[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Odd Trails contains adult language and content. If you have a story to share, send it to stories at oddtrails.com. Enjoy the show

[00:00:57] [SPEAKER_00]: This happened in the American Southwest to my parents while on vacation.

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_00]: They stopped at a spot along their travel route to get some food and talked to a young local

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_00]: who worked there. He told them about this box canyon that was on the way to their next stop.

[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_00]: For those of you that don't know, a box canyon is characterized by being narrow,

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_00]: having high vertical walls and a flat bottom. To hear my mom tell it, he described the canyon

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_00]: with an almost spiritual reverence saying that it was incredibly beautiful and had superb acoustics.

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_00]: He loved playing his guitar out there. My folks like doing stuff off the beaten path,

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_00]: so they decided to pay a visit. The canyon seemed to be quite isolated. There were no buildings of any

[00:01:45] [SPEAKER_00]: kind around it for miles. By the time they parked their car and made it to the canyon's

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_00]: the sun was starting to go down. They said they seemed to be the only ones there,

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_00]: with no parked cars other than their own. They made their way into the canyon.

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_00]: After the fact, my parents both said that they separated without speaking of it,

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_00]: starting to feel a touch of unease, not totally unreasonable as it was starting to get dark,

[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_00]: and the canyon walls pressed close on either side. Despite this feeling,

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_00]: they continued on until they heard the noise. My parents reported the nature of this noise

[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_00]: differently. When I asked them to describe it, their faces sort of scrunch up.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe they're just uncertain. My dad says it sounded like a person, possibly a man speaking

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_00]: a low, single word that he didn't understand. My mom says that it didn't really sound like a word

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_00]: of any kind to her, just a strange deep noise that rang out from somewhere nearby above them.

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_00]: It was accompanied by a brief intense flash of pale light. Neither of them knew what it was or

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_00]: wear precisely it had come from, but they were both immediately filled with dread and an overwhelming

[00:03:09] [SPEAKER_00]: desperation to get out of that canyon. They turned around and booked it back to their car.

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_00]: As they exited the dark canyon, my mom described feeling certain that there was something

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_00]: chasing them. She thought that when they got to their car, they would find it sabotaged.

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Thankfully, that was not the case, and they were able to get in and speed away down the empty road.

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_00]: My mom said that she didn't feel safe until they had been driving for a while,

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_00]: still having the panicked but totally unsupported notion that they were being pursued.

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_00]: When they finally spoke of it to each other, they weren't able to make any real sense of what happened.

[00:03:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Neither one of them had a theory. This is probably dull as far as spooky encounters go,

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_00]: but neither of my parents have a history of weird encounters or of telling tall tales.

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_00]: So it unnerves me to see them both get so re-creaped out by the mere memory of this incident.

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_02]: I am an 18-year-old male from Southern Europe, and I am increasingly thinking that I am either mentally

[00:04:41] [SPEAKER_02]: unwell or my house has some unwanted visitors. My house was never normal. There were always instances

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_02]: and happenings that scared me as a child and led me to develop severe night terrors for a long period

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_02]: from around nine to 15 years old. These ranged from seeing or hearing weird things

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_02]: to fall on physical contact with something that seemingly wasn't there.

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_02]: For instance, I would often feel a weird force stroking my hair or touching my leg when I was sleeping

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_02]: in my bed. I always brushed it off as my imagination until a few months ago

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_02]: when the activity increased significantly. It first started with weird smoke clouds that appeared

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_02]: in my house for seemingly no reason. After that, I was yelled at by a strange,

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_02]: parrot-like voice, although it was much deeper and it came from the woods around my house.

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_02]: After this event, the woods on beyond began to darken. After a few unusual instances,

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_02]: they became outright hostile to my presence. When I show up, the birds stop singing.

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_02]: I hear twigs cracking into breaking at times when no one else is in the woods with me.

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_02]: And, I sometimes see a black, non-humanoid shadow peering at me from the bushes.

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_02]: Following this, the activity in my house intensified. For context, I sometimes spend

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_02]: higher weeks alone in my house for various reasons and usually have friends over to pass the time.

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_02]: This time, even they witnessed unexplainable events. On the first night, there were four of us in

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_02]: total, chatting in the yard late at night. We were all sober since nobody had drugs

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_02]: and there was no alcohol in my house because I couldn't afford it.

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_02]: Around two, thirty in the morning, while outside, I felt a sudden unease and was compelled to look at my roof.

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_02]: Initially, I saw nothing but the feeling persisted.

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_02]: I went inside and called a friend who was aware of the past activity and wouldn't dismiss my concerns.

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_02]: He mentioned that he too fell odd and had seen smoke over the yard's grass.

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_02]: I returned outside with this friend, met the others in the yard and switched seats to get a better

[00:07:23] [SPEAKER_02]: view of my door and roof. As soon as I sat down, I saw a shadowy figure rushed towards my door.

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_02]: I chased after it but found nothing. When I returned outside, I immediately looked up

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_02]: and saw a shadowy humanoid figure on the roof staring at me.

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_02]: I blinked and it disappeared. All of this happened on the first night.

[00:07:54] [SPEAKER_02]: The following night, I was home alone and heard peculiar noises like someone walking heavily

[00:08:00] [SPEAKER_02]: up my stairs and doors shutting rather forcefully on the first floor.

[00:08:06] [SPEAKER_02]: When I investigated, I found no one. On the third night, more friends came over,

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_02]: totalling 8 to 10 people. The evening was relatively unaventful, until around 8pm,

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_02]: when one friend unaware of my recent experiences but familiar with older ones,

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_02]: began speaking dismissively about my house and challenged any entities present.

[00:08:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Immediately afterward, things started falling in other rooms, lights flickered,

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_02]: and another friend saw the roof man and described him in detail, matching my earlier sighting.

[00:08:48] [SPEAKER_02]: On the fourth night, I was alone again. The activity became more aggressive.

[00:08:55] [SPEAKER_02]: I heard heavy footsteps outside my room and knocking on my door. That night, I decided to leave.

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_02]: I left the next day, and while the activity hasn't seized, it has decreased.

[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Does anyone have any advice or words of wisdom to share with me? I appreciate any help I can get.

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_00]: On August 28, 2021, right after 12am, I was in a horrible motorcycle crash.

[00:09:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Things get blurry but I think I was meant to die or... I did. I ended up going to a big

[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_00]: motorcycle event with some co-workers as I worked in the industry of bikes back then.

[00:10:01] [SPEAKER_00]: For some pretence, leading up to this event, I kept saying the number 666 everywhere.

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Whenever you say this to someone, you usually sound crazy. My best friend, Tay, was writing with

[00:10:13] [SPEAKER_00]: me prior to this and we both saw multiple license plates, including a semi with the three

[00:10:20] [SPEAKER_00]: digit plate, 666. Enough of even her to be like, okay that's weird.

[00:10:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Well back to that night. I was going home after the event, feeling good and enjoying my G310

[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_00]: after it's first service when things went black. It's odd. One second you're here in the next

[00:10:42] [SPEAKER_00]: you're unconscious in this black void. Well, it was more like a bubble. It felt like I was

[00:10:50] [SPEAKER_00]: floating in water but there was no resistance. I felt true peace. I can't even put it into words.

[00:10:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Imagine you have the best sleep ever but times 1000. I heard distant screams of a woman.

[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Some time passed, then more sirens and walky talkies but closer now, much closer.

[00:11:12] [SPEAKER_00]: During this time it was like I had very little knowledge about me and I couldn't talk.

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I felt like a tiny child with no concept of the world or anything. All of a sudden,

[00:11:23] [SPEAKER_00]: it felt like my life was tied to an A10 jet by a really long string and it flew over and

[00:11:30] [SPEAKER_00]: ripped me back to life at a million miles per hour. The movies get it eerily right.

[00:11:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I put things together eventually and they hit me with adrenaline in my thigh. It caused

[00:11:42] [SPEAKER_00]: this massive boil like blood sack thing that popped up while I was in the hospital.

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I broke my pelvis straight in half and broke my wrist. Before surgery, I was in and out of consciousness.

[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_00]: These are the only dreams I remember. I walked into this giant beautiful forest but it was

[00:12:01] [SPEAKER_00]: like a garden. My ex was there, naked in a huge hot spring. Except it wasn't really her.

[00:12:12] [SPEAKER_00]: She had black eyes and a strange voice. This thing said to me, you know who I am.

[00:12:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Do you like how I look? This was followed up by another dream where I entered that forest again

[00:12:29] [SPEAKER_00]: and I remember it saying, welcome back. As all trips me out more because once I was out of the

[00:12:37] [SPEAKER_00]: hospital weeks later and trying to put things together, I found the intersection online.

[00:12:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Google Maps shows a pizza joint with the sign that has a phone number on it. This number contained

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_00]: the sequence. 6, 6, 6, 6. The intersection was at 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7.

[00:12:58] [SPEAKER_00]: The area is also known for a certain satanic gang. It all just blows my mind and the dreams

[00:13:07] [SPEAKER_00]: messed me up even more after I put things together. Add in seeing this number prior. I also

[00:13:14] [SPEAKER_00]: found a pick of my mileage. I took the picture right before I left the event because it was at

[00:13:20] [SPEAKER_00]: 1,111 miles. I might be cursed or on the devil's hit list. Now for some clarification,

[00:13:30] [SPEAKER_00]: I became conscious on the ground when they hit me with the adrenaline pin. Also,

[00:13:36] [SPEAKER_00]: the time between the crash and surgery was days. The OR there was always in use because there

[00:13:43] [SPEAKER_00]: were a lot of shootings in the area. I managed to be close to one of the trauma hospitals when going

[00:13:48] [SPEAKER_00]: down. Now for anyone wondering, PTSD has plagued me since the crash and oftentimes that's how

[00:13:54] [SPEAKER_00]: some memories come back. One of the most scarring times was at work. It was months later.

[00:14:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I was going back to my job in the motorcycle industry. A bike was getting moved and it looked like

[00:14:06] [SPEAKER_00]: it was falling over on me. The memory of seeing the car door inches from my face. It was bad.

[00:14:15] [SPEAKER_02]: It all just came flooding back. My husband and I just moved from Florida to Georgia. He is

[00:14:45] [SPEAKER_02]: lived in the area before but I'm new to it. We both work at the same facility so we drive two

[00:14:52] [SPEAKER_02]: and from work together. Well, there's this certain road that we both have to go down. It gives us

[00:14:58] [SPEAKER_02]: the creeps. It seems like the world gets darker. Even if it's already pitch black outside,

[00:15:05] [SPEAKER_02]: we both swear that it somehow gets even darker. The first time my husband noticed this,

[00:15:13] [SPEAKER_02]: he immediately said something about it. This happens every single time we go down this road.

[00:15:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Tonight was a little bit scarier than normal during our right home to say the least.

[00:15:25] [SPEAKER_02]: We had about two and a half miles left on the road. When my husband asks,

[00:15:30] [SPEAKER_02]: what the hell is that standing in the middle of the field? I turned to look and all I could see

[00:15:37] [SPEAKER_02]: was a dark figure off in the distance. This was extremely confusing, considering how dark it was,

[00:15:45] [SPEAKER_02]: but this figure was darker than the surrounding landscape. Immediately I felt even more uneasy

[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_02]: and got the feeling that it was waiting for one of us to mess something up, just waiting and

[00:15:59] [SPEAKER_02]: watching us. I told my husband this feeling and as I was telling him, he began to speed up

[00:16:06] [SPEAKER_02]: and then put his arm over my chest. He covered the right side of my face and told me not to look back.

[00:16:15] [SPEAKER_02]: Then after about a minute, he told me to focus on the map and give him play by plays.

[00:16:22] [SPEAKER_02]: During this, my husband who was a very stoic man was panicking. I could hear it in his voice.

[00:16:30] [SPEAKER_02]: He just kept repeating, look at the map, don't look up, you are safe.

[00:16:36] [SPEAKER_02]: During this, I started feeling a burning sensation in my right forearm.

[00:16:41] [SPEAKER_02]: I told him my arm was burning, then I opened the near light to look at my arm

[00:16:46] [SPEAKER_02]: and was astonished when I saw three red scratches running for my wrist to my inner elbow.

[00:16:55] [SPEAKER_02]: This was more than concerning knowing that I didn't cause that scratch.

[00:17:00] [SPEAKER_02]: I bite my nails so I don't even have enough nails to cause it scratch.

[00:17:05] [SPEAKER_02]: After seeing this, I immediately called attention to it and my husband turned pale.

[00:17:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Honestly, the next three to four minutes were a blur. He got us to the end of the road,

[00:17:18] [SPEAKER_02]: turned off and high-tailed it back to our house.

[00:17:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Once we turned on to our road, I started to calm down.

[00:17:26] [SPEAKER_02]: My husband kept saying, you didn't see anything and it's okay.

[00:17:31] [SPEAKER_02]: Then we turned into our driveway and my chest felt like it was ripped open.

[00:17:36] [SPEAKER_02]: After getting into the house and into our room,

[00:17:39] [SPEAKER_02]: I took my shirt off to find three more scratches across my heart.

[00:17:44] [SPEAKER_02]: I turned around to look at my husband and he was just standing there in shock.

[00:17:49] [SPEAKER_02]: I had three sets of three scratches on my chest and back.

[00:17:55] [SPEAKER_02]: We are terrified, is someone or something attempting to attach itself to us?

[00:18:02] [SPEAKER_02]: What can we do to prevent it?

[00:18:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Also, this is one of our main commuting roads so we can't avoid it without adding another

[00:18:09] [SPEAKER_02]: 20 minutes to our drive. Any and all the advice is appreciated.

[00:18:32] [SPEAKER_00]: This happened when I was in fifth grade. I went with my best friend to her cousin's house for

[00:18:37] [SPEAKER_00]: the day. They had a Ouija board that they wanted to play with.

[00:18:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Now this was the first time I had ever seen one so I really didn't know what to think.

[00:18:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Nothing seemed too scary. We sat around the board, asked questions for the spirits,

[00:18:53] [SPEAKER_00]: and laughed at how stupid it was.

[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_00]: It got boring real quick. I don't recall us saying goodbye or doing anything you're supposed to do

[00:19:03] [SPEAKER_00]: when taking these boards seriously. One of the cousins felt uneasy so we all gave up the game

[00:19:09] [SPEAKER_00]: and went outside to play in the sprinklers. When we came back into the house to eat,

[00:19:14] [SPEAKER_00]: one of the cousins went into the bedroom. We left the board and planch it in there lying on

[00:19:20] [SPEAKER_00]: floor. The cousin found the board face up on the ceiling as if somebody had glued it there.

[00:19:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Now they had bunk beds so one of them climbed up on the top bunk with a broom and tried

[00:19:32] [SPEAKER_00]: scraping it off the ceiling, but it wouldn't budge. I don't remember anyone being scared or

[00:19:38] [SPEAKER_00]: connecting this to something paranormal. Honestly at that time we had no idea what that word even

[00:19:44] [SPEAKER_00]: meant. We all definitely thought that it was weird. Don't get me wrong but no one felt scared.

[00:19:50] [SPEAKER_00]: After failing to get the board off the ceiling he gave up and we searched the room for

[00:19:55] [SPEAKER_00]: the planch it but nothing was found. We just went on with the day, leaving the room with the

[00:20:01] [SPEAKER_00]: wager boards tucked to the ceiling. The board did fall off the ceiling on its own in the middle of

[00:20:06] [SPEAKER_00]: the night, but the planch it was never found. My friend and I left and went home that evening

[00:20:13] [SPEAKER_00]: without a care in the world. That night I was lying in bed, trying to go to sleep.

[00:20:20] [SPEAKER_00]: But I was startled by an image projected onto the back of my eyelids whenever I closed them.

[00:20:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I saw a black in my periphery and in the middle. It looked like this open doorway with white

[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_00]: light shining through. In the doorway stood two men. One was about a foot taller than the other,

[00:20:41] [SPEAKER_00]: but both were just solid black masses. They were human-like figures with top hats.

[00:20:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I know, the first thing you think of as hat man and maybe it was, but I'm not so sure.

[00:20:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Now every time I closed my eyes I would see them. I wasn't scared per se just intrigued.

[00:21:02] [SPEAKER_00]: It's like when you look at the sun for too long then close your eyes. You can see all these

[00:21:06] [SPEAKER_00]: colored specs. The thing was, I was looking into pitch black, then closing my eyes and seeing

[00:21:12] [SPEAKER_00]: the same image on my eyelids. For a little info on myself as a kid I was raised by a single

[00:21:20] [SPEAKER_00]: alcoholic mom, so besides taking care of my brother, I was alone most of the time. Yes, I had friends,

[00:21:27] [SPEAKER_00]: but my mind was much more developed and different than everyone else's. I was alone in my thoughts.

[00:21:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Now we were very poor so we didn't have a TV. For indoor fun I would study the ripoff flash

[00:21:39] [SPEAKER_00]: cards that came from the National Geographic magazines. The night and question, before lying in bed,

[00:21:46] [SPEAKER_00]: I learned the alphabet backward and then read Moby Dick. Well, I just kept opening and then

[00:21:54] [SPEAKER_00]: closing my eyelids to see if the image would go away. I thought that maybe my eyes were strained

[00:21:59] [SPEAKER_00]: from either writing the alphabet or reading the flashcards under my sheets. I wasn't scared,

[00:22:07] [SPEAKER_00]: but I remember thinking, well this is the way things are now. I guess I just have to get used to it.

[00:22:14] [SPEAKER_00]: I then fell asleep. The next day I woke up like nothing happened in winter school. I had a normal

[00:22:20] [SPEAKER_00]: day. When bedtime came, I closed my eyes. I saw the two men on my eyelids again.

[00:22:30] [SPEAKER_00]: The same ones from the night before. That night I was more annoyed than anything.

[00:22:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Questions ran through my head. Does everyone see something when they're trying to sleep? Or

[00:22:43] [SPEAKER_00]: are they there when I blink, too? Again, I just kind of welcomed the new part of growing up,

[00:22:51] [SPEAKER_00]: even though I was annoyed. Now this started in fifth grade and lasted until sixth.

[00:22:57] [SPEAKER_00]: I specifically remember going to bed one night and not seeing anything and thinking, wow it's over.

[00:23:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I thought it was last forever. It was in my middle school years that I became fascinated with

[00:23:07] [SPEAKER_00]: the paranormal. I remembered this and I realized it was definitely not normal.

[00:23:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I always like to discount all options before concluding paranormal activity, but it

[00:23:20] [SPEAKER_00]: irks me more than the event with the Ouija board happened the same day that it started.

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe something was trying to attach to me, but it couldn't. Maybe because I was more intrigued

[00:23:33] [SPEAKER_00]: and annoyed than scared. This isn't the only glimpse I had into otherworldly happenings though.

[00:23:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Before the Ouija board, I saw things in the woods. Demonic entities. I even stumbled upon a curse

[00:23:47] [SPEAKER_00]: that continues to follow me.

[00:24:14] [SPEAKER_02]: This is a long story, but I swear it's 100% true and told exactly as it happened.

[00:24:22] [SPEAKER_02]: So about three years ago, I was living with my mom for about a year after a relationship

[00:24:27] [SPEAKER_02]: breakdown with an ex. I hadn't had anything like this happen to me before, but I have had quite a

[00:24:34] [SPEAKER_02]: paranormal experiences. Some backstory for context. Since the age of about 10, I used to see what

[00:24:43] [SPEAKER_02]: I will call a woman periodically throughout my childhood and into my teens.

[00:24:49] [SPEAKER_02]: I'd always see her out of the corner of my eye, peering around walls or door frames,

[00:24:55] [SPEAKER_02]: and she would just watch me. When I was younger it used to freak me out, but I spoke to my mom

[00:25:02] [SPEAKER_02]: about it, and she said it's probably just someone watching over me. So that's what I believed

[00:25:08] [SPEAKER_02]: for a very, very long time. Especially since this woman had never made me feel scared, threatened,

[00:25:16] [SPEAKER_02]: or done anything. The sides poker head around corners and watch me. No one else ever saw her,

[00:25:24] [SPEAKER_02]: and as soon as I turned my head to try and see her, she would disappear.

[00:25:29] [SPEAKER_02]: I'd turn away again and sure enough, ahead would appear out of the corner of my eye again.

[00:25:36] [SPEAKER_02]: This happened for about 12 years, with no real routine. Sometimes I'd see her twice in a week,

[00:25:43] [SPEAKER_02]: then I wouldn't see her for six months, then I'd see her maybe once a month, and then not again

[00:25:49] [SPEAKER_02]: for another year or so. I don't really remember, but it was always the same just her watching me.

[00:25:58] [SPEAKER_02]: It's also worth noting that this happened in multiple houses and places where I've lived.

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_02]: Flash forward to 2021, during the height of the pandemic. I had split up from my girlfriend and

[00:26:11] [SPEAKER_02]: moved back in with my mom for about a year. I don't remember how long I'd been there at the time

[00:26:17] [SPEAKER_02]: this happened, but it sure as hell made me get my own place a lot quicker.

[00:26:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Like a lot of people, I tend to sleep on my stomach, with one arm under my pillow,

[00:26:28] [SPEAKER_02]: I've never slept on my back, I've never even woken up on my back, always on my stomach or side.

[00:26:37] [SPEAKER_02]: So anyway, one night I went to sleep as normal. I also always keep my bedroom door shut,

[00:26:45] [SPEAKER_02]: but then I suddenly woke up.

[00:26:48] [SPEAKER_02]: Instantly, I could tell something was up because I'm lying on my back, half-propped up on my pillows,

[00:26:56] [SPEAKER_02]: almost as if I had fallen asleep reading a book or something.

[00:27:01] [SPEAKER_02]: My arms were at my side, and the first thing I saw was my bedroom door wide open.

[00:27:08] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm already confused as to why I'm awake and why my bedroom door is open.

[00:27:15] [SPEAKER_02]: Then, as my eyes adjusted, I could see a figure standing in my doorway with its back to the kitchen.

[00:27:23] [SPEAKER_02]: As soon as I looked at it, it moved to the right, as if heading towards the front door in the living room.

[00:27:31] [SPEAKER_02]: Immediately, I started to feel my heart rate rise because did I really just see something?

[00:27:39] [SPEAKER_02]: As I'm sitting there, processing everything that's happening and the off-feeling I had,

[00:27:45] [SPEAKER_02]: this thing slowly comes back into view and is now standing directly in my doorway,

[00:27:51] [SPEAKER_02]: watching me.

[00:27:54] [SPEAKER_02]: Now, I don't know how I knew, but my brain instantly made the connection to what I'd seen growing up.

[00:28:01] [SPEAKER_02]: And I knew this was the same thing I'd seen watching me when I was younger.

[00:28:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Except now I felt scared.

[00:28:09] [SPEAKER_02]: I felt threatened.

[00:28:11] [SPEAKER_02]: I couldn't focus on what the body of this woman or a thing looked like,

[00:28:15] [SPEAKER_02]: because all I could notice was the dark yellow eyes that had.

[00:28:21] [SPEAKER_02]: Now, given it was dark and I usually wear glasses, the fact I could even see the color of

[00:28:26] [SPEAKER_02]: its eyes really brought me to attention.

[00:28:30] [SPEAKER_02]: I have never felt primal fear before this moment.

[00:28:33] [SPEAKER_02]: I've heard in red stories about people saying they experienced primal fear,

[00:28:38] [SPEAKER_02]: and just assumed it was another level of scared.

[00:28:42] [SPEAKER_02]: I've never been so wrong.

[00:28:45] [SPEAKER_02]: I felt like prey.

[00:28:47] [SPEAKER_02]: I honestly felt like I was about to die.

[00:28:50] [SPEAKER_02]: That's when I started crying.

[00:28:53] [SPEAKER_02]: Silently though, I couldn't make any noise.

[00:28:57] [SPEAKER_02]: It just wasn't coming out.

[00:28:59] [SPEAKER_02]: I couldn't move either.

[00:29:02] [SPEAKER_02]: People I've told this experience to say it was sleep paralysis,

[00:29:06] [SPEAKER_02]: but I know for a fact that it wasn't.

[00:29:10] [SPEAKER_02]: So as I'm trying to shout for my mom and nothing but air is coming out,

[00:29:14] [SPEAKER_02]: this thing starts walking or floating.

[00:29:17] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not even sure, but it made its way into my room.

[00:29:23] [SPEAKER_02]: It made the ten feet from the doorway to my bed and then moved around to the far side of my bed.

[00:29:30] [SPEAKER_02]: I must have had some wrappers or something on the floor because I could hear it rustling the

[00:29:35] [SPEAKER_02]: plastic or stepping on whatever was on the floor.

[00:29:39] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm still pretty much paralyzed and crying with fear at this point.

[00:29:44] [SPEAKER_02]: This thing stood on the left side of my bed and just watched me.

[00:29:51] [SPEAKER_02]: The reason I know this wasn't sleep paralysis is because I managed to roll onto my side,

[00:29:57] [SPEAKER_02]: facing away from whatever was now standing next to my bed.

[00:30:02] [SPEAKER_02]: And I laid there for maybe three to five minutes before I blacked out,

[00:30:06] [SPEAKER_02]: although it felt much longer.

[00:30:09] [SPEAKER_02]: People wake up from sleep paralysis, not black out.

[00:30:14] [SPEAKER_02]: That's the last thing I remember before waking up like usual.

[00:30:18] [SPEAKER_02]: On my side, bedroom door closed and daylight coming through my curtains.

[00:30:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Everything felt normal.

[00:30:27] [SPEAKER_02]: Now obviously I had trouble sleeping for about two weeks, terrified about seeing that woman again.

[00:30:34] [SPEAKER_02]: But as soon as I started to forget about it and started sleeping regularly again,

[00:30:39] [SPEAKER_02]: I was randomly awoken again one night.

[00:30:43] [SPEAKER_02]: This time was different because I woke up on my stomach in the recovery position,

[00:30:49] [SPEAKER_02]: how I'd normally sleep.

[00:30:52] [SPEAKER_02]: I was in a deep sleep, had been asleep for hours,

[00:30:56] [SPEAKER_02]: but my immediate reaction as soon as I opened my eyes was to look over my shoulder behind me.

[00:31:03] [SPEAKER_02]: I saw a face inches from mine, shoot back into the darkness.

[00:31:09] [SPEAKER_02]: I just rolled over and went back to sleep because I didn't want to deal with whatever it was.

[00:31:16] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know if it was the same thing that walked into my room a couple of weeks ago,

[00:31:22] [SPEAKER_02]: but whatever it was made of my natural instincts kick in,

[00:31:26] [SPEAKER_02]: I woke up and looked for danger.

[00:31:29] [SPEAKER_02]: I must have felt whatever it was right next to me,

[00:31:33] [SPEAKER_02]: and as soon as I saw it, it just backed away into the darkness.

[00:31:37] [SPEAKER_02]: I haven't seen that demon or had anything similar happen since.

[00:31:43] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm hoping that whoever or whatever has been watching me since I was 10,

[00:31:47] [SPEAKER_02]: God has closest it wanted to and has decided to leave me alone.

[00:31:53] [SPEAKER_02]: It's been roughly two years since this happened, so I'm praying that whatever it was stays away.

[00:32:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Happy 100th episode.

[00:32:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Right back at you, babe.

[00:32:27] [SPEAKER_02]: It's been fun. I can't believe it's already been 100 episodes.

[00:32:31] [SPEAKER_02]: I feel like that actually, no, it's because it has gone by longer than one year.

[00:32:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm sleepy.

[00:32:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, 1 episode a week, a little over here.

[00:32:43] [SPEAKER_00]: So have you learned anything important in 100 episodes of the strange and paranormal?

[00:32:49] [SPEAKER_02]: Definitely never mess with Ouija boards, demons are real and perhaps 666 really is an evil

[00:32:57] [SPEAKER_02]: number according to our motorcycle pal from this story.

[00:33:01] [SPEAKER_02]: But most of all, I've learned about the value of friendship and love.

[00:33:06] [SPEAKER_02]: What about you?

[00:33:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, definitely the value of friendship and love mostly through our outroes here.

[00:33:14] [SPEAKER_00]: I've always had an aversion to 666. I avoided all costs, interestingly enough.

[00:33:21] [SPEAKER_00]: In California, we don't actually have an exit number 666 on Interstate 5.

[00:33:26] [SPEAKER_02]: That's right. It jumps up from 665 to 667 even our good friends at Calutrans want

[00:33:32] [SPEAKER_02]: nothing to do with that number. Another fun fact is it's actually considered an angel number,

[00:33:38] [SPEAKER_02]: a sign of good things to come, but obviously not always. I thought that was interesting because

[00:33:43] [SPEAKER_02]: I always associated 666 with the devil. But no, it's an angel number.

[00:33:48] [SPEAKER_00]: It gets since, you know, Satan was a fallen angel. I could see that somehow getting confused.

[00:33:53] [SPEAKER_00]: But I don't know. I'm I subscribe to the book of revelations honestly.

[00:33:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. I actually found a number of instances posted online where people

[00:34:03] [SPEAKER_00]: have avoided using that number. On Reddit, I found a parking lot that skipped from 665 to 667.

[00:34:12] [SPEAKER_00]: There was even a story about these people who were trying to sell a house with the address 666 on it.

[00:34:19] [SPEAKER_00]: And it would not sell. They changed it up in apparently sold it pretty quickly after that.

[00:34:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. There's a lot of places that emit a 13th floor and buildings as well. Look at the elevator numbers.

[00:34:30] [SPEAKER_02]: You'll be surprised at how many actually don't have a 13th floor.

[00:34:34] [SPEAKER_02]: There's a venue in Salt Lake City that puts on like the Hardcore Punk shows called 666 State Street.

[00:34:42] [SPEAKER_02]: And it does well, but I can only get karate chops so many times in the face. But yep.

[00:34:47] [SPEAKER_02]: There's this headstone at a cemetery pre-closed to me that belongs to a woman named Lili E. Gray.

[00:34:54] [SPEAKER_02]: She passed away in the late 50s I want to say.

[00:34:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Enter headstone says victim of the beast 666.

[00:35:03] [SPEAKER_02]: Ooh. Yeah. I can't say it every one of you even live on 666 Sesame Street.

[00:35:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. Not a fan of it. Not a fan. I mean either.

[00:35:11] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know what happened to her though. Let's probably good question to ask.

[00:35:15] [SPEAKER_00]: No, what happened? Yeah. It's something supernatural or bad really happened to her.

[00:35:19] [SPEAKER_00]: But I don't even want to talk about it anymore if I'm going to be honest. No, I feel gross.

[00:35:23] [SPEAKER_02]: It gives me the creeps. Yeah. Well, I hope our motorcycle pal is doing okay now.

[00:35:28] [SPEAKER_02]: It was interesting that he saw his ex in the dream or something that took on the form of his ex.

[00:35:35] [SPEAKER_02]: Could mean a lot. Maybe it was his brains way of attaching familiarity to something unknown.

[00:35:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe her altered features represent fear. Unresolved emotions past trauma is related to her.

[00:35:48] [SPEAKER_02]: It could be anything. I don't want to play psychologists too much. Obviously.

[00:35:53] [SPEAKER_00]: The black eyes are so deceptive. There's this uncaniness that seems to always test our will.

[00:36:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's just another creepy appearance from one of our scariest entities, the mimic.

[00:36:08] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't want to be a mimic. If I could be any household entity,

[00:36:11] [SPEAKER_02]: be a mimic. Just learn that out there. Yeah. What about you?

[00:36:15] [SPEAKER_00]: If I could be any household entity, yeah. It would probably just be a poll today because I want to play

[00:36:20] [SPEAKER_02]: Why not? Yeah. I'm not back to the highway number lower. Did you know that on highway 95

[00:36:28] [SPEAKER_02]: in Idaho, they changed the mile marker sign from 422 for 19.9 to obviously keep people from stealing it.

[00:36:37] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know that honestly, that would just make me want to steal a sign even more.

[00:36:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, exactly because not even because the sign is kind of cool and interesting, but just

[00:36:47] [SPEAKER_02]: spite their efforts to show them how they can do to committed sign steelers. We are organized.

[00:36:54] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, there's a union of us. Mm-hmm. But as much as I love me, some occasional chaos.

[00:36:59] [SPEAKER_02]: A lot of the stories we feature seek out some sort of guidance or advice and while we don't usually

[00:37:05] [SPEAKER_02]: do that because we aren't professionals, I figured it wouldn't hurt to at least throw some ideas out there.

[00:37:12] [SPEAKER_00]: And I guess if it does hurt, this is our disclaimer saying that you can't sue us.

[00:37:18] [SPEAKER_02]: You can try but our lawyers are better than the Church of Scientologies, Settelmbaather.

[00:37:24] [SPEAKER_02]: So naturally the first piece of advice is to seek out a professional as soon as possible.

[00:37:30] [SPEAKER_02]: Otherwise, you're just going to jump to conclusions and then your nerves are getting at work

[00:37:34] [SPEAKER_02]: diverging and getting anxious. You're going to get caught in a loop. It's no fun.

[00:37:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Right. And not even necessarily a paranormal investigator. At least

[00:37:42] [SPEAKER_02]: not right off the bat. Yeah, if we're going strictly by odds and probability, there's a higher chance

[00:37:48] [SPEAKER_02]: of there being a non-paranormal explanation for whatever you're experiencing. And that's not to dismiss

[00:37:54] [SPEAKER_00]: any of the experiences that you've shared with us, of course. No, not at all. We want to believe

[00:37:59] [SPEAKER_02]: we're on your team. My personal line of defense would be to start with a doctor, therapist or even a

[00:38:06] [SPEAKER_02]: inspector, the kind that checks out a house before it's sold. Just tell them every minor discrepancy

[00:38:12] [SPEAKER_02]: you're having with the house and they might just find the cause of those bumps in the night.

[00:38:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe even a little disappointed if you were hoping to become best friends forever with

[00:38:23] [SPEAKER_02]: hatman. That'd be so heartbreaking. You get all worked up. Only to find out the little

[00:38:34] [SPEAKER_02]: person that will choose a kids in the attic. Speaking of lawyers,

[00:38:40] [SPEAKER_00]: all right. Well, lawyers will probably like the second one. Yes, they will. And that is to

[00:38:46] [SPEAKER_00]: document everything. So maintain a journal of some sort and write down any strange occurrences

[00:38:55] [SPEAKER_00]: with the dates times, locations, all of that. You might be able to identify some kinds of patterns

[00:39:01] [SPEAKER_00]: and narrow things down. It really helps to have all that information if you do eventually

[00:39:07] [SPEAKER_00]: consult some kind of professional. Being a, I'll wrap it up with some bullet points. Be safe.

[00:39:13] [SPEAKER_02]: If you can, consider finding somewhere else to say if it feels my love-lint research the home's

[00:39:19] [SPEAKER_02]: history, you can ask neighbors about any haunted rumors or get public records online and from

[00:39:25] [SPEAKER_02]: county clerk's office, see who lived there before you. Spion them. It's good. Yeah. And finally,

[00:39:32] [SPEAKER_02]: trust your gut. Yeah. If you feel like you need to do something for your safety, do it.

[00:39:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Yep. That's the same lesson we learn every single week on Let's Not Meet To. Always trust your gut.

[00:39:43] [SPEAKER_00]: There is a supernatural paranormal or otherworldly gift that we all have and it's our gut that

[00:39:55] [SPEAKER_00]: absolutely. Well, thanks everyone for listening and have a happy, safe Halloween this week you

[00:40:00] [SPEAKER_00]: have heard creepy canyon by Erk Allen. Weird happenings around my house by ecstatic scene 3807.

[00:40:06] [SPEAKER_00]: I think I died in a motorcycle crash by national simp. I think a demon paid me a visit by here

[00:40:11] [SPEAKER_00]: for horror. I live shadowmen by no name Maddox and finally am I being followed or targeted by a

[00:40:18] [SPEAKER_00]: demon by brain at S. All of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and reduced with

[00:40:22] [SPEAKER_00]: permission of their respective authors make sure you send your stories to stories at odd trails.com.

[00:40:27] [SPEAKER_00]: If you want to hear them on the show and if you want to get access to ad reversions of all of our

[00:40:32] [SPEAKER_00]: episodes at a higher bit rate for the best listening experience head over to patreon.com

[00:40:36] [SPEAKER_00]: forward slash odd trails to sign up and support the show today. Finally, don't forget to check out

[00:40:41] [SPEAKER_00]: the new episodes of my other podcasts. Let's not meet a true horror podcast welcome to paradise it sucks

[00:40:46] [SPEAKER_00]: and the old time radio cast all at crypticcountypodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

[00:40:51] [SPEAKER_00]: We'll see you all next week stay safe peace out