Oh, you're lying. - Existing, looking like that is creepy. If you're not watching on YouTuber Spotify, we have video on Spotify and YouTube, by the way. - Yes. - This is, when you think haunted factory hallway, this is that photo. It's like at any moment, a shadow figure's gonna peek around or something's just gonna run straight at you from down the hall. You're gonna hear the steps before you see the person coming. - Yeah. - That is sick. - There's something in the world about that photo. - But don't go there. We have one final thing. - Do not make unnecessary journeys. Like, you know that sound? - I do. - Don't go there. - All right. - Oh my god. - But to cleanse the palette of everyone and to send you on your way for the best birthday. - Okay. - This email is titled "Animals." It just says, "My animals, thanks, ghosties." - Ah! Oh my goodness. - A little slideshow of all of the cutie little babies. - Oh, look at those little puppies. - Oh, I love an orange cat. - A beautiful, with the canes uniform, shadow canes. - Shadow canes, I wanna go get canes right now. - Me too. - Oh my God, how many are there? - Are those little chicks? - Chicks. Cute. - Oh, there's a kitty that looks kind of like a cat that we all have. - Our old cat, yeah. - Can I come live with you? - Look at that guy! - The dog with the sunglasses. - He's so cool. - This is so cute. - Guys, okay, so if you're only listening, click on Spotify, click on YouTube, go look because this was the perfect palette cleanser. - Yes. - It's literally just someone's animals. And I appreciate that. - Thank you. - I needed that. Thank you so much. - It's been a crazy day emotionally for me. And it needed that ending, yeah. Wow, I'm always, you know what? It's always on a day where I am feeling so dark and down and emotional and just, wow, anything could make me snap, good or bad. That someone puts in there like, the ghostiest community loves you, like, stay and they're being all inspirational to each other and it always makes me like, mm-hmm. - Makes you feel a little better. - But thank you guys for sending in all those stories. - Yes, thank you for thinking of Natalie and her deepest darkest fears. - Yeah, thank you. And it's only been deepened now. - Good. - Unfortunately. - Good and bad. I do feel kind of bad actually. This is the first time that I actually genuinely feel bad about. - Is it just 'cause of the day I had where you got here or just 'cause I'm terrified? - The terror. - A good terror. - I do feel bad, but you knew what you were signing up for. - I did, I did. We've been doing it for a while and I am sick to my stomach. So if you have any stories that you think we'll chill Natalie to her bones, please email us. It's
[email protected]. It's also written in our description down below. Like this video if you liked it. Share it with your friends if you feel compelled to do so and subscribe for more. We have a lot of fun research episodes coming. It's next month. It's getting spooky season. It's October, it's October, it's fall. Things are looking up guys. - Yes, it's gonna be good. I have a lot of really exciting things coming. Also, if you're still here, please comment a birthday cake for Natalie. Send her all the candles and cakes. - 27 birthday cakes in the comments. - Yes, it's gonna be a long haul. - Oh my gosh. I'm up for it, I'm up for it. - Other than that, we will see you on the day. Goodbye. (gentle music)
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