Episode 174: Angels and Harmonicas

[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. Just trust. Believe.

[00:00:22] I Saw Death by Powderfresh86

[00:01:03] Eleven years ago, my family and I lived in an extended-stay hotel for a while until we saved up enough to get our own place. It was a one-bedroom with two sleeping areas, a kitchenette, and a bathroom. Some other people had lived there for about ten years by the time we moved in. We made friends with some of the people on the various floors, as well as a couple of the managers. It

[00:01:28] wasn't home, per se, but it was better than being homeless. A few doors down from our room lived an older gentleman who had a young adult son who would visit him maybe once a week. One day, my best friend and I had returned to the hotel from shopping and hanging out. As we pulled into the large driveway, I spotted this dark figure looking up at the hotel. It looked like a man, but it was all

[00:01:55] black. As we passed, it looked back at us, driving by. I couldn't see its eyes, but I could still feel it looking at me. I turned away quickly, feeling a bit of dread in my spirit. I told my friend, I think I just saw death. Surprisingly, he replied that he had seen it as well and even pointed to the

[00:02:21] exact spot where it had been standing. We both looked at one another and remained silent for about a minute. I said a quick prayer. I asked God to watch over my family and the people in the hotel. A couple of days later, there was some commotion in the hallway. My parents and I investigated and found that the older gentleman who lived in the room a few doors down had passed away the day before.

[00:02:49] His son couldn't get him on the phone and had to come over. He wouldn't open the door, so he was worried and had the manager open it. They found the father deceased. It took a few hours before they had the older gentleman's body removed from the room. Later that day, I left the room to sit in the back stairwell to have a private conversation with a good friend who lives in

[00:03:15] another state. I saw an older man walking slowly down the stairs. He was wearing blue. When he heard me, he looked up at me sadly as I looked down at him. To my shock, I realized only the top portion of this man was visible. He turned back around, kept walking down the stairs, and just disappeared. Now, I don't

[00:03:43] believe in ghosts, but I do believe that we have a spirit or what some might call a soul. I've also experienced my fair share of strange or supernatural events and my almost 40 years of life. Apparently, I had seen death before, and I've seen other things that I've shared with others, but that was the first

[00:04:04] time seeing a spirit leave to the other side. Angels and Death by Alexis

[00:04:37] My grandfather passed away from natural causes during the pandemic. He had been deteriorating for months, and while it was a sad time for my family, there was a sense of relief that he was no longer in pain and didn't have to continue living with his declining health. There are a few parts to this story that I'd like to touch on. The first is some background about myself, my grandparents,

[00:05:03] and my family's faith. The second is leading up to my grandfather's passing while he was still alive, and the last is after his passing. I come from a strong religious background. My grandfather and grandmother met in college, and my grandmother converted to Lutheranism for my grandfather. She said she was happy to do it, since they both vowed their religious practice as a relationship with God

[00:05:31] rather than a devotion to a specific sect of Christianity. My grandfather was a great musician, and my grandmother still is, as well as a retired music educator. That's how they met in college, singing a duet written by Mozart with a title that this narrator won't attempt to pronounce. Because of this shared musical nature, they were in charge of their small Lutheran church's music

[00:06:00] ministry for years, until there was a rift in the church, and my grandparents, along with the pastor, were kicked out for becoming quote-unquote too spiritual after rededicating themselves to Christ at a Billy Graham revival in the 1960s. I say all of this to show the deep spiritual faith that was

[00:06:23] instilled in my family, and therefore in me from a young age. I am a Christian today, but it wasn't without a long journey. There were years of disbelief, anger, and disdain toward my family members who tried to preach to me, all while I struggled with anxiety and depression. But today, I work as a church musician. Initially it was just a job, but I grew to appreciate the

[00:06:52] pastor's messages. He was very kind in answering all of my questions. I had many and probably always will, but I've made peace with all that. I've also had so many paranormal and spiritual experiences, some I'd call angelic, some demonic. I can't rationalize them in any other way, other than

[00:07:16] believing there's definitely a higher power. If you've stayed with me this far, thank you. I promise this all ties in. During the pandemic, my grandfather's health was declining. He was airlifted to the hospital in the summer of 2020. He almost died, which marked the beginning of a very difficult final year of my

[00:07:40] undergraduate degree. I went back to school in the fall with a hybrid class model. I'll spare you the details of what that was like, but let's just say this was one of the darkest eras of my life. My depression was at its worst. The only reason I survived was because of my grandpa. He was so proud of me, always telling me how much he wanted me to achieve my dreams. He told me how much he wished he could see me

[00:08:09] cross the finish line. Ultimately, that didn't happen. He passed away in January 2021. I graduated in May. I was home for winter break and taking hybrid classes from mid-November through mid-February. During that time, it was the final stage of my grandfather's life. He passed away in his sleep

[00:08:35] one night after telling my grandmother, goodnight. I love you. My mom later told me a story that my grandmother had shared with her about the days leading up to my grandfather's passing. A hospice nurse had been coming in to help. One evening, my grandfather was sitting on the recliner and my grandmother was next to him. For context, my grandfather was just shy of his 89th birthday when he passed,

[00:09:03] and he was completely sound of mind. From the couch, you could see the entire kitchen. It was an open layout. Just beyond the kitchen, there was a short hallway to the front door. From where my grandfather was sitting, he could clearly see the small hallway. The hospice nurse was standing across the kitchen island facing my grandparents. From her position, she wouldn't

[00:09:29] have had a direct line of sight down the hallway, but she could have seen it if she turned her head to the right. That's when my grandfather leaned over to my grandmother and said, Do you see that man standing in the hallway? She looked, but didn't see anyone, and asked, Is he doing anything? My grandfather said, He's motioning, like he wants me to go with him.

[00:09:59] Are you going to? She asked. Not yet, he said. She followed up with, Is the man good or bad? My grandfather said the man was good, that he didn't feel scared, and in fact, felt comforted. Later on, the hospice nurse asked my grandmother if he was going crazy.

[00:10:26] My grandmother replied, No, he's just seeing an angel. According to her, this happened two more times before he passed. He never said it was a relative like his parents or brother, just that it was a kind man who wanted him to come along. I didn't know about that until after what I'm about to share.

[00:10:51] My grandfather passed in mid-January, and we couldn't hold the funeral until mid-February, because my mom, dad, uncle, grandmother, and sister all got COVID. The delay wasn't a problem, though. Both the funeral home and the church were used to it, dealing with similar delays at the time. The day of the funeral, so many people came. It was a rural community, so either the regulations weren't as strict,

[00:11:21] or people just didn't care. They came anyway to support my grandmother. It was a musical service. I sang Menotti's The Lord's Prayer, which my grandfather had sung at all three of his children's weddings. All of us grandchildren sang, It is well with my soul. My sister and cousin each preached a short message. My uncle gave the eulogy,

[00:11:49] and my grandparents' longtime friend and pastor gave the sermon. I couldn't tell you what the sermon was about, because of what happened next. I was sitting in the front row, directly in front of the open casket and the pulpit. My sister was to my left, my parents to my right, with my grandmother and the rest of the family down the row. As the pastor preached,

[00:12:17] I was suddenly no longer in my seat. Physically, yes, but my mind, my vision, had completely left my body. All of a sudden, I was above the ceiling, looking down at the room, not from the balcony, not from the rafters, but from a place above where the roof should have been. I could see everyone in the sanctuary, every occupied and unoccupied seat,

[00:12:47] my sister-in-law with my niece and nephew outside the doors, my nephew asking questions about my grandfather. I saw who was crying, who was blowing their noses. I saw my whole family in a row, and my brothers sitting separately off to the side. I saw the aerial view of the pulpit, the open casket, and my grandfather's body. But that's not all. On each side of the casket

[00:13:15] were these two enormous figures. And at every exit of the sanctuary, there were more of them. They were radiant white, faceless, dressed in white robes with white gold sashes. Each had a sword on their left side, one hand resting on the hilt. Their faces weren't visible. They were just soft, glowing orbs of light.

[00:13:44] They looked human in form, but had no clear gender. They had to be at least eight or nine feet tall. One stood at the head of the casket, one at the foot. The others, identical, stood at the sanctuary doors. And then I heard a voice. It said, Well done, good and faithful servant. I knew it was about my grandfather.

[00:14:14] And just like that, I was back in my chair, looking up at the pulpit. My dad was still beside me. My sister glanced at me. I didn't say anything. I thought maybe I had just daydreamed. I sat with it instead. We finished the service, had the reception, and later we all drove in procession to the burial site in the dead of winter.

[00:14:43] It wasn't until a few days later that I shared this story. My parents and sister and I were sitting in the living room. My mom was at the dining table, my dad in the recliner. My sister and I were on opposite couches. We were just chatting as usual. My mom then asked if she could share something our grandmother had told her. A story from the final weeks before my grandfather passed.

[00:15:12] We of course said yes. That's when she told us about the man he'd seen in the hallway. My sister asked if it was his brother. My mom said no, and that she believed it was an angel. There was a pause, and then I spoke up. I asked if I could share what I saw at the funeral, and they said yes. Then I told them everything. When I finished,

[00:15:40] my mom had tears running down her face. My dad was smiling. He asked, what did the angels look like? I told him, huge, radiant, glowing with goodness. My mom shared my vision with the rest of the family, and they all received it well. I know not everyone shares the same beliefs I do, and that's okay. I wanted to share this story because I've had plenty of creepy

[00:16:10] and strange experiences, but this one was peaceful, beautiful, comforting. It's the most vivid and defined experience I've ever had, and maybe it can shed a little light on the good side of the paranormal, because I think that's worth sharing too.

[00:16:54] Strange Creature in My Backyard by Onion Just as a fair warning, this story contains some descriptions of animal mutilation. My parents were out of town, and I lived in a small neighborhood in upstate New York. My backyard was half-cleared land and half-dense woods. There was a small creek that ran behind my house as well, so I could see all sorts of animals at night, including turkey, foxes, possums,

[00:17:24] raccoons, and even deer. One night, at around 1 a.m., I was on the couch in the extended living room part of my home, where three of the walls had windows, and we had a skylight. This is important because I had a complete view of almost all of my backyard up to the tree's edge, including the moon overhead. I heard the sound of a very angry squirrel about five times, and I kind of brushed it off

[00:17:54] because I've heard angry squirrels before. Then I heard the most terrifying screech. It sounded like a goose had just been murdered and was screaming for life. It scared the crap out of me, and I immediately rushed over to the windows to see if I could see anything. I was worried that it could be a wolf, and my neighbor's cat likes to go wandering around outside and usually kills a bunny or two and leaves them in our front yard. It was pitch black,

[00:18:24] and my porch light barely illuminated anything on our back porch. I brushed off the noise and went to bed shortly after. The next morning, I headed over to my neighbor's house. They have hunted before and occasionally bow hunt. I asked if they had heard any kind of noise last night, and they said yeah. They thought that it was a deer crying for help. They told me that they were going to investigate the woods in a few hours to see what happened.

[00:18:54] I was reluctant to ask if I could go, but I was determined to know what the noise had been. A few hours later, my neighbors and I went into the woods. We didn't have to go far to see the dead squirrel. It had been ripped to pieces. We continued on, figuring that squirrels don't have much meat on them, so the animal probably tried to get as much as it could out of it. We wandered for about five more minutes

[00:19:24] when we came across five dead bunnies, a deer and her fawn, and a dead goose. Now this part frightened me the most. Three of the dead bunnies had their heads missing, and the body was still intact. The other two were ripped to pieces, similar to the dead squirrel. I almost gagged at the smell of all of it. I didn't dare walk towards the goose or the deer.

[00:19:53] My neighbor, who had a bow on him, walked toward the mother deer and saw that she had long claw marks on her torso and her head had been mangled. The fawn, however, had its head missing as well. Now, the weirdest part of all of the dead animals was the goose. The goose was fully intact, except that its lungs had been ripped open. All of its inner organs were gone.

[00:20:23] My neighbor's wife immediately called the police and said that a bear was roaming the property and attacking innocent animals. I had my suspicions, but I didn't believe that this was a bear. My neighbor, who had the bow, was keeping a clear eye on the surrounding woods like he was watching for something. His wife paid no attention to this and continued to talk to the police. Then it hit me. A weird feeling of dread.

[00:20:53] I got chills. Now, New York gets cold in the morning, but it was summer and the humidity was usually around 90%. The entire woods seemed to be silent as well. We were near a creek and we couldn't even hear the water flowing. I could see my neighbor had the same feeling wash over him as he raised his bow and loaded an arrow. He told his wife to be quiet and told me to stand back.

[00:21:24] I couldn't see anything, but that feeling was still with me. My neighbor, I know, saw something. He refused to tell me what it was since I was 15 and he probably just didn't want to scare me. After a few minutes, the feeling of dread was gone and the sound of something moving through the forest could be heard in the distance. My neighbor lowered his bow and told us that we all had to leave. I immediately listened

[00:21:53] and by the time we got back to the small neighborhood, the town police had arrived. My neighbor explained the story and the police advised us to stay inside. Later, they sent a few animal control people to survey the area to try and get the quote-unquote bear away from the neighborhood. They came back empty-handed. I never knew what was out there, but I had done some research and I believe that it might have been

[00:22:23] a wendigo based on the dead animal killings. My neighbors refused to talk to me about it ever again and the one that had the bow seemed very cautious after that. If anybody has any insight on this, please say something. This happened a few years ago and I now live in a different state. I haven't told anybody else about this story because I thought that I was overthinking, which I do a lot. Overanalyzing

[00:22:52] is just kind of my thing. I don't have contact with this neighbor anymore, though. And for anyone wondering, the neighbor had moved to this bigger piece of land because he had hoped to bow hunt on his own property so he could build a stand-up in the trees. As far as I know, New York deemed that it was still a form of hunting and later, the town police told him he couldn't do it anymore.

[00:23:37] Grandpa's Harmonica by Lynn I have a short story, but it's one that I think about often, especially while listening to your podcast. My grandparents came to live in our family home and stayed with us until they both passed away about a year apart. My grandfather passed first after a battle with cancer. He was such a great grandpa, always quick with a joke or a story.

[00:24:06] He also had what my mom called a musical ear. He could play just about any instrument he picked up, but he especially loved the harmonica. One night, not long after he had passed, I was sitting in our dining room on the computer. This was back in the old days of dial-up internet, so the computer desk was pushed against the back wall of the room. To the left was the dining table, and across from me

[00:24:36] on the far wall was a small window. Along the back of the house, behind the computer, were two more windows. All of them were open. It was a mild summer night, cool and quiet, that sort of soft bluish light right after sunset, but before full darkness. I was sitting there, waiting for the connection to finally go through, when I suddenly heard it, someone softly

[00:25:05] blowing across a harmonica. I froze. I looked over at the dining table, and sure enough, my mom had placed two of my grandpa's harmonicas there earlier that day. She was planning to give them to my uncle. They were both still in their cases. I asked my parents, who were sitting outside at the time, if they had heard it. They hadn't. Just to be sure, I glanced out

[00:25:35] the window toward our neighbor's porch. He was sitting out there, so I called over and asked if he had been playing a harmonica. Nope. No one had a radio on either, and even if they did, the sound I heard was way too close, like it was right in the room with me. It wasn't a sound I had heard before, and I haven't heard it since. I wasn't scared exactly,

[00:26:05] but I did feel a little creeped out, so I shut down the computer and went outside to sit with my parents. I like to think it was just my grandpa saying hi.

[00:26:37] I woke up in a different body by Kiss My Alien. Now, it's not as extreme as the title sounds, but it is 100% true. It's my same body, but with minor and noticeable differences. Some of the other stories that I hear about are people feeling mentally different or having their minds messed with in some way. But for me, it was my body,

[00:27:06] and not in ways that would have been affected by the surgery that I had. I don't know if I died during surgery and my mind swapped with the body of another me in another universe so that we could keep existing. Maybe he went brain dead during his surgery and my body died during mine, so my mind jumped into his body. My cats act the same toward me, my environment seems the same, etc.

[00:27:35] So either we had identical universes with only a minute difference, or his body shifted into my universe. Here are the body differences. I had a five-day beard after surgery. Before arriving at the hospital, I was shaved and showered. My hair is shorter. I had this thin V-gap between my two front teeth where the bottom of my teeth touched.

[00:28:06] The gap is now still thin, but the teeth don't touch. I had a distinct scar on the top of my right hand from being in a knife fight. It's now gone. When I was a kid, I was bitten near my eye by a dog. The noticeable scar is now gone. Also, my feet are different. And the weirdest one, my nose is straight. In my early 20s, 20 years ago,

[00:28:35] I did amateur gym boxing and my nose was broken twice and was distinctly bent and crooked. It's now straight, damn near perfect. It looks so strange. I can also breathe much easier now that it's straight versus the slightly restrictive nose breathing before surgery. This is definitely weird. I distinctly remember the circumstances of each fight where my nose got broken.

[00:29:05] It's impossible for it not to be broken. all of these changes seemed to be a product of life circumstances, not birth or aging. And that's what makes me believe it was an actual switch with a similar body instead of a mind shift. Does anybody have any thoughts? Oh, and in case you're wondering, I had my infected gallstone filled bladder removed. That was the extent of the surgery. Nothing

[00:29:35] should have affected my appearance. Also, for the beard, like I said, I was clean shaven Wednesday morning at 11 a.m. right before surgery, but I woke up with a beard on that same Wednesday at 2 p.m.

[00:30:17] My friend told me this story and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. He and a friend were out on a creek fishing that they weren't really familiar with and had started to go downstream to look for a better spot. Mind you, they are very far from any town and there are no houses nearby. They suddenly come up to a clearing that has a dome shaped building. It's dilapidated and it can barely be seen under the brush and trees.

[00:30:47] Of course, curiosity got the best of them and they decided to take a peek. Upon going inside, there are a lot of strange random events. As they venture further through the building, they come upon a set of caskets. The caskets are very small, like for a child or even an infant. They start getting very creeped out but continue exploring. They then come across a heavy door that leads into a room, painted in

[00:31:17] extremely bright colors with pictures on the wall, like a daycare or a preschool would have. All around, the room was wrapped in layers and layers of chicken wire, and it was done in a way not to keep someone from getting in but to keep someone from getting out. at that point, they were so creeped out that they got out of there. When they made it home, they told one of their girlfriends what happened, and she called the police to report it.

[00:31:46] He never heard anything else about it and moved away shortly after. He told me that this has been on his mind ever since, and when he talks about it, you can see that he's genuinely freaked out. And he doesn't scare easily.

[00:32:25] That backyard creature story really unfolds in layers, I guess you could say. Because at first, you think maybe it's just a fox or a bobcat or something because animals like that can make terrifying noises, you know? But then you get to the part with all the different animals ripped up in different ways. It doesn't really sound like a predator on the hunt or prowl for some food. It just sounds like something killing just for the sake of killing, you know? Yeah, yeah, to me it sounds closer to

[00:32:54] some kind of ritualistic mutilation than a feeding pattern. Yeah, yeah, and that circles back to our previous conversations about animal mutilations like what Linda Moulton Howe reported on. Yeah, yeah, this seems a little less surgical than that and that's why in my mind I'm defaulting to something more ritualistic. Yeah, definitely. Back to the cloaked Satanists or what people think of when they think of that. Yeah, but yeah, this case

[00:33:24] is a lot more brutal than the ones that she reported on or at least has so far. And if we're talking about ritual or symbolic behavior, I can totally see why the author referenced the Wendigo. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I did some more reading about the Wendigo because that's not something that I've ever been too familiar with and not anything we've covered on the show too many times, nothing too deep, but it turns out that it isn't just some forest cryptid like Bigfoot. There's this whole lore

[00:33:53] and history around it that describes it as like the spirit that represents greed and cannibalism. It's not even really a monster. Yeah, and it isn't like some physical creature skulking through the trees. It's more like a force or some sort of possession. I don't know. Yeah, yeah, with all of the modernization of folklore and horror movies, which I like, it's become just another monster. Yep. So what I think is going

[00:34:23] on is that there could be this tall, pale, long-limbed cryptid out there slashing up animals, but it's wrongfully been named the Wendigo. A case of mistaken identity. Yeah. I think we might need a name for a new skinny Bigfoot. I'm going to leave that one to the Discord group. I've got nothing. Yeah, there you go. Good call. Good call. Maybe they'll have some answers to what the daycare in the woods might be. Oh, yeah, yeah. So,

[00:34:53] okay, I remember this. There's this scene in the third season of True Detective, which is actually a pretty good one. And it reminds me so much of what Luck was describing in their story. And in the show, it definitely wasn't a happy ending. I still need to watch the other seasons of that show. I saw, I think, most of the first season, but like in the other show, I just kind of get into it and I like it so much. I just get the sense of dread of I'm about to lose way too much time for my life and I

[00:35:23] kind of just yank myself off like cold turkey. But maybe I should. I did just say yank myself off. Wow. It was just the eighth grade in my head. Yeah, I can't even blame you. But yeah, I'll add it to the list. Sounds good. I can't figure out this place though, the daycare. Is it some kind of hospice facility or a weird child prison? Yeah, with the whole chicken wire thing. A little confusing, a lot creepy. But the

[00:35:53] baby-sized caskets are I don't know, morbid? What else can you really say about that? Yeah. Can't figure it out. I know. After I recorded the story, I saw that there was an update from the author after they confirmed some of the details. And it turns out there were also child-sized gurneys and two tiny houses on the property. Tiny houses? Yeah, I guess so. Well, that's great. I like that. That definitely clears things up. Oh, yeah. It definitely

[00:36:22] doesn't add another layer of confusion. But I mean, now you're talking about something with infrastructure though. You know, it's not just this room. This wasn't just some creepy room where somebody used it once. This place had equipment and then there's the daycare imagery, the bright paint, the cheerful pictures. What the hell is going on there? I think that's the scary part. If something was criminal, whether it be some cult or

[00:36:52] whatever illegal facility or maybe even some horrific trafficking set up, God forbid, but it means people may have known what it was and the fact that the police never followed up or reported anything, that's not good. Yeah, definitely not good. I mean, I'm not saying that there is some cover-up or something, but it's possible that this place was long abandoned by the time they found it. And just like we could have faked the moon landing, it's possible.

[00:37:21] We could have. I'm not saying we did, but why? Yeah. We'll leave it at that. I think for this one, though, even worse, if it wasn't and someone came back and cleaned it up before the authorities could act, that's pretty worse. That's a much worse situation. Yeah, definitely. It really made me think of the Finder's cult from back in the 80s. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. They were discovered with locations set up eerily similar to this one. They had daycare

[00:37:50] style rooms, unmarked trailers, and like other strange paraphernalia. Yeah, yeah. That's pretty dead on. Yeah, not only that, the reports also included child-sized caskets. No, no. That's insane. I know. Why? Man. I know. Yeah, and the FBI eventually stepped in, but even today, the records are sealed or redacted. We'll never get all the full information. Oh, of course. Yeah, that's the

[00:38:19] important stuff that they've got to hide from the public. Yeah. Okay, cool. The parallels are just way too close to ignore, I guess. Maybe, just maybe, I won't go there. I kind of want to, yeah, never mind. Okay. Okay. But you get it. I agree. And the design of the building being like dome-shaped, that actually does align with some off-the-grid survivalist compounds that, you know, these fringe groups used in the 70s and the 80s.

[00:38:49] Yeah, it was pretty trendy to have like these domes because they were super cheap to build, harder to detect from the air, and they also looked cool. Remember that like circular-shaped house in our hometown? Like that one house kind of by, yeah, you know the one, yeah, like the geometric-looking thing. Yeah, I actually knew the girl who lived there. I thought she was just lying because everybody wanted to live in that house, and sure enough, that's where she lived. Is it still there? Do you know? No, I demolished it. Oh, yeah, I figured. Okay.

[00:39:19] Yeah, yeah, you know how it goes. Yeah, but I can totally see why the friend still talks about it, like even to this day. That would just turn me into a full-blown obsessive conspiracy theorist on that topic. Yeah, I got more to talk about about that, but it doesn't take much to turn you, or me apparently, after last night. Hey, we're curious guys. So anyway, a few people messaged us after last week's episode,

[00:39:49] and they were all like, I can't believe you guys didn't talk about the Duente story in the outro. I know, we probably liked it so much that we just jumped the gun and threw it in there after the fact. That's honestly exactly what happened, but better late than never. I think I just had the two stories recorded, and I just saw that one and played it back. I'm like, oh, we haven't used this one. Just dropped it in without fully realizing, yeah, we probably should have talked about this, but hey, we're here now. Yeah, better late than never.

[00:40:19] Yeah, the people have spoken. It was such a wild ride. It felt like the start of a movie, you know, a group of kids following a beautiful melody into the woods and finding a bunch of little goblins playing in a well. That sounds like the beginning of Mickey and the Beanstalk, Happy Valley. Yeah. Yeah, just this cute little scene of cousins going out to pick some mangoes. Yeah. I don't know what's scarier though, the Duentes themselves

[00:40:47] or how on point the uncle was. Yeah. He gave one warning, and then the second he saw their faces, he got to say everybody's favorite line, almost got snatched up by some goblins, didn't you? He knew. He knew. Oh, yeah, he knew. He's seen some things. Yeah, it was like a prophecy rather than like a warning maybe. Hopefully not one that he manifested though. That'd be kind of mean. Yeah, tough love, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. I swear every

[00:41:17] single thing in this story would have given me a lifelong phobia. Oh, yeah. Wells are creepy enough on their own. Exactly. I don't need to worry about goblins loitering around them as well. Dragging you down with them, but yeah, they drag you down, but you never hit water. You're just like falling and falling, never hitting water as you're getting scratched up in the face with the goblins screaming and licking your ears. Yeah, thanks. More nightmares. Yeah, totally welcome.

[00:41:48] Or a lucid dream if you're a little kinky, but hey, whatever. But I guess to transition to an actual waking nightmare that actually happened, those poor kids, the fingerprints and the scratches, how shocked they were, that's not the kind of thing a kid makes up. Plus, of course, they could see the marks on them, so something went down there. Yeah, it's beyond terrifying. I hadn't heard of the Duente before, but man, I'm

[00:42:17] speechless. Yeah, they were new to me too, but I guess for a little palate cleanser, you can just imagine them as the leprechaun from the leprechaun movies. That makes it better. Yeah, yeah. I forgot the guy's name, but he was also in Harry Potter and something else notable. He's in a lot of stuff. Star Wars. Yeah, that guy's in tons of movies. Yeah. He's a superstar. He is. I mean, don't even know his name. Exactly. Do you like mangoes?

[00:42:48] Yeah, sure. I guess I like mangoes. You? Yeah, I like them when they're like dried out with some chili powder and tamarind. No, no, no, no, no, no. He lost me. Yeah, I know. I know. I know. It's a little polarizing. I like my sweet, sweet, my spicy, spicy. Leave them separate. What about just a little pinch of sea salt on like a watermelon or a green apple? Oh, that's different. Yeah, that's different. I don't, I wouldn't prefer that. I'd eat it, but you know, I'll take

[00:43:18] salt with chocolate. I'll take salt with sweet, but with fruit, it's just, fruit just needs to stay on its own. It's so perfect on its own. Yeah, 99% of the time for sure, but as like a special treat, I'll spice it up a little bit. But where I was going with the mango thing is thank you for sending in your story, Emily. Pardon the delayed reaction. Yeah. So you had two stories about grandpas in this episode. I did. That seems to be

[00:43:48] a recurring theme lately. Yeah, I feel like there was one recently too, right? Yeah, exactly. Like a couple weeks ago. Gotta take note of these and use them for a themed episode one of these days. Yeah, whenever grandparents day is. Perfect, perfect. Yeah. I really liked both of the stories though. Lynn hearing her grandpa's harmonica, that was really sweet.

[00:44:25] things that they play at soccer games in the stadiums. Regular non-American football for the rest of the world. Oh yeah, thank you. Thank you. I don't know if we could have ever recovered from that. I appreciate the clarity there. Yeah. So we also really enjoyed reading Alexis's grandpa's story for so many reasons. Yeah, both of the grandpa's stories were really wholesome this time. Yeah, yeah. I think you especially can

[00:44:53] appreciate how her grandparents didn't get all hung up over which denomination of Christianity they belonged to. They just kind of, you know, yeah, open about it. Yeah, growing up Pentecostal, you know, obviously messed with me. And, you know, obviously any church or whatever can do some damage, but bad people are everywhere. Right. But I like to think of things for but I like to think things for me it would have been a little less hardline and

[00:45:23] dogmatic. Yeah, yeah, that makes a big difference and kind of just kind of just just kind of shapes everything for you as an adult. But whatever, it's to be expected and here you are now. You got through it. I'm really skeptical of any sort of person or thing with power and authority. Yeah. But I mean, I guess I realize that's not saying much because who isn't? Yeah, of course. And I have a huge complex with it because of growing up Pentecostal, it

[00:45:52] seemed like every adult at the church had so much authority over everybody, not just the kids, but also the women. And if you weren't like one of the men in charge, like on the platform, you were also subject to their authority. It was like having a bunch of dads. It was a nightmare. Yeah, and that's that's the absolute worst things with like I have nothing against people who are religious as long as like they for individuals who are genuine in their hearts and do the right thing

[00:46:21] and look out for their communities and all that and have love and respect and blah, blah, blah. I don't want to get too preachy. But yeah, I don't even know where I was going with that. But anyway, it's okay. Let's just sum it up with I don't think I know a single person who's a fan of their government or authority as a whole. Politics and religion. Such a risque episode. I already hate it. Yeah, yeah, I know. Okay. Oh, yeah, that's right. So the conspiracy thing like you brought up earlier. Yeah, I don't want to

[00:46:51] get too into it. But I watched a documentary the other night, the one I texted you about that's named after a popular board game. Yeah. But man, I was just left feeling so helpless and depressed. Like I'm still shaken up by it, to be honest. And it wasn't things that I didn't already know. And it just it broke me like I had a legitimate minor breakdown. Yeah. And we should probably keep this short because people have no idea what documentary we're talking

[00:47:20] about, but I had to stop watching for the same reasons. And, you know, the lines get blurred easily. Yeah. I'll just say it's not named after Yahtzee or Uno. Would those be board games? No. Wow. I try to think of a board game. I think of dice and cards. Man. Yeah. But anyway, that's back from the beauty of your story, Alexis. I hope that those same angels that you saw with your grandpa are with you today. And I bet they are.

[00:47:51] That was too sweet of a note to end on. It's too sweet. I know that was quite the rough transition, but at least it was like a ending on a good note. Sure. Yeah. All right, everybody. Thank you so much for listening. Protect your hearts, protect your minds. And if you have a story to share, send it to stories at odd trails. Dot com. If you don't like the ads, you can support the show and sign up for our Patreon. It's only five bucks a month and it helps us out quite a bit. Just head on over to

[00:48:19] patrion.com slash odd trails. And finally, make sure you check out my other podcasts like Let's Not Meet, Cryptic Encounters, and what was the other one? Oh, yeah. Old Time Radiocast, wherever you get your podcasts. We'll see you all next week. Everybody stay safe. Peace out.

[00:48:38] Listen, the ghouls disturb.