Episode 166: Two Aliens Walk into a Coffee Shop...

[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. Forget facts. Forget logic. Forget everything that seems real. You just trust. Believe.

[00:00:57] Coffee Shop Aliens by Becca One night, back in 2014 or 2015, I was standing in line at a Starbucks with my best friend and my now ex-girlfriend. It was just a normal weeknight. Nothing crazy going on. Back in those days, grabbing a drink and sitting down to chat for a while was a pretty routine thing for us. While waiting to order, we noticed two people standing behind us in line.

[00:01:26] A man and a woman, who immediately caught my attention. They were tall. Like, at least six feet tall. But it wasn't just their height that stood out. They looked eerily similar. Same sandy blonde hair. Same bright blue eyes. Same sharp features. It was a man and a woman. I suppose they could have been twins.

[00:01:51] But the weirdest part. They were wearing identical outfits. The clothes reminded me of tracksuits, but not quite. They were light blue and gray with this strange metallic sheen to them. A most futuristic looking. My first thought was how bizarre it was for grown adults to dress identically. Unless they were part of some weird niche cult. Or siblings with a serious coordination problem.

[00:02:22] Now, I live on the central coast of California. And this Starbucks is right off the freeway. Lots of tourists stop here while driving between LA and San Francisco. So at first, I just assumed they were European or something. But when the woman stepped up to order, things got even more weird. I was half listening, curious to place her accent. But instead of a foreign accent, her voice was just off.

[00:02:52] She spoke slowly with long pauses between each word. Like she was choosing them carefully. Do you have something that is half chocolate and half coffee? The barista blinked and said, Would you like a mocha? That's chocolate and espresso in a latte. Yes. A mocha, she replied. The barista asked what size she wanted.

[00:03:21] And she just goes, What are your sizes? The barista motioned to the sample cup stacked on the counter. And this is where things got really strange. The woman bent all the way down, putting her face inches from the grande cup. Like, way too close. She touched it, spun it around, and inspected it like some kind of artifact. And remember, she was tall,

[00:03:51] so this was a long way to bend over. Meanwhile, the man stood behind her, silently watching. Finally, after an uncomfortably long examination, she straightened up. Grande. And that was the last we saw of them. But the moment we got outside, my friends and I were all thinking the same thing. What the hell was that? We joked about it,

[00:04:20] calling them aliens or robots. Their whole vibe was just off. And seriously, who doesn't know Starbucks sizes? Even if you manage to somehow avoid Starbucks your entire life, who doesn't know what a mocha is? I decided to look up different alien species, just for fun, you know? I had heard about reptilians before, but I also knew that at least some of that stuff

[00:04:47] was tied to conspiracy theories and weird racist crap. But then, we stumbled upon something that made our jaws drop. A Wikipedia article about Nordic aliens, who supposedly make up several humanoid races, hailing from the Pleiades star cluster. The article says that they reportedly share superficial similarities with Nordic, Germanic, or Scandinavian humans.

[00:05:15] Blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. And they're known to stand up to seven feet tall. Their skin tone has also been reported as being a pale blue-gray, or lightly pastel purple shade. They're supposedly known for blending in well, sometimes even doing tourist stuff while visiting Earth. And then suddenly, it clicked. We weren't just joking around anymore.

[00:05:45] Had we actually seen a couple of Nordic aliens at Starbucks? I don't know. But I hope she liked that mocha, considering she traveled all the way from a cluster of stars to order it, in such an interesting way.

[00:06:22] The Georgia Woods by The Demon's Den Everything is scary when you're young, but the woods hold a whole new level of fear. When I was in third grade, right when school let out for summer vacation, my grandma took my older brother and me, to Georgia. We went to visit my uncle and his husband. I'd only met my uncle a few times before this, but he was always the best. Whenever I saw him,

[00:06:53] he always had 20 bucks for me, and he took us to Cece's Pizza. This summer was going to be one to remember. He said that we were hitting up Disney World, Universal Studios, and SeaWorld, and we would be staying at his home until we got everything settled. As a kid, this was without a doubt going to be the best summer of my life. With so much fun on the horizon, I never thought anything scary would happen.

[00:07:22] School let out on May 25th, and we were all at his home by May 30th. Driving from the airport to his house was so much different than driving through El Paso. There were trees everywhere, and it seemed to get darker the further we drove in, despite it being only two in the afternoon. His home was in a cul-de-sac surrounded by thick woods. When we pulled into his driveway, I noticed that there was a small creek

[00:07:49] that split the property between him and his neighbor. It was really nice looking, but eerie at the same time. We entered his home through the living room. It was all wood-paneled, and almost looked like we were walking into a luxury cabin. Upstairs was nice, with all the bedrooms, the kitchen, and another living room. He also had a lot of really big windows,

[00:08:15] so you could see the woods from almost anywhere upstairs. Now, it was very hot outside, and my uncle's house was cool, but I was chilly. Like, I wanted to stay outside and warm up after walking in. When I walked upstairs, though, it was way warmer, so I just thought that his air conditioner was downstairs. After he showed us around, I started to unpack my stuff in my cousin's room.

[00:08:45] We would be sharing a room, but I saw it as an every-night slumber party. While unpacking, I got cold again. Goosebumps all over my thighs and arms. I put my stuff down and walked to go outside, but right when I walked out of her room, I was warmed up again. I just chalked it up to this place having a really good air conditioner. Our first night was when it all started. We had just had dinner

[00:09:15] while my grandma and cousin went out to get ice cream for dessert. My uncle made hamburger help her and ordered a few pizzas. It was one of the best dinners I had had in a while. Then we all sat down in the downstairs living room and watched a goofy movie. I managed to stay awake for the whole movie, but succumbed to my food coma when they started homeward bound. I crashed on the couch and they covered me up and let me sleep there for the night.

[00:09:46] I woke up later and everything was pitch black downstairs. I looked around while my eyes adjusted and I saw a faint light by the TV. My vision was still a little blurry, but it looked like a column of faint light right in front of the TV. I stood up and my eyes were mostly adjusted, but this column of light was still there. The longer I looked at it, the more it started to look like

[00:10:14] the faint outline of a person. Now, I didn't know what was going on and I was wondering where this light was coming from, so I walked toward it and I reached my arm out. My hand was in this light, but it was like someone turned on the air conditioner again. I was freezing and goosebumps ran up my arm. I pulled my arm back and stepped away. Then something happened that made me run upstairs.

[00:10:44] The light started getting closer to me. I took a step back, then ended up plopping down on the couch, which was right behind me, while this thing came closer. I climbed over the couch and ran upstairs. I ran to my cousin's room and got under the covers. I shut my eyes and tried to fall asleep while my heart was racing and I was breathing so hard. I don't remember when I fell asleep, but I remember waking up

[00:11:13] to the smell of bacon. During breakfast that morning, I tried to tell everyone about what happened, but nobody took me seriously. My uncle started singing the Ghostbusters song and my cousin just kept trying to scare me all day. I wish that I could say that that was all that happened, but I'd be lying to you. It had been just one day since I saw that column of light

[00:11:41] and I refused to go downstairs alone, so I decided to play outside. This may have been a worse idea than just staying inside. I thought that since he lived in a cul-de-sac, there would be some kids to play with. Sadly, it was just me bouncing a ball on his driveway, trying to make up a game. I invited my brother to play, but all he wanted to do was watch Digimon. So, I'm sitting out there,

[00:12:10] surrounded by the loud buzz of bugs in the trees, and I'm about to head inside. I then hear a crunch behind me, like someone was walking through the leaves. I turn around, but there's nothing there. No one. Just the forest wall and that small creek next to my uncle's driveway. I stare in the direction of where the sound came from for a second before I set the ball down and venture closer.

[00:12:41] I walk past the first tree and my feet crunch on the leaves and fall in pine needles. I think to myself, this is the sound that I heard just a second ago. I take another look around before heading in further. The creek gets louder as I get closer, and when I look back, my uncle's house seems to be getting darker. Which makes sense. I mean, it's being blanketed by pine trees. I keep walking until I'm looking

[00:13:11] at this small flowing creek. Being from El Paso, the closest I ever came to this was a flooded street, so it was like a storybook fantasy for me. I started picking up rocks and sticks and tossing them in the water, making small splashes and watching the sticks flow downstream. That's when I hear another splash. It wasn't me. I was out of rocks.

[00:13:40] I looked to my right, and I saw something go behind a tree. I stayed still, but still called out, Hey, is anyone there? No answer. Then I heard it again, that crunch on the forest floor. But this time it was closer. Whatever made that sound earlier was coming up on me. I stopped at that tree that I saw the thing go behind, and I held my breath and looked behind it.

[00:14:11] Nothing was there. No footprints, no rocks, just nothing. I exhaled, and the knot in my stomach loosened. But when I looked up, I saw something that I really wish I hadn't. I saw what looked like a tall shadow, just barely peeking from around a tree right in front of me. This thing's head was almost scraping the high branches while it peeked at me.

[00:14:42] I didn't see any distinct features, just this very tall figure, and its head looked long, kind of like the aliens from the movie Alien. Then I heard the ground crunching again. The thing had moved, and it was getting closer. Its position changed, but before, it was just peeking at me. Now, it was full-on staring. It looked like it was hugging the tree from behind.

[00:15:12] The knot in my stomach tightened, and I turned around to run back inside. As I ran, I heard other footsteps, like I was being chased. I let out a scream as tears started streaming down my cheeks. I made it to the concrete of my uncle's driveway and tripped. I scraped my knees, but I got up and ran inside, slamming the door behind me. I was a tear-soaked mess when I tried to tell everyone what I saw. My uncle cleaned me up

[00:15:42] and calmed me down, but he still just shrugged it off, saying, oh, it must have been a deer. I screamed that it wasn't a deer, but he just wiped my face with a warm washcloth and told me, I should just play inside. I don't know what I saw that day, but thank God I didn't stay at that house much longer. When the weekend hit, we were already on our way to our dream vacation. I still got teased

[00:16:11] by my brother and cousin the whole trip, though. I don't know about you,

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[00:18:10] Please be advised, this story contains themes of losing a child. The Girl in Line by Miss Misfit I've never considered myself a believer in the paranormal. Sure, I've read creepy stories, love horror movies, and listened to my fair share of scary podcasts, but nothing has ever happened to me personally to make me believe. That is until one day in 2022.

[00:18:39] I was 26 at the time. I occasionally found myself wandering the aisles of a big superstore, buying things I needed and things I probably didn't. This particular day wasn't any different. I needed a few odds and ends, and I also wanted to say hi to my friend Lacey, who worked at one of the registers. Lacey and I had been friends for over 10 years, so whenever I shop there I make a point to stop by her lane.

[00:19:09] After finishing my shopping, I headed over to her register, but the line was long. Ahead of me stood a couple, a man and a woman who seemed to be in their mid-30s. They had a little girl with them, maybe 5 or 6 years old. She was holding onto the woman's shirt, and she seemed quiet and shy. I smiled at her a couple of times, and she sheepishly glanced back at me. I'm a people watcher

[00:19:39] by nature, and waiting in line gave me plenty of time to observe them. The little girl glanced back at me, again, and as the family was finishing up, I gave her a small wave and said, bye-bye. The parents turned and gave me a strange look. Not hostile, just puzzled. Before walking away. At the time, I didn't think much of it. If a random person waved at my kid, I'd probably feel

[00:20:08] a little weird too. When it was finally my turn, Lacey and I started chatting as she rang up my items. Hey, I said, how's your day been? Wanna hang out after your shift? We made small talk for a bit, but then Lacey glanced toward the doors. Do you know that couple who just left? She asked. I shook my head. No, why? I saw you say goodbye to them, she said.

[00:20:38] You don't know them? No, I just thought their little girl was cute, I replied. Lacey's face scrunched in confusion. What little girl? I blinked, sure that I must have misheard her. The little girl with them, I said. She was like five or six. Lacey shook her head, her expression serious. That couple doesn't have kids.

[00:21:08] I let out a nervous laugh. What? No. I literally just saw a little girl standing with them. They don't, she insisted. I've known them for a couple of years. They've never had kids, and I didn't see the girl with them either. I felt a wave of confusion and unease. I wanted to argue, but there was a line behind me, and I couldn't hold her up. Maybe Lacey

[00:21:38] was distracted and didn't notice the girl. She was quiet and well-behaved. Maybe that's why she didn't stand out. But I know what I saw. That night when Lacey and I were hanging out, of course I brought it up again. I was still so desperate for an explanation. Anything. Are you sure you didn't see a little girl? I asked. They really don't have a kid? They don't, she said firmly.

[00:22:09] Then she hesitated, like she wasn't sure if she should say what came next. They were pregnant about five years ago, though. I sat there, stunned. My drink and food sat untouched as I tried to process her words. Five years ago, my mind raced back to the store, to the quiet child holding the woman's shirt. Had I seen their daughter?

[00:22:39] Still unable to wrap my mind around it, I decided to dig deeper. I found the couple on social media and scrolled back five or six years. There it was, a pregnancy announcement, baby bump pictures, a baby shower, a nursery remodel, and a gender reveal photo shoot. It was a girl. But then, nothing, no baby pictures, no first birthdays, no milestones,

[00:23:08] just silence. It was all true, just as Lacey had said. Even now, I don't know what to think. I've always been skeptical about ghosts and spirits, but I know what I saw. And if it really was her, it makes me wonder how much of the world I truly don't understand. How many people have I passed by or casually people-watched who may have not even been alive?

[00:23:37] That little girl looked so real. Have I been able to see ghosts my whole life and just never realized it? I still don't know what happened that day. But now, whenever I people-watch, I wonder, who am I really looking at?

[00:24:12] How did he get home by affectionate Carrie 19? Earlier this week, I had an experience. It was about 5 in the afternoon, and I expected my boyfriend to be home from work any minute. I decided to walk to the mailbox to check for mail and fully expected to see him driving home along the way. We have a large communal box up the street from the house. Now, where we

[00:24:41] live is only accessible by one road, the road that the mailboxes are on. This road leads into a quarter-mile loop where our house is located. I can see our house from the mailbox. When I left the house, no one but our two dogs and one cat were inside. And this is where it gets interesting. I noticed two neighbors drive by while I was heading to the mailbox, both in black cars.

[00:25:12] On the way back to the house, I saw a woman jogging, nothing out of the ordinary. That is until I got to my front door and found it locked. I did not lock the front door. Why would I lock it when I could see the house and was only a short walk away? Thankfully, I did have my keys since I needed them to get into the mailbox. As soon as I opened the door, my boyfriend came around the corner and said, Oh, there you are.

[00:25:42] Where were you? I stopped in the doorway. How the hell did you get home? Where is your car? I walked back outside to see his red car in the driveway. It had not been there seconds before when I came back to the house. I would have noticed it. I would have seen him drive by. There is no other way to get to our house than driving past the mailboxes. At first, he laughed and he thought that I was

[00:26:11] making a joke. But as I kept bringing it up, he showed me a photo that he had taken of the mountains behind the house from up the hill on his drive home. This photo not only had the mountains in the background but also the mailboxes. What was missing from the photo was me. If he was one block up the hill taking a photo down a straight road, and then beat me back to the house from getting

[00:26:41] mail, how did we not cross paths? As I said before, I could see the house from the mailboxes, so I definitely would have seen him pull into the driveway. Now, it's been about a week, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around what happened, and how we both could have missed seeing each other. Our cat was acting a little weird for the rest of that evening, and wasn't quite as affectionate with me as he usually is. By the

[00:27:11] following day, he and I were back to being best friends, though. I can sort of justify the cat's weird behavior as just feeding off of my strange feelings from what had happened, but if one animal were to be aware that I'm in another timeline, I think it would be the cat.

[00:27:50] Ghosts Don't Always Come at Midnight by Janine. When I visit my family in the Detroit area, I usually stay with my younger sister and her family. They live in this older two-story house with a finished basement. Part of the basement is storage, another part is a laundry room, complete with a creepy root cellar, and the main area is a bedroom. The storage and laundry areas are walled off with doors, separating them from the bedroom.

[00:28:21] Whenever I stay there, something unusual happens. From time to time, I feel the mattress shift, as if a cat has hopped onto the bed. It's a familiar sensation, and I tend to wake up whenever I feel the weight of the mattress move. Sleepily, I'll mutter, Hey, kitty, the same way I would with my own cat at home. My sister and I often joke about the ghost cat, which, honestly, has always felt

[00:28:51] more playful than scary. And that's been the extent of it. Until recently. During my last visit, something different happened. Around 4 a.m., I woke up, debating whether or not I needed to get up to use the bathroom. As I lay there, I felt the mattress shift again, but this time it wasn't light like a cat jumping up. It was heavy, like an adult sitting on the

[00:29:21] corner of the bed. I froze for a moment, unsure of what to do. Ultimately, I rolled over and tried to fall back asleep. Nothing else happened that night. But the next night, it happened again, almost like clockwork at 4 a.m. I woke up to the familiar feeling of the mattress shifting. Only this time, the weight wasn't at the corner of the bed. It was right behind me.

[00:29:51] I was lying on my left side, and I could feel a heavy presence stretching out along the length of the bed, right next to me. My mind raced. Was I dreaming? Had the blankets bunched up in a way that made it feel like someone was there? And then I felt them. Arms. They wrapped around my waist and held me. It wasn't aggressive or threatening, but it was unmistakable.

[00:30:22] There was something there, holding me. I was completely stunned. I've never experienced anything like that in my life. The next morning, when my sister asked how I slept, I told her about what happened. I tried to make light of it, joking, I think Foyle, the man who originally owned the house, must like me. He got in bed with me. We both laughed, but the experience left me a little

[00:30:51] unnerved. Here's the strange part. Our mom regularly sleeps in that bedroom and has never experienced anything remotely paranormal. Maybe it's just me. My Dad the Medical Marvel

[00:31:21] by J-Ho My dad was a fascinating person and his medical history was no exception. For as long as I could remember, growing up, my dad had tons of medical issues. He had congestive heart failure, cirrhosis, thyroiditis, and hepatitis c, and that's just to name a few. He had a very colorful past that caught up with him tenfold. It got even worse as an adult.

[00:31:50] The thing about my dad though, if you met him and talked to him face-to-face, you wouldn't know that he had any of this going on. He was such a light. He was always so positive, and he was always in such a good headspace, so I feel like that prevented a lot of his conditions from worsening. It was pretty incredible. I remember congestive heart failure was the first diagnosis. I was about 12 years old when he was diagnosed with that. I even remember what the

[00:32:20] heart medication looked like. It was this salmony pink color that was, as we referred to, home plate shaped. We were big fans of baseball. Okay, so fast forward six years. I was 18 and working at a greeting card shop. My dad was my buddy, so it wasn't uncommon for him to call me at work. It was, however, out of the ordinary for him noon and he came by to tell me that his

[00:32:50] doctor said his congestive heart failure was just gone. After having it and taking medication for six years, the doctors couldn't find any trace of the disease. He never had to take his heart medication again. I mean, he still had a myriad of pills to take every day, but that salmony, pink home plate shaped pill was no longer in the starting lineup. My dad never told my mother about this, so she continued to refer to his congestive heart

[00:33:20] failure for the rest of his life. And my dad's disappearing disease always stayed a secret between us. I think he just thought that it was too bizarre to share with the rest of the family. My dad lived for another six years after his congestive heart failure just disappeared. He passed away when I was 24 from cancer. He was a total badass, and I'll never forget how positive, effervescent, and kind that he was able to remain after receiving

[00:33:49] diagnosis after diagnosis. You know, there are plenty of stories about people recovering from illnesses, but this

[00:34:19] one is different, I think. The author's dad had congestive heart failure, something that doesn't just vanish, you know? And yet, six years later, it's completely gone. No more medication, no sign of the disease. Stranger things have happened, but this is just insane to me. Yeah, yeah, and for the listeners that may not be familiar with CFH, it's usually a one-way street. Even if you manage it really well, you're still just managing it.

[00:34:49] It doesn't just erase itself. And the fact that the doctors couldn't find any trace of it anymore, that's just where it crosses over into something really weird. Yeah, the strange part was that he kept it a secret. I mean, you would think that if you got good news like that, you'd be telling everyone. Instead, he only shares it with his daughter and for whatever reason, just lets the rest of the family assume he still has it. What kind of lying by admission BS is that? Yeah, that killed me.

[00:35:20] Listen, I'm actually close with the author, so I'm going to ask her what she thinks about all that. Good. But, yeah, I mean, I guess I kind of get it, though. Sometimes when something completely unexplainable happens, you almost don't even want to poke at it too much. It's like, all right, it's gone. Let's not ask too many questions. But, man, what if this mindset that he had had something to do with it? That's actually what I was thinking, because

[00:35:49] mindset plays so much more of a powerful role than, I think, even more enlightened people, I guess you could say, give credit for. Yeah. Like, yeah, a positive attitude goes a long way, but that's some tier zero self-improvement stuff. We've beat the dead horse a million times, but I don't even care. Call me crazy, and there are limits to everything, but I firmly believe our thoughts can shape our physical realities, even beyond our bodies, you know? I also think there's a lot to be said about

[00:36:18] neuro-linguistic programming. Oh, yeah, I'm big on NLP, and similarly is CBT. A good foundation to any therapy session. Yeah. But I know we're getting off track here a little bit, but I have to recommend the book Atomic Habits. There's no hocus-pocus stuff in it, but I think there's a lot of good practical mindset stuff in it. Oh, yeah, you put that one on my list a while back. Yeah. I remember you saying a lot about it, and that you liked it.

[00:36:48] Yeah, yeah, that's my recommendation to you. Okay. After what was it, The Way Out? kind of in a similar vein. Actually, no, it's not. I don't know why I said that. Oh, it isn't? Okay, because I was under the impression it was just like that. No, it's just basically micro habits and how they lead into bigger habits, but it's really digestible and it's good stuff. Yeah, okay, I remember now. Yeah. I didn't even read it for a specific reason, I just heard good things about it,

[00:37:18] but then it seriously started fixing some of the, I guess you could say, unhealthy habits I had at the time. I started referring to myself as a non-blank rather than someone who blanks but is making an effort not to. Oh. Yeah, and here I am. That was just like one example from the book of mindset shifts and how it can kind of, I don't know, create like a catalyst to something bigger. And now here you are shooting blanks. Yeah, thank Dr. Miller for that one. Best urologist west of the

[00:37:48] Mississippi. Yeah. Yeah. So back to the point, I guess, the author said that her dad was this super positive guy, always in a good headspace despite dealing with all these serious conditions. A lot of doctors even believe that mental resilience can improve your odds of recovery, like just in general. So I think there's something there. Definitely, and that dips into some of the topics that we've talked about involving the mind-body connection. You know, there are well

[00:38:17] documented cases of people recovering from things that they weren't supposed to recover from. And sometimes it's just chalked up to medical misdiagnosis, but other times, like with her dad, there's just no explanation. It's like their body just decided, nah, we're done with that disease. What if the disease actually wasn't supposed to be there? Like, we always assume that when something disappears like this, it's a miracle healing. But what if this was some

[00:38:47] kind of reality shift? Maybe in one lifetime he had CHF, and in another he never did, and for whatever reason, things just kind of realigned and the timelines merged or something? I like that theory. Reality shifts, you know, glitches in the matrix. Yeah. They all start sounding less ridiculous when you hear the stories like this one. If we can have those weird Mandela effect moments where, you know, facts seem to change, why not health

[00:39:16] conditions? Hey, yeah, that's actually pretty valid. Yeah. But just imagine something a little less nuanced, like we wake up tomorrow and the Golden Gate Bridge is now a Mandela effect. For the life of us, we can't find irrefutable evidence that ever existed, just other people on the internet being like, didn't San Francisco have this reddish-orange bridge called the Golden Gate Bridge, or am I just crazy? Yeah. Yeah, that'd be a doozy.

[00:39:46] Maybe that's why the dad never told anyone else, you know? To him, it just didn't make any sense in some sort of rational way, so why bring it up and worry about people thinking you're crazy? Yeah. Which is such a common thing, so unfortunate, but it is what it is. Mm-hmm. Either way, really, really awesome story, and honestly, a hopeful one. It makes you wonder how much of our health is really in our hands. I know, right? If this mindset was a factor, that's something worth paying attention to. You hear stories

[00:40:16] about people who are supposed to only have a few months to live, but they, you know, outlive their diagnosis by years just because they refuse to give up. Yeah. This guy was just built differently. Yeah, no, I think so, too. My grandma's like 95, 96, and she's still going strong just because she's stubborn. But in the end, her dad lived six years more after the diagnosis of him expecting to pass. It didn't mean he was invincible, but it does make you wonder,

[00:40:46] what was it about that disease specifically that just decided to check out, I guess? Yeah. Yeah, I'd love to hear more. If any of our listeners have ever experienced something like this and unexplained healing or a medical mystery of some sort, just something that shouldn't have happened but did. Well, speaking of things that shouldn't happen, how about them Georgia woods? Man, I hate it when people in a story refuse to believe someone

[00:41:16] who has seen something paranormal. Just come on, give people the benefit of the doubt. I know, I know, but in this case, it's a child. It could be different just because the adults don't want to scare the kids anymore than they already are. Yeah, that's a good point. It's not like they don't believe them, they're just trying to look out for them maybe. Yeah, yeah. And you know, the whole creepy thing in the woods trope never gets old here on Odd Trails, but this one has levels, Jerry.

[00:41:46] Oh yeah, here we go. Seinfeld, is that going to be the new reference material? Yeah, yeah, I need to put Home Alone 2 and American Psycho to rest for a bit. That's actually perfect timing because I was watching through Seinfeld again from like season two recently, so yeah, here we go. That's the perfect place to start. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I totally agree though. Anyway, so we've got a house that already feels weird with temperature changes and that eerie column of

[00:42:15] light, and then we've got a massive shadowy figure lurking in the trees. So, I don't know. What do you think? Ghosts? Cryptids? Something else? Well, as a narrator and nothing more, I have no idea. I know. I know. No, we're experts. Yeah. I don't know. It's tough to pin down because the house itself felt haunted, but then the woods, they like, there's some sort of like occupation to them. Yeah.

[00:42:44] I felt like something out there was actually reacting more than just the mere feeling of being watched, you know? Very true. The description of the thing in the woods reminds me more of a cryptid than a ghost though. Yeah. Seven, eight feet tall, elongated head. That's something you typically don't want to see when you're alone out in the forest. Yeah, yeah. It was really weird.

[00:43:14] It changes its posture and goes from observing to trying to have this staring match with the kid. It was such a deliberate move, almost predatory. I mean, have you ever seen a deer do that? No, and I don't think a deer has ever looked like a xenomorph. Good point. The thing is, though, there are plenty of reports of shadowy figures in the woods. They don't always have a clear shape. Sometimes it's just a big dark mass with red eyes, you know, that

[00:43:43] whole cliche, but the common factor, I guess, and what kickstarts it is the overwhelming feeling that something is watching. And then when it moves, it moves with intent. Yeah, and oftentimes when things fall quiet, like in this case, the silence in the woods, it's just this classic bad omen. You know, nature has rhythms. There are birds, insects, wind through the leaves, but when all of that stops, it's like an

[00:44:12] alert system saying something's not right. And we hear that over and over again in the high strangeness cases. What if the woods don't actually go silent, but we're in danger and our sixth sense causes us to go deaf in a way? You know what I mean? That'd be kind of interesting. Oh, yeah. Another thing that's crazy is that the entity in the house and the one in the woods don't seem connected. At least they have different behaviors. One is just there while the other one is moving, reacting,

[00:44:41] and honestly seems like hunting. So what if we're not dealing with one haunting, but two separate supernatural events happening at the same location? Yeah, yeah. It seemed like the first entity was good and then the one in the woods was bad. Like, the house in the woods has its own supernatural war going on. I like that with its own lore and everything. Yeah, yeah, I'd read that book. Then we can license the story and turn it into a movie.

[00:45:11] Naturally. So we got to touch on the titular story of the episode before we sign off. Are we calling it titular? Are we just doing that to avoid laughing? Because it is titular. Is it titular? It's titular. Whoa, with a chuh sound? Yeah, I think it's with a chuh sound. It's either titular or titular. I think that's up to preference, but it's not titular. I would imagine titular number two would have been titular.

[00:45:41] Tit-ular. Yeah, titular. Titular, I hardly know her. You know, let's just do this. Let's just do pronounce this word that I can't say and see what Google says. Let's click play. Titular. Titular. Yeah, titular. Today I learned. Wow. Yeah, yeah. I think there's more embarrassing things out there, though. Like, having a decent vocabulary, but you just can't pronounce anything. Like, I'm okay with that. It's just the nature of reading. Yeah, no, I've been told so many times and so

[00:46:11] many stories on the podcast for Let's Not Meet that I've mispronounced words. And I'm like, I've mispronounced that my whole life. The one that always gets me is wonder and wander. Like, there's such a relationship between you and those two words and the people that hear that. Jeez. And it's funny because it's something that I've corrected. And I've been doing, you know, A-plus on lately. But, you know, it's out there forever. My old stories are going to be out there. And new people are going to come along and listen and they're going to be like, oh, this guy, he can't, you know,

[00:46:40] distinguish wonder from wander. Yeah, the irony. And it's like, no, I can't now. I can't now. Right, yeah. We're only talking to microphones. Come on. Don't expect us to know what we're saying or how to say it. I know somebody left a comment on one of the more recent episodes that you referred to the show Downton Abbey as Downtown Abbey. And that was something that I was calling Downtown Abbey all the way up until maybe a few months ago when I found out it's called Downton. Is it not Downtown Abbey?

[00:47:10] No, it's Downton. I don't like that. No, I don't like it either. It's gross. No, no. It's like my friend Lorenzo. He's like, oh, call me Ren. I'm like, I don't like that name. I'm calling you Lorenzo. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, those those those aliens when they ordered that drink. That reminded me of how I used to narrate just very, very choppy and one word at a time. Who doesn't know Starbucks sizes like very just so a period after every word and it kills me because yeah, that's out there forever too.

[00:47:40] But anyway, all this was just to talk about some coffee shop aliens all from saying a word wrong. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The two aliens walk into a coffee shop. Yeah, yeah, exactly. At least that's what it'll be called for now. I don't know this whole titular situation. Maybe we'll call it something else. We'll find out. I thought it was funny when she was like, who doesn't know Starbucks sizes? Because it took me the longest time. I know it. I remember going to

[00:48:09] a Starbucks with my girlfriend in high school and when I asked for two medium whatever the hells, the barista kind of rolled her eyes at me and was just like, we don't carry mediums. Do you mean a grande? Yeah, like you're the weirdo for asking for a standard drink size. I know. And the fact that tall is their shortest drink size, I feel like I just missed the boat with that place, but whatever. It's not that serious or important. Just wait until you find out that they have kids sizes that are smaller than the tall.

[00:48:41] Okay, in the interest of show business, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. Okay. Yeah, but the whole story was such a weirdly specific encounter. The tracksuits and how they seem to be so confused about the most basic stuff. They made it all the way to Earth only to completely miss their marks. Right? If you're an alien trying to blend in, wouldn't you at least do a little research? Like, do a quick Google search on Starbucks sizes before

[00:49:10] showing up in your shiny tracksuits. Yeah, like if I were to illegally immigrate to Canada, I would probably learn to say a bag of milk instead of a gallon of milk or whatever. You know, like little things like that. Yeah. Which still is weird to me, but anyway. That's what kind of got to me too, though. The outfits, the matching faces, and the way she bent down and analyzed the cuff. Like, she apparently never saw one before. Yeah. Talk about dealing with people who aren't from around here. Yeah, yeah.

[00:49:39] It's almost like they were studying Earth's customs in real life. And the whole Nordic aliens thing was like, I mean, the description lines up pretty well. Tall, blonde, blue-eyed kind of robotic behavior. It's just creepy. If they really are out there blending in, what's stopping them from popping into any random restaurant just to see what all the hype is about? Yeah, I mean, if I traveled light years across space, I'd want to try a mocha. A mocha over a classic and savory

[00:50:09] New York slice is criminal, but I get it. Did you finally get to try that out when you were in New York a couple of weeks ago? No, I'm just saying things. I never made it out to the city, but it's on my list. Ah, okay. Fair point. All the same. Yeah, thanks. So, uh, I guess the key takeaway is that if you see somebody analyzing a cup like it's some ancient relic, you must be dealing with a space alien. Or somebody really eccentric who just needs to get out more.

[00:50:38] Yeah, there you go. Wrapping it up nicely with a rational consideration. But real quick, Becca, if you run into them again, please just ask where they're from and let us know. Yeah, Becca, the world needs more answers. Yeah, Becca, no pressure. Thanks everyone for listening. If you have a story and you want to hear it on the show, please send it in to stories at oddtrails.com and sign up for our Patreon at patreon.com forward slash oddtrails to get ad-free versions of all of our episodes at a higher bitrate and support the show.

[00:51:08] We couldn't do this show without all of the wonderful patrons. Finally, make sure to check out the new episodes of my other podcasts like Let's Not Meet, Cryptic Encounters and the Old Time Radio Cast at crypticcountypodcasts.com. Everybody stay safe. Peace out.

[00:51:41] Ghosts and the ghouls disturb you, doth.