Episode 144: Mother Doppelganger

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_01]: Odd Trails is a true paranormal podcast.

[00:00:02] [SPEAKER_01]: If you have a story to share, send it to stories at oddtrails.com.

[00:00:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Enjoy the show.

[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Doppelganger Experience by Ivan

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_00]: To this day, this story has puzzled me to no end.

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_00]: I was really young when this happened, but I remember this incident vividly because of how

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_00]: scared I felt. My parents have even confirmed some aspects of this story.

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_00]: So for some background, I was born and raised in Miami to Honduran parents. Being Hispanic,

[00:01:27] [SPEAKER_00]: spiritualism and religion sort of walk hand-in-hand for some.

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_00]: I grew up in an apartment building with a huge front yard. My mother would let me play outside

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_00]: with her front door open since she could easily keep an eye on me, and the yard was completely

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_00]: fenced in so I couldn't wander into the street. On this particular day, I'm playing outside like

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_00]: any other normal day, and I remember that my mom is inside cooking. Like always, our front

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_00]: is inside. But that's when I hear it. Someone is calling out to me. I look around and I don't

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00]: see anyone, so I continue to play. But then I hear it again, someone trying to get my attention.

[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I look towards the end of her front yard, and behind the fence I see my mom. She's standing

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_00]: there, waving and smiling at me, trying to get me to go to her. I start laughing and running

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_00]: towards her, because here I am thinking we're playing a game. But as I get closer, something

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_00]: doesn't feel right. Like my gut is telling me not to trust my own mom. So I'm torn because

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm looking straight at her. It's her voice, her face. She even has the same distinct white

[00:02:54] [SPEAKER_00]: streak of hair, contrasting her jet black hair. But still, something doesn't feel right.

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I ask her what she's doing on the other side of the fence, and she tells me that we have to

[00:03:07] [SPEAKER_00]: go. That I need to follow her now. She starts walking towards the fence door, and I begin to

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_00]: follow her, almost entranced. She begins to tell me how much she loves me and that we need to

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_00]: leave together. As we get closer to the fence door, she starts to tell me that I have to open

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_00]: it and walk out to be with her. I don't know what came over me, but I said no.

[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_00]: This upset her, and her demeanor changed. She started to yell, insisting that I had

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_00]: to do as she says, and that we needed to leave together now. This scared me,

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_00]: and I began crying. And then I hear it. My mom's voice coming from the house, asking where I am.

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I run towards the house, bawling in hysterics. I see my real mother,

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_00]: and I hug her and tell her what happened. I told her that the lady was her,

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_00]: and she was trying to get me to leave. I just remember my mom hugging me and telling me that

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_00]: it was all just in my imagination. Years later this incident comes up in a conversation I'm

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_00]: having with my parents, and my mom is completely amazed that I remember all of it so vividly.

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_00]: So she also adds that weird things used to happen in that building,

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_00]: and that she suspects that the only reason that thing couldn't get into the property

[00:04:41] [SPEAKER_00]: was because of an old Cuban lady that lived next to us.

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_00]: It turns out that she practiced sonteria, and that she was constantly blessing the grounds.

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_00]: So honestly, shout out to that lady.

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Here's where things take a very interesting turn. While me and my mom are reminiscing about

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_00]: what happened, my father is completely silent. And when we finished, he was shocked that he

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_00]: didn't know anything about this. Then he proceeded to tell us that when he was a child

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_00]: in Honduras, the same thing happened to him. A woman who appeared to be my grandmother

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_00]: would sometimes go by his house and tell him that they needed to leave together.

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_00]: My father is a very buy-the-books, no-nonsense type of guy. He's very skeptical about all of

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_00]: stuff. But I saw genuine fear in his eyes at that moment.

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_01]: My friend and I saw a UFO by T-Bone 528. This happened in February 2020.

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_01]: I live in central Arkansas, for reference. My buddy's grandparents owned some farmland about

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_01]: 15 to 20 minutes outside of our town, and we would regularly spend the night out there

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_01]: on weekends with some of our friends, making a fire, drinking, etc.

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_01]: This particular weekend was just him and me.

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_01]: It was pretty dark by the time we got there, but it was the standard fare.

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_01]: We set up a fire on the dirt path that ran from my friend's grandparents' house

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_01]: through their field to the woods. We built the fire closer to the middle of the field.

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Not long after we got the fire started, we sat down, got some music going,

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_01]: and cracked open our first beers. He turned off the music and noticed something in the sky

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_01]: behind me. My back was facing the woods. I turned to look. I saw a bright light in

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_01]: the sky above the tree line. I wasn't too weirded out by this, neither was he.

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_01]: However, I had never seen a star that bright before. I opened up the Stargazer app on my phone

[00:07:23] [SPEAKER_01]: that I've had forever, thinking that we were close to a planet. But before I could even

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_01]: point my phone in that direction, the star moved. At this point, we both rose. The light

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_01]: moved quickly and smoothly to the right without any bobs or waves. It was utterly silent.

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_01]: I noticed that the light was coming from some kind of flying vehicle and was much closer than we

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_01]: thought. It was probably 300 to 400 feet away, and it was flying above the woods. This thing

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_01]: was fast, too fast to move that quietly without making some sort of noise. It was dark,

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_01]: and I couldn't make out what exactly the vehicle was, and the bright light emitting

[00:08:08] [SPEAKER_01]: from its side sort of obscured any good look. It moved perfectly parallel with the tree line

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_01]: just above it. Then it was like it left when it noticed that we had noticed it.

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_01]: We continued watching as this UFO quickly and quietly moved on in a straight line until it

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_01]: was beyond our sight just a few seconds later. We just sort of looked at each other like,

[00:08:34] [SPEAKER_01]: what in the world? We began to discuss what we had just seen, sort of in hushed tones like

[00:08:42] [SPEAKER_01]: we were dreaming. 20 minutes or so later, we heard a noise come from the sky and saw two

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_01]: loud planes flying side by side going exactly in the direction of that UFO.

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_01]: At this point, we started to think that it was a military drone of some kind,

[00:09:01] [SPEAKER_01]: and we didn't see or hear anything else that night. I still think about it every now and then,

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_01]: and I decided to post this looking for some opinions. What do you all think it could be?

[00:09:39] [SPEAKER_00]: The Devil on a Tree by Anonymous

[00:09:44] [SPEAKER_00]: This story happened when I was a baby, but three family members and one family friend

[00:09:50] [SPEAKER_00]: have all told me this story, and it's basically always the same,

[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_00]: and they all refer to what was seen as the Devil.

[00:10:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Three months after I was born, my grandma was staying with us and my aunt came to visit.

[00:10:06] [SPEAKER_00]: At around 10 p.m., there was a knock at the door. There were five ladies according to my mom,

[00:10:13] [SPEAKER_00]: but my aunt says there were three. This was 30 years ago, so details vary.

[00:10:20] [SPEAKER_00]: We came to meet the child, said one of the ladies.

[00:10:25] [SPEAKER_00]: My aunt was mad because of how late it was and told them to come back tomorrow,

[00:10:30] [SPEAKER_00]: thinking they were my mom's friend. She closed the door and told my mom about it.

[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_00]: My mom went to look out the window and asked my grandma if she knew them,

[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_00]: since she and my aunt had no idea who these people were,

[00:10:44] [SPEAKER_00]: but my grandma didn't know them either. This really creeped her out, because they were wearing

[00:10:50] [SPEAKER_00]: shawls on their heads and she could only see one of their faces.

[00:10:56] [SPEAKER_00]: They stayed at the door knocking, saying it would be quick.

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_00]: My aunt was getting really anxious, so she decided to get help.

[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_00]: She left through the back door and ran to a friend's house.

[00:11:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Soon there was a whole bunch of her friends at the house, asking who these people were.

[00:11:16] [SPEAKER_00]: My aunt was 17 at the time, so she was quickly able to round up a bunch of other young people.

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_00]: With more people involved, my grandma felt brave enough to come out and confront the

[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_00]: women at her door. She says they were speaking very calmly, trying to convince

[00:11:33] [SPEAKER_00]: her to let them in. One of the women made a comment about how they would take me if I was a

[00:11:40] [SPEAKER_00]: burden and that I would be well taken care of. My mom heard this from inside the house and went

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_00]: out there, leaving me with one of my aunt's friends who was about 20 at the time. She

[00:11:54] [SPEAKER_00]: started yelling at them and telling them to leave, threatening to call the police.

[00:12:00] [SPEAKER_00]: My aunt's friends were backing her up. The women started to walk away,

[00:12:06] [SPEAKER_00]: while cursing my mom and the house. Then they started running. My aunt's friends ran

[00:12:13] [SPEAKER_00]: after them, trying to scare them off, but mostly making a joke out of it.

[00:12:20] [SPEAKER_00]: While this was all happening, my mom and grandma were still outside,

[00:12:24] [SPEAKER_00]: since some of the neighbors were coming out to see what was going on.

[00:12:29] [SPEAKER_00]: I was still inside with my aunt's friend. He says I was just lying in bed, when all of a sudden,

[00:12:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I sat up on my own and spoke clearly to him, asking, what are you afraid of?

[00:12:44] [SPEAKER_00]: He looked at me, freaked out, and ran over to the door, telling my mom and grandma what

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_00]: happened. As soon as they started to run in, he heard a laugh. He looked up and saw a man

[00:13:00] [SPEAKER_00]: in our tree laughing at him. He was dressed in a suit, but he says it scared him so much,

[00:13:08] [SPEAKER_00]: his gut felt like it was the devil himself. When my mom came into the bedroom, she says

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER_00]: it looked like I was trying to move, but it was like an invisible force was keeping me pinned down

[00:13:21] [SPEAKER_00]: to the bed. I was crying bloody murder. Two of the neighbors swore to my grandma that

[00:13:29] [SPEAKER_00]: they had seen the man in the tree too, but he disappeared once my aunt's friend ran back

[00:13:35] [SPEAKER_00]: inside the house. We all left to go to my grandma's house for a few weeks while my mom

[00:13:41] [SPEAKER_00]: found a new place for us to live. I met one of my aunt's friends the other day,

[00:13:47] [SPEAKER_00]: and even he recounted the story with all the same details. My mom says that for a while after

[00:13:54] [SPEAKER_00]: that, random people would gift me stuff on the street, like bracelets or necklaces.

[00:14:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure what that was all about, but we never saw those women again.

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_01]: She was a guard dog even after her passing by Danny.

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_01]: At the beginning of 2023, I lost my mother unexpectedly. Three months earlier,

[00:14:36] [SPEAKER_01]: I lost my dog Gaia. If a dog could be your soulmate, she was mine. She was the perfect

[00:14:43] [SPEAKER_01]: guardian and always had the coldest wet nose. At that time, my daughter had just turned four

[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_01]: months. She was a pretty fresh human and sleepless nights were a regular occurrence for me.

[00:14:56] [SPEAKER_01]: The night that I received the news of my mother's passing, after all the screaming and

[00:15:01] [SPEAKER_01]: I got into bed at around 1 a.m. However, my daughter chose not to sleep that night,

[00:15:07] [SPEAKER_01]: so by the time I finally got to sleep the next night, I had been awake for over 30 hours.

[00:15:14] [SPEAKER_01]: That night when I was finally able to drift off to sleep, my husband was downstairs playing

[00:15:19] [SPEAKER_01]: video games so I could hear him. The noise never bothered me and I knew it was still

[00:15:25] [SPEAKER_01]: early in the night. While my daughter was still so little, she slept in a bedside bassinet

[00:15:32] [SPEAKER_01]: with her sound machine on. When we were doing research, we found that the color red helps your

[00:15:38] [SPEAKER_01]: body produce melatonin naturally, so we did everything that we could to help our baby sleep.

[00:15:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Her sound machine was set to the red nightlight setting. When I woke up,

[00:15:50] [SPEAKER_01]: the house was silent, so I knew that it had to be between 2 and 4 a.m. because my husband

[00:15:56] [SPEAKER_01]: always went to bed really late due to his insomnia and the sun wasn't on the horizon yet.

[00:16:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Our room had an eerie red glow. I looked around the room and the feeling of ice-cold

[00:16:10] [SPEAKER_01]: dread rattled my bones. It felt like the weight of all of the grief was suffocating me.

[00:16:17] [SPEAKER_01]: Frantically looking around the room, I noticed our bedroom door was slightly open.

[00:16:22] [SPEAKER_01]: We always closed our door at night because I feared our dogs would try to sleep in her

[00:16:28] [SPEAKER_01]: bassinet with her. And they were not small dogs. I stared at the door and ever so slowly,

[00:16:37] [SPEAKER_01]: I saw long spindly fingers grab onto the door and a very tall, nearly 7 foot tall shadow

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_01]: peered from behind it. Everything in the room had a soft red glow, but the shadow was solid black.

[00:16:55] [SPEAKER_01]: It was as if it were devoid of all light. I started hyperventilating, thinking that I

[00:17:02] [SPEAKER_01]: needed to protect my daughter from this beast of a creature. I tried everything in my power

[00:17:08] [SPEAKER_01]: to get my husband to wake me up and of course, for the first time in her little life,

[00:17:13] [SPEAKER_01]: my daughter was sleeping soundly. My dogs downstairs were sleeping, nothing was going

[00:17:20] [SPEAKER_01]: to wake me from this. It crept closer and closer. It felt like it was hungry for the

[00:17:27] [SPEAKER_01]: grief that I was feeling, like I was single-handedly its target, which was some kind of relief

[00:17:34] [SPEAKER_01]: knowing that it wasn't going after my husband or my baby. It loomed over the bed.

[00:17:40] [SPEAKER_01]: I felt the air in the room shift. You know the scent of a funeral home? Stale flowers,

[00:17:47] [SPEAKER_01]: cheap wood cleaner, carpet cleaner powder, and small traces of formaldehyde?

[00:17:54] [SPEAKER_01]: It assaulted my senses. I looked straight up into the creature's eyes, still not giving up.

[00:18:01] [SPEAKER_01]: I yelled for help in my mind, for anyone to help me. I then smelled my mom's very

[00:18:07] [SPEAKER_01]: particular perfume filling the room, and the feeling of a distinct wet dog nose brushed my

[00:18:14] [SPEAKER_01]: cheek. I felt the mattress underneath me sink in in four little points as a certain

[00:18:20] [SPEAKER_01]: dog was standing over me. I smelled her all too familiar Frito scent and the velvet

[00:18:27] [SPEAKER_01]: of her muzzle and wet kisses. My eyes flew open and I could move my arms.

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_01]: I threw my arms up and the shadow dissipated right in front of my eyes, like the sun cutting

[00:18:39] [SPEAKER_01]: through a foggy morning. I could breathe and the sound of the room didn't seem muffled anymore.

[00:18:47] [SPEAKER_01]: I reached over to my daughter to feel her little chest rise and fall and her blissful

[00:18:52] [SPEAKER_01]: sleep. Needless to say, it was another sleepless night for me, but it felt like I was bathed

[00:18:59] [SPEAKER_01]: in warm sunlight. I knew for a fact that my Gaia girl was there to protect me from

[00:19:05] [SPEAKER_01]: whatever demon wanted to target me in my weakened state of mind. Now, I'm not sure

[00:19:10] [SPEAKER_01]: whether it was my imagination from the mental trauma I had endured in the six months prior,

[00:19:16] [SPEAKER_01]: trying to manifest as the boogeyman, but it felt far too real. As well as the presence

[00:19:23] [SPEAKER_01]: of two very strongly bonded recently deceased loved ones making their presence known. For now,

[00:19:31] [SPEAKER_01]: I will live in ignorant bliss thinking that my mom and my dog were there to help me and

[00:19:37] [SPEAKER_01]: protect me in a time of need. Now here's another story that happened in the same week

[00:19:43] [SPEAKER_01]: of my mother's passing. My mom loved all things true crime and spooky and loved a cult

[00:19:50] [SPEAKER_01]: story. We were listening to a podcast episode on this particular summer day. We were painting

[00:19:57] [SPEAKER_01]: her apartment and listening to an episode about Richard Ramirez. She physically gagged every

[00:20:04] [SPEAKER_01]: time his stench or how gross of a human being he had been was mentioned. I didn't know that

[00:20:11] [SPEAKER_01]: my mom had the weak constitution of a Victorian dandy, and I couldn't stop laughing at her.

[00:20:18] [SPEAKER_01]: It was honestly the weirdest, happiest memory I've ever shared with her. Now we'll go back

[00:20:24] [SPEAKER_01]: to January 2023 and it's a dreadful day. I need to go through her apartment and all her

[00:20:30] [SPEAKER_01]: little personal things. The things that made it real. I walked into her apartment, which no

[00:20:37] [SPEAKER_01]: one was in besides me, and I heard the same podcast playing through her portable speaker.

[00:20:43] [SPEAKER_01]: But the thing is, her phone was in my house five miles away. My phone was off,

[00:20:51] [SPEAKER_01]: so nothing could have been connected to the speaker. I listened closely and it was the same

[00:20:57] [SPEAKER_01]: episode that was playing the day that we were painting that room. I was absolutely stunned,

[00:21:03] [SPEAKER_01]: but my mom definitely had a flair for the dramatic, so why wouldn't she choose that one?

[00:21:10] [SPEAKER_01]: A few nights later, my husband was at work and I was sitting on the couch with my daughter in

[00:21:15] [SPEAKER_01]: the living room. Across the room is my daughter's nursery. We have Alexa-controlled light bulbs in

[00:21:21] [SPEAKER_01]: every room. My daughter and I were watching a movie and the lights in her room started

[00:21:26] [SPEAKER_01]: flashing on and off about ten times. At that moment, I found out that my fight or flight

[00:21:32] [SPEAKER_01]: response was to freeze. I would be the first to die in a horror movie, I know it.

[00:21:39] [SPEAKER_01]: I nervously asked out loud, Mom if that's you, please stop. You're scaring me. It stopped

[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_01]: immediately. Occasionally my daughter's motion-activated toys would go off, but

[00:21:53] [SPEAKER_01]: that came to an end when one night I was in bed before my husband and I got the biggest

[00:21:58] [SPEAKER_01]: wave of warmth and her signature perfume filled my nose. I remember muttering,

[00:22:05] [SPEAKER_01]: I love you, Mama, good night, and I drifted off into dreams of starlight.

[00:22:12] [SPEAKER_01]: It's been quiet for a few months now, but here and there I will get little hints of her saying

[00:22:17] [SPEAKER_00]: hi, and they're always welcome. The Figure Under the Blanket by SNHU18053.

[00:22:47] [SPEAKER_00]: This isn't my first time writing about my experiences in this cottage.

[00:22:52] [SPEAKER_00]: For a good while I was experiencing three music box notes playing every night, usually at 320

[00:22:59] [SPEAKER_00]: in the morning, with nothing nearby that could make a sound like it. We also had weird stuff

[00:23:06] [SPEAKER_00]: happening with electronics and a couple of other random things. Urgent knocks on the

[00:23:12] [SPEAKER_00]: and kitchen window, but finding no one outside when I went to look an instant later.

[00:23:18] [SPEAKER_00]: We're the last house in the row, located in a private locked off little area,

[00:23:24] [SPEAKER_00]: so you'd have to walk quite a distance after knocking to disappear from view.

[00:23:30] [SPEAKER_00]: One time I watched a wine glass that was sitting on the middle of the counter

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_00]: suddenly go flying across the room. I watched it smash and shatter against the wall.

[00:23:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Nothing unusual has happened here for at least six months or so, until tonight.

[00:23:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Once again it happened at 320 in the morning.

[00:23:54] [SPEAKER_00]: My daughter was sleeping in my bed as she wasn't feeling well.

[00:23:59] [SPEAKER_00]: I'd been asleep and dreaming about being on the run in Switzerland of all bizarre things.

[00:24:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Then I sensed someone sitting up to my side and slightly in front of me in my bed.

[00:24:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I woke up and peered at the figure. The door was open with the hall light on,

[00:24:18] [SPEAKER_00]: so I could see the blanket my daughter usually uses. At roughly the same height and shape it

[00:24:25] [SPEAKER_00]: would be if she were just sitting up in bed with the blanket over her head.

[00:24:30] [SPEAKER_00]: I thought it was odd she was just sitting there awake and covered fully in the blanket.

[00:24:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I considered that perhaps she was half asleep and that's why she was sitting up.

[00:24:42] [SPEAKER_00]: So I said, you okay bub? And reached out and put a hand on what felt like a solid shoulder

[00:24:49] [SPEAKER_00]: under the blanket. But then I heard her voice from a lying down position to the side of

[00:24:56] [SPEAKER_00]: the figure say, yeah I'm okay, what's up? Then I gasped and took my hand off the blanket

[00:25:05] [SPEAKER_00]: and at the same time it collapsed. I swear I saw something like a dark slinky blob shape,

[00:25:14] [SPEAKER_00]: much smaller and lighter than the human figure I felt.

[00:25:18] [SPEAKER_00]: It was almost liquid-like. It made no noise as it lightly slid under the bed from beneath

[00:25:26] [SPEAKER_00]: the blanket. The only potentially logical explanation I have is perhaps it was the

[00:25:33] [SPEAKER_00]: cat. But he'd have to have been standing on his hind legs. Plus the size and shape was human

[00:25:41] [SPEAKER_00]: and I swear I felt a human shoulder. The cat was sound asleep on the stairs when I went

[00:25:48] [SPEAKER_00]: to look immediately after. My daughter didn't feel anything next to her, on top of her,

[00:25:54] [SPEAKER_00]: or go over her in the bed. Perhaps I was still dreaming or half asleep,

[00:26:00] [SPEAKER_00]: so I experienced some kind of sleeping hallucination. But it felt so incredibly real,

[00:26:08] [SPEAKER_00]: as if it seamlessly merged into my definite waking interaction with my daughter.

[00:26:13] [SPEAKER_00]: I have a hard time convincing myself that's what happened.

[00:26:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Oddly enough, I'm not totally freaked out about the whole thing. I'm actually quite

[00:26:23] [SPEAKER_00]: calm recounting it. I guess partly due to not wanting to freak out my daughter.

[00:26:30] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm just left mildly unnerved and very confused, so I'll at least be keeping my bedside lamp on.

[00:26:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Usually if I can't sleep I get up and do some work in my office downstairs.

[00:26:43] [SPEAKER_00]: But for tonight I don't want to leave my child up here alone.

[00:27:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Strange Silhouette in the Forest by Southern North 5627

[00:27:14] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to tell you about something that happened to me during the summer.

[00:27:19] [SPEAKER_01]: I swear that it scared the hell out of me, so hold on tight, because it's going to be a bit long.

[00:27:25] [SPEAKER_01]: This summer I decided to go camping alone in an isolated forest. I know, it's not the best idea

[00:27:33] [SPEAKER_01]: for someone who easily imagines things, but I needed to be by myself and to unwind away from

[00:27:40] [SPEAKER_01]: the world. I found a spot on a wild camping app that looked perfect. Quiet, far from

[00:27:47] [SPEAKER_01]: everything, with a beautiful view and no noisy neighbors. Basically paradise to escape from daily

[00:27:54] [SPEAKER_01]: stress. I arrived there late in the afternoon. I set up my tent, prepared a campfire, and settled

[00:28:01] [SPEAKER_01]: in for the evening. The sun was slowly setting, and the forest was beginning to plunge into

[00:28:07] [SPEAKER_01]: darkness. It was really quiet. Far too quiet. There wasn't any sound, not even the singing of

[00:28:16] [SPEAKER_01]: birds. I found it a little weird, but I figured maybe it was just the serenity of nature.

[00:28:24] [SPEAKER_01]: After eating, I sat around the fire and watched the flames just to relax.

[00:28:29] [SPEAKER_01]: That's when I started hearing strange noises. At first, there were creaking sounds as if

[00:28:36] [SPEAKER_01]: someone or something had been walking between the trees. I figured it was probably animals,

[00:28:42] [SPEAKER_01]: so I didn't pay too much attention to it. But as the night progressed,

[00:28:47] [SPEAKER_01]: the noises became more persistent. Regular creaking sounds almost like footsteps,

[00:28:53] [SPEAKER_01]: but they seemed to circle around the camp. I tried to turn my flashlight on,

[00:28:58] [SPEAKER_01]: but the battery was almost dead. I figured maybe it was another camper or hiker who got lost,

[00:29:03] [SPEAKER_01]: though. So I decided I was going to check it out. I wasn't going to spend the night

[00:29:10] [SPEAKER_01]: wondering what it was. I went a little deeper into the woods with my flashlight.

[00:29:16] [SPEAKER_01]: The further I went, the weirder the atmosphere became. The trees seemed to close in around

[00:29:22] [SPEAKER_01]: me, and the ground was strangely muddy. I felt like someone or something was following me,

[00:29:28] [SPEAKER_01]: but every time I turned around, there was nothing. Just darkness.

[00:29:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Suddenly I saw something that made me stop in my tracks. A blurry silhouette between the trees.

[00:29:41] [SPEAKER_01]: I couldn't make out any details, but it was clearly a human form, barely visible in the

[00:29:47] [SPEAKER_01]: darkness. My heart started racing and I started to quickly turn around. I didn't want to see

[00:29:54] [SPEAKER_01]: if the figure moved or not. I returned to my tent as quickly as possible. When I arrived

[00:30:01] [SPEAKER_01]: at my camp, I noticed something even creepier, though. My tent had been undone. The ropes were

[00:30:07] [SPEAKER_01]: untied and the sleeping bag was scattered. I felt extremely vulnerable. I stayed up all night

[00:30:15] [SPEAKER_01]: lying in my sleeping bag, listening to every noise, every crack. The next morning I quickly

[00:30:22] [SPEAKER_01]: gathered my things and left as fast as I could. I don't know what happened that night.

[00:30:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it was just my imagination playing tricks on me, or maybe I stumbled upon something more

[00:30:33] [SPEAKER_01]: sinister. Either way, I'll never go camping in that forest again. If anyone has a similar story

[00:30:40] [SPEAKER_01]: or knows what could be causing these noises, I'm interested. I'll see you later, and be careful

[00:30:45] [SPEAKER_01]: where you camp. Yet another reason not to go camping for Andy.

[00:31:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you just can't catch a break with these submissions.

[00:31:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think you'll ever be able to spend time in the woods alone at this rate.

[00:31:24] [SPEAKER_01]: To be honest, I've been having a weird wild hankering to finally get some supplies and go

[00:31:30] [SPEAKER_00]: out again. Okay, that's good. That's good. What you should do is just try to get one of

[00:31:36] [SPEAKER_00]: those spots nearby that aren't far away from town or a main road, somewhere with all the

[00:31:41] [SPEAKER_00]: right designated areas and a nice bathroom for you. Maybe even a shower or paved

[00:31:46] [SPEAKER_00]: roads that lead to the designated camping areas if you really want to feel glamorous.

[00:31:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think you're right. I know the dogs would love it for sure. I guess I'll have to

[00:31:56] [SPEAKER_01]: vlog for Patreon if I do it. Well, if you do it, I'll have to do it. Sounds good.

[00:32:02] [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm not sure what the silhouette could have been. Who knows if it was paranormal or not,

[00:32:07] [SPEAKER_00]: but it can't be ruled out. Maybe it had something to do with the tent. Maybe it didn't.

[00:32:12] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know. Yeah, it seemed like someone was stalking them and then ransacked their tent,

[00:32:19] [SPEAKER_00]: possibly looking for anything of value. Working in teams. One was the distraction.

[00:32:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Still really spooky though. Moving on to the UFO story. Do you think T-Bone was seeing

[00:32:30] [SPEAKER_01]: something like a super secret silent drone or maybe an actual alien spacecraft?

[00:32:37] [SPEAKER_00]: It's hard to tell because we can easily assume that the powers that be probably

[00:32:41] [SPEAKER_00]: have that kind of technology at this point, but we peasants aren't made aware of it yet.

[00:32:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, exactly. It was weird that the two planes flew by and they were seemingly chasing the UFO.

[00:32:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it could have been a drill of some sort. It's just weird that it would happen over

[00:32:59] [SPEAKER_00]: private land like that. It doesn't really make sense, but then again, I don't think

[00:33:03] [SPEAKER_00]: the government respects private airspace if that's even a thing. Planes fly over our

[00:33:09] [SPEAKER_01]: house all the time, you know? Yeah, that's a good point. But it seems weird that they'd be doing

[00:33:14] [SPEAKER_00]: drills over somebody's farmland. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. I think we're overthinking it.

[00:33:21] [SPEAKER_00]: It's probably exactly as it seems. Two planes chasing a rogue UFO.

[00:33:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I agree. Great story and I love getting a good UFO submission. We don't get enough of

[00:33:30] [SPEAKER_00]: them. Same, same. I love the UFO stuff. And I'm going to say the name Joe Rogan, but

[00:33:36] [SPEAKER_00]: please understand that doesn't mean I go out bow hunting for elk or take his word for gospel

[00:33:42] [SPEAKER_00]: about anything. But several people told me to listen to episode 2194 and the guy on there

[00:33:49] [SPEAKER_00]: talks a lot about UFOs or UAPs as they prefer to call them now. He seemed more than credible.

[00:33:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I just think it's one of the more compelling takes on the whole subject and I highly

[00:34:00] [SPEAKER_01]: recommend it to anybody who's curious. That's so funny. People have told me the same thing.

[00:34:05] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't really listen to the show. Kind of not my thing, but I totally get it.

[00:34:09] [SPEAKER_01]: I'll have to listen to that one specifically. What was the major takeaway?

[00:34:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, there were a lot, but one thing he mentioned that was something I hadn't considered

[00:34:17] [SPEAKER_00]: before is one reason the government might not want to be so transparent about UFOs is because

[00:34:24] [SPEAKER_00]: they could be hostile or hostile. However you want to pronounce that word. I don't know.

[00:34:29] [SPEAKER_00]: You don't want your enemy to know what you know about them. Just basic counterintelligence

[00:34:35] [SPEAKER_01]: All right. All right. Yeah, that's actually fair. If people are scared and literally trying to

[00:34:41] [SPEAKER_01]: save the world, I can at least understand the reasoning for keeping it secret.

[00:34:47] [SPEAKER_00]: That's exactly how the conversation went. The whole thing is great though.

[00:34:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Wow.

[00:34:51] [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't get. Yeah, you know, they were saying all of that, that same,

[00:34:54] [SPEAKER_00]: that same argument in defense of the government. But ultimately, of course,

[00:34:58] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, they don't agree with that stance. And I see why because people deserve to know.

[00:35:02] [SPEAKER_00]: But if that truly is the motivation, then okay, fair enough. I mean, your heart's in the right place.

[00:35:08] [SPEAKER_00]: But moving on to Danny's story, I was wondering, do you think our pets exist in the afterlife?

[00:35:15] [SPEAKER_01]: 100%. I actually referenced my talk with archaeologist and paranormal researcher Pamela

[00:35:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Nance in one of our recent Odd Trails conversations. It was about episode two of

[00:35:26] [SPEAKER_01]: cryptic encounters. She shared a bunch of really compelling stories about visiting different

[00:35:30] [SPEAKER_01]: realms in the beyond or what you would call the afterlife, I guess. And she told me about one

[00:35:37] [SPEAKER_01]: amazing experience where she had either an out of body experience or an NDE. She had multiple

[00:35:43] [SPEAKER_01]: of both, but she was transported to this astral realm where her deceased dog was living.

[00:35:50] [SPEAKER_01]: She said that the dog appeared to be younger, like in its prime, and she was just filled with

[00:35:56] [SPEAKER_01]: so much joy and love, and she just wanted to stay there forever.

[00:36:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Uh, I've already cried in the past 72 hours. Don't do this to me right now.

[00:36:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Aw, I'm not trying to. It's an amazing conversation. She has so many experiences

[00:36:10] [SPEAKER_01]: like that and I'm convinced our pets have souls and are tied to us for eternity. There

[00:36:16] [SPEAKER_01]: are so many NDE stories where the person that survived a near-death experience was able to see

[00:36:23] [SPEAKER_01]: family members, especially pets, in the afterlife. It's kind of frustrating because

[00:36:28] [SPEAKER_01]: I come from a religious upbringing where they, for some really weird, petty reason that I'm

[00:36:34] [SPEAKER_01]: unaware of, believe animals have no souls and do not live on in the afterlife.

[00:36:40] [SPEAKER_00]: That's so funny. I know there's a lot of discourse about that kind of stuff in

[00:36:44] [SPEAKER_00]: organized religion, things that aren't explicit in the Bible, but some people are so quick to

[00:36:49] [SPEAKER_00]: take on some arbitrary black or white stance on issues that they know nothing about. That's

[00:36:54] [SPEAKER_00]: even clear-cut, but they make it clear-cut somehow. Yeah, that's most organized religion

[00:37:00] [SPEAKER_00]: in a nutshell though. Fair, yeah. I think that's what South Park was getting at with

[00:37:06] [SPEAKER_00]: the agnostic foster parents who only drink Dr. Pepper. I love that. A great story by Danny.

[00:37:14] [SPEAKER_00]: I think our spirits will join right with our pets when we die. We're more than our physical

[00:37:18] [SPEAKER_00]: bodies and I truly believe in the concept of souls or spirits. If there's that bond

[00:37:24] [SPEAKER_00]: established, it makes sense for us to be reunited when we cross whatever plane that transcends our

[00:37:30] [SPEAKER_00]: physical existence. Yeah, I believe it for sure. So how about that doppelganger from Ivan's story?

[00:37:38] [SPEAKER_00]: His own mom too. Way too creepy. Yeah, just imagine how it must feel to see your mom

[00:37:44] [SPEAKER_00]: calling and waiting for you, but for some unknown reason, your gut tells you that

[00:37:49] [SPEAKER_00]: you can't trust her, your own mother. Obviously some people have really bad moms, but you know

[00:37:54] [SPEAKER_01]: what I mean. Yeah, that was seriously so terrifying. I can't even imagine how it must have felt when

[00:38:00] [SPEAKER_01]: he heard his actual mom's voice calling out for him while he was getting yelled at by who he

[00:38:06] [SPEAKER_00]: thought was his mom. Right, right. And not to make this about me, but I remember when I was

[00:38:13] [SPEAKER_00]: 7, I ran off in a store to grab a butterfinger before they changed the recipe, bastards. And

[00:38:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I went back to my dad to ask him if I could get it. He just goes, you gotta ask your dad.

[00:38:25] [SPEAKER_00]: And I thought he was just being silly and making voices. So I took it as a yes and just

[00:38:30] [SPEAKER_00]: stood there in line with him for a while. Then after what felt like 10 minutes to child

[00:38:36] [SPEAKER_00]: me, I looked up and I was mortified. Obviously it was somebody else and I thought I would

[00:38:42] [SPEAKER_00]: never see my dad again. Oh my God, that's so funny. Did you ever find him? Yeah, actually

[00:38:47] [SPEAKER_00]: somebody called in after the story aired on unsolved mysteries. Yeah, this is a lot like

[00:38:54] [SPEAKER_01]: the end of that one Rugrats episode where Chucky has that weird dream where Chaz sees Stu and

[00:39:00] [SPEAKER_01]: Stu turns around with the clown face and he's like, I'm not Stu. Yeah, that part haunted me

[00:39:09] [SPEAKER_01]: as a kid and we don't gotta get started with Angelica's baby brother again. Yeah, no. Back

[00:39:17] [SPEAKER_00]: to the story. I do wonder what this could have been since Ivan said his dad experienced

[00:39:22] [SPEAKER_00]: something like that back in Honduras. Is it all a weird coincidence or does this family

[00:39:26] [SPEAKER_00]: have some shape shifting doppelganger following them around? I really have no idea either.

[00:39:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe whatever it was really did follow his dad from Honduras. That would be some really bad

[00:39:38] [SPEAKER_01]: luck if both doppelgangers were unrelated. Definitely major props to the Cuban lady that he mentioned

[00:39:45] [SPEAKER_01]: who blessed the area, you know? Yeah, not for lack of trying. Yeah, speaking of trying,

[00:39:52] [SPEAKER_00]: tell me more about that mission that you went on this morning. Pause, time out, sorry. This

[00:39:57] [SPEAKER_00]: is a party foul. What you're hearing now is me recording this after Andy and I finished

[00:40:02] [SPEAKER_00]: the outro. My microphone or something just wasn't working properly during this portion

[00:40:07] [SPEAKER_00]: of us recording and I'd rather not repeat the whole story all over again. And no, we're not

[00:40:12] [SPEAKER_00]: censoring something after the fact or anything like that either. I just really don't like

[00:40:16] [SPEAKER_00]: telling the whole story all over again for something that's not related to the show. So

[00:40:20] [SPEAKER_00]: sorry about that. All right, I'm going to splice in the rest of Andy's audio here.

[00:40:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Anyways, thanks everybody for listening. Send your stories into stories at oddtrails.com

[00:40:28] [SPEAKER_01]: if you want to hear them on the show and sign up for a Patreon if you want to get

[00:40:31] [SPEAKER_01]: free versions of all of our episodes. You can do that at patreon.com forward slash odd trails.

[00:40:37] [SPEAKER_01]: And finally, make sure to check out the new episodes of my other podcasts like Let's Not

[00:40:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Meet, the old time radio cast and my new show, Cryptic Encounters at CrypticCountyPodcasts.com.

[00:40:46] [SPEAKER_01]: We'll see you all in Utah for our Utah listeners at the Metro Music Hall on September

[00:40:54] [SPEAKER_01]: 19th for a live episode of Let's Not Meet and a special appearance from our friend Brandon

[00:41:00] [SPEAKER_01]: along with a meet and greet and a Q&A. It's going to be a great time again that September

[00:41:05] [SPEAKER_01]: 19th at Metro Music Hall in Salt Lake City, Utah. You can get tickets at the link in the

[00:41:10] [SPEAKER_01]: show notes. We'll see you all next week everybody stay safe. Peace out.

[00:41:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Don't let the ghosts and the ghouls disturb you, don't.