WEBVTT - S1: EP 16 — "An Overwhelming Sense of Dread” 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:25.160 Hello, Hello, my hauntos Therésa here. Welcome back to another 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:28.640 episode of Haunting. The podcast where we share listeners submitted 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:32.360 stories of other worldly encounters with the great beyond. I'm 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:34.680 excited to gab with you girls today because I've been 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:37.800 having a little encounter of my own. As some of 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:41.120 you may remember, I got saddled with a familiar, Merlin. 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:44.680 Only he's not the slinky cat I was expecting. He's 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:48.519 a massive, great horned owl. Anyway, I've been trying to 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:50.320 make the best of it by accompanying Merlin on his 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:54.480 hunting expeditions in the mortal realm. As a familiar, Merlin 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:58.000 has access to both the physical and spirit world. It's 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:00.720 nice getting to look down on everything from a bird's eye view. 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:03.400 It reminds me of my dad's company jet, which we 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:07.600 sadly lost access to after the indictment. So this one morning, 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:11.759 Merlin's flying through the Poconos and there's this adorable nature boy. 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:16.000 He's got his little binoculars and camera, clearly a birdwatcher, 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:18.360 and he's like, obsessed with me. 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:18.960 [MUMBLES] 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:23.840 Well, if he's obsessed with Merlin, he's obsessed with me. 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:27.840 I'm basically Merlin. The crazy thing is he's so not 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:30.520 my type, but there's something about him that's just so 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:33.679 cute and wholesome. I can't explain it, but it might 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:37.240 be love. I usually go for trust fund DJs or 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:40.040 guys who say bet. This could be a really good thing. 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:44.319 The only challenge has been communication. I had Merlin follow 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:46.679 him back to his apartment in Philadelphia, perch outside of 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:49.160 his window and tap on the glass. This seemed to 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:52.400 really excite him, again because he's a huge bird nerd 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:54.840 so I might need to get a bit more explicit 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:58.120 with my messages. But I have a little romantic gesture 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:00.720 up my sleeve I think should do the trick. I'll have an 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:03.920 update on that later. For now, let's get started with 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:06.920 our first story of the episode. This one comes to 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:10.200 us from Nicole, an LA native just like me who's 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:14.240 had her fair share of disturbing paranormal experiences. 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:20.640 I'm Nicole and I was followed by something sinister on 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:27.360 a trip to see a friend. I am born and 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:32.280 raised in Los Angeles. I have always grown up knowing 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:36.799 that my family has had a connection to the other side, 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:42.440 whether it be psychic, whether it be seeing spirit, They've 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:48.639 all had interactions. My grandmother specifically would see spirit all 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:51.919 the time. She would have a woman that would walk 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:57.079 up and down her stairs at her childhood home. This 0:02:57.160 --> 0:03:00.680 woman would sit on her bed and help my grandma 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:04.880 brush her hair while she was sitting there. This was 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:08.760 then passed down to my mom, who has always had premonitions. 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:12.959 My mom has even been approached in the supermarket by 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:17.586 people saying, are you aware that you have psychic abilities? 0:03:17.586 --> 0:03:21.840 These people are just drawn to her. That was also 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:30.280 passed down to me. I was in sixth grade. It 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:33.360 was the last year at my elementary school and there 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:36.680 was a big Washington, DC trip that the sixth grade 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:42.280 class would always take. Having been in LA this was 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:45.320 cross country, it was far away, so it was the 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:49.120 biggest deal. It was a class of thirty and every 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:51.520 kid in the class ended up going on this trip. 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:59.640 It was the trip. We were probably the most annoying 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:02.400 group of kids for the other people on the plane 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:05.600 because a red eye, you know, there's business people trying 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:08.120 to fly to Washington, D C. for their meetings in 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:11.520 the morning, and none of us could shut up. We 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:15.800 were talking the whole time, laughing, yelling. We were probably 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:19.080 driving everyone crazy. I don't think any of us slept 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:22.520 on that plane because there was just this air of excitement. 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:27.800 This may be hard to believe, but I was so 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:32.440 excited for the history part. My grandpa was a history 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:36.159 buff and my grandma was a docent at the Huntington 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:41.279 Museum out here in LA basically a volunteer leading tours 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:44.920 and everything around the Huntington Museum. So she just gave 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:47.560 me a love for history that was shining through in 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:53.040 sixth grade. 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:58.520 Once we landed, we went to the hotel, we checked in, 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:02.600 we were immediately shuttled to our bus. We went to 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:08.400 the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, that whole area of Washington, D.C. 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:12.382 We had a tour guide that lived there that would 0:05:12.382 --> 0:05:15.159 take us to all these monuments and all these museums. 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:20.760 She knew everything about everything and as she would speak, 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:25.159 I would notice that she'd always work in these tidbits 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:29.400 about ghosts or spirits and things that she had seen 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:32.479 or things that someone on her tour group had seen. 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:35.760 I thought that was the coolest thing. 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:39.440 One of the main highlights that we were all looking 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:44.480 forward to was heading over to Colonial Williamsburg. As our 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:48.120 bus entered the area, it felt like we were in 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:53.159 a completely different time in space, like we were being 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:59.805 transported into the seventeen hundreds. Our tour guide told us 0:05:59.805 --> 0:06:04.880 there were so many different spirit encounters that she had 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:08.000 seen and that people that she led on tour groups 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:14.760 had seen. We spend the whole day in Colonial Williamsburg 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:21.560 churning butter, weaving baskets, making blankets, making candles. At the 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:26.000 end of the day, our entire group was absolutely exhausted. 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:30.679 It's dusk at this point, it's starting to get dark. 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:36.200 Our big group was walking back to our bus. As 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:40.520 we were walking, there's a man standing at this fence. 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:46.560 He was in traditional colonial garb. He was wearing khaki 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:53.960 capris with white socks up to his knees, black buckle shoes, 0:06:55.480 --> 0:07:04.640 a white blouse, a black overcoat, and a tri-corner black hat. 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:07.560 I thought it was odd that he was wearing a 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:10.280 black overcoat because it was the middle of May and 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:14.040 it was so hot and humid out. But I noticed 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:19.000 that this man was just glaring at me. Not just staring. 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:21.520 He's glaring. 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.920 In this moment, I could not take my eyes off 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:31.560 of him. I'm just feeling this overwhelming sense of dread 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:36.906 and this overwhelming sense of guilt. He was making me 0:07:36.906 --> 0:07:40.800 feel as though I had done something to disturb him 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:44.640 or to upset him, and I could not look away 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:55.320 from him. As I walk past him, he is moving 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:58.480 his eyes along with me, but not turning his head, 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:01.920 just moving his eyes to follow me and to watch me. 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:06.520 As if I were the only kid in that entire 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:09.280 group of people that were standing there. He just stared 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:12.880 at me singularly, as if to say, I see you. 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:18.520 My eyes are burning at this point. I've been maintaining 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:23.160 this stare for so long. And then I blink, and 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:28.240 then he was gone. I have a million thoughts running 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:31.480 through my head. Why did he show himself to me? 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:35.719 What did he want from me? Why was he glaring 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:39.880 at me? I described this person to the people in 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:43.480 my class. I told them what he was wearing. No 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:47.320 one else saw this person. I knew what I had 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:50.599 seen was real. I knew it wasn't made up. I 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:55.280 knew it wasn't a hallucination. That feeling could never have 0:08:55.400 --> 0:09:03.440 been fabricated. I knew I had seen spirit. It wasn't 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:07.000 until several years later that I had my next experience. 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:12.080 I went up to Oregon to visit my friend. I 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:15.120 was so excited because I'd never been to Oregon before. 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:20.040 I couldn't believe how beautiful it was there. She pointed 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:23.319 out her house from down the street. It was a 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:27.679 very cute cottage model, with lots of vines growing on 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:36.160 the sides of the house and a cobblestone driveway. Before 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:38.360 we even got out of the car, my eyes were 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:43.559 immediately drawn to something on the second floor. All of 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:50.160 a sudden, I felt ill. I was nauseous, my stomach dropped, 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:54.679 I felt feverish, but I had chills. I could feel 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:59.960 the goosebumps all over my body. We unload the car, 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:07.359 walk inside, and what looked very cute from the outside 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:12.280 ended up being very creepy on the inside. The house 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:18.120 had brick walls with nothing hanging on them, hardwood, creaking floors, 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:21.560 and the house just looked old. 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:27.360 We stayed in for the rest of the night, made dinner, 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:33.840 and just sat together catching up. About ten o'clock we 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:38.800 decided to go to bed. I fell asleep very fast. 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:41.840 At some point in the middle of the night, I 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:47.160 woke up and was very thirsty. I walked slowly down 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:52.200 the hall, make it into the kitchen, pour a glass 0:10:52.240 --> 0:11:00.920 of water, and turn around to head back to the bedroom. Immediately, 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:02.360 I feel the energy shift. 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:07.080 I start to feel a darkness surround me and a 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:13.240 very negative energy all over the room. I feel fight 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:17.120 or flight take over, like my body is having this 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:22.160 visceral reaction to the shift. It feels like a physical 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:26.680 being is in there with me. It feels like someone's 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:31.400 eyes are boring into my back. But I refuse to 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:35.719 turn around because I didn't want to acknowledge that presence 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:40.600 because of the evil that I felt with it. I 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:46.280 can feel my adrenaline starting to pump, and I feel 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:52.000 this energy getting closer and closer to me, so I 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:57.280 start to run down the hall. I feel like I'm 0:11:57.280 --> 0:12:01.840 in danger. I jumped into bed and pull the covers 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:05.760 up over me. I was thinking, do I need to 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:07.800 leave this house in the middle of the night and 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:15.160 find myself a hotel? Am I in danger still? I 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:21.200 pull out my phone to distract myself, and I eventually 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:24.959 feel the energy go back to being peaceful and calm, 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:28.400 and ended up falling asleep. 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:35.520 The next morning, I was very excited because we had 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:39.520 a big day planned, going to tour Oregon State University, 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:44.626 going on a hike, and then going to breweries afterwards. 0:12:44.626 --> 0:12:48.840 We're getting ready upstairs in the bathroom, and I mentioned 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:52.000 to my friend that something weird had happened last night. 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:55.920 I told her that I was in the kitchen and 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:59.400 a dark presence came over and followed me back to 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:03.800 the bedroom. She's quiet for a moment and gives me 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:08.360 a look of oh no, this is happening to you too. 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:14.319 She tells me there had been multiple experiences with this presence. 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:19.319 Her and a friend had seen a pen levitate above 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:23.800 the desk on its own, suddenly drop and roll onto 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:28.640 the floor. She'd seen the same thing happen with a 0:13:28.760 --> 0:13:31.080 roll of duct tape at that same desk. 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:36.360 She also told me that she had been locked out 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:40.440 of her room before. Leading to the upstairs was a 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:46.280 very old wooden door with paint peeling and an old 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:49.880 style lock that required a skeleton key like you see 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:55.440 in movies to be physically turned. How was she getting 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:59.320 locked out when there was no one in the room? 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:02.520 She told me that a man had died in that 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:08.320 house a long time ago. They believed that that is 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:12.040 the presence that I felt that was stalking about the house, 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:16.560 and not to be too scared because they had been 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:21.080 living there for many months at that point and that 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:25.360 entity had never fully approached them before. 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:31.440 I had a great rest of my trip and was 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:36.240 left undisturbed and believe that in my first night there, 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:40.600 this spirit wanted to test the limits and see how 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:45.480 far it could push me. Since my trip to Oregon, I 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:50.160 have had other encounters with spirit and the paranormal, but 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:53.680 nothing has ever come through again that has felt as 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:57.440 sinister and nefarious as that presence did. 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:06.360 I actually took the same field trip from LA to 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:09.320 DC when I was in elementary school. I didn't see 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:12.280 a ghost, but I did see my history teacher hit 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:15.120 on a Betsy Ross impersonator, which still haunts me to 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:17.640 this day. We've got to take a quick AD break, 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:20.400 but don't go anywhere because we'll be back in two secs, 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:23.480 well technically four minutes, maybe less. I don't know. Ads 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:24.120 are Len work. 0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:36.280 Ugh guys! Huge drama with Toby. Oh, I've decided to 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:39.360 name bird guy Toby. I pulled up my social accounts 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:41.040 on his laptop and cut the power so I could 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:44.400 flash "Hey Cutie" in Morse code with the lights, but 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:49.160 he just started seizing. How was I supposed to know 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:51.960 that would happen? Once the paramedics left, I sent Merlin 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:53.920 to his window to calm him down, and he threw 0:15:53.920 --> 0:15:57.600 ahead of garlic at him. Yeah, not cool at all. 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:01.440 We're not vampires. Ignorant. Toby slept with the lights on 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:03.280 the rest of the night. But I'm hoping once he's 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:05.240 less on edge, he'll be curious enough to pick up 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:07.800 a Ouiji board or organize a seance so we can 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:12.420 have a proper rendezvous. I'm killer on a first date. Anyway, 0:16:12.420 --> 0:16:15.760 let's keep things moving. Our next story is from Jade, 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:19.040 who spent an extremely unsettling night at the mercy of 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:20.560 a pretty pushy spirit. 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:25.360 I was reading a book quietly and it was totally silent. 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:29.240 Everyone was sleeping, and I heard this thing running up 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:36.440 and down the stairs. And suddenly it slammed against the door. 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:40.960 The door actually shook, and I jumped up. What the 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:44.720 fuck is this? Like why is this happening to me 0:16:44.880 --> 0:16:52.960 right now? I am actually quite afraid. I'm terrified. My 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:56.920 name's Jade. When staying with my family, something was going 0:16:56.960 --> 0:16:57.680 bump in the night. 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:02.040 I grew up with my mom in Washington State. My 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:05.120 father lived in Las Vegas, and I would visit them 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:10.440 once or twice a year. The summer around the time 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:13.720 that I was seventeen, I was visiting my father and 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:17.520 my stepmom in Las Vegas. I didn't have my own 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:20.040 room in the house. The setup that we typically had 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:23.000 was that my baby brother would sleep with my parents 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:25.160 during the time that I was visiting, and I would 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:27.920 take over the nursery as sort of a guest room 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:34.000 for the duration of my visit. The outside of the 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:38.439 house was pretty common for what you might see in 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:42.640 a Las Vegas suburban area. It was a white stucco 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:47.639 one story house. There was an overhang of the roof 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:50.679 that kind of cast a shadow on the overall house. 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:58.640 The bottom floor was the entire living area. Kitchen, living room, 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:02.760 sort of a front room as well. In the middle of that 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:05.080 living area, t here was a staircase that led up 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:09.880 to a very small landing. The landing was surrounded by 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:14.800 three bedrooms and a bathroom. But for being such a 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:19.080 hot and sunny place, the house did seem to be 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:26.119 a bit shadowy for some reason. The last night that 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:29.600 I was staying with them, I was up in the 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:33.280 nursery room and I was reading Brave New World by 0:18:33.280 --> 0:18:37.920 Aldous Huxley. Everyone had gone to bed before me around 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:42.560 ten o'clock. My father and stepmom were with my baby 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:45.760 brother in one room. My other little brother, who was 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:48.960 about twelve at the time, was in his bedroom. 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:55.159 They sleep with their doors open. I do not. I 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:59.639 had just gone to the bathroom. I returned to the nursery. 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:03.600 I closed the door behind me, and I'm continuing to 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:07.480 read my book. I'm up late. I'm seventeen years old, 0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:10.320 you know, it was pretty typical of me to stay 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:14.200 up till one or two in the morning. Everyone was 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:18.840 sleeping and then from the bottom of the stairs, I 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:24.880 hear something strange, and I realized that the noise is footsteps. 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:31.560 The footsteps stop at the top of the stairs, and 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:37.600 I hear them go back down. This continues maybe six times, 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:43.720 back and forth. The nursery was directly next to the staircase, 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:49.560 so I could tell that the footsteps were coming from 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:54.920 the bottom of the stairs. This landing was quite creaky. 0:19:56.840 --> 0:19:59.760 I would have heard someone kind of coming out of 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:01.720 their rooms and walking down the stairs. 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:05.440 This sound did not start at the top of the stairs. 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:08.400 This sound started at the bottom of the stairs from 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:13.840 the living area. The footsteps almost sounded like a child 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:16.800 barreling up and down the stairs, almost like when you 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:20.640 hear kids kind of running around the house, very clumsy, 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:32.080 very haphazard. So as a sidebar, my grandmother was very kooky, 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:36.560 and she told me that if anything unexplainable or paranormal 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:40.719 ever happened, the best thing to do is to ignore it, 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:45.119 because if you pay attention, you'll feed into the energy, 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:50.399 the activity will get stronger, or something like that. This 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:53.000 is the only advice I had ever gotten about how 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:55.399 to interact with a ghost, so it is in my 0:20:55.760 --> 0:21:00.680 head that I should just ignore these footsteps. Of course, 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:03.840 I can't stop listening entirely because I am freaked out, 0:21:05.880 --> 0:21:09.560 but I'm choosing not to acknowledge it, call out to 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:16.919 my family, or interact with anything whatsoever. I did go 0:21:17.000 --> 0:21:21.160 through the logical checklist of trying to figure out where 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:24.920 this was coming from. I didn't think that it could 0:21:25.000 --> 0:21:29.960 be an intruder. The house had an alarm system, so 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:32.720 if anyone had entered on the bottom floor through a 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:35.880 door or the windows, the alarm would have gone off. 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:39.840 I didn't think that it was anyone in my family, 0:21:40.000 --> 0:21:43.040 just because I hadn't heard them go down. Again, it 0:21:43.119 --> 0:21:46.960 was totally silent. I was reading a book quietly. Everyone 0:21:47.040 --> 0:21:51.959 was sleeping. When I was listening to this, I felt 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:55.960 almost like a cat being up on its haunches, Like 0:21:56.320 --> 0:22:00.720 my hair stood up and I got goosebumps a bit. 0:22:01.359 --> 0:22:05.439 I think, honestly though, in situations like that, I freeze, 0:22:05.440 --> 0:22:08.959 and I'm kind of assessing the situation. I'm trying to 0:22:09.320 --> 0:22:12.720 kind of have the body language that I'm ignoring this thing. 0:22:13.960 --> 0:22:17.960 At the same time, I am listening carefully to track 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:21.840 where these footsteps are going, how often they're coming up 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:25.880 and down the stairs, just to A. figure out what 0:22:25.880 --> 0:22:29.280 it was, and B. try to think of an action 0:22:29.440 --> 0:22:32.880 plan as well of how I was going to get 0:22:32.880 --> 0:22:35.200 out of the situation, if I needed to take any 0:22:35.240 --> 0:22:35.960 action at all. 0:22:41.000 --> 0:22:45.880 The footsteps come back up and they stop, and I'm 0:22:45.880 --> 0:22:52.760 thinking to myself, maybe whatever's happening is done, and so 0:22:52.800 --> 0:22:56.159 I begin to relax. I go back to kind of 0:22:56.200 --> 0:23:00.444 pretending that I'm reading my book, when suddenly I heard 0:23:00.444 --> 0:23:03.399 what sounded like a grown man took both of his 0:23:03.560 --> 0:23:08.220 fists and slammed them against the door of the room 0:23:08.220 --> 0:23:12.200 that I was sleeping in. So hard that the door 0:23:12.240 --> 0:23:19.240 actually shook. I jump up off the air mattress and freeze. 0:23:19.840 --> 0:23:22.159 I have this thing in my head that I just 0:23:22.200 --> 0:23:27.760 need to ignore what's going on and it will go away. 0:23:27.920 --> 0:23:31.560 So I sink back down onto the air mattress. I 0:23:31.640 --> 0:23:35.679 continue to pretend that I'm reading that nothing has just 0:23:35.760 --> 0:23:42.000 happened and again, slamming on the door harder this time. 0:23:42.840 --> 0:23:46.960 The door shook, the wall shook, almost giving me the 0:23:47.000 --> 0:23:52.600 sense of don't ignore me. I'm actually quite afraid now. 0:23:54.560 --> 0:23:58.120 I am terrified. I can no longer ignore what's going on, 0:23:59.119 --> 0:24:03.520 and I decide to take action. I throw my blanket 0:24:03.600 --> 0:24:08.119 over my head for protection. I felt like if I 0:24:08.119 --> 0:24:11.439 were surrounded by something, I at least physically felt better 0:24:11.880 --> 0:24:15.240 if I was going to leave this room into who 0:24:15.280 --> 0:24:21.240 knows what's going on in the hallway. I flip on 0:24:21.240 --> 0:24:26.240 the bedroom light. I swing open the door, and the 0:24:26.320 --> 0:24:27.360 landing was empty. 0:24:29.280 --> 0:24:33.200 I flip on the hallway light. The stairs are immediately 0:24:33.240 --> 0:24:37.240 to my right, and I can see my family is 0:24:37.280 --> 0:24:44.639 still sleeping in their beds. My twelve year old brother's 0:24:44.720 --> 0:24:50.213 room is immediately to my left. His door's open, so 0:24:50.213 --> 0:24:54.760 I walk in, shut the door behind me, flip on 0:24:54.840 --> 0:24:57.280 my brother's light so that there's essentially a trail of 0:24:57.400 --> 0:25:02.560 light following me. I shake him half awake, and I 0:25:02.640 --> 0:25:09.840 tell him to scoot over because I'm sleeping in his room, 0:25:09.880 --> 0:25:12.960 and he half asleep kind of just rolls over, makes 0:25:12.960 --> 0:25:17.000 space for me. I get into his bed, pull his 0:25:17.119 --> 0:25:22.000 covers all the way over my face. It's Nevada, it's 0:25:22.160 --> 0:25:25.800 the middle of summer. I basically am suffocating myself, but 0:25:25.880 --> 0:25:28.600 I don't care because I'm so afraid of what has 0:25:28.680 --> 0:25:33.480 just happened. I'm laying in his room for about twenty 0:25:33.520 --> 0:25:40.800 minutes and I hear the bang. It's softer than when 0:25:40.840 --> 0:25:44.159 it was directly on my door, but it gave me 0:25:44.240 --> 0:25:49.760 the feeling of I know you're in there. The fact 0:25:49.760 --> 0:25:53.600 that it had followed me to my brother's room was 0:25:53.680 --> 0:26:01.240 really unsettling. My first thought was, what the fuck is this? Like? 0:26:01.520 --> 0:26:05.119 Why is this happening to me right now? And I 0:26:05.119 --> 0:26:09.240 do remember texting my stepmom the words: Are you awake? 0:26:10.640 --> 0:26:13.960 Which was unhelpful because then I heard her cell phone 0:26:14.160 --> 0:26:19.359 go off from downstairs in the kitchen. Her phone was 0:26:19.440 --> 0:26:21.880 charging on the kitchen counter. It wasn't anywhere near her, 0:26:22.000 --> 0:26:28.679 so she couldn't save me. When I talked to my 0:26:28.720 --> 0:26:34.960 family the next morning, nobody had heard anything. Nobody had 0:26:35.160 --> 0:26:38.640 been woken up. By what was going on. I seem 0:26:38.720 --> 0:26:43.280 to be the only person who heard it. I think 0:26:43.320 --> 0:26:46.640 that they believed me, but I think that they kind 0:26:46.680 --> 0:26:49.160 of brushed it off as maybe a one off thing, 0:26:49.359 --> 0:26:50.920 or maybe I was scared and I was kind of 0:26:50.920 --> 0:26:55.920 blowing it out of proportion. But in the months following 0:26:56.560 --> 0:27:01.320 they started to have the same experience. The banging started happening 0:27:01.400 --> 0:27:04.200 on my brother's door as well, so he would hear 0:27:04.200 --> 0:27:06.920 the footsteps running up and down the stairs, and he 0:27:07.080 --> 0:27:09.480 would hear the banging on his door when he slept 0:27:09.480 --> 0:27:13.359 with his door closed. They also started to hear the 0:27:13.400 --> 0:27:16.760 sound of muffled arguments coming from the top of the 0:27:16.880 --> 0:27:21.200 landing upstairs, almost like you're hearing two people fight, still 0:27:21.200 --> 0:27:26.320 in the house, but almost kind of far away. Because 0:27:26.400 --> 0:27:31.000 this happened so frequently and the banging was so aggressive 0:27:31.200 --> 0:27:34.840 and terrifying, they ended up leaving that house at the 0:27:34.960 --> 0:27:38.840 end of the first lease term. So after they had 0:27:38.880 --> 0:27:40.960 spent that full twelve months in that house, they moved 0:27:41.000 --> 0:27:44.359 into a different house because the vibes were very bad. 0:27:45.880 --> 0:27:48.920 Nothing has really ever happened in their new house. 0:27:53.880 --> 0:27:58.160 Jade's grandmother is right. We spirits do feed off of attention. Well, 0:27:58.200 --> 0:28:00.920 this spirit especially. If only I could get some from 0:28:00.920 --> 0:28:04.076 my mortal boyfriend. Men are so afraid of commitment. 0:28:04.076 --> 0:28:04.116 [MUMBLES] 0:28:06.240 --> 0:28:07.460 No Len, nobody cares. 0:28:07.460 --> 0:28:07.520 [MUMBLES] 0:28:08.920 --> 0:28:10.520 All right, let's take a quick break to hear from 0:28:10.520 --> 0:28:17.640 our sponsors. 0:28:19.240 --> 0:28:22.280 You guys, I have never been so entertained in my 0:28:22.520 --> 0:28:26.240 entire life or death. Toby or whatever his real name is, 0:28:26.400 --> 0:28:29.760 hired a priest to perform an exorcism on his apartment, 0:28:29.800 --> 0:28:33.720 like I'm some kind of Stage-five-clinger. But I realized from 0:28:33.720 --> 0:28:39.760 the other side, exorcisms are hilarious. I'm just sitting there 0:28:39.800 --> 0:28:42.920 watching this priest go completely insane with the Holy water 0:28:43.000 --> 0:28:45.520 and the Hail Mary's, and Toby is curled up in 0:28:45.520 --> 0:28:48.320 the corner whimpering. I thought about flickering the lights again, 0:28:48.400 --> 0:28:52.120 just so they'd feel like they were accomplishing something. The 0:28:52.160 --> 0:28:55.000 whole thing was a huge turn off. I was planning 0:28:55.000 --> 0:28:58.240 to have Toby killed in a mysterious owl attack so 0:28:58.240 --> 0:29:00.840 we could be together, but that whole charade just gave 0:29:00.880 --> 0:29:03.760 me the ick. I'll leave you to your weird little 0:29:03.760 --> 0:29:07.720