Episode 178: The Creepy Mirror

[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.

[00:00:58] Was I gifted a poltergeist for my birthday? By Jdubs453. My tale begins on the eve of my 13th birthday. In the days leading up to it, I had been cleaning in the basement, eager to create a cool hangout spot for me and my friends. We moved in some old couches, brought down a tube TV with a VCR, and filled the shelves with classic VHS tapes.

[00:01:28] The anticipation was high as we got ready to celebrate. Finally, my cousin and friend joined me for a sleepover. We settled in, put on a movie, and talked about the excitement of becoming teenagers. Then, we heard it. A strange sound, a soft pitter-patter, echoed from the room above us. At first, I thought it was mice, but it didn't quite sound like that.

[00:01:59] It was too deliberate, too curious. I mentioned it to my friends, and soon we were all listening closely. The tapping continued, moving across the walls. What started as curiosity quickly turned into unease. My mom was asleep just a short distance away, so I figured something must have gotten into the house. We decided to investigate.

[00:02:29] Armed with random items from the basement as makeshift weapons, we crept up the stairs as quietly as we could. We entered the room where the noise had come from, but everything was still, silent. I even woke up my mom to ask her if she heard anything. She brushed it off and said she just needed to rest. So we went back downstairs, still feeling on edge but trying to laugh it off.

[00:02:59] But the sounds didn't stop. As the night wore on, the soft pitter-patter turned into loud, deliberate banging, coming from the staircase just behind us. We froze, huddled together on the floor, too afraid to move. We waited for morning. When the sun came up, we felt relief.

[00:03:26] But we were also determined to understand what had happened. I came up with a little experiment. One by one, we took turns going upstairs to listen. Each time, nothing happened. I volunteered to go last. I sat at the small table in the dining room, waiting in silence. Just as I stood up to head back downstairs, a loud crash echoed from the room.

[00:03:57] My friends rushed up to find the table flipped over. The chair I'd been sitting in tipped backward. My mom was fed up, understandably, and called my dad home from work, thinking maybe something was structurally wrong. He and I went downstairs to check. And as we stood there, we heard a faint knocking sound from the wall. He told us to avoid that part of the house for the rest of the day.

[00:04:27] So I spent my birthday morning and afternoon camped out in the living room. That evening, once friends and family came over for the party, the story of the night before became the main event. Everyone was intrigued. Some even wanted to sleep over, just to experience it themselves. So we had another idea. Instead of the basement, what if we all slept in the room where the noises came from?

[00:04:57] We brought blankets and pillows into the dining room. That room had its own strange history. A woman had reportedly passed away in it years earlier. As night fell, things got weird again. Objects would disappear and reappear in new places. A rocking chair, completely still earlier, now gently swayed back and forth on its own.

[00:05:26] We sat in silence, listening to the sound of footsteps, again and again, going up and down the stairs. Eventually, we couldn't take it anymore. We all grabbed our stuff and moved to a different room for the night, still rattled. It was like the echoes of something long past were still walking that house. And now, they knew we were listening.

[00:06:16] I didn't realize until after by Crafty Dingo. This is one of the eeriest, most inexplicable things that has ever happened to me or anyone that I know. I decided to tell this story because it's now 12.38am on December 8th and it would have been my dad's birthday. I was one of his best friends. My parents divorced when I was 15

[00:06:43] and he had met Laura a few months later. My dad was an alcoholic, but not the worst I had ever seen. When I was 19, I moved about 45 minutes away to attend college, so I wasn't living with him and his girlfriend anymore. My dad called me late one afternoon, a week before Christmas, and told me, Laura's leaving me. She's packing her stuff right now. Can you come get me? I don't want to fucking be here.

[00:07:14] I drove there immediately. When I walked in that door, for the first and only time, my dad hugged me and saw it on my shoulder like he was the child and I was the adult. I would wager that as one of the saddest and scariest moments of my life. Eventually, I convinced him to come and spend the night at my place. We had driven maybe two minutes through town when he told me to stop at the liquor store.

[00:07:44] Reluctantly, I did as he asked. When he came back to the car, he sighed, almost sounding defeated. Take me back. I refuted. No, just come with me. You really don't need to be there right now. It's going to be okay. Why do you want to go back anyway? No, just take me back. He shakes his head. No, you're coming with me. Fuck her. I'll roll a big joint and you can sleep.

[00:08:14] And he interrupted me. Take me back. I sighed and against my intuition, I did. On the way back to his place, I played him the song Overcome. The lyrics say holy water in my lungs. We both cried as we listened. I called him twice a day, every day for three days after that. He was extremely depressed. I asked him what he was eating and he said beer

[00:08:44] and Campbell's soup. That third night, he was slurring his words on the phone. He told me that he had gone to the bar and fallen on the way home, but he was okay. Just had a pain on his left side. The next morning, my flip phone rang at around 6 a.m. It was my dad. I whispered groggily. Dad? Brit, I'm coughing up blood.

[00:09:13] I sat up quickly. What? Coughing up blood? There was a coughing fit on the other end. Between coughs, he asked, can you come and take me to my family doctor? I asked him a few more questions and against his wishes, I called an ambulance. Later that day, I went to the hospital. When I walked past his curtain in emergency, he was sitting on the edge of his bed. I recall him looking terrible.

[00:09:43] Oh my god, what's going on, dad? They said, I have pneumonia. My left lung is full of fluid, he said. And then, he hung his head sadly. He was there for five days. They gave him Ativan and other things to help with the withdrawals. I was there every day after school. He tried so hard to leave the hospital. I had to stop him from taking out his IV and messing with the monitors. I told him that when he gets out,

[00:10:13] he can come home with me and everything will be fine. He became increasingly angry with me on this particular day. This time, I was so frustrated with him that I turned to leave without a hug. My boyfriend at the time stopped me at the door. You should give your old man a hug, he whispered. I turned around and I gave my dad an awkward hug in his wheelchair and left. Now, I'm a very

[00:10:42] sound sleeper. Once I'm asleep, I do not wake up. That night at around 3.24 a.m., I jolted awake and sat up on my elbow, panting and sweating seemingly for no reason. I looked at the clock, noted it, and just went back to sleep. I was again jolted awake at around 7 a.m., this time by my boyfriend. The cops were at our door. They told me to have a seat on the couch,

[00:11:11] asked who I was, and asked about my dad. I answered them hesitantly, thinking that my dad was in trouble for some reason. It turns out my dad had passed away. The doctor told us later that day that his official time of death was 3.24 a.m. I didn't realize it until later, but that is the exact time when I jolted awake, the moment that my dad died. Later that night,

[00:11:41] I had this weird, vision-like dream. I had never had a dream like this before, or since. Now, do you remember on the old TVs when you couldn't find a channel there was gray static? That's what the background of this was. He was standing in front of me, looking very sad and softly crying. He says to me, Are you sad? Confused and frustrated, I choked out, Yes, I'm sad.

[00:12:10] He quietly said, It's okay. I'm sad too. I jolted awake. My face was already soaked in tears and more confusion than ever. To this day, I can hardly get through the last song we ever listened to together. The line, Holy water in my lungs, gets me every time. Happy birthday, Dad.

[00:12:59] Glowing Grandmother by Meg Longtime listener, and at the end of episode 175, you guys mentioned possibly getting stories about grandmas. So here's my story. As a child, I had a memory of crying in my crib. I had to have been very, very young. I remember feeling that I wanted my mom when this woman came over to my crib and bent over and picked me up.

[00:13:28] She had shoulder-length dark brown hair and was wearing this whitish blue nightgown. She almost seemed to be glowing this blue color. She smiled and rocked me in her arms and I fell asleep. Life went on. I grew up. One day, when I was probably 12 years old, my dad was showing me pictures from his childhood. He pulled out a picture of his mom, my grandmother, Celia.

[00:13:59] I never met her because she passed away before I was born, when my dad was a young adult. When I looked at her photo, I immediately remembered being a baby and crying and her picking me up and rocking me to sleep. Before this point, I always wondered if it was just a dream, but when I saw her photo, I knew it was her. The funny thing is, I told my dad about the experience after seeing the photo and he kinda brushed it off.

[00:14:30] A few years ago, I was talking with my dad and I asked him, do you remember when I told you about meeting your mom when I was a baby? He looked confused, so I told him my experience again and his face got a huge smile. He went on to say, after my mom died, I had a lot of regret for how I treated her as a kid. I wished I could tell her I was sorry and that I loved her. Then a few weeks later, I had a dream

[00:14:59] and I was walking down a path in the forest and up ahead was a beautiful woman wearing a blue nightgown. She was almost glowing this blue light and I knew it was my mom. She told me that she forgives me and then I woke up. I couldn't believe he never told me that story when I first told him about my experience. It's pretty incredible that we both saw her and she was just as beautiful and radiant.

[00:15:30] I've also believed most of my life she's been around when I have been in potentially dangerous or unsafe situations, yet have miraculously come out the other side okay and alive. But those are stories for another day. Be well.

[00:16:07] Creepy Artificial Noises Outside by Bell I've been sneaking into my boyfriend's house while his parents are away via his window. I have to circle his entire block to avoid all the cameras. This is my third time doing so this week. My best friend also lives on this block just a few houses down. So tonight I'm leaving around 10.30 and I hear a lot

[00:16:37] of howling noises and cricket noises so much so that it was really strange. This neighborhood is usually very quiet. I was about 20 feet from him and he was sticking half his body out the window so I yelled can you hear that? He couldn't hear a thing. I said I love you goodbye and kept walking. This is where things get really strange. I was walking

[00:17:06] and it started to get pretty loud but I began to notice that it sounded like a video playing animal noises instead of a genuine howl in the forest. It was definitely playing from some kind of speaker or something. As I was halfway to my car the noises began to glitch. They would stop and then start again suddenly. Then the volume would slowly increase. Once my car was in sight

[00:17:35] about 35 feet from me the noises suddenly stopped in an instant like someone had pressed pause and I sprinted to my car. On my obviously freaked out drive home my paranoia only got worse when I saw at least 15 dead deer lining both sides of the back road that I have to take home. They were right on the side of the road all facing up in the grass. I called my friend and she suggested

[00:18:05] aliens immediately because of the deer alien connection and because of the fact that I saw a UFO on that same road just a few weeks before. I've had a few other weird experiences with this back road in particular as most of my friends live in that area and I like to take that road to get to work. I'm sharing this because I read about another person from two years ago that had a similar experience in the deep woods.

[00:18:34] Everyone recommended that I share this. What the hell was it? I know for a fact that it wasn't real animals. I'm honestly really shaken up about this. Let me know if anyone has any ideas or the slightest explanation and thank you. Oh by the way this morning I was able to call the aforementioned best friend who lives on that same block. I called last night because once I got to her house it was truly so loud I don't understand

[00:19:03] how everyone wasn't coming out of their houses. It got that loud all of the artificial sounds. She said that she was asleep at that point but there are a few weird things that she's experienced in the neighborhood as well mostly sketchy people in the area though. Also as far as hunting or noise machines go I'm not convinced anyone would play something that loud right by this big residential area. I guess it definitely makes

[00:19:33] the most sense at first glance though. I'll update about the deer another time. Honestly I'm pretty hesitant to go down that road as frequently anymore. I'd rather take the other road and add three minutes to my trip because something weird is definitely going on there.

[00:20:07] The Creepy Mirror by Endotron 11 Please be advised this story mentions a death by suicide. I kept a mirror that used to belong to my friend's sister Katie not knowing it had seen more than I ever wanted to imagine. Katie had lived downstairs in the suite below ours. I co-owned the house with my childhood friend Sarah and while my partner child and I lived

[00:20:37] upstairs Sarah stayed below and often had rotating roommates to help with the mortgage. For a time that was her sister Katie. Katie was someone I'd known since we were kids. She was struggling battling bipolar disorder and depression but she was always kind and calm never aggressive. She bonded with my three-year-old son and he'd often go downstairs to visit his aunties which gave me a few

[00:21:07] peaceful moments to tidy up or watch Law and Order and gave Katie and Sarah some joyful interactions and laughs with a cute and funny kid. when Katie decided to move away to a town 15 hours away where she didn't know anyone she left most of her belongings behind. Sarah kept a few things and I ended up taking one item a tall rectangular mirror that had sat on Katie's dresser.

[00:21:37] It had a thick reddish wood frame and a decorative top that reminded me of a Japanese tori-gate. It was beautiful. I figured I'd use it once we moved back in after temporarily living with my aging grandmother. While we were away, we rented our suite to someone I trusted, my high school boyfriend, J. It was the middle of the pandemic and even though my partner wasn't thrilled about it,

[00:22:07] we needed the money. J. had just gone through a breakup and was in a bad place. I tried to make the suite welcoming for him, arranging furniture and placing Katie's mirror in the living room, where it reflected a lot of light. But things went downhill fast. J. didn't take care of the place. He stopped paying rent, neglected the houseplants, adopted a puppy that destroyed the carpets, and smoked constantly.

[00:22:38] The energy in the suite turned heavy and oppressive. He even had a stroke on our deck one afternoon. Sarah found him and called an ambulance. J., who had once been a bright, creative person, had become someone else entirely. After my grandmother passed, we moved back in. J. had already left to reunite with his girlfriend, so we began cleaning and reintegrating our belongings.

[00:23:08] I moved Katie's mirror into my bedroom and leaned it against the wall facing the bed. That's when I started to feel it. A darkness. I couldn't look at the mirror at night. I would deliberately avert my eyes, focusing anywhere else. I moved it around the house, hoping it would feel better somewhere else. But it didn't. Eventually, it ended up back in my bedroom, still

[00:23:37] leaning against the wall. My son stopped coming into our room to cuddle. At the time, I didn't think it had anything to do with the mirror, and I didn't say anything to anyone. I didn't want to sound ridiculous or to spook my kid unnecessarily. Then, we got terrible news. Katie's struggles had gotten much worse. She was no longer with us. After that, the energy from the

[00:24:07] mirror became unbearable. I couldn't even look at it. I turned it around to face the wall. It felt wrong, haunted, like it had absorbed too much pain. Katie's, Jay's, maybe even mine. I remembered hearing once that the only way to break a curse on an object was to have it chosen freely by someone else. I didn't feel right selling it, so I left it at the

[00:24:37] end of the driveway with a free sign taped on it. A couple from the neighborhood rang my doorbell to make sure I really meant it. They were thrilled to take it, and I was relieved to see it go. A few days later, I was folding laundry in my bedroom when my son wandered in. He looked around, then asked, Mama, did you get rid of that creepy mirror? I froze. I hadn't told him or anyone

[00:25:07] how I'd felt about the mirror. Yes, I said. Why did you think it was creepy? He looked at me with a serious expression. There was a shadow man in it, he whispered. I saw his face looking at me when I looked at the mirror. That's why I didn't like it. I told him he was safe now, but inside I was shaking. Somehow, my

[00:25:36] child had confirmed what I had only felt, that there was something truly wrong with that mirror. I kept waiting for the couple to return it, for someone to knock and say they didn't want it anymore, but I never saw them again.

[00:26:13] My brother and I heard Bigfoot by UFO finder 1947. So I went hunting with my brother for the first time today, and I think we heard Bigfoot. For some context, I've lived out in the woods my entire life growing up, and so has my brother. I've never hunted, but since my house is in the woods, I've had to shoot coyotes before, and have seen bears, deer, elk, cougars,

[00:26:43] bobcats, and so on. And I know what they sound like. My brother has been hunting since he was 17 years old, and has gone to the area where we were hunting about 10 times. When we got there, we just hung out in the car for a little bit until sunrise, and then got on our way. After about one hour of hiking, we came to a fork in the road, where my brother was used to going left, since it's public to hunt on.

[00:27:13] Or however that works, I don't know. But when he checked his offline hunting map, it said private, so someone must have purchased that land. So instead of left, we went right. We walked down there for about two hours. It was nice and peaceful. But all of a sudden, we heard something banging on a tree in random intervals. Me being the paranormal UFO and Bigfoot show lover, and someone who believes

[00:27:43] in Bigfoot told my brother that that's what a lot of people say their form of communication is. He just laughed. We sat there and listened, and after the banging stopped, we heard heavy footsteps that sounded bipedal. We thought for a minute it was a person, but it all just felt so odd. We sat and listened for about twenty minutes, and we just kept hearing the banging on the trees,

[00:28:12] then some walking, then silence, then banging again. After a while, we decided to move on. We walked for another fifteen to twenty minutes down, and found a nice spot to sit, drink some water, and have a snack. All was good while we were eating, and by then, we thought we'd start to head back. When we got back to the spot on the trail where we heard those noises, we then heard them again, but they

[00:28:42] were on the opposite side of the forest. As somewhat of a joke, but also out of curiosity, I told him, I've seen people bang on trees and try to talk to them, so I grabbed a thick stick and asked him if I should give it a whack. He was kind of freaked out, but I told him it would be fine. I hit the tree eight times, and nothing happened. Then, I heard the banging again, and when it finished, I hit eleven times.

[00:29:13] Ten seconds later, we heard eleven knocks come from that same area. Me and my brother were very weirded out. About one minute after that, we both heard what I can only describe as a human scream mixed with some kind of howl. I thought maybe it was some animals, but my brother, who hunted in this area multiple times, which is close to where we lived our whole life, told me he has no clue what that

[00:29:43] thing was, and that he wanted to get going because in his words, that was fucking weird. Let's get out of here. After hiking for a few hours, we got back to the car and headed home. He and I talked a bit more, and we are still confused by what happened. I really think it could have been a Bigfoot.

[00:30:04] You ever get the feeling that something is watching you watch it? You know what I mean? Yeah, I know

[00:30:33] exactly what you mean. That's like basically the dread that I grew up with. I always felt like that. Yeah, it's especially creepy when it involves glitching animal sounds or rows of dead deer, like surgically precisely mutilated cows. It's like the forest of some kind of UFO runway. Everything's there. Yeah, yeah, the artificial noise story. I know what you're talking about. That was really weird. It kind of made me think of

[00:31:02] them living in some kind of dome or enclosed area where they're part of some Truman show thing. Yeah, the noises are way too suspiciously controlled. It's like we're sitting on a Disney ride or something. Yeah, yeah, and then they start glitching like the sounds. It was clearly some kind of recording, but the weird thing is that she was the only one thing. Maybe it's some kind of directional sound tech, like long-range acoustic devices. Yeah, this would

[00:31:32] definitely have me questioning my entire reality. Yeah, this is too weird. My bogus conspiracy theory is that there was some kind of alien mutilation thing going on, like with the cattle mutilations that we've talked about. Yeah, yeah. They were using some kind of long-range acoustic device, like you were saying, and they wanted to use that to cover up their surgery lasers I don't know. I would say that's the most entertaining of all the explanations,

[00:32:01] but you could also consider the sound cannon theory, like they're using a sound cannon to keep people away, any like nosy bystanders, any protesters who might not be too privy to what they got going on there, you gotta deter them somehow, why not use a sound cannon? Yeah, that's true, but they did mention a UFO sighting prior to the experience. Yeah, it's kind of like the stories about Skinwalker Ranch, where they'll have like overlapping phenomena, sound manipulation, animal deaths,

[00:32:33] some kind of psychological interference. Yeah, definitely one of the more unexplainable stories on the show for a while, for sure. But, yeah, moving on, I want to talk about the pneumonia story. I don't even know if we should call it paranormal, it's almost like it's too personal for that, but the timing of the death, the shared emotional experience, and having a dream afterwards, there's, like, I don't know, there's gotta be something going on here that

[00:33:02] crosses into like every category. There's psychic phenomena, after-death communication, and just pure grief, to be honest. It all has that kind of synchronicity that's just a little bit too on-the-nose to ignore. You got a lot of evidence around people waking up at the same time that a loved one dies, or just that horrible feeling in your stomach, like, this person is in so much danger, I need to check on them right now, and lo and

[00:33:31] behold, they were in a very, very bad situation at that time, or whatever the case may be. It's all just too much to be a coincidence. Yeah, I remember waking up one morning, and just having a bad feeling, and almost immediately, my wife called me to tell me that she got in an accident. It was almost immediate. Like, I just knew something was coming, so you're right. I was reading up on it, and it's apparently called Crisis Apparitions.

[00:34:00] in the late 1800s. Frederick Myers and what they call the Society for Psychical Research, if I'm saying it right, they documented hundreds of these cases. People would hear a voice, see a loved one at the foot of the bed, or just jolt awake exactly when somebody passed away. It was so common that they tried to statistically prove it wasn't chance. So I am familiar, and I'm going to ask a rhetorical

[00:34:30] question. Wasn't Frederick Myers a bit of a creep? Yes. I haven't dug too deep into his work. This is all new to me. I only started reading about him since we got this story, but there are definitely some quotes from people that knew him talking about his questionable sexual intentions involved in his research. That's like one of the first things that come up. But, you know, that's a whole can of worms I haven't gotten into yet. I'm sure to make Freud proud though. Yeah, he had

[00:34:59] his back and forth with Freud, I'm sure. Oh, yeah, back and forth, over and over, in and out. Forever. Forever. Yeah, I do remember reading about the, I'm sure the Discord posse can help do some research there. Yeah, they're the best at that. Hell, yeah, can't get anything past them. So, with Kraft Dingo's story, the line that really got me choked up was holy water in my lungs, if you remember

[00:35:29] that. It almost like plays out like this premonition of pneumonia, like the subconscious already knew that it was coming. yeah, I mean, she plays that song, they both cry, and then days later, he dies of pneumonia. That's, uh, that's pretty telling. Yeah, I've read stories of hospice nurses talking about patients who know the exact hour that they're going to die. I was talking with my friend Kadra about this,

[00:35:59] and they're not just saying, like, I think it's soon. They'll actually say, it'll be tonight, or after my son gets here, or something like that, and they'll just be gone within minutes. I think that the brain, or maybe the soul, has some kind of foresight that we don't really understand yet. It could be. Some kind of deeper connection to the overall simulation, maybe. Like, that's when our computer clocks are set to reset. We just know we have, like, a battery that ticks down little by little,

[00:36:28] that bar, lessens and lessons. Yeah, I always like bringing simulation theory into the mix. Might as well. I like to think, like, what if each of us have our own simulation where there's infinite realities that we could all be facing, and we tell ourselves that it's not realistic because everything is so intricate, the world around us, everybody else having their own life to live. Sonder, I believe the actual term is. But, beyond that, just, uh, I was going somewhere with

[00:36:58] that, but, you know what, I'm just going to leave it, and just, we're going to leave it at that, and keep it moving. Let's keep moving it. Let's talk about, um, let's see, let's talk about the creepy mirror. That was great. Uh, okay, sure. We got some more mirror stuff. Thanks for sending that one in. It was good. It was good. Yeah. There's something about haunted objects that just feels more personal than, like, a haunted house. It's, I guess, in most circumstances,

[00:37:28] you can leave a building, but you can't always just get rid of an object and call it today. Yeah, like, that Ouija board session was so horrific. Let me go ahead and burn the board. It doesn't work that way. Yeah, as much as you want to. Uh, definitely don't burn it, though. Or break a mirror, in this case. Yeah, or break a mirror. And I guess what makes this one heavier compared to any other random antique store finding or whatever, is that it had a bunch of

[00:37:57] actual emotional weight behind it. Katie's for sure, and then probably Jay's. Um, it's like the mirror soaked up whatever played out in front of it and couldn't let it go. Yeah, it wasn't just the mirror being creepy either, it was everything that was tied to it, the slow decline of people around it. It's almost like the mirror became a sponge for everybody's suffering, you know? I don't know. What's scarier is that the

[00:38:27] author wasn't the only one who picked up on it. Her son saw it too, without being told anything. Yeah, that was the best part, sealing the deal with an innocent man's corroboration, her son, of all people. I know. The unpromptedness of it is always great. Yeah. Kids are just so sensitive to that stuff. And he didn't just say that it felt weird, he said he saw a shadow man in the mirror. That's next level, especially when you realize that he avoided the room because of it, all on

[00:38:57] his own. He wasn't like inspired or not tricked, what's wrong, inspired or he wasn't suggested by his mom that anything could be up with it. He just kind of knew. Yeah, that's a good point. And you gotta wonder, like, was it Katie? Was it something that latched onto the grief and just manifested because of the conditions being perfect? Or, I don't know, was it something that had been attached to the mirror even before Katie owned it? That's a good

[00:39:27] point. Maybe the mirror was already bad news and it just fed off of everything that happened around it. I mean, mirrors have always had a weird reputation for, like, being portals or trapping spirits. Yeah, yeah, reflecting things that aren't supposed to be there. Yeah, all that. And I love the little detail about how the narrator remembered hearing that to break the curse, you had to let somebody else willingly take it. Like, that's old school folklore

[00:39:56] stuff and honestly, it just feels right. It's not like she cursed a couple or anything, but it's wild to think that the energy could just move on to them and they have no idea. I was laughing to myself when I first read that. Like, do we know for sure that those people are living happily ever after with that mirror in their house? I mean, we're assuming that we're okay, but I don't know. Yeah, or they're waking up at 3am with night terrors and can never figure out why.

[00:40:26] Exactly. The thought of linking it to the mirror probably won't ever cross their mind. Yeah. So, of course, why would they ever be back to the author's house to talk about it, you know? Yeah, you can't exactly give out a disclaimer when trying to get rid of these things either. No, no. I mean, there is a market for selling haunted objects online, as you know. Oh, yeah. There should be a hazardous waste type of service specifically for

[00:40:55] paranormal things. Like, you know how you can safely dispose of old batteries and electronics? Yeah. They need something for haunted objects out there. Yeah, definitely. That would be nice. Nobody would have to get tricked. Yeah, I know. No more passing the buck to some poor old schmuck playing paranormal hot potato. I keep thinking about that couple just being stoked to get a free mirror, just completely clueless. So what do you do in that situation?

[00:41:25] Here's a deeply moral, personal question. Do you live with a haunted object for however long it takes to just deal with it? Or do you knowingly try to pass the problem onto somebody else? You know, that's a common theme in a lot of horror stories all throughout time. And there seems to be stories for both sides, whether you keep it or you give it away. It never ends up good for anyone. Is that a no comment? You don't know if you're going to give it away or keep it?

[00:41:56] I'm saying it's going to be bad either way. Either you're stuck with the curse or you give it away to somebody else and you got to deal with that guilt. All right, so we won't fault you either way. What about you? No, same answer. Don't fault me. Yeah. Yeah. Case by case. Well, hopefully the author's neighbors at least deserved some sort of haunted object in their lives. Nothing too extreme, just enough to ruffle their feathers or something like that for our own entertainment purposes.

[00:42:25] They're just stuck with a haunted mirror for the rest of their lives. Yeah, ideally. That's how it all works out. I imagine the author was probably like half expecting them to knock on the door one day and be like, can we give this back? They just leave it on the sidewalk like a gift, like banning it like a bassinet. Yeah. I think it's crazy too how the mirror didn't immediately act haunted in some dramatic way.

[00:42:55] It was more subtle, like this slow dread that crept in over time, which I think is more scary. Yeah, the slow burn is way worse. She had to live with that feeling for so long, until, you know, one day, her kid just casually mentioned seeing a shadow man in the mirror. Yep. I think as far as dealing with haunted objects go, uh, her experience probably worked out better than most people could hope for.

[00:43:25] Yeah, true. Not quite at the level Katie and Jay were impacted. Yeah, I wonder how long Katie had that mirror and if there'd be an overlap for things getting worse for her, you know what I mean? Yeah, I'm curious about that too and how things got worse for her even after being away from the mirror. definitely a story on the heavier side. Um, yeah, I don't know. The fact that she parted ways with it and moved away and then ultimately things got as

[00:43:55] worse as they could get. Who's to say the mirror had anything to do with that or not? But either way, I don't think that the mirror is good news. I wouldn't take my chances. Yep. Add no mirrors to the list if it wasn't already on there. The town scribe is on it, sire. Okay. Yeah. Anyways, thanks everybody for listening. Make sure you send your stories into stories at odd trails dot com. If you want to hear them on the show, like all of these stories and

[00:44:23] be sure to sign up for a Patreon, patreon dot com forward slash odd trails and get ad free versions of all of our episodes that are bit right. Finally, make sure you check out the new episodes of my other podcasts like cryptic encounters, the old time radio cast and let's not meet a true horror podcast at cryptic county podcasts dot com. Speaking of Jay, shameless plug here. Apparently, Mike LaBelle, who plays Jay on Degrassi, is a big fan of the podcasts.

[00:44:53] He's going to come on let's not meet next week for a special appearance. And I'm going to try and get him over here on odd trails for another one of our chats. That would be that would be cool. Keep your ears open for that. We'll see you next time, everybody. Stay safe. Peace out.

[00:45:28] Ghosts and the ghouls disturb you done.