The Haunted Man (Halloween Episode)

Jimmy spends the night in an abandoned hospital.

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Rob.
Tale number 70.
The Haunted Man.
A quick note about the soundquality of this episode.

(00:22):
It's not quite up to par withthe rest of my episodes.
My microphone broke while I wasrecording it, and I'd used a
different microphone to recordhalf of it, and I think you can
tell a difference, but youshould still be able to hear
everything.

SPEAKER_01 (00:39):
Jimmy was a normal guy.

SPEAKER_00 (00:42):
He had a good job, had a good company.
He had just turned forty.
He had a girlfriend that he wasplanning to marry.
He owned a house.
Things were going as planned.
And then one day they weren't.
He woke up and he feltdifferent.
And maybe he had been feeling alittle different for a long

(01:03):
time, but now it was reallythere.
It was an emptiness and it wasgrowing, and it didn't really
scare him because it was anemptiness.
He wish it had scared him,because that would have been
more normal.
But he just didn't care.
He stopped caring about work.
He stopped caring about takingshowers.

(01:24):
He stopped caring about eating.
He slowly stopped caring abouteverything.
He talked to his girlfriendabout it.
He had a loving family.
He talked to them about it.
He talked to his friends aboutit.
They all had the same advice.
You need to talk to your doctor,you need to see a therapist.
So that's what he did.
He started taking medicine.

(01:45):
He started going to therapy oncea week.
And it helped him betterunderstand what he was
experiencing, but it wasn'thelping that underlying empty
feeling, that nothingness.
It affected his job, andeventually he took a leave of
absence.
That didn't help because now hehad no reason to leave the
house, so he didn't leave thehouse.

(02:05):
He didn't have a reason to getup early in the morning, so he
just stayed in bed.
Jimmy was depressed, severelydepressed.
He started staying in bed prettymuch all day.
And that's how he describesdepression, that feeling in the
morning when you don't want toget out of bed, but you know you
have to.
It's that feeling magnified.
And you don't want to get out ofbed even though you know you

(02:27):
should get out of bed.
You don't exercise anymore eventhough you know exercise would
make you feel better.
You stop talking to the peoplethat love you, even though you
know that they love you.
Everything is too much, so youjust give up.
But that does not make you feelbetter.
In just over six months, Jimmy'slife was completely transformed.
He stopped seeing hisgirlfriend.

(02:48):
He was at home in his housealone all day, every day.
His family was still checking inon him, but he wasn't engaged
with his family like he used tobe.
And when people did talk to him,they were always trying to help
him get better, which was niceand loving and a good thing.
But it was also exhausting toJimmy to always be talking about
how to get better.
So he just stopped talking topeople.

(03:10):
The only person that he reallystayed in touch with was his
friend Maria.
She took a different approachfrom anyone else.
She wanted him to get better,but she didn't know how to help
him, so she just asked him todescribe what it was like to be
in this depression.
And Jimmy could do that.
He could talk about that feelingor lack of feeling that led to
him doing nothing.

(03:30):
Everyone was worried.
Jimmy was worried, but in adifferent way because he didn't
care about anything.
He was just sitting there, sortof waiting for something to
happen.
And then something happened.
Maria, who was the only personthat was talking to Jimmy on a
regular basis, which required alot of effort because it was

(03:51):
sort of this one-sided thing.
But she was okay with that.
Jimmy had always been someonethat was timid, like he was
really scared when he woulddrive.
He could be really shy, didn'tlike parties, and when he was
depressed, some of his fearssort of went away because he
just didn't care.
It was fascinating, but alsoscary.

(04:12):
Like he was a less cautiousdriver, which freaked Maria out.
But also, she went to a weddingwith Jimmy at this time, and he
was a lot more social.
He was darker and he really hadto be pushed and almost forced
to get out of the house to go.
But once he was there, the fearthat sort of overwhelmed him in
those situations seemed to begone.
And Maria was listening to theradio one day, and it was

(04:35):
October, and a local radiostation was doing a promotion
where you could win$5,000 if youcould stay the night in this
abandoned hospital on Halloween.
Maria tells Jimmy about it andis like, you're perfect for this
because you're not scared ofanything.
You don't care.
The radio station wanted anaudition tape, and Maria filmed

(04:57):
one for Jimmy.
And Maria was doing this becauseJimmy needed money.
He wasn't working.
And she thought this might be aneasy way to get some quick cash.
This was the third year theywere doing the contest, and
nobody had ever made it throughthe whole night.
So nobody had ever won the$5,000prize.
Maria and Jimmy figured that wasbecause the people that did it

(05:18):
probably were like truebelievers and were really scared
of ghosts, and they probablypicked people that were the most
likely to get frightened.
And so Jimmy, in his audition,he did pretend to be like a true
believer.
And he wasn't, but also he knewbeing in an abandoned building
at night, like that was scarywithout anything supernatural.
Non-depressed Jimmy would havenever agreed to this, and

(05:41):
non-depressed Jimmy would nothave lasted five minutes.
They submit the tape.
Maria, she's more of anoptimist.
And they get a call a few dayslater that they want to
interview Jimmy on the radio.
And this is one of those likeannoying morning radio shows.
Jimmy is in a deep depression atthis point, so he's not

(06:02):
motivated to do anything.
So Maria is really pushing himand driving him.
And when he goes on the radio,he's not nervous at all.
And he does a great job, andthey make it official.
Jimmy will spend the night in anabandoned hospital on Halloween.
The hospital was called St.
Mary's, and it had been closedfor over 30 years.

(06:25):
He would be spending his time inwhat was basically the emergency
room, and really he'd be in thelike the waiting area of this
emergency room.
It was big, had high ceilings,was really echoey.
There was like an oldreceptionist area where you
could tell people would checkin.
There were lots of old chairs.
And the weather was cooperatingto make it a very atmospheric

(06:48):
Halloween night.
It was cold, it was sort of amisting rain, perfect for what
was about to happen.
So the way it worked was theyhad like a broadcasting booth
set up outside the hospital.
Jimmy was going to be taken inat 10 PM, and he had to last
until 6 a.m.
the next day.
They were going to be doing alive broadcast from their booth

(07:10):
outside the hospital.
They weren't doing anythinginside the hospital.
It was just going to be Jimmyalone.
But at that booth outside, theywere telling people to come by
and get candy and things likethat, and they had that going
until like midnight.
And then in the morning show, at6 a.m.
the next day, the audience wouldfind out if Jimmy made it.
Maria wanted to be there, sothey let her hang out at the

(07:30):
broadcasting booth.
After they closed up shop, shejust waited in her car.
And it seemed, you know, like abig operation, like it was a big
production.
But once it was time to actuallygo in to the hospital, Jimmy was
sort of surprised by how amateureverything seemed.
One guy took him into theemergency room, gave him a small
flashlight, took away his phone,gave him some snacks, there was

(07:53):
a case of bottled water.
As they walked in, they werewalking over broken glass, there
was garbage in food containerseverywhere.
It didn't seem like they had putmuch effort into setting things
up.
That became even more apparentwhen Jimmy spotted the
portolette, like a portabletoilet that Jimmy assumed was
for him.
And the guy leading him in said,Hey, there's this toilet if you

(08:14):
need to go to the bathroom, butlet me warn you, we got this for
the event last year, and thecompany just never picked it up.
It hasn't been cleaned oranything.
We haven't even opened the door.
So if you really need to go tothe bathroom, I would not
recommend using it.
Of course, there were nofunctioning bathrooms in the
abandoned hospital, so that wasthe only option unless Jimmy
wanted to leave and lose thecontest.

(08:36):
Jimmy was shown to his area ofthe emergency room.
There was a chair that had beenbrought in for him.
He was told to stay in thewaiting room area, and that if
he left and explored thehospital, he automatically lost.
This was for his safety, theysaid.
And then the only other rule washe wanted to leave at any time,
he could walk out the front doorof the hospital.

(08:58):
There was a little pathway thatwas lit, and that would take him
to someone waiting in their car,and he could tell them he gave
up.
Otherwise someone would be thereat six AM the next morning, and
then the radio person left, andJimmy was alone.
He had talked over this withMaria quite a bit, and was
expecting the radio station todo things to try and scare him

(09:18):
to get him to leave.
The first thing that stood outto him was the porta potty.
He wondered if it was actuallyan old gross porta potty, or if
maybe there was something orsomeone hiding inside, so he
stood up and opened it up andwas just hit by an awful smell.
It did seem that it had beenthere for a long time and had
never been cleaned.

(09:40):
And also maybe it had even beenused recently.
He sat down in his chair, helooked at his snacks, but he had
no appetite, and about an hourinto his stay, he heard a loud
knocking sound.
Then he heard it again.
It sounded like it was comingfrom the other side of a wall,
so Jimmy stood up and walked tothat wall, and he knocked, and

(10:00):
then there was a knock back.
And then Jimmy did two knocks,and two knocks came back.
It didn't scare him, but it madehim smile, and he yelled out
nice try.
Jimmy sat back down to wait, hedrank some water, and after a
couple of hours he was startingto doze off, but then he heard a
siren, and then there was aloudspeaker that was far away

(10:22):
that said code blue, code blue,room four hundred twenty eight,
code blue, and he perked up, andthen he heard a woman scream,
like a blood curdling scream.
And it sounded like there wasprobably a real person doing the
screaming.
And again, all he did was smile.
He didn't think he was beingwatched, it wasn't that high
tech of an operation, like Isaid, but he clapped just in

(10:44):
case someone was watching,because he appreciated what they
were trying to do.
After that he fell asleepsitting in this chair, it's
really uncomfortable, and hethought all the scare attempts
were over.
He'd fall asleep for a littlebit and then jump awake, and he
didn't know how long it hadbeen, but at some point he
sprung awake.
It was very dark, but his eyeshad adjusted, and there was some

(11:06):
light coming in from windows,and down this waiting room,
standing in a doorway, was ahuman figure.
He wasn't certain at firstthat's what it was, but as he
stared at it, he could see theirbreath because it was cold.
And they were taking these bigbreaths, and he could also see
their body move when theybreathed.
It looked like they were wearinga big trench coat, and they had

(11:28):
a scarf on and a fedora.
He tried to shine hisflashlight, but it didn't really
reveal anything.
It was too weak to really seethat far.
The person was probably like ahundred yards away from him.
And this one also amused Jimmy.
He liked horror movies.
Looks like they were trying tokind of dress up like a horror
movie character like FreddyKrueger or something like that.

(11:49):
And he called out to the personand he said, It's so late, I
hope you're getting paid to dothis.
And the person spoke back in adeep, grabbly voice.
I do this for free.
Jimmy smiled.
Jimmy drank some more water, andthe person just sat there.
Jimmy was impressed by theircommitment.
But Jimmy was so tired heeventually dozed off again, and

(12:10):
he woke up what had to be hourslater, and the person was still
standing there.
And he called out to them, andthey didn't say anything back.
And I think this is a greatexample of how his depression is
sort of playing into all this,because then he falls asleep
again, and the next time hewakes up, it's when the radio
station is bursting in the doorto tell him that he made it

(12:32):
through the night and he's won$5,000.
Maria is with them, she's veryhappy, and Jimmy's happy too.
You can be depressed and alsoexperience happiness.
They have a big breakfast spreadand Jimmy's hungry.
He also finds a real bathroom touse, and then he has to go on
the radio.
They want to interview him abouthow the night went and present
him with his$5,000.

(12:53):
And you know, they ask him whatscared him the most.
And he plays it like, You guystried to get me, but I won.
And so he's like, Well, you guystried to get me with those
knocks on the door.
And the DJs admitted, yeah, thatwas us.
And then Jimmy asked, Who wasthe woman that screamed?
And someone that worked for theradio station walked in.
It was her, she had done thescream, and Jimmy was like,

(13:15):
Great scream.
And she seemed to reallyappreciate that.
And then Jimmy was like, Andthat guy?
Who is he?
He stood there for like fivehours.
That was crazy.
The guy with the fedora and thecoat.
And they look at him strangely,and they keep looking at him
strangely.
And Jimmy says, The guy thatstood there for like half the
night, just breathing in thatdoorway.

(13:37):
And then someone says, What guy?
The only two things we did werethe knocking and the ambulance
and the intercom and the womanscreaming.
And Jimmy doesn't believe them.
He doesn't buy for a second.
He's like, stop it.
There was a guy standing in theroom with me for hours.
But they won't fess up to it,they won't admit it.
And then the interview ended.

(13:57):
They gave him a check for fivethousand dollars.
He would eventually give half toMaria, which she reluctantly
accepted.
But before they left the littlebroadcasting area that had been
set up by the hospital, aproducer stopped them, and she
was like, Hey, what are youtalking about?
A man in a trench coat and ahat?
And he was like, Yes, there wassomeone in there with me.

(14:18):
And she's like, Well, it ishaunted.
I mean, that's why we do ithere.
This place is supposed to behaunted.
Do you think you saw a ghost?
He's like, It seems so real.
And she's like, you know, we dida safety sweep, because we can't
leave you in there if there'speople in there.
And in the weeks that followed,it really weighed on Jimmy
because, you know, he didn'tbelieve in ghosts, he didn't
believe in things like that.

(14:39):
And he had this very realexperience.
And then one day out of the bluehe got a call, and it was the
same producer that had talked tohim on the way out that day.
And she was like, hey, I justwanted to tell you something.
I I just learned that they foundsomeone living in the abandoned
hospital, and they arrested him.
And then she said, apparently itwas some guy that had gotten in

(15:00):
a bar fight like two statesaway.
He accidentally killed someone,he got in his car and just drove
off into the night, and he hadbeen holding up in the hospital,
hiding.
And the reason we didn't see himduring the sweep is because he
had actually climbed up into theceiling, and he had a tent up
there, and he had food, and hewas just living his life.
And someone happened to see himclimbing into the window the

(15:21):
other day, and they called thecops and they arrested him.
There was eventually a newsstory about this.
Maria saw it first and she sentit to Jimmy, and it was a photo
of the guy being arrested, andhe had on a trench coat and a
fedora.

SPEAKER_01 (15:38):
This event did not cure Jimmy's depression.

SPEAKER_00 (15:42):
It took him a long time and a lot of hard work to
slowly get back into the swingof his life.
But he does remember thisfondly, except that portapotty
that Fedora man had probablybeen using.
Richie is especially gratefulfor Maria, who kept being his
friend even when he didn't wantany friends.
And you could never really blamesomeone for walking away from a

(16:03):
friendship when the other personisn't really trying, but Maria
didn't do that, and it workedout.
Our theme music is by MitchellHardidge.
Our cover art is by MarcellaJohnson.

(16:25):
She also came up with the titleof the podcast.
Thanks to everyone who talksthrough these episodes with me
before I record them.
There are too many to list.
And thanks to you for listening.