Lost in the Wilderness: Childhood Courage and Nighttime Tales

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:14):
I must have been around seven or eight years old
when my mother enrolled me in Girl Scouts and we
went on an outdoor mission the first week after school ended.
I know there were real Girl Scout camps, but there
weren't any in my area. Some older members were exploring
the idea of starting one, but for this trip, they
rented a spot in a regular camping ground and sent

(00:35):
us off. My mother had been a Girl Scout since
she was a little girl, and she became a counselor
during her college years. She wanted me to join too,
because she still had friends from those times and said
that I could use the social skills. I wasn't a
huge introvert, but I wasn't the life of the party either.
Our counselors must have been in their mid twenties or

(00:56):
at least over eighteen. They were all girls. I noticed
there quickly that some of us weren't especially suited for
the wilderness, despite what the Scouts were supposed to represent.
But it was one thing to catalog flowers in your
friend's mom's big garden, and a whole other to truly
try to survive in the woods. We were around thirty

(01:16):
little girls being managed by three eighteen to twenty year olds.
I understood faster than others that our counselors weren't as
dedicated to the task as the people who were normally
in charge during the school year. My first as a scout,
we had an older woman as a troop leader. I'll
call her Missus Evans. She was essentially training the younger

(01:37):
ones who became our counselors, but didn't come with us
on that excursion, and my peers started to notice the
indifference of our counselors soon enough. One of those girls
was Tana. She was a natural leader, even at eight
years old. Some people just have it, and it wasn't
because she was popular. She was organized and could take charge.

(01:58):
I'm sure that attitude is sir her well wherever she is,
but that summer trip could have messed us all up.
It was day three and Tna had managed to get
on the radar of one of those counselors. I'll call
her Paula. As luck would have it, Paula was Missus
Evanson's granddaughter, big cliche, the NEPO baby who doesn't care anyway.

(02:21):
Another thing that made us all admire Tana was that
she knew how to talk back. I don't know if
she did it at home, but she stood up for
herself even when it would have been more convenient to
just shut up and take it. Paula hated that Tana
corrected her, and did it often. Even when Paula grimaced
and spoke through her teeth. Tana didn't care, and soon
enough we were all snickering at how angry Paula got

(02:44):
every time she was wrong. It was small inconsequential things
like not knowing the real name of a plant and
how a compass works in real life. The worst happened
during a longer hike. Paula was leading the entire thirty
girls on her own. The other counselors stayed back to
prepare for another activity they had planned, otherwise known as

(03:04):
doing nothing and smoking weed. But I didn't understand any
of that until Tna told us later. She was also
more knowledgeable street smart than the rest of us. Anyway,
about an hour into the hike, we were fully lost.
Paula had a map in her hands, but she turned
it in her hands many times, and she got her
phone out, but there wasn't enough data to get Google

(03:26):
Maps working. Some of the girls raised their hands with
suggestions like miss Paula, let's look for moss on the
side of trees, let's follow the tracks back, let's do this,
et cetera, and Paula lost her last nerve, screaming, shut up,
I know what I'm doing and you don't. And you
may ask who else lost her marbles, Well, Tna did.

(03:48):
She laughed loud and echoing through the trees, and she
said things like, you've no idea what you're doing. I
can't believe you're even related to missus Evans. I think
Paula was two seconds away from slapping the mouth out
of Tna. But that little eight year old took the
map out of her hands, told us to follow her
and walked, and we followed. As we walked, Tana explained

(04:12):
how to fine clues in the forest, actual very important
things that we should know to try and survive in
the wilderness. And we were back in the camp in
no time. We all cheered, clapped, and hugged Tana, saying
that she was the best, that she should be a counselor.
Paula heard it all as she stomped past us and
beyond to the other councilors. One of them told us

(04:33):
to rest and get ready because we had other stuff
to do that day. But we had barely changed and
chatted a little before Paula called Tana out. I knew
that what was coming wouldn't be good, but they made
the other girl stay near the camp site. I didn't
see it, but here's what happened. Paula and another councilor
took Tana to the small meadow. They tied her to

(04:55):
a beach chair one of them had brought, and then
paled on to the ground. They proceeded to slap Taana's
face until their hands hurt, and left her there for hours.
They returned telling us that Tana had a special task
for the group and wouldn't be joining us for some time.
But at night we grew concerned, and I wasn't brave

(05:18):
or really a leader, But when other girls said that
they would sneak past the counselors to see if they
could find Tna, I went along and we found her quickly.
That day had been scorching. Tana's face wasn't only red
from the slaps, she was sunburned to a crisp and
thirsty like nothing else. One of us had thought about

(05:39):
bringing water and she gulped it down pretty fast. I
had never imagined any adult would be capable of such
a horrible act. We untied Tana, took her to the tent,
and one of us had a phone, Christie, because her
mom was very paranoid about things, and we called her
and soon all the parents were informed. Missus Evans arrived

(06:01):
at the camp site a few hours later. She guided
us to the parking lot where several parents had volunteered
to come get us and carpool around and till we
all got home. Tana's parents wanted to press charges on
Paula and her friend, but I am not sure what
happened with that. They must have reached a settlement because
I never heard of any escalation, court hearing, or even

(06:23):
an arrest. Missus Evans had to quit Girl Scouts. Sadly.
I felt bad for her because she was an awesome woman,
but her granddaughter had been involved. There was no coming
back from that. And meanwhile, I also begged my mother
to quit. She allows it because of what happened was
just too horrible for words, and after that she let

(06:44):
me develop my social skills. However, I wanted and rest
assured that group activities were never my thing again. When
I was sixteen, my family went on a vacation to

(07:06):
Cancoon with a big chunk of our extended family. It
was an all inclusive package, so we never left that hotel.
Our days consisted of sleeping, eating, and going to the
beach right by the hotel, because my family didn't want
to spend a single penny more too, I donno explore
the beautiful city. You must know that sleeping after a

(07:27):
day at the beach or a pool hits a little harder.
You're in bed and you feel like you're stow in
the water, but you're more tired than ever, so you
sleep like the dead. Some days I didn't even notice
how tired I was until I woke up the next morning.
My parents would wake me so we didn't miss the
hotel breakfast, which closed at nine a m. One night
was very strange, though we stayed up much later than usual,

(07:51):
and I was nodding off. I had stayed with my
aunt and some of my cousins, talking about the stars
and the darkening beach and how pretty everything was. I
wanted to ask my aunt if we could try to
take a bus and see more of the city. Can't.
Coon is a touristy place, so it really wouldn't be dangerous.
But my aunt and her husband were wishy washy, and

(08:11):
I get it years later. Going on a vacation with
your whole family is pretty expensive, so and all inclusive
was the best way to do it. If we went out,
we would undoubtedly want to spend money or eat somewhere,
and that just wasn't in the budget for any one.
But they told me they might want to go somewhere
on our last day. I smiled at her, and honestly,

(08:32):
I don't remember much of the rest of the night.
I was really sleepy, and I went with them back
to our rooms. My aunt and her family had been
given rooms on the floor right below us. I don't
know how or what happened, but the next thing I knew,
I was waking up and thinking that it was in
my aunt's room. So I got up from bed, went out,
took the elevator, and knocked on our room door. I

(08:55):
was calling out to them, saying mom, Dad, yelling my
sister's name, and banging on that. It was probably around
four a m. The door swung open and I stumbled
slightly inside. Two big hands grabbed me, and I thought
it was my dad. I told him I slept in
my aunt's room and I was sorry, but I suddenly

(09:15):
focused and it was like bam, an instant chill ran
through me. A folly naked man with the hairyest chest
I had ever seen at sixteen was there. I'm focusing
on the hair because I don't want to talk about
everything else that I saw for the first time ever
as well, and he was angry and he looked like

(09:36):
he had just woken up. But all I thought was
what did you do to my parents? Why was he
naked in our room? And also why was he still
grabbing me? I then asked him, what are you doing here?
He looked at me strangely and stepped closer, but I
just bolted out of there. I went down to the
lobby and there wasn't anyone around to help me. I

(09:59):
thought about young for some one, but I dunno. I
was just confused for some reason, so I sat down
and tried to breathe. I don't know how I fell
asleep again, but I woke up after my sister slapped
my head incredibly painfully. She started to berat me, saying,
are you crazy. How can you just sleep here? I

(10:19):
tried explaining myself, and she told me that I was
never in my aunt's room. I had gone to our room,
just like always, and she felt me lying down next
to her. But I swear I had almost seen my
aunt and her husband sleeping in the other bed when
I woke up and left. I spent the rest of
our vacation thinking about what had happened. My sister told everyone,

(10:41):
and they all laughed at my expense. My aunt confirmed
that they had gotten out of the elevator before me,
so they assumed that I had gone to my room.
After teasing me for a bit, they all concluded that
it must have been just some sleep walking episode. I
never told her or any one about the naked man,
but I thought about him. Anything could have happened to

(11:02):
me waking up a random dude as a sixteen year
old girl in the middle of the night on vacation
and basically falling into his arms, and I'm just so
glad that he let me go. Also, nothing similar has
ever happened to me. Again, I didn't have a sleepwalking disorder,
thank god, But whenever I go to hotels or other vacations,

(11:22):
I have a little ritual of checking the door number
before falling asleep. My husband says it's OCD, but I
say it's being careful. I went to a summer camp
where everyone slept in these huge tents. Around ten children

(11:47):
fit into one, and we had beds, but we wrapped
ourselves in sleeping bags on top of the mattresses. There
was only one building on the entire grounds, and it
served as a councilor headquarters, recreationary, and dining hall, etc.
Even the toilets were out houses, although they were much
cleaner than the porta potties I've had to use at concerts.

(12:08):
One night, I woke up because I had to pee.
It was pretty dark and scary, so I hurried out,
did my messiness, and was on my way. When I stopped,
I saw a man holding a torch, a literal torch
from movies with fire and everything. He opened the flap
of one of the boy's tents and shined that light inside.

(12:30):
I thought that he must be the security guard at
the campsite, and I didn't want to get in trouble,
so I walked briskly away. My feet stepped on a branch, however,
and he turned to look at me. It was almost
comical if it wasn't terrifying, and he looked surprisingly spooped too,
and I just walked to my tent as fast as
I could through the fabric. I saw him going away,

(12:54):
and I hoped that he wouldn't wrap me out for
being outside so late. I was an anxious kid, and
I was worried all night about getting punished and being
excluded from activities because I wanted to pee, and I
even rehearse what I would say to the councilors if
they called to scold me. And since I couldn't sleep
at all because of my anxiety, I saw the light
torch going back and forth through the campsite. It only

(13:18):
made sleeping more difficult because I expected him to come
back and check our tent. When the sun started to rise,
my eyes shut for just a little while before we
were all woken up for the day, and by lunch,
I couldn't even hold my head up until I saw
two female counselors approaching me and asking what was wrong.
They took me to the side, and only later I

(13:38):
learned that they wanted to see if I needed the nurse,
But at the moment I blurted that I had gone
out last night to pee. I had seen the camp
security guard with his fire torch, and I was worried
that I would get in trouble with everyone here because
he saw me. I also told them that I had
seen the guard doing their rounds all over the site,

(13:59):
and I I hoped that he wouldn't check on the
girl's tent going forward, because he would wake me up
easily and it was hard for me to fall asleep again.
I said all of this very quickly, and I said
all of this hoping that they'd listened, because I didn't
want to repeat myself. I was breathing hard as I
opened one eye and sneaked a look at their faces,

(14:19):
and I only saw this weird look of confusion and horror.
One of them asked what security guard. I told them
it was a man who had a real fire torch
and was looking through the boy's tent when I walked
back from the outhouses, and they looked mortified and told
me to go back to my lunch while they ran

(14:39):
off somewhere. I went to the table and talked to
the others about the security guard, and only one other
kid had seen a light late at night. He was
glad it was just the guard because he thought it
was something scary. But after lunch, the director of the
camp made an announcement that we would pack all of
our things up because our parents were coming for us.

(15:01):
We were all so disappointed why what happened, and all
we could do was speculate. A girl in our tent
said that it must be bad weather coming or something,
so it was just better to go home. But we
still had many days left. That was pretty sad. We
saw cars arriving and it was a bit disastrous, but
my mom hugged me tightly and didn't let me go

(15:23):
in the car for a while. Nothing else was said,
and I never went to any sleep away camp again.
Years later, I ran into a girl from that tent.
Her name was Cherry, and she was older than most
of us. I was shy and didn't talk to her
much that summer, but she remembered me and we reminisced

(15:43):
a little about that summer camp, and I wish I
had gone to others, but Cherry said that there was
no way our parents would ever allow that after what
had happened. I asked her what she meant, because as
far as I was concerned we had been sent home
because of weather. I never questioned, she says, No. The
councilors discovered that a man who had been released from

(16:07):
prison around that time was living in a shack near
that camp spot. No one knew until someone me alerted
them about a man lurking outside with a torch at night.
Cherry went on to add that he was a registered
sex offender. So yeah, the camp had to close down.

(16:28):
She told me that she had begged her parents to
go to another camp for years, but they wouldn't allow it.
When she whined and prodded, they had come out with
the truth, and that truth shut her up pretty quick
and had shut me up too. Do you know why

(16:51):
Stranger Think Season one was so popular because it used
to be our lives? Obviously without the upside down and
paranormal stuff. But once upon a time, all we did
was ride bikes and spend time with our friends, looking
for adventures or pretending we were on one. This was
particularly true for me during the summer. I'm sorry for

(17:13):
sounding like a complete boomer, but I don't see kids
these days doing that. I know that's in part because
of technology, the internet, PlayStation streaming, blah blah blah. I
also suppose parents are a lot more careful than they
used to be. My parents didn't care where I was
as long as I wasn't bothering them at home. I've
talked to some neighbors lately, and they seem worse than

(17:35):
helicopter parents. It's like someone is going to snatch their
babies away at any minute, like a hawk with a
tiny dog. My wife and I are child free, so
we'll never have that problem. And I like it because
I couldn't stomach the idea that I'd have to restrict
so much of my kid's freedom. My best memories came
from those times when my friends around my old neighborhood

(17:58):
got away and did secret stuff behind our parents back.
Some things were not something any adult would approve of.
We stole adult magazines, but there's even more access to
that today. I guess, Yeah, the world is scary, but
most of the time we were being kids and expanding
our imagination. I remember one particular summer was the most

(18:19):
fun and the one that reminded me so much of
stranger things later on. Now, let me start by painting
a picture of where we lived. It looked like the
Edward scissor Hands town, but not so colorful. There was
also an abandoned house at the far end, but it
wasn't on a hills, so that one looked more like
the one in the new It. Yes, there was a

(18:40):
story to that house, and everyone knew it. A couple
of years before my time, an old woman died in there,
and her body decomposed for some time before the smell
reached the neighbors. They got her, got the house cleaned up,
and it was put up for sale. No one bought it.
It randomly burned down one day, which left it with black,

(19:00):
dark gray outside walls, and they gave up trying to
sell it. My family moved to that neighborhood years later,
and by the time I had any kind of consciousness,
I knew everyone avoided that place that summer. I won't
tell you the exact date. My buddies and I, eleven
to thirteen years old, were somehow obsessed with Monopoly. I know.

(19:21):
I said before that my friends and I looked for adventures,
so we should have been playing Dungeons and Dragons like
that show. But no, we like Monopoly because it was
also a pretty long game. One of my friends Jonas
had made us start playing because his dad told his
mom that it was a smart game and would help
him in life. His mom was very strict, unlike the

(19:43):
rest of our folks, but with that game, he got
to have us all in his room for hours, playing
almost every day without an issue. But anyway, one night
we finally got bored because most of us went bankrupt
and only two were left. In this weird stalemate, we
packed up the game and talked about owning houses in
real life. Jonah said that he would be happy with

(20:04):
his parents place. I wanted something bigger because my house
with my four siblings was way too small. Another friend,
Gary said that he wanted something close to the city,
like a penthouse or condo because they looked so fancy
to him. But he wanted a beach house too for vacation.
So his plan was to make a lot of money,

(20:24):
and we all agreed that we would all have a
ton of money and do whatever we wanted. Suddenly, one buddy,
Patrick asked if any of us would buy the abandoned house.
We laughed obviously not, but he said, think about. It
is the cheapest house in the neighborhood. It was also
the biggest plot. He would tear it down and do

(20:44):
whatever he wanted with the land, and I said that
I would never because the house was obviously cursed. Any
One else could have bought it all these years, but
they didn't for a reason. Saying things like that at
our age gets you teased or mocked in any group
of friends, and I was embarrassed. But I said something like,
if you guys are so brave, let's go there right

(21:05):
now and check it out. Ah. That got him quiet
real quick, and I laughed, See, you guys are too
scared because I'm telling the truth. Patrick started shaking his finger,
saying that he wasn't scared at all. He added that
we should all go right then and there to explore,
and Jonas said that there was no way his mother

(21:26):
would let him go out with us so late. It
wasn't late, it was just night time already. The other
two friends I haven't mentioned were Charley and Christian. They
were twins, and they agreed with Patrick, and I couldn't
back down, so I said, screw it, let's go. We
planned a sneak out of Jonas's window so his mom

(21:46):
would think that we were still in there playing. Jonas
felt a little rebellious, so he joined and we climbed out,
making a ton of noise, and I don't know how
missus Jonas's mom didn't hear us. We got our bikes
and walked the further away until we could ride. Now,
remember that moment felt so exhilarating. Even though I had

(22:06):
believed the stories about that house, the idea of going
with my friends on an adventure on a hot summer
night was like nothing in the world. It was very freeing.
We peddled, but as we got closer to the house,
we saw a small light flickering in one of the windows.
I almost fell forward on my bike because I hit
the brakes way too hard. The rest followed my lead,

(22:28):
their bikes echoing that metallic screeching that's so recognizable. I
told them, wait a minute, someone's in there. Jonas's rebellion
suddenly wore off pretty quickly, and he said that he
wanted to go back. Patrick responds, well, let's see who
it is, and Charlie and Christian agreed. Now Gary says,

(22:49):
let's go back and tell Jonas's mom, and they all
look at me. I wanted to leave, but also not
I was morbidly curious, so I said, let's just take
a peek inside. Others asked how we were going to
do that, so I told them that we would leave
our bikes, crawl into the garden, just like we did
to get out of Jonas's house, and take a look
through the window. Jonas didn't want to do that. Patrick

(23:14):
asked him what was the worst that could happen, and
Jonah said that the ghost of the old lady could
be there. Patrick rolled his eyes, saying, those don't turn
on lights. They went back and forth for a while,
so I told Jonas, hey, you and Gary can go back,
act like we're still around, and the rest of us
will do this quickly and we'll be back soon. Jonas

(23:35):
and Gary nodded and they left, And so the remaining
four of us left our bikes on the sidewalk and
jogged silently to this abandoned house. And the smell hit
me hard because I had pressed my body too close
to the walls. Years had passed, but I could smell
the smoke. I started coughing, and Patrick covered my mouth,
giving me this look. I managed to remain quiet, but

(24:00):
one smelled that smoke too. It was such a weird odor,
but we kept going. We reached a window that was
reflecting a bit of light and stayed down beneath the
window sill. And now that we were closer, it was
clear that the light came from a candle. I whispered
asking who would peek first, and the twinds shook their head,

(24:20):
so this was between me and Patrick. He said that
he would do it after hesitating a second, and started
lifting his head, and he came down quickly and said
someone was definitely there. Who I asked, A man, I think.
Patrick said okay, I'll look, and I did. It was

(24:41):
like a dark shape covered in clothes and I think
a blanket. He was sitting on the floor with his
body hunched almost over the candle, and something was in
his hands. I didn't understand what he was doing. I
got down and told the guys what I had seen,
and described the item in the man's hands. Patrick peeked again,
and staying there a while, he knelt after and said,

(25:04):
I think it's something like to inhale. I think he's smoking.
I was confused, so I went up again, but when
I did, I only saw the figure for one second
before he turned his entire body towards me. I got
spooked a bit until another larger figure came right to

(25:25):
the window, and at that point all hell broke loose.
I screamed, Patrick screamed, the twins screamed, and we all
ran off to our bikes. We didn't stop screaming until
we got close to Jonas's house, and we lost all
sense of pretense. We knocked on the door and told
Missus Jonas's mom everything about that house. Gary and Jonas

(25:48):
came out of his room and were all scared, but
Jonas's mom called the other parents, and someone called the cops,
and the long and short of it is those two
guys were a pair of junkies who had been squatting
in the abandoned house for a few days before we
discovered them. We got in trouble naturally, and we tried
to say that Gary and Jonas didn't come with us,

(26:10):
but Jonas's mom wasn't an idiot. She grounded him and
we didn't get to see him for two weeks, which
was a lot in summer time. Someone in the neighborhood
managed to get the house torn down and it was
just a barren place for a while. I was told
someone bought the land years later and made a new home,
and they still lived there, so I guess maybe there's

(26:32):
no curse. I know this little moment in time wasn't much,
but these are the stories that you talk about when
you're older, the crazy things that you did with your
friends in the summer, and I often wish that we
could go back there. When I was thirteen years old,

(26:57):
it was the only time that I was ever sent
to some camp. All my friends from school went constantly,
but the camp they frequented was too expensive for my parents.
They managed to find a cheaper one that only lasted
one week, and I got excited about the idea, even
though it wouldn't be my friend's summer camp. I thought
about the stories that I could tell them once the

(27:18):
new school year started, and it was tons of fun.
The camp site was near a lake, so we had
several water activities. I got close to my cabin buddies
and we were planning on pranking the boys, but we
never got to that part because I ended up scaring them. Later.
On the third night of our stay, our head counselor
took all of us out far past our curfew to

(27:41):
sit around a camp fire we roasted marshmallows the works.
But then he asked if anyone knew a scary story.
Almost all the boys lifted their hands, wanting to tell
theirs first. The councilor pointed at each of them, and
they began one by one. One boy told a story
about a bear who sneaked into a cabin one night

(28:02):
and snatched a kid away. Another had a tale about
an old woman who was the founder of a campsite
and had been killed by evil camp goers as revenge
for punishing them. That one was pretty intense, but it
was the head counselor's story that got stuck in my mind.
It was about a man who lived far away from
the city, cut off from everybody because his instincts told

(28:24):
him that every other person was a monster. He couldn't
see people normally like the rest of us. He saw
them as dangerous creatures who were out to get him.
The only way to save himself was to take an
axe and cut off each of the monster's limbs and
run away. Someone asked the head counselor if the man
saw kids as monsters too, and of course he said yes.

(28:47):
Others asked more questions, like where was his house, or
if the guy had a disease in his eyes or something.
The head counselor didn't have many answers for much, but
he told us to remember that most scary stories told
across campsites and almost every country have some basis and truth.
He said, our parents don't let us go out at
night alone because evil people did exist. Bad guys were real,

(29:12):
and we were all just captivated by what he said.
I believe he said those things because the boys had
been sneaking out past curfew and getting into trouble in
the woods, so he must have organized this little campfire
experience to teach us a lesson in a way that
we would listen. I thought it was a good idea.
I wasn't the kind to go out into the woods anyways,

(29:32):
but we had been hoping to prank the boys past bedtime.
When we returned, I talked to my cabin girls and
we decided not to do anything because we didn't want
anyone to call our parents and ruin our camp time.
And then we all just went to sleep, too tired
because it was much later than our usual sleep time.
But some time later, I remember waking up I heard

(29:56):
a noise outside Now, this campsite had woods, although they
weren't so dense, but it was still possible for wild
life to be out there and hurt you. I closed
my eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but
I felt like something walked past me. I opened my
eyes again and lifted my torso a bit to see
the head Counselor walking past our windows outside. Why was

(30:20):
he outside still? And now this part is the strangest.
I don't know if I dreamt it, but I remember
the head Counselor coming into our cabin, meaning opening the
door and flashing his light inside. The brightness didn't pass
through me. He must have not seen me awake, but
I noticed that he was holding something large like a
stick in his other hand. I saw his face despite

(30:44):
the darkness, and his eyes were huge, like he was
looking for something urgently. He didn't find whatever it was,
because he turned, closed the door silently and left. I
don't know what he was doing or what happened. And
the next next day, the other girls had no idea
what I was talking about. They were all dead asleep.

(31:04):
After the fire, I asked some boys if they had
seen the councilor roaming about their cabin, but no one
had seen him, so in my mind I came up
with two theories. Either the head counselor was playing an
elaborate prank after telling us the story of the axe
men at the campfire like a warning for the campers
who loved sneaking out into the trees. Or I was

(31:25):
dreaming because he told us that story. If it was
a prank, though it failed because everyone was asleep, but
the image of him coming into our cabin is so
vivid that I still have a hard time believing that
it was a dream. When Airbnb first became popular, I

(31:52):
thought it was the greatest idea imaginable. I wanted to
take a summer vacation somewhere without spending too much because
I live in the loudest, most child populated residential building
in the world, and I swear to God, you had
to be careful some mornings, particularly in the summer, of
kids running around with water guns. Going somewhere to relax

(32:12):
on my own without having to deal with other families
and their unruly kids sounded fantastic. I found this great
spot too. It was a little beach house in the
details in the apps said that it wasn't a tourist town,
so it was never high season, and that was perfect,
and so I booked it at a great price and
asked for my PTO and went on my way. It

(32:34):
was somewhat far off, but I realized that getting out
of the city was my only option for some peace
and quiet. I even passed some beaches and cringed at
the number of cars in the parking lot alone. It
just wasn't for me, so I kept going. But as
I drove, I realized that I was getting way, way
out of the city, and I started to worry. My

(32:56):
GPS said that I was going in the right direction,
but I was leaving civilization behind. I stopped and got
out for a second to stretch my legs. For one second,
I felt like I had stumbled into some cowboy movie,
except a little grayer. I tried calling the airbnb house,
but they didn't answer, so I got back in my

(33:17):
car and kept driving. Finally I saw the destination was
closer on my GPS, and I gasped. It was the
same little house that I had seen in the photos,
except it looked much tinier and lonelier than the app showed.
I parked in front and looked around. Ah. Yes, that's

(33:37):
how I saw that it could technically be called a
beach house, but it just wasn't the kind of beach
anyone could use. First, there was no access to it.
What I mean is that the tiny house set on
this odd low cliff. There was big moldy rocks beyond that,
and stone and sand before you got to the water.

(33:58):
And therefore, the tiny beach house that I had rented
in the never high seasoned town was a place in
the middle of nowhere, next to the sea that I
couldn't even swim in. Did they lie about it on
the app? Not exactly, but it was a fake advertisement
for shore and I grabbed my phone to complain, but
my mobile data wasn't working. I went inside and tried

(34:19):
to find the Wi Fi, but no no Wi Fi either.
I tried calling, and no one answered me. Once more,
I looked around and saw that the interior was the
only part the app hadn't lied about. It was pretty
comfortable and had an air conditioning. I turned it on
and I enjoyed that, and I thought to myself that

(34:40):
perhaps this was what I truly needed. I loved the beach,
but going into that water would be impossible and a
little dangerous. Yet a little piece and quiet to self
reflect wouldn't be so bad. I grabbed my things from
my car and settled in the kitchen worked. The bathroom
had excellent water flows, surprisingly, and there was some kind

(35:00):
of cable on the TV, but it didn't have the
best image. So the first thing I did was make
myself something to eat with the groceries that I had
brought for my stay here, and I took a chair outside.
I sat by the window and enjoyed the sound of
the waves and it was excellent until it wasn't. Night
fell quicker than I expected and it got eerily quiet,

(35:24):
but I told myself it was exactly what I wanted
and needed. I went inside, took a long shower, and
settled down to enjoy the air conditioning and just think
about life. And that's when the power went out. I
told myself that it would come back soon, but it didn't.
Two hours went by and the tiny house got way

(35:44):
too hot despite our location. I looked for anything, candles
are something, and I just found nothing. I had to
use my phone light and open as many windows as
possible and plus the doorway, and that helped because the
breeze of the ocean was soothing, but it was way
too dark to make me feel safe. I tried calling
my hosts again and they still didn't answer. In my head,

(36:08):
I was already planning my serious complaint to the airbnbs
so I could just get this listing out of there.
The night continued, and everything the breeze moved sounded like
something stranger. I was only glad the moon was shining
so brightly, and I made a cold sandwich just to
pass the time. Something like a bird flew close by

(36:28):
and squeaked. Although I've been told that most birds are
usually asleep at night, I could have been an owl,
and I refused to think about what else it could be.
I finally decided to go to bed and try to sleep.
I had to close the door to sleep, but the
window was next to the bed, so it would help
with the heat, I hoped. I lay on the stiff
mattress longer than I wanted, watched the strange shadows that

(36:51):
wove from outside into the walls, and I listened to
the quiet that was never fully quiet. I didn't realize
how many things you could hear when you don't have
any electronics on the mosquitos started playing the violin in
my ear. The creaking of the furniture got on my nerves,
and even your own breathing is distracting. I had closed

(37:12):
my eyes while watching the moon, feeling sleep finally overtake
me when I felt the light disappear suddenly behind my lids,
like something was blocking the window. I didn't want to
open my eyes, though, partly due to sleep and partly
because I'm not really sure, but I just kept sleeping,
and then the moonlight was back on my face. Now

(37:35):
I will go on to say that there was probably
just a cloud covering the moon for a few moments,
and finally it was morning. The power was still out
and the hosts weren't answering the phone, and I couldn't
take it anymore. I booked a whole week there, but
I took my stuff and just left. I stopped at
one of the beaches on the way back and ate
the best fried fish in my life, drank an awesome margarita,

(37:57):
and just listened to the people I had started crying
next to me, and well, I can't say that I'm
grateful for it. I had to acknowledge that I was
happy loner. Hermit life is simply just not for me. Oh.
I did complain about that tiny house and it was
taken down and the account was thankfully taken off of Airbnb.

(38:17):
I've checked for months just in case. This happened in
middle school over the summer, but it was a field
trip organized by the school. It was just two days
and one night's stay where my classmates and I would

(38:39):
visit a historical museum and other places in the capitol.
We were assigned four kids to a room with two
queen size beds. We had one male and two female
teachers as chaperones, but they got their rooms just all
on the same hotel floor. I have trouble sleeping on
strange beds, and I got up in the middle of
the night and couldn't go back. My three roommates were

(39:02):
sleeping soundly, and I envied them. I grabbed my phone
and started to doom scroll when I saw or sensed
maybe the better word something from the corner of my eye.
The wall in the far corner was different. Have you
ever heard the story? Well, I think it's a creepy pasta,
but it could just be an internet legend of that

(39:24):
guy who lived an entire life after an accident, had
a wife and kids in a career, but he became
obsessed with the perspective of a lamp, which is how
he woke up and the whole thing turned out to
be a dream after an accident. The walls felt like
that story. Now, to clarify what I'm talking about, I
didn't see a shadow, a face, or a ghost. It

(39:47):
was like the walls themselves was just off kilter, as
if drawn by a child who doesn't understand point of view.
Yet I wondered if I was asleep or had dreamed
of waking up and using my phone. I also thought
that I probably was having eyesight issues and decided to
tell my mom. Once I got back home, I fell

(40:07):
asleep with my phone on my chest, and in the morning,
the others were slowly waking up, and I stared at
those walls again and nothing seemed to miss. Everything was correct,
so I knew that I had been dreaming, but I
noticed something else. The other guys finished waking up and
started arranging their things because we weren't coming back, but

(40:29):
none of them would look at each other. The vibe
was just really weird, and I chalked it up to
us being tired and not looking forward to a long
bus ride. But as we were about to leave, one
classmate named Sam wandered out loud, did you guys see
that thing last night? I asked what he was talking about,
just to make sure. They said the walls were off,

(40:51):
and I started to nod very aggressively in agreement. The
other guy said the same thing. We realized that we
had all woken up, but the rest of the guys
were just too scared to move. I was the only
one who had reached for my phone and acted like
nothing was wrong. We started speculating about what it could
have been during the two day excursions. When we got

(41:11):
to the bus to return home, we asked others if
they had seen something, and no one had, just us,
but we couldn't even put a name to whatever it
was we saw or experienced. I started calling it a
glitch in the matrix, but the other guys never saw
that franchise, so they didn't get it. I bet you
feel old now, huh, And some kids don't even know

(41:32):
what the matrix is. When some girls showed some interest,
my classmates changed the whole story and they told them
that we had seen the shadow of a man who
had been burned against the walls, just to make it
more spooky for everyone involved. I didn't participate in that
because what happened seemed like so much more than paranormal
fake stuff. All four of us were up and had

(41:53):
seen it, or we all dreamed it at the same time,
and I had never heard about people dreaming like that,
but could it have been? Lately? I stumbled across some
videos online which explained how in some cultures there's a

(42:16):
really weird belief. If you're in bed in your pajamas
and you get an invitation or an urge to go out,
don't do it because that's death calling. I never heard
about it before, but somehow it makes complete sense to
me these days. But kind of in a broader sense,
things that are meant to happen will. However, if there's

(42:38):
something preventing you from doing or going somewhere, don't force it.
The world is trying to tell you something. Those videos
reminded me of a summer vacation I took with my
husband Charlie a few years back. Now. The universe, as
they say, was adamant about us not going and I
should have noticed the signs. First, I was trying to

(43:01):
book our hotel reservations and my card got to climb
three times before I gave up doing it online. I
called the hotel directly and they ran it through their
system and it still wasn't working. And at last I
grabbed Charley's card and that one didn't have a problem.
We planned on using my card for the rewards, but whatever.

(43:21):
I called the bank the next day to get that
thing fixed, and they did. They couldn't explain why it
wasn't going through, but they said that it should work
fine for the trip. The day arrived and our car
overheated on the way to the airport. We called some friends.
They came to assist got us to the closest mechanic
and when they heard that we were on our way

(43:41):
to a vacation, they told us that they would take
care of everything and gave us a ride to the airport.
I could only be glad to divine providence or whoever
that nothing happened on the plane. But we arrived at
the five star hotel and there was a mix up
with our rooms. This was an expensive resort and I
had an investigated beforehand and reserved and no smoking room

(44:03):
with a fridge. We got to the room and there
was no fridge and the walls had the most putrid smell.
I'm especially sensitive to cigarette stench, and i just couldn't
stand it, and I'm afraid to say that I went
full Karen on the staff, but it was warranted. After
a big commotion, we got upgraded to a suite which

(44:23):
was nice and had a great view, a pleasant lysol odor,
and a fridge. Once we were settled, I called the
resort restaurant that we wanted to try because I had
a few food restrictions and we wanted to know if
the cooks could follow it. On the phone. They said
it was fine. We went down, sat and ordered, and
I explained my situation. The waiter told me to wait

(44:45):
a second because he wasn't sure about it. I told
him that we had called beforehand, but he wanted to check.
I guess I should have been appreciative of a service,
but it took more than thirty minutes before they told
us that it was impossible to replace what I needed.
Charley was starving, so I changed my order to something
not feeling so we could just eat and went back

(45:06):
to our rooms. I was trying not to get sulky
or more upset because too many things had already messed
with our vacation. But as we were trying to rest
for the night and Charley and I got a little cuddly,
we heard this blood curdling scream from the hallway. I
can't explain how horrible it was. We thought some one
was dying and went out in a panic. All I

(45:28):
saw was two kids running up and down the hallway.
Charley pulled me back inside and turned up the TV,
and we tried to concentrate on ourselves, but the scream
came again repeatedly. Then it wasn't from the hallway. The
noise came from directly outside on our balcony. I looked

(45:49):
and those same kids were playing on the balcony of
the adjacent suite, and I wanted to die. My husband
was kind enough to go to their room and ask
their parents to keep their children in check. The father
apologized and agreed, but the craziness just kept going on
for hours. I called downstairs, but no one came to
tell them anything. I thought normal kids had bedtime, so

(46:11):
I went to talk to them and was face to
face with the father. I told them my husband and
I wanted to rest, and the hallways or the balcony
of the hotel weren't a playground for their children. But
the dad said that he couldn't ask them to keep
quiet because his kids deserved to have fun on their
summer vacation. We called the reception again and it looked
like someone arrived to tell the children that they couldn't

(46:33):
be roaming the halls, but they went inside and the
room shook from their loudness. After that, the only explanation
in my head was that they were jumping in bed
and kicking the walls. I just couldn't sleep and I
was miserable, So Charlie took our bags and we left
that resort. We found another one some time away, and
were at last finally in bed by five a m.

(46:58):
The next day. My husband wanted to check out the
hotel casino, but I booked a SPA day. I get
there and the only massous working seems to have the
worst cough. I know I sound like the biggest B
word right now, but I just I just was so
tired and disappointed. The poor woman coughed out the entire time,
and after ten minutes of it, I decided to stop.

(47:20):
I told her to just rest, and I still tipped,
but I felt cheated. I went to the casino with
Charlie and we got some respite from the bad luck
for around two days. I started feeling my throat itching
on the third and I knew that I had caught
whatever the messuse had. I thought nothing of it and
was glad that I had brought some cold medicine from

(47:41):
home just in case. But Charlie caught it too. I
don't know if I gave it to him or if
the entire resort was plagued, but my husband had it
so much worse, and two days later I was driving
him to the ER. Charlie has always been a little
sensitive to respiratory infections, and a few tests later it
was affirmed that he had pneumonia. I was afraid of

(48:03):
going home with him by a plane, but I bought
some face pass. This was before COVID, so it wasn't
that common, and got home somehow. Charlie had two more
er visits before he recovered, and it was the scariest
time in my life. They told me that he had
lowered the normal oxygen levels and put him in treatment
and by then I swore up and down that I

(48:23):
could never take a vacation. I won't even mention how
we had to live during COVID, but instead I now
believe that you should pay attention. Everything was telling us
not to go, almost from the moment we left the house.
Listen to the universe. Even if you honestly want to
go somewhere or do something. That trip wasn't worth even
a second of our pain. Nothing is Hey, friends, thanks

(48:51):
for listening. Click that notification bell to be alerted of
all future narrations. I released new videos every Monday and
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are super fun live streams on Sundays and Wednesday nights.
If you've got a story, be sure to submit them
to my subreddit r slash, Let's Read Official or over
email and maybe even hear your story featured on the

(49:13):
next video. And if you want to support me even more,
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and check out the Let's Re podcast, where you can
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(49:36):
Thanks so much, friends, and remember, if you get sick,
just complain to the manager.