190. Reddit Scary Stories: The Darkest Things Hiding in Plain Sight (feat. Angela Giarratana & Morgan Absher)

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You can explore my digital cookbook, Kalins Cookbook, for free at HungryRoot.com/HSP. And for a limited time, get 40% off your first order, plus a free item in every box for life with code HSP. Today, we're going to dive into some very spooky, very bizarre reddit stories. And joining me are my two friends Angela Giratana and Morgan Apture. But quick, first before we dive in, I just want to say thank you to all of the teachers out there in our HRSA's pounding community. HRSA's pounding was actually able to support over 40 classroom wishless all from teachers within our community. I really mean it when I say thank you for listening. You guys are the reason this show exists. And I hope that every teacher out there has an amazing start to the school year. Okay, this is HRSA's pounding. I'm Kayla Moore. We upload once a week, so make sure you're subscribed. It's when your heart starts pounding. Welcome, guys. We're doing it. Okay, Morgan's got on the show before. But like, HRSA's pounding listeners have been asking you for so long. Oh my god. Highly requested. I'm popping my heart starts pounding to cherry. That was it. Yes. Yes. I cannot wait. And everyone's so excited to watch it. I have some spooky stories for us today, which I'm really excited about. But Angela, have you experienced anything spooky? And I say when I say spooky too, I don't necessarily mean paranormal. I'm like, was there like a let's not meet type situation that you've ever been in? Oh, yeah. Something where your heart started pounding. See, I grew up in the church. So all my heart started pounding is like, is that the Holy Spirit? Or the devil? Or the Catholic church? No. Like non-denominational hipster church. The worst kind. Where are you from? I'm from the valley here. Oh, interesting. Was it like a mega church type situation? Yeah, a little bit. A little bit. Okay. Yeah. Like a hill songy type. But it was like there were a lot of cool ladies that were like open yourself up to feel the Holy Spirit in different ways. Yeah. And then sometimes you're like, are we feeling the Holy Spirit or is this house haunted? Yeah, for sure. I mean, so I grew up Catholic and then my husband grew up like Texas evangelical. So we had straight up demons and Catholicism. And you were always kind of on the lookout for them. And like there was like a guy that could go to your house and like exercise the demons. And then Matt grew up more like people speaking in tongues. Yes. Revival. That kind of which also is its own kind of like spooky supernatural thing. Yes. Yeah. Two. Well, okay. So I have a couple stories that I want to read us today. Some of them are super natural. I have this thing recently. I don't know what it is, but I feel like my sensibilities are getting a little darker. Like I'll start looking for stories. And then I look at the list together. I'm like, some of these are really messed up. I don't think people will enjoy listening to them. So they actually might get darker as they go. But we'll start with some of the really bizarre ones. I have, okay, I actually I'm going to read this one first because you mentioned being in the church. So initially we're kind of in the middle of what I call dark summer. Like at summertime, I'm doing a lot of stories on hard starts pounding that have to do with like islands and shipwrecks and kind of summary things. And this story when I read it reminded me a lot of one of my favorite movies mid-summer. Favorite? Yeah. That's like on your top. Yeah. Like letterbox top four. If I ever got that letterbox, like my phone chopped up to my face, I would say mid-summer. So I wasn't going to say anything, but then Morgan said something. I'm sorry. I was like, I never know anyone that's like, I love that movie. It definitely it's summer. It really ties to me. I had nightmares for weeks. Really? Oh, yeah. But is it like a comfort watch for you? I guess kind of, I think it's one of those movies. What I love about it is it feels like every time you watch it, you pick out more. There's so much. Yeah. There's a bad piece of art. As a piece of art, you know, like there's a bare suit out there and then you're seeing like in her house, there's like a picture of a bear and you're like the whole thing is so intentionally put together and as a breakup movie, it's great. Yeah. Like their relationship, I thought was so well constructed. And it's up, which I love. You know, like that's the stuff that I like. Yeah. No. When you put it that way, okay. I can get on board for it. It is like for your passion for it. Yeah. It's very beautiful. It feels like it does feel like a plan. Florence, her breakout role. I love her. Oh my god. The cast is so good. But so this one is called, I thought my brother was being tricked into joining an MLM, but now I think it was a cult or something. This is from Reddit. It was, I have it initially as it was posted in best of Reddit updates in March of 22. Okay. So this is the story. Starts. I don't even really know where to start to be honest, but me, female 28 and my brother, male 25, have always been very close considering that we're only three years apart in age and we started hanging out with the same friend, circle and our mid teens. I did move back in with my parents. It's a long story and my brother has been living in a house down the road from my parents home for the past four years. He works from home, but only has a part-time job and he hates his job. He came over about a month ago for coffee during his lunch break. So we were chatting and he told me how his friend had set him up on a blind date. He was really excited. He went on the date a few nights ago and I heard all about it the next day. I'm going to call this girl Sarah. He told me Sarah was gorgeous. She was a year older than him, tall and slim. She had long blonde hair and green eyes. He said she's probably one of the most beautiful women he's ever met. I was so happy for him because I don't think he's had a girlfriend since he was 18 and the way he was talking about this girl made it sound like they really got along. He brought up that at the end of the day. She did ask him if he would like to meet her aunt and her sisters because he'd mentioned that he was unhappy with his work life and that she and her family have their own business. I thought that was weird, but he sounded really excited about it. I did make my feelings known telling him it kind of sounded like it was an MLM and like they were going to try to recruit him. He just laughed it off and he said that he was going to go around to the house to discuss it and if it was an MLM, he would nope right out of there. I said okay, be safe, have fun. Call me if you need anything, etc. A few days passed and I sent him a text asking how it went and he replied saying it definitely wasn't an MLM. There were more people there than just Sarah's sister and aunt though. He said there were around 11 women there and he was the only guy. He said that there was a lot of Catholic imagery around the house. We're in Ireland so I didn't really suspect anything of this to be honest, but also there were like weird wooden masks on the walls and locks of hair inside of frames that they said belonged to deceased relatives. He got there and they made him some tea and then all the women were just chit-chatting until the aunt, not really their aunt, just a woman in her late 40s, came out and told them all to be quiet. They all took their seats, including my brother who sits down next to Sarah and the aunt begins to speak. He said he wasn't really 100% sure what she was talking about, but it sounded like she was reading gospel passages or something. Bits of English and bits of another unidentifiable language. The aunt asked my brother to stand up beside her at the front of the living room and all the women started passing around a basket and filling it with money. Apparently soon after this collection was finished, the women started singing in this other language and then they just dispersed around the house. He said from that moment onwards it was just kind of like a regular party or get together. He was a bit baffled, but an hour later all the women had left and he was helping Sarah clean up glasses in plates when the aunt came over and sat down at the kitchen table. She handed my brother the basket of money, which he didn't take and said to him that if he comes back every week for these meetings, he'll receive that same money if not more as payment for his presence. He asked Sarah later that night once he had left what the heck had happened. She said it was a family tradition and as a man he should be rewarded and she was really adamant about him coming back the next week. He ended up not going, he blocked her on everything, but what the hell did my brother just attend? Why were they giving him money for doing nothing? Also, I just want to make it clear that I know my brother very well and he's a very honest person. He did not provide any sort of service to these women nor did they ask him to. He and I literally have no idea what any of this was about. So I want to read one of the comments that came under this because this helped make it make a lot more sense, but someone goes, this could be a fertility ritual. It's not super common, but it does sound likely. So think about it all the women in the house were of childbearing age between 18 and 30. Your brother was treated as an object rather than as a human being, which indicated he played some sort of prop role. And the whole thing sounds like it was a little bit ritualistic. I could be completely wrong, but that was my first take on it. And also, there's some, shall we say, slightly more holistic women in the southwest where I'm from and I have heard of this kind of thing before. Whoa. Yeah. I love your reaction. So he does this. There is an update of the sister who kind of sort of figured out what it is. After someone suggested it was a fertility ritual, I literally the only thing I came to mind was that movie Hereditary. - Yeah. - That one where they like do a ritual to bring the guy and their god and they put him in the boy's body. And I'm like, either way, creepy. - Yes, creepy. And he was the only guy. - Yeah. - And that he would get that bag of money. - And they were just gonna give him the whole collection thing of cash. And then what, what, what is he gonna do? Is he gonna have sex with all of them? - So that's what I was like, I was envisioning. I'm like, no one gets money for free. - Yeah, it feels like it was sort of like, like they were grooming it to become something. The author did say, so the business I found out that was run by Sarah's grandmother, basically does perform rituals every week where women who are trying to get pregnant come and essentially listen to her sermons with a man who's present so that they can absorb the masculine, whatever that means. - Whoa. - And it's supposed to help them conceive. The payment doesn't 100% go to the man, he gets 30% and then the aunt takes 70%. - Yeah, she's got it, she's got to get some money. - Yeah. - She's doing a full service. - So it is, it's weird, it's not really an MLM but there is kind of like a, like the people have to go on, like recruit this man to come in. - Yeah, that's why it made me think of mid-summer because that's basically his thing. - Yeah, pretty Sarah going out there because you're like little carrot getting dangled. - So his energy is what they need, like this masculine energy, yes. - I do wonder though if it would escalate and because it is women who are trying to get pregnant. - Like where would it end up? - Yeah. - Yeah, I wonder what the success rates are. I wonder if like she has an actual website and like we have a 72% success rate. - All you have to do is like drink tea next to like a dude, he's fine. - Yeah. - And then you get his masculine energy, you pay him a little bit of money. - Yeah, that can't be the end all because there's gotta be. - I know, that would be my fear with that. - Yeah, I mean, I've heard of crazy things that people do to get pregnant, a lot of like mucinacs. I've heard mucinacs can help you get pregnant. - Really? - Yeah, so I'm like, honestly, if you've struggled, I'm kind of like, I get it. Why you'd like, why you'd sign up. Honestly, sounds like a beautiful community of camaraderie and women going through the same thing. - Well, no, but that here's the thing though. It is one of those things where I think so many people take advantage of women who can't get pregnant and want to. And then they run scams like this where they're like, well, if you stand near this man, like we actually found that this works and all you have to do is pay us money. - Honestly, that's really good. - It's giving the acting class scene an L.A. Where all you gotta do is kind of pay money and somebody with a lot of like wisdom comes out and starts talking at you and you go, yeah. - Oh yeah. - And then go, you're in a community of people and you're all wanting the same thing. - Yeah. - And you have each other and you're leaning on each other. - You're responding over there. - And then some acting classes just pray on the week and then get you to pay for this workshop and this thing. But I mean, that's a massive jump I made, but it reminds me of like that. - Yeah, it is good. - Also a thing too, where like you sign up for this class and sometimes someone will come out and be like, I have the key to success and whatever they say, it's just so weird and off-base and it's like wrong. - But in that time, it makes sense like when people are so desperate for something that any type of confidence you're drawn to. - Yeah. - Because you're so like, I want a baby or I want a this. - Yeah. I mean, so we literally just were on two girls when we talked about Scientology because that came up. But I remember I used to work at a talent agency and I would have to go through listings every week of like auditions and I would send them to actors whatever we'd get people to go audition on set. And there were always ones that were like, have a meeting with a real manager or like round table with a big Hollywood actor, whatever you click on it. Nothing on it says Scientology, but the address is at the Scientology Center. And that's kind of how they would get people. Again, it's like your confidence, like you have the tools and you know, which is also kind of like a weird Coltie thing too. So I'm like, I think it's just like an area where if people are desperate for something, you're so susceptible to science. - You're very vulnerable. - And you don't even realize, so you don't. I wonder if Sarah, that was her name was blonde hair. - Yeah, the girl. - If she wanted a baby. - Yeah, yeah. She must, if she was part of this group. Also, there's no way the hair that was framed. That's not dead relatives. The minute I heard hair framed, I'm like, baby, baby's first haircut framed. Oh yeah. - It's gotta be baby's hair, maybe dead, even dead relatives. Like you would have been better off saying that's our first haircut from my family. - You do say the hair more. Feel like you say newborns hair more than dead people. - I have never heard of saving a deceased person's hair. - That's so true. I've never heard of that. - I'm sure is that. - Yeah, just stuck out to me. - I have heard about the baby's hair. Yeah, even now with my baby, everyone's like, when do you gotta shave his head? - When you get to keep the hair. 'Cause it also apparently makes it grow back. - No, I've wanted people to do it. - People are really like trying to get us to do it. - His hair is a little janky. Like I'm not against it, you know? - Oh. - Oh. - 'Cause back there. - Her haircut there. - Yeah. - He's like my newborns in a desperate need of a haircut. - Yeah, well we were kinda joking at first. We were like, we gotta get this guy to turkey. It was just like the half-court hairline. - Oh. - I'm like good. - So is that true though? When you shave off a baby's hair, it's gonna come back stronger. Or like thicker? - It's a cultural thing. - My gut. - It's a lot of communities. - Yes. - Yes. I think some people will bury it in the backyard also. Like that's a cultural thing. But my gut is that eventually their hair starts growing thicker anyway. - Yeah. - So you can't really say that one causes the other. - Yeah. - 'Cause I remember like in high school or middle school, we'd all be like, be careful when you shave your legs. When the first time you shave your leg, it's gonna come back really, really strong and really thick. And it was like so scary. - My mom would say that 'cause I would have to do my upper lip starting from like age 10. - Like really soft conscious of my arms. - Always was like, yeah, I'm gonna come back so thick and like you just have to be careful. - Yeah. - Is that true? - That's what I'm wondering. It's like, - I think it depends on the part of your body. - Yeah. - Yeah. I thought always thought it was like, oh, your leg hair is out and it's getting bleached by the sun. When you shave it off and it grows back, it's just darker anyways. - Oh, that makes so much worse. - That's what makes it look dark. - I don't know. - I still got dark chin hairs. - And those are getting bleached by the sun every day. And they're still dark a little bit. - You're walking around like this. - That's been the hardest part of our age. - And I think it's finding more chin hairs every week. - Ever since I had a baby, it's unreal. - Really, your chin? - No. - 'Cause I think my hormones are all messed up. - Your chin's different by chin. - Do you know how to do your boobs change? - No, I get your hairs. - That I hate. - Really? - Like a-- - Don't look, but my chin's fine, y'all. - Have you got a wax on there? - My ears? - No. - I waxed my nose recently and it was the most enjoyable experience in my life. - Enjoyable? - Mm-hmm. - I feel as painful. - No joint hurt. - Did you stick it up and didn't hurt a wink? - Wow. - But what I don't know if I could do it? - I don't know if I could do it. - Herding is one thing. Enjoying is a nice little tickle. - Oh, you just like the tickle? - Yeah. - And it's just, do you feel like I could smell colors? - I feel like I could smell colors. - Pain tolerance or low-paint tolerance? - No. - Oh, okay, I have a low-paint tolerance. - I have a high-paint tolerance. - Really? - Yeah, and I have to tell everybody. - Yeah, you know, people do like to tell you when they have a high-paint tolerance. That's me. - How'd you find that out? - A doctor once was just like, wow, that's hard. You must have a high-paint tolerance. - Wow, no, that's flattering because you know how I found out I have a low-paint tolerance. I was giving birth and the doctor came in. I was like, well, you just have a really low-paint tolerance. - Shut up. - That is a knock at the time. - Wait, you're the knock at the time. - A doctor went, you're gonna be in a baby about this. - I think it was one of the nurses. It was hard to tell I was in so much pain. But like, yeah, they're like, I guess you just have a really low-paint tolerance. - Who says that to someone giving birth? - They'll say anything to women. - I know. You're kind of being a drama queen right now. - Can you be a little more quiet? - We got people trying to sleep here. I couldn't believe it. - Can you smile? - Yeah. - Yeah. - Oh my God, yeah. It was, and they left the window open the whole time. - I mean, I guess no one could really see what was going on inside but I was just like, I felt like it was a performance, you know, the whole thing. - Yeah, you're just letting it out. - Yeah, yeah. But I'm deeply upset for you. - They don't let us rest. What can I say? - All right, shall we read another one? - Yes. - Let me read this one. Okay, this one is not from Reddit. So you might not have come across it. It's from like darkstories.net or something. I really scour the internet. - Oh, whoa. - Okay. It's just called my cousin's neighbor. So I was spending the night at one of my cousin's house. I'll call him Charlie with all my other cousins. Now I should make it clear that we're not biological relatives. We're really close and so are our parents. So it's, we're just like family, but we still got split off into boys and girls at this trip. This will make sense later. There were 11 of us, six boys and five girls. I don't know how our parents managed. Luckily, we were on a farm with quite a few acres surrounding the house. The boys would take the sunroom near the front of the house while us girls would take the toy room at the back of the house. The boys had the sunroom because it was bigger and there were more boys. The toy room where we were staying had a door leading to the backyard where we would play games, swing on the swing sets, jump on the trampoline. We spent hours out there. In our backyard, there was a small section of dense forest. On the other side of that was Charlie's neighbor's house. He was a weird old guy. I'm guessing late 40s or late 50s. He would always coincidentally be in the forest between the two houses when we kids would go and play on the trampoline, or if we were just in the backyard near the woods. First of all, he would always talk to us, especially us girls. He'd say things like, "Hello, ladies, is dad home?" And you wanna come to my house? I made some cookies you could try. Every time we would say no and we would go inside. Charlie's mom and dad both told us to not listen to him and if he came onto our property to get one of the adults. He'd been warned by Charlie's father a few times, and once Charlie's father had come out armed because the man started getting aggressive. Charlie's mom said that we could also come get her if he tried anything, but we all knew that she was just as terrified as we were of this man. She would also get constantly harassed by him when she hung out the washing or fed the dogs at night, and she would get it much worse. Things like, is your husband home? When's the last time you've been satisfied? And why don't you come by my house later? She would reply quietly and just like us go inside. One of the other times we were all staying at Charlie's, we saw her mother come in and call Charlie's father into the bedroom. Most of us were trying to hear what was happening on the other side of the door, but we heard muffled whispering and crying. Charlie's father then left with a weapon and walked out the door. Turns out the creepy man said something terrible to her mother, and we never found out what it was. We know that it was something to do with ending all of us except Charlie's mother and kidnapping her and doing God knows what to her. We tried to get the police involved, but they gave him a verbal warning and they said that they couldn't really do anything else besides that due to a lack of evidence. Now, back to what I first had experienced. We were playing on the trampoline after having a nerf war when we heard rustling in the bushes. We all went quiet and my little cousin held on to me. I asked, what was that thinking that we were about to see some deer or maybe a coyote? I used to live in Australia, so I was pretty exciting about seeing more animals, especially American animals. Charlie hushed me and told me it probably wasn't that. It was dusk. I was high on sugar and surrounded by my cousins. Being one of the oldest, I was feeling a bit brave. Who's there? I yelled. No response. Go on, show yourself my other cousin yelled. His name is Gabe, he's one of the other boys and he's probably the most outgoing in the group. Stacy, one of the girls suggested loudly that we should go inside and check on dinner. Then the other kids went in except Charlie, Felix, Gabe, and I. Like my father, I was very territorial and I wanted to protect my cousins. We waited for a while and nothing happened. No more rustling, nothing. We all got bored and headed inside. Charlie and I were the closest to the woods and I was talking to her when we both heard a voice whisper and a not-so-quiet Charlie. We both turned back white as ghosts and then we heard whistling, like slow whistling. We ran inside and we didn't tell Gabe more Felix what we had heard. Later that night, we had broken off into our makeshift bedrooms and five of us girls were watching a movie. I can't remember what we were watching. I was just looking out of the open window. I thought the neighbor was looking in the woods for a lost dog or something, but I kept seeing flashes of light. By the end of the movie, the girls were asleep except for Charlie and I and we were talking about school, boys, et cetera, when I saw a shadow of a man in the background near the trampoline, we both shot up. Could that be your dad? I asked, no, too short plus you can hear him snoring. In the silent night, we could hear the TV softly, the boys occasional laugh and her father's snoring, then through the open window, that same whistling. Charlie and I thought one of the boys was trying to scare us so we went in their room to tell them off. But when we got there, they were all watching a soccer game. They looked at us and we just turned around and headed back without a word. When we got back to that room, we saw Charlie's creepy old neighbor at the open window making that horrible whistle. I never believed freeze and fear until that very moment. Hey ladies, he smiled holding something up that looked like a box cutter, trying to rip open the screen on the window. Charlie screamed so loud that I didn't even think that was humanly possible. Everybody in that room shot up. The boys came running into the room followed by Charlie's mother and father, Charlie's father ran after the guy. As her mother called the police, Charlie's father came back about 10 minutes later. He found duct tape, rope, some sort of whip, and a lighter in that very same bush that we heard the rustling just hours before. Only God knows what he was planning to do that night. He was eventually found and he was finally arrested. He was put in jail, but I can't remember for how long. I hope it was for the rest of his life and that I never see him again. Oh my God. Yeah. I'm not okay. Heart starts pounding. I mean, it's one of those things too where you're like goosebumps. On clues, we cover so many stories where it's like, how many times is this person have to be like, say things and doing things and pretending to be a cop and pulling people over and just like all this stuff where they just technically can't get arrested for it. There's not enough there yet. And then they just go and try to do something like this. Here reminds me of the case too. Was it Elizabeth Smart who, like the cousins after Elizabeth was taken? The sister. The great saw her. Sister or cousin had someone come up to their window at night and was like trying to get in through the screen. Yeah, they tried to take her cousin too. I mean, like this is fully kidnapping. I think when the four of those kids were in the woods and he didn't go after them then, it was because he's only trying to get the one, which is probably Charlie based on, hey, Charlie. Yeah. Like you avoided kidnapping, like Charlie did. Yeah. And probably because of the numbers and then when the girls were just isolated. Yeah. That's disgusting. Or the mom, 'cause didn't he say something like, yeah, threatening to the mom, like I'm gonna kill all the kids and take you insane. Yeah. Insane. Horrible. Horrible. Yeah, this stuff, I don't, I hear, I mean, this is extreme, but now that I have a kid, I hear so much online discourse about sleepovers and particular. What do you mean, just like them being scary or? Well, parents don't do them anymore. What? Yeah. What do you mean? What do you mean? What do you mean? They're gone for a lot of people. A lot of people don't. But I mean, think about it. Because now that I have a child, I sort of get it where you're like, I don't know the parents, you don't always know the parents. Like you have to know everyone in the house. You don't know if like the older brother is weird or like the sister is, I don't know, whatever. But like those sleepovers were always like kind of a risk. Yeah. But then you would like sleepovers with your cousins where like someone like, I think families, yeah. Family's a little different. Or like, hey, I'll be the one hosting the sleepovers. Like I'm not gonna let my kids stay somewhere, but like all host, or like we do a group hotel room. And like, it's more like, especially with tablets everywhere. You're like, you can't control the internet and your friends' houses. You can only control yours. What about that all the time? I'm like, what if my son goes somewhere and people are just showing him things on the internet that I've tried to block in my house? Or they stumble on something 'cause there's not anything like blocking it? I feel like that's what I'm more afraid of, honestly, is just like this internet age or like, I don't know, the kids have chatbot girlfriends 'cause it's the future and that's the world we live in. And like that, I don't know. It's just like, could see it. I can't protect him from that stuff. And no, wow, this is crazy. I think there's gonna be like a lot of people that comment. Yeah. And they're like, I had someone follow me in a van. I had this, I had that like, I think, especially if you grew up in rural places. Like, there's stories in my like friend group where like someone was followed on their bike and it's just, people are creepy with kids. Yeah, kids, like kids discernment. Like, like thinking about like when I grew up and there were some freaky people, like, they had a bad vibe. I don't know, like a kid's not making that up. No, I know. The kid's not just being like, oh, that guy looks old and weird. Yeah. They're not like, I feel like oftentimes you don't say anything 'cause you're nervous to say stuff or, you know. Yeah, but your brain isn't developed enough to have these like biases. Yeah. You're just like, oh, I feel weird around this guy who's whistling. Like little gut instinct. That's just like trying to scare you and like save you. Yeah. Yeah. I know. And I feel like kids often aren't believed. No. There was a story I covered on an episode where we were talking about cold cases that got solved after like a lot of time where these two girls, it was like outside of Chicago in maybe the 60s was one of the oldest cold cases in that area. Or I think in all of Illinois that got solved. But they, these two little girls are playing outside in like the late 50s and this guy comes up and he's like, can I give you a piggyback ride? And one of the girls is like, one's eight, one's six. And the eight year old is like, this feels weird. I'm gonna go get my mom. Goes inside comes out the six year old's gone and the guy is gone. And they're like, okay, how do we find this guy? Turns out years later on her deathbed, this woman goes, I know that my son killed Maria was the little girl. I saw headlines of this. The police came to my house and asked where, 'cause they had singled out this guy for like from this, from the jump. So the police went to his house to be like, where were you around this time? And the mom was there and he wasn't home but the mom was like, he was with me the whole time. And she didn't know and she had this like gut feeling that he had done it. But she was like, he was here the whole time and they moved on, they didn't come back, they didn't look into him. And yeah, on her deathbed, she was like, I never said anything. But it was him. Or I'm pretty sure it was him. I didn't witness the crime, but I lied. She was like unzalyzed. Which how dark of a person do you have to be? We're like, even though your mom didn't witness the crime, she knows you're capable of that and she knows what you were probably doing when you weren't at her house. And like on her deathbed, she, oh man. You've had another episode of this. It was like one of your mailbag episodes about the kid in Australia. And I remember that the mom also kind of knew, and covered up for him a little bit with his gun and like, are you talking about the shooter in Australia? - I think it, yeah, where his parents were just like, "No, he's fine, he's fine." - They like bought him the gun. - Yeah. - Come on, bought him the gun. - Yeah, well, it is, it's a, in their body, moms are gonna protect their kid. And it is not okay, but you can see so many parents go into denial to just try to like keep their kid. - You know what? My dad told me when I was really young, when I was probably like eight years old, he's like, if you ever commit a crime, I'm gonna call the cops on you. But my dad, like, did try to call the cops on me when I was a teenager to be like, I wasn't joking. Like, don't mess up. And I was like, I don't actually might be something I take with me as a parent. - No, it's to be like said, I'm not your buddy in this. Like, I'm, like, Brian Cote, or not Brian Coteberger, but Brian Laundrie's mom, who was like, if you kill someone, I'll hide the body with you. - She was in love with him. - Yeah. - And you're like, love doesn't look like one thing. - Yeah. - It looks like accountability and truth and like. - Yeah. - Yes. - Yes, 100%. So. - God, these poor cousins, they were just playing Nerf. - I know. And then I'd be so scared to go to that house. - No. - It's like ruined the cousins sleepovers. - I also can't believe I just learned sleepovers are over. - That's crazy. - Did you do a lot as a kid? - Yeah. - Yeah. It did take me, I was like, we're not one of those kids that was allowed to do sleepovers too much later. - Interesting. - Yeah, 'cause my parents were like, pretty nervous about it at first. - I think if your kid has a cell phone and can call you if something happens, then I'm like, okay, but you just have to really trust they know right and wrong, 'cause I was going to sleepovers and older brother, alcohol. - Yeah. - Oh my God. - It's better be safe than so. - That's so scary. - Sneaking out, going to boys' houses, 'cause you have one friend's parent that doesn't care. - Yeah. - And then it's just always how it is. - Oh, we're staying at so-and-so's house. It's a free-for-all. - Oh my God. Meanwhile, we're doing an interactive retelling of Bethlehem. And we're like, let's go home. All it's and sleepover at each other's house and sleep on the trampoline. We have church in the morning. - You were so scared. - Nobody was streaking out, doing alcohol. - No one was doing alcohol. - Peppermint schnapps at 13. - Oh my God. - That's, it's too young. - Makes me scared. - It's too, as a parent. - Like, as like a teenager, I've been like, hell yeah, drinking straws at 13. - No, I'm like, no. - No, oh my God, I hope down. - Everyone jokes like with the dog food comment. I don't know if you'll get this or if you, whatever, but it grinds my gears when I hear comments from people in my life that are basically like, your baby's gonna be your karma one day. You're gonna get all that back. And I'm like, oh, wait, like you wish that upon me? - Oh, interesting. Like you misbehaved as a child and then now when you have a kid, like that's gonna be your karma. - Yeah, and I'm like, no, I don't buy it. - Yeah, I don't buy it. But you think you're gonna be a smarter parent 'cause you broke the rules. - Thank you. - She know what rules to do. - Yes. - Yes. - Like really kind of hurt my feelings. I'm like, was that bad? - The best parents are the ones that are like, I did this, I recognize this. Here's how to do it safe. - Yeah. - I agree. - If you're gonna have peppermint schnapps at 13, don't get in behind the wheel. - Yep. - Don't do that either, but like parents are just like, no. - Yeah. - So were your parents strict then? - My parents were like, they were strict in the silence. That makes sense. Like they were never like, you can't do this, you can't do this, you can't do this. They would just be like, oh. Or I remember it was right when texting was a thing. And I had like a flip phone. And my dad when I would go on sleepovers, he was like, I need to hear from you. And my dad would always text me like, you good or something. And I would never text me. Because you're just like, you put your phone down, you're not like, it's not like a smartphone back in the day. It's just like a chain to your parents. So I would just like throw it in my backpack. - Yeah. - And then he'd be like, I need to hear from you. If you don't respond within an hour, you can't go on your own. Like I need to hear from you. And that was the hardest learning curve for me. - Would he come pick you up if you didn't listen? - Yeah, or he would call their parents. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then they'd be like, tell her to check her phone. And it was just getting me in the habit of communicating. Was I guess the thing? - That's really good. - But I remember, I wasn't allowed to like, were you guys allowed to go to the mall with your friends without a parent? - Yeah, I bought my first song. I'm going to wear the mall by myself. - No! - At nine. - At nine? - I know you guys. - You buy a song when you were nine years old. - I think the first time I used to song, I was 24. - I think I was in my 20s too. - The Luth Minnesota man, I had an older friend. She was 14, I was nine. We biked to the mall. Bad, you got to really just, that's just, wow. - Songs were so scary. - Kids are going to be out of the league until they're 20. - Just, I mean yeah, like if you want to wear a song, do it in the house. - I'm a cool mom, I'm a cool mom. - They're also just uncomfortable. And when you're so young, it's like so uncomfortable. - Trying to fit in with my older friend. - Yeah, I mean, a nine year old and a 14 year old is an interesting pairing. - Bad. - Yeah, it's not great. - Different, I remember I had a cousin, I don't know if everyone has this cousin. - Same difference of like, I was nine, she was 14. And every time she came over, she had some story of like, my friend got held at knife point. Like just, oh my god, my friend Tim's in jail again. And she's 14, like I'm not sure if any of this was true, but she just, it was like scared, straight, almost. Like just crazy stories. - There is the liar friend that's like, I have a chat like boyfriend, knees 54. And you're like, what? Like yeah, I talked to him on Club Penguin. (laughing) - Which actually, if it's Club Penguin, it probably is a 54 year old man talking to her. - That was bad. - It's Club Penguin. - Is Club Penguin still around? - Yeah, 'cause it is. - Not a sleepovers or it. - Played away. - Played away. - I for sure played it in COVID. Like it was at least around during COVID. - Oh my gosh. - Oh my god, Club Penguin people would like simulate sex. - I know. - Oh my god, I thought that was only on the Sims. - No, I think predators would go into Club Penguin being like, okay, there's a bunch of nine year olds in here. - Get a life. - Get a job. - Yeah. - If that's the way. - Sorry. - No, sir. - I just got really angry. - I know. - No, that's scary. - Get a hobby. - Yes. - People need more hobbies. - You want to abuse kids on a, on a paint, on a fake penguin island. - Yeah. - Scary thought. - Get a hobby. - It's horrible. - Take a shower. (laughing) - Well, that's dark. - Yeah. - Yeah. - I was gonna say sleepovers don't have to be over a week, obviously, but over. - Well, we were thinking about doing like a girl's retreat away for a weekend if you want to do that. - Like, would you be creative? - Love it. - Would you be down for a week, or though? - Absolutely not. I'll just go on a little walk. - Yeah, just go on a walk. (laughing) - You guys do that? - We'll go on a little walk. - We're gonna go on a walk. - Can you imagine if we have a adult sleepover? - No, it's not. - It's something. - We have an adult sleepover, and I'm like, I'm leaving. That's not fair. You take that out of my mouth. - I feel like I just have to text my dad by midnight. - I literally have my dad to pick me up. And he's like, you're in your 30s, everything cool. - Dad, they're doing Ouija boards here, come get me. - Please. - Yeah. - I feel like you would actually really, I feel like you'd draw in some probably positive energy, though, with your Ouija board. - I think that's the nicest compliment I've ever heard. - You'd have like, I did a Ouija board. I'd bring in good vibes. - You'd have like, Mother Teresa trying to talk to you. - Oh yeah, that would be good. - Yeah, that's so nice. - So nice, you get like Casper the friendly ghost. You just have aura. - That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard. - This episode is brought to you by Sleep Doctor. Here is something that I used to tell myself. Once the baby sleeps through the night, I'm gonna feel normal again. And then he started sleeping through the night, and I still woke up very, very, very tired. If you eat well, stay active, and still feel drained in the mornings, the issue might not be how long you're sleeping. It might be the quality. Sleep Doctor helps you figure that out. Starting with a clinical grade home sleep study. The home sleep study is a simple alternative to a sleep lab and can be completed in your own bed over one night. No sterile clinic, no wires, just real answers and a clear path towards actually waking up rested. I've noticed that sometimes I'll sleep for nine hours a night and still wake up not feeling great. For me, quality is much more important. 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It won't roll down and has a convenient opening for easy bathroom trips. I have a couple Honey Love pieces that I absolutely love. They come in really beautiful colors. I think I have a couple in black and some in navy now. You get all of the support that you're used to, but there's no uncomfortable underwire pressing into your skin. So treat yourself to the most advanced bras and shapewear on the market. Use our exclusive link to save 20% off Honey Love at honeylove.com/hsp. That's honeylove.com/hsp. And after you check out, they'll ask where you heard about them, tell them that we sent you. Experience the new standard and comfort and support with Honey Love. OK, so this one that I have, also not from Reddit. This is also from another scary online forum where people write their scary stories. But this is just called my online. friend. I use the app Kakao Talk, which is a Korean app that lets me talk to people worldwide, mostly people from South Korea. I also have screenshots to back up the story if anyone needs them. Last night I had a message from someone called Gangnam Guest House. I thought that someone had just added me randomly, that's pretty normal, and I didn't mind it too much as I usually do get random people adding me. At the moment, I have around 350 friends who I don't really know and have only talked to them using this site. The first message I received from this person seemed normal. She told me that she wanted help with learning English and that she lives in London. I was happy to help her, especially because I'm from the UK too, and I've never met anyone who was so close to me. She sent me three pictures of herself, which showed me that she was a normal girl of Asian ethnicity. She seemed nice and I proceeded to talk to her. However, things got weird quickly. She sent me a picture of myself that I took last year and had never been put onto my Kakao profile. It was on my Facebook. I gave her the benefit of the doubt and thought that maybe she had found me on Facebook. My heart started racing when a second picture message came through though. This time, it was a picture of me when I was 15. I had never sent this to anyone. I was in my pajamas. I had messy hair. I have no clue how she got this picture. She told me that the pictures were on her old phone, but I had never posted it anywhere so I don't know how she would have gotten it. She then sent me my number and added a "haha" at the end. I was terrified. She even changed her display name to say "I'm" and then "my name" instead of her name. I had no idea what was going on. My stomach dropped. I felt so sick. She proceeded to tell me that she's a hacker and she managed to hack into my phone. However, I did not believe this as she couldn't answer basic questions like where I lived or my full government name. After a while of trying to find out who she was, she told me a couple of hints like she's from London. She was meeting her boyfriend in Bloomsbury and that we had once been friends and actually had met. That shocked me because I know that I have not met this person before. She told me that when she was 14 and I was 13, we had met up, but she wouldn't tell me what we did. She started to get angry that I couldn't remember her and she told me that I was mean, but I know that I've never met her. I have no idea how she got my ID or how she got my pictures and number. All I'll say is that I'm terrified. I think specifically to this person was using an anonymous name on this app and that's why it was weird that she had this person's name. Her name, actual name. Yes, it is very freaky to me because the internet is so big and there's just so many people out there and I don't know, I can see stuff like that. It feels very plausible, honestly, though, that it could happen to any of us. Yeah, like anyone out there, like this could in today is a day and age, like this could happen to you so easily. Yeah. And it's so scary. Like, yeah, in a picture that you've never posted anywhere sent to you. You as a kid. Yeah. Well, today, kids use more anonymous apps than we used. We didn't have a lot of anonymous stuff. I remember using like omega and chat roulette and there was like form spring or something. I remember form spring where you would kind of like, yes, wish terror on your life and put it on your like, crush on me. Yeah, like people could tell me that you won't say to my face. Yeah. And then you'd walk through the halls and you'd be like, did she say that? Who said that? Was it her? Like, who was spreading stuff about me, whatever. But I can't think of any more than really those things, maybe like clueless. Yik yak. Yik yak. That was what I was in college. But now you can do everything anonymously as a kid like, I mean, Instagram, you don't have to use your real name on Instagram. So no one really knows who anyone is. You can use Reddit. But also there's like, kick and like, I don't know, just like all these apps. That's scary because like, I just read this story about this guy who turned out to be like an internet troll and his wife found all of his posts. And that's terrifying. Like, that is so terrifying. I think we need like, like, you know, like the DMV gives you like lessons for the road. I think we need like a, you can't go online until you like take internet safety. Yeah. You should have internet etiquette too. Like, you should absolutely have to do like bare minimum. Yeah. Don't drink and drive. Like bare minimum, don't do these things. Yeah. Or else you are susceptible to people finding your stuff. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Definitely like to protect yourself to be like, yeah. Yeah. Don't wish ill on people. Don't convince people to do bad things. But one thing that I didn't even know that my husband met told me he was like, anytime you take a picture in the house, make sure that the Wi-Fi router is not in the frame because people can get the number off the Wi-Fi router and hack your Wi-Fi that way. And I don't, I don't know if he's being extra paranoid, but apparently it like happens. I could see it. Do you know you're not supposed to do peace signs? So they've been saying, you shouldn't even with AI now, you shouldn't even do like peace signs in your photos anymore because they can zoom in on your fingerprints and take your fingerprints. I know peace signs for every picture. Just do a latest now. Backwards. Backwards. Like, show off your cute nails. Well, we're going to go get them done. It's fine. Mine aren't done either. I'm not gonna brag, but I do have the target stick. I'm not even though I am missing my thumb. I love this is the other day. The other day there was a, it actually wasn't the other day. It was like a little bit ago. It's a couple months ago at Smosh. We're all doing these like, we're doing these like sign these posters on an Instagram live. And I go, we're signing them. And I had this like memory from when I did this like internet crazy musical that this lady was like really paranoid about signatures. So I look over while we're on the live. I go, hey everybody, don't use your real signature. And they're like, what? I didn't think to like, stop down. Yeah. But we're live and I go, hey yeah. So nobody use that on checks. And it made the life so awkward. And I could go, don't do it. We're a signature. I guess that is a good thought though because someone could be like, oh yeah, I'm just going to sign a bunch of checks to myself as Angela. I guess. I don't think the, but maybe maybe they couldn't do that. But still to like, I thought in the middle of the library, you're signing so scary. Yeah. Even if you take a picture of like a tree on a walk like near your house. Yeah. I know you have to be so careful. They're location that famous story of your photos. I think she was a K-pop idol or maybe she just lived in South Korea, but she took a picture. And in her eye, a guy was able to figure out what train station she was at. And most likely what time she would take the train and he showed up and killed her. That's a guy with, get a hobby. Get a really life. Yes. Yes. What do you mean? Too much time on his hands. If you're looking, you're zooming in enough to see where they're at in their eye. Too much time on your hands. That's like those videos. Haven't you seen them? It's like drop a pit anywhere and I'll figure it out. And they just like look at a couple trees in the landscape. And they're like, that's blah, blah, blah, bang. I know videos and those fun. And I know. That guy is using it for good. And he has the absolute opportunity to use it for pure evil because he can find anyone. Yeah. That's good news for good. It's so unsettling. I love people listeners, but I'll get letters from listeners sometimes sent to my address. And I'm like, there's a PO box. Please don't do this. Oh, they found your home address. Do you want to do this horrifying? Yeah. Do people get really obsessed with you guys at Smosh? Like are there people that are like, Oh, I'm married to Angela. And she just doesn't know it yet. No, we have, yeah, we have some, we have some crazy interactions. Yeah, yeah. My favorite was there was a meet and greet. I don't know if I've ever said this on a podcast. There was a meet and greet where, and there's a lot of us, right? There's like 14 or 15 of us. Big cast. So we're doing this meet and greet. And there's, you kind of talking to the masses and you're taking one big group picture. Each person comes up, sees a big group and smiles less. And then that person walks away. And this person walked up and points at me in the back and goes, can I say something new? She's like a mother, an older lady. She goes, I need to talk to you. And everyone's like, are you good? And I was like, we have to hear this. Yeah. This is crazy. Cause there's all these kids. And then a woman's like, I need to speak to you. Yeah. And then I was like, you say, but she could have a hearing to hear. Yeah, very important message. Yeah. She whispers into my ear. Everyone believes in you except yourself. And then walks away. Oh, my God. And she thought she was building me. And everyone was like, you good? And I went the funniest thing. But also, no, but also except you. In that moment, she like cuts so deep into my face. You're not my mom. Go home. You can't talk to me like that. I think the sentiment was that she wanted to build me up. Yeah. It felt like she pants. It's a backhand. Yeah. Oh, but like backhand to come that also believes in you except yourself. How much did she pay to tell you that? She didn't pay a lot. Maybe I don't know. I'm like, was she that's Morgan here? Rain? Yeah. How much she made it tell you that? Yeah. She bought a V.F.E. meat and Greek to tell you that. Maybe she didn't want her pick. Just in hindsight, do you think that there was any truth to that? I think it's it was like one of those like, it's a very old millennial core thing too. Like with that one direction song, you don't know your beautiful. And that's what makes you beautiful. Yeah. And like being like, oh, I think I'm going to help you realize how beautiful you are because you don't know. You don't know it. Yeah. And like, it's not that I don't know it. There's blocks. I'm working on it. Yeah. Yeah. Like that's kind of how I feel about everybody where they're like, Gurley, you got this. And you're like, I know. Yeah. Then that I think is just like an old way of been still in confidence, where it's like assuming that no people don't wanna be confident, like that woman assumed that I didn't wanna believe in myself, of course I want to. - Yeah, I remember watching this interview with Alona Maher, the woman. - Yeah, yeah, and someone asked her like, how do you deal with imposter syndrome? And she's like, what's that? And they're like, you know, like the feeling, but this person just assumed that she had it, and it's like a woman. And she's like, no, like I worked really hard my whole life, like I think I should be here. And like people just couldn't understand her saying that. But it is that idea of like, you're an Olympic athlete, but you probably don't even think you should be here. - Yeah. - Yeah, you know, that way of thinking. - And we don't put that on men. And I think when girls just happen to be like self-deprecating to be funny or to just like, I don't know, call out your flaws 'cause maybe you're a little self-aware. They're like, she's insecure. - Yeah. - I gotta tell her that she should believe in herself, 'cause we all do. - Yeah. - But I do believe that that woman was just trying to build me up, but it was very funny. - Yeah, totally, totally. - Imposter syndrome is something I deal with a lot, and I'm just like, I look at it after, and I'm like, why? You got invited in that room. You were clearly wanted in that room. You're meant to be in that room. Why are you feeling weird? - Yeah. - But it's just, it's, but to have someone whisper that in your ear, it would hurt my feelings. - Yeah, to call you out specifically. - Yeah. - Like I gotta say, like of the whole cast, like you're the one that doesn't believe me. - Yeah, she's like, I wanna talk to her. - Yeah. Very funny. - Yeah, I did have, this is so different, but one time I went to a lunch and this guy sat next to me. I was like, our friends maybe birthday, and so he was there or like something, but it was like a friend of a friend sat next to me, and he goes, God, put me next to you, because he wants me to, he wants you to tell me a secret. And I was like, maybe he's joking, whatever. And then he like very clearly was not joking. And he kept pasturing me the whole lunch to be like, I just can really feel that like God put me here right now, and he wants you to tell me something about yourself that you haven't told anyone before. - What? - Why? - Just kept being like, I don't know if that's God, or if that's someone else. I don't know what's telling you that, but like I don't think that's appropriate. Like we're at a lunch with people, and then he like spent the next 45 minutes trying to convince me that the world was flat. So, I think he had a lot going on. I mean, like my secret, I want to make out with you right now. - Yeah, I think we should kiss at this date. We're going to watch him die. (laughing) - That is so weird. - I make up something so insane just to toy with him. - I should have messed with him, but I think he really threw me at the time, 'cause I was like, they're for my friend. I didn't know a lot of the people there, and now this guy is like really dogging on me to like tell him something. - God, tell me that you were gonna tell me a secret is. - Yeah. - About you, I'd be like me. - You're cheating on your wife, aren't you? - Yeah. - Like that's just so weird. - Yeah. - Yeah. - God told me that you're having an affair. - I'd be like, oh, you wanna know about me? What, tell me a secret about you? - Yeah, I feel for me to get off your chest. - Yeah. - What? - Yeah, I was so confused by it, but I also wondered if it was like a, just like you know how some people do, like did you ever work at a job or like you were in a sorority where they're like, okay, everyone's gonna go around and share a secret. And then like, you feel a lot of pressure to share something very big, 'cause like people start crying and stuff. It's like, I think people will try to force vulnerability in order to like get close. - Can I get closer? Like sometimes I have something on you, I don't know. But like, yeah, so I think it was like a forced vulnerability thing, but it's so weird. - Thank God you didn't share. - At a lunch. - Yeah. - A lunch. - You know what the name of a restaurant maybe? - We were at a restaurant called Sushi Kuchi. Isn't that a horrible name for a restaurant? - I'll probably cut that because like no shame to them, but like Sushi Kuchi and he's trying to give me to tell the secret that's how there's that restaurant. - How does anyone go to eat there? - I know. I think they're doing that on purpose though. - Yeah. - Sushi Kuchi. - Sushi. - I think it was like a mis-translation or something. - It was kind of got a ring to it though, when you say it fast like that. - Sushi Kuchi. - I'm like girls' lunch at Sushi Kuchi. - I kind of wanted to go now. - I know. - It was like a lot. - It was pretty good too. - Okay, so the next one actually kind of in line with like weird relationships stuff. This was a story I found you might have heard it. It's also on Best of Friend. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. I think everybody knows someone who's been talking about their business idea forever. And honestly, the idea part is exciting. It's the other stuff that makes people stall. 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I'm a big believer in therapy, but finding the right therapist can feel like it's own obstacle. Honestly, it can be the thing that keeps you from getting help in the first place. I remember not knowing where to start and feeling so overwhelmed by the whole process who takes my insurance, who's going to be the right fit. And what is this actually going to cost me? Those obstacles usually turn people away from getting help. Well, that's why I want to tell you about Alma. Alma has a network of over 26,000 therapist nationwide and 98% of them accept insurance. You can browse their directory without even making an account and use filters to find someone who actually fits your needs. Clients with insurance pay $20 on average, and most people find their match on the first try. Seriously, there is nothing worse than feeling so overwhelmed by something that you stop before you even really get started. And that's especially when it comes to mental health. You deserve to find help and to not be exhausted by the process. Get started now at helloalma.com/heartstarts. That's helloalma.com/HEARTS. After updates, I'm really going to search to make sure that there's updates on this one. So this one is me or my 21 male girlfriend, 20 female, has a creepy box above the wardrobe. And it was originally posted in relationship advice in 2019. We have been together for just over a year, and we never had any issues apart from minor arguments that are easily resolved. Up until recently, I've never noticed anything strange about her behavior. A few days ago, she left her room at university to go to a lecture in the morning, and she left me there. Up until that day, I've never looked through her things because I've never felt the need to. She has this space above the wardrobe where she keeps boxes and stuff. So I couldn't see inside of them, but boredom got the better of me, and I just wanted to see what she was storing. I found a box at the back, which was like a Ted Baker cardboard box that a handbag had come in or something. And when I opened it, I found so many random things that I used to own. There were odd socks in there that she had taken a toothbrush that I thought I had lost after a holiday, bits of hair from what I think was my comb, toenail clippings, receipts that I think she stole from my wallet. She even has things like empty wrappers of food that I know were mine. There was a piece of glass in there, but I don't know where that's from. There was a USB charger, a half used bar of soap, boxer shorts, use gum, a spoon, used plasters from God knows when. Honestly, the things in the box were so random, but I recognized a lot of little bits that had gone missing over the past year. The most worrying thing in this box, though, was a used condom that I found in there. I don't even know how. She managed to keep that. And also a few empty condom wrappers as well. I even found a little tablet in there that looked like my antibiotics that I had taken for my tonsils before Christmas. And I definitely remember losing one of my last dosage. I can't remember what else was in there because I just put it back and left. She does not know I found this yet. My girlfriend behaves normally, and this is the first time I've seen anything weird. She's never acted obsessive or creepy or anything. I don't want to confront her about it because she's gonna know that I was looking through her things. But then again, what else am I supposed to do? I love her so much, and I am genuinely scared. I have been sat here trying hard to come up with logical explanations as to why she is doing this. Any ideas? That was the first part, which I think I had her story like this of a man who was keeping little mementos of his wife like in a tile above their bathroom. So I don't know if this is a thing that some people do. Like if it's a weird compulsion. Yeah, like I used to, or like when I was younger, I would keep everything like any rapper, like I was like obsessed with. Yeah. Well, I think I first started to understand that time was going by. I started to be like, oh my god, don't like any homework assignment I had I'd keep it all. Oh, interesting. And there's like that, but then there's other people's stuff. Yeah. Yeah, I had a little cousin, it was so funny. She must have been like six or seven, and she had this little keepsake box in her closet because she's so young, like her parents go through her stuff. And they opened it and it was like a dead frog, like hair. There was like muddy stuff from a lake in the coins. Oh, it was really just a weirdo. Like for her, it was probably so innocent. Like I'm down by the creek. I'm putting some of my stuff to them. It looked like a witch's box of potions or something. Yeah, it does sound familiar, but in my head, I was waiting for there to be a tooth in the box. So I'm not, I'm not sure if I've heard this one. I'd have to look in the interesting, so you've heard other ones of people doing this, though. Oh, God, it's really, it's ringing about. And I'm gonna, I'm gonna let you take it away, but just the used condom where it's like, I get momentum boxes. Yeah, but they used condom. The condom was tough. That's bad. That's a antibiotic. Even the like, I under, I can like kind of maybe get my head around somebody be like, I love my boyfriend so much, I want to keep. the stuff. I don't know, but like it is Tony else. I just want to miss that guy. I just, my first thought was voodoo doll. Oh, yeah, it's just given I need all these pieces. It does. Yes. It does feel like a potion in the making. Like what do you need for love potion? Have you ever gone to a witchcraft store? Drop it in the comments. I'm sure we have people who know because I feel like we've talked about Etsy witches before a huge and something I've banned recently. All of them. I took witches off. I would really love a good witch. I really want to do like an umbilical cutting ceremony, a little candle thing. Yeah. I think I need to cleanse. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I'm like, maybe it's maybe it's like a positive thing. Maybe she's trying to help him. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe. Okay. If I'm opening one, I'm I'm surprised that this person is OP didn't open the rest of the boxes because there's a bunch of boxes. So let me go through. I think there's a little bit more to this. There are some of the updates. So update one, my girlfriend is currently in the bath and I took this opportunity to take another look at the box. She has been completely normal and unsuspecting that I know about it. And a lot of people ask to see the contents of the box. So here it is. They took a picture. It is not there anymore. I would not take a picture of that. I know and put it on the internet. But there's a couple of things that we learned about it from the comments on this photo. So and then they go on to say after reading the comments I'm torn. I don't believe that my girlfriend would hurt me, but I don't know how to approach her with this odd behavior. I feel sick and afraid when I think about the box. And then I think of her cute face. I can't bring myself to confront her about it. I try to think of normal rational explanations to tell myself that this is not weird. And someone does say why are there three phones in the box? So I do have a sense that there were three phones in this box. They go, whose phones are they? And what happened to the owners? And the OP says, I don't know about two of them. There's a smash iPod in the box that's a first generation iPod touch that I owned. I had it somewhere and it was in the box and I didn't even notice it was gone. So she must have taken his iPod touch first gen. And then someone says that looks like more than one dosage of medication. OP says there was a single loose antibiotic that you can't see in the image. No idea where that other medication is from. It looks like it might be birth control, but she's not taking birth control as far as I'm aware. And then someone says a quick Google search says that it is most definitely birth control. They don't look used though, which makes it even stranger. And someone said, looks like a box of souvenirs, a normal souvenirs, a greeting card or maybe a found coin used like, but a used Q tip or anything with bodily fluids taken without permission or agreement is very abnormal. Worse case scenario, mental illness and gone girl ask plans to potentially frame or trap you if you leave. Oh, and then we do have an update from a couple days after they posted this someone the OP says, thank you for all the advice. I really appreciate it. My friend recommended that I post on here and it really has helped. So I told my girlfriend that I found the box and she didn't seem bothered in the slightest that I found it. She is quite sensitive. So I expected tears, but got none. She kind of brushed it off like it just wasn't a big deal at all. I told her that the gross stuff was unacceptable and that she was wrong to take my Parker pens that belonged to my granddad. So she was taking like, really important stuff too. She said that she had the intention of returning those to me. It was the best case scenario compared to the other possible explanations. She said that she was keeping them because they made her feel close to me. And I guess I can understand that or at least try to because I love her. She said she's going to dispose of the things in the box. I'm quite satisfied with that. We have agreed that in the future she will keep things like movie tickets from a date things that are normal. But what are you going to do with the sign this antibiotics? I know. Yes. The toenails. It still doesn't explain the toenails. Do we think she's a klepto? Yeah, maybe a little bit of a klepto. But it's weird because it's stealing stuff that's free. Like kleptos to me are stealing money out of purses. And so my I guess the iPod touch maybe. But like it's really weird. So I think it is an illness. But my best friend lived with someone who for three years kept stealing like really small little things. So she'd steal like a mascara tube that was like dry and about to be done. It was just the power of steel. Yeah. Yeah. Like that. So I had a neighbor that stole my lip gloss when I was in the fifth grade. And it was kind of it was like use lip gloss is like what is the point of that? But it felt like a like oh, just taking. Yeah, so it's like it's a my name. Call her call that neighbor out. We're still friends. I've forgiven. Oh, really? Yeah, I mean, I think she had problems when she was young. No, we're little. We all take it so weird when we were little. Yeah. And you don't know you're learning like what it what it means to have stuff and then take something from somebody else. It's crazy. Yeah. That's to be like a 10 year old girl to be like, I'm gonna take this like for sure. I mean, one time I went to my friend's house and we literally cooked dog food into a cake and gave it to her dad like no way. Yeah. And at the time, we thought it was so funny. And now I'm like, I would be so mad. Oh, you're my like, your dog and his friends did that to me. Whoa. Wow. What were things that you guys do? Okay. I want to go back to. No, that's pretty crazy. Dog food dog food. I will. I've never done any tampering, but my best friend did put she did pee in the lemonade that they sold at their lemonade stand. That's so much worse. That's really bad. That feels legal. Yeah. I don't trust lemonade stands. This was really fun. Thank you for having me. This was good. So much for doing this. I'm so excited. This is our conclusion to dark summer. So thank you for being here. Dark summer's over. Yeah. And it ends with coming to a close fall is starting tomorrow. So thank you guys so much for being here. Where can everyone find you both? You could find me at more at more than I don't know your handle at two attakes. And where the can they find you? You can find me at Angela gear Tauna on everything. Perfect. Beautiful. All right. Thanks, everyone. Bye. Parts there's pounding is written and produced by me, Kila Moore, our socio producers, Juno hops, her source pounding is also produced by Matt Brown, sound design a mix by Red Room Creative video editing by creative step. Special thanks to Travis Dunlop, Grayson journeying in the team at WME have a heart pounding story or a case request to check out heartshars pounding dot com.