Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:16):
Welcome to the Paranormal Mysteries podcast, and thank you for
being here. I am your host, Nick Ryan. Today's first
listener story comes to us from Madison. Madison's story is
called hat Man or shadow Person. Madison says, Hi, I
(00:36):
was really young, like elementary school young, maybe seven or eight.
Just about every night before i'd go to bed, I
would sit in my family's living room and watch cartoons
until I got sleepy. Then I'd head off to bed.
I can't recall the first time this happened to me,
since it occurred numerous times over the course of a
(00:56):
few years, and then it just stopped, seemingly unprompted and
out of nowhere. But some nights, while I'd be sitting
watching TV before bed, I would feel like I was
being stared at. My body would go semi stiff, sort
of how people freeze up when they're scared. But I
really couldn't move at all, except I could turn my
(01:18):
head to look around one room over. Always in the
same place, I would see a tall, shadowy figure with
what varied between a fedora, a top hat, and a
cowboy hat, just staring right at me. I could tell
it was a man despite him having no discernible features.
He never moved, he never caused anything to move, He
(01:40):
never even appeared closer than a room away from me.
I also never felt truly scared, as if he were evil,
but I knew it wasn't a person, and I knew
it shouldn't be in my house staring at me. It
always made me anxious, and I would fight my parents
if they tried to make me go to bed while
he was there, since I would have to pass that
(02:01):
room to get to my bedroom. One day, he just
stopped showing up, and I sort of forgot about the
entire thing, even though it took place over such a
long period of time. Very recently, while scrolling through TikTok,
I came across a video of a girl talking about
a paranormal game called Red Door, Yellow Door, and when
(02:23):
she was discussing the rules, she said, and if you
see a man with a hat, wake up immediately and
do not speak to him. And I couldn't explain why
at the time, but it sent chills right down my spine.
I went into the comments, and I found a few
people talking about how they've seen a man with a
hat in real life, not just in this game, and
(02:46):
I started remembering my own experience with him. I have
no idea why this hat Man or shadow person visited
me the way that he did or what he wanted.
He never harmed me or even truly frightened me, but
it gave me this deeply unsettling feeling. I was honestly
shocked to see how many people have seen the same
(03:06):
thing that I have and have had such similar experiences.
I've felt really drawn to contact you upon listening to
your episode on the hat Man and shadow People in general.
Our next listener story comes to us from Anonymous. Anonymous
story is called Sudden Fear of the Dark. Anonymous says,
(03:32):
I've never shared this story before as the idea of
a thirty year old suddenly becoming scared of the dark
seems a bit embarrassing, But since listening to your podcast,
I have finally got to a point where I feel
that I can share. Ultimately, I want to pick your
brains over an experience that I had a few years ago.
(03:52):
I live in the southwest of England, in a little
town near the city of Bath. The experience that I
always wondered about took place the course of about two years.
During this time I was renting what, for the most part,
seemed like a lovely old country house. But it was
only after moving in that I discovered how very uneasy
(04:12):
it felt at night time. I found myself, for the
first time in my life, at the age of twenty
nine or thirty, feeling afraid of the dark. This was
an intense feeling while in the house, but especially in
the hall, stairs and landing. I found myself trying to
make sure that lights were on throughout the house before
it got dark, and systematically turning lights off on my
(04:35):
way to bed so that I was never in the dark,
only turning the last light off once I was in
bed and had full view of the door to the landing.
I am sure that on occasions I heard noises, probably voices,
but living in the country in an old house, noises
are common anyway, so as I had always done before
(04:55):
living in this particular house, I brushed them off as
wind in the tree ease or local wildlife. I think
it's important to note that this house was big, but
the rent was cheap, so I could comfortably afford it,
even though there were a couple of rooms that I
only really used as storage space and very rarely went
in the third bedroom, being one of those rooms. That
(05:19):
room was at the far end of the landing, and
I believe that on occasions I saw movement in that room,
though as quickly as I could blink and look to
see what it was, it would be gone. What I
thought I had seen was almost like a shadow outline
with a kind of aura to it. I still don't
know what it was, why it was there, or if
(05:39):
it was actually there, but I do know that during
the two years that I'd lived there, I kept up
the same bedtime light's routine and was terrified of the dark.
I don't want to describe myself as a skeptic, as
I do believe that there are things that we don't
really understand. But at the same time, I think that
maybe there is a certain bliss to ignorance. So on
(06:00):
occasion I would build up my nerve to try and
find out what it was, but I never really looked
too hard, as maybe a bit of me didn't want
to know, or perhaps something was telling me that I shouldn't.
What I do know is that as soon as I
moved from there into a different house, that fear of
the dark went away, and I've felt as strong and
(06:21):
confident as I had ever been. I would appreciate your
thoughts on this. Perhaps you have heard of similar experiences
or can tell me what was going on. I don't
have access to that house anymore, but since discovering your podcast,
I've come to a point where I feel some form
of understanding of what happened back then. I don't think
(06:41):
skepticism is a totally bad thing, but it should be
met with enough open mindedness to change many Thanks Anonymous.
Our next story of the night comes from Banya. Banya's
story is called red Light. Bona says, Hello, Nick, I
(07:02):
only just discovered your podcast and I've been binging on
it since so far. I was enjoying just listening to
other people's experiences as I try to stay open minded
to the unknown in this world, and I don't deny
its existence until I heard Ashley's story from episode fifty three,
which sent chills down my spine. I don't really remember
(07:23):
how old I was, but I must have been in
my late teens, as I was still living with my
parents in a small city in northern Poland in a
four story building. We were based on the first floor.
From my bedroom window. I had a view of our balcony,
two very large trees, and the building opposite. Because my
bed was positioned just by the window, I could easily
(07:46):
kneel on it and look through the window. One night,
it must have been summer. As I was remembering those
trees being covered with leaves, I had a sudden urge
to wake up, which I did. I kneeled on my
bed and looked through the window, and I saw the
whole outdoor space covered in red light. I instantly felt
a bit uneasy, trying to search for the source of
(08:08):
the light, but there was none. I remember. The light
wasn't aggressive, like from a police car or a flare.
It wasn't flickering or moving. It was kind of hanging.
It amazed me how very evenly it was covering the
whole area, so the balcony, trees, and the building in
front of me were all covered in red. At some
(08:29):
point it became a bit more intense, but again with
no source of light, almost like something was hanging, but
a bit lower. I remember in my head I was
trying to justify what I was seeing. I always associated
UFOs with bright lights, like in other stories or in
the movies. But the feeling I had that night was
that I just knew something wasn't right, something was off.
(08:53):
I remember trying to convince myself that it must be friendly,
or at least this is what I wanted to believe,
but I don't remember falling asleep or anything else when
I woke up. I remember how real the experience felt,
but I didn't tell this to any family members. Many
years later, I shared this experience only with my husband.
When I came across Ashley's story, I couldn't help but
(09:15):
feel how her experience was so very real to me.
I played this episode to my husband and he encouraged
me to share my story as well. I still don't
know what I saw back then, but I think that
it's important to share it so Ashley knows she wasn't
alone in her experience. Thank you for your time, Nick,
and for this platform so we can share our stories
(09:37):
without being judged. I did experience different paranormal situations, but
this one is the most vivid so far. Kindest regards, Bonya.
Our next story tonight comes from Tanya. Tanya's story is
called Something's There. Tanya says, I have had a few
(10:00):
experiences over the years. I never felt in danger, but
just unnerved. One was when I was in the bath
soaking and my dog was lying next to the tub.
She suddenly perked up, looked to the corner above the door,
and she started to shake and growl. I asked her
what was wrong, and she continued to shake and growl
while staring up into the corner. ME, just being curious
(10:23):
what would happen, spoke up while looking in the corner
and said, you are scaring my dog. If you can't stop,
then you need to leave. Seconds later, my dog stopped
shaking and settled back down like nothing just happened. She
has never done that before and hasn't since. I know
there's someone or something here, but I don't feel scared
(10:45):
or in danger. Thank you for reading my story. I
may have to send more. Our next story of the
night comes from Ben. Ben's story is called if you
think your actions have no consequence? Ben says so in
my last e mail, I told you about my nana.
(11:06):
My family is a large Italian American family. My grandparents
on my father's side consisted of eight children, six girls
and two boys. My grandparents moved from Brooklyn to Lynbrook,
Long Island, to raise their large family, and through the years,
that house saw a lot of people. This story is
about Gino, who couldn't leave. Gino was the boyfriend of
(11:29):
the oldest daughter, whom my grandparents took in when his family,
for one reason or another, didn't want him. They were
kind people that way. Gino loved my grandparents and considered
this to be his home, and when going to New
Jersey to visit his family, he sadly had an asthma
attack and passed away. Gino now spent his after life
(11:51):
wandering around his home. His bedroom was in the attic
now the youngest daughter's room, and at night you could
hear him running up and down the stairs. This was
nothing out of the normal for our family, and we
joked about it. At this time, I was twelve years
old and living with my parents, my grandparents, my youngest
aunt who was not a believer, and my sister. It
(12:13):
was a full house of people. Not everyone could see
spirits or are even open minded to them. That's why
I believe my aunt never saw or heard Gino while
living in that room for all those years. My experience
with Gino is burned into my mind because it was
my first It welcomed me to the world of thinking
(12:34):
I was kind of special. Who doesn't want to be
special in some way? Anyway. I was twelve and home
alone in my room after taking a shower. I remember
being home alone because I left my bedroom door wide
open while I was in a towel. That's when I
saw this white, all white, cloudy figure of a man,
just a shape with no definition at all, walk the
(12:56):
final steps out of the attic, walk toward my room
and in my direction. I was in complete shock, and
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I think he
knew he scared the crap out of me, because you
waved at me and walked into the bathroom. It was
the weirdest thing I have ever seen, so clear. Years later,
I have caught glimpses of people like the little girl
(13:18):
in the first story I shared, but never head on
like that. I was now freaked out. So later on
my family spoke about Gino with me and told me
what happened to him. I found a way to be
okay with this, and it became normal, Like I said,
to have him there. I would even warn my friends
who spent the night that there was a ghost in
the house and to not be afraid if you hear
(13:40):
weird things or see him. They would always laugh, call
me a liar, and poke fun at me, but it
always ended up the same. I would wake up in
the morning and they would have left their bunk bed
and slept next to me because they would have heard
him running up and down the stairs all night, and
it would scare them out of their minds. Gino didn't
care about being seen. I think he was trying to
(14:01):
get our attention. He would pick up old clothes my
grandfather threw out and wear them. That happened only once
with a robe, but my grandmother spotted him in it,
thinking it was my grandfather. Didn't I tell you to
throw that piece of crap away, Anthony. She later realized
it wasn't my grandfather. My grandfather had a face and detail.
Gino no longer did. He did do something very interesting.
(14:25):
This one time he spoke to my mother while she
was asleep. This has happened to me with other spirits,
so I think it's when we have our guard down,
when we sleep, we are more open to them. She
went on to hear all these stories of Gino and
my father's exploits inside jokes, conversations only known to the
two of them. Gino told her, ask Ben about what's
(14:48):
her name? My father's name was Ben, also, so she did.
She woke him up the next day and asked him
who is so and so? My father, being confused, asked,
how can you possible know about her? Gino told me,
she replied, and then she went on to share all
the stories about the two of them. She ended it
in such a way that I could never forget. She asked,
(15:10):
my dad, when you're alone in the basement, do you
ever feel someone touching your ear, flicking it to bother
you to find no one there. My father did happen
to have this happen and found out it was his
friend Gino, letting him know that he was still around.
I found that even more amazing. Stuff like this went
(15:30):
on for another three years or so, until one day
my grandmother decided to investigate why Gino was still around.
She called his siblings in New Jersey, where he had died,
only to find out that they never cared enough to
put a tombstone on Gino's grave. Gino couldn't rest knowing
that they didn't care enough to put one, so he
(15:51):
stayed with his family on Long Island, who loved him.
My grandparents bought him that tombstone, and we never saw
him again. I want to believe that he is at
rest after that. Tell me what you think, Chef Ben.
Our next story of the night comes from Chuck. Chuck's
(16:12):
story is called Tape Deck Chuck, says Haynick. In the
previous story I shared with you, I talked about peace
symbols and how I was almost possessed by something because
of them. My mother's best friend was in that story,
and she's in this one too. I'll call her Linda.
Years before she'd met my mom, Linda dabbled in the
(16:35):
occult and since then had always had weird things happened
to her and her family. Her son and I were
best friends growing up, so I was always with them.
In the apartment that they lived in. There was a
neighbor with serious issues. He was a teen and a
couple of years older than I was. I'll call him Carl.
His mom I'll call Kathy. Karl had many paranormal stories
(16:59):
that blew me away, and he claimed to be completely
possessed any time Linda prayed for him and touched his forehead,
she burned her fingers. One night, I was going to
stay the night at Linda's house, like most twelve year
olds would do. About nine o'clock, Cathy came over just
to hang out. She was always seeking counsel from Linda
(17:19):
as to what to do with her son. After talking
for a while, Linda put on a tape that a
pastor had put out dealing with backward masking. If you
don't know what that is, it's when you take a
record and play it backward on a record player. You
can get some freaky messages if you play back the
right song in the appropriate spot. Anyway, we sat down
(17:42):
and began to listen. The stereo we were listening on
was a standard home stereo for the time. This was
around nineteen eighty seven, and we were listening to this
on a cassette tape. I forgot how long we'd been listening,
but it was to the point where I was zoning
out because i'd heard this tape before. No one was
around the stereo and there was no remote for it either.
(18:04):
There's a part in the tape when the pastor says
in the Book of Ezekiel, the Bible says at that point,
the tape abruptly stopped. I sat up and looked at
the tape deck and saw the stop button coming back
to its resting position and the rewind button engage. I
looked at Kathy and Linda and they were both as
(18:25):
shocked as I was. Linda said, in the name of
Jesus Satan, I command you to take your hands off
my stereo. I looked at the tape deck. The stop
button went in, the play button engaged, and the tape
began to play again. Like I said, there wasn't a
remote for this stereo, and we were all a good
distance away from it. I know this may sound hard
(18:47):
to believe, but it really happened. I still get goosebumps
when I talk about this, and even as I typed
this out. Thanks for reading. Before I continue, please consider
showing your support by subscribing, sharing, and giving the podcast
a positive review. You can also visit me on Patreon,
(19:10):
buy me a coffee or PayPal and make a donation,
or become a member starting at just a dollar a month.
You can even join my Patreon membership for free and
get access to all of my future updates, and of course,
just listening to the show. Is the best support of
all and I'm grateful to have you here. Now. Please
stay tuned and I'll be right back after these brief messages.
(19:37):
Our next story of the night comes from Lindsay. Lindsay's
story is called My Attachment. Lindsay says, Hello, I first
want to say that I'm a huge fan. Thank you
for giving us a platform for people to share their stories.
My mom's side of the family has been connected with
the paranormal for a long time, especially the women. At
(19:58):
a very young age. I have a witness things I
couldn't explain. But this story starts when I was twenty
one when I met my now husband. Only after dating
for four months, I moved in with him and his family.
The basement was our mini apartment in a way. Well,
after a month moving in, weird things started to happen. First,
(20:19):
I would wake up every night out of a dead sleep,
and I don't know why, but I would immediately scan
the basement as if to see if there was someone there.
I never saw anything until one night. That night when
I woke up and scanned the basement, there was a
lazy boy chair who was angled toward the basement stairs,
sitting in that chair was a girl, like a teenager
(20:41):
or early twenties. I remember clearly. She had blonde hair
with brown highlights, and she wore a red felt sweatshirt.
Without looking at me, she got up from the chair
and walked to the stairs. I froze there in fear.
I shook my head, thinking that I was dreaming. Somehow,
I was able to get back to sleep. The next morning,
(21:03):
I talked to my family about what I had seen.
They're very open about the paranormal, so I felt comfortable sharing.
As I relayed the story, my husband's sister froze, her
face turning white. She left the room and came back
with her yearbook. She flipped open to a page and
pointed to a girl. She asked, if this is who
I saw. My blood ran cold and goose bumps spread
(21:26):
throughout my body. She relayed to me that this was
a friend of hers that died in a car crash
the previous year. She still has gifts that her friend
gave her. That was the first time I had seen
a full body apparition. I had a hard time sleeping
for a few weeks after that. From that incident, a
lot more activity picked up. We would see shadows. I
(21:48):
would hear my name being called at night, footsteps walking
down the stairs and down the hallway on the first floor.
They hadn't received this kind of activity until I moved in.
One that was very noticeable to me was a strong
alpha male presence in the far part of the basement.
Our bathroom downstairs had two doors, one to our bedroom
(22:08):
and one to a different room. I used to go
into the other room. I felt this brooding energy, very
strong and angry. He didn't like me being down there.
He would bang on the door, shake the handle, and
try to scare me when I would be in the bathroom.
After we got married, we moved out into the place
we have now. However, someone decided to follow was He
(22:30):
now resides in the basement some brooding and angry feeling.
One night, while my husband was at work, I was
hanging out in the bedroom with our lab Lucy, just
watching TV. All of a sudden, we hear the kitchen
chair slide across the hardwood floor. She immediately started to
growl and snarl at the bedroom door. Other times, our
kitchen cabinets would open and shut, doors would close by themselves,
(22:54):
and the dogs would follow stuff on the walls and ceilings.
The scariest for me was having a music box go
off on me when it was turned off and not
wound up. Nothing is creepier than a Christmas music box
slowly starting to play itself when you're home alone. Almost
every day I have this feeling that something is watching me.
(23:16):
Now the activity has died down a bit. However, from
living in this new house, we know it's not just
the man. There is a small boy that is here
with us. He likes to tug at our clothes to
get our attention. He seems pleasant and playful. Sorry for
such a long post. This is only the tip of
the iceberg. I definitely have had more experiences that I
(23:38):
will share with you another time. Thank you again. Our
last story of the night comes from Britt. Britt's story
is called The Little Girl from the Woods. Britt says, Hi, Nick,
thanks so much for your podcast. I'm a truck driver
and this keeps me awake during the night time. I've
(24:01):
been eager to share this experience with you, even though
I don't normally talk about it. My experience took place
in North Carolina at my aunt and uncle's beautiful country estate.
I was seventeen years old, and it was the second
time my family and I took a trip to the state.
We're from California. On this particular day, it was round
(24:21):
four thirty p m. And we were preparing for a
huge barbecue. There were about twenty of us and we
were all outside in my aunt and uncle's massive backyard.
Anyone who visits North Carolina knows that the majority of
the homes are surrounded by the forest. My aunt and
uncle had the normal front yard on a main road,
but their backyard was a nice two acres of flat grass,
(24:43):
with the rest being surrounded by an ocean of trees.
While the little ones were playing a game of tag,
the rest of us were at the long picnic table,
chopping potatoes, vegetables, and preparing the fresh caught deer meat.
When everything was prepared to be cooked, my aunt yelled
for everyone to go inside and we could all eat
her famous ambrosia while we waited for the actual feast.
(25:07):
I was the last one about to step inside when
I noticed one of the little girls was standing in
the middle of the grass near the forest. I couldn't
make out which cousin this was, which may sound funny,
but understand that there was a bunch of aunt and
uncles and cousins I had barely met the same day,
so I didn't think anything of it. I closed the
door behind me and figured i'd go and tell her
(25:30):
that we were all told to go inside. As I
walked toward her, she began to skip around in circles
and talk to herself. I shouted to her that we
were told to go inside, but she continued to skip
around as if she didn't hear me. As I began
to shout again, she stopped and stared at me, which
made me stop in my tracks. Oh okay, she heard
(25:51):
me this time, I said to myself. But then she
began to skip in circles again, and this time she
started to mock me. Now I was becoming frustrated because
she was playing games with me and I didn't know
her well enough to scold her. I told her I
was going to tell her mom and dad that she
wasn't listening, even though I had no clue which pair
of adults she belonged to. As I started to walk
(26:14):
toward her again, she started to skip towards the woods.
I asked her where she was going and told her
that she was going to get in trouble, but she
continued to ignore me. At this point, I was already
fed up and wanted to try to scare her in
the hopes of getting her to turn back. I shouted
that it was getting dark and that if she went
into the forest she was going to get lost and
(26:35):
never come back. She kept skipping like nothing fazed her,
and by now she was already inside the forest, going
in deeper and deeper. I looked back at the porch,
hoping that someone noticed that we weren't inside and they
were coming to get us, but I could see that
everyone was still inside and occupied. I shouted one more
(26:56):
time for her to come back, but this time in
anger nothing. I considered running inside and telling everyone what
was going on, but I feared that I would lose
sight of her and then we would really have a
problem on our hands. I also knew I would most
likely get blamed for it, so thinking quickly, I decided
to run after her. Luckily, my uncle had his hunting
(27:18):
trail that was led by red yarn among the trees,
so that if he were to ever get lost, he
could find his way back. It was only a few
feet to the left of me, so I made sure
to keep my eye on it while I ran after
the little brat. As I was running, I could hear
her laughing at me. I continued to yell at her,
and I didn't care that it was in a scolding manner.
(27:39):
She was going to get us both in trouble. She
then started to do this weird thing where she would
circle around a tree before maneuvering into another direction. She
did this a few times. After what felt like minutes,
I was still trying to catch up to her when
I started to think about how far she was. Given
the pace I was running and the pace she was,
(28:01):
we were a pretty good distance apart from each other.
I stopped to watch her for a second and didn't
notice anything unusual. She wasn't skipping fast at all, so
how was she so far from me. It was at
that moment that she finally stopped and turned around to
face me. Somewhat out of breath, I sarcastically asked her
if she was done screwing around and if she was
(28:22):
ready to come back with me. She just stood there.
As I was looking at her, I then noticed something
that I didn't see before, and it threw me off guard.
Her skin tone seemed very off. It was very pale,
and at the same time it looked like it had
a tint of green. It was getting dark, so I
thought maybe the lighting was making her look weird. I
(28:43):
caught myself staring at her like a confused weirdo and
quickly shook it off. I told her once more to
come back so we wouldn't get in trouble. Still, she
said nothing to me, but I could see that she
was smiling at me. I was starting to feel uneasy.
Why is she acting this way? What's wrong with her?
She then raised her arm and pointed at my direction.
(29:05):
I didn't understand what she was trying to do. I
shrugged my shoulders and asked her what she was pointing at.
She just kept smiling at me. I started to feel
really creeped out. Now she looked so off to me.
I then started to even question if I remembered ever
seeing her all day. There were at least seven kids,
but was she one of them. It was that same
(29:27):
second when I started to examine what she was wearing.
Nothing really off about it. She was wearing a yellow
flannel shirt with blue jeans and some black boots, but
still I couldn't remember if I had seen her or not.
I was done playing games, and I decided I was
going back to the house with or without her. That
same thought made my heart sink because I realized I
(29:49):
wasn't watching where we were going. Still looking at the girl,
I finally realized what she found amusing and what she
was pointing at. I turned around and couldn't see anything
but tall trees. Every direction looked like the same exact layout.
I desperately looked around to try to spot the red
yarn among the trees, but had no sight of it.
(30:12):
I heard the girl laugh at me again, and when
I turned a facer, she was gone. I felt like
I couldn't breathe. The idea that I was lured by
this girl or ghost or whatever she was made me
start to cry. I was starting to panic and began
to retrace my steps back to the red yarn, or
at least to try to. I was becoming even more
(30:32):
desperate when I saw that I was losing sunlight by
the minute. A few minutes later, I decided to stop
for a second to collect myself. I knew nothing was
going to get better if I was in a state
of panic, I started to work on my breath and
told myself to calm down. It was then that I
heard the girl laugh again, only it sounded closer than ever.
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I froze and my anxiety came back in an instant.
I slowly turned around to face her, but she wasn't there.
I looked all around me, but she was nowhere in sight.
I quickly continued to walk. Another few minutes later, I
lucked out and spotted the yarn a short distance ahead
of me. I sighed with relief and began to cry
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as I started to run toward it. But within seconds
of running, I heard her again, but this time her
voice was right by my ear. I screamed and my
body jolted, causing me to put all my weight onto
my ankle. I fell to the ground and my eyes
were closed from the pane. I yelled at the top
of my lungs for her to leave me alone. It
was then that I opened my eyes and in front
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of my face was a pair of small, cut and
bruised up feet. My body froze again and I couldn't
breathe at all. I didn't want to look up. I
didn't want to see the face, even though I already knew.
With just a slight lift of my head, I saw
the blue jeans and the yellow flannel shirt, only now
they were torn and had blood stains on them. Without thinking,
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I scrambled myself up and limped to the trail as
fast as I could. I was screaming and crying for
my mom, my dad, and my brothers, any one that
could possibly hear me. I could still feel her around me,
I could hear her mocking my cries. I covered my
ears with both hands, and I continued to limp around
the trees. Finally I could see the outline of my
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aunt and uncle's house. Please God, I kept saying to myself.
I was so close, but it was only making me
more anxious and scared. I was afraid that she was
going to play some other trick on me so that
I couldn't make it back. By the time I had
reached the end of the trees, my voice had given out.
I was breathing so hard and was completely exhausted from
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carrying my weight while limping. After what felt like an eternity,
I finally made it to the porch and collapsed on
the wooden steps. I was face down squeezing the steps
to my chest hysterically sobbing. When I had gotten the
strength to I turned around to face the woods. As
I expected, the girl was standing by the outside of
the forest, staring at me. Her clothes were back to normal,
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but she still had that demeanor like what she had
put me through was almost satisfying her. I heard the
voice of my older brother say, what are you doing.
I looked up at my brother, who at first looked
annoyed until he saw the expression of my face. He
quickly came to help me up while asking what had
happened to me and where I had been. He sat
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me down on one of the chairs as he called
for my mom and dad. I looked back towards the
woods and the girl was no longer there. My brother's
yells caused every one to come outside, which I really
wished didn't happen. When my mom and dad came outside
and saw the state I was in, they immediately showed
concern and asked a series of questions. But as I
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explained myself without thinking about the fact that everyone else
was listening, I started to notice that the look on
their faces was changing from concerned to a look that
didn't take me soreiously at all. Eventually, even my brother
walked away, rolling his eyes. I became infuriated and shouted
at all of them that I wouldn't make this up
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just for kicks. They saw that I was covered in
sticks and dirt from head to toe. I was hysterical.
Even had a minor cut and bruise on my forehead
I must have gotten when I fell. I didn't even
notice it until my dad mentioned it. After my little breakdown.
All my mom and dad had to say was to
just relax and go inside and get cleaned up. Everyone
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else had brushed it off and didn't even bother to
ask me about it. Later that night, I had talked
to my mom again, and although this time she listened
and comforted me as much as she could, I could
still feel that she didn't believe me. This made me
feel very alone, and I was depressed for the rest
of the week of our stay. I couldn't sleep, and
I couldn't be alone for more than five minutes unless
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I was going to the bathroom, and even then it
was difficult for me. I felt bad because I knew
that I was putting a damper on the trip for
everyone but I was just miserable, mostly scared, and couldn't
wait to get home. The final morning of our stay,
I was putting my bags in the car when my
uncle approached me. In a quiet tone, he told me
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that he believed every word I had said about the girl.
He continued on to say that he has experienced things
in the forest himself, but only when he was alone.
His experiences were not to the extent I had, but
he knows with all his heart that the forest has
dark entities in it. When I had asked him why
he didn't say anything that day, he admitted that he
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didn't want to upset everyone, but more importantly, he doesn't
like to think about his own encounters because it still
scared him to that day. He then apologized to me
for not saying anything about it and for not warning
us about going into the forest alone. I hugged my
uncle and I began to cry out of relief. It
was good to know that I wasn't alone and that
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I wasn't crazy. I thanked him for telling me, and
in that same moment, my dad came out with more
bags to put away. He asked if everything was okay,
and I'd played it off and said that I was
saying good bye to my uncle and how I was
going to miss him and my Auntie. I thought that
getting back to California would make everything go back to normal,
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but I couldn't have been more wrong. Still to this day,
now in my later twenties, I sometimes have night terrors
about the girl. The strange thing is that when I
see her, she is always in her true form, the
torn and bloodied clothes and her cut and bruised skin.
Although I don't let my encounter weigh me down these days,
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I can never forget those terrifying moments. I just continue
to move forward by accepting my experience. One thing that
is for certain is that I have not since visited
North Carolina or any kind of forest. Thank you to
everyone who listened, and thank you again Nick. As we
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come to the and of tonight's episode, I'd like to
say thank you to everyone for tuning in and supporting
the podcast, and a special thank you goes out to
Madison Banya, Tanya ben Chuck, Lindsey Britt, and our anonymous
contributor for writing in and sharing their experiences with all
of us. If you've witnessed something unexplainable and you'd like
(37:21):
to have your story shared on the podcast, Please contact
me at Paranormal Mysteries Podcast at gmail dot com or
visit Paranormal Mysteries podcast dot com and click on the
tell your Story link. All of our contact information can
be found in the show notes from all of us
at the Paranormal Mysteries Podcast. Thank you for listening, and remember,
(37:43):
don't wait for the unknown to come to you. Get
out there and find it because contact