Episode 105: The Death Knocks

[00:00:00] Odd Trails contains adult language and content. If you have a story to share, send it to stories

[00:00:05] at oddtrails.com. Enjoy the show.

[00:00:09] Odd 24 Hours by Anonymous

[00:01:00] I have never seen any kind of entity before, thankfully. But I have seen and heard strange

[00:01:07] things happen that don't always have a proper explanation. I'm a believer so I enjoy the

[00:01:13] stories and also keep my distance from anything I'm uncomfortable with. I know things can

[00:01:18] follow others if they aren't careful.

[00:01:21] A few years ago we had some odd events happen for about 24 hours straight in our home. We

[00:01:29] had some people come over to our house for Christmas with friends. We were eating dinner

[00:01:34] and hanging out together. My husband Charlie opened the fridge to get something. There

[00:01:39] was also a glass cup right next to the fridge and somehow it exploded when he shut the fridge

[00:01:44] door. The cup was not leaning on anything, it was standing alone. There were people that

[00:01:50] saw nothing falling on the cup. We couldn't figure out why it broke the way that it did,

[00:01:56] with pieces flying off of the counter and onto the floor. My father was one of the guests

[00:02:01] that we had over and joked that we have a ghost. Later that night when the others went

[00:02:07] home our 5 year old Jay woke me up at 4 in the morning while holding his iPad in my face.

[00:02:14] Jay was very non-verbal at the time, but he didn't express being scared, he was just

[00:02:19] awake and ready to play. I got up to walk him back to his bed and when we opened the

[00:02:25] door his mattress was flipped upside down. Jay's blankets were all still on the mattress.

[00:02:32] I was confused because he had never done this before, especially in the middle of the night.

[00:02:37] I would think that if a 5 year old flipped his own bed it would look messier with things

[00:02:43] thrown around not neatly flipped. When I was walking Jay back to his bedroom I saw Charlie

[00:02:49] sleeping on the couch. We had fallen asleep together in bed earlier just like normal.

[00:02:57] I asked him why he moved and he said that he doesn't remember. Charlie isn't a sleepwalker

[00:03:03] and I didn't wake up when he left the bed so it was unusual. I got him to help me put

[00:03:08] Jay's bed back together and our son went right back to sleep with no fuss. We were so tired

[00:03:15] that this event didn't even bother me until the next day when I thought about it. The

[00:03:21] next morning a plate was on the counter by our stove and Charlie dropped a salt shaker

[00:03:25] on it. The plate shattered into pieces when this happened with a plastic salt shaker that

[00:03:31] wasn't heavy at all. By this time we had two items break and being moved in strange

[00:03:37] ways. I don't know what this means but it seemed like it only happened when Charlie was

[00:03:43] around. Odd things don't normally happen at our house and we've lived here for five years.

[00:03:48] Nothing negative was happening at the time. The friends that we had over have been here

[00:03:53] before with no issues. We're not sure what to make of it or if it was anything at all because

[00:03:59] it stopped within a day. I've had one sleep paralysis episode happen maybe I'll submit that

[00:04:05] story separately sometime. If there was something here causing mischief that day I hope that we

[00:04:11] don't meet again. Grace the Dream Demon by Lindsey. It is the night before Halloween,

[00:04:40] the devil's night or mischief night as some might call it. The weather is cold and rainy

[00:04:47] and my mood is definitely reflecting that. My phone is on silent and I don't hear from anybody

[00:04:55] that night except for one random text from an unknown number that reads,

[00:05:01] Hi are you off duty yet? I quickly shoot back, who is this? And put my phone on the charger.

[00:05:11] I roll over not thinking much of it as we all get spam texts occasionally. I quickly fall into a

[00:05:20] deep, deep sleep and my head hurts really bad. I toss and turn most of the night sweating through

[00:05:29] a dream I cannot wake from. In my dream I'm sitting in my parents living room. My good friend

[00:05:37] and her father who was a pastor bust through the front door. It's just me there. They begin

[00:05:44] frantically arguing in front of me about my friend's little sister. Tim, my friend's dad,

[00:05:51] is red in the face and screaming about how they have to intervene now before she gets too strong.

[00:05:58] I am deeply confused. My friend Kathy is sobbing, weeping. She is yelling about how much it could

[00:06:11] hurt her little sister. I quickly cut in to ask what's going on. They seem shocked to see me there.

[00:06:18] How can I help? I ask. Tell me what's going on. They make eye contact with each other and leave

[00:06:26] to get her sister. They return carrying her unconscious body. Her long blonde hair is

[00:06:34] covering her face and her thin long body seems weightless. I begin wiping her fevered brow

[00:06:43] and asking a million questions a minute. They won't come close after they lay her on the couch.

[00:06:50] I go to wipe her brow again and her frail hand strongly grabs my wrist. I flinch and look at her.

[00:06:58] Her eyes fly open and the once ocean blue color is now solid black. Her face contorts

[00:07:06] into a sinister grin as she attempts to pull me closer. I fall backwards onto the floor,

[00:07:14] looking around, begging for answers. She says, it's me, Grace. Don't you know me?

[00:07:23] While smiling with too many teeth. The dream continues in this manner for the whole night.

[00:07:31] I help however I can, but the dream keeps resetting itself when I get too comfortable.

[00:07:38] There is a stream of words, sometimes in different accents or languages, saying, Grace, Grace, Grace.

[00:07:48] Despite being non-religious, I begin to pray in my dream. Then I wake up. I roll over and look at

[00:07:55] my phone and think to myself, should I text my friend Kathy and check on Grace? No, that would

[00:08:04] be too weird. I instead roll over to my husband and wake him up for comfort. A couple hours later,

[00:08:12] after my brain has calmed down, on Halloween morning now, I finally roll to grab my phone

[00:08:19] for the day. I have one message alone, sent near midnight from the same unknown number.

[00:08:28] It reads, Hello, I'm Grace. Don't you have my number?

[00:08:34] Childhood Terror by Jennifer. When I was four, I moved into an apartment building originally

[00:08:58] built for coal miners' families. Now it's available for anyone to rent. We lived in the

[00:09:04] same apartment for nine years. Between four and five, I remember seeing these shadow masses.

[00:09:12] They didn't have a distinct shape, just a pattern of light. I was a little scared,

[00:09:18] but they did have a distinct shape, just somewhat rounded. They were smoky or transparent.

[00:09:26] They never did anything but just float off to the side of me as if observing. I was confused about

[00:09:33] what they were and what they wanted, so I ignored them, trying not to look directly at them,

[00:09:39] scared that they might move or something. They weren't really scary though. The truly scary

[00:09:45] when I was six or seven, I became terrified of something in the dark downstairs. I had a system

[00:09:52] of shutting off the lights. I started by turning off the hallway light, then going back to the

[00:09:58] kitchen, then running as fast as I could to the hallway. I never saw what it was. I was too

[00:10:03] terrified to stop and look. I just ran. I would feel it on my neck and back, that sensation of

[00:10:10] someone being close before you even see them. I just knew that it was evil and it wanted to hurt

[00:10:16] me. I would run until I hit the top of the stairs. It would leave me halfway up the hallway, but I

[00:10:23] kept running. This went on for about a year. I was also terrified of the devil under my bed. Well,

[00:10:30] that's what I called it. I would pull all my covers up, not letting a single piece hang off of the

[00:10:36] edge. I slept in the middle of my bed, in the fetal position. I did this for years after that.

[00:10:43] I was convinced that if I were close enough to the edge, it would try to pull me under.

[00:10:49] I don't know if I imagined it, but it was genuinely terrifying to me.

[00:10:54] Adding to this, my youngest child talked about the bad man from the time that he could talk.

[00:11:00] Even in kindergarten, he was still mentioning the bad man and even drew us a picture of the

[00:11:06] bad man in the corner. It was all black. We asked him many times who the bad man was.

[00:11:14] He always said, I don't know. He's just bad. I was in an abusive relationship with his father

[00:11:22] until he was one. Was he drawing his dad? Or did our fighting and stuff draw in a bad entity

[00:11:31] to my vulnerable child? I don't think I'll ever know the truth. A witch once told me

[00:11:37] that I could have drawn in an entity during pregnancy due to the abuse and drug use before

[00:11:42] my pregnancy and his dad's continued drug abuse, and that the entity might have taken hold of my

[00:11:49] child due to their innocence. The Death Knocks by BrownGirl1991

[00:12:19] This story recounts one of the most bone-chilling experiences I have ever had.

[00:12:25] It is the first time I have spoken about the incident since it occurred. As I write,

[00:12:31] I am reliving the experience, which I will probably carry with me until my last breath.

[00:12:38] Please bear with me. This may be long.

[00:12:42] After college, I was offered a chance to stay in my friend's room while job hunting in the

[00:12:47] southern part of India. My friend offered me her room rent-free until I found a job.

[00:12:55] After several exhausting weeks of job hunting, I finally found a position as a sales representative.

[00:13:03] Work started at 6pm and ended at 4am Monday through Friday. I accepted the offer out

[00:13:11] of desperation to find a job and start paying off debts. Since I was in money-saving mode,

[00:13:18] I began walking to the office, approximately 4 miles away. This neighborhood was the friendliest

[00:13:25] place I'd ever seen. It was bustling with young, college-aged people from various parts of the

[00:13:31] country. The streets were crowded and lively, with shops open until 3am. It was simply the

[00:13:39] best fun anyone could ask for, and my friend and I felt safe, never imagining anything bad

[00:13:47] could happen. That is until one day, on August 12th, 2015. Yes, I will remember this day for

[00:13:57] the rest of my life. I was returning home early from work at 1am because I was having stomach

[00:14:04] cramps. It was raining and my boss had requested my colleague to drop me off home safely, as it

[00:14:12] wasn't safe to take cabs late at night. At the gate, my colleague who assisted me asked if he

[00:14:19] should accompany me to the door, and I agreed. Not because I was sick, but because of the creepy

[00:14:26] stairs I had to ascend to reach the third floor, where my room was located. I lived with my friend

[00:14:33] in a rooftop house, with one large bedroom and an attached bathroom. To get there, I had to walk up

[00:14:41] an outer, narrow staircase, with thin but not very safe bars. In the dark, those staircases looked

[00:14:50] creepy. You had two huge trees blocking the streetlights from illuminating the staircase.

[00:14:57] I used my phone's flashlight, but that wasn't enough. The feeling of walking alone with houses

[00:15:03] so close to each other gave me chills. Anyway, my colleague dropped me off, and he made sure

[00:15:11] I closed the door behind me. I saw him leave. He also called me from the office, and my boss spoke

[00:15:17] to me to ensure I was okay. It was a tiring and painful night. I saw my friend sleeping on the

[00:15:24] bed because she needed to wake up at 4 in the morning for her work. I freshened up and thought

[00:15:30] I would prepare some black tea, which usually eases my tummy pain. Well, I was waiting to pour

[00:15:38] the tea into my cup, when all of a sudden I heard a banging sound on the front door.

[00:15:45] It had been at least 20-30 minutes since I got home. I wondered who it could be at this hour.

[00:15:52] It certainly wasn't my colleague or friends, but what gave me the chills,

[00:15:57] along with the continuous banging, was that I also heard children giggling.

[00:16:03] It was around 1.30 in the morning. I was scared. When I say scared, my gut knew this was not

[00:16:11] natural. I somehow managed to tiptoe to my friend in seconds, but she was a heavy sleeper,

[00:16:19] and not so happy when I woke her from sleep. I shook her and whispered,

[00:16:25] Shhh. Do you hear that? Not the bangs, but the laughter. She nodded yes,

[00:16:36] and I gestured for her not to speak. We both sat on the bed, too scared to move our eyes off the

[00:16:44] door. We were frozen. Let me tell you why. The banging wasn't like how a person would

[00:16:52] typically knock on a door. They were rapid and continuous, like someone was intentionally trying

[00:16:58] to scare us. The sound of the kids giggling turned into a deep voice laughing, as if it wanted us to

[00:17:07] hear. My friend and I had tears and couldn't understand what was happening, but we were sure

[00:17:15] that this was not normal. Luckily, she mustered the courage to walk up to the door and peek

[00:17:22] through the peephole. She turned back to me and silently indicated that she didn't see anybody.

[00:17:30] Then, the banging continued. The next day, she explained how she felt vibrations at the door.

[00:17:38] She also said she could still hear the kids giggle, and felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand

[00:17:44] up because she felt a negative energy, as if someone was watching her and knew she was right

[00:17:52] next to the door. Going back to that moment when the banging continued, I whispered to her,

[00:18:00] let's call for help. She agreed. I texted everyone possible, including neighbors,

[00:18:08] friends who stayed in the next building, and my colleagues, asking for help.

[00:18:13] She did the same. We were too scared to talk on the phone because we thought that if we made a

[00:18:19] noise, whatever was outside would come inside. We were also scared to call the police because

[00:18:27] what if there was nothing or nobody believed us? My friend and I were blank and shaking.

[00:18:36] All I could think while looking at my phone was to manage to write help and send it to whoever

[00:18:42] I thought of. The banging eventually stopped. My friend whispered, I think this is a prank.

[00:18:51] I think some friends from another building saw you coming home and wanted to prank you.

[00:18:58] For a moment, I thought the same too. Maybe we were just scared because it was so late.

[00:19:05] She also suggested that we go outside and try to see who it was.

[00:19:09] We both knew it was a stupid thing to do, but hey, who thinks clearly at times like this?

[00:19:17] I agreed that we would open the door and check, and also run out to the streets.

[00:19:23] Before we even stood up, we heard bangs on the bathroom window.

[00:19:29] This confirmed to us right at that moment that this was not human.

[00:19:33] My friend and I looked at each other, shocked, because there was no place below the bathroom

[00:19:41] window to stand. Remember, we were on the third floor. This was when it turned into an even worse

[00:19:49] nightmare. I burst into tears, unable to control my fear, and thought about how anyone could

[00:19:57] be pounding on the bathroom window. This confirmed my fear of something we couldn't see.

[00:20:05] My friend was crying too, trying to hold my mouth so it wouldn't hear us,

[00:20:10] but we were both petrified of whatever was out there.

[00:20:14] Amidst all of this, my stomach pain worsened due to high stress. I wasn't ready to be weak at that

[00:20:22] time. The banging continued for several minutes, though I have no recollection of how long it

[00:20:28] lasted. My friend says it went on for a good 10-15 minutes. All I remember is feeling low

[00:20:38] because of the pain and being scared for our lives. Suddenly, sometime later, my friend's phone

[00:20:46] rang out so loudly that she jumped out from bed, grabbed her phone next to the pillow and answered

[00:20:52] it. I was scared because she was so loud, appearing indifferent to the noise she was making.

[00:21:00] I could see the anger in her eyes, wishing for this to end. She said,

[00:21:06] Hello? Help us! There's something at our door and bathroom window, banging and scaring the

[00:21:12] hell out of us. Come here with the police or get people! The person on the phone told her to hold

[00:21:20] on and not to hang up until they got there, so my friend stayed on the call. A little while later,

[00:21:28] we heard vehicles parking, with long honks and people talking and rushing to our place.

[00:21:35] The banging was still going on at the bathroom window. We heard people near our door and the

[00:21:41] person on the call told us to open the door. My friend rushed and opened it. It was her boyfriend

[00:21:48] and his brothers. My first relief. While still crying, I screamed,

[00:21:55] Can you hear it? Please tell me you hear it! Her boyfriend looked shocked. Then he confirmed,

[00:22:03] Yeah, we hear it. Do you hear the giggles too?

[00:22:08] My friend and I both said yes. One of her boyfriend's brothers went outside to check

[00:22:13] if he could see anyone. At that moment, the banging stopped. It was calm, with zero noise,

[00:22:22] as if it had never happened. We were all shocked. The boys said, Grab your stuff and let's get out.

[00:22:31] Let's get out. That night, we stayed at my friend's boyfriend's place.

[00:22:37] I was tired from crying, in pain and traumatized by what happened.

[00:22:43] I wanted to rest and sleep, but my eyes stayed open, fearing it might return.

[00:22:51] My friend took leave for the whole day. She wasn't ready to go to work.

[00:22:55] We told our roommate to come to the boys' place, and not to go to that house.

[00:23:02] We also filled her in on what happened, but it was hard for her to believe.

[00:23:07] The next day, we vacated the place. We also received responses from others,

[00:23:14] asking what happened and had missed calls, but we decided not to tell anyone.

[00:23:20] To this day, I get anxious when I hear knocks at the door. I don't know why this happened,

[00:23:26] whether it has ended or if it has followed us. We don't know. But I do know one thing.

[00:23:34] I am still not ready to face this, and to this date, I never go out when it's dark,

[00:23:41] and ensure I am not home alone most of the time. Whoever it was, what it was,

[00:23:49] whatever it was, whether a sick prank or something else, I swear I don't want to meet this thing

[00:23:56] again. It's been eight years. Last month, one of the tenants messaged a group my friend is in,

[00:24:06] saying he kept hearing strange noises inside his house. Water taps kept flowing, and his doors

[00:24:13] would either open or close, happening without any pattern for two years. Things escalated when his

[00:24:21] wife was alone, and the walls would start banging whenever she took a bath. They have since moved

[00:24:29] to a better place, and two of the four houses are vacant today. I'm not sure what happened

[00:24:35] to the other two tenants, but I hope they are safe.

[00:24:58] Ghostly Animal Encounters by Heidi

[00:25:02] As a child and into my teens, I had occasional dreams that foretold something that would happen

[00:25:08] very soon. These weren't dramatic, prophetic dreams. The first one I remember having was a

[00:25:15] dream about a cabbage patch doll that I was hoping to receive for Christmas. This was during the

[00:25:20] height of their popularity, and they were very hard to find. I dreamed about receiving this

[00:25:26] doll with brown hair, which I very much did not want because I had blonde hair and I wanted it

[00:25:32] to look like me. On Christmas, I received the exact doll from my dream, but I learned to love

[00:25:39] her. In my teens, I dreamt about my missing agama dragon, Priscilla, whom I located in the exact

[00:25:47] place from my dream as soon as I woke up. The dream relevant to this story occurred during my

[00:25:53] first year of college and was about my family dog, Lobo. My parents' house had a side garden

[00:26:01] that wasn't accessible to the dog because of a fence and gate, but in my dream, Lobo and I

[00:26:08] were standing there together quite peacefully in that side garden. One week later, I was headed

[00:26:15] back home for the weekend to watch the house. I was also going to have some friends over to party

[00:26:20] because my parents were away. They called me just before the weekend to warn me that Lobo, who was

[00:26:26] elderly, had not been doing so well and I may have to be the one to make the unfortunate call to the

[00:26:31] veteran to put an end to her discomfort. That decision was made by me and my older brother

[00:26:37] that Saturday. After saying goodbye to our sweet girl, my brother returned to his apartment and a

[00:26:44] few of my friends came over for the night. The next morning, a friend came in from the garage and

[00:26:49] told me that my cat, Mr. Smith, was yowling and upset in the garage. Mr. Smith came to us as a

[00:26:57] tiny tuxedo kitten and developed a close relationship with Lobo. He was about eight years old when she

[00:27:03] passed. I could hear his yowls as I approached the garage door from inside the house, but they

[00:27:10] stopped when he saw me enter the garage. He immediately walked over towards the exterior

[00:27:16] exit from the garage, looked back at me and gave a short meow. It felt like he was saying,

[00:27:22] follow me. I approached the door and he then said, meow. I took this as open the door.

[00:27:30] His instructions were followed. As we stepped through the door, a rush of warm feelings came

[00:27:35] over me. It was at that moment that I remembered the dream from the week prior. The door that we

[00:27:41] were going through opened into that side garden. Mr. Smith gave one more follow me as he walked

[00:27:49] into the center of the garden. You know how cats rub against loved one's legs in that figure eight

[00:27:56] pattern? Well, he began rubbing against the legs of something I couldn't see, but his pattern

[00:28:03] suggested that it was a quadruped. His loud purrs also suggested that he was very happy to see this

[00:28:10] invisible quadruped. I knew who was there with us. Lobo was saying goodbye. It was my dream.

[00:28:18] It felt wonderful and I knew that she was happy to be free of discomfort.

[00:28:23] After a few minutes, the cat walked back into another part of the yard and the garden felt

[00:28:27] emptier. Mr. Smith seemed to be looking for his dear friend at times for the rest of the day as

[00:28:33] he was meowing quite a lot in the backyard. The next story took place in 2008 in the house and

[00:28:40] the neighborhood that we still live in. At the time, I still had big papa, a gorgeous and loyal

[00:28:47] wolf mix. As a very large dog, he was already considered elderly and could no longer join me

[00:28:54] for a run. So I was in the habit of taking him for nice walks and then going on my run after.

[00:29:01] Part of the walk would be repeated on my running route. That part of the course was still in my

[00:29:07] neighborhood and passed by the creepy house. The creepy house stuck out like a sore thumb in the

[00:29:15] neighborhood, primarily because it had been condemned by the city, but also because it was

[00:29:20] a completely different architectural style than the rest of the houses. The house made me feel

[00:29:26] uncomfortable. I would tell myself I was being prejudiced and a condemned and awkward house does

[00:29:32] not equal haunted. However, I would also try to be on the opposite side of the street to pass it,

[00:29:38] especially if I did not have my hero guardian papa with me. This event took place on an unusually

[00:29:47] warm and thunderstormy July evening in my coastal Northern California city. Papa and I took our walk

[00:29:55] and then I set out on my run. I was dazzled by the balmy weather and I did not give one thought to

[00:30:02] the creepy house until I realized it was right in front of me. It somewhat startled me. I immediately

[00:30:10] began scolding myself internally for just being silly. I did not have any reason to be scared of

[00:30:16] the house. At that moment, I felt fingers drag down my neck and upper back. My brain was still

[00:30:23] working overtime to tell myself that I was imagining things and I kept moving with growing

[00:30:29] unsettlement. Two blocks after the creepy house, I ran through an easement that connects my neighborhood

[00:30:37] with the old general hospital campus. Directly to the right of the easements exit into the hospital

[00:30:44] campus stood a long row of eucalyptus trees that hosted a bunch of ravens. I had been running past

[00:30:51] the ravens daily for almost a year and a half at this point and they never paid me any attention

[00:30:57] until that day. As soon as I was visible to them, a group of them left the trees and started flying

[00:31:04] straight and fast towards me. I froze thinking, what is going to happen to me? As they drew near

[00:31:12] to me, in the next second they all started dive bombing and I braced myself for their sharp talons

[00:31:20] but I didn't feel anything except the wind from their wing beats as they cawed and thrashed at

[00:31:27] nothing or something that was directly behind me. At that moment, the practical voice in my head said,

[00:31:36] okay, yes, that house has something in it and that something is following me. At this point,

[00:31:42] the run was over. I wanted to experiment. Maybe I had disturbed the ravens by simply being where I

[00:31:50] was. Now to test this, I went back through the easement to get to the main road and enter the

[00:31:56] hospital campus from another direction. I figured that if I had disturbed the ravens by being in

[00:32:03] the wrong place, then they wouldn't notice me standing about 150 yards from the trees

[00:32:08] in another direction. Meanwhile, I still felt like I was being followed. When I got to that

[00:32:16] 150 yard spot which is relatively far and the first glimpse of the trees, I just stood there.

[00:32:24] Instantly, they exited the trees and came straight for me. They did the same thing as before. I was

[00:32:30] untouched by the ravens, but I panicked inside. I was being followed by something inhuman or

[00:32:38] formerly human. I began to walk home unsure of what to do. I didn't want this thing to know

[00:32:45] where I lived. I was about to cross the last street to my block. As I crossed, I felt lighter.

[00:32:53] When I reached my block, I felt alone. It was gone. I scurried inside for a big papa cuddle

[00:33:01] and a strong drink. Papa passed in June of 2009. In June of 2010, I gave birth to my first child.

[00:33:11] During my pregnancy, the creepy house was being renovated. While on maternity leave,

[00:33:17] a realtor knocked on my door. I answered and they handed me an invitation to an open house

[00:33:23] of the new creepy house. My curiosity wanted me to accept the invitation, but due to the hours,

[00:33:31] I would have to bring my baby. There was no way something was going to attach itself to my baby,

[00:33:38] so I didn't go. But I did take the opportunity to ask about the house's history.

[00:33:44] It was an old 1800s schoolhouse that had been built in a tiny town about 30 miles away,

[00:33:51] and somebody moved it into my neighborhood.

[00:34:17] Yeah, that death knocks story from India that you narrated was an interesting one. I'll be honest,

[00:34:24] I was pretty sure that was just a prank, but that banging went on for way too long,

[00:34:30] and I don't think that children are that reckless to do something like that for over

[00:34:34] 10 minutes and so late at night. Yeah, as a former child, I can say

[00:34:39] doorbell ditching would have been the preferred modus operandi, whatever it is. What is it?

[00:34:46] I don't know. I think it's operandi, but actually, I've only heard it that way, operandi

[00:34:52] or apparandi. I've never heard apparandi. I like that though.

[00:34:57] I've heard operandi, yeah. I'm not too sure either.

[00:35:01] That's going to be my new handle for everything, modus operandi.

[00:35:05] It's kind of like Appalachian and Appalachian. I got in a big argument with my supervisor at

[00:35:10] work today about that. He is so certain that it's Appalachian, but it's a regional thing,

[00:35:15] but I feel like Appalachian is the proper way. I'll say this. I've done some let's not meet

[00:35:22] stories about Appalachia and I got a lot of responses from people from Appalachia

[00:35:28] correcting me because I said Appalachia. I think I may have even told them that,

[00:35:31] like, listen, bud, you're from Philadelphia, not the actual Appalachian mountains, but I guess

[00:35:36] they know everything over there. Yeah, of course. Yeah, it preferred modus operandi.

[00:35:42] I'm going to do it that way. Yeah, let's go with that.

[00:35:45] Yeah. I guess they could have ducked

[00:35:46] underneath the peephole if it was some kids playing a prank, but no kid wants to hang out

[00:35:51] at a doorstep longer than necessary when they're trying to prank or scare somebody like that.

[00:35:57] Well, not only children doorbell ditch. Remember that?

[00:36:02] I can't believe we haven't shared that story yet. May I?

[00:36:07] Yeah, go ahead. I have no shame.

[00:36:09] I hope you enjoy this story as much as I like telling it.

[00:36:12] Andy and I had just gotten some tacos and margaritas at one of our favorite spots in

[00:36:18] the town we grew up in. Driving would have been stupid and irresponsible, so naturally we did the

[00:36:23] mature thing and decided to cause a little mischief in the middle class suburbia across the road.

[00:36:30] Yeah. We didn't steal or damage

[00:36:31] anything, so don't get too excited. Keep in mind we were in our early 20s, drunk and really bored.

[00:36:38] There was some innocent doorbell ditching, and I had also knocked on some stranger's door just

[00:36:44] to ask them how their day was. They were surprisingly really chill about it and

[00:36:49] didn't even ask me what I wanted or how they knew me, which was cool. Then after that,

[00:36:55] we walked by a house with the front door wide open, but their screen door was closed.

[00:37:01] I don't remember if I dared him to do it or if he just did it on his own.

[00:37:05] I don't think so, yeah.

[00:37:08] Andy walks right up to the door and hollers in this exaggerated Backwoods accent,

[00:37:14] why do you got your door wide open?

[00:37:19] So I saw two kids watching The Lion King on the couch, and then their mom suddenly pops out from

[00:37:26] the kitchen and just says, oh, I'm sorry, and politely closes the door.

[00:37:32] Yes, that was the best part. Then we just took off sprinting and laughing, hyperventilating,

[00:37:38] we didn't even have to run, but it just felt right. Like when somebody blows your mind with

[00:37:42] a magic trick. Yeah, it was so funny that we ran because we felt so stupid afterwards. They

[00:37:47] probably would have just had a nice conversation with us and been like, oh, sorry, I'll shut it.

[00:37:51] And be like, yeah, you better. But those were good times. We got to do more stuff like that

[00:37:56] next time you visit. Yeah, I'm way down, drink a couple of beers on top of that abandoned hotel or

[00:38:01] whatever it was. That's when we first really talked about aliens and UFOs over a decade ago.

[00:38:06] Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Well, anyway, all of that is to say a bunch of kids couldn't have

[00:38:12] been knocking on that third story bathroom window either unless they were sitting on the shoulders

[00:38:17] of Inspector Gadget or something. Yep. Solid analysis. I've had a story on Let's Not Meet

[00:38:22] that was very similar to that. So I really loved reading this one. But yeah, solid analysis.

[00:38:28] Right on. Thanks. Now, as for Lindsay's story about this mysterious Grace character,

[00:38:35] I have a funny little anecdote to share. She sent me the story about two weeks ago. And when I

[00:38:42] finally replied to her to let her know it would be on the show, she told me she had just finished

[00:38:46] telling the story to somebody other than her husband for the first time. Wow. Just minutes

[00:38:51] after I replied to her. Fun little synchronicity in the universe, I suppose. That's cute. I know.

[00:38:58] It's also neat that she got the mysterious text on the night before Halloween.

[00:39:02] Ooh, yeah. Yeah. I wonder if that could have been some pre-cognitive tip off about the upcoming

[00:39:08] dream. Yeah. Or if it was Grace or some other supernatural entity reaching out. It's weird

[00:39:14] that quote unquote ghosts are stuck in the past yet seem to adapt to today's technology in a lot

[00:39:20] of ways. Yeah, that is weird. You were telling me that she sent you a screenshot of the message?

[00:39:27] Yeah, they didn't text back with the name Grace until after Lindsay had fallen asleep. And Grace

[00:39:33] isn't exactly a common name either. So I really don't think this dream was just a coincidence in

[00:39:39] that regard. I'm not 100% sure on what it was all supposed to mean though, especially because

[00:39:45] dreams can be so subjective. She passively mentioned that her friend's dad is a pastor.

[00:39:51] And even though she didn't outright say that he was trying to exercise this Grace demon out of

[00:39:56] his daughter, there seems to be a connection there. Except she was the one to step in and

[00:40:02] try to help the most. Yeah, yeah. Especially with those black eyes and the sinister grin.

[00:40:08] That aligns with a few demonic possessions that I've read about personally. Yeah.

[00:40:14] The dream kept resetting itself too. So maybe there's some lingering unresolved tension or

[00:40:19] conflict. Could be. She also mentioned that she isn't religious but began praying in the dream.

[00:40:26] I wonder if she could be going through some sort of spiritual road bump, so to speak. Who's to say?

[00:40:33] Either way, Lindsay, whether you're actually contacted by a demon or your subconsciousness

[00:40:39] is trying to tell you something, we hope that you're well and on a good path. Amen. Yeah.

[00:40:46] So we can finally close the book on this old bills mystery real quick. I heard from a friend who

[00:40:51] listens to the show that the treasury just destroys all of the old bills when they get them back.

[00:40:57] Yeah, that checks out. I'm kind of sad that the mystery is solved though. Yeah, we'll have to

[00:41:02] think of a new one for next week. Yep, I'm on the case. Well, thanks everybody for listening. Don't

[00:41:07] forget to send your stories into stories at oddtrails.com if you want to hear them on the show.

[00:41:11] And make sure you sign up for our Patreon over at patreon.com forward slash odd trails if you want

[00:41:16] to get access to ad free versions of all these episodes at a higher bit rate for the best

[00:41:20] listening experience. And don't forget to check out my other podcast, Let's Not Meet a True Horror

[00:41:24] podcast and the old time radio cast at crypticcountypodcasts.com or wherever you get your

[00:41:29] podcasts. See y'all next week. Stay safe. Peace out.

[00:41:50] Don't let the ghosts and the ghouls disturb you.