THERÉSA: Hello, my mortal and undead friends. Welcome back. It's been
THERÉSA: a minute since we last spoke, but it feels like forever. Unexpectedly,
THERÉSA: the holiday season is a really lively time in purgatory.
THERÉSA: I guess, why not? Right. Ugh, Len. Enough. Stop. Between
THERÉSA: the end of year deadlines and holiday parties. I barely
THERÉSA: know what day it is anymore, but it feels good
THERÉSA: to welcome the new year. A clean slate, a fresh start.
THERÉSA: I've learned a lot this past year. The meaning of life,
THERÉSA: the meaning of death, how to preen a great horned owl. Yep,
THERÉSA: it's all starting to click. Might even be the year
THERÉSA: I finally cross over to the other side. That would
THERÉSA: make sense considering how at peace I feel. No, nothing, fine.
THERÉSA: Truth is, there is a little unfinished business from twenty
THERÉSA: twenty four that we have to attend to. The Haunting
THERÉSA: HQ holiday party. Yes, our team is small, but somehow Len, Merlin,
THERÉSA: Carol from Accounting and I overdid it on peppermint schnapps
THERÉSA: and got into a little trouble with the HR overlords. Yes, yes,
THERÉSA: we know you're watching. We all have to share written
THERÉSA: apologies and formally forgive one another in order to expunge
THERÉSA: this from our professional records, So let's get this over with.
THERÉSA: I'll go first. Len, I'm sorry that during our office
THERÉSA: holiday party, I drunkenly started calling you Little Boy Boo,
THERÉSA: and every time you tried to speak, I loudly said,
THERÉSA: do you guys hear someone crying? Even though it was
THERÉSA: a pretty solid bit and people were laughing. Fine striking
THERÉSA: that last part. I'm sorry.
LEN: [MUMBLES]
THERÉSA: Great! I feel lighter already. Let's get started with our
THERÉSA: first story. Melissa and her husband's long weekend in wine
THERÉSA: country went from romantic to frantic when they got mixed
THERÉSA: up with the wrong kind of spirits.
STORY A: When we got back to the hotel, it was very quiet,
STORY A: very late at night, but there was a security guard
STORY A: by our room. My husband was just standing there terrified.
STORY A: My name is Melissa, and I stayed in a hotel
STORY A: where something terrible happened. Back in 2007, we were living
STORY A: in La Jolla, California. My husband's friends were getting married
STORY A: and we were going up to Napa. It was Memorial
STORY A: Day weekend, and it was also my birthday. My husband
STORY A: was in charge of all of the logistics and everything
STORY A: like that. We flew up to Napa, got into our
STORY A: rental car, drove to the hotel that my husband had booked,
STORY A: and it turns out he had booked wrong frickin' hotel.
STORY A: I was really annoyed and really frustrated because it was
STORY A: an hour away from the wedding festivities. So we get
STORY A: back in the car and we're looking to see what
STORY A: hotels were available. We kept scrolling through different places, calling,
STORY A: but because it was a holiday weekend, nothing was available.
STORY A: We finally stumble upon this hotel named the Napa River Inn.
STORY A: That sounded really charming and it was an old home
STORY A: on the river right in downtown Napa. My husband called
STORY A: and they said specifically, we have one room left. I
STORY A: was instantly excited just because it looked really charming and beautiful.
STORY A: When we finally get to the Napa River Inn, it
STORY A: was really late at night and it was very quiet.
STORY A: It was against the river, so it's just very picturesque.
STORY A: The hotel was all brick and it was very small,
STORY A: but it was just a charming home converted into an inn.
STORY A: I loved it just because of my design background. It's
STORY A: not like a regular lobby when you walk in, it's
STORY A: set up like a home. I'm an interior designer and
STORY A: I love architecture. It was just absolutely stunning all the interiors.
STORY A: The exterior was just beautiful. It just had charm, and
STORY A: the furnishings were gorgeous. It did not feel scary or terrifying.
STORY A: It didn't look gloomy or haunted. It looked charming.
STORY A: So we check in and they said that our room
STORY A: was actually a suite, so I was like, yes! I
STORY A: was so excited. We go up to our room and
STORY A: we go up like the main staircase, and then we went
STORY A: down the hall and our room was beautiful, and I'm thinking,
STORY A: why was this room available? You know, like it seems
STORY A: a little too good. There's a gorgeous four poster bed
STORY A: with a canopy, beautiful linens and window treatments, a fireplace
STORY A: that was lit in this beautiful separate living area, very romantic.
STORY A: And there was a big bathroom and it was all
STORY A: like a neutral marble that had gorgeous claw foot tub
STORY A: and it was all the old plumbing fixtures, which I adore.
STORY A: I said, Okay, I'm just gonna wash up and take
STORY A: a bath. So I drew the bath and I tried
STORY A: to unwind from the crazy day, but I just kept
STORY A: feeling uncomfortable. I physically felt a heaviness on me, on
STORY A: my shoulders and on my head, almost the heaviness of
STORY A: something sitting on me, and it was just eerie. But
STORY A: I also felt the sadness and that somebody or something
STORY A: was trying to communicate that sadness to me. I tried to,
STORY A: you know, just brush it off and just not think
STORY A: about it, because the main room didn't have that feeling,
STORY A: and it was late and I was tired, and I
STORY A: was just like, I just need to sleep.
STORY A: I got out of the bath. I didn't tell my
STORY A: husband about that feeling because I think I attributed some
STORY A: of that feeling to being exhausted, and I was also
STORY A: really excited for our trip, so I didn't want to
STORY A: put a damper on things. But that night I had
STORY A: a dream. It was about a woman and she was
STORY A: very pretty. She had very very long, dark hair, and
STORY A: she had a very long white dress on. She was
STORY A: standing outside in a field with her finger straight out,
STORY A: pointing to a man with a huge grain sack on
STORY A: his head, and she was standing about ten feet away,
STORY A: facing him, but looking at me. I woke up. I
STORY A: wasn't scared or fearful. I just felt emotionally sad and
STORY A: almost drained from it. It just felt like this woman
STORY A: was reaching out to me, not to scare me, but
STORY A: just to communicate something that happened, and it didn't seem good.
STORY A: Almost like I was feeling her sadness. The next morning,
STORY A: it was my birthday and my husband woke me up
STORY A: singing Happy Birthday, and I was like, yay! I'm not
STORY A: going to say anything. Let's just enjoy the day. We
STORY A: were out wine tasting, We had a beautiful lunch, came back
STORY A: to the hotel, got ready for the wedding. The wedding
STORY A: was really beautiful and we just had the best time.
STORY A: It was getting really late, so we ended up going
STORY A: back to our hotel. We go up the main staircase
STORY A: and there was a security guard standing there. I said,
STORY A: is everything okay? He's like just checking things out, and
STORY A: he literally giggled, which was very odd and uncomfortable. We
STORY A: didn't know why he was giggling, so I proceeded to
STORY A: ask him, is this hotel haunted? My husband looked at
STORY A: me like I had twenty heads, like why would you
STORY A: even ask that question? But the security guard said yes,
STORY A: and then I looked at him again and I said,
STORY A: is it still haunted and he said, yes, your room.
STORY A: My husband is completely freaked out. We said goodbye to
STORY A: the security guy as we went into our room, and
STORY A: I proceeded to tell my husband about what I was
STORY A: feeling the night before and the dream that I had had.
STORY A: And at that point he was really worried and said
STORY A: should we leave? And I said, she's not trying to
STORY A: harm or anything. Why don't we call down to the
STORY A: front desk and see what they say. I pick up
STORY A: the phone. There's a dial tone and then you hit
STORY A: the button for front desk and it started to ring,
STORY A: and then the person would pick up, and then the
STORY A: phone would cut out. I tried again, and then the
STORY A: phone cut out again. We tried this three times, and
STORY A: at this point my husband was just standing there more
STORY A: freaked out, and I wasn't. I was just kind of cool,
STORY A: calm and collected. I said, why don't we just walk
STORY A: down and talk to them as opposed to the phone,
STORY A: because it keeps cutting out. We go downstairs, but instead
STORY A: of going to the main staircase, we turn and go
STORY A: down the back staircase, which was closer. As we're walking down,
STORY A: the walls were filled with all these black and white photographs.
STORY A: There were photos of the exterior of the Napa River Inn,
STORY A: photos of the view overlooking Napa, photos of downtown Napa
STORY A: from when the building was built, and there were family photos.
STORY A: When we got to the front desk, I said that
STORY A: I had been trying to call down. They said, well,
STORY A: we picked up, but the phone kept cutting out. We
STORY A: proceeded to tell them about the security guy and how
STORY A: weird that was, and that our room was haunted. And
STORY A: then I told them about the dream that I had
STORY A: had the night before and the feeling of heaviness and
STORY A: sadness that I felt in the bathroom. And they told
STORY A: me that the son of the building's original owner, Albert
STORY A: Hatt Junior, married a woman named Margaret. Albert Junior hung
STORY A: himself from a beam in the warehouse, which is a
STORY A: bakery now, and the room that we were staying in
STORY A: is directly above that bakery. They also told me that
STORY A: other guests have had experiences. People have seen Margaret in
STORY A: a white dress and she seemed to be looking for someone.
STORY A: People hear sounds, they've heard footsteps pacing back and forth.
STORY A: My poor husband, he was scared. He was terrified of
STORY A: the story. He looked at me in terror.
STORY A: At that point, we decide that we no longer wanted
STORY A: to stay there. We go back up the back staircase.
STORY A: I see those photos. I noticed one of them looked
STORY A: like a wedding photo. The woman was really beautiful. She
STORY A: was wearing a long white dress and she was standing
STORY A: with this man. That's when I realized that it was
STORY A: the same woman that I had a dream about. I
STORY A: was frightened, but also feeling like what I was thinking
STORY A: or feeling was validated at that point. It looked at
STORY A: my husband I said, that was the person in my dream.
STORY A: He was like, I'm getting the hell out of here.
STORY A: We got into the room and started to pack up
STORY A: our things. I looked over at the nightstand with the
STORY A: telephone on top of it, and the cord had been
STORY A: pulled out from the wall and was dangling back and forth.
STORY A: Before we had gone downstairs, it was plugged in. Now,
STORY A: it's unplugged. It was very bizarre. On top of that,
STORY A: while we were packing up, the bathroom sconces kept flickering
STORY A: on and off, and it just kept going on and
STORY A: off until we left. After we got back from our trip,
STORY A: I did some research to see what else I could
STORY A: find about the Napa River Inn and lo and behold,
STORY A: I found out that Margaret's husband, Albert Junior, hung himself
STORY A: with a grain sack on his head. I just remember
STORY A: feeling sad. I guess she was so in love with
STORY A: her husband that her sadness still lingers.
THERÉSA: Oh that's a shame. Napa is really beautiful, especially early summer.
THERÉSA: Last time I was there was for a bachelorette party.
THERÉSA: We didn't see any ghosts, but we did see the
THERÉSA: bride fully cheat on her fiance with one of the sommeliers.
THERÉSA: That's a secret. I literally took to my grave because
THERÉSA: I'm an awesome friend.
THERÉSA: Alright, back to our HR mandated apology tour. Len, you're up.
LEN: [MUMBLES]
THERÉSA: Whoa, I don't even remember you saying that. Tell him,
THERÉSA: not me.
THERÉSA: [MUMBLES]
THERÉSA: Jeez, Len, you were really on one. We forgive you.
THERÉSA: It feels good to atone, doesn't it? New Year, new us! Alright,
THERÉSA: on to another story. This next ghost is giving "Ghost". Hey,
THERÉSA: we should try and get Patrick Swayze on the pod.
THERÉSA: I bet he'd do it. He dated my mom in
THERÉSA: the eighties, pre-dirty Dancing. But still.
STORY B: I had this immediate, bone chilling, frozen moment where I'm like,
STORY B: what is going on? The senses, the things that I'm hearing,
STORY B: nothing's making sense anymore. So I whirled the chair around
STORY B: and there's nothing there. I'm Shelby and one night something
STORY B: in my house was imitating me and my husband's behavior
STORY B: and then put its hand on my shoulder. It was 2012.
STORY B: My husband and I had recently gotten married. I had
STORY B: my first baby. He was about six months old. We
STORY B: had just moved into this kind of crappy little rental house.
STORY B: It was an old house, I would say close to
STORY B: 100 years old. It was a one story house, had
STORY B: a little bit of an odd setup. The bedroom that
STORY B: was our bedroom was an add on to the back
STORY B: of the house. You had to walk through the kitchen
STORY B: in order to get into our bedroom, and then the
STORY B: other door went into our son's bedroom. It wasn't very nice,
STORY B: but it had everything we needed, so we could put
STORY B: up with all the little weirdnesses of it. The water
STORY B: heater doesn't work that great, the washer and dryer don't work.
STORY B: The stairs are falling off the front of the house
STORY B: a little bit. Well, we could maybe fix that. The
STORY B: rent was so cheap. We felt really lucky that we
STORY B: were able to start our lives together in an affordable,
STORY B: safe neighborhood. My husband and I both worked at the
STORY B: same restaurant. It was the restaurant district, so we could
STORY B: walk to work. We had a system where I would
STORY B: normally work during the daytime and then he would work
STORY B: at nighttime, and that way we avoided having to pay
STORY B: for childcare. But sometimes there would be an event at
STORY B: the restaurant and we would both have to be at
STORY B: work at the same time, so we would take our
STORY B: son over to my mother in law's house. So on
STORY B: this day we both had to be there for lunch.
STORY B: We left in the morning, dropped off our son, went
STORY B: to work.
STORY B: The event ended early, so I got to go home.
STORY B: My mother in law wasn't expecting me to come pick
STORY B: up our son until later. I had like a full
STORY B: hour and I could go home and maybe, as a
STORY B: new mom, get a little sleep. So I left work,
STORY B: ran home. I'm going to make the most of this 60 minutes.
STORY B: I go lay down. And then I'm like noticing that the
STORY B: atmosphere is just odd and that it's really hot in
STORY B: the room, and I'm like, well, it's August, it should
STORY B: be hot here. The little air conditioner probably wasn't able
STORY B: to keep up with the heat. But furnace heat is
STORY B: different from humid outside heat. It's dry, and then there
STORY B: is this burning smell, and I'm like, that's really strange.
STORY B: Why would the furnace be on. So I get up
STORY B: and I go look at the thermostat. The dial is
STORY B: cranked all the way up to the highest temperature and
STORY B: the switch at the bottom is switched from cool all
STORY B: the way over to heat. Maybe somebody bumped it, but
STORY B: I'm like, I'm just going to try to go back
STORY B: to sleep. So I go back in the room. I
STORY B: try to lay down. Something still doesn't feel right. It's
STORY B: still hot, and I'd get up look around the room.
STORY B: The space heater that we use in the wintertime is
STORY B: plugged in and turned all the way to the highest
STORY B: heat setting. It had been stored in the back of
STORY B: the closet under the clothes rack since the end of Winter.
STORY B: Now the space heater was in the middle of the room,
STORY B: and it was plugged in the very specific way. Exactly
STORY B: like I would do, which was put it in the
STORY B: middle of the room and then take the cord and
STORY B: loop it around the leg of the desk to make
STORY B: an L shape to keep the cord out of the
STORY B: path of the chair wheels. When I walked into the
STORY B: room the first time to lay down, the heater wasn't there.
STORY B: It wasn't plugged in. Just appear behind my back while
STORY B: I was laying down. It was almost like somebody has
STORY B: seen me plug it in and knew that the space
STORY B: heater was in the closet. I sat there and thought
STORY B: about this for awhile. I was like, well, my nap
STORY B: is ruined. What really made me think some things weird in
STORY B: this house was pretty soon after that. After work late
STORY B: at night, we would start our nighttime routine of making dinner.
STORY B: My husband was the better cook between the two of us.
STORY B: He would typically come home from work and make dinner
STORY B: for us. I really wanted to make sure that I
STORY B: wasn't giving up on my dream of being an artist,
STORY B: so I would pretty strictly make time for myself after work.
STORY B: In the bedroom, had an L shaped desk, and it had
STORY B: a chair and it was shoved into a corner. So
STORY B: I'm sitting at the desk and the baby is asleep
STORY B: in his room. Over to my left side is our
STORY B: bed with some windows out into the backyard. And then
STORY B: to my right is a door that opens up into
STORY B: my son's nursery. Now, a little farther behind me to
STORY B: the right is the door that opens up into the kitchen.
STORY B: And I wasn't able to see what was going on
STORY B: behind me. Had a pretty detailed drawing that I'd been working
STORY B: on for days at this point. I was making a
STORY B: wedding invitation for a friend's wedding. It was very detailed
STORY B: that every single word was hand lettered. The whole thing
STORY B: was a pen and ink drawing that I couldn't really
STORY B: make an error on.
STORY B: I was working at my desk, the baby's asleep, and
STORY B: my husband was in the kitchen cooking. It's about twenty
STORY B: feet away. He's at the stove. He's making some kind
STORY B: of sauce. I could hear him taking like a spatula
STORY B: and banging on the side of the pot to shake
STORY B: the excess sauce back into the pot. And he's also
STORY B: a pacer, And so because it's an old house, every
STORY B: step and noise is very creaky. You sort of get
STORY B: used to your own partner's behaviors. I'm deeply focused in
STORY B: this drawing when I start hearing my husband walking around
STORY B: the bedroom behind me, I can hear the noises of
STORY B: the steps on the wooden planks, and I hear the
STORY B: dresser drawer opening. My husband had learned to recognize when
STORY B: I was doing my like serious focusing time, I'm not
STORY B: necessarily going to look up or speak to him or
STORY B: interact with him. That went on for a little while.
STORY B: He's just pacing around, but I'm still, you know, face
STORY B: down in my drawing, working working. At some point, I
STORY B: hear him walk right behind my chair, and I can
STORY B: tell that he's got his chest to the back of
STORY B: the chair because it's not moving when I move anymore.
STORY B: It's being held still. I still never looked up or
STORY B: really acknowledged him in any way. He put his hand
STORY B: on my shoulder and he did a massaging motion, and then
STORY B: he patted my shoulder and he rested his hand on
STORY B: my shoulder. So I set my pen down, and still
STORY B: without looking up, I said, "Hi, babe, how's your sauce
STORY B: coming along?" I could physically feel his hand on my shoulder,
STORY B: and then I hear his voice shouting to me from
STORY B: the kitchen, "What did you say, babe?" The voice that
STORY B: I'm expecting to hear answering me should be right in
STORY B: my ear, but it's not. It's coming from probably twenty
STORY B: feet away, and in a loud voice, the way you
STORY B: would yell to somebody across the house. I just freeze.
STORY B: If I can hear my husband's voice coming from the kitchen,
STORY B: whose hand is resting on my shoulder? I spin the
STORY B: chair around. Almost immediately the hand pulled away, and then
STORY B: I feel freezing cold air blasts past me, cold enough
STORY B: to make me gasp with surprise. The windows were not open.
STORY B: The door to the nursery had just been cracked just
STORY B: enough to where I could hear my son if he
STORY B: started to fuss or cry. But the blast was forceful enough
STORY B: that it blew the door to the nursery wide open.
STORY B: It was almost like whatever was behind me now passed
STORY B: by quickly, like to get away. I'm frozen in fear.
STORY B: I just kind of sat there, trying to like process
STORY B: what just happened. My husband walks in from the kitchen.
STORY B: He still has his spatula in his hand. I'm still
STORY B: just sitting there for what feels like an eternity, and
STORY B: he repeats this question to me, "what did you say, babe?"
STORY B: That sort of wakes me up from just this state
STORY B: of shock. So then I kind of pieced together like, okay,
STORY B: my husband was in the kitchen, my baby's asleep in
STORY B: his room, and something was walking around behind me. In
STORY B: this moment, I'm terrified. And then it clicks in my brain.
STORY B: Whatever that air was opened your son's door. It's in there.
STORY B: My next thought is, what if he's gone?Because he's so quiet,
STORY B: I haven't heard any noise from his room yet. Normally,
STORY B: if he wakes up from his nap, he would typically
STORY B: wake up and immediately start fussing and crying. So I
STORY B: jump up and I just run into my son's room,
STORY B: and my husband followed right behind me, and instead of
STORY B: my sleeping baby in his crib, he's sitting up. He
STORY B: doesn't even really acknowledge me when I walk in, which
STORY B: was weird. He doesn't really seem to notice that I've
STORY B: come in the room. He's just sort of looking over
STORY B: my head, just staring at a spot above his doorframe,
STORY B: kind of quietly, which is odd for a baby. And
STORY B: so I just grab him and he just kept looking
STORY B: at the spot. So I turn around to see what
STORY B: he's looking at, and there's nothing there. J ust the
STORY B: empty space over the doorway. I'm holding him. He doesn't
STORY B: seem to be upset. He doesn't seem to be hurt,
STORY B: he's just quiet. And then at that point everything starts
STORY B: to feel like it's getting normal again, and I don't
STORY B: feel danger anymore. And my husband, he starts trying to
STORY B: explain it away. Maybe I just imagined those noises. Maybe
STORY B: he wasn't massaging my shoulder. What if I was just
STORY B: having some kind of very strange shoulder spasm? Or what
STORY B: if there was some odd draft from the doors opening
STORY B: and closing creating suction? We had lived there for a
STORY B: long time. I know that there's not a situation that
STORY B: causes drafts to open and close doors. I know that
STORY B: the temperature change couldn't have just happened. And I know
STORY B: what my husband's hand feels like. I know it was
STORY B: my husband's hand touching my shoulder. But my son convinced
STORY B: me that something had happened. What was he looking at?
STORY B: He's never done that before, He's never done it since.
STORY B: He was looking at something. Something woke him up. Something got
STORY B: his attention. Something got my attention. So it was almost like, Okay,
STORY B: he and I are in this together. He knows and
STORY B: I know something happened. The house is gone now. We
STORY B: got a notice that some development company bought the whole
STORY B: block and they built luxury condos. So if there's a
STORY B: ghost in your house and then the neighborhood gets gentrified,
STORY B: where does the ghost go? Is he now haunting someone's
STORY B: luxury condo or is he just gone?
THERÉSA: Shelby raises a really good question. I guess I'd be
THERÉSA: inclined to stay, but only if I could leave during
THERÉSA: construction and then come back, and only if it's still
THERÉSA: a residential dwelling. I'm not trying to haunt a Planet Fitness. Alright,
THERÉSA: let's take a break.
THERÉSA: Okay, onto our next public apology. Carol from accounting. Carol! Carol? Yikes.
THERÉSA: Apparently Carol's crimes at the holiday party were so heinous,
THERÉSA: she went straight to hell. And I guess paychecks will
THERÉSA: be late this week. Merlin, your turn, I forgot you
THERÉSA: pooped in Len's beer. We forgive you. Three out of four.
THERÉSA: Not bad, and at least we dodged a training module
THERÉSA: this time. That's all we've got for today. If you've
THERÉSA: ever had a paranormal experience, email us at HauntingThePodcast@gmail.com, and
THERÉSA: if not, drop a line anyway. We want to hear
THERÉSA: your holiday party horror stories. They can't be worse than Carol's.
THERÉSA: Until next time, From our Haunting fam to yours, we
THERÉSA: wish you a very happy New Year and may all
THERÉSA: your business be finished.
Speaker 5: If you have a haunting story to share, email us
Speaker 5: at HauntingThePodcast@gmail.com, and if you like what you hear, please
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Speaker 5: media by searching for Glass Podcasts or by visiting glasspodcasts.com.
Speaker 5: Haunting is a production of Glass Podcasts in partnership with
Speaker 5: iHeart Podcast. Haunting is created and executive produced by Nancy
Speaker 5: Glass, Andrea Gunning, Ben Fetterman, and Lauren Lapkus, and it is
Speaker 5: hosted by Laura Lapkus as her character Therésa. Producer Len
Speaker 5: Walker is played by Trey Morgan. Haunting is written by
Speaker 5: Aleah Welsh, with additional writing by Nancy Glass, Trey Morgan,
Speaker 5: and Ben Fetterman. Editing and sound designed by Matt Delvecchio
Speaker 5: and mixed by Dave Saia. Operations and production support by
Speaker 5: Kristen Melchiorre. Additional production support by Curry Richman and Todd Ganz.
Speaker 5: Haunting's theme and original compositions were composed by Oliver Baines
Speaker 5: and Dorry Macaulay of Noiser. Music Library provided by Mybe
Speaker 5: Music Special thanks to Speakeasy Sound Studios in Burbank, California.
Speaker 5: For more shows from iHeart Podcast and Glass Podcasts, visit
Speaker 5: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.