Panic in the Woods – Ep. 114

[00:00:00] Oddtrails is a true paranormal podcast. If you have a story to share, send it to stories@audtrails.com. Enjoy the show.

[00:00:08] Forget facts. Forget logic. Forget everything that seems real. You can just trust. Believe.

[00:00:22] [Music]

[00:00:44] [Music]

[00:00:57] Panic in the Woods, or something more sinister by similar yesterday, 657.

[00:01:08] This morning my best friend and I took our children and dogs to the woods for some fresh air.

[00:01:14] We live in the southern part of England. It's a wooded area we have both been to often.

[00:01:21] But this time, right off the bat, there was an unfamiliar atmosphere in the air.

[00:01:27] Both dogs seemed on edge. My dog, more so.

[00:01:32] Often whimpering and barking, which is unlike her. My four-year-old daughter stayed glued to my side the entire walk,

[00:01:41] while my friends' twins ran ahead of us. There are two paths into the woods. A high path and a low path.

[00:01:51] Below the low path, there is a valley. As we walked along the low path, the twins decided to climb the steep slope to reach the top path,

[00:02:01] something they have done many times. My friends' dog joined them. While at the top of the slope, the twins said they heard some pigs.

[00:02:12] This isn't uncommon, as there are pigs that roam the woods often. Within seconds, the twins had vanished, completely out of sight.

[00:02:24] This is not typical of her children. They are adventurous, but had never left her eyesight before.

[00:02:31] My friend frantically shouted for them, but we couldn't see or hear them at all.

[00:02:38] My friend, in a panic, attempted to climb the slope to no avail.

[00:02:44] Deep in the valley below us, we heard a dog screaming in pain.

[00:02:49] It sounded like a dog had gotten itself trapped in a snare of some sort.

[00:02:55] My friend stopped her attempt at climbing the hill and started shouting for her dog.

[00:03:01] The screaming of the dog became more intense. So much so, my friend then attempted to climb down the hill onto the valley,

[00:03:10] to help what we thought could have been her dog.

[00:03:14] In the corner of my eye, I saw some movement. It was her dog walking towards us. From the direction her twins were last seen.

[00:03:24] As soon as we saw her dog, the screaming in the valley stopped dead.

[00:03:30] A woman then appeared on the top of the slope, and shouted to us that the twins were making their way back down the path toward the beginning of the woods.

[00:03:41] We shouted thank you to the lady, and my friend told me she would run ahead to find the twins.

[00:03:48] We both looked up to where the lady was standing, and she was gone.

[00:03:54] We both looked around to see where the lady may have gone, but couldn't see her.

[00:04:00] Then, from the direction she was standing, only moments prior, approximately fifty deer ran straight past us into the valley below,

[00:04:11] into the direction of where the dog was screaming.

[00:04:15] My friend then ran ahead to find her twins, leaving me with both of our dogs and my four-year-old.

[00:04:22] As I continued my walk toward the beginning of the woods, I heard rustling among the foliage in the valley next to me.

[00:04:30] I looked down and saw five deer running past me, in the direction of the other large group of deer.

[00:04:39] I then heard a strange noise in the valley, but very close to me.

[00:04:45] It sounded like a person was making the sounds of an old ringing telephone.

[00:04:51] I stopped and looked into the trees, but couldn't see anything.

[00:04:55] As I turned away to continue my walk, the same sound started again, and stopped the moment I looked over.

[00:05:05] At this point, both dogs were behaving extremely nervous, and continuously checking behind us, as I was trying to pull them forward.

[00:05:15] I can't explain why, but I just knew my daughter wasn't safe.

[00:05:20] Whatever was happening in those woods, whoever it was or whatever it was, was trying to separate us all.

[00:05:29] I ignored the sound and continued walking towards the start of the woods as quickly as I could, while dragging my daughter and the dogs.

[00:05:39] As I walked around the corner, I saw my friend, who had found her twins.

[00:05:45] The twins both looked very pale in the face, and said they were very scared.

[00:05:51] They had told us that they began to sing in the woods, because when they stood still, they could hear twigs and leaves breaking around them.

[00:06:01] They said they came across a lady, with the face they recognized, but her face was really shiny, and she told them to walk down the path.

[00:06:12] They said they recognized the lady from their school.

[00:06:16] I feel the need to add that both myself and my friend would recognize anyone from that school.

[00:06:24] Neither of us recognized the lady we saw.

[00:06:27] They also said they could hear us shouting for them, and that they shouted back, but we couldn't hear them.

[00:06:35] Each of us heard all the other sounds, and we all saw the lady.

[00:06:40] We had the immense feeling that we were all being separated, but none of us can explain what happened, or why it happened.

[00:06:49] We have been searching for answers, and the only suggestion is something called panic in the woods, which apparently is a common phenomenon, where people feel sudden anxiety and unease while in wooded areas.

[00:07:04] Often with the urge to run, but we all saw, heard, and experienced the same thing.

[00:07:13] Thanks for reading. Any thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.

[00:07:19] [Music]

[00:07:27] I saw a patient that didn't exist by "You got me there."

[00:07:49] I don't know how this happened.

[00:07:50] I'm still perplexed by it five years later.

[00:07:54] I was starting out as a healthcare provider in a private practice.

[00:07:59] Our practice had set up cameras to monitor front desk activity outside and the hallway

[00:08:04] as well.

[00:08:05] All for security and emergency reasons as we are in a large metro area with a moderate

[00:08:12] to high crime rate.

[00:08:14] So utilizing a very well-known yellow booking software, some of you will know, I received

[00:08:21] an appointment request.

[00:08:24] The appointment had no insurance listed, only a name.

[00:08:28] For the sake of HIPAA, I obviously won't be giving the actual name, sex or gender of

[00:08:33] the individual, let's just say JD for short.

[00:08:38] The appointment was never confirmed via phone and JD had an international number.

[00:08:44] JD shows up and for the most part, it was a standard visit, normal workup, etc.

[00:08:52] Think of it as an annual physical but without any abnormalities.

[00:08:58] I did my usual banter, what do you do for work, where are you from, etc.

[00:09:05] They were pretty short in answering and again, given the location of where the practice was,

[00:09:11] I wasn't taken aback.

[00:09:13] I will say, I was confused about the lack of accent this individual had though.

[00:09:20] There were no distinctive markings or features other than the person's height which was

[00:09:25] well above average for either sex.

[00:09:29] The appointment ends, they pay in cash and make no follow-up.

[00:09:34] It's just the standard, don't call me, I'll call you.

[00:09:39] The day was pretty busy so I wasn't able to do the note then and there.

[00:09:44] At the end of the day, I sat down to do my notes and I noticed that JD was not in the

[00:09:50] note tally, meaning one patient was missing from the total.

[00:09:56] I checked the system, thinking that the FD might have forgotten it since it was a cash

[00:10:01] note.

[00:10:02] These tend to not be as pressing to smaller practices as they don't need to submit this

[00:10:08] to insurance companies for reimbursement.

[00:10:11] The appointment wasn't there, so I decided to check the booking app to pull their info.

[00:10:18] The appointment wasn't there either, so I asked the front desk what happened and they

[00:10:23] said that they didn't know who I was referring to.

[00:10:27] We had seen over 50 people collectively that day so I just let it slide.

[00:10:34] I did the note but I did not add any other info except for the one told me by the patient

[00:10:41] and I took note of the international number but couldn't remember the code.

[00:10:47] Fast forward two to three days later, I was still thinking about the situation and remembered

[00:10:52] the cameras.

[00:10:54] I told the front desk to look at the video with me and to my astonishment.

[00:10:59] There, clear as day is the patient talking to me in the hallway and checking out in the

[00:11:05] FD with the FD writing the transaction on both the cash ledger and the digital ledger.

[00:11:13] Needless to say, all three of us were and still are confused.

[00:11:19] The FD did some snooping as young people do and found no record of anything or anybody

[00:11:26] by what they thought was their name.

[00:11:29] We called the booking company and nobody even made an appointment for that day, at least

[00:11:35] not under my profile.

[00:11:38] How did the appointment disappear from both our EHR and the booking software?

[00:11:45] I'm still rattling my brain over this.

[00:11:48] Any takers on explaining this?

[00:11:51] Was it a glitch?

[00:11:51] [Music]

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[00:13:54] Poltergeist Door Something Else by Holly

[00:14:17] In episode 110 you guys featured a story about a poltergeist.

[00:14:22] It inspired me to finally write about some experiences I've had in my home with what

[00:14:27] I believe to also be a poltergeist.

[00:14:30] I've lived in this house for about three years.

[00:14:34] It isn't ridiculously old.

[00:14:36] It was built in the 1970s.

[00:14:39] Things were normally quiet, except for the occasional creeks that you might expect.

[00:14:45] One evening I was sitting on my couch in the living room, scrolling through my phone before

[00:14:49] deciding to fall asleep.

[00:14:52] That's when I heard it, the first thing.

[00:14:54] thump upstairs. It was loud enough to startle me, but I assumed it was just the house settling.

[00:15:02] I went back to scrolling, and then a few minutes later, there was another thump, followed by

[00:15:09] what sounded like something dragging across the floor above me. Now this was enough to

[00:15:15] get me off the couch. I have a cat, Pogo, and I thought maybe he had gotten into something.

[00:15:24] I called out for him, but he didn't come, which was unusual. As I climbed the stairs,

[00:15:31] the air felt colder. I remember thinking that was odd, because it was the middle of summer,

[00:15:38] and my house never really got cold. Once I reached the top, I headed towards my bedroom,

[00:15:46] which is where I thought the sound came from. The moment I opened the bedroom door, I felt

[00:15:52] a chill run down my spine. Nearly all of my books were laying on the floor, beside my

[00:15:58] bookshelf, but Pogo was nowhere to be seen. The bookshelf itself wasn't disturbed either.

[00:16:07] I started cleaning up, feeling unnerved but trying to rationalize it. Maybe a strong gust

[00:16:15] of wind had knocked things over, but the windows were closed, and some of these books were

[00:16:21] heavy college textbooks that would have taken considerable effort to move. And then, just

[00:16:29] as I was picking up the last book, I felt so cold that I started shivering, the hair

[00:16:36] on my arms raised. That's when the banging started. It was coming from the closet, three

[00:16:44] loud bangs, as if someone was hitting the door from the inside. I was frozen in place,

[00:16:52] my heart racing. I don't believe in ghosts, but I couldn't explain what was happening.

[00:17:00] Gathering my courage, I walked over to the closet and flung the door open, nothing, just

[00:17:08] clothes in some old boxes. But then, right behind me, the last book I had put on the shelf,

[00:17:17] fell off again. I spun around and that's when I saw it. It was a shadow, or what looked

[00:17:26] like one, but it was moving. It wasn't a trick of the light. It was there, in the middle

[00:17:33] of my room, a dark, swirling mass. I can't explain the fear I felt. It was primal, like

[00:17:43] every instinct in my body was telling me to run. Then, as quickly as it appeared, it vanished.

[00:17:53] The room temperature returned to normal, and everything was still. I stood there, trying

[00:18:00] to process what had happened. Pogo casually walked into my room, meowing as if nothing

[00:18:07] had happened. I didn't sleep much that night. A few days later, I saw my neighbor washing

[00:18:15] his car when I came home from work. He's an older gentleman who has lived there for

[00:18:20] most of his adult life. He waved at me as he usually does, but I decided to walk over

[00:18:27] and ask if he's heard anything about my house being haunted. He smiled as he kept washing

[00:18:34] his car. I could tell it probably wasn't his first time hearing about this. Turns out,

[00:18:41] the previous owner had mentioned she thought the house was haunted, but never gave it much

[00:18:46] thought. Since then, I've had a few more odd occurrences, but nothing as intense as that

[00:18:56] night. I still don't know what to believe. Was it a poltergeist? My imagination? All

[00:19:04] I know is that I wasn't dreaming and it felt real, and it's something I'll never forget.

[00:19:11] I lived in an alternate reality for four years by straight for shady. I think I know

[00:19:39] what happened, but there are some things that I just can't explain that well. I have several

[00:19:46] vivid early memories up till the age of six of me in my current life. They track exactly

[00:19:55] what my family remembers with pictures, timelines, etc. Around the age of five, I began having

[00:20:01] terrifying nightmares that I couldn't wake up from, and I didn't know were real. I would

[00:20:08] go days thinking that my nightmares were real. I still have nightmares and night terrors

[00:20:14] like this where I wake up screaming with scratches and bruises and feeling deeply disturbed.

[00:20:22] When I was six, my two best friends moved away, and that was my last real memory before

[00:20:28] I fell asleep and woke up when I was ten. The alternate life and reality are very similar

[00:20:38] in ways, but there are enough differences and scattered memories that they noticeably

[00:20:44] don't match up. I remember things that reportedly never happened to me, and I have no recollection

[00:20:51] of the things that did. For example, I remember a situation where I watched the neighbors kids

[00:20:59] for 30 minutes when I was eight. When I woke up and four years had passed, the kids were

[00:21:05] the same age, and I did not babysit them until I was eleven. When I was eleven, I knew exactly

[00:21:13] what was going to happen during those thirty minutes because it already happened. It was

[00:21:19] like what I had previously experienced came true three years later. I've kept journals

[00:21:27] since I could write, and I remember writing. Yesterday it was 2005, now it's 2006. I also

[00:21:36] wrote about my New Year's Eve. What I remember happening was going to the planes and watching

[00:21:43] fireworks. I did write the first sentence, but in the physical diary I didn't say what

[00:21:49] we did. When I asked my mom, it turned out we were in our neighborhood that year. We

[00:21:56] have pictures of my sister and me at two kids exhibits in Niagara Falls on the same day.

[00:22:04] I remember one which was a glass factory. We have pictures of another though, which I

[00:22:10] think was a science factory. I remember the outfit because it was very pretty, but not

[00:22:18] the event. It doesn't seem familiar.

[00:22:21] familiar when I look at the pictures. Like the kid in them is me. But it isn't how I remember

[00:22:28] myself during those years, it's just a little off. I know it's normal for kids to forget things,

[00:22:35] but 15 years later, I still don't recognize myself or anything in it.

[00:22:41] It was like I fell asleep, lived for 4 years, went back to sleep during those 4 years,

[00:22:49] and woke up in an alternate life. It really shook me up and felt like I was seeing the world

[00:22:56] with the different filter. Colors were slightly different, people looked a bit different.

[00:23:02] I felt shorter than in my dream, and I felt emotions differently.

[00:23:07] They were much much stronger. My personality changed completely. I became more withdrawn,

[00:23:15] aloof and depressed. I had panic attacks all the time, and would get overstimulated by seemingly

[00:23:23] small things. I've been that way ever since. Weirdly enough, my mom says the same thing.

[00:23:31] Around the time that I was 10, my personality changed a lot.

[00:23:36] Personalities and a sense of identity don't really develop until around that age, so it is

[00:23:43] entirely possible that my personality was mainly a mix of what I saw and what I imagined,

[00:23:49] and that's why I was so different after those 4 years.

[00:23:52] As an adult, I've been diagnosed with several mental illnesses, including bipolar,

[00:23:58] with psychosis, and borderline personality disorder, both of which can feature symptoms of

[00:24:03] disassociation, depersonalization, and derealization. I do not have disassociated disorder,

[00:24:10] so I'm pretty sure that all of this was just the beginning of the psychosis,

[00:24:15] and disassociation related to the other disorders that I would experience for the

[00:24:19] majority of my life, but it doesn't make it any less weird.

[00:24:24] An untitled story by Natalie

[00:24:49] When I was 17, I rented a trailer with two of my cousins and one of their partners,

[00:24:55] out in the country. We often had odd things happen but were normally able to justify them.

[00:25:01] Everyone else had overnight jobs, so I was home alone most nights. I kind of liked the piece

[00:25:09] and quiet, so it was nice to have the whole place to myself, even if it was a little creepy sometimes.

[00:25:17] Usually, when I got home from work, I would throw all my stuff on the couch for the next day,

[00:25:22] keys, wallet, uniform, etc. This night was no different. I threw all of my stuff on the couch,

[00:25:32] made something to eat, and then rotted in my bed after a long day of work.

[00:25:36] After it had already gotten dark, I went to let the pets in as they hadn't wanted in earlier.

[00:25:44] Between my cousin and me, we had two cats and a dog.

[00:25:48] Both her cat and dog came in when I called, but my cat was nowhere to be seen. He would

[00:25:56] often come to the door and let out a meow shortly after I called. So I shut the door and sat down

[00:26:03] on the couch closest to the door to wait for him, and the dogs sat beside me. I didn't care much

[00:26:09] for dogs, but having him at the house when I was alone made me feel a bit better. He wasn't a big

[00:26:17] dog by any means, but a dog will let you know if something is wrong. After about 10 minutes of

[00:26:24] waiting, I started to hear footsteps coming toward the door. The dog had heard them too,

[00:26:30] and kept looking at the door every time it happened, so I knew I wasn't imagining it.

[00:26:38] I hadn't seen anyone pull into the driveway, but every few minutes, the dog and I would hear

[00:26:44] footsteps walking across the porch, coming up to the door, and then stopping. It happened about

[00:26:52] seven or eight times, and once again, I hear footsteps walk across the porch, get to the door,

[00:27:01] and then suddenly three sharp knocks. The dog started barking and howling, and I swung the door open,

[00:27:11] but nothing was there. I immediately called my aunt to live two minutes down the road

[00:27:18] and asked if I could sleep at her house. She of course said yes, and I went to make sure

[00:27:25] that the pets had enough food to last until someone made it back to the house. I grabbed a bag to

[00:27:31] pack my uniforms for the next day, but when I made it back to the couch, my keys were gone.

[00:27:37] Everything else was exactly where I had left it, but my keys, my only way out, were gone.

[00:27:45] The closest place I could get to was a two mile walk, and there was no way I was making that in

[00:27:52] the dark. I started pacing around, tearing the house apart looking for my keys. I searched every

[00:28:00] room and then made my way back to the living room, but at some point during my franticness,

[00:28:06] I hadn't noticed the dog had stopped barking. Not only that, he was gone. I then saw a glimpse of

[00:28:15] him through the window, running around outside. I have no idea how he got there. I opened the door

[00:28:23] and called him to come back in, but he ignored me. Screw it. I was on a mission to find my keys

[00:28:30] and get the hell out of there. I shut the door and repeated the same circle I had the first time,

[00:28:37] searching every corner of the trailer, only to make my way back to the living room empty-handed,

[00:28:44] but the dog had somehow gotten back inside and was sitting calmly on the couch.

[00:28:51] I searched the house for 20 more minutes before I found my keys, sitting on the couch right where

[00:28:57] I had left them when I got home. I got in my truck and flew to my aunt's house. It didn't

[00:29:05] occur to me until much later that my other cousin had died on that very porch. My other cousins

[00:29:12] and I believe she is still there, often protecting or warning us from whatever else was residing there.

[00:29:20] If not for her, who knows what could have happened?

[00:29:48] Experiences in Africa by Jane The following events happened to me many, many years ago

[00:29:57] while living in South Africa.

[00:29:59] I had just gone through a medical emergency and traumatic event the month before when

[00:30:05] I lost my first baby at seven and a half months pregnant.

[00:30:09] My parents were keen for my husband and I to accompany them on their annual Christmas

[00:30:14] holiday to Rhodesia, Nausim Babwe.

[00:30:18] On the way there we stopped at a place where Cecil Rhodes was buried.

[00:30:23] We stayed there for a couple of nights and then traveled to a game park.

[00:30:27] There was a main camp and various smaller camps dotted throughout the game reserve where

[00:30:33] you could view animals in their natural habitat.

[00:30:37] We spent a few days in the main camp and then moved on for one more night at one of

[00:30:43] the smaller camps.

[00:30:45] A beautiful place high on a plateau overlooking a valley filled with wild animals.

[00:30:52] Two chalets had been booked for us and we spent the evening in the chalet where my parents

[00:30:56] were staying playing card games with the family well into the evening.

[00:31:02] Anyway, at about midnight we decided to head over to our chalet and say goodnight to the

[00:31:08] family.

[00:31:09] I can't tell you what time it was but sometime during the early hours of the morning I was

[00:31:14] dreaming or so I thought that somebody was trying to pull me out of the bed by my feet.

[00:31:22] It felt like I was being pulled out of my physical body.

[00:31:27] It sounds crazy I know but it's the only way that I can explain it.

[00:31:32] There were two single beds in the chalet.

[00:31:35] I was in one and my husband was in the other.

[00:31:38] I was fighting this thing whatever it was as I woke up from this struggle.

[00:31:45] I heard this evil guttural voice in my ear and it said the word 'fool'.

[00:31:53] I jumped out of bed so quickly that I practically flew and got into bed with my husband, shaking

[00:31:59] and terrified.

[00:32:01] My husband can attest to how terrified I was.

[00:32:05] I didn't go back to sleep after that, I was literally shaking but I was relieved when

[00:32:11] I started to see that the sun was coming up.

[00:32:14] I told my husband not to mention this to my parents as I didn't want them worrying about

[00:32:19] me thinking about my recent trauma.

[00:32:22] In the early morning light I convinced myself and him that it had to have been a nightmare,

[00:32:28] although I have never been prone to nightmares then or now.

[00:32:34] It left me quite shaken for a long time afterwards though.

[00:32:39] Even today after 50 years I shudder at the memory.

[00:32:43] I do want to point out that I've never experienced anything paranormal in my life or after that

[00:32:48] experience and I never want to again.

[00:32:52] We didn't discuss it until a few months later when we happened to be visiting my parents

[00:32:58] and my mom was telling me about how much she loved Rhodesia as she was preparing for another

[00:33:03] trip.

[00:33:04] Her words were "I love going to Rhodesia but there is only one place I don't like and

[00:33:10] that is the camp overlooking the plateau."

[00:33:14] I asked her why and she said "Because something tried to pull me out of my bed."

[00:33:21] With my husband and I looked at each other and realized then that I hadn't been dreaming.

[00:33:28] I then told my mom about what happened to me.

[00:33:31] Whatever it was tried to pull her out by her shoulders whereas my experience was by my

[00:33:36] feet.

[00:33:38] It must have jogged her memory as she said "Was that at Christmas when you were there

[00:33:43] with us because I remember asking your dad when we watched you go over to the chalet that

[00:33:49] evening if that wasn't the same chalet that we had used the last time we were staying

[00:33:54] there?

[00:33:56] I've read that sleep paralysis is often experienced by people in the same family but

[00:34:01] how strange that two people from the same family can have a similar experience at different

[00:34:07] times in the same place.

[00:34:11] I know we experienced something evil in that chalet and I have often wondered over the

[00:34:16] years if anyone else has had a similar experience.

[00:34:19] I can tell you that it terrified me and I have never forgotten even though it was nearly

[00:34:25] 50 years ago.

[00:34:51] So let's go ahead and address the background music that we added to the stories.

[00:35:03] Yeah, I agree, let us know what you think.

[00:35:06] And on a somewhat related note, we started an odd trails discord server because we got

[00:35:11] some Spotify comments and Instagram messages asking us about gaming.

[00:35:16] So if you want to hang out and play some games with us or just chat about whatever, we'll

[00:35:21] leave a link to the server in the show notes for you.

[00:35:24] Yeah, that'll be fun.

[00:35:25] Maybe we can set up some recurring game night with everybody or even just, like you said,

[00:35:30] voice chatting.

[00:35:31] We'll figure it out.

[00:35:32] Yeah, I'm way down.

[00:35:33] Sounds like a blast.

[00:35:34] Everyone can join us for a game of mini golf on Tower Unite.

[00:35:38] Sweet.

[00:35:39] It's official.

[00:35:40] Join the discord server.

[00:35:42] There's no catch just extending the invitation to join us and doing what we already do pretty

[00:35:47] much every night.

[00:35:49] So yeah, follow that link and when we get enough people, we can start working something

[00:35:53] out.

[00:35:54] Yep.

[00:35:55] Yep.

[00:35:56] Sounds good.

[00:35:57] So I'm sure you love that first story, taking place in the woods.

[00:35:59] Your favorite.

[00:36:00] Yeah, I hate that I loved it.

[00:36:03] And the dog yelping really got to me, even though everything seemed to turn out okay.

[00:36:07] I just don't do well with that kind of stuff.

[00:36:09] Yeah, I'm with you there.

[00:36:11] Written descriptions don't really unnerve me all that much.

[00:36:14] But in movies, especially hearing animals or children crying in pain immediately kills

[00:36:19] my mood.

[00:36:20] I'll take cheap jump scares over those sounds any day.

[00:36:23] Yeah, I usually skip the first part of John Wick.

[00:36:26] Yeah, don't blame you.

[00:36:28] Animals and children are probably the most sacred living things on earth.

[00:36:32] I like trees too, but that could explain those visceral feelings we get when they're

[00:36:37] in pain, but also yeah, there's the whole thing about how animals and kids are so sensitive

[00:36:43] to the paranormal.

[00:36:45] Overall, they're both so vulnerable and susceptible to whatever the world throws at them or even

[00:36:51] beyond this world.

[00:36:53] Holy smokes.

[00:36:54] That is incredible.

[00:36:55] Stop.

[00:36:56] Oh, yeah, don't forget to join our discord if you want to scoop on all of our inside references

[00:37:01] that we use all the time, folks, link in the show notes, link in the show notes.

[00:37:05] Okay.

[00:37:06] So the whole story was pretty wild, but I really wanted to know more about the lady that they

[00:37:11] all saw.

[00:37:12] Right, I wouldn't be surprised if she was a guard

[00:37:15] an angel of some sort. Only the kids recognized her and they said her face was shiny, but I wonder

[00:37:21] if they met glowing. And given the circumstances, I wonder if she made her presence known to the

[00:37:26] parents out of necessity. Definitely possible. And the old ringing phone, just overall, really

[00:37:34] creepy story. Thanks for sharing that one with us. I've been wanting to tell you about the time

[00:37:40] that I've spent doing the gateway experience. Oh, nice. I'm a big fan of vinyl beats in general,

[00:37:47] but the official Hemi Sink stuff is really good. I think it probably subconsciously influenced

[00:37:53] the music we added to our stories, even though it's darker for obvious reasons.

[00:37:58] There's a lot to be said about how much sound influences our brains beyond just enjoying music

[00:38:05] or the sound of somebody's voice. Yeah, I see what you did there. So I know I've talked about

[00:38:12] Robert Monroe, Astral Projection, and the Monroe Institute at Nauseum. So I won't go on and on

[00:38:18] about that or the books, but for new listeners, after years of experience with Astral Projection,

[00:38:24] Robert Monroe, he wrote these three books on the topic and then started the Monroe Institute.

[00:38:30] I've only read his first book, but we should add the Monroe Institute to our list of planned

[00:38:34] trips. Yeah, after trying the gateway experience at home, on my own, I completely agree.

[00:38:41] Business expense? Yeah, yeah, business expense indeed. Nice.

[00:38:45] So the Monroe Institute is kind of like Professor Xavier's School for People who want to learn to

[00:38:52] Astral Project like him. So they pioneered the use of vinyl beats, like you mentioned,

[00:38:58] to induce the out-of-body state. And again, I've talked about this a bunch in the past,

[00:39:04] so I'll keep it short and sweet. Robert called this "himmysink" because it worked by using two

[00:39:09] different frequencies in each ear to sync up the left and right hemispheres of the brain,

[00:39:13] as it tunes to the difference in between the frequencies, so to speak.

[00:39:17] Yeah, there's a lot of it on YouTube. I think I first found them by looking at

[00:39:22] background noise to play while I read or sleep. Oh, yeah. I was listening to a lot of delta waves

[00:39:27] before I knew they were actual vinyl beats. I guess different frequencies have different

[00:39:32] benefits, focus, relaxation, whatever your heart desires really. There's a frequency out there for

[00:39:38] it. I use them all the time, but "himmysink" beats are designed specifically by Robert Monroe and

[00:39:45] his team to be incredibly effective at inducing Astral Projection. Anyway, the government began

[00:39:51] looking into this and did an analysis and assessment on the gateway experience. And those papers are

[00:39:56] now public, and of course, all these YouTubers and TikTokers out there are sensationalizing it as

[00:40:02] some top secret government project that trains soldiers to spy on enemies via Astral Projection.

[00:40:08] When in reality, it's the gateway experience. It's something that Robert Monroe had been

[00:40:13] practicing and teaching already. And the papers that were released are just a big nothing burger,

[00:40:19] and they don't give us anything that Robert Monroe wasn't already publicly practicing and

[00:40:23] writing about. Yeah, but it makes for good content and lots of clicks and engagement. Gotta have that.

[00:40:29] Oh, yeah, definitely. So I listened to an interview with the person who helped Robert

[00:40:35] with the "himmysink" recordings, and he talked about how the government's efforts in working with

[00:40:39] the gateway project or gateway experience, gateway tapes, whatever you want to call it,

[00:40:44] didn't really work for their purposes anyway, because it ultimately brings the person doing the

[00:40:49] exercises into a state of peace and tranquility. See, I've always firmly believed that the world

[00:40:55] would be a much better place if everybody with a sound mind, of course, or at a minimum,

[00:41:00] the world leaders were to take part in a guided psychedelic trip. MKUltra could have been used for

[00:41:08] something a lot better than just some back alley counterintelligence operation. We could all be

[00:41:13] singing "Kumbaya" and have no nuclear weapons, but now... Yeah, I need you to lead the world, but...

[00:41:20] Alright. So naturally, I got my hands on these gateway tapes, and I've started doing the exercises.

[00:41:26] I do a different one each night, but I did find one that I like a lot. I think it's the second

[00:41:32] or third one in the series. I don't remember. I have it bookmarked. You start out by mentally

[00:41:36] putting all of your worries, fears, and earthly problems into this box. Then you turn away from

[00:41:43] it and leave them there. Then you go through this series of breathing and humming exercises that

[00:41:50] put you in this amazing frequency where you feel like you're just kind of floating around inside

[00:41:55] of your body. Nice, nice. Visual compartmentalizing helps me a lot too. I gotta try that one in particular.

[00:42:02] Yeah, it's not like anything I've ever experienced when meditating. I've done Joe

[00:42:07] dispens a binaural beats. You name it. Everything out there. Any YouTube video that says meditation

[00:42:12] or guided meditation, I'm sure I've tried it. But nothing compares this experience. I eventually

[00:42:17] blasted up out of my body and into this swirling vortex. Whoa. Yeah, it was beautiful and impossible

[00:42:25] to describe. I guess you could say I never got out of body in the sense that I wasn't outside of

[00:42:31] my physical body looking at my physical body or anything like that. It was more of an intense

[00:42:36] psychedelic trip. And I've never had a psychedelic trip. So I'm just assuming this is what it was

[00:42:42] like. I can't describe it. But for those of you listening, if you can get your hands on these

[00:42:46] tapes, I highly recommend giving it a shot. Yeah, going out of your body is a 10 out of 10 experience,

[00:42:53] usually. Yeah, I do think that these spiritual experiences are the best gateway, no pun intended

[00:43:00] to opening your mind up to the paranormal. Yeah, not in the sense that you're inviting any

[00:43:05] metaphysical visitors to take shelter in your spirit or whatever. But it can peel back some

[00:43:10] of the layers of skepticism, I think. Yeah, I'm sure most of you listening are already believers.

[00:43:16] But if you're an open minded skeptic, give it a shot. Forget everything that seems real.

[00:43:21] Just trust. Believe. Yeah, so you can get the CDs at the Monroe Institute website, but they're

[00:43:30] very expensive. And we're definitely not recommending either searching online for the files or just

[00:43:36] listening to them on YouTube. No, no, we would never never. Anyways, I think that's all we have

[00:43:43] for this week. Thanks everybody so much for listening and make sure you send your stories

[00:43:48] and you can send them into stories at oddtrails.com. Don't forget to sign up for our Discord server.

[00:43:54] Link is in the show notes. Link is in the show notes. And don't forget to sign up for our Patreon

[00:43:59] if you want to get access to ad free versions of all of our episodes at a higher bit rate.

[00:44:03] You can do that at patreon.com/oddtrails. Finally, don't forget to check out the new episodes of

[00:44:09] my other podcasts at crypticcountypodcasts.com, like Let's Not Meet and the Old Time Radio Cast.

[00:44:15] Everyone, we'll see you next week. Stay safe. Peace out.

[00:44:22] [Music]

[00:44:37] Don't let the ghosts and the ghouls disturb you, darling.