WEBVTT - S1: EP 19 — “Pitch black, as if a shadow had a shadow.” 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:22.720 Hello, Hauntos, Welcome back Therésa and Len here. 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:23.520 Hello 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:26.560 and we're about to turn our twosome into a threesome. 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:29.840 By that, of course, I mean we're hiring an intern. 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:34.400 Some of you may remember our old intern, Naomi, former 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:37.320 UCLA student turned succubus who crossed over and no one's 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:40.519 heard from her since. Well, Len has been screening resumes 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:44.199 for her replacement, and he's chosen his top three candidates. Now, 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:47.479 it's my turn to make a final selection, and unlike 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:52.479 last time, we're going to be a lot more discerning. Okay, 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:57.800 first resume, so exciting. Who do we have here? Bartholomew 0:00:57.920 --> 0:00:59.320 de Fry? Okay. 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:07.559 Education, none. Relevant experience, town crier. Interests, falconry. Dead over 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:12.120 seven hundred years. Okay, Len, this is reading black plague 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:14.639 to me? Did this guy die of the plague? Because 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:18.840 remember I said, no plague. They're freaky to look at 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:20.679 and I don't even know how we'd catch them up 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:22.520 on the culture let alone explained podcast. 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:27.080 [MUMBLES] 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:29.720 I don't care how fast a learner he is. The 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:32.160 boils are gross. 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:33.040 [MUMBLES] 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:35.279 What do you mean he's a distant relative of yours? 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:37.640 Is that why you're pushing this so hard. We're not 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:41.880 nepo hiring your weird uncle or whatever. Let's get into 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:44.080 our first story, and I'm going to pretend like you 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:48.040 didn't sneak that resume into the pile. First up, today 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:50.720 we'll hear from Lenzy and her husband Michael, a real 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:53.680 fix it couple who did all of their own home renovations. 0:01:54.200 --> 0:01:56.680 Only it's a lot easier to rip out old flooring 0:01:56.880 --> 0:02:00.760 than it is to rip out old souls. I'm assuming I'm more 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:02.560 of an ideas person when it comes to that kind 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:05.120 of thing. 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:12.280 All of a sudden, out of my peripheral I see 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:16.640 something walk from out of our bathroom into our living room. 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:22.320 In his quick stride across the door, I can see 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:30.000 his hands move and his fingers were long, like not human. 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:34.960 I'm Lenzy, and I was dealing with something in my 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:42.400 old house. In 2018, I reconnected with a friend from 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:47.960 high school who knew somebody who had an older house 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:50.920 that he was trying to rent out. But it was 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:55.840 just beat up, and it needed new plumbing and a 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:59.200 new kitchen and just the whole works. And as long 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:01.520 as we fixed it up, we could rent it for 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:05.640 five hundred dollars a month. The house was a steal 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:09.239 and getting my hands a little dirty along the way 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:13.959 and learning some craftsman skills seem like a good thing. 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:23.120 My husband and I moved in. The first time we 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:29.160 pulled up to the house, the outside looked mangled. The 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:33.239 bushes were overgrown. You could just tell it hadn't been 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:37.880 occupied in a while. It was a pale blue color 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:42.720 with white shutters, and it had a big brick porch 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:49.000 at the very front. When you walked in, it would 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:53.400 open to a big living room. From there, down the 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:59.440 hallway it would go to a kitchen which was completely destructed. 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:04.400 The flooring could not hold any weight, so we ended 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:09.440 up having to fix the flooring add new plumbing. But 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:12.440 once we put paint on it, it worked for us 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:21.920 and we're happy and we made it work. In Cottageville, 0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:27.200 South Carolina, there are stories of a lot of unexplained activity. 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:34.440 For example, back in 2013, the town hall caught fire. 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:41.839 It was kind of mysterious. Nobody really knows how the 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:46.640 fire started. They think it was maybe old electrical. As 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:52.800 you're standing outside, huge flames, ginormous flames, and there are 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:57.680 pictures that were circulated of what looks like the devil 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:07.279 coming out of the flames. There are stories of a 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:12.159 little girl in the old police department. The old police 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:17.520 department was originally an elementary school, and there's stories of 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:19.760 a little girl in a white dress with red eyes, 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:24.520 and she would chase you up and down the hallways. Jeffrey, 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:28.040 the chief of police, and one of his officers ended 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:33.599 up shooting at this entity and there were bullet holes 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:36.600 in the brick from where they were shooting at it. 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:42.800 So yeah, there is a lot of unexplained activity around Cottageville. 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:50.360 My husband, Michael, is a police officer. He was working night shift, 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:51.680 so I was alone a lot. 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:54.840 The older seasoned guys they got day shifts, so they 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:57.680 put the young guys on night shift. We do like 0:05:57.839 --> 0:06:02.000 switch shifts, so every eight weeks we're on days, eight 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:05.720 weeks we're on nights. Night shift definitely sucks. 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:12.880 I was very lonely, so we adopted a golden retriever 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:17.919 and named him Parker. We would spend absolutely every day together. 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:22.080 Having Parker there made the late nights and my husband 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:26.000 being gone a lot feel much more comfortable, and I 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:31.720 felt much safer knowing that Parker was close by. One night, 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:34.920 I am lying in the bed and I noticed Parker 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:38.920 standing in our doorway to our bedroom, staring up at 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:42.760 the ceiling, and he is moving his head in a 0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:47.120 way that would suggest he's watching something crawl across our ceiling. 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:55.920 I look up, there's nothing there. This freaked me out. 0:06:56.640 --> 0:06:58.719 I immediately told him to get in the bed with 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:05.640 me and to stop doing that. A little while later, he's 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:10.440 doing it again. He's staring up at the ceiling, watching 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:15.119 something moving with his eyes, and then he just lays 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:17.960 his head down and he'll look up again, like one 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:20.320 more time, we'll watch it, and then he just lays 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:24.920 back down. Immediately, you go to the logical explanation of 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:30.600 there's a bug or dust, but there was nothing there. 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:33.640 And I didn't know how to explain it at that time, 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:36.480 and I don't think I know how to explain it now. 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:45.960 That was kind of the first thing, was Parker seeing something. 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:51.920 Then it progressed to one night, my husband just got 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:55.880 home from a long night shift and we're lying in 0:07:55.880 --> 0:08:03.560 the bed getting comfortable, and I start hearing what sounds 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:07.960 like the kitchen sink turning on and turning off, and 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:11.200 then it would turn on and then it would turn off. 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:14.960 I nudged my husband, ask him if he's hearing what 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:15.600 I'm hearing. 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:19.040 I hear what sounded like the faucet turning on and off, 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:24.560 like the water hitting the metal sink. I'm like, there's 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:30.000 no way. It goes on for like twenty minutes. 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:35.240 It wasn't the bathroom. You could tell the difference of 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:36.880 the sounds. So if it had been in the bathroom, 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:39.600 it would have been to the right of us and 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:41.960 much closer, whereas this one was to the left of 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:47.080 us and much further away. We get up and we 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:51.319 head to the kitchen, flip on the kitchen light. We look. 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:55.800 I wipe my hand across the sink. It was bone dry. 0:08:57.040 --> 0:09:01.240 There was no water leaking or anything like that. I 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:03.839 actually checked the faucet make sure it was all the 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:10.120 way off, stayed there and watched no drips, no nothing. 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:12.400 That was kind of creepy. 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:16.200 I looked at my husband. That was the sink, right? 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:20.120 He says, yes, he heard it as well. 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:23.040 It's an old house, you know, it could be a leak, 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:26.880 but there's no water on the floor. I even checked 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:30.760 underneath the sink. Nothing. It was just completely dry and I 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:33.480 was like, wow, that is unexplainable. 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:38.240 We both just kind of shrug our shoulders and go 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:41.760 get back in the bed. At that point, we didn't 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:49.200 think it was anything paranormal, just weird pipes. The next night, 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:53.960 my husband again is working night shift. It was just me. 0:09:54.640 --> 0:10:00.360 I'm lying in the bed and I'm hearing with like 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:10.080 furniture being moved around in the living room or being 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:14.439 shoved up against the wall. It goes on for maybe 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:19.400 ten minutes. I'm thinking somebody is breaking into our home 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:24.240 and they are ransacking our living room. So I'm lying 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:29.640 there contemplating how I'm going to defend myself, feeling completely 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:39.360 trapped and terrified, until I don't hear it anymore. I 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:43.480 get up and I go and I look. I walked 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:54.360 into the kitchen, walked into the spare room. Nothing has changed, 0:10:55.040 --> 0:11:00.400 nothing has been moved. It's completely normal, as if nothing 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:06.559 had ever happened. I checked the back door. Nobody had 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:14.520 been in the house beside me. I went back to bed, 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:19.680 trying to go to sleep, watching TV, and out of 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:23.280 my peripheral vision, I see what looks like somebody walk 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:31.199 across our bedroom into the bathroom. It was an extremely 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:36.760 tall figure. I noticed his hands and his fingers were 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:44.360 extremely long, longer than any human. They are nearly down 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:49.400 to his knees, and it was darker than dark, pitch black, 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:55.360 as if a shadow had a shadow. It walks into 0:11:55.360 --> 0:12:01.400 the bathroom and about five seconds later, it turns around 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:05.640 and it walks back towards the living room. This entity 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:12.319 paces back and forth through our hallway. I was terrified 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:16.160 and frozen at the same time. Didn't want to move 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:19.960 in case it would look over at me, so I 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:22.520 tried to stay as still as possible as to not 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:27.319 draw attention. Once a couple of minutes had passed, I 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:32.800 didn't see anything, no movement. And when I don't see 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:37.200 him anymore, I take my opportunity to get Parker and 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:42.720 myself out. I am freaked out. I call my husband 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:48.920 hysterical about there's somebody in the house and when I looked, 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:51.520 I can't find them, and I don't feel safe in 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:52.040 the house. 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:57.480 I'm like, Lenzy, pack your stuff, get what you need 0:12:57.520 --> 0:12:58.920 for tonight, go to your mom's. 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:02.040 So I chose to drive the hour away to my mom's, 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:04.720 where at least I knew I was safe. I stayed 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:08.080 at my mom's for three to four days until I 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:10.360 finally got the courage to come back to the house. 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:14.959 The next night, my husband got home. We're lying in 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:19.040 the bed. I'm trying to go to sleep, but I'm 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:24.000 not asleep yet. All of a sudden, I hear police 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:27.840 sirens going off. So my eyes just kind of open 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:32.520 and they go towards the window and I see something 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:40.160 by my side of the bed. It's extremely dark, very tall, 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:49.640 very long fingers standing over me, leaning down, watching me sleep. 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:55.400 But this time I can see more of it. It 0:13:55.440 --> 0:14:03.520 has no face, no nose, there was nothing. It was 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:11.720 just complete black, complete darkness. I throw myself across my 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.120 husband to the other side of the room. 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:20.680 She just flails over me, screaming, hollering in full on 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:24.920 panic mode. I'm like, what is going on? 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:29.480 My husband sees me pointing. This thing is trying to 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:32.280 get me, and I know it's only after me. 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:37.520 I'm not believing what I'm seeing. I'm seeing this tall, 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:42.200 dark figure. The whole silhouette is black. At this point, 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:43.760 It's like, what is that? 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:46.160 He was able to see it standing there. 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:56.000 He's got like a coat and his fingers were very long, 0:14:56.680 --> 0:15:00.200 I would say about ten to twelve inches long, all 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:04.040 kind of feelings come across. I get like a dull, 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:08.960 disgusting feeling. You feel like very, very depressed. 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:13.440 And it just kind of dissipated into the floor. It 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:16.040 didn't melt, it just evaporated. 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:19.520 At that point, I was worried about me and Lenzy. 0:15:20.120 --> 0:15:23.440 I was worried that this thing was going to harm us. 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:25.880 This thing is already bold enough to be in our 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:28.840 room while we're sleeping. Who knows what else is capable of. 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:35.880 He immediately was on the phone calling family, anybody that 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:39.720 he knew that would have a Bible or anything religious 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:42.240 that we could bring into the house to hopefully help 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:43.840 stop what we're seeing. 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:47.600 I called my grandparents. They have all kinds of bibles, 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:53.720 family big Bibles, little travel-sized bibles, regular bibles. We got 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:55.520 a whole box of bibles. 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:59.080 We put one in our room, in our living room, one 0:15:59.080 --> 0:15:59.640 in the kitchen. 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:02.640 On top of the refrigerator, under the sink. We kept 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:07.000 them all over the place. And we started praying, Dear Heavenly Father, 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:10.800 please look over us. Let Lenzy know that you're there. 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:16.680 Any evil forces wash them away, Lord. I'll actually recite verses 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:19.680 in the Bible where it talks about God is always 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:21.720 with us. 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:26.120 When we first started placing the bibles, it felt like 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:30.280 nothing was going to work, and this was just going 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:33.240 to be the new normal, just being terrified every night. 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:38.800 I continue to pray that it would work. It took 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:43.920 a couple of days but a toxic kind of fog 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:48.160 in the house dissipated and it just went away. 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:52.920 I don't know what it was, but I know it 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:53.840 was pure evil. 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:59.640 From then on, we never had another experience. I have 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:03.200 not seen or heard or felt anything else. 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:11.800 This is an approach I haven't seen before. Shove bibles 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:16.399 all over your home. I like it. Paranormal mothballs, whatever works, right? 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:18.800 Let's take a quick break and then we'll dive into 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:20.200 the rest of our resume stack. 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:33.080 Okay, let's see... who's next in our list of potential interns? 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:38.040 Ron Platts seems like he died in this century with 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:40.760 no visible bumps, breaks, or bleeds. That's a good start. 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:46.240 He's got a dual degree in audio production and business management. Okay. 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:52.640 His interests are chess and rice grain carvings. Len, I'm 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:55.639 starting to regret having you screen applications. We have to 0:17:55.680 --> 0:18:00.444 spend all eternity with this person. Next, Oh, a video 0:18:00.444 --> 0:18:02.080 submission now we're talking. 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:05.880 Hey Haunting team! Kenzie, here! I'm a spooky spitfire who 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:09.240 kicked the can the way all hotties do. Stomach problems. 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:12.440 But I didn't let a little E.Coli keep me down. I'm 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:15.000 a mover and shaker here in the afterlife, and I'm 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:17.320 looking for my next opportunity with you. 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:18.880 Ah, Len 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:21.840 I know how to work hard and look good doing it. 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:25.320 I'm one smart cookie who excels under pressure and thrives 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:28.359 in a fast paced environment. Heck, if I can survive 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:34.440 Bama Rush, I can survive anything except E. Coli. When 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:37.520 the going gets tough, the tough called Kenzie. Thank you 0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:40.320 for your consideration and I look forward to hearing from you. 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:48.200 Wow. Did you see her diamond nameplate necklace, the wide 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:52.160 leg suede boots. That is what this team needs. We're 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:55.560 making an offer, but before we do, we've got our 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:58.159 next story on deck, and in this one, we have 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:02.119 another babysitter thrown to the wolves. If you're hiring someone 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:04.240 to work in a haunted house, you have to warn 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:07.000 them guys. I get it. It makes finding people hard, 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:08.200 but it's only fair. 0:19:12.440 --> 0:19:15.600 I was working in a very small town in Louisiana 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:20.080 as a nanny, and every Wednesday something would end up 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:25.359 happening in the house, something paranormal, and I was just scared. 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:28.919 I am thinking that I probably need to mention to 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:33.320 the family that I am feeling uncomfortable, but knowing that 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:36.720 this family is very religious, I was hesitant to talk 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:40.480 to them. I thought they would think I was a lunatic, 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:44.639 so I really didn't have anyone to confide in about 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:49.960 my experiences. My name is Amanda and I was haunted 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:56.720 at work for six months. It is 2013. I was 0:19:56.800 --> 0:19:59.679 a single mom of a five year old living in 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:04.480 a very small town in northern Louisiana. Being a very 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:09.320 small town, there were very few job opportunities. I have 0:20:09.480 --> 0:20:15.320 a passion for children, and I found a nanny recruiting 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:19.600 agency online. They had posted that they needed a full-time nanny, 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:24.200 so I applied directly through the website. Got an interview setup, 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:26.159 and that is how I met Dana and Tom. 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:31.000 They needed a full time nanny for their two children, 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:36.560 Josie and Jackie. Josie was a newborn and Jackie was 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:44.320 three at the time. When I pulled into the driveway 0:20:44.400 --> 0:20:48.640 for my first interview, I was blown away by how 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:53.359 beautiful this home was and how large it was. It 0:20:53.480 --> 0:20:57.560 was a two story white plantation home with black shutters. 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:01.440 It's an old house. It was built in 1923. Typical 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:05.280 of northern Louisiana, it had an all wooden wrap around 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:10.120 porch and two porch swings. When I first walked in 0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:13.479 and was greeted by Dana and Tom, they were just 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:18.080 like an extremely welcoming family. The first thing I noticed 0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:22.359 was all of the original hardwood floor. The entire home 0:21:22.440 --> 0:21:26.240 had all original hardwood floor. It had huge crown molding 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:34.040 around it. The interview process was interesting. Dana and Tom 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:37.879 were both very friendly, but they took the safety of 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:40.480 their children very seriously, so there was a lot of 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:44.439 questions on in this situation, how would you handle it? 0:21:44.480 --> 0:21:47.719 In case of an emergency, what are your steps? And 0:21:47.760 --> 0:21:50.359 then the last question that they asked me in the 0:21:50.400 --> 0:21:55.359 interview was if I believed in God. Being in you know, 0:21:55.480 --> 0:21:59.040 northern Louisiana where it is the Bible Belt, it was 0:21:59.160 --> 0:22:03.600 not an uncommon question to be asked. I said yes 0:22:03.640 --> 0:22:07.800 to the question. All they said was good and then 0:22:07.960 --> 0:22:09.880 they offered me the job and I accepted. 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:17.679 On my first day, Dana and Tom had guidelines and 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:22.600 expectations for me taking care of Josie and Jackie. I 0:22:22.680 --> 0:22:24.639 was allowed to go in the kitchen to prepare the 0:22:24.640 --> 0:22:27.359 bottles and the meals for the children. I was able 0:22:27.359 --> 0:22:30.119 to utilize the restroom, and I was able to be 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:33.480 in the front room, which was their living room. But 0:22:33.560 --> 0:22:36.600 they told me that we could not go upstairs, so 0:22:36.680 --> 0:22:41.680 I thought that was strange. A normal day started at 0:22:41.760 --> 0:22:46.399 eight am. I would enter the home. The children were 0:22:46.480 --> 0:22:49.840 usually asleep, so I would just sit until they woke up. 0:22:50.720 --> 0:22:55.320 I would change their diapers, get them breakfast started. They 0:22:55.359 --> 0:22:57.800 had a large Great Dane who I let out every 0:22:57.840 --> 0:23:01.639 morning when I got there, but other than that, it 0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:09.520 was strictly Josie and Jackie. The first week went fantastic. 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:13.480 We're getting a good routine down. The second week that 0:23:13.600 --> 0:23:20.040 I was there, it was on a Wednesday. I was 0:23:20.160 --> 0:23:24.679 rocking Josie, feeding her a bottle, and Jackie asked me 0:23:24.880 --> 0:23:28.280 if we could go upstairs and play. That was something 0:23:28.280 --> 0:23:32.119 that she asked me every day. Because I was feeding 0:23:32.200 --> 0:23:35.480 Josie a bottle. I said, let me finish feeding Josie, 0:23:35.760 --> 0:23:38.080 find an activity to do in the meantime, and we 0:23:38.080 --> 0:23:41.480 will go upstairs when we're finished. A few minutes have 0:23:41.600 --> 0:23:45.800 passed and I hear her run up the stairs. Then, 0:23:45.800 --> 0:23:48.560 I could hear running above me going down the hallway. 0:23:50.280 --> 0:23:53.199 I was immediately frustrated because I had told Jackie not 0:23:53.480 --> 0:23:55.679 to go upstairs and that she would have to wait 0:23:55.880 --> 0:23:59.320 until I was done feeding Josie. I think Jackie went 0:23:59.400 --> 0:24:02.560 upstairs because she wanted to get a toy that was upstairs. 0:24:03.040 --> 0:24:05.720 She was being a typical toddler, being defiant and going 0:24:05.760 --> 0:24:08.600 to do what she wanted to do. And I think 0:24:08.600 --> 0:24:10.959 that she was running because she knew that she was 0:24:11.000 --> 0:24:14.880 not supposed to be upstairs. So I walked over to 0:24:14.920 --> 0:24:18.240 the foot of the stairs and I could still hear 0:24:18.320 --> 0:24:25.480 her running, and I yelled Jackie! Come downstairs! As soon 0:24:25.520 --> 0:24:30.560 as I yelled for her to come down, the running stopped. 0:24:35.040 --> 0:24:37.520 I waited for her to come down the stairs, thinking 0:24:37.520 --> 0:24:43.639 that she was in trouble, but I heard nothing, and 0:24:43.680 --> 0:24:49.440 then right behind me, I hear Jackie say, I'm right here. 0:24:51.880 --> 0:24:59.280 If it wasn't Jackie upstairs, who was it? I did 0:24:59.320 --> 0:25:01.919 not want to be in the home anymore. I really 0:25:02.000 --> 0:25:05.240 just was freaked out. So I grabbed the girls and 0:25:05.280 --> 0:25:10.160 we went outside and played until lunchtime. When I had 0:25:10.200 --> 0:25:14.600 to reenter the home to make lunch for Jackie, I 0:25:14.680 --> 0:25:18.639 was very uneasy being in the home. The scariest part 0:25:18.720 --> 0:25:21.959 was I had to pass the stairwell to enter the kitchen. 0:25:23.800 --> 0:25:26.520 But the rest of the afternoon went completely normal, with 0:25:26.600 --> 0:25:30.040 no other noises in the home. But I had this 0:25:30.119 --> 0:25:34.199 gut feeling that this was not a isolated incident, that 0:25:34.240 --> 0:25:38.919 this was going to continue. So fast forward a week. 0:25:39.480 --> 0:25:43.720 It is a Wednesday. I'm sitting on the couch feeding Josie, 0:25:44.200 --> 0:25:49.640 and something in the hallway keeps catching my eye. When 0:25:49.680 --> 0:25:55.480 I finally decided to look, I saw a huge black 0:25:55.920 --> 0:26:02.840 mass working its way down the wall in the hallway. 0:26:02.920 --> 0:26:07.280 It wasn't a person, it was a huge shadow going 0:26:07.320 --> 0:26:13.240 down the wall. I watched this shadow slowly move across 0:26:13.280 --> 0:26:18.040 the wall and enter a hallway closet. When it entered 0:26:18.080 --> 0:26:23.960 the closet, I heard an audible growl. It wasn't extremely loud, 0:26:24.000 --> 0:26:25.359 but loud enough for me to know that it was 0:26:25.359 --> 0:26:28.920 a growl. It was almost like a [growl]. I had never 0:26:29.040 --> 0:26:33.520 heard a growl before from something unknown. The family did 0:26:33.560 --> 0:26:35.800 have a dog. They had a huge Great Dane, but 0:26:35.960 --> 0:26:39.160 she was sitting right next to me and made no 0:26:39.160 --> 0:26:43.600 noise whatsoever. I don't remember the dog reacting to this 0:26:43.680 --> 0:26:50.760 at all. My mind immediately knew it was something unexplainable. 0:26:51.359 --> 0:26:53.800 I got the worst feeling in my chest and the 0:26:53.880 --> 0:26:56.840 pit of my stomach, like just something bad about to happen. 0:26:57.960 --> 0:27:01.399 So I quickly grabbed Josie, grabbed Jackie and got the 0:27:01.440 --> 0:27:05.440 heck out. The feeling that I had inside, the growl, 0:27:05.840 --> 0:27:08.679 the blackness. There was no way that that was something 0:27:08.720 --> 0:27:11.719 positive that was not going to harm me or the girls. 0:27:12.920 --> 0:27:15.119 As soon as the girls and I got outside, we 0:27:15.200 --> 0:27:17.840 got some fresh air and time away from the house. 0:27:19.560 --> 0:27:24.240 I immediately felt better. My feeling of dread went away, 0:27:25.800 --> 0:27:27.520 but I still did not want to go back in 0:27:27.560 --> 0:27:32.520 that house. The girls and I stayed outside until Dana 0:27:32.560 --> 0:27:36.000 got home around four pm. As soon as Dana got home, 0:27:36.119 --> 0:27:38.720 she asked how our day was. I lied to her. 0:27:40.320 --> 0:27:42.600 I said the day was great. I gathered my things 0:27:42.600 --> 0:27:45.800 and I left. I was afraid that if I told 0:27:45.840 --> 0:27:48.760 her the truth, I would lose my job, because it's 0:27:48.800 --> 0:27:51.200 just something you don't hear about often. You know, this 0:27:51.880 --> 0:27:53.840 stranger has been in your home taking care of your 0:27:53.880 --> 0:27:56.320 two small children for two weeks, and they come to 0:27:56.359 --> 0:27:58.560 you telling you that they saw a dark shadow and 0:27:58.640 --> 0:28:01.359 a growl in the hallway. Like I thought they would 0:28:01.359 --> 0:28:06.119 think I was a lunatic. There was no explanation for 0:28:06.160 --> 0:28:11.800 this one. I go back the next day and I 0:28:11.880 --> 0:28:15.399 was definitely on guard. I was still very on edge, 0:28:15.720 --> 0:28:22.000 but nothing happened again until the following Wednesday. 0:28:22.080 --> 0:28:26.960 It was a normal day, hot and humid in Louisiana. 0:28:27.320 --> 0:28:29.880 At two o'clock, I had to leave with the girls 0:28:29.960 --> 0:28:33.159 to pick up my son from school. I am in 0:28:33.280 --> 0:28:35.399 my car getting ready to leave, and I had the 0:28:35.480 --> 0:28:38.440 kids in the car with me. I get a text 0:28:38.480 --> 0:28:41.080 from my mom asking for a photo of the house 0:28:41.040 --> 0:28:43.760 because I had talked about how beautiful this plantation home was. 0:28:44.760 --> 0:28:47.760 So I pulled out my phone snapped a quick picture 0:28:47.800 --> 0:28:50.480 of the house. I sent it to my mom and 0:28:50.520 --> 0:28:53.520 put my phone away and carried on going to pick 0:28:53.560 --> 0:28:57.320 up my son from school. When I returned, we got 0:28:57.360 --> 0:29:00.440 everybody unloaded out of the car, got inside. I checked 0:29:00.440 --> 0:29:03.040 my phone and I had a text from my mom 0:29:03.560 --> 0:29:07.040 saying how beautiful the house was, but asked who was 0:29:07.080 --> 0:29:12.600