Episode 173: The Dublin Hellfire Club

[00:00:00] Verwandle deine Leidenschaft mit Shopify in ein Business und knack Umsatzrekorde mit dem Checkout mit der weltweit besten Conversion. Du hast richtig gehört. Der Checkout mit der weltweit besten Conversion. Der legendäre Checkout von Shopify vereinfacht das Shoppen auf deiner Website bis hin zu Social Media und überall dazwischen. Na das ist Musik für deine Ohren. Wie du es auch drehst und wendest, mit Shopify kannst du zu einem echten Hip werden. Starte deinen Test noch heute für nur einen Euro pro Monat auf Shopify.de slash rekorde.

[00:00:30] 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. Just trust. Believe.

[00:01:29] Schoefactory by Richard. Many years ago I worked in a shoe factory. Well, technically we made insoles. We had a hot press that took one inch thick gray foam and compressed it down to about an eighth of an inch. That material would then run through a slitter and cut into insoles with molds. The press had a long cycle time, about two and a half hours per roll.

[00:01:55] And because we'd fallen behind, a few of us were asked to come in on the weekends to help keep the press running. Double time pay. The job was simple. The hours were long. 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday nights. 24 hours of easy money. So people fought for those shifts. For safety reasons, two of us had to be there. One particular weekend, I was working with a guy, let's call him Jim.

[00:02:25] It was around midnight, when we both heard the faint sound of a forklift somewhere else in the shop. We heard of the hydraulic forks lift, then the beeping sound as it backed up. Nothing unusual. One of our managers, Billy, would sometimes come in on the weekends to move materials around, so we just figured it was him. We decided to go say hi.

[00:02:51] The shop was huge. It took a couple minutes just to walk from one end to the other. But when we got there, the lights were off. No sign of Billy. Just a forklift sitting there, turned off. We figured maybe he had gone into the office or left in a hurry. Weird, but not worth dwelling on. We walked back to the press. Then we heard it again. Same forklift sounds. Same direction.

[00:03:22] This time, we got up immediately and walked over, half joking, half determined to catch Billy in the act. But again, nothing. Lights off. Forklift off. No sign of anyone. Now, we were both feeling a little weird about it. Jim, not wanting to be messed with again, climbed up on the forklift and said, I'm bringing this with us. I told him I'd go get the other one from the warehouse.

[00:03:53] There were only two forklifts in the whole place, so we brought both of them over to where we were working and parked them next to the press. Then, around 3am, we heard it again, clear as day. A forklift driving across the far end of the shop. We looked at each other, eyes wide, and then looked at the two forklifts sitting beside us. That's when Jim said, Yeah, let's go sit outside.

[00:04:23] We opened up the big overhead door and went out to the grassy break area in front of the building. There was a picnic table out there, and from that spot, we could still see the press. We stayed outside for the rest of the shift, only going back in to swap out roles and clock out. When we saw Billy on Monday, we asked him if he'd come in over the weekend. He said no, he hadn't been there at all.

[00:04:50] After that, we joked about the forklift ghost, but deep down, neither of us ever figured out what really happened. And honestly, I'm okay with that.

[00:05:25] The Dublin Hellfire Club by Effa My husband and I adopted our border collie, Dougal, in April 2022. He's a very sensitive boy, who is also fiercely loyal, protective, and incredibly clever. This incident happened about three months after we got him, in July of 2022. Dougal was seven months old, and we decided to walk him up to the Dublin Hellfire Club,

[00:05:53] which is an abandoned hunting lodge settled in the Dublin mountains. The trail leading up there is still a lovely walk, with an incredible view of Dublin's city during the day. A brief background for those that don't know, the Hellfire Club was founded in 1735 by Richard Parsons, who was into black magic. The Hellfire Club of Dublin was said to be the most violent.

[00:06:18] It's said that the members would perform occult rituals and sacrifices that were held there, in the hunting lodge. It's also been said that the owner dressed as Satan and referred to himself as the King of Hell. In Catholic Ireland, this is a huge no-no. The abandoned building sits atop a small mountain trail that is surrounded by a forest that is so thick and dark that you can hardly see it.

[00:06:45] The place is a very popular stop in October, as you can imagine. We were just starting to approach the building when all of a sudden Dougal stopped dead in his tracks, which was a stark contrast to his standard sniffing and exploring. He began to growl and bark, but there was nothing there. As we got closer to the building, he started growling and barking even more.

[00:07:11] When this happened, there was a sudden thickness in the air, and it felt like we were being watched. There wasn't anyone on the path leading up to the Hellfire Club, but this made it even more creepy. When we reached the top of the trail, we saw a couple of people. I assumed that these people were who Dougal was barking at, but Dougal didn't seem to be reacting to them as he would not go near the building. Instead, he continued to bark and growl.

[00:07:41] I went inside the building itself to see if he would follow me. He usually never leaves my side, but he refused, and he started lashing out and barking insanely since he wanted me to come back out. Eventually, we left and he led me back down the hill. I guess the moral of the story is dogs can sense and see things that we cannot. Dougal knew that that place was dark and evil, and this experience has cemented that for me.

[00:08:07] To whoever or whatever my dog Dougal was barking and growling at, let's not meet.

[00:08:37] Get ready to optimize your nutrition this year with Factor. Factor has chef-made gourmet meals that make eating well easy. They're dietitian approved and ready to heat and eat in two minutes, so you can feel right and feel great, no matter what life throws at you. Factor arrives fresh and fully prepared, perfect for any active, busy lifestyle. And you can lose up to 8 pounds in 8 weeks with Factor Keto meals.

[00:09:04] Based on a randomized, controlled clinical trial with Factor Keto, results may vary depending on diet and exercise. With 40 options across 8 dietary preferences on the menu each week, it's easy to pick meals tailored to your goals. Choose from preferences like CalorieSmart, Protein Plus, or Keto. Factor can help you feel your best all day long with wholesome smoothies, breakfasts, grab-and-go snacks, and even more add-ons.

[00:09:31] Reach your goals this year with ingredients that you can trust and convenience that can't be beat. I've been using Factor lately, and it's really helped me to stay consistent with eating healthier on the go. I tried their spicy turkey poblano bowl recently, and that's my favorite. It was really, really good, and it took zero effort. Factor's been perfect for my post-workout meals, because I can get plenty of protein and veggies really fast. Eat smart with Factor.

[00:09:57] Get started at factormeals.com slash trails50off, and use the code TRAILS50OFF to get 50% off your first box plus free shipping. That's code TRAILS50OFF at factormeals.com slash trails50off to get 50% off plus free shipping on your first box.

[00:10:25] My dog is also a spooky detector by Marshall. I listened to your, at the time of writing, most recent episode. Episode 171, The Field and the Deer. The opening story in that episode hit so close to home, I couldn't resist the urge to write in. The story I'm referring to is My Dog is a Spooky Detector by Victoria.

[00:10:52] I want to share with you a story that's so eerily similar, it defies any logic I can come up with. It's a bit of a long one, so buckle in. First, you should know something about me. My name is Marshall, and I've been a police officer in Tennessee for the last decade. For the past six years, I've been assigned to a canine unit. My dog, an eight-year-old Belgian Malinois named Ranger, has since been retired.

[00:11:21] He is, without question, the goodest of boys, and now lives a fat, spoiled, and well-earned life of leisure. But when Ranger retired, I couldn't just stop being a canine handler. One of my fellow canine partners had a litter of puppies, and my wife, who had a serious case of puppy fever, desperately wanted a new one to spoil. So, somewhat reluctantly, we got one of the pups.

[00:11:48] Half-German Shepherd, half-Belgian Malinois. A police bloodline dog. And just like Victoria's story, our dog, Raven, is also a solid black shepherd. Now, Raven is, how do I put this, a very strange dog. We call her our spooky bitch. She'll literally stand in the shadows like she's trying to camouflage herself, staring from down the hallway like she thinks she's invisible.

[00:12:18] She's always watching, always lurking. It's odd. She's four years old now, and has since mellowed out. But in the early days, she was a nightmare. If you've ever raised a mall or a shepherd pup, you know exactly what I mean. It's like living with a caffeinated velociraptor. They never sit still, they always bite, and they are pure chaos for a full year. This story takes place back in 2020,

[00:12:47] when Raven was around five months old, right in her worst phase. At the time, my then-girlfriend, now-wife, and I were living in an apartment. Raven was wild, and as expected, full of energy. Nothing out of the ordinary. Until one day, something changed. As a police officer, I had a take-home patrol car, and in an apartment complex, people tend to notice that.

[00:13:15] One guy who definitely noticed was a neighbor from the next building over, Chad. He was a retired Air Force pilot, and always liked to chat when I was walking to or from my unit. One day, Chad approached me, holding a box. He told me he often dumpster-dived around the complex, looking for wooden furniture to restore and flip for profit. But this time, he found something he needed help with. Chad opened the box,

[00:13:44] and inside was a disassembled revolver. He explained he'd found it in a dumpster nearby. He wanted to reassemble it and sell it, but didn't know how. He also wanted to make sure it wasn't stolen. He figured I was the person who could do both. And honestly, he was right. Since he'd always been kind to me, I agreed to help. But I warned him, if it came back as stolen, I'd have no choice but to confiscate it and turn it in.

[00:14:14] He understood. So I took the box and placed it on top of our fridge inside the apartment. The next day, I called dispatch and ran the serial number. It came back negative, not reported as stolen. I started reassembling the revolver, but realized it was missing a spring. So I ordered the part online, and in the meantime, left the box on top of the fridge. That's when things started getting weird. Now,

[00:14:44] on top of the fridge, before I'd ever brought the box home, I had a small Korean figurine, a gift representing love and friendship. It was given to me years ago by my Korean host brother, who stayed with my family as an exchange student when I was a kid. Every day I brought the box home, I'd come back from work to find the figurine moved, always away from the box, all the way to the edge of the fridge, as if trying to escape.

[00:15:15] It was strange. There was no one else in the apartment but Raven, and she was only two feet tall and locked in her kennel while we were away. I'd place the figurine back to its original spot, only for it to be moved again the next day. But that wasn't the only thing. Raven, this chaotic, bitey, energy-packed puppy, suddenly stopped moving. She would sit directly in front of the fridge and stare at that box

[00:15:45] for hours. I had to physically pull her away to eat or go outside. For an entire week, she just sat and watched that box like she was guarding the gates of hell. Then one day, I came home and immediately noticed something on the floor. The figurine, the one that had kept moving, had finally fallen. It was shattered. I picked up the pieces and felt this strange

[00:16:14] sense of unease, but I tried to brush it off. The next day, the spring arrived. I took the box down and started reassembling the gun. That's when I actually looked at the box, like, really looked at it. There was a label from the sheriff's office in the next county over. It had a case number, the name of an investigator, my stomach dropped. I called their dispatch

[00:16:43] and asked to speak to the investigator listed on the label. After a bit of explaining, the investigator told me something that shook me to my core. Yes, the gun had been in evidence, but it had been released to the family of the victim. I asked, what victim? And that's when he told me, the gun had been used in a suicide. The investigation was closed and the revolver had been given back to the family.

[00:17:13] They threw it away and it ended up in a dumpster and from there into my home. There was something evil attached to that gun. I could feel it. And my black shepherd knew it the moment it came through the door. That figurine, a symbol of love and friendship, couldn't stand to be near it. Once I finished reassembling the revolver, I returned it to Chad and told him everything. I don't know

[00:17:43] what he did with it. I'm just glad it's no longer in my possession. So here's a PSA for anyone listening. If you have a black shepherd, or any dog really, take it from me and remember the first rule of canine handling, trust your dog.

[00:18:18] The Old Man in the Woods by Liberty Back in 2008, I was a student planning to go to university and needed some extracurricular stuff to put on my entry application. As most UK students know, one of the best to have on there is the Duke of Edinburgh Award. As part of this award, you have to embark on an orienteering expedition, basically a long trek

[00:18:47] through woodland and rural villages, following nothing but a map with a compass. No GPS was allowed. It's a teamwork experience. And you camp and overcome hurdles together, etc. Anyway, I was out of shape at the time, so my uncle volunteered to take me out to the middle of nowhere to get some idea of what orienteering was like. We didn't stay out overnight like I would have during the real

[00:19:17] thing, but we hiked maybe ten miles through the woods and a small village in pretty abysmal weather. By the end of the journey, we were soaked to the bone and pretty miserable. We were looking forward to getting back to the car and heading home. For the last part of the journey, we were on a dirt trail heading uphill with bushes and trees on either side. We were both marching onward in silence

[00:19:47] at this point when all of a sudden there was a rustling in the foliage to our left. From behind a large bush stepped an old man in a black suit with a red bow tie and dress shoes. He looked to be in his late 70s, maybe even early 80s. He was very pale, had liver spots dotting his face and a gray or white comb over. I was instantly weirded out.

[00:20:16] Who dresses like that to go into the woods? My first thought, seeing a guy his age out here in those clothes in this weather, was, this guy has lost his mind. And there was something else that took me an extra moment to notice. It puzzled me. The guy was bone dry. He didn't even have mud on his shoes. We stopped in our tracks and just stared

[00:20:46] at this man for a moment who appeared to be as frozen and shocked at seeing us. My uncle made the first move, taking a step towards him and asking if he was alright. The man continued to stare for a moment, not moving even a twitch. Then, he became very animated. It was like he suddenly snapped out of this trance. He began flailing his arms wildly, saying something

[00:21:14] awful had happened, that a good friend of his needed help. He then began walking backwards into the woods, motioning for us to follow him. We did. We started off at a brisk walk, then we escalated to running as we struggled to even keep up with this old man. After maybe a minute, he disappeared ahead of us, but we could still hear him, so we continued to follow the noise until we reached

[00:21:44] a huge slope. We stopped at the edge and looked down to see the old man standing at the bottom, motioning to us, pleading with us to follow him. I remember looking down and the slope was probably at a 40 degree angle, spanning perhaps 50 feet or more, with slick mud. It looked like an accident waiting to happen, especially given that there were no shrubs or roots to hold on to

[00:22:13] or anything. I remember looking down at the old man on the other side of the slope and wondering, how did he cross that so quickly and so cleanly? I mean, at that distance, it's hard to see the fine detail clearly, but I swear he still didn't appear to be wet or muddy at all. My uncle and I looked at each other and I saw that he was getting as weirded out

[00:22:42] as I was. Despite my feelings, I made a step toward the edge. I was going to try and make my way down when my uncle grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back. Under his breath, he told me, something is wrong here. We took a few steps back from the edge at this point and the man at the bottom began getting irate. He started pleading with us again to come down the slope, telling us

[00:23:12] he needed our help and that his friend was really in trouble. My uncle shouted down to the old man that we would head back to our car and call emergency services for him, that professional help would be on its way soon and that they would have all of the tools to help him. The man suddenly got furious. He began jumping up and down, demanding that we come down that slope right now or there would be hell to pay.

[00:23:42] His voice had changed drastically. He was practically growling with his words, his hands bunched up into fists, pounding his knees like an angry toddler throwing a tantrum. I've never seen a grown man fly into such a rage in my entire life. His eyes looked like they were on the verge of bursting out of their sockets. His skin had gone from pale to red in almost an instant.

[00:24:11] We began hurriedly making our way back the way that we came. His demands and threats were getting less audible as we were getting closer to the trail. Once on the trail, we practically power-marched a half-dead and a half-dead or so to the car. All the while, my uncle was on the phone to emergency services, explaining to them that there was a possible mentally ill man wandering around the trail. We were ordered

[00:24:40] to get to our car and wait for the police so that we could show them where we had encountered him. About an hour later, we met four officers, two of whom had dogs and packs of supplies like first aid, emergency blankets, etc. We led them to the exact spot and then pointed the two officers with the dogs in the direction he led us through the bushes. The search lasted all weekend, but there was no trace

[00:25:09] of the old man. The officers said the only trail that they could pick up had been mine and my uncle's. They didn't find any footprints or anything belonging to the man that we encountered. This is easily my weirdest experience to date.

[00:25:47] Verwandle deine Leidenschaft mit Shopify in ein Business und knack Umsatzrekorde mit dem Checkout mit der weltweit besten Conversion. Du hast richtig gehört. Der Checkout mit der weltweit besten Conversion. Der legendäre Checkout von Shopify vereinfacht das Shoppen auf deiner Website bis hin zu Social Media und überall dazwischen. Na, das ist Musik für deine Ohren. Wie du es auch drehst und wendest, mit Shopify kannst du zu einem echten Hit werden. Starte deinen Test noch heute für nur einen Euro pro Monat auf shopify.de

[00:26:17] slash rekorde. My Mom's Duente Encounter by Emily Today I bring you the story of how my mom and her cousins were chased by leprechauns for not listening to their parents. Buckle up because this one gets wild. Trigger warning the death of a child is mentioned. This happened in Mexico City back in 1986. My mom was 10 years old. At the time,

[00:26:46] wells were still relatively new in her area, made more accessible by new tech. But with their arrival came a strange trend. More and more children started to go missing. Word spread fast. People claimed strange little creatures were coming out of the wells to lure kids in and drown them. Just another spooky tale to keep children in line. Or so everyone thought. One morning, my mom and her cousins

[00:27:16] went with her aunt to a rural part of town to pick mangoes. Before they left, my mom's uncle gave them a stern warning. If I hear of you kids going near the wells, I'll whoop every last one of you. So off they went, 10 kids laughing and playing, picking fruit. Everything was normal until they heard it. A song. The most beautiful melody they'd ever heard. Without realizing it,

[00:27:46] they all started walking toward it, deeper into the brush. The song got louder, sweeter. And then, they saw them. Eight tiny duendes. Little goblin-like creatures jumping in and out of a well, singing. The girls had long black hair that touched the ground and looked like miniature children. Their voices were mesmerizing. Then, snap,

[00:28:16] one of the cousins stepped on a branch. Everything stopped. One duende, older and uglier, jumped out of the well and scanned the bushes. The kids held their breath, but he locked eyes with them anyway. And just like that, their illusion dropped. The beautiful little children turned into wrinkled, sharp-toothed, black-clawed monsters.

[00:28:45] The leaders screeched, and they all gave chase. The kids ran. They tripped, fell, pulled each other back, but the duendes were gaining on them. My mom's foot got caught in a root. The creatures were on her, claws outstretched, reaching. But they stopped. Something invisible blocked them. They clawed and screamed, but couldn't reach her. Her cousins

[00:29:14] yanked her free, and they all ran until they made it back to the adults. Their uncle took one look at them and said, You went to the wells, didn't you? The duendes almost got you. They tried to speak, but none of them could get a word out. Later, they found out their uncle had the land blessed when he bought it. In the exact spot where my mom fell was part of the blessed ground. But that wasn't

[00:29:44] the end of it. A few weeks later, a missing girl was found in one of the wells. Her neighbor, a little boy, had been with her when she disappeared. He was too scared to speak at first. But eventually, he told them the little people had dragged her into the water. He tried to help, but was scratched up and chased off. His arms and chest were covered in small scratches. When they found her body, they saw it.

[00:30:15] Tiny fingerprints on her wrists and ankles. So, yeah, maybe don't go near the wells. Creepy,

[00:30:44] but true Thanksgiving story by Nostalgic Dimensions. This is a story told to me by my roommate. It happened three years ago. It was the week of Thanksgiving and my daughter's boyfriend had invited me and my daughters over to his family's house in Connecticut to spend Thanksgiving with them. There wasn't much space in the house, so my daughters and I had to stay in the basement. The only people

[00:31:14] who lived in the house besides my daughter's boyfriend were his grandmother, his sister, and her husband. A few more family members were supposed to be staying over as well, but since we came late at night, I didn't get to meet any of them. We stayed the first night in the house and it was finally the morning of Thanksgiving. I normally wake up pretty early, so I was up by 7 a.m. I was the only one awake in the house.

[00:31:44] I went upstairs to the kitchen and sat on a high chair. I sat for a bit just drinking some coffee and relaxing before the day began. As I was drinking my coffee, I saw this cute little boy coming downstairs. He was in his pajamas and came downstairs to the fridge to get something to drink. I smiled at him and watched him go back upstairs. I remember thinking about how adorable he was.

[00:32:15] Well, later that day, everyone got ready and went into the kitchen and the living room as we began our Thanksgiving celebration. everybody was together having a great time and that's when I decided to ask out loud, Hey, where's the cute little boy that I saw early this morning? I was instantly pulled aside by my grandmother. She looked at me in shock and said, Be quiet. Careful that my daughter doesn't

[00:32:44] hear you. Her son died in front of this house a few years ago. He got hit by a car. I see him too sometimes, but nobody believes me. My heart instantly dropped. I couldn't believe what I had just heard. After she told me this, I couldn't help but have this weird feeling the rest of the time that I was in that house. Later that night, my daughter and her boyfriend

[00:33:14] went upstairs to get some yogurt from the fridge. I specifically remembered grabbing a strawberry yogurt and putting back a banana yogurt, which she had also grabbed. As they headed back downstairs to the basement, their hearts dropped as they noticed that the banana yogurt was placed on their bed. We were very uneasy after this. Thankfully, we ended up going home the next day. But I'll never forget how crazy those two days were.

[00:33:44] Hopefully, we won't have to go back anytime soon. Verwandle deine Leidenschaft mit Shopify in ein Business. Und knack

[00:34:14] Umsatzrekorde mit dem Checkout mit der weltweit besten Conversion. Du hast richtig gehört. Der Checkout mit der weltweit besten Conversion. Der legendäre Checkout von Shopify vereinfacht das Shoppen auf deiner Website bis hin zu Social Media und überall dazwischen. Na, das ist Musik für deine Ohren. Wie du es auch drehst und anwendest, mit Shopify kannst du zu einem echten Hip werden. Starte deinen Test noch heute für nur einen Euro pro Monat auf Shopify.de slash rekorde. That old man in the woods story is one

[00:34:44] of the weirder ones that we've had on the show in a while, I'd say. Yeah, yeah, it sounds like we got another Twin Peaks character, maybe, you know, the black suit, the red bowtie, but he was for some reason dry as a bone. I swear, the man with the video camera is still the creepiest David Lynch character that he's ever had. Which one said, Midnight Highway. I liked how that guy was in a literal downpour and there's not a drop on him, not even muddy shoes.

[00:35:14] Yeah, yeah, it immediately puts you in that out-of-place entity territory, I guess. Everything is just like too pristine and clean. It reminds me of what Catherine Briggs says about fairy encounters in the woods. She's this folklore researcher who wrote some books on like fairies and other folklore. But she says that often certain entities will show up in clothing that's always just a little off and the demeanor is strange and there's always this theme of

[00:35:43] them trying to lure you away or across some threshold. Hmm, yeah, I guess we see that in a big way. This guy claims that his friend needs help and starts leading them deeper into this forest all fast. Yeah. And even after climbing down the muddy slope, he's still dry and clean. Dry as a bone, clean as a whistle. I mean, the slope might not even be a big deal at first, but when you think about it, it could be symbolic. It could be like that threshold that Catherine Briggs was talking about that we hear in

[00:36:12] folklore and other paranormal stories, you know, climbing down the slope, crossing that threshold, stepping off the known path. It's like some weird form of consent in these kinds of stories. Yeah, yeah, like if you go down the hill, you probably aren't coming back. It's like some type of portal that you see everywhere, you know, like crossing into Hogwarts, that type of thing. Yeah, exactly. And it seemed like the uncle just kind of snapped out of whatever illusion or trick they were under and he like grabbed the kid just in

[00:36:42] time. And yeah, the guy going into this fit of rage was sort of like his way of missing his marks, you know, like slipping up with the human act like a Patrick Bateman. I feel my sanity's beginning to slip or whatever it is. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Totally. I agree. I know that in some stories about mimics or what have you, they're only effective up to a certain point. Then they lose control of the script, I guess, and they sort of completely unravel. And that kind of emotional outburst, it's like a

[00:37:12] huge red flag in these kinds of encounters. It's also really unnerving and creepy to me for some reason. I can't get it out of my head. Yeah, any sort of emotional outburst is definitely at least a burgundy flag. I keep thinking of the invitation rule, like in vampire stories or with the black-eyed kids. They can't really act unless you let them or go along with them. It's like they have these rules that they have to operate within, you know? Just like, kind of like how you shouldn't whistle back

[00:37:41] into the woods or knock back if you hear knocking in your house. Yeah, yeah, you're right. I wonder if this is like those missing 411 stories and how those start out. People just disappearing from national parks and wilderness areas after strange encounters. Yeah, that sounds promising, actually. I'm still not discounting the idea of going to Skinwalker Ranch, but I think they could be getting lured away by something like this that we hear in this story. Yeah, I agree. I just can't

[00:38:10] get that image out of my head, though. The too perfect-looking stranger in the wrong place, you know, asking for help but somehow making your skin crawl. You just know something's wrong, but I guess you're under some kind of spell. You can't help but follow them. Yeah, now we know how those protective dogs must feel. Yeah. Plus, no one ever found any trace of them. No footprints, no belongings, just the witnesses' footprints, I guess. Yeah,

[00:38:40] the dogs didn't pick up anything in this case. Yeah, it was a weird one. I'm gonna have nightmares tonight, though. I'll try not to imagine waking up to this old man in a suit and a bow tie in my room beckoning me to follow him outside. I hate it when that happens. Yeah. Way to scare the listeners. Yeah. Well, isn't that the point? Oh, yeah, fair, fair. Yeah. So, I do want to move on to the Hellfire Club. This was cool. This is probably on the top of

[00:39:10] the list for places that I think we need to visit. Of course. It's like a textbook candidate for residual hauntings, something that we always talk about, but, you know, the shoe fits. Yeah, yeah, and I mean, you've got centuries of ritual activity, you know, rumors of devil worship, that's always fun. And it's all concentrated in this single location that's been exposed to who knows what kind of energies. And there's always got to be some kind of

[00:39:39] Celtic folklore or mythology surrounding the place, which is cool. We just need to dig a bit deeper. I can't remember what book it was, but I did read somewhere recently about thin places. It's basically just like a catchy term for places where the veil between our world and the spirit world is thinner Okay, I was hoping it wasn't some Jenny Craig thing. No. It's kind of like what kids these days refer to as

[00:40:08] liminal spaces, like a place between here and the unknown. I am obsessed with liminal spaces like on social media. I can just look at those for hours. Yeah, that's weird. The Hellfire Club would absolutely qualify. Yeah, yeah. Before this story and spending any time looking into the location, the only reference I had for the Hellfire Club was from the old X-Men comics in the 80s. Yeah, it was this elite club that tried to control the world behind the scenes,

[00:40:38] kind of like the Illuminati. It's part of the Dark Phoenix saga. That was one of the best arcs of X-Men comics. I highly recommend checking it out. Yeah, I actually found out about that in a weird roundabout way when No Can Do had a record label that was an imprint of Alpha Pup called the Hellfire Club. I asked him what it was all about and then he kind of gave me this deep dive lecture about the X-Men and it was pretty cool. That era of comics had so much going on. It's kind of, I don't know, I think it's overwhelming in a lot of ways.

[00:41:08] Yeah, it definitely is. Continuity isn't really great with comics from that era so you can really just pick a series and just start reading wherever you'd like and you'll pretty much just get hooked and be able to catch up. They catch you up in the beginnings and the ends of all of those. It's a great experience. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Comics are such a good medium for long-form storytelling to a lot of people. I don't think they give them enough credit or they don't even try but beyond superhero stuff too. You got

[00:41:37] Mouse, so good. Blankets, but still I gotta say the Batman ones are some of my favorites. I don't remember if I read Year One or The Killing Joke first but those are top tier. Yeah, I can reread them a million times. They're always so good. Some of the best comics of all time. Yep. Yeah. So moving on that, okay, that shoe factory story. The shoe insole factory, mind you. Yeah,

[00:42:07] that one was definitely unique. Forklifts, that's a new one. Yeah, it's usually electronics or something but I liked that one because it involved machinery. Something different, you know? Yeah, yeah, and you just can't write it off as some weird malfunction with the circuitry or something. Exactly, they weren't Tesla bots or whatever. Too soon, too soon. Whatever. I guess if you're hearing a forklift when both forklifts, like the only ones that they

[00:42:37] had and they're in your line of sight, something fishy is going on, like obviously. Yeah, and I loved how slowly it escalated, you know? At first, it's just like, oh, Billy must be here. But they hear it again and then scramble to group the two forklifts together. Oh, Billy. Oh, man, yeah. How they tried to catch him in the act. Yeah. It made it feel like some sort of buddy comedy, blue collar shenanigans in a haunted warehouse in middle America.

[00:43:07] I think that's what sells it. Yeah. Their reactions were just like believable. They didn't immediately scream ghost. They just wanted to make sense of it. Yeah, and then they end up outside just sitting around because I don't know, the alternative is just not plausible, but still, what other explanation is there? It's the sound of a forklift backing up, the forklifts, the forks, raising and lowering. You can't really, I don't know, I think that there was something weird going on. Something was amiss. I got the answer. Again, it's residual

[00:43:37] energy. Always residual energy. It's like aliens, always aliens. Yeah, they probably heard a replay of something that happened a hundred times before in that shop. Real quick, I just realized we got to hear more stories, like hybrid stories of ghost aliens. So if aliens are visiting Earth, surely there are some ghosts of alien spirits. You know what I mean? Like that's got to be a thing. But then you're assuming that aliens have souls or spirits. True,

[00:44:07] yeah, they're microchips, yeah. Yeah, not just manufactured little beings by the tall white ones that we always hear about. Talking about your grandpa? Cute. I love him. But yeah, I think what's even more wild about the whole forklift thing is what if it was a future event? You talked about a replay of something in the past from a residual haunting, but what if it's like time bleeding in the wrong direction, you know? That's interesting. Yeah.

[00:44:38] But I don't know. I also wonder about the machinery itself. I don't know. Factories are high-stress environments. What if the shop just soaked up years of energy? Yeah, I mean, it's possible. there's this idea in hauntings where repetitive energy or repetitive human activity charges some sort of space, especially with sound or motion-based things. So a forklift looping, some sort of routine, I think it fits. I guess so, yeah.

[00:45:08] You know, they also heard it over the weekend during the graveyard shift, and that's classic, like, thin veil territory. You know, you're tired, your guard's down, the factory is dead silent. We seem to be getting stories that all relate to this, you know, thinly veiled state of consciousness or location, and, you know, I'm having a blast. Yeah, like the dream realm when you're half awake, half asleep, or just fully asleep for that matter. Yeah. Yeah,

[00:45:38] 3 a.m., 3 a.m. 3 a.m., yep. Yep, that's it. I wonder if anyone else has heard it since, or if it was just a one-time thing. Well, I mean, if a tree falls in the forest and nobody's around. Wow, I wasn't ready for that one. Are you ready to drive a forklift anytime soon? I probably won't have to anymore. You say that like people might think you're joking, but I do have my forklift license, but I'm just so absorbed in all the middle management stuff these days,

[00:46:08] for better or worse. I don't really get dirt under my nails anymore, but I'm not opposed to it. Yeah, you get to scratch that American truck simulator itch in real life sometimes. I'm jealous. That's exactly what it is. I just role play as a truck driver when I'm in the forklift. Not that truck drivers are superior to forklift operators, mind you. Hats off to both of y'all. Yeah, thank you for your service. Yeah, you're so welcome. But yeah, if I had like to clock in at that place again,

[00:46:38] I'd be staring at those forklifts like dolls on a shelf about to blink. Yep, yep, we all did that for sure. I have these like wire dolls from the 60s, I want to say that my grandma had forever, my great grandma, and those things are so creepy. I think you've seen them. They look like they're wrapped in like nylon stockings with these weird eyeballs stitched on them. Oh, yeah. Yeah, creepy stuff. Yeah, off topic, but let's tell people about that time, or not that time,

[00:47:07] when we got extreme chills just chatting with each other on Discord after the last episode, that was so weird. Yeah, yeah, I brought it up in the Discord, I haven't looked back to see if there was any response, but yeah, we just, we finished talking about residual hauntings and ghosts and stuff, and the moment that we stopped recording, we both got chills at the same time, like we shook, like violent chills. Yeah, yeah, I jumped up and I was like, whoa, whoa, why am I freezing cold right now?

[00:47:37] And you were just like, me too! We both showed each other our arms, admire our goosebumps and our arm hair, that was a fun time, creepy time, but I didn't feel any sort of presence or anything weird, it was just the physical sensation of being suddenly just frozen, it was really strange. Yeah, cyber ghosts through the internet. That's what it's gotta be. Yeah. Yeah, so I guess moving on, I don't have a whole lot of insight to add to Marshall's story, but I did want to at least acknowledge it

[00:48:07] for being so strongly related to the dog stuff in episode 171. Yeah, for sure. Like you said, trust your dog. They always have your best interest at heart. Yeah, that's the thing that keeps me a dog lover to an extent. They can be such energy vampires for me personally, but I'll give you that. They do have that unconditional love that doesn't seem self-serving, like when it comes from my cats. Yeah, I can't argue with that even a little bit. But I mean,

[00:48:37] you just have to have chihuahuas. You know this. Chihuahuas are the best energy dogs ever, man. Yeah, they're a dice roll. You get like the barking ankle biters, but you get like the chill lap ones. Like it's such a, like any other pet. But yeah, I agree. Like a perfect chihuahua is like hard to beat. Yeah. Well, thanks Marshall for writing and sharing your story. Really eerie and personal. Definitely gave me chills in the best way. Yeah, me too. Me too. Our dogs know more than we do. That's all I can really add.

[00:49:07] For sure. They can sense things that I don't think we can ever explain. And when they act strange, it's almost always for a reason. Yes. Yes. Okay, I guess we'll end there. Sure. Anyways, thanks everybody for listening. Send your stories in to stories at oddtrails.com if you want to hear them on the show. And join our Patreon. You're going to get ad-free versions of all of our episodes. You can do that at patreon.com forward slash oddtrails. And be sure to check out the new episodes of

[00:49:36] my other podcasts like Cryptic Encounters and the Old Time Radio Cast, all at crypticcountypodcasts.com or if you get your podcasts. I'll see you all next week. Everybody stay safe. Peace out.

[00:49:47] And the ghouls disturb you, and the ghouls We'll see you next Bye.