May 28, 2025 • 56 mins
What if the strangest night of your life happened before you even knew how to explain it? In this episode of Close Encounter Club, host Justin Gearhart sits down with Annie—a speech pathology student whose memory holds something much louder: a night when every car alarm in her apartment complex went off at the exact same time.
She was only eight. Just a summer night, heading down to the car with a friend to grab a DVD. They noticed the old powder blue pickup behaving… oddly. Without warning, every car alarm in the lot erupted at once. No one else seemed to hear it. Not even their moms, just a few feet away.
Join us as we explore one of the most subtle—and chilling—childhood encounters we’ve ever heard.
It’s also the first episode to feature Scully, our new AI investigator—helping us dig deeper, question harder, and stay grounded in the search for truth.
Got a story to share? Email us at stories@closeencounterclub.com
🎧 Follow Close Encounter Club for firsthand experiencer stories and expert insights into the unknown.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to The Close Encounter Club. I'm your host, Justin Gearhart. Some nights unfold
(00:12):
like scenes from a horror movie. Unplanned, unnerving, and unforgettable. In tonight's
episode, we speak with Annie, and we go back to one of those nights. It starts with two
kids just trying to look for a DVD, then ends with something far more disturbing. A powder
blue pickup truck. Headlights flashing in the dark. A growing sense that something is terribly
(00:36):
wrong. And what happens next is insane. But real talk, lately I've been feeling like
I've been drifting from the original mission of this show. To stay skeptical and help prove
the unexplained. And I believe that AI is going to help us do that. So, I built one.
Her name is Scully. She's trained on previous Close Encounter Club episodes, and she's designed
(01:01):
to stay skeptical, grounded, and scientific. This is Scully's first episode, and I'll
be calling on her to help us make sense of this story. I'm super excited for this new
chapter, and you can check out our Instagram for more info about Scully. So buckle up,
because this is a story that doesn't just raise questions, it flashes them right at
(01:22):
you. This is episode 13. The title is That One Night, and you're listening to the Close
Encounter Club.
(01:43):
My name is Annie, and I'm 23 years old. I'm currently in school to get my master's degree
in speech language pathology. I work at a daycare outside of that with a bunch of screaming
one-year-olds that I love very much. And I love to paint. I love anything crafty, scrapbooking,
painting, anything like that. And I love being outside and being in the outdoors. So, I'm
(02:09):
kind of a jack of all trades. I'm also maybe a little bit too obsessed with musical theater.
Oh, really?
Yes.
Do you have a favorite musical?
Oh, my God. Anything that's written by Stephen Sondheim is like the Holy Grail to me. Maybe
you've known like Sweeney Todd.
Okay, yeah, I'm familiar with that.
(02:31):
Yeah, my favorite musical ever, though, is probably Either Into the Woods or Sunday
in the Park with George, which are both Sondheim musicals. They're amazing.
I'm not familiar with either one of those, so I'll have to check that out. Yeah.
Both of them have professionally shot original cast versions on YouTube for free.
Really? Okay, I will be checking that out for sure. I've never really, to be honest,
(02:57):
gotten into that. There's a couple of bands that I like that are very theatrical vibes
to them, I guess you can say. But I love it so much. I just, that was weird. My window
just slammed shut. Anyway.
Love that.
Maybe it doesn't like me talking. My dog's barking now, too. What was I saying? Oh, yeah.
(03:18):
I drove to Boston, which is like...
That's where my family's from.
Oh, really?
Mm-hmm.
It's awesome there. I had a great time. Boston was so charming and so awesome that I just
like, I fell in love with it. So I had a good time. But yeah, all that for music.
That's awesome.
My wife's texting me now. She's like, did you just bang something? I'm gonna make this
texture quick.
(03:39):
You're good.
She's probably freaking out.
All right. So this experience that you had, it happened when you were younger, right?
How old were you when this experience happened?
So I was eight years old, like eight or nine, late elementary school. And my mom was in
nursing school at the time. She decided to go back to school, you know, save some money
(04:01):
for school. We moved into an apartment. She had a really close friend that went to school
with her. And I'm changing the names of the friend and my friend just because Mary is
my mom's friend. And she had a daughter named Betsy, who is maybe two years older than me.
(04:26):
And so whenever my mom and Mary would get together to do homework or study or just like
have a girl's night at our house, Mary would bring Betsy so that I wouldn't just be puttling
my thumbs or bothering them that they could, we could play together while our moms hung
out.
This was a regular occurrence then, I'm assuming, right? So this was not the first time that
(04:49):
this happened. How often do you think Mary and Betsy or Betsy would come over to like
keep you company while your mom was in school?
Oh, like, at least like twice a week.
So pretty frequently, and probably for quite some time, I'd imagine it wasn't just for
like a month or two, it was probably over an extended time.
(05:09):
I know my mom was in an accelerated program. So I think it was probably about a year. But
if I remember correctly, when this happened, my mom was in school over the summer, like
I was out of school on summer break and she was still in school and working. So I remember
it being summer because I remember it being hot out. I'm sure that since it was summer
(05:32):
break, when this happened, they were over quite a lot more. And I know my mom would
hold study groups with other people too, at our apartment. So I think minimum, they were
especially over the summer, we're at our house twice a week.
What year was this when you were eight?
Well, if it's I'm 23, I'm really bad at math. That's why I did not go into math. But I'm
(05:53):
I'm 23 now and it's 2025.
So 2010, because that would be like 15 years ago, probably.
Yeah. Oh my gosh, 15 years ago was crazy. But yes,
it's crazy that you were eight 15 years ago. And in 2010, I feel like I'm 77 years old right now,
but it's okay. I was born in 86. So that's,
(06:14):
that's okay. My parents were born like 1960.
Okay, yeah. So that's, yeah, it's all relative.
Back in 2010, there were video games and cell phones and things like that. So
what would you guys do on like a regular night?
I remember convincing my mom to get me an iPod touch at some point. And this was when Vine was
(06:39):
a thing. I'm sure this was actually probably like 2011, because I was a huge One Direction fan,
still am. And I figured out how to make like edits. And so,
Etsy and I would sit in my room making like vines about One Direction.
We sometimes would go to like the community center in our apartment complex and play basketball.
(07:02):
Our parents were in like the conference room, or you know, we would just like sit and be
nine year old girls in the bedroom and watch movies or play with our toys.
So just a normal two girls hanging out, just nothing. You guys were in playing with like
Ouija boards or anything like crazy. It was just pretty just normal, normal stuff.
(07:25):
Right. Especially when I was younger, I was very sheltered. So I feel like even if I
breathed the beginning of the word Ouija around my mom, it would not, it would not end well.
But I think, I don't even know if I knew what that was, but I, at this point,
don't think I had even heard much about like paranormal stuff.
(07:45):
Were you raised in like any sort of religious faith or anything like that?
Yeah. I grew up Christian and I still am, but it was, I hope this is taken the right way. But
I mean, we went to church every Sunday, but we were still pretty lax.
Like I celebrated Halloween, things like that. So it's not like that was the issue. It was more like
(08:06):
you're nine years old, you're going to have nightmares. You shouldn't be knowing about this.
So I guess I knew about beyond earth things in terms of religion, but nothing more than that.
I have a daughter that's eight now. So I can very much relate to that where we're not really
religious. We don't take her to church or anything like that. I grew up religious and going to church.
(08:29):
Again, same thing. I'm not very religiously. Yeah, my daughter, like if I asked her what
ghost art she would know and what paranormal things were, she probably would know that dad's
into aliens and things like that. But yeah, I don't think she has any context. So it probably
sounds like that's kind of similar to kind of maybe where you were in that headspace when you
were that age. I will say that I really hope my dad doesn't listen to this, but I will say
(08:54):
around that age, I was like obsessed with NCIS and CSI. Really? Oh yeah. My dad would watch it
when I went to bed. I would always like try to sneak into the living room and watch with him
because I just thought it was so cool. And I love scary movies and stuff like that. So I think I just
liked the adrenaline rush, but that was about the extent of it. And he would always catch me. So I
(09:19):
never saw anything like crazy, but I was probably watching criminal minds at an age where I shouldn't
be watching criminal minds, but I don't know. That was the most intense thing I'd seen. Well dad,
if you're listening, Annie turned out pretty good so far from what I can tell. So don't stress
about it. That happened a long time ago. Thank you. It's funny. I can relate though, too, because as
(09:42):
a dad, my daughter plays like roblox and stuff. And sometimes she'll click on some like scary game
or something. And I could tell that she's like freaked out by it. I'm like, why are you doing that?
Like, chill out. Go play like a go play Minecraft or something that's like more age-appropriate,
you know. So this night, before it happened, does anything stand out to you different? Or was
(10:04):
it just one of those normal, typical nights, nothing odd? It was very normal. I know it was a
summer night. I'm sure we were hyped up on sugar. I just remember us like playing in my room.
And our moms sitting on the couch probably having like a glass of wine after a hard week or whatever.
(10:26):
And I think they were talking, just, you know, relaxing, hanging out.
Betsy and I were just hanging out playing with our toys. There was nothing out of the ordinary.
There's nothing that stands out. What was the first thing that happened that would start this
experience? Betsy and I were really bored. We had exhausted all of our toys. We, I guess,
(10:50):
had no more vines to make or whatever. It was getting dark out and we wanted to watch a movie
because I had, I think I still had like a VCR or something that like, I could play DVDs somehow.
Betsy's mom had in her trunk a big box of movies. Betsy and I were kind of just talking
about what we should do. And she was like, my mom has despicable me in her trunk. And I was like,
(11:16):
that's the funniest movie of all time. I need to see this movie.
And so we go into the living room and we beg our moms like, please, can you just unlock
the car so we can get the movie? They weren't overprotective, but they were like, yes,
but we're going to be watching you. And they were kind of hesitant at first, but
they could see us. I'll explain that more, but it could see us from the apartment through our
(11:40):
balcony very clearly. So they felt like it was safe to let us go downstairs. And it was,
I mean, we were in a safe area. So we decided to go downstairs and look for the DVD so that we
had something else to do. The layout of Annie's apartment where she lived at the time is critical
to understanding her experience. I'm going to be posting on our Instagram a layout,
(12:03):
Google Street View, or something that helped visualize what she's going to be talking about
next. So feel free to pause this episode right now and go check it out and then come back when
you're ready. Our apartment complex had a bunch of buildings, like definitely more than 10.
And our building was at the very back of the complex. The street our building was on had
two lanes on either side of a super long median that kind of stretched the whole street.
(12:29):
On one side of the median that was closer to our apartment was just like a one lane road for
driving. And then on the other side of the median was another one lane road for driving,
but it had extra space for a bunch of parking spots. We were on the third floor and we had a
balcony that faced right out to that street in that parking lot. So it was very easy. Hold on,
(12:54):
I have a random timer going off on my Fitbit that I never set. That is very weird.
Weird things are happening during this conversation. My windows slamming shut,
timers are going on. What's going on? I'm getting goosebumps. Oh my god. Creepy vibes. I like
I know in my apartment stark. Yeah. Okay. We had a balcony that since we were on the third floor,
(13:19):
we had a balcony that faced what I just described. And Mary's car was parked basically directly in
front of balcony. It was on the other side of the median, but it was a small street,
so it was very, very close. And if you left the door to the balcony open, you could stand
by Mary's car and have a conversation with someone on our balcony. You'd have to talk a
(13:44):
little bit loud, but you could. If you're standing on that street and you go in one direction, you
will go around a corner and go towards the dumpsters and it'll eventually take you to the
front of the complex. And then if you go another way, I think they've renovated since then,
but if you go the other direction, it kind of opens up to a bigger parking lot in front of
(14:07):
another building that had a lot of spaces. And then there's a road that leads all the way around
the complex and all that. The reason I explained this is because A, it kind of gives you a picture
of how things happened, I guess, in the root of what I'll talk about. And it also kind of explains
how close we were to our moms and how easy it was for them to watch us. Also, it's important to note
(14:34):
because of the layout, how many cars were there, because the whole street in front of our apartment
had a bunch of parking spots and all of them were filled. And then that parking lot that was right
near our apartment down the street was also filled. So there were minimum 40, 50 cars in that area.
(14:57):
50 cars is, that's a decent amount of vehicles, I would say, for an apartment complex. That's
definitely not empty. That's a pretty full parking lot. Okay. So you and Betsy, you want to go watch
Despicable Me? Mary has that hookup, so you're going to go downstairs. Were your moms watching
(15:22):
you from the balcony? Or were they just kind of like, no, just like, just go and just come right back?
I remember the balcony door being open. They could hear if something went wrong or you just screamed
or something like that. They could hear it. Right. Our apartment was pretty small. So like,
they were sitting in the living room and the balcony door was in the living room and it was open.
(15:46):
And we were right in front of that. So, and I'm sure they got up and looked every once
a while while we were down there. I don't know that 100% for sure. But I mean,
for knowing my mom, that is very likely. Yeah, they could easily hear us.
Did you walk down like a couple flights of stairs, I'm assuming? Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
(16:09):
Third floor. So three flights of stairs down, going to a couple minutes to do that.
And then you go to the car to get the DVD and what happens?
Her trunk was pretty packed with stuff. And that's not uncommon, mine is right now.
But it had a bunch of stuff. It had boxes, clothes, random stuff. And so we had to search
(16:30):
through a lot of stuff to find the DVD. And as we were kind of sifting through the,
ooh, I'm already getting chills. If I like, oh, it makes, it gives me the heebie-jeebies to say
out loud. But as we were kind of searching through this trunk, we noticed, and I will never,
(16:51):
ever forget it, it was an old, beat up, powder blue pickup truck.
It drives towards us from the direction of the dumpsters. And it stops like, maybe
a hundred, 200 feet, 300 feet away. Doesn't pull into a parking spot. It just kind of parks in the
(17:16):
lane and turns on its brights at us and just sits there. And I've always been a pretty anxious
person. My parents really hammered stranger danger into me. I immediately felt weird.
And I told Betsy, I was like, we should go up. And she was like, it's fine. Like it's dark out.
(17:37):
They're probably making sure they don't hit us. It's fine. Let's just find this DVD.
The truck flashed its brights at us a couple more times, drove past us pretty slowly. And instead
of staying on that road and going either towards that other parking lot or around the complex,
it did a U turn around the median and went back towards the dumpsters. That felt really weird.
(18:00):
Again, I was probably watching too much CSI at this point, but I had a bad feeling.
I couldn't see anything. I just remember the truck. And I remember feeling weird about it,
but then kind of being like, I want to watch a movie. So
so we were on the right of the truck, I guess. So when he drove past us, we were on its right.
(18:24):
And then to do a U turn, it took a left. It turned and went like directly back the way it was coming.
And things get a lot worse before we abandon ship, unfortunately.
So he drives away and drives towards the dumpsters and we're like, oh, whatever.
And a few minutes later, we're still looking for that movie. And we resorted to taking everything
(18:45):
out of the trunk and putting it on the street. And then the truck came back slowly. It wasn't
going fast. It stopped a little bit closer, flashed its brights again and just sat.
This is when I got a really awful sinking feeling in my stomach. I immediately was like,
(19:07):
something is wrong. I feel like I was on high alert already, because as I said before, I'm
kind of anxious. And I know when things aren't right, I guess the truck doing it a second time
or whoever was driving the truck doing it a second time really made me think, okay, this is not right.
(19:28):
They were flashing the lights, right? So they didn't just turn on the lights and they stayed
on. They were flashing them. I think that's significant because I feel like that is like
the universal sign of like heads up, right? Like either pay attention to me or pay attention to
your surroundings. I know why there's a bunch of deer and it's like common courtesy that if you're
driving down a road and you pass deer on the side of the roads and someone's coming the other direction
(19:51):
towards the deer, you kind of give them a little quick flash flash just to be like, hey, just
something's about to happen up here, heads up. As you're telling the story, that's kind of the
sense that I'm getting is, yes, it's creepy, but at the same time, they could just put the
brights on and just almost like blinded you in a way, but they didn't do that. They were flashing
(20:12):
them, which is, I think it's like an interesting choice. Yeah. Like why were they doing that?
I mean, they still had their headlights on, but they were flashing their brights. So like it was,
yeah, now that I think about it, like I do that when I see a cop on the road and I want,
right? Yeah, like heads up. Yeah. Just like when you honk at someone, there's like,
(20:33):
there's an aggressive way to do it, like, you know, like flashing those lights or there's also
kind of just like a passive way like, Hey, just it's heads up, like I'm not trying to be a jerk,
but like you have your lights on, you know, like that kind of thing. Yeah. So I don't know,
this might be a weird question, but when they flashed it in your memory, I know this was a
long time ago, but was it like an aggressive like, Hey, it was one of those, it wasn't like a passive
(20:56):
like, Hey, just it's a head up. It was more of like assertive, like you need to pay attention
and nothing. Okay. It was a lot of flashes and quick succession. So it was like, it was, it was
weird. I don't see or feel that as a passive thing. It felt like urgent or aggressive.
(21:20):
That's important to note that I think. Yeah. So what happens next?
He like sat there, flashes, brights, and then sat there a little bit more. And I was really
freaking out. Like I said, I had this horrible feeling in my stomach. And then he drove by and
did another U turn and went back towards the dumpsters. And I told Betsy, I said,
(21:43):
if he comes back, I'm going upstairs. Like, I don't feel safe. This is weird. And she kind
of laughed at me. She was like, Annie, like, we're fine. And again, we're young.
She was two years older, you said. So she was probably close like 11, 10, 11, something like
that. Like 1112. Okay. Okay. Okay. She was probably thinking like, Oh, this
(22:05):
kid who's younger than me is such a scaredy cat. But like, she kind of laughed me. But she was
like, Okay, if he comes back, we'll go upstairs. And we kept looking. And sure enough,
the truck returned. This time parked even closer to us, like very close to us. This time, instead
of just flashing his lights, he started revving his engine. Then would like inch towards us.
(22:33):
And then stop and flashes lights and then rev his engine.
And inch towards us and stop and flashes lights over and over and over again.
And I immediately was like, this is bad. I want to go. I'm scared. And Betsy finally realized
like, Oh, this is not normal. This is not good. So we're like, well, we can't leave all this
(22:58):
stuff on the street. Our moms are going to kill us. So I'm crying. All right, like freaking out.
Betsy is freaking out, but she's like, we can't get in trouble. So we start literally throwing
things in the trunk. And as this truck is getting closer and closer to us,
(23:19):
all of a sudden, every single car in the parking lot, Mary's car, all of the cars around us,
all of the cars in the lot, every single car had their hazards go on and their car alarms
started going on in sync. Every single car except the truck, hazards, car alarms,
(23:43):
it was the loudest thing I've ever heard in my entire life. Like it was earth shatteringly loud.
And it was so bright. I remember feeling blinded. We realized what was happening and Betsy and I
kind of looked at each other and was like, we're like, Oh my God, what is happening? And we ran.
Immediately. We didn't care about anything. We didn't care about the mess. We just wanted to
(24:07):
get back to our moms. And right as we started sprinting that truck tore out of the apartment
complex like a bat out of hell and didn't go back the way it came, went the way to leave the apartment
complex. Before the car alarms went off, how close was that car to you? And it was like revving
(24:28):
its engine. Oh God. 25 to like 30 feet, probably. We tore up those stairs. I don't think I've ever
run that fast in my life. We flew up three flights of stairs. And I remember very specifically hearing
the alarms as we were running up the stairs. Because I felt like I was being chased. I guess
(24:51):
it was just the adrenaline. But the sound of the alarms made me feel so terrified, I guess.
And when we got back up, we pounded on the apartment door. And my mom and Mary opened the
door and they were dumbfounded. They're like, What is wrong with you? I'm sure we looked insane.
We were both crying now to breath. And I tried to show them I went out onto the balcony and tried to
(25:15):
explain what had happened. But there were no car alarms. No hazard lights. No truck. I swear it was
less than a minute that we got back up to our apartment. In less than a minute, there were no
lights, nothing. All that there was was the stuff on the ground. And they didn't hear anything or see
(25:38):
anything at all. As you're talking, I'm just like, my rational brain is going crazy right now being
like, Okay, let's go right off the deep end. And let's say there's probably a device, I'm not aware
of it, but there probably is the vice of some sort that you could put in the center of that parking lot
(25:58):
and turn it on and it probably emits some sort of like low frequency, like a base or something
like that that is inaudible to your ears that could set off the alarm or set off all the alarms
because of like, it creates like a vibration, right? Or even you can say the truck revving its
engine, it's an older truck, maybe somehow it set off one alarm and then set off another and then
(26:21):
it was just like a cascading effect. Let's just even say that that is happening. That doesn't
change the fact that at least when my car alarm goes off, I have to go and hit my button to stop it.
If there's 50 cars in that parking lot, I don't think 50 residents of that apartment building
are going to go get their wireless key thing and hit the alarm button in the minute it took you to
(26:43):
get up the stairs. Not to mention both your arms didn't hear the car alarms. They would definitely
have heard that I'd imagine from your what you're describing. Would you agree? Oh yeah, 100%.
I remember my ears ringing. Like they would have heard your ears ringing. Yeah. Yeah, that's insane.
So what the heck was it? Like, that's crazy. That's really insane. A couple days later,
(27:11):
I went to go see my dad. He picked me up and I got in the car and my dad, I mean,
he's a skeptic for sure, but he also like a couple years ago went on ghost tours in New Orleans.
He finds it interesting, but he's also a very rational, logical person. Like he's a lawyer,
(27:32):
so like he's very cut and dry. By the book. Yes. I remember getting in the car and I was like,
I have to tell you something. I was a very imaginative child, but this is not something you
just dream up. Remember sitting in the car and telling my dad, I was like, do you know
(27:53):
what it could be? Because, you know, every little girl like thinks their dad knows the
answer to everything. So I was like, what happened? Tell me what happened? And he was like, I don't
know. And I was like, you don't believe me. Like I'm sure you don't believe me. Like mom didn't
believe me and she was there. And he was like, no, I believe you. Like you seem terrified telling me
(28:17):
the story. And this was days ago, apparently. He thinks that it could have been some kind of
electrical short. I remember asking him, well, if you think it's an electrical thing, what happened?
Like how, how? And he was like, I don't know. Like that's just the best guess that I have,
but I don't know. I have no idea. What did your mom's say? I mean, I'm sure they believed that
(28:44):
we got scared or spooked by something because, you know, they consoled us. Like they were like,
you're okay, you're safe. But they were also kind of looking at each other like,
like, what was that? Why are they acting this way? You know, I mean, you have a daughter.
When your daughter says something funny or like, so outlandish, but they take it very seriously,
(29:04):
it's funny. Like it's hard to not snicker. Yeah, yeah. They were kind of trying to hide their
laughs, but they were also, you know, taking seriously that we were scared.
And at that point, they also knew that you were safe because you were back in the apartment. So
like they knew that you were okay. Right. I could see, as a parent, I could see thinking like,
they're probably just overreacting at this point. It's probably fine. I didn't hear anything. From
(29:28):
their perspective, they were like, I would have heard these car alarms going off for sure. They
probably just thought it was two little girls just, you know, being little girls and just
overactive imagination and everything's fine. Do you know if your mom still feels that way?
Does she still not believe you? Does she even remember this incident? Do you think?
I have not brought it up to her since then. Really? So I rarely talk about this in general. So I
(29:52):
haven't even brought it up to her since then. But a couple of times a year, I will text Betsy,
even though we lost touch after our parents finished school. I think she lives in a different
state now. But I'll text Betsy a couple of times a year and be like, do you remember this? Or am I
making this up? And every single time she's like, I remember. I know exactly what you're talking
(30:14):
about. And we both have nightmares about it. To this day? To this day, I have like a dream
or a nightmare specifically about the truck once every month or two. That's really frequent. That's
Oh, man. Yeah. This is one of the wildest stories I think I've heard. Like it's it's simple in the
(30:37):
way that there's not a lot of elements to it. But the elements that are there, they contradict
each other. For example, if it was just you that was going down there to get the DVD or just Betsy,
nothing really there. A lot of people probably wouldn't believe anything because it's just
one person, but you both witnessed it, which is amazing. And it's in its own right. They
(31:01):
like it's like the cars and they didn't hear it. And what was that car doing there? Was that person
that was there? Did he do something that he knew those alarms were going to go off and he was trying
to like warn you like to get out of there because the cops are going to come or something. But
even if that was the case, by the time you went upstairs, they weren't even going off anymore.
(31:24):
Right. If that was the case, you think those alarms would be going off. They were trying
to warn the kids to get out of here. Something's going to happen. Was it like a burglary or
something? Was there anything like that that you know of that were? No, I'm from Indiana. That's
where I grew up. And that's where this happened was in Indiana. I can't say that in Indiana.
(31:45):
So yes, this was in Indiana and the town I grew up in is pretty big. It's more of a city
and it's classic suburbia, you know, very, very safe. If a burglary happens or anything along
those lines, it's all over Facebook and all the groups like everybody knows about it within the
next 30 minutes. And I know my mom would always tell me if she heard something because she would
(32:10):
be like, be careful. She wasn't trying to scare me, but you know, she was looking out for me.
And I'm sure if my mom had heard of anything, she wouldn't have let us go. Yeah. So no, I don't
think there was anything like that. It's so interesting because on one side of the conversation,
it's like, what caused all of those car alarms to go off? And why was that car there before?
(32:31):
That's like one aspect of it. There are rational explanations that would explain that potentially.
But then the flip side of it is once you get up the stairs and you go into the apartment,
your moms, they didn't hear anything. So it's like, is that even possible? I would say that it's
probably not unless they were like blackout drunk, which doesn't sound like they were because they
(32:52):
consoled you when you came in. So that like, do you have a guess, I guess is what I'm trying to say
as to any sort of rational explanation, even if it wasn't, if it's something that we don't quite
know or fully understand yet, if that makes sense. The reason I posted the story was kind of to
figure it out, I guess, because I've always had that question overhead, like, what was this?
(33:16):
And I've always just kind of felt like it was some form of divine intervention.
A lot of people when I posted it had theories that maybe the truck was protecting us from something,
which I think is really interesting because I've always seen it as this truck or whoever was in
the truck was going to do something really, really, really awful and something intervened.
(33:42):
Goosebumps again, oh boy.
How old was the truck? You said it was an old pickup truck, but are we talking like
from the 80s? Are we talking about from like the 20s?
Oh, like 80s.
Okay. So it wasn't like really, really old, like a classic pickup truck. It was,
but it was still old enough.
(34:02):
It was a beater for sure.
Like there are theories that kind of align with that in the physics world. And again,
I should preface this. I like reading this kind of stuff. I lay awake in my bed at night
watching crazy physics videos because for some weird reason it's like calming to me.
So I know a decent amount about this stuff, but I'm not an expert.
(34:23):
But like the many worlds theory, are you familiar with that at all? Have you heard that at all?
No, I haven't.
This sounds crazy and it's a little bit woo-woo, but hear me out.
Every decision that you make spawns off another universe or another version of you.
And that's not just you. It's me and the guy in the truck and your parents and everyone in the
world. Like every decision you make is kind of, you know, another version of you. And there's
(34:46):
infinite versions of you out there. And every time you make a decision, it alters the course
of your reality. But there's an Annie out there that decided to have an omelet this morning
instead of a bagel or whatever it is. And even the minor decisions like it can lead to different
outcomes. So it could be that that truck was going to do something really bad.
(35:07):
And something happened, divine intervention, like you said, it could have also been that
maybe that truck was trying to warn you of something really bad that was going to happen.
And somehow between you maybe making the decision to go back upstairs, that decision to do that
glitch in the matrix style moved you into another timeline. That's the reason why your moms didn't
(35:29):
hear anything because they were perceiving things in a different timeline than what you were perceiving
it. Yeah, like two universes that were kind of like colliding, if that makes sense. Yeah,
it does. All speculative, obviously, I mean, we have no proof of any of this. But
you know, if you think of like shortingers cat, for those that you that don't know,
if there's a cat in a box, this is a horrible analogy. I hate this because I'm an animal lover,
(35:51):
but cats in a box with a poisonous gas and seal it all up. The idea is that the cat is
both neither alive or dead. It's in a state of superposition at that time, because you don't
know if the cat is alive or dead until you open the box and observe it. Right. And yeah,
science is starting to learn this kind of stuff. But I mean, what are your thoughts on all of this?
Do you think that's a possibility? Or do you think that all that is crazy talk?
(36:17):
No, I definitely think it's a possibility. I mean, I am very open minded in general. And I honestly
don't have any clue what an explanation of this is. Or I have no explanation of what happened. And
so when I take in these new theories, like the multiverse theory, like that is very interesting.
(36:39):
And I've heard of it before, but I never applied it to this context. So thinking about it in that way,
it turns some lights on in my brain. Yeah, it does. I could see you like thinking like,
I never thought of it that way before. And it's interesting too. And that's kind of the hope
(37:00):
of this podcast, honestly, is that I generally want to try to help you try to find, we need to
be able to find out like definitive proof of what it was, maybe, but I love to get talked to like
scientists and people that can actually have like a weighted opinion on what this potentially could be.
It's so funny listening back to this episode as I'm editing it, because at the time of this
(37:23):
recording, I had no idea I was going to create Scully. But this sounds like a perfect opportunity
to get some insight into what this could have been. So Scully, now that you've read the case
file, what do you think could have triggered the car alarms that night? Localized electromagnetic
interference is the most plausible trigger. An EMP, whether natural like lightning or artificial,
can set off multiple car alarms at once and disrupt electronics. The synchronized start
(37:48):
and sudden stop support that the truck's lack of reaction suggests different shielding or
electronic design. But here's the problem. An EMP that precise should have affected more than just
the lot. No power loss, no phone disruption, no residual effects. That's unusual. So either it
was a targeted EM burst or something that mimicked one perfectly. Okay, that makes sense. But how is
(38:12):
it possible that the moms didn't hear any of it? Two options. Either the sound never reached the
apartment or their perception was blocked. Sound suppression is rare but possible. Dense structures,
sealed windows or specific acoustic shadow zones, but total silence during a full alarm cascade.
That's extreme, more likely a perceptual gap. Infrasound or microwave exposure
(38:36):
can disrupt auditory processing. Certain frequencies mess with the brain's ability
to register external stimuli. It's not science fiction. It's been used in crowd control. So
either the sound was blocked or their brains were. That's pretty insane. All right, let's get back to
Annie. I used to be one of those materialists that think I know everything there is to know
(39:00):
about our earth and our scientists that are even smarter than me know everything that there is.
Anyone that believes anything else is just silly. Yep. You know, I was on the podcast
Instagram today and I was just like kind of perusing to look for things to share to our community.
And I came across this article that said that the James Webb telescope may have just found,
(39:20):
may should be underlined in bold there, may have just discovered that our universe,
our entire universe might be inside of a black hole. Whoa. I mean, gosh, if you said that to
someone a month ago, they'd be like, yeah, right. There's still so much to learn about our world.
And I think people that think that they know everything, they're just, they're becoming
sillier and sillier to me. We're learning things new every day in science. So I agree. But I wanted
(39:44):
to bring up at least one more thing with you before we started recording. And we were talking about
what you do as a speech pathologist or like studying to be that we tend to talk about this
every single episode. And I'm trying to get away from it. I'm trying to break the cycle,
but it is just so fascinating. And I hear on other podcasts too, in the same genre,
everyone is talking about this. So I was kind of surprised that you haven't heard about this.
(40:07):
But you had said that one of the things that you do is in children that have autism, that can't
speak, you work with them with these devices that they can use to communicate. It's like an
iPad type situation. Yeah. So they're called augmentative alternative communication devices,
but we can just call them AAC. That's what we always call them. It's basically for anybody who
(40:32):
can't speak. So or can't express themselves verbally in any way. Like it can be for people on
any point on the spectrum of autism. It can be for people who have neurodegenerative diseases
that like ALS. But yeah, you have the right idea. There's this podcast that came out maybe a few
months ago and has been causing shockwaves. The host's name is Kai Dickens. What she's basically
(41:00):
doing, she's working with a, gosh, is she a neurologist? I believe she's a neurologist.
I have her book over here. Hold on one second. It's Dr. Diane Powell. This is her book right here,
the ESP Enigma. And what they are discovering, I think might blow your mind. And I definitely
(41:22):
want you to listen to this podcast and report back to me. You have homework.
What they're finding is they're studying highly autistic children. And through this device,
I'm not sure if it's the exact device. She says the AAC, right? Am I saying that right?
That's a blanket statement for devices that help people communicate, but yeah.
(41:46):
Okay. Because I know very little about this. So again, I hope I'm not butchering this too much.
But apparently, I believe they were saying that this technology is like a newer technology
that has come out in the last like couple of years that is giving these autistic children
a way to communicate. Whereas in the past, they were, it was a struggle. Like the bandwidth has
(42:08):
expanded because of these devices, I guess, like they could communicate, but it wasn't as
clear and it wasn't as accurate, I guess, maybe as, as what it is now. Right. They're realizing
that these children can actually read the minds of their parents. And this is like a scientifically
(42:31):
proven thing. Like they're using the scientific method to prove it. This is not like woo-woo stuff.
And there's video accompanying it. So there's a YouTube channel. I'm not sure if you know who
Jesse Michaels is. He has a similar podcast to this genre. It's called American Alchemy or American
Alchemist, I think. I can send you the link. And he interviews Diane Powell and Kai Dickens.
(42:54):
But yeah, they have video of like, for example, there was this autistic child that was in the
background with one of these devices. And the mother was like facing the camera,
like this and the child in the background. And they would take a card, like from a deck of cards,
essentially, that had like, you know, hippopotamuses on it and turtles and like whatever. And they would,
she would just briefly look at it and then put it away. And then immediately, the child in the
(43:19):
background would start typing in turtle or hippo or house or whatever it is. And then they would
you do another one. And they would just be immediately you hear the letters being typed
in the background. And this is this is duplicated over and over. It's repeatable. And there's stories
of these parents where the autistic child will be like upstairs in their room. And the mother will
(43:46):
be watching a TV show or something like that. And the child will come down and say something like,
I can't believe that, you know, will that happened in the show? And the child doesn't have a TV up
upstairs in the room. Like there's no way that they would have been able to watch the same thing
as the mother or maybe a better example is the mother will go to the store or the father will
(44:07):
go to the store and get like some treats, like some candy and things like that. And they'll hide it
in the house somewhere. And the autistic child will just know where it is. And they'll just go and
grab it. Things like that. And their mission is to prove this scientifically. And I think they're
working on a documentary, but the podcast has so much data in it. That just me as I'm listening
(44:31):
to it, it's just like blowing my mind because of how accurate it is. So anyway, the reason I want
to bring this up to you is because you're kind of in this field a little bit and you work with
these devices. And I'm just curious if you knew about this, or if this is ringing any bells to
you, or if this is something that you have never heard of before, and you're just think it's a
load of crap. All above is fine. You're in the same space.
(44:55):
This is genuinely world breaking. This is crazy. No, I had never heard of anything like this
at all. I feel like I might have heard the name the telepathy tapes before, but I didn't know what
it was. I feel like I might have seen it on TikTok or something, like someone talking about it,
but I don't remember anything. I work with children with autism and adults with autism every day.
(45:21):
I have family members that have autism. This is so crazy. I have never heard anything like this.
Have you ever felt that maybe the people that you work with or because I think they say that
this connection is stronger with the parent because maybe they're around them the most,
(45:44):
but it has happened with caregivers and other people as well. So much so that I think
I remember one of the parents of an autistic child in the episode had trouble dealing with this
information because it was shocking to them, and they actually were telling their friends and family,
and their friends and family were like, yeah, right. And they would bring the family members
(46:07):
over and say, just think of something. And the person would think of a random thing in their
mind, and the autistic child would just take it out, like whatever it was. Holy crap. I can't
believe that this is clearly real because I was thinking of a purple alligator, and that's exactly
what they just typed. How could they know that? Have you ever experienced anything that like that?
(46:31):
And it's okay to say no because maybe that just never happened, but I'm just curious.
I've never experienced anything like that, but when he first started telling me about it,
I was like, okay, this sounds cool, but I don't know if I buy it. And then we just talked about
I'm a very data-driven person. With the amount of evidence that you're describing to me,
(46:57):
you can't dispute that. Exactly. That's insane. I'm not joking once we're done
recording. I'm going to suck because I'm going to be up so late tonight.
I would recommend watching the Jesse Michaels interview. He does a great job interviewing
(47:17):
them. And it's maybe like two hours, two and a half hours, I think is the video. So it's not
that long. And you'll get a general idea. And there's video that you can watch. But I recommend
maybe in your travels, in your car, if you listen to podcasts in your car, I would listen to the
whole club of the tapes because there's a lot more content there. You'd be up all night listening
to that because there's like 10 episodes, I think, something like that.
(47:38):
Oh, I'm so excited.
The idea too is that it's not just autistic children. It's that we all have this psychic
ability. But because we can talk and because we've developed language, which is right up your alley,
that we've stifled our psychic abilities. We used to be able to do this a lot more. Do you ever
(48:01):
think of someone and they call you? Things like that. So it's kind of like that is we're tapping
into the very top layer of it. But since autistic children, oh, there's also one more thing too
that I forgot to tell you that also will blow your mind. And it's about these autistic children.
Oh, Lord.
So we have to strap in. Then I promise we'll try to wrap this up. The children communicate
(48:27):
exclusively through telepathy. For example, there's a couple. I think they were like high
school age and they were boyfriend and girlfriend that were both highly autistic.
And they could communicate when one person was at their house and they were at their house,
they would talk and they said that they would meet on this place called the hill.
(48:48):
And they both called it the hill. And when Diane Powell and Kai Dickens were looking into this,
they said, well, what is this hill place? And it said it's like,
it's equivalent to like a recess yard where all the autistic children go to to communicate.
And that's what they learn. So if you ever have seen like savants, for example, and that they have
(49:10):
they have learned, you know, a language or they can draw an entire city skate from memory or
whatever it may be. Apparently, place called the hill is this community that these autistic
children can go through telepathy in their mind. And they all meet there. And it's a commutative
(49:31):
place. And I won't spoil it for you, but something traumatic does happen during the course of the
podcast that it brought me to tears. Like straight up, I was crying in my car, like a little baby.
I was just it was it was a very sad moment. And I won't spoil it. What happened on the hill
during that time or what what the children describe, and it will move you. I'll just put it
(49:53):
that way. Like if you if you there's evidence like video and things like that, like there's data,
because I'm very data driven as well. But there's also this emotional component that
is very deep within me at least that, and I think it happens to a lot of people,
there's a sense that this is true, that we do have this ability that has just been
(50:13):
it atrophied, essentially. And quantum mechanics, last thing I'll say about it, and then I'll shut
up is you're fine. I'm eating this up. There is an element of quantum mechanics that does
lend to this, which is the concept of entanglement, where two particles can be connected to one
another, and they could be light years apart. And if one changes, the other will change
(50:37):
instantaneously. So in a way that kind of in my mind says, well, if that's possible, that sounds
like science fiction, who's to say that your dog can't immediately know when you get in your car
and start your car, because it's he's connected to you or she's connected to you. You know, just
it kind of it kind of makes sense or something deep within me that just kind of says, I know this
(50:57):
sounds crazy, but there's something, there's something to it. Yeah, exactly. So I'm so excited
to look into this. Yeah, there's a department called D.O.P.S. It's the Department of Perceptual
Studies that's in Virginia. And they're also starting to study this as well. I think they've
been studying it for quite some time, actually, but they're not studying telepathy. There's still
(51:21):
a lot. They are saying telepathy, I apologize. But I think their main focus is like near death
experiences and out of body experiences, past lives, like when people are reborn, like things
like that. It's pretty cool stuff. I'm excited. My mind feels blown. I don't even know how I'll
(51:46):
say it. Like, I have so many things to read. Yeah, it's pretty cool. I'll send you those links.
I love that. All right, Annie. Well, I think that is pretty much it. I don't really think I have
anything else for you. This was a really fun conversation. It was. Anything else that you
can think of that you want to say? It's vulnerable to talk about this for the first time publicly,
(52:10):
I guess, because, you know, when I posted it on Reddit, I wasn't me. I mean, I was, but
I was my username that has nothing to do with me, you know, it is pretty vulnerable to be talking
about it, but it feels good. It feels like a weight off my chest. And I'm really excited to hear what
people have to say about it. And it was really great to hear what you had to say about it.
(52:33):
Has this experience changed your opinion of the unexplainable and like the para side of our world?
For sure. Like I said, I'm very open minded, but I'm also the type of person who appreciates
concrete evidence a lot. You know, a lot of what I do in school is data based. Like I know
(52:55):
if my client is improving based on their data. So that proof really solidifies things for me.
As I've gotten older, and I guess kind of come to terms with the fact that I'll probably never know
for sure what happened. I have started to believe a lot more in things that I can't prove.
(53:17):
Or I've become less skeptical of other people's experiences. It's not that I ever think that
people are making things up every time somebody has an experience, not at all. It's a lot easier
for me to empathize with people and to fully take them at their word with this kind of thing,
(53:37):
because I've experienced it firsthand. And I know what that feels like. So yeah,
it definitely has made me believe in the unbelievable.
(54:07):
I don't know about you, but this one got under my skin a little bit.
There's just something about how fast a normal night can shift. One second,
you're hunting for a DVD, and the next you're face to face with something that just doesn't make
sense. I can't stop thinking about that truck, the lights, the alarms, the timing of it all.
(54:30):
It's just a kind of story that feels small until you're the one living it.
And honestly, this episode reminded me why I started this whole thing in the first place.
Not just to share creepy stories, but to really look at them, to pull them apart,
and to stay skeptical. And yeah, try to get a little bit closer to the truth. Having Scully
(54:50):
with us for the first time felt like a step in that direction. She's got a long way to go,
and so do I. But I like the idea of having someone or something to challenge me, to keep me honest.
So, thanks for being here, for being curious, for not needing all the answers,
but to keep listening. And if you're liking the show, make sure to follow us on Instagram,
(55:15):
at Close Encounter Club. I post behind the scenes stuff, story updates,
and the occasional meme when things get too intense. And hey, if you've enjoyed this episode,
it'd be awesome if you could take two seconds to tap that five star rating and hit the follow button
wherever you're listening. It seriously helps more than you know.
This podcast was created and hosted by me, Justin Gearhart, produced by Josh Beretto,
(55:39):
mixed and mastered by Brett Jarvis, and you've been listening to the Close Encounter Club.
Good job, Scully.
Welcome to The Close Encounter Club. I'm your host, Justin Gearhart. Some nights unfold
(00:12):
like scenes from a horror movie. Unplanned, unnerving, and unforgettable. In tonight's
episode, we speak with Annie, and we go back to one of those nights. It starts with two
kids just trying to look for a DVD, then ends with something far more disturbing. A powder
blue pickup truck. Headlights flashing in the dark. A growing sense that something is terribly
(00:36):
wrong. And what happens next is insane. But real talk, lately I've been feeling like
I've been drifting from the original mission of this show. To stay skeptical and help prove
the unexplained. And I believe that AI is going to help us do that. So, I built one.
Her name is Scully. She's trained on previous Close Encounter Club episodes, and she's designed
(01:01):
to stay skeptical, grounded, and scientific. This is Scully's first episode, and I'll
be calling on her to help us make sense of this story. I'm super excited for this new
chapter, and you can check out our Instagram for more info about Scully. So buckle up,
because this is a story that doesn't just raise questions, it flashes them right at
(01:22):
you. This is episode 13. The title is That One Night, and you're listening to the Close
Encounter Club.
(01:43):
My name is Annie, and I'm 23 years old. I'm currently in school to get my master's degree
in speech language pathology. I work at a daycare outside of that with a bunch of screaming
one-year-olds that I love very much. And I love to paint. I love anything crafty, scrapbooking,
painting, anything like that. And I love being outside and being in the outdoors. So, I'm
(02:09):
kind of a jack of all trades. I'm also maybe a little bit too obsessed with musical theater.
Oh, really?
Yes.
Do you have a favorite musical?
Oh, my God. Anything that's written by Stephen Sondheim is like the Holy Grail to me. Maybe
you've known like Sweeney Todd.
Okay, yeah, I'm familiar with that.
(02:31):
Yeah, my favorite musical ever, though, is probably Either Into the Woods or Sunday
in the Park with George, which are both Sondheim musicals. They're amazing.
I'm not familiar with either one of those, so I'll have to check that out. Yeah.
Both of them have professionally shot original cast versions on YouTube for free.
Really? Okay, I will be checking that out for sure. I've never really, to be honest,
(02:57):
gotten into that. There's a couple of bands that I like that are very theatrical vibes
to them, I guess you can say. But I love it so much. I just, that was weird. My window
just slammed shut. Anyway.
Love that.
Maybe it doesn't like me talking. My dog's barking now, too. What was I saying? Oh, yeah.
(03:18):
I drove to Boston, which is like...
That's where my family's from.
Oh, really?
Mm-hmm.
It's awesome there. I had a great time. Boston was so charming and so awesome that I just
like, I fell in love with it. So I had a good time. But yeah, all that for music.
That's awesome.
My wife's texting me now. She's like, did you just bang something? I'm gonna make this
texture quick.
(03:39):
You're good.
She's probably freaking out.
All right. So this experience that you had, it happened when you were younger, right?
How old were you when this experience happened?
So I was eight years old, like eight or nine, late elementary school. And my mom was in
nursing school at the time. She decided to go back to school, you know, save some money
(04:01):
for school. We moved into an apartment. She had a really close friend that went to school
with her. And I'm changing the names of the friend and my friend just because Mary is
my mom's friend. And she had a daughter named Betsy, who is maybe two years older than me.
(04:26):
And so whenever my mom and Mary would get together to do homework or study or just like
have a girl's night at our house, Mary would bring Betsy so that I wouldn't just be puttling
my thumbs or bothering them that they could, we could play together while our moms hung
out.
This was a regular occurrence then, I'm assuming, right? So this was not the first time that
(04:49):
this happened. How often do you think Mary and Betsy or Betsy would come over to like
keep you company while your mom was in school?
Oh, like, at least like twice a week.
So pretty frequently, and probably for quite some time, I'd imagine it wasn't just for
like a month or two, it was probably over an extended time.
(05:09):
I know my mom was in an accelerated program. So I think it was probably about a year. But
if I remember correctly, when this happened, my mom was in school over the summer, like
I was out of school on summer break and she was still in school and working. So I remember
it being summer because I remember it being hot out. I'm sure that since it was summer
(05:32):
break, when this happened, they were over quite a lot more. And I know my mom would
hold study groups with other people too, at our apartment. So I think minimum, they were
especially over the summer, we're at our house twice a week.
What year was this when you were eight?
Well, if it's I'm 23, I'm really bad at math. That's why I did not go into math. But I'm
(05:53):
I'm 23 now and it's 2025.
So 2010, because that would be like 15 years ago, probably.
Yeah. Oh my gosh, 15 years ago was crazy. But yes,
it's crazy that you were eight 15 years ago. And in 2010, I feel like I'm 77 years old right now,
but it's okay. I was born in 86. So that's,
(06:14):
that's okay. My parents were born like 1960.
Okay, yeah. So that's, yeah, it's all relative.
Back in 2010, there were video games and cell phones and things like that. So
what would you guys do on like a regular night?
I remember convincing my mom to get me an iPod touch at some point. And this was when Vine was
(06:39):
a thing. I'm sure this was actually probably like 2011, because I was a huge One Direction fan,
still am. And I figured out how to make like edits. And so,
Etsy and I would sit in my room making like vines about One Direction.
We sometimes would go to like the community center in our apartment complex and play basketball.
(07:02):
Our parents were in like the conference room, or you know, we would just like sit and be
nine year old girls in the bedroom and watch movies or play with our toys.
So just a normal two girls hanging out, just nothing. You guys were in playing with like
Ouija boards or anything like crazy. It was just pretty just normal, normal stuff.
(07:25):
Right. Especially when I was younger, I was very sheltered. So I feel like even if I
breathed the beginning of the word Ouija around my mom, it would not, it would not end well.
But I think, I don't even know if I knew what that was, but I, at this point,
don't think I had even heard much about like paranormal stuff.
(07:45):
Were you raised in like any sort of religious faith or anything like that?
Yeah. I grew up Christian and I still am, but it was, I hope this is taken the right way. But
I mean, we went to church every Sunday, but we were still pretty lax.
Like I celebrated Halloween, things like that. So it's not like that was the issue. It was more like
(08:06):
you're nine years old, you're going to have nightmares. You shouldn't be knowing about this.
So I guess I knew about beyond earth things in terms of religion, but nothing more than that.
I have a daughter that's eight now. So I can very much relate to that where we're not really
religious. We don't take her to church or anything like that. I grew up religious and going to church.
(08:29):
Again, same thing. I'm not very religiously. Yeah, my daughter, like if I asked her what
ghost art she would know and what paranormal things were, she probably would know that dad's
into aliens and things like that. But yeah, I don't think she has any context. So it probably
sounds like that's kind of similar to kind of maybe where you were in that headspace when you
were that age. I will say that I really hope my dad doesn't listen to this, but I will say
(08:54):
around that age, I was like obsessed with NCIS and CSI. Really? Oh yeah. My dad would watch it
when I went to bed. I would always like try to sneak into the living room and watch with him
because I just thought it was so cool. And I love scary movies and stuff like that. So I think I just
liked the adrenaline rush, but that was about the extent of it. And he would always catch me. So I
(09:19):
never saw anything like crazy, but I was probably watching criminal minds at an age where I shouldn't
be watching criminal minds, but I don't know. That was the most intense thing I'd seen. Well dad,
if you're listening, Annie turned out pretty good so far from what I can tell. So don't stress
about it. That happened a long time ago. Thank you. It's funny. I can relate though, too, because as
(09:42):
a dad, my daughter plays like roblox and stuff. And sometimes she'll click on some like scary game
or something. And I could tell that she's like freaked out by it. I'm like, why are you doing that?
Like, chill out. Go play like a go play Minecraft or something that's like more age-appropriate,
you know. So this night, before it happened, does anything stand out to you different? Or was
(10:04):
it just one of those normal, typical nights, nothing odd? It was very normal. I know it was a
summer night. I'm sure we were hyped up on sugar. I just remember us like playing in my room.
And our moms sitting on the couch probably having like a glass of wine after a hard week or whatever.
(10:26):
And I think they were talking, just, you know, relaxing, hanging out.
Betsy and I were just hanging out playing with our toys. There was nothing out of the ordinary.
There's nothing that stands out. What was the first thing that happened that would start this
experience? Betsy and I were really bored. We had exhausted all of our toys. We, I guess,
(10:50):
had no more vines to make or whatever. It was getting dark out and we wanted to watch a movie
because I had, I think I still had like a VCR or something that like, I could play DVDs somehow.
Betsy's mom had in her trunk a big box of movies. Betsy and I were kind of just talking
about what we should do. And she was like, my mom has despicable me in her trunk. And I was like,
(11:16):
that's the funniest movie of all time. I need to see this movie.
And so we go into the living room and we beg our moms like, please, can you just unlock
the car so we can get the movie? They weren't overprotective, but they were like, yes,
but we're going to be watching you. And they were kind of hesitant at first, but
they could see us. I'll explain that more, but it could see us from the apartment through our
(11:40):
balcony very clearly. So they felt like it was safe to let us go downstairs. And it was,
I mean, we were in a safe area. So we decided to go downstairs and look for the DVD so that we
had something else to do. The layout of Annie's apartment where she lived at the time is critical
to understanding her experience. I'm going to be posting on our Instagram a layout,
(12:03):
Google Street View, or something that helped visualize what she's going to be talking about
next. So feel free to pause this episode right now and go check it out and then come back when
you're ready. Our apartment complex had a bunch of buildings, like definitely more than 10.
And our building was at the very back of the complex. The street our building was on had
two lanes on either side of a super long median that kind of stretched the whole street.
(12:29):
On one side of the median that was closer to our apartment was just like a one lane road for
driving. And then on the other side of the median was another one lane road for driving,
but it had extra space for a bunch of parking spots. We were on the third floor and we had a
balcony that faced right out to that street in that parking lot. So it was very easy. Hold on,
(12:54):
I have a random timer going off on my Fitbit that I never set. That is very weird.
Weird things are happening during this conversation. My windows slamming shut,
timers are going on. What's going on? I'm getting goosebumps. Oh my god. Creepy vibes. I like
I know in my apartment stark. Yeah. Okay. We had a balcony that since we were on the third floor,
(13:19):
we had a balcony that faced what I just described. And Mary's car was parked basically directly in
front of balcony. It was on the other side of the median, but it was a small street,
so it was very, very close. And if you left the door to the balcony open, you could stand
by Mary's car and have a conversation with someone on our balcony. You'd have to talk a
(13:44):
little bit loud, but you could. If you're standing on that street and you go in one direction, you
will go around a corner and go towards the dumpsters and it'll eventually take you to the
front of the complex. And then if you go another way, I think they've renovated since then,
but if you go the other direction, it kind of opens up to a bigger parking lot in front of
(14:07):
another building that had a lot of spaces. And then there's a road that leads all the way around
the complex and all that. The reason I explained this is because A, it kind of gives you a picture
of how things happened, I guess, in the root of what I'll talk about. And it also kind of explains
how close we were to our moms and how easy it was for them to watch us. Also, it's important to note
(14:34):
because of the layout, how many cars were there, because the whole street in front of our apartment
had a bunch of parking spots and all of them were filled. And then that parking lot that was right
near our apartment down the street was also filled. So there were minimum 40, 50 cars in that area.
(14:57):
50 cars is, that's a decent amount of vehicles, I would say, for an apartment complex. That's
definitely not empty. That's a pretty full parking lot. Okay. So you and Betsy, you want to go watch
Despicable Me? Mary has that hookup, so you're going to go downstairs. Were your moms watching
(15:22):
you from the balcony? Or were they just kind of like, no, just like, just go and just come right back?
I remember the balcony door being open. They could hear if something went wrong or you just screamed
or something like that. They could hear it. Right. Our apartment was pretty small. So like,
they were sitting in the living room and the balcony door was in the living room and it was open.
(15:46):
And we were right in front of that. So, and I'm sure they got up and looked every once
a while while we were down there. I don't know that 100% for sure. But I mean,
for knowing my mom, that is very likely. Yeah, they could easily hear us.
Did you walk down like a couple flights of stairs, I'm assuming? Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
(16:09):
Third floor. So three flights of stairs down, going to a couple minutes to do that.
And then you go to the car to get the DVD and what happens?
Her trunk was pretty packed with stuff. And that's not uncommon, mine is right now.
But it had a bunch of stuff. It had boxes, clothes, random stuff. And so we had to search
(16:30):
through a lot of stuff to find the DVD. And as we were kind of sifting through the,
ooh, I'm already getting chills. If I like, oh, it makes, it gives me the heebie-jeebies to say
out loud. But as we were kind of searching through this trunk, we noticed, and I will never,
(16:51):
ever forget it, it was an old, beat up, powder blue pickup truck.
It drives towards us from the direction of the dumpsters. And it stops like, maybe
a hundred, 200 feet, 300 feet away. Doesn't pull into a parking spot. It just kind of parks in the
(17:16):
lane and turns on its brights at us and just sits there. And I've always been a pretty anxious
person. My parents really hammered stranger danger into me. I immediately felt weird.
And I told Betsy, I was like, we should go up. And she was like, it's fine. Like it's dark out.
(17:37):
They're probably making sure they don't hit us. It's fine. Let's just find this DVD.
The truck flashed its brights at us a couple more times, drove past us pretty slowly. And instead
of staying on that road and going either towards that other parking lot or around the complex,
it did a U turn around the median and went back towards the dumpsters. That felt really weird.
(18:00):
Again, I was probably watching too much CSI at this point, but I had a bad feeling.
I couldn't see anything. I just remember the truck. And I remember feeling weird about it,
but then kind of being like, I want to watch a movie. So
so we were on the right of the truck, I guess. So when he drove past us, we were on its right.
(18:24):
And then to do a U turn, it took a left. It turned and went like directly back the way it was coming.
And things get a lot worse before we abandon ship, unfortunately.
So he drives away and drives towards the dumpsters and we're like, oh, whatever.
And a few minutes later, we're still looking for that movie. And we resorted to taking everything
(18:45):
out of the trunk and putting it on the street. And then the truck came back slowly. It wasn't
going fast. It stopped a little bit closer, flashed its brights again and just sat.
This is when I got a really awful sinking feeling in my stomach. I immediately was like,
(19:07):
something is wrong. I feel like I was on high alert already, because as I said before, I'm
kind of anxious. And I know when things aren't right, I guess the truck doing it a second time
or whoever was driving the truck doing it a second time really made me think, okay, this is not right.
(19:28):
They were flashing the lights, right? So they didn't just turn on the lights and they stayed
on. They were flashing them. I think that's significant because I feel like that is like
the universal sign of like heads up, right? Like either pay attention to me or pay attention to
your surroundings. I know why there's a bunch of deer and it's like common courtesy that if you're
driving down a road and you pass deer on the side of the roads and someone's coming the other direction
(19:51):
towards the deer, you kind of give them a little quick flash flash just to be like, hey, just
something's about to happen up here, heads up. As you're telling the story, that's kind of the
sense that I'm getting is, yes, it's creepy, but at the same time, they could just put the
brights on and just almost like blinded you in a way, but they didn't do that. They were flashing
(20:12):
them, which is, I think it's like an interesting choice. Yeah. Like why were they doing that?
I mean, they still had their headlights on, but they were flashing their brights. So like it was,
yeah, now that I think about it, like I do that when I see a cop on the road and I want,
right? Yeah, like heads up. Yeah. Just like when you honk at someone, there's like,
(20:33):
there's an aggressive way to do it, like, you know, like flashing those lights or there's also
kind of just like a passive way like, Hey, just it's heads up, like I'm not trying to be a jerk,
but like you have your lights on, you know, like that kind of thing. Yeah. So I don't know,
this might be a weird question, but when they flashed it in your memory, I know this was a
long time ago, but was it like an aggressive like, Hey, it was one of those, it wasn't like a passive
(20:56):
like, Hey, just it's a head up. It was more of like assertive, like you need to pay attention
and nothing. Okay. It was a lot of flashes and quick succession. So it was like, it was, it was
weird. I don't see or feel that as a passive thing. It felt like urgent or aggressive.
(21:20):
That's important to note that I think. Yeah. So what happens next?
He like sat there, flashes, brights, and then sat there a little bit more. And I was really
freaking out. Like I said, I had this horrible feeling in my stomach. And then he drove by and
did another U turn and went back towards the dumpsters. And I told Betsy, I said,
(21:43):
if he comes back, I'm going upstairs. Like, I don't feel safe. This is weird. And she kind
of laughed at me. She was like, Annie, like, we're fine. And again, we're young.
She was two years older, you said. So she was probably close like 11, 10, 11, something like
that. Like 1112. Okay. Okay. Okay. She was probably thinking like, Oh, this
(22:05):
kid who's younger than me is such a scaredy cat. But like, she kind of laughed me. But she was
like, Okay, if he comes back, we'll go upstairs. And we kept looking. And sure enough,
the truck returned. This time parked even closer to us, like very close to us. This time, instead
of just flashing his lights, he started revving his engine. Then would like inch towards us.
(22:33):
And then stop and flashes lights and then rev his engine.
And inch towards us and stop and flashes lights over and over and over again.
And I immediately was like, this is bad. I want to go. I'm scared. And Betsy finally realized
like, Oh, this is not normal. This is not good. So we're like, well, we can't leave all this
(22:58):
stuff on the street. Our moms are going to kill us. So I'm crying. All right, like freaking out.
Betsy is freaking out, but she's like, we can't get in trouble. So we start literally throwing
things in the trunk. And as this truck is getting closer and closer to us,
(23:19):
all of a sudden, every single car in the parking lot, Mary's car, all of the cars around us,
all of the cars in the lot, every single car had their hazards go on and their car alarms
started going on in sync. Every single car except the truck, hazards, car alarms,
(23:43):
it was the loudest thing I've ever heard in my entire life. Like it was earth shatteringly loud.
And it was so bright. I remember feeling blinded. We realized what was happening and Betsy and I
kind of looked at each other and was like, we're like, Oh my God, what is happening? And we ran.
Immediately. We didn't care about anything. We didn't care about the mess. We just wanted to
(24:07):
get back to our moms. And right as we started sprinting that truck tore out of the apartment
complex like a bat out of hell and didn't go back the way it came, went the way to leave the apartment
complex. Before the car alarms went off, how close was that car to you? And it was like revving
(24:28):
its engine. Oh God. 25 to like 30 feet, probably. We tore up those stairs. I don't think I've ever
run that fast in my life. We flew up three flights of stairs. And I remember very specifically hearing
the alarms as we were running up the stairs. Because I felt like I was being chased. I guess
(24:51):
it was just the adrenaline. But the sound of the alarms made me feel so terrified, I guess.
And when we got back up, we pounded on the apartment door. And my mom and Mary opened the
door and they were dumbfounded. They're like, What is wrong with you? I'm sure we looked insane.
We were both crying now to breath. And I tried to show them I went out onto the balcony and tried to
(25:15):
explain what had happened. But there were no car alarms. No hazard lights. No truck. I swear it was
less than a minute that we got back up to our apartment. In less than a minute, there were no
lights, nothing. All that there was was the stuff on the ground. And they didn't hear anything or see
(25:38):
anything at all. As you're talking, I'm just like, my rational brain is going crazy right now being
like, Okay, let's go right off the deep end. And let's say there's probably a device, I'm not aware
of it, but there probably is the vice of some sort that you could put in the center of that parking lot
(25:58):
and turn it on and it probably emits some sort of like low frequency, like a base or something
like that that is inaudible to your ears that could set off the alarm or set off all the alarms
because of like, it creates like a vibration, right? Or even you can say the truck revving its
engine, it's an older truck, maybe somehow it set off one alarm and then set off another and then
(26:21):
it was just like a cascading effect. Let's just even say that that is happening. That doesn't
change the fact that at least when my car alarm goes off, I have to go and hit my button to stop it.
If there's 50 cars in that parking lot, I don't think 50 residents of that apartment building
are going to go get their wireless key thing and hit the alarm button in the minute it took you to
(26:43):
get up the stairs. Not to mention both your arms didn't hear the car alarms. They would definitely
have heard that I'd imagine from your what you're describing. Would you agree? Oh yeah, 100%.
I remember my ears ringing. Like they would have heard your ears ringing. Yeah. Yeah, that's insane.
So what the heck was it? Like, that's crazy. That's really insane. A couple days later,
(27:11):
I went to go see my dad. He picked me up and I got in the car and my dad, I mean,
he's a skeptic for sure, but he also like a couple years ago went on ghost tours in New Orleans.
He finds it interesting, but he's also a very rational, logical person. Like he's a lawyer,
(27:32):
so like he's very cut and dry. By the book. Yes. I remember getting in the car and I was like,
I have to tell you something. I was a very imaginative child, but this is not something you
just dream up. Remember sitting in the car and telling my dad, I was like, do you know
(27:53):
what it could be? Because, you know, every little girl like thinks their dad knows the
answer to everything. So I was like, what happened? Tell me what happened? And he was like, I don't
know. And I was like, you don't believe me. Like I'm sure you don't believe me. Like mom didn't
believe me and she was there. And he was like, no, I believe you. Like you seem terrified telling me
(28:17):
the story. And this was days ago, apparently. He thinks that it could have been some kind of
electrical short. I remember asking him, well, if you think it's an electrical thing, what happened?
Like how, how? And he was like, I don't know. Like that's just the best guess that I have,
but I don't know. I have no idea. What did your mom's say? I mean, I'm sure they believed that
(28:44):
we got scared or spooked by something because, you know, they consoled us. Like they were like,
you're okay, you're safe. But they were also kind of looking at each other like,
like, what was that? Why are they acting this way? You know, I mean, you have a daughter.
When your daughter says something funny or like, so outlandish, but they take it very seriously,
(29:04):
it's funny. Like it's hard to not snicker. Yeah, yeah. They were kind of trying to hide their
laughs, but they were also, you know, taking seriously that we were scared.
And at that point, they also knew that you were safe because you were back in the apartment. So
like they knew that you were okay. Right. I could see, as a parent, I could see thinking like,
they're probably just overreacting at this point. It's probably fine. I didn't hear anything. From
(29:28):
their perspective, they were like, I would have heard these car alarms going off for sure. They
probably just thought it was two little girls just, you know, being little girls and just
overactive imagination and everything's fine. Do you know if your mom still feels that way?
Does she still not believe you? Does she even remember this incident? Do you think?
I have not brought it up to her since then. Really? So I rarely talk about this in general. So I
(29:52):
haven't even brought it up to her since then. But a couple of times a year, I will text Betsy,
even though we lost touch after our parents finished school. I think she lives in a different
state now. But I'll text Betsy a couple of times a year and be like, do you remember this? Or am I
making this up? And every single time she's like, I remember. I know exactly what you're talking
(30:14):
about. And we both have nightmares about it. To this day? To this day, I have like a dream
or a nightmare specifically about the truck once every month or two. That's really frequent. That's
Oh, man. Yeah. This is one of the wildest stories I think I've heard. Like it's it's simple in the
(30:37):
way that there's not a lot of elements to it. But the elements that are there, they contradict
each other. For example, if it was just you that was going down there to get the DVD or just Betsy,
nothing really there. A lot of people probably wouldn't believe anything because it's just
one person, but you both witnessed it, which is amazing. And it's in its own right. They
(31:01):
like it's like the cars and they didn't hear it. And what was that car doing there? Was that person
that was there? Did he do something that he knew those alarms were going to go off and he was trying
to like warn you like to get out of there because the cops are going to come or something. But
even if that was the case, by the time you went upstairs, they weren't even going off anymore.
(31:24):
Right. If that was the case, you think those alarms would be going off. They were trying
to warn the kids to get out of here. Something's going to happen. Was it like a burglary or
something? Was there anything like that that you know of that were? No, I'm from Indiana. That's
where I grew up. And that's where this happened was in Indiana. I can't say that in Indiana.
(31:45):
So yes, this was in Indiana and the town I grew up in is pretty big. It's more of a city
and it's classic suburbia, you know, very, very safe. If a burglary happens or anything along
those lines, it's all over Facebook and all the groups like everybody knows about it within the
next 30 minutes. And I know my mom would always tell me if she heard something because she would
(32:10):
be like, be careful. She wasn't trying to scare me, but you know, she was looking out for me.
And I'm sure if my mom had heard of anything, she wouldn't have let us go. Yeah. So no, I don't
think there was anything like that. It's so interesting because on one side of the conversation,
it's like, what caused all of those car alarms to go off? And why was that car there before?
(32:31):
That's like one aspect of it. There are rational explanations that would explain that potentially.
But then the flip side of it is once you get up the stairs and you go into the apartment,
your moms, they didn't hear anything. So it's like, is that even possible? I would say that it's
probably not unless they were like blackout drunk, which doesn't sound like they were because they
(32:52):
consoled you when you came in. So that like, do you have a guess, I guess is what I'm trying to say
as to any sort of rational explanation, even if it wasn't, if it's something that we don't quite
know or fully understand yet, if that makes sense. The reason I posted the story was kind of to
figure it out, I guess, because I've always had that question overhead, like, what was this?
(33:16):
And I've always just kind of felt like it was some form of divine intervention.
A lot of people when I posted it had theories that maybe the truck was protecting us from something,
which I think is really interesting because I've always seen it as this truck or whoever was in
the truck was going to do something really, really, really awful and something intervened.
(33:42):
Goosebumps again, oh boy.
How old was the truck? You said it was an old pickup truck, but are we talking like
from the 80s? Are we talking about from like the 20s?
Oh, like 80s.
Okay. So it wasn't like really, really old, like a classic pickup truck. It was,
but it was still old enough.
(34:02):
It was a beater for sure.
Like there are theories that kind of align with that in the physics world. And again,
I should preface this. I like reading this kind of stuff. I lay awake in my bed at night
watching crazy physics videos because for some weird reason it's like calming to me.
So I know a decent amount about this stuff, but I'm not an expert.
(34:23):
But like the many worlds theory, are you familiar with that at all? Have you heard that at all?
No, I haven't.
This sounds crazy and it's a little bit woo-woo, but hear me out.
Every decision that you make spawns off another universe or another version of you.
And that's not just you. It's me and the guy in the truck and your parents and everyone in the
world. Like every decision you make is kind of, you know, another version of you. And there's
(34:46):
infinite versions of you out there. And every time you make a decision, it alters the course
of your reality. But there's an Annie out there that decided to have an omelet this morning
instead of a bagel or whatever it is. And even the minor decisions like it can lead to different
outcomes. So it could be that that truck was going to do something really bad.
(35:07):
And something happened, divine intervention, like you said, it could have also been that
maybe that truck was trying to warn you of something really bad that was going to happen.
And somehow between you maybe making the decision to go back upstairs, that decision to do that
glitch in the matrix style moved you into another timeline. That's the reason why your moms didn't
(35:29):
hear anything because they were perceiving things in a different timeline than what you were perceiving
it. Yeah, like two universes that were kind of like colliding, if that makes sense. Yeah,
it does. All speculative, obviously, I mean, we have no proof of any of this. But
you know, if you think of like shortingers cat, for those that you that don't know,
if there's a cat in a box, this is a horrible analogy. I hate this because I'm an animal lover,
(35:51):
but cats in a box with a poisonous gas and seal it all up. The idea is that the cat is
both neither alive or dead. It's in a state of superposition at that time, because you don't
know if the cat is alive or dead until you open the box and observe it. Right. And yeah,
science is starting to learn this kind of stuff. But I mean, what are your thoughts on all of this?
Do you think that's a possibility? Or do you think that all that is crazy talk?
(36:17):
No, I definitely think it's a possibility. I mean, I am very open minded in general. And I honestly
don't have any clue what an explanation of this is. Or I have no explanation of what happened. And
so when I take in these new theories, like the multiverse theory, like that is very interesting.
(36:39):
And I've heard of it before, but I never applied it to this context. So thinking about it in that way,
it turns some lights on in my brain. Yeah, it does. I could see you like thinking like,
I never thought of it that way before. And it's interesting too. And that's kind of the hope
(37:00):
of this podcast, honestly, is that I generally want to try to help you try to find, we need to
be able to find out like definitive proof of what it was, maybe, but I love to get talked to like
scientists and people that can actually have like a weighted opinion on what this potentially could be.
It's so funny listening back to this episode as I'm editing it, because at the time of this
(37:23):
recording, I had no idea I was going to create Scully. But this sounds like a perfect opportunity
to get some insight into what this could have been. So Scully, now that you've read the case
file, what do you think could have triggered the car alarms that night? Localized electromagnetic
interference is the most plausible trigger. An EMP, whether natural like lightning or artificial,
can set off multiple car alarms at once and disrupt electronics. The synchronized start
(37:48):
and sudden stop support that the truck's lack of reaction suggests different shielding or
electronic design. But here's the problem. An EMP that precise should have affected more than just
the lot. No power loss, no phone disruption, no residual effects. That's unusual. So either it
was a targeted EM burst or something that mimicked one perfectly. Okay, that makes sense. But how is
(38:12):
it possible that the moms didn't hear any of it? Two options. Either the sound never reached the
apartment or their perception was blocked. Sound suppression is rare but possible. Dense structures,
sealed windows or specific acoustic shadow zones, but total silence during a full alarm cascade.
That's extreme, more likely a perceptual gap. Infrasound or microwave exposure
(38:36):
can disrupt auditory processing. Certain frequencies mess with the brain's ability
to register external stimuli. It's not science fiction. It's been used in crowd control. So
either the sound was blocked or their brains were. That's pretty insane. All right, let's get back to
Annie. I used to be one of those materialists that think I know everything there is to know
(39:00):
about our earth and our scientists that are even smarter than me know everything that there is.
Anyone that believes anything else is just silly. Yep. You know, I was on the podcast
Instagram today and I was just like kind of perusing to look for things to share to our community.
And I came across this article that said that the James Webb telescope may have just found,
(39:20):
may should be underlined in bold there, may have just discovered that our universe,
our entire universe might be inside of a black hole. Whoa. I mean, gosh, if you said that to
someone a month ago, they'd be like, yeah, right. There's still so much to learn about our world.
And I think people that think that they know everything, they're just, they're becoming
sillier and sillier to me. We're learning things new every day in science. So I agree. But I wanted
(39:44):
to bring up at least one more thing with you before we started recording. And we were talking about
what you do as a speech pathologist or like studying to be that we tend to talk about this
every single episode. And I'm trying to get away from it. I'm trying to break the cycle,
but it is just so fascinating. And I hear on other podcasts too, in the same genre,
everyone is talking about this. So I was kind of surprised that you haven't heard about this.
(40:07):
But you had said that one of the things that you do is in children that have autism, that can't
speak, you work with them with these devices that they can use to communicate. It's like an
iPad type situation. Yeah. So they're called augmentative alternative communication devices,
but we can just call them AAC. That's what we always call them. It's basically for anybody who
(40:32):
can't speak. So or can't express themselves verbally in any way. Like it can be for people on
any point on the spectrum of autism. It can be for people who have neurodegenerative diseases
that like ALS. But yeah, you have the right idea. There's this podcast that came out maybe a few
months ago and has been causing shockwaves. The host's name is Kai Dickens. What she's basically
(41:00):
doing, she's working with a, gosh, is she a neurologist? I believe she's a neurologist.
I have her book over here. Hold on one second. It's Dr. Diane Powell. This is her book right here,
the ESP Enigma. And what they are discovering, I think might blow your mind. And I definitely
(41:22):
want you to listen to this podcast and report back to me. You have homework.
What they're finding is they're studying highly autistic children. And through this device,
I'm not sure if it's the exact device. She says the AAC, right? Am I saying that right?
That's a blanket statement for devices that help people communicate, but yeah.
(41:46):
Okay. Because I know very little about this. So again, I hope I'm not butchering this too much.
But apparently, I believe they were saying that this technology is like a newer technology
that has come out in the last like couple of years that is giving these autistic children
a way to communicate. Whereas in the past, they were, it was a struggle. Like the bandwidth has
(42:08):
expanded because of these devices, I guess, like they could communicate, but it wasn't as
clear and it wasn't as accurate, I guess, maybe as, as what it is now. Right. They're realizing
that these children can actually read the minds of their parents. And this is like a scientifically
(42:31):
proven thing. Like they're using the scientific method to prove it. This is not like woo-woo stuff.
And there's video accompanying it. So there's a YouTube channel. I'm not sure if you know who
Jesse Michaels is. He has a similar podcast to this genre. It's called American Alchemy or American
Alchemist, I think. I can send you the link. And he interviews Diane Powell and Kai Dickens.
(42:54):
But yeah, they have video of like, for example, there was this autistic child that was in the
background with one of these devices. And the mother was like facing the camera,
like this and the child in the background. And they would take a card, like from a deck of cards,
essentially, that had like, you know, hippopotamuses on it and turtles and like whatever. And they would,
she would just briefly look at it and then put it away. And then immediately, the child in the
(43:19):
background would start typing in turtle or hippo or house or whatever it is. And then they would
you do another one. And they would just be immediately you hear the letters being typed
in the background. And this is this is duplicated over and over. It's repeatable. And there's stories
of these parents where the autistic child will be like upstairs in their room. And the mother will
(43:46):
be watching a TV show or something like that. And the child will come down and say something like,
I can't believe that, you know, will that happened in the show? And the child doesn't have a TV up
upstairs in the room. Like there's no way that they would have been able to watch the same thing
as the mother or maybe a better example is the mother will go to the store or the father will
(44:07):
go to the store and get like some treats, like some candy and things like that. And they'll hide it
in the house somewhere. And the autistic child will just know where it is. And they'll just go and
grab it. Things like that. And their mission is to prove this scientifically. And I think they're
working on a documentary, but the podcast has so much data in it. That just me as I'm listening
(44:31):
to it, it's just like blowing my mind because of how accurate it is. So anyway, the reason I want
to bring this up to you is because you're kind of in this field a little bit and you work with
these devices. And I'm just curious if you knew about this, or if this is ringing any bells to
you, or if this is something that you have never heard of before, and you're just think it's a
load of crap. All above is fine. You're in the same space.
(44:55):
This is genuinely world breaking. This is crazy. No, I had never heard of anything like this
at all. I feel like I might have heard the name the telepathy tapes before, but I didn't know what
it was. I feel like I might have seen it on TikTok or something, like someone talking about it,
but I don't remember anything. I work with children with autism and adults with autism every day.
(45:21):
I have family members that have autism. This is so crazy. I have never heard anything like this.
Have you ever felt that maybe the people that you work with or because I think they say that
this connection is stronger with the parent because maybe they're around them the most,
(45:44):
but it has happened with caregivers and other people as well. So much so that I think
I remember one of the parents of an autistic child in the episode had trouble dealing with this
information because it was shocking to them, and they actually were telling their friends and family,
and their friends and family were like, yeah, right. And they would bring the family members
(46:07):
over and say, just think of something. And the person would think of a random thing in their
mind, and the autistic child would just take it out, like whatever it was. Holy crap. I can't
believe that this is clearly real because I was thinking of a purple alligator, and that's exactly
what they just typed. How could they know that? Have you ever experienced anything that like that?
(46:31):
And it's okay to say no because maybe that just never happened, but I'm just curious.
I've never experienced anything like that, but when he first started telling me about it,
I was like, okay, this sounds cool, but I don't know if I buy it. And then we just talked about
I'm a very data-driven person. With the amount of evidence that you're describing to me,
(46:57):
you can't dispute that. Exactly. That's insane. I'm not joking once we're done
recording. I'm going to suck because I'm going to be up so late tonight.
I would recommend watching the Jesse Michaels interview. He does a great job interviewing
(47:17):
them. And it's maybe like two hours, two and a half hours, I think is the video. So it's not
that long. And you'll get a general idea. And there's video that you can watch. But I recommend
maybe in your travels, in your car, if you listen to podcasts in your car, I would listen to the
whole club of the tapes because there's a lot more content there. You'd be up all night listening
to that because there's like 10 episodes, I think, something like that.
(47:38):
Oh, I'm so excited.
The idea too is that it's not just autistic children. It's that we all have this psychic
ability. But because we can talk and because we've developed language, which is right up your alley,
that we've stifled our psychic abilities. We used to be able to do this a lot more. Do you ever
(48:01):
think of someone and they call you? Things like that. So it's kind of like that is we're tapping
into the very top layer of it. But since autistic children, oh, there's also one more thing too
that I forgot to tell you that also will blow your mind. And it's about these autistic children.
Oh, Lord.
So we have to strap in. Then I promise we'll try to wrap this up. The children communicate
(48:27):
exclusively through telepathy. For example, there's a couple. I think they were like high
school age and they were boyfriend and girlfriend that were both highly autistic.
And they could communicate when one person was at their house and they were at their house,
they would talk and they said that they would meet on this place called the hill.
(48:48):
And they both called it the hill. And when Diane Powell and Kai Dickens were looking into this,
they said, well, what is this hill place? And it said it's like,
it's equivalent to like a recess yard where all the autistic children go to to communicate.
And that's what they learn. So if you ever have seen like savants, for example, and that they have
(49:10):
they have learned, you know, a language or they can draw an entire city skate from memory or
whatever it may be. Apparently, place called the hill is this community that these autistic
children can go through telepathy in their mind. And they all meet there. And it's a commutative
(49:31):
place. And I won't spoil it for you, but something traumatic does happen during the course of the
podcast that it brought me to tears. Like straight up, I was crying in my car, like a little baby.
I was just it was it was a very sad moment. And I won't spoil it. What happened on the hill
during that time or what what the children describe, and it will move you. I'll just put it
(49:53):
that way. Like if you if you there's evidence like video and things like that, like there's data,
because I'm very data driven as well. But there's also this emotional component that
is very deep within me at least that, and I think it happens to a lot of people,
there's a sense that this is true, that we do have this ability that has just been
(50:13):
it atrophied, essentially. And quantum mechanics, last thing I'll say about it, and then I'll shut
up is you're fine. I'm eating this up. There is an element of quantum mechanics that does
lend to this, which is the concept of entanglement, where two particles can be connected to one
another, and they could be light years apart. And if one changes, the other will change
(50:37):
instantaneously. So in a way that kind of in my mind says, well, if that's possible, that sounds
like science fiction, who's to say that your dog can't immediately know when you get in your car
and start your car, because it's he's connected to you or she's connected to you. You know, just
it kind of it kind of makes sense or something deep within me that just kind of says, I know this
(50:57):
sounds crazy, but there's something, there's something to it. Yeah, exactly. So I'm so excited
to look into this. Yeah, there's a department called D.O.P.S. It's the Department of Perceptual
Studies that's in Virginia. And they're also starting to study this as well. I think they've
been studying it for quite some time, actually, but they're not studying telepathy. There's still
(51:21):
a lot. They are saying telepathy, I apologize. But I think their main focus is like near death
experiences and out of body experiences, past lives, like when people are reborn, like things
like that. It's pretty cool stuff. I'm excited. My mind feels blown. I don't even know how I'll
(51:46):
say it. Like, I have so many things to read. Yeah, it's pretty cool. I'll send you those links.
I love that. All right, Annie. Well, I think that is pretty much it. I don't really think I have
anything else for you. This was a really fun conversation. It was. Anything else that you
can think of that you want to say? It's vulnerable to talk about this for the first time publicly,
(52:10):
I guess, because, you know, when I posted it on Reddit, I wasn't me. I mean, I was, but
I was my username that has nothing to do with me, you know, it is pretty vulnerable to be talking
about it, but it feels good. It feels like a weight off my chest. And I'm really excited to hear what
people have to say about it. And it was really great to hear what you had to say about it.
(52:33):
Has this experience changed your opinion of the unexplainable and like the para side of our world?
For sure. Like I said, I'm very open minded, but I'm also the type of person who appreciates
concrete evidence a lot. You know, a lot of what I do in school is data based. Like I know
(52:55):
if my client is improving based on their data. So that proof really solidifies things for me.
As I've gotten older, and I guess kind of come to terms with the fact that I'll probably never know
for sure what happened. I have started to believe a lot more in things that I can't prove.
(53:17):
Or I've become less skeptical of other people's experiences. It's not that I ever think that
people are making things up every time somebody has an experience, not at all. It's a lot easier
for me to empathize with people and to fully take them at their word with this kind of thing,
(53:37):
because I've experienced it firsthand. And I know what that feels like. So yeah,
it definitely has made me believe in the unbelievable.
(54:07):
I don't know about you, but this one got under my skin a little bit.
There's just something about how fast a normal night can shift. One second,
you're hunting for a DVD, and the next you're face to face with something that just doesn't make
sense. I can't stop thinking about that truck, the lights, the alarms, the timing of it all.
(54:30):
It's just a kind of story that feels small until you're the one living it.
And honestly, this episode reminded me why I started this whole thing in the first place.
Not just to share creepy stories, but to really look at them, to pull them apart,
and to stay skeptical. And yeah, try to get a little bit closer to the truth. Having Scully
(54:50):
with us for the first time felt like a step in that direction. She's got a long way to go,
and so do I. But I like the idea of having someone or something to challenge me, to keep me honest.
So, thanks for being here, for being curious, for not needing all the answers,
but to keep listening. And if you're liking the show, make sure to follow us on Instagram,
(55:15):
at Close Encounter Club. I post behind the scenes stuff, story updates,
and the occasional meme when things get too intense. And hey, if you've enjoyed this episode,
it'd be awesome if you could take two seconds to tap that five star rating and hit the follow button
wherever you're listening. It seriously helps more than you know.
This podcast was created and hosted by me, Justin Gearhart, produced by Josh Beretto,
(55:39):
mixed and mastered by Brett Jarvis, and you've been listening to the Close Encounter Club.
Good job, Scully.
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