Episode 127: Ghost Next to My Bed

[00:00:00] Odd Trails is a true paranormal podcast. If you have a story to share, send it to stories at oddtrails.com. Enjoy the show.

[00:01:08] I called the number on the van and the wife of the owner called the police. After a day

[00:01:26] of panic and confusion, the police found him hanging from a tree in the back corner of the

[00:01:32] property. He had jumped off a tree stand he built. His wife said he died in the place

[00:01:39] he loved the most. Fast forward to one morning as the sun was coming up. I heard footsteps running

[00:01:47] down the hall, which ended at the side of my bed. I have two boys so this wasn't alarming

[00:01:54] at first, except I was actually in the house by myself. I opened my eyes and saw a boy with

[00:02:03] blonde hair, wearing blue jean overalls standing next to my bed. I have blonde-haired children,

[00:02:12] but I suddenly realized that this was not my child. Then all of a sudden, the boy started

[00:02:20] to vanish from the head down until he was just gone. Being pretty freaked out, I slept with my

[00:02:29] pistol next to me for the next two nights, as if that would do any good. I later rented the house

[00:02:37] out for a few years. When I eventually came back to live there, I needed to change my address.

[00:02:44] I went to the local post office and was talking to the clerk who knew the address.

[00:02:51] She said her dad had killed himself on the property. We talked a little and

[00:02:57] remembering that unexplainable sighting by my bed years prior, I asked her what her dad was like as a

[00:03:04] young boy, what he looked like and what he wore. My jaw dropped when she said he wore blue jean

[00:03:12] overalls and had blonde hair. I told her about what I saw and she wasn't surprised. She had

[00:03:21] experiences of her own that involved her to see Dad as well. Even my son, before I ever saw or

[00:03:29] mentioned the boy next to my bed, would always talk about a little blonde-haired boy. I thought he was

[00:03:37] just making up a friend, you know, like how kids do. I still haven't told my kids about my

[00:03:44] experience, but after finding out who the ghost likely was, I was never afraid of another

[00:03:50] encounter if it happened. I'd often hear noises and sometimes doors that were open when I walked by

[00:03:59] were somehow completely shut the next time I saw them. You can say what you want, but I'm certain

[00:04:07] the man who died on my property returned as a boy from when he used to enjoy the land my house

[00:04:14] is on, reliving the times he was the happiest. He has since moved on, or at least I haven't heard

[00:04:23] or seen anything out of the ordinary for years now. I hope he found peace.

[00:05:09] In the summer, our home in Mountainous Central Idaho was no exception. It was normal for my dad to pick me and

[00:05:24] my brothers up after school and head to the mountains for an afternoon of firewood gathering.

[00:05:29] My dad would cut down the dead trees and then chop them into chunks while my brothers and I

[00:05:35] had the task of rolling the wood to the truck and loading it. We would continue this assembly line

[00:05:42] process until we had a whole truckload of wood, which we usually accomplished before nightfall.

[00:05:49] Whenever we were done, we would be hot, sweaty, and exhausted as we piled into the truck and made

[00:05:56] our way back down the mountain. At home the next day, we would unload and split the wood

[00:06:03] to stack it into neat little rows. This process was repeated until we had a winter's worth of fuel

[00:06:10] for our house and our grandma's cabin. The excess would go to our elderly neighbors.

[00:06:15] On this particular afternoon, we decided to try a different logging road on the other

[00:06:20] side of the valley. This was well outside our familiar logging area. There was no real

[00:06:27] reason for the change. My dad said he just wanted a change of scenery. This logging road hadn't been

[00:06:34] maintained in some time so there were large rocks and fallen branches littering the path.

[00:06:40] My brothers and I had to walk out in front of the truck, pushing rocks and wood out of the way

[00:06:46] as my dad lurched up the switchbacks. Yard by yard we slowly made our way up the mountain.

[00:06:53] That hike was physically brutal. As we ascended the mountain and got further into the trees,

[00:07:00] this odd feeling started to set in. I wasn't sure if it was the exhaustion from the hike

[00:07:07] or something more but there was an electricity in the air. Like the whole mountain was buzzing

[00:07:14] at a wavelength just below my senses. In some weird way, it felt like the mountain

[00:07:20] knew that we were there and it was not welcoming us. I wanted to say something to my brothers but

[00:07:26] before I even opened my mouth, my younger brother said, does anyone feel like we're not welcome here?

[00:07:34] My older brother and I stopped in our tracks and looked back at him. Both of us nodded in agreement.

[00:07:41] This moment was broken by my dad honking and motioning for us to continue clearing the path.

[00:07:47] Reluctantly, we pushed forward to a small clearing in the woods where we finally stopped the truck.

[00:07:54] My dad, oblivious to our apprehension or simply choosing to ignore it, grabbed his saw and went

[00:08:00] to work. As the wood was falling, my brothers and I loaded the truck but I couldn't shake

[00:08:06] this ominous feeling enveloping me like a dark shroud. I noticed my brothers were taking

[00:08:14] occasional glances over their shoulders as we worked. Everyone except my dad, it seemed, was on edge.

[00:08:24] We were still working as the sun nestled down into the trees and twilight began to set in.

[00:08:30] As the light drained from the sky, my anxiety only intensified. It wasn't until my dad

[00:08:37] unexpectedly told us to load up that a wave of relief flooded over me.

[00:08:43] I could see the tension in my brothers melt away as well, but the truck wasn't fully loaded.

[00:08:50] This was an oddity as getting a half load was a waste according to my dad.

[00:08:56] This was especially odd since we would sometimes continue working into the dark

[00:09:01] just to make sure that the truck was full. But tonight, my dad seemed eager to wrap things up

[00:09:08] and head home. So with everything loaded we started down the road. Although dead tired,

[00:09:14] everyone seemed to be in a much lighter mood since we were leaving. We were chatting and

[00:09:19] cracking jokes, just trying to blow off steam from the tension that we all felt that afternoon.

[00:09:26] We were almost out of the tree line and into the valley desert,

[00:09:30] but when going down the switchbacks, we had to be careful especially with a load,

[00:09:34] even if it was just a half load. Then suddenly a brown blur jumped up from the downslope of

[00:09:42] the switchback that we were going down. Shit, my dad exclaimed as he slammed on the brakes.

[00:09:48] Loaded with wood and traveling downhill, there was no way to avoid smashing into the blur

[00:09:55] and after hitting it, the truck finally grinded to a standstill.

[00:10:00] The four of us peered through the windshield. Nobody said a word.

[00:10:04] Illuminated by the yellow glow of our headlights was the crumpled up body of a deer.

[00:10:11] Grumbling and cursing the deer's existence, my dad got out of the truck to investigate.

[00:10:17] Doing as they were told, my brothers stayed put in the truck. I didn't listen though.

[00:10:22] I got out and followed close behind my dad. The truck was fine. We hadn't been traveling that fast

[00:10:29] when we smacked into the deer. There was only some hair and blood on the grill guard.

[00:10:35] Hitting a deer wasn't that unusual out here as the mountains were full of them,

[00:10:40] but what was unusual was that the deer dashed out in front of us so quickly

[00:10:46] that faster speeds deer could still be upright and sprint away to die in the woods after a collision

[00:10:52] like that. They generally have one last burst of adrenaline, but this one fell over like a ragdoll.

[00:10:59] Before even approaching the carcass, a deep foul smell hit us. Deer smell bad when they're alive,

[00:11:07] but this was a whole other level. It was the smell of decay and rot. My stomach began to

[00:11:14] turn as we got closer. My nostrils were burning. Coming up on the deer, we saw that it was clearly

[00:11:22] dead. Really, really dead. The stench was so overwhelming that my eyes were watering.

[00:11:28] The body was a true horror scene. The deer's eyes were gone, replaced with sunken hollow holes

[00:11:36] as if to overcompensate for their absence. The tongue was swollen and black as coal.

[00:11:42] It was so swollen that it could not be contained. So it hung out of the side of its mouth.

[00:11:48] The underbelly was split open with the entrails spilling into the dirt.

[00:11:54] In the dim headlights, it looked as though the deer's fur and viscera were moving,

[00:12:00] wiggling almost, holding my breath I bent down for a closer look and my heart stopped.

[00:12:06] The deer inside and out was covered in maggots. It was dead all right, but our truck did not kill it.

[00:12:14] It had been dead for days, if not weeks. I backed away, retching, and the electric anxiety came

[00:12:23] screeching back. My dad was always the quiet, stoic type, but right now, even in the dim

[00:12:31] headlights of the truck, I could see the abject horror in his face. His gaze wasn't on the deer,

[00:12:38] but focused down the mountain. Poorly masking the fear in his voice, he firmly told me to get

[00:12:44] back into the truck. I obeyed without objection. As I grabbed the door handle, we heard a loud

[00:12:52] shriek coming out of the trees. Branches were shattering and breaking. We heard the ground

[00:12:58] crunching, indicating that something was heading up the slope towards us. I slammed my door closed,

[00:13:04] just as my dad reached the truck. Before he even shut the door, he pressed on the accelerator.

[00:13:11] The truck launched forward, sending us sailing over the deer carcass and racing downhill.

[00:13:17] With all of my and my brother's yelling, it was hard to tell if the shrieking was following

[00:13:23] us. Before we knew it, our truck popped out of the tree line and into the desert sagebrush.

[00:13:30] Once we were out of the woods, everything quieted down. We were left with only the rumble

[00:13:36] of the engine and wind passing through the opened windows. Pulling into our property

[00:13:43] was the next time that the truck came to a stop. Once we were there, we briefly sat in

[00:13:49] silence. No one moved to leave the truck. Everyone then burst out, talking all at once.

[00:13:57] We all had questions. What was the shrieking? What was coming towards us? How does a dead deer

[00:14:03] jump uphill in front of a truck? My dad shook his head in motion for us to settle down.

[00:14:10] That deer was dead when we hid it, he explained. It did not jump out in front of us. It was

[00:14:15] thrown at us. My brothers and I stared at him as he admitted that all day up on that mountain,

[00:14:21] he felt uneasy. He didn't want to worry us boys, so he kept it to himself. He described the feeling

[00:14:28] saying that it felt like he walked into a stranger's living room while they were asleep upstairs.

[00:14:36] That feeling never left him. And as twilight came, he caught a shadow out of the corner

[00:14:41] of his eye and not far into the woods, he saw figures moving from tree to tree. He couldn't

[00:14:48] focus on them long enough to get a good look before they ducked behind the trees.

[00:14:53] My stomach dropped as he said all of this, but he wanted to keep his composure as he hurried

[00:14:59] us into the truck to leave. It was after hitting the deer and discovering that it was long dead

[00:15:04] that my dad pieced together what was happening. Something threw that deer at us to get us to

[00:15:09] stop. Before the shrieking began, he could hear something moving in the darkness beyond the road.

[00:15:16] It was a trap. Running back to the truck could have started an ambush or triggered a prey drive.

[00:15:23] So that's why he stayed calm as he firmly told me that we needed to walk back to the truck.

[00:15:29] The second we were inside, we drove that truck downhill with no intention of stopping for

[00:15:34] anyone or anything. That feeling of electricity didn't disappear until we hit the county highway.

[00:15:42] My brothers and I never saw anything as we drove away, but those screams from the forest

[00:15:47] will never leave my mind. We didn't gather firewood for the rest of the season after that.

[00:15:54] For the first time in his life, my dad just brought what we needed. And although

[00:15:59] we started to gather wood again the next season, we've never ever been back up to that particular

[00:16:05] mountain. The Forest Service has since permanently closed and reclaimed that road, so the only way

[00:16:13] back up to those roads is a long hike. One that I'll never be interested in taking ever again.

[00:16:21] Whatever was on that mountain, whatever threw that deer carcass at us,

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[00:19:04] My Parents' House is Haunted by J.K. Posts

[00:19:11] My Parents' House is haunted and it permanently damaged me. It is also affecting other

[00:19:17] inhabitants of the house. So some data on the house, it was built by a rich noble family in 1674

[00:19:26] in a little village in northern Germany as part of a bigger estate.

[00:19:32] It was supposed to house the servants, workers, gardeners, etc. Sadly the construction of the

[00:19:39] main building was never finished as money ran out. So after a few years what had been built

[00:19:47] was sold to another family and another and so on. The father of the last family that owned it was very

[00:19:55] rich and had a lot of money in America. Then 1928 happened and well he shot himself in the head

[00:20:03] to not dishonor his family. The house was never the same after that. After World War II

[00:20:12] the house was taken over by the East German government and repurposed. It housed a kindergarten,

[00:20:19] a shop, and a communal government. After Germany's reunification it was left empty.

[00:20:27] Then in 2001 my parents bought it for very cheap because well it was in shambles.

[00:20:35] It needed a lot of work done. My parents took on the challenge and made this house into a home.

[00:20:43] I had a great childhood there, most of the time at least, and my sister moved back in with my

[00:20:49] parents because there was so much room. She's going to inherit it someday so it'll stain the

[00:20:56] family. It all sounds like a happily ever after story but not all people under that

[00:21:03] roof are alive. It started when I was around five or six. I was sleeping alone in my parents' bed

[00:21:12] when suddenly it started shaking. I thought to myself this isn't real the earth must be shaking.

[00:21:22] Imagine my surprise when I looked around the room and down the bed

[00:21:27] and saw it floating around four centimeters off the ground. I jumped off and ran to my parents

[00:21:35] but as you can imagine the bed was back to normal when I showed them.

[00:21:41] Another day I was going into a room where a big goat head hung on one of the walls.

[00:21:48] It's made out of clay and always kind of creeped me out because it follows you with its eyes.

[00:21:54] I will never forget this day. It was broad daylight and it spoke to me. It called out to me and said

[00:22:04] in German, hello, hello little boy come here. That scared the hell out of me and I ran away.

[00:22:17] The head is still hanging there for some reason and I've had multiple encounters with it.

[00:22:22] Sometimes its eyes look somewhere else and then move to look at you. It never spoke again though.

[00:22:31] When I was around 10 a buddy and I took pictures for fun with an old camera.

[00:22:38] We captured white smoke coming out of the chimneys even though none of the ovens were lit.

[00:22:44] This was in high summer. I've heard voices multiple times in certain rooms of the house

[00:22:51] between these major events. Every time I walked into the house at night it felt like something

[00:22:58] was following me. Sometimes something crept up to me and I had to run away. It wasn't pleasant.

[00:23:07] And of course all different kinds of sounds, footsteps, doors slamming and drawers opening

[00:23:14] on their own. The whole shebang. I was 12 when I first saw him. I didn't sleep very well that night

[00:23:25] so I stood up from my bed and wanted to go to my parents. When I took my first step

[00:23:32] I felt so cold and the room was darker than ever before. I turned on my light but it didn't

[00:23:40] flood the room as usual. I went to the door that led to my parents' room and opened it

[00:23:46] but decided to have one last look back. I wish I didn't. I saw him coming out of the wall,

[00:23:55] a dark figure that looked like a de-mentor from Harry Potter. He had long, tree-like

[00:24:03] fingers. He reached after me and opened his mouth. I ran for my life and slept with my parents that night.

[00:24:13] I didn't even know anything about Harry Potter at that time and it wasn't something for my

[00:24:18] imagination. I think it was the man who killed himself in the house. Years later when I was

[00:24:27] 16 years old I was talking to an ex on the phone. I was telling her the story about the dark figure.

[00:24:35] Suddenly, the room filled with heavy breathing and my phone started to stutter.

[00:24:42] It seems he didn't like what I said. We moved into another part of the house

[00:24:48] years later and I got a new room. My parents' room wasn't renovated at the time

[00:24:55] so I got to move in before them. One night I woke up from a good sleep, sat up and looked at my door.

[00:25:05] My door has two blurred windows installed at the top. I saw multiple pairs of eyes staring down at me.

[00:25:13] Then it began. Something was shaking the door and hammering like crazy.

[00:25:20] At this time I had become a Norse pagan and had prepped the door with runes.

[00:25:26] I began praying to the gods. I stood up and shouted at the door,

[00:25:32] go away it's just me you idiot. And it stopped. It felt like the ghost took me for an intruder

[00:25:41] but realized he was mistaken. My sister's boyfriend has also seen the dark figure.

[00:25:50] Of course he moved in later than all of us so he wasn't used to it.

[00:25:56] He has seen him in the barn and walked past windows and doors even in daylight.

[00:26:03] We've all seen him though, he's part of the house. We all know he's there, no one doubts it.

[00:26:11] And for as long as I can remember I've seen eyes everywhere in the house.

[00:26:16] They were always either looking at me or at each other. When there were many eyes the energy was

[00:26:24] really bad and it meant something was about to happen. I moved out about a year and a half ago.

[00:26:33] My life has never been better. I don't see weird stuff anymore, anywhere.

[00:26:40] The building I live in now is clean and I've saged my flat.

[00:26:44] This could all be in my head. Maybe I am mentally ill. I don't know but it's not affecting me negatively

[00:26:52] right now. I lived part-time in a boarding school for five years. When I was there I never saw

[00:27:00] anything, only when I was in my former house or at cemeteries. Should I see a therapist about

[00:27:08] this? Do you think my parents should do something about the dark figure? Thank you for listening.

[00:27:36] The Abandoned House by Imochi

[00:27:40] I am deaf but I can speak and sign. I was 15 when this happened.

[00:27:45] Growing up there was an old house next to my aunt, an old abandoned two-story house with a

[00:27:52] basement. There was a torn wire fence surrounding the grounds so my cousin and I loved to slip

[00:27:59] through the fence and explore. This house bordered my aunt's land which reached the end of the woods.

[00:28:07] Typically my cousin and I would just explore the land outside of the house but one day we

[00:28:13] decided to check out the inside of this house. It didn't have a back door. We entered through

[00:28:19] the opening where the back door once was and we walked into the living room. It was filled with

[00:28:24] furniture, old furniture. It was clear that someone just walked out and left suddenly

[00:28:32] without taking any of their things with them. My 12-year-old cousin quickly grew afraid since

[00:28:38] it was dark but I was determined to explore some more so I led the way. Before we made our

[00:28:45] way up the stairs we checked if the steps were safe by using a large heavy rock to make sure

[00:28:51] that it would hold. Once we got to the top we noticed that the hall was empty and there were

[00:28:58] three rooms and one bathroom up there. I grabbed my cousin's hand and decided that we should

[00:29:04] check out the room that we were closest to. This first room was clean almost as if no

[00:29:10] one had ever touched it. The window had no dust on it. It was so clean it felt like I was looking

[00:29:16] at a brand new house. Then we moved on to the second room which was a complete contrast

[00:29:23] to the first room. It was dirty, the walls were rotting. There was a bed in the middle

[00:29:29] of the room and it was covered in leaves. There were dark brown stains on the mattress

[00:29:34] and the bed frame was falling apart. We moved to the third room and there as we were standing in

[00:29:40] the doorway of the third room we felt very uneasy. I felt almost as if somebody were watching us.

[00:29:50] It gave me the immediate urge to throw up for some reason. My cousin started complaining of a

[00:29:56] rotting smell that permeated out of nowhere. It wasn't there before so my instinct told me

[00:30:03] that we should just turn around and go. Just as we did turn around there was a black

[00:30:09] transparent figure in a wheelchair in the first room that was previously occupied.

[00:30:15] The figure was just staring at us. My cousin froze in place as I signed to him

[00:30:22] that someone was at the end of the hall watching us. Then a voice popped up in my head and it

[00:30:29] said, under the cross. Horrified I grabbed my cousin and ran out. As we ran out of the opening in the

[00:30:38] back of the house we saw a cross on the ground outside of the back entrance. My cousin who was

[00:30:45] very germaphobic makes us wear gloves when we explore. I was especially thankful that he

[00:30:51] had us wear them on this day since it gave me the confidence to gently pick up the cross.

[00:30:57] I didn't see anything under it so I was confused by what it meant. I put the cross back

[00:31:03] and we went back to my aunts after that. We arrived at my aunt's porch where we explained

[00:31:10] what happened to my uncle. He decided to go and check it out because he knew the land like

[00:31:15] the back of his hand. He grabbed his shovel and dug where the cross was.

[00:31:20] He dug up a cardboard box. It contained the remains of a cat wrapped in this beautiful pink

[00:31:28] blanket that I recognized as part of a bed set that I saw upstairs in the old house.

[00:31:33] The box had a note, artificial flowers and a spell jar surrounding the cat.

[00:31:39] My uncle who was a very kind man decided to grab a wooden box from the shed.

[00:31:45] He cleaned it out before placing the cat and its items in the box to ensure that the cat would be

[00:31:50] comfortable in the afterlife. He read the note and told me that he found out the cat's name,

[00:31:56] which was Snow. My uncle buried the cat again using a special tool to engrave the name of

[00:32:03] the cat on the cross. After my uncle asked his neighbor about the cat, he found that

[00:32:09] Snow just appeared and hung around the house ever since it was abandoned.

[00:32:15] Nobody was sure when Snow passed or who buried Snow outside of the house.

[00:32:21] The abandoned house was eventually torn down, but my family still sees a ghostly-looking white cat

[00:32:28] hanging around the property and my cousin still sees that dark figure in the wheelchair

[00:32:34] hanging around the woods. My grandfather's ghost said hi by Chase.

[00:33:02] My story is a short one and not as scary as some of the other ones you guys share,

[00:33:08] but hopefully you'll like it. I figured the show could use a positive paranormal interaction.

[00:33:16] Anyway, back in the summer of 2020, my grandfather passed away in his home.

[00:33:22] After the funeral, his house just sat empty. However, the mail still always came,

[00:33:30] so it was up to me and my siblings to stop by and grab it and bring it home to my dad.

[00:33:37] One night I was leaving my girlfriend's house who lived out of town,

[00:33:41] and on the way back to my house, I stopped by to grab the mail.

[00:33:45] I really had to pee, so I decided to use the bathroom at my grandpa's house.

[00:33:52] I got there at around 10 p.m., so it was pretty dark out.

[00:33:58] I opened the door and looked over at the chair my grandpa would always sit in.

[00:34:04] Suddenly, a wave of emotion rushed through me and I felt like crying,

[00:34:10] but I toughened up and decided to take care of business instead.

[00:34:17] I figured I'd better hurry since it was getting late, so I ran up the stairs and used the bathroom,

[00:34:25] but when I came back down, I noticed that the TV in front of his chair had somehow turned on.

[00:34:33] A western movie was playing just like the ones my grandpa always used to watch.

[00:34:40] I was confused and a little scared, but I looked over at his chair and said,

[00:34:47] Goodbye grandpa, I love you.

[00:34:51] And as soon as I said that, the TV shut off all on its own.

[00:34:57] I was dumbfounded and stunned by what had just happened,

[00:35:01] but I wasn't scared anymore. Instead, I was actually happy,

[00:35:07] happy to know my grandfather was still hanging around.

[00:35:11] I felt that was his way of letting me know he's still here for his family.

[00:35:40] That livestream for Let's Not Meet on Saturday was a ton of fun.

[00:35:44] I really need to video myself more often telling stories because

[00:35:48] I feel like I make less mistakes somehow.

[00:35:50] Same thing for the show that we did in Long Beach.

[00:35:53] Yeah.

[00:35:54] I don't remember any mishaps in front of the crowd.

[00:35:57] No.

[00:35:58] I just hate seeing my own face. I already have to listen to my own voice every day for a living,

[00:36:03] but I know what you mean. It's performance under pressure or something.

[00:36:08] Yeah, that's gotta be it. I disassociate a little bit and I think it helps me from

[00:36:12] overthinking literally every syllable like I normally do.

[00:36:17] But getting into a flow state of sorts kind of just helps me roll with it.

[00:36:22] Yeah, I usually made less mistakes playing in a band than I did practicing at home by myself

[00:36:27] when it came to music. So I think it's similar.

[00:36:30] Yeah, the audience effect is definitely real.

[00:36:34] Yeah.

[00:36:35] Well, it was an honor. That was fun.

[00:36:38] Yeah, it was. We got to start doing something together regularly,

[00:36:42] even if it's just chatting and playing video games.

[00:36:45] Oh yeah, yeah. I'm way down.

[00:36:47] We do that anyway throughout the week and people seem to like hearing us talk about

[00:36:51] whatever. So I think that'd be like the perfect format for that.

[00:36:55] Plus we wouldn't have to make some sort of effort to stay on topic.

[00:36:59] Yeah, well, we'll set the wheels in motion then.

[00:37:04] Consider them set. But on the topic of topics, what do you think about the blonde boy in the

[00:37:13] overalls? I'm assuming you're referring to the ghost next to my bed story. I'm kind of torn.

[00:37:21] Yeah, was that the guy who died on the property? The postal worker's dad?

[00:37:26] I don't know exactly where the story took place, but overalls aren't generally something you see

[00:37:31] every day unless you're in an R&B group from the 90s. It seems fairly specific though,

[00:37:37] plus the blonde hair.

[00:37:40] Yeah, hearing the postal worker confirm what her dad looked like,

[00:37:44] how she had her own experiences after he passed, and then of course confirming

[00:37:48] that he died on the author's property. I was fairly convinced after that, but then there's the

[00:37:53] triple whammy. The author's son. Bingo, baby. We've got our third witness.

[00:37:59] Yeah, and we know that the kid wasn't just like, oh, I saw him too.

[00:38:05] Right, yeah. He mentioned that he never told his son about seeing him,

[00:38:09] but all the indicators line up. Let's just pretend that it isn't the postal worker's dad.

[00:38:15] At the very least, the author's son still saw the same blonde-haired boy in the property,

[00:38:19] so it's pretty neat either way.

[00:38:21] Yeah, definitely is. I'm still pretty sold on it being the dad though.

[00:38:26] Yeah, I am too. I liked that he appeared as a child because I always wondered how that

[00:38:31] whole thing works when spirits manifest in physical form, human form. Do we get to choose?

[00:38:38] Since we mentioned video games, I'm just going to roll with a character selection analogy.

[00:38:44] Yeah, I think I see where you're going with this.

[00:38:46] Yeah, yeah.

[00:38:47] Like once we make it to quote-unquote the other side or in the case of sightings on earth,

[00:38:55] some sort of middle stage, do we punch in our age or something? And that's what we get to keep

[00:39:01] forever? Do we get to change it on a whim?

[00:39:05] Yeah, I don't know. Or if there is even a choice at all, maybe the powers that be use

[00:39:10] some metaphysical AI on steroids or something, and it just knows what stage we need to be at

[00:39:17] when that time comes.

[00:39:19] Yeah, I'm not eager to find out, but I do look forward to having those answers when it's my time.

[00:39:25] Yeah, that's a good way to look at it. I think about death a lot for better or worse,

[00:39:30] and I always picture myself letting out a sigh of relief or even doing some sort of

[00:39:35] happy dance during that hopeful moment when I realize I'm dead but still have consciousness

[00:39:41] in some form of afterlife.

[00:39:43] Yeah, I think about that too. Like, oh good, I can finally just relax and exist,

[00:39:47] no stressors or annoying commitments.

[00:39:51] Yeah, yeah. Best of all, time and money won't be some dwindling resource we have to spend

[00:39:56] so much energy managing and worrying about.

[00:39:59] Exactly.

[00:40:01] Yeah, yeah. No sense in sweating it.

[00:40:05] But you know what did have me sweating that Idaho story?

[00:40:09] Yeah, Clyde did a really good job at writing down their experience.

[00:40:15] Their dad said that he, quote, felt like they had walked into a stranger's living room

[00:40:20] while they were asleep upstairs when they went into the woods and that just gave me chills.

[00:40:25] Yeah, it's normal to be scared as a kid of course, and you always look to your dad to

[00:40:30] be the strong one and not show any kind of fear.

[00:40:33] So it's weird when you get older and learn that adults are even more terrified of certain

[00:40:37] situations than their kids are.

[00:40:40] But seeing that fear in your dad of all people after going through something like that

[00:40:45] has to be pretty traumatic, I would imagine.

[00:40:48] I don't think I've ever seen my dad truly scared and it's hard to even think about

[00:40:53] because it means things would have really had to hit the fan for him to feel that way.

[00:40:58] Seeing any of your parents frightened or powerless just rips away your own sense of security at any age.

[00:41:05] Yeah, and regular adult life is terrifying. Throw in a skinwalker or windigo or whatever

[00:41:11] the hell that thing was and I don't think I could ever get over it. I'd have nightmares forever.

[00:41:16] Yeah, you got another bang or cryptid story.

[00:41:20] Yeah, yeah. And we complained about not getting enough of these kinds of stories on the podcast

[00:41:25] and now we've had them back to back these woodland cryptids.

[00:41:30] Ask and ye shall receive thy cryptid.

[00:41:34] Odd Trails Bible Chapter 4 verse 20.

[00:41:37] Page 69. I'd definitely buy an Odd Trails Bible.

[00:41:41] The Ford could just be a transcript of our first 100 Outro Chats or something.

[00:41:46] Yeah, I imagine it being like the junior Woodchuck guidebook from DuckTales.

[00:41:50] Oh yeah, I've always wanted that book.

[00:41:53] Seems like it had every solution to whatever wacky situation those dirty nephews got in the dirty

[00:42:01] you know, whatever wacky situation those nephew ducklings got themselves into.

[00:42:05] Yeah, they don't have to be dirty.

[00:42:08] The glory days of cartoons, man.

[00:42:11] Yeah, I know. I know. We got to be careful though. I could see us going on another

[00:42:15] one of those grumpy pretentious rants we always do about how we miss our childhoods

[00:42:20] and the way things were back in our day.

[00:42:23] Yeah, I catch myself doing that more and more. I've got to stop.

[00:42:27] Yeah, there's no sense in complaining about something we have no control over.

[00:42:31] It just is what it is.

[00:42:33] I think we're happy for the memories but dwelling on the time passing just

[00:42:37] makes me feel sad and left feeling kind of angry and bitter for no rational reason at all.

[00:42:43] Like there's somebody to blame for time passing and there's something I could have done

[00:42:46] about it but here's to hoping we don't end up like our grandpa's and lecture tomorrow's youth

[00:42:52] about the value of hard work.

[00:42:54] Yeah, circle of life. Amen.

[00:42:58] Yeah, well thanks so much everybody for listening. We appreciate every one of you.

[00:43:02] If you have a story to share make sure you send it into stories at oddtrails.com

[00:43:06] so you can hear it on the show. And if you want to get ad free versions of all of our

[00:43:10] episodes at a higher bit rate you can go to patreon.com forward slash odd trails

[00:43:15] and sign up to support the show today. All of the stories you heard this week were

[00:43:19] narrated and produced with the permission of their respective authors.

[00:43:23] Make sure you check out the new episodes of my other podcast like let's not need.

[00:43:26] We did a live episode this weekend which we referred to in our outro here where

[00:43:30] Brandon came on the show and did a true horror story that was interesting.

[00:43:35] And make sure you check out the other shows like old time radio cast

[00:43:39] and Welcome to Paradise. It sucks all at crypticcountypodcasts.com.

[00:43:43] Everyone stay safe.

[00:43:44] Peace out.

[00:44:04] Don't let the ghosts and the ghouls disturb you, darling.