September 18, 2025 • 46 mins
Three women share their most terrifying paranormal encounters and discuss how these experiences shaped their beliefs about the afterlife and energy that persists beyond death.
• Did Einstein believe in ghosts?
• According to Pew Research, how many Americans have seen a ghost?
• Is The U.S. or the U.K. considered the most haunted country in the world?
• Heidi had an encounter in a New Orleans bathroom.
• Jane witnessed something horrifyingly otherworldly in a field in Kansas
• Heidi experienced extreme poltergeist activity for six weeks
• Jane found protection from another ghost given to her by her a then-deceased relative
• Can you set boundaries with ghosts and paranormal activity?
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Email us at info@thewomenareplotting.com, and find us on all the socials. Be safe and be excellent to each other.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Etienne (00:02):
Welcome listeners.
This is Women Are Plotting.
I'm Etienne Rose Olivier, andI'm here with my friends and
co-hosts Heidi Willis and JaneGari .
Today's episode will be talkingabout our scariest ghost
stories.
Now I have a fun, interestingfact for today's episode.
(00:22):
I asked chat GPT to tell me howmany ghost hunting television
shows have ever existed, and itcouldn't pin the number down,
saying 20 to 30 major series.
It listed 14 popular realityghost hunting shows and my
favorite title that I'd neverheard of was Fear Factor
(00:42):
Paranormal Edition, which ranback in 2012.
It described the show as beinga paranormal spinoff of the
classic reality competition showwhere participants faced
paranormal challenges.
Whatever that means, Heidi,what is your fun or interesting
fact for today?
Heidi (01:01):
So my interesting fact is Einstein actually believed in
ghosts as well.
Yeah, it's kind of funny thesmartest, most logical man in
the world believed that ghostswere real because he knew that
energy was constant and couldn'tbe destroyed.
So, yeah, so he believed inghosts
Etienne (01:23):
oh wow, wait.
So do you think that he actuallythinks that these are like
spirits of the dead, or is itmore of like a multiple universe
,
Heidi (01:31):
the energy doesn't die.
Etienne (01:33):
I was thinking more multiple universe situation.
But okay, energy doesn't die, Ilike that.
Heidi (01:39):
Yeah.
Jane (01:41):
I love that
Heidi (01:43):
don't you?
Yes, yeah, I love that fact tooyou?
Yes, yeah, I love that back too.
I forgot about reading.
I think I read that in hisbiography, but I'd forgotten
about it, and so, rediscoveringthat I was like oh, I love
einstein even more
Jane (01:59):
and he played the violin.
Heidi (02:00):
I know
Jane (02:01):
extra rando, fun fact.
Etienne (02:05):
And his hair was so cool.
Heidi (02:06):
Yeah
Etienne (02:07):
I love that hair.
Jane (02:09):
What a badass he was.
Just smart.
Heidi (02:13):
So himself too, Just silly.
Anyway, that's the fun factabout what is yours?
Jane (02:23):
I'm still just basking in that fact and it makes me feel
better about myself because Ithink I'm pretty smart.
I'm not Einstein smart, but ifhe believed in ghosts, then I
feel in good company and makesme feel less crazy.
My fun fact is that, accordingto a Pew Research study, about
18% of Americans claim thatthey've seen a ghost.
(02:44):
So it's not.
Heidi (02:47):
That's not very fringe.
Jane (02:50):
No, that's like nearly one in five people
Heidi (02:53):
have seen one
Etienne (02:55):
Wait have seen one or believed in, they believe in
ghosts or they've seen one.
Jane (02:58):
No, claim to have seen or been in the presence of a ghost.
Etienne (03:03):
Well, that okay, I wasn't paying 100% attention.
I thought you just saidbelieved in.
Maybe that's why there's somany ghost hunting shows.
Heidi (03:13):
Really it is.
It's popular because if you'veseen one or experienced one,
you're interested in it, becauseonce you experience it, you're
just like I gotta solve thismystery.
What is this?
And that's why you get suckedinto these stupid paranormal
shows, because you're thinkingmaybe they'll find the evidence.
(03:34):
You know, they'll figure thisout finally,
Jane (03:38):
or you just never want to see one again.
I mean it could go the otherway.
Etienne (03:45):
I feel like that was my experience.
I never wanted to see it again.
Heidi (03:50):
Well, I was petrified of ever seeing one.
I thought if I ever see one I'mgoing to die of fright.
So even during the worsthauntings I would keep my eyes
just sealed shut because I waslike I don't want to see you.
I don't want to see you.
So when I actually first saw myfirst ghost in New Orleans, it
(04:10):
was just so random.
She looked like she was just acustomer going into the bathroom
and I follow her thinking, oh,maybe it's a multi-stall
bathroom.
I open the door Nobody's inthere, it's a single stall.
It's a multi-stall bathroom.
I open the door Nobody's inthere, it's a single stall,
nobody's in there.
And I watched her go throughthe like go in the door.
The door closed behind her and,yeah, she totally disappeared.
(04:34):
So it was so crazy because shelooked like a normal person.
Etienne (04:40):
Really.
(05:05):
So she didn't look like she wasin some strange garb or olden
times like situation in here.
Heidi (05:07):
Nope.
I didn't notice anything beingout of the ordinary.
She looked like a regularperson.
So when I opened the door andthere was nobody in there, I
just closed the door and I waskind of in shock, like.
Okay, maybe there's a hiddendoor in here I'm doing, you
know, I'm doing, you know, I'mdoing taking care of going to
the bathroom and washing myhands and I'm like, well, maybe,
maybe I saw the wrong door,maybe there's a different door I
saw, even when I came out andlooked back at that it was the
only door.
Yeah, so that was crazy.
Went almost my entire 40 someyears I think it was 45, 45
years dreading ever seeing theghosts and finally saw it and it
(05:29):
was just looked like a regularperson and I didn't die of
fright.
Etienne (05:33):
You were 45 when this happened
Heidi (05:36):
yeah, yeah, around 45
Etienne (05:38):
oh my god, that's crazy I was not,
Jane (05:43):
didn't you ask
Etienne (05:44):
yeah wait, ask what
Jane (05:47):
heidi didn't you ask the people at the
store about it and didn't theytell you that other people had
seen?
that too.
Heidi (05:52):
No, no, they had no idea that there was any kind of
haunting.
Yeah, they were just like Idon't know.
I'm like, okay, well, I justsaw something, but it's new
orleans like it's so freakinghaunted.
If you ask anybody, do you havea ghost?
they're just like, yeah,probably
Etienne (06:12):
yeah, I would feel like new orleans and like new york
city would probably be the most,just because of they're so old
Heidi (06:18):
well, another fun fact I found out was somebody did a
study of confirmed hauntedlocations and they came to the
conclusion that the us is themost haunted country in the
world, with uk right behind it
Etienne (06:34):
wow, I wonder if it's because we have more people like
why would probably be more thanthe?
Heidi (06:38):
uk more locations, more space, but yeah, more than the
uk
Etienne (06:44):
damn all right america number one, for an interesting
reason there
Heidi (06:53):
We're the most haunted country.
I immediately started thinking.
I'm like, yeah, there's been alot of trauma that's happening
in this in our past, so well,
Etienne (07:04):
yeah
Heidi (07:04):
I think there's a few ghosts who are disgruntled or
don't know.
Etienne (07:08):
Maybe in the South a little bit.
Heidi (07:10):
Yeah, a little bit
Etienne (07:11):
there might be some reasons for some Southern ghosts
.
Heidi (07:16):
There's a lot of trauma that happened.
I mean, look at Gettysburg.
I mean people go there and theyare like, if you don't believe
in ghosts, go to Gettysburg.
Just saying, go there, hang outat night.
Etienne (07:30):
Like in the field.
Heidi (07:32):
I mean.
Etienne (07:32):
I assume it's a field.
Oh my God.
Heidi (07:35):
Yeah, go there at night.
You will quickly believe inghosts, that there's something.
Yeah, yeah
Jane (07:41):
I mean, I live near some battlefields from both the
Revolutionary War and the CivilWar in South Carolina and I went
to a Revolutionary Warbattlefield the Battle of Camden
is not that far from my houseand I was on my way home from
somewhere with my daughter, butshe had ridden separately
because it was a sporting event,so she was on the school bus
and I was driving home by myselfand it was twilight and I
(08:04):
thought, oh, the Battle ofCamden, the battlefield's right
here.
I'll just check it out realquick.
I'm by myself.
And I pulled off the side ofthe road and I got out of the
car and I looked at it and noone else is parked there and
it's a pretty rural area.
This entryway to thatbattlefield park.
There's a couple differententrances.
(08:25):
This one was like just verydesolate, let's say.
And then I immediately got justall hair standing on end.
I'm like what am I doing?
I ran back to my car.
I was like I am breaking all myrules, like why would I do this
?
You know, because I felt it.
I felt like some, some energyand I was like I gotta get the
(08:46):
fuck out of here.
And then, when I was out at mydad's house in kansas.
At the time he lived in thesoutheast corner of kansas where
I don't know if you guys everbleeding kansas there were a lot
of skirmishes between yeah, um,western pushing settlers and
Native Americans, and so I didnot know that my dad lived in
(09:08):
that area and my stepbrother andI were hanging out.
He lived on seven acres andthere was a barn and we were
hanging out in the loft and Ihad brought some marijuana with
me out to Kansas because I wasat the age where that just made
everything better and we justlike got really high in the barn
and I would chalk it up to justlike, okay, we were high, but
(09:32):
it was.
I think what it did is it justmade us more open to this
experience and because we bothsaw the same thing and it wasn't
like we had taken a bunch ofacid or something like that,
like we literally had a coupleof puffs on a joint it wasn't
anything nuts but all of asudden it just felt—it was the
dead of summer.
We were both freezing, justfreezing, and we're looking out
(09:55):
into the field because we hadthe doors of the barn open and
we're up in the hayloft justlike looking out, we're like
it's so beautiful here.
But then all of these peoplewere just like just walking,
just just walking.
And when I say all of thesepeople, I'm talking like 200 and
something people.
And I saw it and I just thought,
Etienne (10:12):
holy
Jane (10:13):
all right.
I was like this is this weed islaced, or something like that.
But I knew it.
I knew it wasn't because myboyfriend at the time used to
grow it, so I knew that and Ihad smoked that particular
strain before and it was notnuts, and I just was not going
to speak and my stepbrother tapsme on the shoulder and he goes
hey, do you see that?
(10:33):
I'm like shut up, don't say it.
I just didn't want him to sayit out loud because I thought if
we don't voice it it's notreally happening.
But they were just walkingtowards us and kept walking
towards us
Etienne (10:42):
Walking towards you, not just
Jane (10:44):
Walking like in this line of just hundreds of people just
walking towards us in betweenthe barn and my dad's house, and
they just kept coming and theyweren't doing anything menacing,
but definitely you could tellold timey clothes and they were
definitely like shimmery lookingand I was like oh my God.
And he just was like run and Idon't know.
(11:06):
But there was nowhere to run,but like through where we were
seeing them, because it was likethe worst game of Hellscape,
red Rover, I guess you couldimagine.
So I just closed my eyes andran like a wild Muppet to my
dad's house, just screaming,just screaming like Kermit the
Frog when we're back, runninglike a crazy person.
(11:31):
And we just screamed all theway to my dad's house and then
he opens the door because he wasjust like he saw us running and
screaming because it was onlylike I don't know, like nine
o'clock at night, he goes.
What the hell are you guys doing?
And my stepbrother's responsewe wanted ice cream.
There's no way he didn't knowthat we were not high Like he
could tell we were high.
I think he was like, whatever,just have some ice cream.
(11:53):
But because I was 21 and mystepbrother was 19 and he just
rolled his eyes, you know,because I'm like how am I going
to explain to my father whatjust happened?
We just ran through all thesepeople Don't you see all the
people.
Etienne (12:07):
So you didn't ever tell him what happened, or did you?
Jane (12:09):
No, and I should have, because my dad told me later
that he saw a ghost in that veryhouse.
That house that he lived in wasbuilt in 1861.
Etienne (12:21):
And wait.
What year did thisstuff happen.
That's a massacre.
Jane (12:23):
That is a good question and I don't know.
I feel like this is highlyGoogle-able.
Heidi (12:29):
This is a good segue into saying that you don't have to
have an older house to have ahaunting, because the house I
grew up in highly haunted fromday one and it was brand new.
This cute little thousandsquare foot ranch that my mom
bought when I was 10 and mysister was 8.
(12:51):
And the first day we move inthere are boots stomping and
pacing the length of the house.
Etienne (13:02):
Oh God, it's only a thousand square feet.
Heidi (13:05):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It was pacing the length of thehouse and there's like a foot
of space in the attic so they'renot walking in the attic and we
would run outside.
Nobody would be on the roof,and it was everybody heard this.
Everybody Family members wouldcome over.
It would happen during the day.
And it was everybody heard this.
Everybody family members wouldcome over.
It would happen during the day,happen at night.
It was crazy
Etienne (13:26):
oh my god
Heidi (13:26):
yeah, so we would hear that all the time lights would
go on and off.
But the scariest one was okay.
So there's two instances thathappened.
First one I was all by myselfand I was recording music off
the radio you know, like the top10 at 10.
So I was recording a song and Iwent to the kitchen and I was
(13:46):
making myself dinner and Iwasn't paying attention to what
was going on, but I did clockthat the song had stopped and
somebody had started talking.
So somebody was talking and Ididn't really pay attention to
what they were saying until theysaid my full name.
Etienne (14:03):
No
Heidi (14:04):
oh yeah, first, middle, last, and, and then it was a
pause and the song started againand I'm like and I thought, did
I win something?
So I'm immediately like I wonsomething.
So let me rewind it and listento it and see what this guy was
talking about before they saidmy name.
And then the song started again.
It was a song throughout thewhole thing.
Etienne (14:27):
Oh, it gave me chills.
Heidi (14:29):
So that was when I was by myself and I could chalk it up
to.
Okay, I imagine that you knowwhatever.
The next incident that happenedwas finals studying with one of
my girlfriends and we were theonly two in the house.
It was finals in the winter, sothat's important to know.
So the windows were all closedup and had plastic on there for
(14:52):
energy efficiency and everythingwas solidly closed up, and
she's at the kitchen tablebehind me and I'm at the stove
making ramen noodles and we'rechatting back and forth and the
only way I can describe it is ifa giant tried to whisper, so
it's really loud, but it's alsoa whisperer.
(15:12):
Said my name, heidi, and I keeptalking.
I'm still stirring the ramennoodles.
I haven't turned back.
I'm still stirring the ramennoodles.
I haven't turned back, I'm juststill talking.
Right, she's grown quiet.
My friend has, and it does itagain.
And I just whip around and Isee her face.
She is gone, ghost white, andshe just says it knows your name
(15:36):
.
And I'm like, oh shit, sheheard it too, so I can't think
it's just in my head, right?
So yeah, we got knives out,like that was gonna protect us.
We went outside thinking, okay,maybe it's boys messing with us
.
But no, there was nobody around.
There was some ghost.
Knew my name
Etienne (15:56):
where were you living?
where was this house located?
Heidi (16:00):
This is in iowa, central iowa
Etienne (16:01):
okay
Heidi (16:02):
where I grew up oh my god
Etienne (16:05):
well wait, could it be like one of those poltergeist
situations where your house wasbuilt on like indian burial
grounds?
Heidi (16:12):
possibly because we were
Etienne (16:13):
dudes one big dude's burial ground
like
Heidi (16:16):
yeah yeah, yeah, the guy with the boots pacing.
But yeah, that was interestingplace to grow up in.
I know because I lived therefrom age 10 till when I left at
age 18 to join the air force
Etienne (16:30):
so eight years of
Heidi (16:32):
uh-huh
ghostly experience, so younever saw him, though, you just
no, no, I guess just the sounds.
Sounds something breathing inmy enough, something breathing
in my ear, yeah,
Etienne (16:42):
Something breathing in your ear that close.
Jane (16:44):
Oh my God.
Etienne (16:46):
How the hell did you?
I don't know if I could bealone in the house ever
it was intense sometimes.
Yeah, and everybody had theirindividual experiences in there.
So, like my sister had her ownexperiences, my mom, yeah.
Oh, my God.
Heidi (17:02):
Yeah, it was a crazy place
Etienne (17:04):
that was frightening.
I was 24 when I saw my ghost.
I was visiting my aunt.
I was staying with her for amonth.
It was April of 1996.
It's like I know exactly whatmonth it was and I think I'd
been staying with her for liketwo weeks at this point and I
was staying in the guest roomand she had this awesome guest
(17:25):
room that had like the best.
I wish I knew what kind ofcurtains these were.
These were like the bestblackout curtains I've ever.
Ever.
The room would be black therewas no.
You didn't know being in there.
If it was day or night, youwould not know.
And I was over 21.
And this was the first time Ihung out with my aunt where I
was, like, able to drink, andshe was kind of a big drinker.
(17:46):
So we would literally have abottle and a half of wine every
night, with whatever we wereeating, and I would go to bed
totally blastedly drunk and Imean I wouldn't blackout, but I
was so drunk.
And I'd always have to.
When I was drinking that much,I'd have to get up early in the
(18:09):
morning, or even three or fourin the morning, to go pee.
This particular morning it wassix o'clock in the morning.
I opened my eyes.
I felt like I had to pee, so Iopened my eyes and again, I
should have mentioned that thiswas a very small room.
This was a very small room likeliterally just the tiny little
bed and a dresser, and not bigat all.
(18:30):
And across the room, as soon asI opened my eyes because I was
going to get out of the bed Isee a woman floating in the air
and she's dressed in like anold-timey nightgown, you know
the kind of nightgown that goesall the way to the ankles.
And she's definitely floating.
She's definitely beyond wherethe corner of the room should be
(18:53):
you know, Like I don't know howthat's possible.
But I mean, I'm seeing this andI'm like, oh my God, and like I
slam my eyes shut and I'msqueezing them.
I'm squeezing them so tight andI'm like fuck, I just kept
thinking I'm going to open myeyes and she's going to be right
there.
Like that's what I keptthinking.
Yeah, that's going to be in myface.
Like why?
And she looked mad at me
Heidi (19:15):
oh shit
Etienne (19:15):
She like what are you doing here?
Was that look on her face?
Like what the fuck?
You know?
like I'm like oh shit, oh god,
Heidi (19:22):
you don't want an angry
Etienne (19:23):
I know I'm like I have to pee so bad, oh fuck, what am
I gonna do?
And like I'm lucky I didn't letmy bladder go like how did I
not pee the bed?
And my aunt hurt because thisthis upstairs is her house was
so tiny, so tiny.
I literally could have justsaid her name in a normal voice
(19:44):
and she would have heard methat's how small this upstairs
area was.
And I didn't.
I laid there with my eyesscrewed shut and holding on to
my pee for like an hour.
Heidi (19:56):
Oh, my God
Etienne (19:58):
An hour, an hour.
I finally was like, was like Ican't, I can't, I gotta go pee,
like do it anymore, I'm like Idon't care if she's there, I
gotta go run, run.
You know like, and I open myeyes and I didn't even look.
I opened my, but I didn't lookthat way.
I was like, get out really,really fast, it'll be fine.
And I peed so fast and then myaunt was already downstairs.
(20:20):
I'd heard her get up, use thebathroom, go downstairs.
I heard all of this and Ididn't get up.
I was still scared.
And I go down and I tell herwhat happened and she's like, oh
, that's your great-grandmother
Jane (20:35):
oh my
Etienne (20:36):
And I'm like what?
What?
She's been dead the whole timeI've been alive.
I think she's like, yeah, Ithink she just like protects me
and stuff, like stuff's happenedaround the house.
And you know like, she told meabout a story, about how her
ex-husband got angry with herone time when they happened to
be hanging out in the basement,and suddenly, out of nowhere,
(20:59):
he looked like he was about tolike grab my aunt is how she put
it and suddenly he got thrownbackwards and he looked fucking
petrified and he ran out of thehouse.
She never asked him whathappened, but she thinks it was
my great grandmother's ghost whowas protecting her.
So that was her big like she'slike, but I've never seen her.
And I'm like she's like you'reso lucky you saw her.
(21:26):
I'm like she was pissed, likeshe was not happy to see me.
I don't want to see her.
Take it back, like take it back,
Heidi (21:28):
take it back, take it back.
Etienne (21:29):
I don't want to.
Heidi (21:29):
Oh my god, he's like the guard, the guard ghost.
Well, like a guard dog
Etienne (21:33):
yeah when I told her like how angry she looked, my
aunt was like well, you know,you look just like your mother
and she didn't like her, shedidn't like your mom and I'm
like great, so she thinks I'm mymother.
So guess who never slept up inthat bedroom again, and I slept
during the day.
I was taking cat naps duringthe day.
(21:53):
I would stay up all night.
I wasn't going into thatbedroom.
My fucking cousins, who livedalso in New Jersey, wanted to
have a seance in that room andI'm like you're fucking out of
your mind.
You guys go up there at theOuija board.
I'm not going.
Jane (22:08):
That's against the rules.
Etienne (22:09):
But here's the thing I was 100% I mean I was at the
time like 100% atheist.
I said this is not funny, thatI'm the one that sees the ghost.
Y'all Like that's not cool.
Don't do this to the atheist.
Like let somebody who believesin like stuff happening when you
die to see the ghost Not me.
(22:31):
It fucked with my head forever,Like forever.
It's still fucking with me
oh my God
And I never saw her again.
I was there for another coupleweeks and, yeah, didn't see her
again.
Would not go into the bedroomby myself.
I made sure my aunt was atleast upstairs in her room or in
the bathroom, doesn't matter.
If I had to go get stuff out ofthat room because I had to keep
(22:52):
my clothes and my suitcase inthere, but not sleeping in there
, no,
Heidi (22:56):
that's so funny that the ghost hated your mom
Etienne (22:59):
not surprising
Jane (23:00):
you look just like her.
Etienne (23:03):
I mean, we'll hear stories about my mom on the
podcast, so it'll make moresense later.
But yeah,
Heidi (23:08):
yeah
Etienne (23:08):
I can't imagine what my mom did to my grandma.
You know it's her grandmother.
I don't know what she did toher, but my mom made friends,
influence people wherever shewent.
So
Jane (23:17):
oh, wow
Etienne (23:19):
sorry
Jane (23:20):
I mean, I had a bedroom scary ghost too, but I had no
choice but to live in thisbedroom.
But before I tell that story, Ijust want to correct myself
with the bleeding kansas thing,because I did look it up.
So bleeding kansas refers tothe period of violent conflict
in the kansas territory.
That happened between 1854 and1861, the year that that house
(23:42):
was built.
But it wasn't a conflictbetween Western moving settlers
and Native Americans.
It was a conflict stemming fromthe Kansas-Nebraska Act and the
debate over slavery, ultimatelyforeshadowing the Civil War,
because the skirmishes thathappened were between pro-slave
and anti-slave movements.
Heidi (24:01):
Yeah
Etienne (24:02):
oh, thank you for looking at it.
I'd never even heard of this,like at all.
Jane (24:05):
Well, I would hate for someone to be listening and
they're hearing someone say thatI'd be like.
That's not what it is, so weknow.
Heidi (24:13):
Jane, factors
Jane (24:13):
we know now
Heidi (24:14):
Fact checks herself
Jane (24:15):
and they get a fact check us.
But the same side of the family, my father.
He saw a ghost in that house,which didn't really surprise him
that much, because he grew upin a haunted house and then that
house on Long Island was thentaken over by my aunt and uncle
and then I lived with them.
I mean, I grew up hanging outin that house.
Every single person on thatside of the family has had an
(24:39):
experience in that house thatthey can't explain, and I've had
many.
So we could have a series ofpodcasts just on my experiences
in that house, but I'm going tonarrow it down to one that was
really frightening.
There were many that werefrightening, but this one was
probably the most frightening.
I moved into that house for mylast year and a half of college
because I had nowhere else to go.
(25:00):
I couldn't afford to live oncampus and that house happens to
be a block and a half away fromthe Long Island Railroad and I
didn't have a car.
So it was like perfect.
I could still go to Stony BrookUniversity and get on the train
and take it all the way out toStony Brook and everything was
going to be fine.
I could just walk everywhereand take trains.
So the first night I'm spendingthe night there.
(25:20):
They have a finished attic.
This house was built at theturn of the 20th century and it
has those half moon windows upin the attic a la Amityville
horror.
And they finished the attickind of.
It's not really well insulatedMaybe it is now but there's a
little sitting room, slopeyceilings everywhere.
Two tiny bedrooms and abathroom.
Etienne (25:43):
Oh wow, they even had a bathroom Damn.
Jane (25:45):
They did have a bathroom but, like I said, slopey, slopey
ceiling.
So you were like duck, so it wasperfect for me because I'm
short.
And my cousin, who at the timewas 16, she had the other
bedroom up there and there was afree bedroom that their
grandmother not the one that weshared, but the one on her other
side of her family.
She used to have the otherlittle room up there until she
(26:08):
died, but she was a sweet, sweetwoman, so I wasn't freaked out
about being in the dead woman'sbedroom until that first night.
Etienne (26:17):
oh no,
Jane (26:18):
I was
Etienne (26:21):
Did she die in the bedroom?
Jane (26:23):
I don't know, I don't think so.
She lived in there until shedied.
I think she might have died inthe hospital.
But I'm in the room just tryingto mind my own business and go
to sleep and you know, you justfeel someone staring at you and
I look at the doorway and theentire doorway is filled by the
shadow of definitely a masculinefigure.
So just imagine a man justsilhouetted.
(26:45):
So it just looked like a shadow, just shadow man Just standing
in the doorway.
Definitely there's no face oranything, but definitely look at
me.
You know I could feel it and Ijust did the same thing.
You guys were like just shutyour eyes, I'm like I'm just
tired.
At first I was in denial.
I was like I'm just tired.
Then I opened my eyes.
Still there, still feel it.
(27:06):
I could feel it.
Etienne (27:06):
Oh God, you were brave enough to open your eyes again.
Idid.
And then I just said the Lord'sPrayer over and over and over
again for a long time, a longtime.
I thought that that would helpme.
It stopped me fromhyperventilating, maybe.
But again, my cousin is in theother bedroom, but it's down
(27:30):
this little hallway and thenthere's a room between us, a
little sitting room between us,and the attic fan is on because
it's summertime, and I'm liketrying to say her name loud
enough for her to hear me.
But who can hear anybody overthe drone of an attic fan, you
know?
And all that could come out wasKate, you know.
Just trying to say her nameloud enough for her to hear me.
But who can hear anybody overthe drone of an attic fan, you
know?
And all that could come out wasKate, you know, just trying to
say her name and just nothing.
Because all I could do is justmutter the Lord's Prayer over
and over again.
I just shut my eyes.
(27:50):
I just kept shut.
I was like I'm just going to dothis until I go to sleep.
Oh God.
Jane (27:55):
I barely barely slept and every time I cracked my eye open
, just it's just still standingthere,
Heidi (28:00):
oh my god
Jane (28:03):
And I also had to pee and I'm like, nope, I'm just going
to sit here, I'm just going togo to sleep and maybe it'll go
away.
So in the morning it wasn'tthere anymore, but I was super
freaked out about it and there'sa happy ending to this story.
If we're allowed to have happyendings, it would get spooky
before.
(28:23):
I'll say the spooky before thehappy.
So the spooky is I godownstairs to have breakfast and
my aunt, uncle, have five kidsand one of them had that bedroom
for a hot minute after hisgrandmother died and then
retreated and resigned himselfto sharing a room with his
brother and he said how did youlike the room?
and I was like
Etienne (28:39):
he didn't say it like that, like he knew
Jane (28:41):
yeah, he did he's like did you like that?
he goes.
I used to have that bedroom.
He's like I didn't like it andI said, uh, why didn't you like
it?
And he said well, there wasthis kind of shadowy figure that
would just like stand in thedoorway and just I swear he was
just watching me sleep and hewas creepy as fuck and I'm like
like awesome, same dude.
So I couldn't even just be likeI was tired, you know, because
now he sees the same thing.
(29:03):
And then another night, likemonths later, my uncle was drunk
.
Now, my uncle grew up in thathouse, right, because it was my
Nana and Poppy's house.
The grandparents I did sharewith that cousin and my uncle
when he was younger had thatroom.
He gets drunk and he was like Idon't know how you sleep in
that room every night and he wasjust like when I was in that
(29:24):
room.
And then he proceeds to tell meabout the shadow man, you know,
and I said you know what theAnyway?
But I never saw the shadow manafter that first night and I
think this is why.
So the next morning I wentdownstairs, heard my cousin tell
me his creepy experiences andthen I was like I don't know if
I can live here.
Like I'm sitting here trying toplan, like are there any
(29:46):
friends I can live with andstill go to college?
Because this is some, I don'tthink I can live like this.
AndI was really upset, but how am
I gonna say I can't live here'cause ghost?
You know, it sounds so stupidwhen you say it out loud.
I went back upstairs and in theroom, in that little room on
the bed, was a house coat Well,like one of those bathrobe slash
(30:09):
house coat for a short, fatperson, and it had Hawaiian
flowers on it.
And I'm like what on earth?
But it was very deliberatelyspread across my bed like a
blanket and I said where didthis come from?
And so I started asking all myfive cousins like did you put a
house coat, like a rando housecoat, on my bed?
And they're like no.
(30:29):
And then I asked my aunt, andall the color drained from her
face and she said show me, showme, show me.
And I was like well, you cancome up and see it.
I'm like it's got tackyHawaiian flowers on it.
And she looks at it and shestarts crying.
She's like this was my mother's, the dead woman who used to be
in that room.
She said we gave away all ofour house coats.
Where did you get this?
And I said I just came in hereand it was spread out like this.
(30:53):
So I just thought you wanted meto have it.
And she goes well, I guess shewants you to have it and she
just was like crying.
So this woman she was verysweet, she was always whistling
and just always in a good moodshe died of natural causes in
her sleep.
I just don't know if it was inthe hospital or in that room,
but regardless I do know that itwas a peaceful passing.
(31:14):
But and I was like OK, thankyou, sass is what everybody
called her.
I'm like I am going to sleepwith this like a blanket over me
every night and I never sawthat stupid shadow thing again.
Etienne (31:27):
Oh, you think, maybe
Heidi (31:27):
she was protecting you,
Jane (31:29):
I think
Etienne (31:29):
or some kind of a
Jane (31:30):
yes She was like use this, it'll
kind of invoke my positivewhistling energy and it'll keep
Shadow man at bay.
Heidi (31:36):
Yeah
Jane (31:49):
and I lived there for a year and a half, and when I went
to move.
I was like I want to take mytacky house coat with me.
It's gone,
Etienne (31:52):
shut up
Jane (31:52):
nowhere,
Etienne (31:52):
no way,
Jane (31:52):
never, never found it.
I was gonna pack it and I wasdoing something else.
Went back nothing.
Nobody knew where it was oh,just gone.
Etienne (31:58):
Oh, you gave me chills.
They're still there
Jane (32:01):
I asked my aunt.
I said where did you do withSass's house coat?
And she said nothing.
It's been on your bed thiswhole time.
And I said it's gone.
And then she just smiled sadlyand said I guess she knows that
you don't need it anymore,
Etienne (32:12):
oh Lord
Jane (32:12):
because you're moving, you know but yeah
Heidi (32:16):
that is a heartwarming end to what started off as like
that could have been reallyscary.
Yeah, like seeing a shadow manevery night
Etienne (32:24):
yeah
Jane (32:25):
yeah.
I was like I can't live likethis
Heidi (32:27):
I can't imagine.
So mine does not have.
Well, I guess it's happy endingthat I don't have this ghost
anymore, but um,
Etienne (32:34):
oh god
Heidi (32:34):
Yeah, I can't even imagine what your life would
have been like, because I washighly haunted for six weeks at
Hollins University one summer.
Etienne (32:44):
Just for Sorry six weeks is a long time,
Heidi (32:48):
it was an eternity.
It felt like an eternity myfirst summer there.
I stayed in the French houseand was taking pictures and
there was like an orb of lightthat you couldn't see with the
naked eye, but you could see itin the camera.
So that happened that firstsummer.
But everything was quiet, likeeverything was great.
So I had such a great time.
(33:09):
I wanted to get that same roomin the same building that
following summer.
So my second summer, firstnight, back in my room in the
french house, something sitsdown on my bed, like you could
see the depression andeverything, and I was like, okay
, it is good night time, so Iturned off the light and I was
(33:31):
just like
Etienne (33:31):
wait, wait
Heidi (33:33):
I just didn't like I turned off the light and just
was like okay, it's bedtime,like I'm just going to ignore
what just happened.
Etienne (33:42):
No, no, no
Heidi (33:43):
yeah.
So it kept doing stuff likethat.
It would shake my bed at night.
It started touching me Like youcould feel brushes against my
skin, and the whole time I'mlike please go away, please go
away, please go away.
And like keeping my eyes closed, because I could feel it in the
room too and I could feel thatit wanted to show itself to me
(34:08):
and I was like, absolutely not,this is before New Orleans.
In fact, the New Orleans ghosthappened like two or three
months after this particularstory happens, so it was really
soon after.
Like, oh, okay, now I finallysaw one, all right, didn't die.
But throughout this whole summerI was like absolutely not, I
(34:28):
don't want to see you becauseI'm still thinking I'm gonna die
of fright.
So I could tell it wanted tocontact me or I don't know,
wanted me to interact with it,and I just wasn't having it like
no.
One night I feel like adisembodied hand go across my
(34:50):
stomach, underneath my breasts,and like cross over my middle
section.
Oh, yes.
So I'm like all right now.
Yeah, this is getting tooinsane and I turn off my light
and I'm like, um, like, in thefetal position on my side on my
bed, facing the wall, and itfelt like not any hands, it felt
(35:15):
curved, so it was almost like abeach ball was shoved into my
back and I got knocked into thewall
Etienne (35:22):
oh my god
Heidi (35:23):
yeah, yeah.
And then so I ended back on myback side and I'm like just
shaking right, like I'm layingon my back with my eyes squeezed
shut, because I just I don'twant to see what's happening,
like I don't want to see what'sweird, Because I could feel it
at my feet and it started movingup my body, Like this presence,
(35:45):
and by the time I got to mystomach I passed out from fright
, Like completely passed out.
Etienne (35:50):
Oh, my God.
Heidi (35:51):
Because the next thing I know I'm waking up the next
morning and I'm like all right,I got to do something about this
thing.
So I got on amazon and gotevery ghost busting kit I could
find
Etienne (36:03):
are there
Heidi (36:03):
that's really
Jane (36:05):
what they sell them.
Heidi (36:06):
Yes
Jane (36:07):
like a proton pack
Heidi (36:09):
no , no, no, like.
You know what I'm saying, like,like a banishment ghosts yeah,
it had sage.
It had sage.
It had some oils, a prayer, acandle, salt to put around your
bed, crystals.
It had everything.
So I did it all.
I saged the crap out of theplace.
I put salt around my bed whichhelped with the shaking.
(36:32):
It wasn't shaking my bedanymore, but you could feel the
presence, like it never left myroom.
You could feel it.
It was hanging out in thecorner.
Etienne (36:41):
Oh God.
Heidi (36:41):
People would come to my room and they would like, yeah,
I can totally sense it, theywould sense it.
And everybody keeps asking likewhy didn't you move?
Why didn't you move to a dorm?
And I just kept thinking it'sgoing to get better.
Like I don't want to move.
(37:10):
All
Etienne (37:10):
this is not a bad boyfriend, this is sorry.
I mean, it sounds like a what isthis technically?
A poltergeist, I don't know.
Heidi (37:14):
Like I don't know, I don't know.
So it got better, like itdidn't attack me again, and I
made it through the summerbarely slept the whole time
because I just was terrified theentire time.
But I made it through the summerand when I packed up my car I
saged the crap out of my car.
When I got home, I saged ourhome because I was like this
thing is not following me backto my house, like no way.
(37:35):
And I had such trauma, likeactual PTSD, from this incident
that I had to take a year offfrom school.
I was just scared to even goback to school and then when I
did go back, I got a condo offcampus that summer.
So because I was just like, no,I can't, I can't do it, but
(37:56):
talking to the people that hadthat same room that following
two summers, nothing hadhappened, so I think it was
something connected to me, yeah.
So I talked to a psychic friendof mine.
I asked her about it and shesaid, yeah, it seemed like it
was somebody that knew you inlife.
Etienne (38:14):
Oh God
Heidi (38:16):
and that's probably why they were mad that I wasn't
acknowledging them or why it gothostile, because it was wanting
me to acknowledge it and see itand, I guess, communicate with
it.
I don't know.
Jane (38:29):
Do you think it was Reed?
He was touching you.
Heidi (38:31):
I know, I know I don't know, yeah.
Etienne (38:36):
Was Reed the name.
Jane (38:36):
Did you ever think that or no?
Etienne (38:39):
I don't know, was reed, the guy that you talked about,
and
yeah, the best sex ever.
Yeah, but why?
Would he be so like it seemskind of violent or
Heidi (38:49):
yeah, I know, I know, yeah, that's why I don't know it
might have been my father.
So oh,
Jane (38:57):
uh-huh,
Heidi (38:58):
because he, I think he died that year.
Etienne (39:00):
So oh christ oh, no,
Heidi (39:03):
yeah so
Etienne (39:05):
so not the best relationship with your father
then?
Heidi (39:07):
no,
Jane (39:08):
okay
Etienne (39:08):
okay
Heidi (39:11):
no, um, but yeah, so it didn't.
Etienne (39:15):
So, if it really does it make sense then?
Then Like what happened to youif it was him Does it fit,
Heidi (39:22):
I guess.
Yeah, kind of Like I'm sure hewould have, yeah, gotten violent
and hostile.
Etienne (39:30):
Oh my God,
Heidi (39:30):
it just felt like a really dark presence.
Etienne (39:32):
You're making me like grateful that my mother didn't
come find me after she died.
Oh my God.
Heidi (39:44):
Yeah, yeah, thankfully I haven't had anything that
intense since.
I'm so grateful, yeah, but Ifeel like it was meant to happen
, because I'm a horror writer,so I could definitely um, right
yeah.
I can write from that place ofjust fear,
Etienne (39:59):
sheer terror
Heidi (39:59):
fear
Etienne (40:00):
sheer
Heidi (40:01):
sheer.
Yeah, because I've gone throughit.
Etienne (40:03):
This sounds like a Stephen King short.
You know what I mean.
This is like a real book.
Heidi (40:09):
I mean I had friends trying to help me.
One girl was a paranormalinvestigator.
She kept saying why don't yourecord something?
I was like fuck, no, because Ijust didn't want to have the
proof.
Now I kind of wish I had youknow, I wish I had documented
some of it.
Etienne (40:24):
Yeah, you could have had all the things that they
have on those ghost huntingshows.
Heidi (40:27):
Yeah, oh yeah, because you could see it sit down.
Etienne (40:32):
Oh my God,
Heidi (40:37):
it was yeah, yeah,
Etienne (40:38):
damn
Heidi (40:39):
Well.
In doing you know EVPs, whichis electronic voice phenomenon,
I can imagine I would havepicked up something if I'd done
some recording, but I was justso.
I mean, I was so petrified likeconstant fear.
It was the summer, from hell,like really from hell.
Etienne (40:57):
My God,
Heidi (40:58):
I don't know how I made it through.
Well, I know how I made itthrough.
Well, I know how I made itthrough.
My friend had some weed, so Igot high a few times and, like
forgot about it.
I was able to sleep thosenights like for real.
Jane (41:17):
That would have made it worse for me Because, like with
the story I told you about inKansas, I felt like it made me
more open you know because therewere many times where, like I,
would smoke a little bit andthen you read somebody's tarot
cards and have an experienceduring that reading that I feel
like wouldn't have happenedotherwise, and been able to see
(41:38):
and feel and perceive thingsthat I don't think I would have
otherwise, or be in a place, andthen back to the Einstein thing
, to feel the energy that Ithink was there before you know,
there'd be times where I'd govisit a historic place not
knowing anything about it, andthere was a time in my life
(42:01):
where I wouldn't go to a museumunless I got high for a stone.
This is going to make it so muchbetter.
Yes, go look at some stuff.
And I remember going to thePlanting Fields Arboretum for
the first time on Long Islandand walking around those grounds
and taking a tour of the houseand I kept hearing little kids
laughing.
There were no kids there thatday.
Coincidentally, that was thesame place that I also did
(42:24):
ayahuasca.
Etienne (42:26):
I was like is that the same place it's got to be?
Jane (42:29):
It is.
It is.
It's one of my favorite placesin the world.
It's so beautiful.
There's so many different kindsof plants from all over the
world Wonderful place to gethigh.
Heidi (42:36):
Yeah
Jane (42:40):
but definitely I would feel not a bad presence.
It was good it was they were.
And then you learn about thefamily and that they did have
kids and they were happy andthey were running around.
I'm like, okay, that tracks.
But I mean little things likethat.
But you say like that, seeingsomeone sit down on the bed like
that happened to me when I wasvery little and it didn't scare
(43:04):
me at all because it was mygreat-grandmother
Etienne (43:06):
oh yeah, that'd be different
Jane (43:07):
see, yeah she yeah, she didn't look mad at me like yours
did she had been very sweet tome when I was very little and
then she passed away.
when I was six, I want to say,and I just remember, she'd sit
next to me on my bed and Iwouldn't, I wouldn't see her,
(43:30):
but I would feel her and I wouldsee the bed just kind of
depressed next to me and thenshe would sing to me and I would
fall asleep.
Etienne (43:37):
oh, my God,
Jane (43:40):
my mom would read me a story, because that was bedtime
routine, and then I would askher if I could wear Granny Mae's
necklace, and she would let me,because it was the 70s and
people didn't care about kidsmaybe choking having a necklace
around their neck at night.
And I would put this necklacearound my neck and I would think
about her and I would just kindof lay on my side and then she
(44:06):
would come and hang out, sing mea little song and I wasn't
scared at all.
But if that happened to me nowI would probably shit myself,
like I just would be like what.
So I think that that's sad,that sometimes, and even if it's
a negative energy, it's likeyou're wondering okay, do they
need help, like what's going on,because if that was a live
person, you would just say, hey,boundaries man, you'd have a
conversation.
I'm like, could it work thatway?
I don't think I have the courage.
Heidi (44:28):
My friend said this is why I feel better about it.
Like if any of that hauntingstuff were to happen today, like
I would feel more confidentdealing with it Because now I
know that we're more powerful,like we can tell the entities no
leave.
Like you know, I have theseboundaries and no touching me.
(44:49):
Because when I started takingmediumship classes, something
grabbed me awake one morning andI was like absolutely not, you
will not come and wake me, shakeme awake.
I have office hours.
Like come find me.
Seriously, don't mess with mewhile I'm sleeping.
It petrified me.
(45:09):
So yeah, my friend Candice andI, we set some boundaries and
the ghosts they've beenfollowing it.
Etienne (45:17):
oh my God, that's, great.
Jane (45:20):
Set boundaries in this life and the next.
Heidi (45:26):
Yeah, boundaries matter in this life and the next.
And that's our show You've beenlistening to the Women Are
Plotting.
If you have a story you'd liketo share or have any comments,
we'd love to hear from you.
Email us at info@thewomenareplottingcom, and, of
course, you can find us on allthe socials.
(45:47):
Thanks and until next time.
Be safe and be excellent toeach other.
Welcome listeners.
This is Women Are Plotting.
I'm Etienne Rose Olivier, andI'm here with my friends and
co-hosts Heidi Willis and JaneGari .
Today's episode will be talkingabout our scariest ghost
stories.
Now I have a fun, interestingfact for today's episode.
(00:22):
I asked chat GPT to tell me howmany ghost hunting television
shows have ever existed, and itcouldn't pin the number down,
saying 20 to 30 major series.
It listed 14 popular realityghost hunting shows and my
favorite title that I'd neverheard of was Fear Factor
(00:42):
Paranormal Edition, which ranback in 2012.
It described the show as beinga paranormal spinoff of the
classic reality competition showwhere participants faced
paranormal challenges.
Whatever that means, Heidi,what is your fun or interesting
fact for today?
Heidi (01:01):
So my interesting fact is Einstein actually believed in
ghosts as well.
Yeah, it's kind of funny thesmartest, most logical man in
the world believed that ghostswere real because he knew that
energy was constant and couldn'tbe destroyed.
So, yeah, so he believed inghosts
Etienne (01:23):
oh wow, wait.
So do you think that he actuallythinks that these are like
spirits of the dead, or is itmore of like a multiple universe
,
Heidi (01:31):
the energy doesn't die.
Etienne (01:33):
I was thinking more multiple universe situation.
But okay, energy doesn't die, Ilike that.
Heidi (01:39):
Yeah.
Jane (01:41):
I love that
Heidi (01:43):
don't you?
Yes, yeah, I love that fact tooyou?
Yes, yeah, I love that back too.
I forgot about reading.
I think I read that in hisbiography, but I'd forgotten
about it, and so, rediscoveringthat I was like oh, I love
einstein even more
Jane (01:59):
and he played the violin.
Heidi (02:00):
I know
Jane (02:01):
extra rando, fun fact.
Etienne (02:05):
And his hair was so cool.
Heidi (02:06):
Yeah
Etienne (02:07):
I love that hair.
Jane (02:09):
What a badass he was.
Just smart.
Heidi (02:13):
So himself too, Just silly.
Anyway, that's the fun factabout what is yours?
Jane (02:23):
I'm still just basking in that fact and it makes me feel
better about myself because Ithink I'm pretty smart.
I'm not Einstein smart, but ifhe believed in ghosts, then I
feel in good company and makesme feel less crazy.
My fun fact is that, accordingto a Pew Research study, about
18% of Americans claim thatthey've seen a ghost.
(02:44):
So it's not.
Heidi (02:47):
That's not very fringe.
Jane (02:50):
No, that's like nearly one in five people
Heidi (02:53):
have seen one
Etienne (02:55):
Wait have seen one or believed in, they believe in
ghosts or they've seen one.
Jane (02:58):
No, claim to have seen or been in the presence of a ghost.
Etienne (03:03):
Well, that okay, I wasn't paying 100% attention.
I thought you just saidbelieved in.
Maybe that's why there's somany ghost hunting shows.
Heidi (03:13):
Really it is.
It's popular because if you'veseen one or experienced one,
you're interested in it, becauseonce you experience it, you're
just like I gotta solve thismystery.
What is this?
And that's why you get suckedinto these stupid paranormal
shows, because you're thinkingmaybe they'll find the evidence.
(03:34):
You know, they'll figure thisout finally,
Jane (03:38):
or you just never want to see one again.
I mean it could go the otherway.
Etienne (03:45):
I feel like that was my experience.
I never wanted to see it again.
Heidi (03:50):
Well, I was petrified of ever seeing one.
I thought if I ever see one I'mgoing to die of fright.
So even during the worsthauntings I would keep my eyes
just sealed shut because I waslike I don't want to see you.
I don't want to see you.
So when I actually first saw myfirst ghost in New Orleans, it
(04:10):
was just so random.
She looked like she was just acustomer going into the bathroom
and I follow her thinking, oh,maybe it's a multi-stall
bathroom.
I open the door Nobody's inthere, it's a single stall.
It's a multi-stall bathroom.
I open the door Nobody's inthere, it's a single stall,
nobody's in there.
And I watched her go throughthe like go in the door.
The door closed behind her and,yeah, she totally disappeared.
(04:34):
So it was so crazy because shelooked like a normal person.
Etienne (04:40):
Really.
(05:05):
So she didn't look like she wasin some strange garb or olden
times like situation in here.
Heidi (05:07):
Nope.
I didn't notice anything beingout of the ordinary.
She looked like a regularperson.
So when I opened the door andthere was nobody in there, I
just closed the door and I waskind of in shock, like.
Okay, maybe there's a hiddendoor in here I'm doing, you
know, I'm doing, you know, I'mdoing taking care of going to
the bathroom and washing myhands and I'm like, well, maybe,
maybe I saw the wrong door,maybe there's a different door I
saw, even when I came out andlooked back at that it was the
only door.
Yeah, so that was crazy.
Went almost my entire 40 someyears I think it was 45, 45
years dreading ever seeing theghosts and finally saw it and it
(05:29):
was just looked like a regularperson and I didn't die of
fright.
Etienne (05:33):
You were 45 when this happened
Heidi (05:36):
yeah, yeah, around 45
Etienne (05:38):
oh my god, that's crazy I was not,
Jane (05:43):
didn't you ask
Etienne (05:44):
yeah wait, ask what
Jane (05:47):
heidi didn't you ask the people at the
store about it and didn't theytell you that other people had
seen?
that too.
Heidi (05:52):
No, no, they had no idea that there was any kind of
haunting.
Yeah, they were just like Idon't know.
I'm like, okay, well, I justsaw something, but it's new
orleans like it's so freakinghaunted.
If you ask anybody, do you havea ghost?
they're just like, yeah,probably
Etienne (06:12):
yeah, I would feel like new orleans and like new york
city would probably be the most,just because of they're so old
Heidi (06:18):
well, another fun fact I found out was somebody did a
study of confirmed hauntedlocations and they came to the
conclusion that the us is themost haunted country in the
world, with uk right behind it
Etienne (06:34):
wow, I wonder if it's because we have more people like
why would probably be more thanthe?
Heidi (06:38):
uk more locations, more space, but yeah, more than the
uk
Etienne (06:44):
damn all right america number one, for an interesting
reason there
Heidi (06:53):
We're the most haunted country.
I immediately started thinking.
I'm like, yeah, there's been alot of trauma that's happening
in this in our past, so well,
Etienne (07:04):
yeah
Heidi (07:04):
I think there's a few ghosts who are disgruntled or
don't know.
Etienne (07:08):
Maybe in the South a little bit.
Heidi (07:10):
Yeah, a little bit
Etienne (07:11):
there might be some reasons for some Southern ghosts
.
Heidi (07:16):
There's a lot of trauma that happened.
I mean, look at Gettysburg.
I mean people go there and theyare like, if you don't believe
in ghosts, go to Gettysburg.
Just saying, go there, hang outat night.
Etienne (07:30):
Like in the field.
Heidi (07:32):
I mean.
Etienne (07:32):
I assume it's a field.
Oh my God.
Heidi (07:35):
Yeah, go there at night.
You will quickly believe inghosts, that there's something.
Yeah, yeah
Jane (07:41):
I mean, I live near some battlefields from both the
Revolutionary War and the CivilWar in South Carolina and I went
to a Revolutionary Warbattlefield the Battle of Camden
is not that far from my houseand I was on my way home from
somewhere with my daughter, butshe had ridden separately
because it was a sporting event,so she was on the school bus
and I was driving home by myselfand it was twilight and I
(08:04):
thought, oh, the Battle ofCamden, the battlefield's right
here.
I'll just check it out realquick.
I'm by myself.
And I pulled off the side ofthe road and I got out of the
car and I looked at it and noone else is parked there and
it's a pretty rural area.
This entryway to thatbattlefield park.
There's a couple differententrances.
(08:25):
This one was like just verydesolate, let's say.
And then I immediately got justall hair standing on end.
I'm like what am I doing?
I ran back to my car.
I was like I am breaking all myrules, like why would I do this
?
You know, because I felt it.
I felt like some, some energyand I was like I gotta get the
(08:46):
fuck out of here.
And then, when I was out at mydad's house in kansas.
At the time he lived in thesoutheast corner of kansas where
I don't know if you guys everbleeding kansas there were a lot
of skirmishes between yeah, um,western pushing settlers and
Native Americans, and so I didnot know that my dad lived in
(09:08):
that area and my stepbrother andI were hanging out.
He lived on seven acres andthere was a barn and we were
hanging out in the loft and Ihad brought some marijuana with
me out to Kansas because I wasat the age where that just made
everything better and we justlike got really high in the barn
and I would chalk it up to justlike, okay, we were high, but
(09:32):
it was.
I think what it did is it justmade us more open to this
experience and because we bothsaw the same thing and it wasn't
like we had taken a bunch ofacid or something like that,
like we literally had a coupleof puffs on a joint it wasn't
anything nuts but all of asudden it just felt—it was the
dead of summer.
We were both freezing, justfreezing, and we're looking out
(09:55):
into the field because we hadthe doors of the barn open and
we're up in the hayloft justlike looking out, we're like
it's so beautiful here.
But then all of these peoplewere just like just walking,
just just walking.
And when I say all of thesepeople, I'm talking like 200 and
something people.
And I saw it and I just thought,
Etienne (10:12):
holy
Jane (10:13):
all right.
I was like this is this weed islaced, or something like that.
But I knew it.
I knew it wasn't because myboyfriend at the time used to
grow it, so I knew that and Ihad smoked that particular
strain before and it was notnuts, and I just was not going
to speak and my stepbrother tapsme on the shoulder and he goes
hey, do you see that?
(10:33):
I'm like shut up, don't say it.
I just didn't want him to sayit out loud because I thought if
we don't voice it it's notreally happening.
But they were just walkingtowards us and kept walking
towards us
Etienne (10:42):
Walking towards you, not just
Jane (10:44):
Walking like in this line of just hundreds of people just
walking towards us in betweenthe barn and my dad's house, and
they just kept coming and theyweren't doing anything menacing,
but definitely you could tellold timey clothes and they were
definitely like shimmery lookingand I was like oh my God.
And he just was like run and Idon't know.
(11:06):
But there was nowhere to run,but like through where we were
seeing them, because it was likethe worst game of Hellscape,
red Rover, I guess you couldimagine.
So I just closed my eyes andran like a wild Muppet to my
dad's house, just screaming,just screaming like Kermit the
Frog when we're back, runninglike a crazy person.
(11:31):
And we just screamed all theway to my dad's house and then
he opens the door because he wasjust like he saw us running and
screaming because it was onlylike I don't know, like nine
o'clock at night, he goes.
What the hell are you guys doing?
And my stepbrother's responsewe wanted ice cream.
There's no way he didn't knowthat we were not high Like he
could tell we were high.
I think he was like, whatever,just have some ice cream.
(11:53):
But because I was 21 and mystepbrother was 19 and he just
rolled his eyes, you know,because I'm like how am I going
to explain to my father whatjust happened?
We just ran through all thesepeople Don't you see all the
people.
Etienne (12:07):
So you didn't ever tell him what happened, or did you?
Jane (12:09):
No, and I should have, because my dad told me later
that he saw a ghost in that veryhouse.
That house that he lived in wasbuilt in 1861.
Etienne (12:21):
And wait.
What year did thisstuff happen.
That's a massacre.
Jane (12:23):
That is a good question and I don't know.
I feel like this is highlyGoogle-able.
Heidi (12:29):
This is a good segue into saying that you don't have to
have an older house to have ahaunting, because the house I
grew up in highly haunted fromday one and it was brand new.
This cute little thousandsquare foot ranch that my mom
bought when I was 10 and mysister was 8.
(12:51):
And the first day we move inthere are boots stomping and
pacing the length of the house.
Etienne (13:02):
Oh God, it's only a thousand square feet.
Heidi (13:05):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It was pacing the length of thehouse and there's like a foot
of space in the attic so they'renot walking in the attic and we
would run outside.
Nobody would be on the roof,and it was everybody heard this.
Everybody Family members wouldcome over.
It would happen during the day.
And it was everybody heard this.
Everybody family members wouldcome over.
It would happen during the day,happen at night.
It was crazy
Etienne (13:26):
oh my god
Heidi (13:26):
yeah, so we would hear that all the time lights would
go on and off.
But the scariest one was okay.
So there's two instances thathappened.
First one I was all by myselfand I was recording music off
the radio you know, like the top10 at 10.
So I was recording a song and Iwent to the kitchen and I was
(13:46):
making myself dinner and Iwasn't paying attention to what
was going on, but I did clockthat the song had stopped and
somebody had started talking.
So somebody was talking and Ididn't really pay attention to
what they were saying until theysaid my full name.
Etienne (14:03):
No
Heidi (14:04):
oh yeah, first, middle, last, and, and then it was a
pause and the song started againand I'm like and I thought, did
I win something?
So I'm immediately like I wonsomething.
So let me rewind it and listento it and see what this guy was
talking about before they saidmy name.
And then the song started again.
It was a song throughout thewhole thing.
Etienne (14:27):
Oh, it gave me chills.
Heidi (14:29):
So that was when I was by myself and I could chalk it up
to.
Okay, I imagine that you knowwhatever.
The next incident that happenedwas finals studying with one of
my girlfriends and we were theonly two in the house.
It was finals in the winter, sothat's important to know.
So the windows were all closedup and had plastic on there for
(14:52):
energy efficiency and everythingwas solidly closed up, and
she's at the kitchen tablebehind me and I'm at the stove
making ramen noodles and we'rechatting back and forth and the
only way I can describe it is ifa giant tried to whisper, so
it's really loud, but it's alsoa whisperer.
(15:12):
Said my name, heidi, and I keeptalking.
I'm still stirring the ramennoodles.
I haven't turned back.
I'm still stirring the ramennoodles.
I haven't turned back, I'm juststill talking.
Right, she's grown quiet.
My friend has, and it does itagain.
And I just whip around and Isee her face.
She is gone, ghost white, andshe just says it knows your name
(15:36):
.
And I'm like, oh shit, sheheard it too, so I can't think
it's just in my head, right?
So yeah, we got knives out,like that was gonna protect us.
We went outside thinking, okay,maybe it's boys messing with us
.
But no, there was nobody around.
There was some ghost.
Knew my name
Etienne (15:56):
where were you living?
where was this house located?
Heidi (16:00):
This is in iowa, central iowa
Etienne (16:01):
okay
Heidi (16:02):
where I grew up oh my god
Etienne (16:05):
well wait, could it be like one of those poltergeist
situations where your house wasbuilt on like indian burial
grounds?
Heidi (16:12):
possibly because we were
Etienne (16:13):
dudes one big dude's burial ground
like
Heidi (16:16):
yeah yeah, yeah, the guy with the boots pacing.
But yeah, that was interestingplace to grow up in.
I know because I lived therefrom age 10 till when I left at
age 18 to join the air force
Etienne (16:30):
so eight years of
Heidi (16:32):
uh-huh
ghostly experience, so younever saw him, though, you just
no, no, I guess just the sounds.
Sounds something breathing inmy enough, something breathing
in my ear, yeah,
Etienne (16:42):
Something breathing in your ear that close.
Jane (16:44):
Oh my God.
Etienne (16:46):
How the hell did you?
I don't know if I could bealone in the house ever
it was intense sometimes.
Yeah, and everybody had theirindividual experiences in there.
So, like my sister had her ownexperiences, my mom, yeah.
Oh, my God.
Heidi (17:02):
Yeah, it was a crazy place
Etienne (17:04):
that was frightening.
I was 24 when I saw my ghost.
I was visiting my aunt.
I was staying with her for amonth.
It was April of 1996.
It's like I know exactly whatmonth it was and I think I'd
been staying with her for liketwo weeks at this point and I
was staying in the guest roomand she had this awesome guest
(17:25):
room that had like the best.
I wish I knew what kind ofcurtains these were.
These were like the bestblackout curtains I've ever.
Ever.
The room would be black therewas no.
You didn't know being in there.
If it was day or night, youwould not know.
And I was over 21.
And this was the first time Ihung out with my aunt where I
was, like, able to drink, andshe was kind of a big drinker.
(17:46):
So we would literally have abottle and a half of wine every
night, with whatever we wereeating, and I would go to bed
totally blastedly drunk and Imean I wouldn't blackout, but I
was so drunk.
And I'd always have to.
When I was drinking that much,I'd have to get up early in the
(18:09):
morning, or even three or fourin the morning, to go pee.
This particular morning it wassix o'clock in the morning.
I opened my eyes.
I felt like I had to pee, so Iopened my eyes and again, I
should have mentioned that thiswas a very small room.
This was a very small room likeliterally just the tiny little
bed and a dresser, and not bigat all.
(18:30):
And across the room, as soon asI opened my eyes because I was
going to get out of the bed Isee a woman floating in the air
and she's dressed in like anold-timey nightgown, you know
the kind of nightgown that goesall the way to the ankles.
And she's definitely floating.
She's definitely beyond wherethe corner of the room should be
(18:53):
you know, Like I don't know howthat's possible.
But I mean, I'm seeing this andI'm like, oh my God, and like I
slam my eyes shut and I'msqueezing them.
I'm squeezing them so tight andI'm like fuck, I just kept
thinking I'm going to open myeyes and she's going to be right
there.
Like that's what I keptthinking.
Yeah, that's going to be in myface.
Like why?
And she looked mad at me
Heidi (19:15):
oh shit
Etienne (19:15):
She like what are you doing here?
Was that look on her face?
Like what the fuck?
You know?
like I'm like oh shit, oh god,
Heidi (19:22):
you don't want an angry
Etienne (19:23):
I know I'm like I have to pee so bad, oh fuck, what am
I gonna do?
And like I'm lucky I didn't letmy bladder go like how did I
not pee the bed?
And my aunt hurt because thisthis upstairs is her house was
so tiny, so tiny.
I literally could have justsaid her name in a normal voice
(19:44):
and she would have heard methat's how small this upstairs
area was.
And I didn't.
I laid there with my eyesscrewed shut and holding on to
my pee for like an hour.
Heidi (19:56):
Oh, my God
Etienne (19:58):
An hour, an hour.
I finally was like, was like Ican't, I can't, I gotta go pee,
like do it anymore, I'm like Idon't care if she's there, I
gotta go run, run.
You know like, and I open myeyes and I didn't even look.
I opened my, but I didn't lookthat way.
I was like, get out really,really fast, it'll be fine.
And I peed so fast and then myaunt was already downstairs.
(20:20):
I'd heard her get up, use thebathroom, go downstairs.
I heard all of this and Ididn't get up.
I was still scared.
And I go down and I tell herwhat happened and she's like, oh
, that's your great-grandmother
Jane (20:35):
oh my
Etienne (20:36):
And I'm like what?
What?
She's been dead the whole timeI've been alive.
I think she's like, yeah, Ithink she just like protects me
and stuff, like stuff's happenedaround the house.
And you know like, she told meabout a story, about how her
ex-husband got angry with herone time when they happened to
be hanging out in the basement,and suddenly, out of nowhere,
(20:59):
he looked like he was about tolike grab my aunt is how she put
it and suddenly he got thrownbackwards and he looked fucking
petrified and he ran out of thehouse.
She never asked him whathappened, but she thinks it was
my great grandmother's ghost whowas protecting her.
So that was her big like she'slike, but I've never seen her.
And I'm like she's like you'reso lucky you saw her.
(21:26):
I'm like she was pissed, likeshe was not happy to see me.
I don't want to see her.
Take it back, like take it back,
Heidi (21:28):
take it back, take it back.
Etienne (21:29):
I don't want to.
Heidi (21:29):
Oh my god, he's like the guard, the guard ghost.
Well, like a guard dog
Etienne (21:33):
yeah when I told her like how angry she looked, my
aunt was like well, you know,you look just like your mother
and she didn't like her, shedidn't like your mom and I'm
like great, so she thinks I'm mymother.
So guess who never slept up inthat bedroom again, and I slept
during the day.
I was taking cat naps duringthe day.
(21:53):
I would stay up all night.
I wasn't going into thatbedroom.
My fucking cousins, who livedalso in New Jersey, wanted to
have a seance in that room andI'm like you're fucking out of
your mind.
You guys go up there at theOuija board.
I'm not going.
Jane (22:08):
That's against the rules.
Etienne (22:09):
But here's the thing I was 100% I mean I was at the
time like 100% atheist.
I said this is not funny, thatI'm the one that sees the ghost.
Y'all Like that's not cool.
Don't do this to the atheist.
Like let somebody who believesin like stuff happening when you
die to see the ghost Not me.
(22:31):
It fucked with my head forever,Like forever.
It's still fucking with me
oh my God
And I never saw her again.
I was there for another coupleweeks and, yeah, didn't see her
again.
Would not go into the bedroomby myself.
I made sure my aunt was atleast upstairs in her room or in
the bathroom, doesn't matter.
If I had to go get stuff out ofthat room because I had to keep
(22:52):
my clothes and my suitcase inthere, but not sleeping in there
, no,
Heidi (22:56):
that's so funny that the ghost hated your mom
Etienne (22:59):
not surprising
Jane (23:00):
you look just like her.
Etienne (23:03):
I mean, we'll hear stories about my mom on the
podcast, so it'll make moresense later.
But yeah,
Heidi (23:08):
yeah
Etienne (23:08):
I can't imagine what my mom did to my grandma.
You know it's her grandmother.
I don't know what she did toher, but my mom made friends,
influence people wherever shewent.
So
Jane (23:17):
oh, wow
Etienne (23:19):
sorry
Jane (23:20):
I mean, I had a bedroom scary ghost too, but I had no
choice but to live in thisbedroom.
But before I tell that story, Ijust want to correct myself
with the bleeding kansas thing,because I did look it up.
So bleeding kansas refers tothe period of violent conflict
in the kansas territory.
That happened between 1854 and1861, the year that that house
(23:42):
was built.
But it wasn't a conflictbetween Western moving settlers
and Native Americans.
It was a conflict stemming fromthe Kansas-Nebraska Act and the
debate over slavery, ultimatelyforeshadowing the Civil War,
because the skirmishes thathappened were between pro-slave
and anti-slave movements.
Heidi (24:01):
Yeah
Etienne (24:02):
oh, thank you for looking at it.
I'd never even heard of this,like at all.
Jane (24:05):
Well, I would hate for someone to be listening and
they're hearing someone say thatI'd be like.
That's not what it is, so weknow.
Heidi (24:13):
Jane, factors
Jane (24:13):
we know now
Heidi (24:14):
Fact checks herself
Jane (24:15):
and they get a fact check us.
But the same side of the family, my father.
He saw a ghost in that house,which didn't really surprise him
that much, because he grew upin a haunted house and then that
house on Long Island was thentaken over by my aunt and uncle
and then I lived with them.
I mean, I grew up hanging outin that house.
Every single person on thatside of the family has had an
(24:39):
experience in that house thatthey can't explain, and I've had
many.
So we could have a series ofpodcasts just on my experiences
in that house, but I'm going tonarrow it down to one that was
really frightening.
There were many that werefrightening, but this one was
probably the most frightening.
I moved into that house for mylast year and a half of college
because I had nowhere else to go.
(25:00):
I couldn't afford to live oncampus and that house happens to
be a block and a half away fromthe Long Island Railroad and I
didn't have a car.
So it was like perfect.
I could still go to Stony BrookUniversity and get on the train
and take it all the way out toStony Brook and everything was
going to be fine.
I could just walk everywhereand take trains.
So the first night I'm spendingthe night there.
(25:20):
They have a finished attic.
This house was built at theturn of the 20th century and it
has those half moon windows upin the attic a la Amityville
horror.
And they finished the attickind of.
It's not really well insulatedMaybe it is now but there's a
little sitting room, slopeyceilings everywhere.
Two tiny bedrooms and abathroom.
Etienne (25:43):
Oh wow, they even had a bathroom Damn.
Jane (25:45):
They did have a bathroom but, like I said, slopey, slopey
ceiling.
So you were like duck, so it wasperfect for me because I'm
short.
And my cousin, who at the timewas 16, she had the other
bedroom up there and there was afree bedroom that their
grandmother not the one that weshared, but the one on her other
side of her family.
She used to have the otherlittle room up there until she
(26:08):
died, but she was a sweet, sweetwoman, so I wasn't freaked out
about being in the dead woman'sbedroom until that first night.
Etienne (26:17):
oh no,
Jane (26:18):
I was
Etienne (26:21):
Did she die in the bedroom?
Jane (26:23):
I don't know, I don't think so.
She lived in there until shedied.
I think she might have died inthe hospital.
But I'm in the room just tryingto mind my own business and go
to sleep and you know, you justfeel someone staring at you and
I look at the doorway and theentire doorway is filled by the
shadow of definitely a masculinefigure.
So just imagine a man justsilhouetted.
(26:45):
So it just looked like a shadow, just shadow man Just standing
in the doorway.
Definitely there's no face oranything, but definitely look at
me.
You know I could feel it and Ijust did the same thing.
You guys were like just shutyour eyes, I'm like I'm just
tired.
At first I was in denial.
I was like I'm just tired.
Then I opened my eyes.
Still there, still feel it.
(27:06):
I could feel it.
Etienne (27:06):
Oh God, you were brave enough to open your eyes again.
Idid.
And then I just said the Lord'sPrayer over and over and over
again for a long time, a longtime.
I thought that that would helpme.
It stopped me fromhyperventilating, maybe.
But again, my cousin is in theother bedroom, but it's down
(27:30):
this little hallway and thenthere's a room between us, a
little sitting room between us,and the attic fan is on because
it's summertime, and I'm liketrying to say her name loud
enough for her to hear me.
But who can hear anybody overthe drone of an attic fan, you
know?
And all that could come out wasKate, you know.
Just trying to say her nameloud enough for her to hear me.
But who can hear anybody overthe drone of an attic fan, you
know?
And all that could come out wasKate, you know, just trying to
say her name and just nothing.
Because all I could do is justmutter the Lord's Prayer over
and over again.
I just shut my eyes.
(27:50):
I just kept shut.
I was like I'm just going to dothis until I go to sleep.
Oh God.
Jane (27:55):
I barely barely slept and every time I cracked my eye open
, just it's just still standingthere,
Heidi (28:00):
oh my god
Jane (28:03):
And I also had to pee and I'm like, nope, I'm just going
to sit here, I'm just going togo to sleep and maybe it'll go
away.
So in the morning it wasn'tthere anymore, but I was super
freaked out about it and there'sa happy ending to this story.
If we're allowed to have happyendings, it would get spooky
before.
(28:23):
I'll say the spooky before thehappy.
So the spooky is I godownstairs to have breakfast and
my aunt, uncle, have five kidsand one of them had that bedroom
for a hot minute after hisgrandmother died and then
retreated and resigned himselfto sharing a room with his
brother and he said how did youlike the room?
and I was like
Etienne (28:39):
he didn't say it like that, like he knew
Jane (28:41):
yeah, he did he's like did you like that?
he goes.
I used to have that bedroom.
He's like I didn't like it andI said, uh, why didn't you like
it?
And he said well, there wasthis kind of shadowy figure that
would just like stand in thedoorway and just I swear he was
just watching me sleep and hewas creepy as fuck and I'm like
like awesome, same dude.
So I couldn't even just be likeI was tired, you know, because
now he sees the same thing.
(29:03):
And then another night, likemonths later, my uncle was drunk
.
Now, my uncle grew up in thathouse, right, because it was my
Nana and Poppy's house.
The grandparents I did sharewith that cousin and my uncle
when he was younger had thatroom.
He gets drunk and he was like Idon't know how you sleep in
that room every night and he wasjust like when I was in that
(29:24):
room.
And then he proceeds to tell meabout the shadow man, you know,
and I said you know what theAnyway?
But I never saw the shadow manafter that first night and I
think this is why.
So the next morning I wentdownstairs, heard my cousin tell
me his creepy experiences andthen I was like I don't know if
I can live here.
Like I'm sitting here trying toplan, like are there any
(29:46):
friends I can live with andstill go to college?
Because this is some, I don'tthink I can live like this.
AndI was really upset, but how am
I gonna say I can't live here'cause ghost?
You know, it sounds so stupidwhen you say it out loud.
I went back upstairs and in theroom, in that little room on
the bed, was a house coat Well,like one of those bathrobe slash
(30:09):
house coat for a short, fatperson, and it had Hawaiian
flowers on it.
And I'm like what on earth?
But it was very deliberatelyspread across my bed like a
blanket and I said where didthis come from?
And so I started asking all myfive cousins like did you put a
house coat, like a rando housecoat, on my bed?
And they're like no.
(30:29):
And then I asked my aunt, andall the color drained from her
face and she said show me, showme, show me.
And I was like well, you cancome up and see it.
I'm like it's got tackyHawaiian flowers on it.
And she looks at it and shestarts crying.
She's like this was my mother's, the dead woman who used to be
in that room.
She said we gave away all ofour house coats.
Where did you get this?
And I said I just came in hereand it was spread out like this.
(30:53):
So I just thought you wanted meto have it.
And she goes well, I guess shewants you to have it and she
just was like crying.
So this woman she was verysweet, she was always whistling
and just always in a good moodshe died of natural causes in
her sleep.
I just don't know if it was inthe hospital or in that room,
but regardless I do know that itwas a peaceful passing.
(31:14):
But and I was like OK, thankyou, sass is what everybody
called her.
I'm like I am going to sleepwith this like a blanket over me
every night and I never sawthat stupid shadow thing again.
Etienne (31:27):
Oh, you think, maybe
Heidi (31:27):
she was protecting you,
Jane (31:29):
I think
Etienne (31:29):
or some kind of a
Jane (31:30):
yes She was like use this, it'll
kind of invoke my positivewhistling energy and it'll keep
Shadow man at bay.
Heidi (31:36):
Yeah
Jane (31:49):
and I lived there for a year and a half, and when I went
to move.
I was like I want to take mytacky house coat with me.
It's gone,
Etienne (31:52):
shut up
Jane (31:52):
nowhere,
Etienne (31:52):
no way,
Jane (31:52):
never, never found it.
I was gonna pack it and I wasdoing something else.
Went back nothing.
Nobody knew where it was oh,just gone.
Etienne (31:58):
Oh, you gave me chills.
They're still there
Jane (32:01):
I asked my aunt.
I said where did you do withSass's house coat?
And she said nothing.
It's been on your bed thiswhole time.
And I said it's gone.
And then she just smiled sadlyand said I guess she knows that
you don't need it anymore,
Etienne (32:12):
oh Lord
Jane (32:12):
because you're moving, you know but yeah
Heidi (32:16):
that is a heartwarming end to what started off as like
that could have been reallyscary.
Yeah, like seeing a shadow manevery night
Etienne (32:24):
yeah
Jane (32:25):
yeah.
I was like I can't live likethis
Heidi (32:27):
I can't imagine.
So mine does not have.
Well, I guess it's happy endingthat I don't have this ghost
anymore, but um,
Etienne (32:34):
oh god
Heidi (32:34):
Yeah, I can't even imagine what your life would
have been like, because I washighly haunted for six weeks at
Hollins University one summer.
Etienne (32:44):
Just for Sorry six weeks is a long time,
Heidi (32:48):
it was an eternity.
It felt like an eternity myfirst summer there.
I stayed in the French houseand was taking pictures and
there was like an orb of lightthat you couldn't see with the
naked eye, but you could see itin the camera.
So that happened that firstsummer.
But everything was quiet, likeeverything was great.
So I had such a great time.
(33:09):
I wanted to get that same roomin the same building that
following summer.
So my second summer, firstnight, back in my room in the
french house, something sitsdown on my bed, like you could
see the depression andeverything, and I was like, okay
, it is good night time, so Iturned off the light and I was
(33:31):
just like
Etienne (33:31):
wait, wait
Heidi (33:33):
I just didn't like I turned off the light and just
was like okay, it's bedtime,like I'm just going to ignore
what just happened.
Etienne (33:42):
No, no, no
Heidi (33:43):
yeah.
So it kept doing stuff likethat.
It would shake my bed at night.
It started touching me Like youcould feel brushes against my
skin, and the whole time I'mlike please go away, please go
away, please go away.
And like keeping my eyes closed, because I could feel it in the
room too and I could feel thatit wanted to show itself to me
(34:08):
and I was like, absolutely not,this is before New Orleans.
In fact, the New Orleans ghosthappened like two or three
months after this particularstory happens, so it was really
soon after.
Like, oh, okay, now I finallysaw one, all right, didn't die.
But throughout this whole summerI was like absolutely not, I
(34:28):
don't want to see you becauseI'm still thinking I'm gonna die
of fright.
So I could tell it wanted tocontact me or I don't know,
wanted me to interact with it,and I just wasn't having it like
no.
One night I feel like adisembodied hand go across my
(34:50):
stomach, underneath my breasts,and like cross over my middle
section.
Oh, yes.
So I'm like all right now.
Yeah, this is getting tooinsane and I turn off my light
and I'm like, um, like, in thefetal position on my side on my
bed, facing the wall, and itfelt like not any hands, it felt
(35:15):
curved, so it was almost like abeach ball was shoved into my
back and I got knocked into thewall
Etienne (35:22):
oh my god
Heidi (35:23):
yeah, yeah.
And then so I ended back on myback side and I'm like just
shaking right, like I'm layingon my back with my eyes squeezed
shut, because I just I don'twant to see what's happening,
like I don't want to see what'sweird, Because I could feel it
at my feet and it started movingup my body, Like this presence,
(35:45):
and by the time I got to mystomach I passed out from fright
, Like completely passed out.
Etienne (35:50):
Oh, my God.
Heidi (35:51):
Because the next thing I know I'm waking up the next
morning and I'm like all right,I got to do something about this
thing.
So I got on amazon and gotevery ghost busting kit I could
find
Etienne (36:03):
are there
Heidi (36:03):
that's really
Jane (36:05):
what they sell them.
Heidi (36:06):
Yes
Jane (36:07):
like a proton pack
Heidi (36:09):
no , no, no, like.
You know what I'm saying, like,like a banishment ghosts yeah,
it had sage.
It had sage.
It had some oils, a prayer, acandle, salt to put around your
bed, crystals.
It had everything.
So I did it all.
I saged the crap out of theplace.
I put salt around my bed whichhelped with the shaking.
(36:32):
It wasn't shaking my bedanymore, but you could feel the
presence, like it never left myroom.
You could feel it.
It was hanging out in thecorner.
Etienne (36:41):
Oh God.
Heidi (36:41):
People would come to my room and they would like, yeah,
I can totally sense it, theywould sense it.
And everybody keeps asking likewhy didn't you move?
Why didn't you move to a dorm?
And I just kept thinking it'sgoing to get better.
Like I don't want to move.
(37:10):
All
Etienne (37:10):
this is not a bad boyfriend, this is sorry.
I mean, it sounds like a what isthis technically?
A poltergeist, I don't know.
Heidi (37:14):
Like I don't know, I don't know.
So it got better, like itdidn't attack me again, and I
made it through the summerbarely slept the whole time
because I just was terrified theentire time.
But I made it through the summerand when I packed up my car I
saged the crap out of my car.
When I got home, I saged ourhome because I was like this
thing is not following me backto my house, like no way.
(37:35):
And I had such trauma, likeactual PTSD, from this incident
that I had to take a year offfrom school.
I was just scared to even goback to school and then when I
did go back, I got a condo offcampus that summer.
So because I was just like, no,I can't, I can't do it, but
(37:56):
talking to the people that hadthat same room that following
two summers, nothing hadhappened, so I think it was
something connected to me, yeah.
So I talked to a psychic friendof mine.
I asked her about it and shesaid, yeah, it seemed like it
was somebody that knew you inlife.
Etienne (38:14):
Oh God
Heidi (38:16):
and that's probably why they were mad that I wasn't
acknowledging them or why it gothostile, because it was wanting
me to acknowledge it and see itand, I guess, communicate with
it.
I don't know.
Jane (38:29):
Do you think it was Reed?
He was touching you.
Heidi (38:31):
I know, I know I don't know, yeah.
Etienne (38:36):
Was Reed the name.
Jane (38:36):
Did you ever think that or no?
Etienne (38:39):
I don't know, was reed, the guy that you talked about,
and
yeah, the best sex ever.
Yeah, but why?
Would he be so like it seemskind of violent or
Heidi (38:49):
yeah, I know, I know, yeah, that's why I don't know it
might have been my father.
So oh,
Jane (38:57):
uh-huh,
Heidi (38:58):
because he, I think he died that year.
Etienne (39:00):
So oh christ oh, no,
Heidi (39:03):
yeah so
Etienne (39:05):
so not the best relationship with your father
then?
Heidi (39:07):
no,
Jane (39:08):
okay
Etienne (39:08):
okay
Heidi (39:11):
no, um, but yeah, so it didn't.
Etienne (39:15):
So, if it really does it make sense then?
Then Like what happened to youif it was him Does it fit,
Heidi (39:22):
I guess.
Yeah, kind of Like I'm sure hewould have, yeah, gotten violent
and hostile.
Etienne (39:30):
Oh my God,
Heidi (39:30):
it just felt like a really dark presence.
Etienne (39:32):
You're making me like grateful that my mother didn't
come find me after she died.
Oh my God.
Heidi (39:44):
Yeah, yeah, thankfully I haven't had anything that
intense since.
I'm so grateful, yeah, but Ifeel like it was meant to happen
, because I'm a horror writer,so I could definitely um, right
yeah.
I can write from that place ofjust fear,
Etienne (39:59):
sheer terror
Heidi (39:59):
fear
Etienne (40:00):
sheer
Heidi (40:01):
sheer.
Yeah, because I've gone throughit.
Etienne (40:03):
This sounds like a Stephen King short.
You know what I mean.
This is like a real book.
Heidi (40:09):
I mean I had friends trying to help me.
One girl was a paranormalinvestigator.
She kept saying why don't yourecord something?
I was like fuck, no, because Ijust didn't want to have the
proof.
Now I kind of wish I had youknow, I wish I had documented
some of it.
Etienne (40:24):
Yeah, you could have had all the things that they
have on those ghost huntingshows.
Heidi (40:27):
Yeah, oh yeah, because you could see it sit down.
Etienne (40:32):
Oh my God,
Heidi (40:37):
it was yeah, yeah,
Etienne (40:38):
damn
Heidi (40:39):
Well.
In doing you know EVPs, whichis electronic voice phenomenon,
I can imagine I would havepicked up something if I'd done
some recording, but I was justso.
I mean, I was so petrified likeconstant fear.
It was the summer, from hell,like really from hell.
Etienne (40:57):
My God,
Heidi (40:58):
I don't know how I made it through.
Well, I know how I made itthrough.
Well, I know how I made itthrough.
My friend had some weed, so Igot high a few times and, like
forgot about it.
I was able to sleep thosenights like for real.
Jane (41:17):
That would have made it worse for me Because, like with
the story I told you about inKansas, I felt like it made me
more open you know because therewere many times where, like I,
would smoke a little bit andthen you read somebody's tarot
cards and have an experienceduring that reading that I feel
like wouldn't have happenedotherwise, and been able to see
(41:38):
and feel and perceive thingsthat I don't think I would have
otherwise, or be in a place, andthen back to the Einstein thing
, to feel the energy that Ithink was there before you know,
there'd be times where I'd govisit a historic place not
knowing anything about it, andthere was a time in my life
(42:01):
where I wouldn't go to a museumunless I got high for a stone.
This is going to make it so muchbetter.
Yes, go look at some stuff.
And I remember going to thePlanting Fields Arboretum for
the first time on Long Islandand walking around those grounds
and taking a tour of the houseand I kept hearing little kids
laughing.
There were no kids there thatday.
Coincidentally, that was thesame place that I also did
(42:24):
ayahuasca.
Etienne (42:26):
I was like is that the same place it's got to be?
Jane (42:29):
It is.
It is.
It's one of my favorite placesin the world.
It's so beautiful.
There's so many different kindsof plants from all over the
world Wonderful place to gethigh.
Heidi (42:36):
Yeah
Jane (42:40):
but definitely I would feel not a bad presence.
It was good it was they were.
And then you learn about thefamily and that they did have
kids and they were happy andthey were running around.
I'm like, okay, that tracks.
But I mean little things likethat.
But you say like that, seeingsomeone sit down on the bed like
that happened to me when I wasvery little and it didn't scare
(43:04):
me at all because it was mygreat-grandmother
Etienne (43:06):
oh yeah, that'd be different
Jane (43:07):
see, yeah she yeah, she didn't look mad at me like yours
did she had been very sweet tome when I was very little and
then she passed away.
when I was six, I want to say,and I just remember, she'd sit
next to me on my bed and Iwouldn't, I wouldn't see her,
(43:30):
but I would feel her and I wouldsee the bed just kind of
depressed next to me and thenshe would sing to me and I would
fall asleep.
Etienne (43:37):
oh, my God,
Jane (43:40):
my mom would read me a story, because that was bedtime
routine, and then I would askher if I could wear Granny Mae's
necklace, and she would let me,because it was the 70s and
people didn't care about kidsmaybe choking having a necklace
around their neck at night.
And I would put this necklacearound my neck and I would think
about her and I would just kindof lay on my side and then she
(44:06):
would come and hang out, sing mea little song and I wasn't
scared at all.
But if that happened to me nowI would probably shit myself,
like I just would be like what.
So I think that that's sad,that sometimes, and even if it's
a negative energy, it's likeyou're wondering okay, do they
need help, like what's going on,because if that was a live
person, you would just say, hey,boundaries man, you'd have a
conversation.
I'm like, could it work thatway?
I don't think I have the courage.
Heidi (44:28):
My friend said this is why I feel better about it.
Like if any of that hauntingstuff were to happen today, like
I would feel more confidentdealing with it Because now I
know that we're more powerful,like we can tell the entities no
leave.
Like you know, I have theseboundaries and no touching me.
(44:49):
Because when I started takingmediumship classes, something
grabbed me awake one morning andI was like absolutely not, you
will not come and wake me, shakeme awake.
I have office hours.
Like come find me.
Seriously, don't mess with mewhile I'm sleeping.
It petrified me.
(45:09):
So yeah, my friend Candice andI, we set some boundaries and
the ghosts they've beenfollowing it.
Etienne (45:17):
oh my God, that's, great.
Jane (45:20):
Set boundaries in this life and the next.
Heidi (45:26):
Yeah, boundaries matter in this life and the next.
And that's our show You've beenlistening to the Women Are
Plotting.
If you have a story you'd liketo share or have any comments,
we'd love to hear from you.
Email us at info@thewomenareplottingcom, and, of
course, you can find us on allthe socials.
(45:47):
Thanks and until next time.
Be safe and be excellent toeach other.
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