THERÉSA: Test test. Oh oh, thank god. I have been trying
THERÉSA: to get this thing to turn on for hours. Something
THERÉSA: is really wrong, you guys. My producer Len, mumbley, kind
THERÉSA: of forgettable guy. He's gone! Usually when I get to
THERÉSA: the studio he's already here, pushing buttons and I don't know,
THERÉSA: adjusting things. It's not that I need him. I mean,
THERÉSA: now that we're up and running, I'm more than capable
THERÉSA: of producing the show myself. I pretty much do all
THERÉSA: the work around here anyway. I guess I'm just used
THERÉSA: to having him here. Hopefully nothing bad happened. It's fine,
THERÉSA: it's fine, he's fine. I'm fine. He's probably just haunting
THERÉSA: a board game convention or whatever nerd stuff he gets
THERÉSA: up to when we're not working. Such an odd little man.
THERÉSA: Let's just get started. Our first story today is from Emma.
THERÉSA: When her boyfriend and his best friend moved into his
THERÉSA: best friend's childhood home, things started getting weird, and not
THERÉSA: hooking up with your boyfriend's best friend weird, like actually weird. See, normally,
THERÉSA: Len would have like a random off putting sound effect
THERÉSA: to punctuate that. This is throwing off my flow. Merlin,
THERÉSA: go find him.
STORY A: I was taking a shower. I hear David come into
STORY A: the room and close the door behind him. I waited
STORY A: for him to start talking to me, but he didn't,
STORY A: so I peeked out and there was nobody in there,
STORY A: but I still felt like I wasn't alone. Who or
STORY A: what was in the bathroom with me? My name is Emma.
STORY A: My name is David. Emma is my girlfriend.
STORY A: And my boyfriend's house was haunted. In 2017, my boyfriend, David,
STORY A: and his best friend had been living together in an
STORY A: apartment for several years.
STORY A: Me and my roommate, Corey, lived in an apartment together
STORY A: and his parents were retiring so they were moving out.
STORY A: At the time, our apartment lease was coming to a close,
STORY A: so they offered us an opportunity to live there.
STORY A: It was a ranch style, one story, very small house.
STORY A: The living room was on the east side of the
STORY A: house and on the west side was the kitchen and
STORY A: the dining room. It had two bedrooms that were later
STORY A: remodeled into one main bedroom and then a bedroom downstairs
STORY A: in the basement. That basement was Corey's childhood bedroom, so
STORY A: he gave David the master room.
STORY A: We offered to work on the house, so I went
STORY A: in there like a wrecking ball, and I completely changed
STORY A: a lot of things. I ripped out all the carpet,
STORY A: stripped all the walls, painted rooms. I was tearing things
STORY A: up before I even spent one night.
STORY A: David and I had been together for six years. I
STORY A: was living at my mom's house, but spent most of
STORY A: my time when I wasn't at work over at the
STORY A: house hanging out with the boys. I was over there
STORY A: six days a week at least. So one day, while
STORY A: Corey and David were not at the house, David had
STORY A: asked me to go over to change out his laundry
STORY A: so that he could look nice for date night. So
STORY A: I got to the house in the middle of the
STORY A: afternoon and I walked in and went straight down to
STORY A: the basement. Our two year old dog, Colton was at
STORY A: the house, and Colton followed me down there, but he
STORY A: stopped at the bottom of the stairs. He didn't want
STORY A: to go further into the basement. Colton was David's dog,
STORY A: but he was very protective of me, and if anybody
STORY A: made me feel unsafe, he would protect me. I thought
STORY A: it was weird that Colton just stayed at the bottom
STORY A: of the stairs rather than following me into the laundry
STORY A: room like he usually would, but he made sure to
STORY A: stay in a spot in which he could see me,
STORY A: as like to protect me. I could feel like that
STORY A: Colton felt uneasy about being down there, but I can't
STORY A: blame him too much because the vibe of the basement
STORY A: was very unwelcoming.
STORY A: It's a very spooky, unfinished basement.
STORY A: The stairs were wooden and creaky. There was linoleum floor peeling.
STORY A: It was dark, it was musty. I always got weird
STORY A: vibes down there, and I just felt the sensation that
STORY A: somebody was watching me. There was always a cold presence
STORY A: downstairs that gave the vibes like I didn't belong in
STORY A: the house or in the basement. This isn't my house,
STORY A: this isn't David's house. This is somebody else's house. And
STORY A: it felt like this presence didn't want us there. I
STORY A: went into the laundry room. I opened the door to
STORY A: the dryer, took the dry clothes out of the dryer,
STORY A: put them into a laundry basket. I opened the door
STORY A: to the washing machine, took the wet clothes out of
STORY A: the washer, put them into the dryer. I turned the
STORY A: dryer on and I grabbed the laundry basket. I turn around.
STORY A: Colton is still at the bottom of the stairs, watching me,
STORY A: waiting for me to be done in this creepy basement.
STORY A: We're going back upstairs. Colton bolted up the stairs, and
STORY A: about six steps up, I feel a tug on my
STORY A: right hip, as if my shorts got snagged on the railing.
STORY A: I stopped and looked around the basement and behind me
STORY A: to see what happened. I realized that my shorts had
STORY A: been pulled halfway down my hip, and my shorts didn't
STORY A: have any physical evidence that anything happened. No hole, no snag.
STORY A: It felt like there was a presence that just wanted
STORY A: to make itself known to me that it sees me,
STORY A: and it knows that I'm there, Almost like it was
STORY A: trying to say, you don't belong down here in the basement,
STORY A: go back to where you're supposed to be. I felt
STORY A: the need to just get out of the house. I
STORY A: continued up the stairs and put the laundry basket on
STORY A: the kitchen table. Colton was laying on the couch in
STORY A: the living room, acting like nothing had happened. I grabbed
STORY A: my stuff, said my goodbyes to him, walked out the
STORY A: front door, locked the door behind me, got in my car,
STORY A: sat there for a second wondering what happened, and I
STORY A: decided I just needed to put distance between me and
STORY A: the house, so I drove home. I tried not to
STORY A: think about that incident again until a few months later.
STORY A: On a Saturday, David, Corey, and I were all at
STORY A: the house hanging out. The boys were sitting in the
STORY A: living room watching baseball. I decided to take a shower,
STORY A: so I went into the master bedroom and closed the
STORY A: door behind me. I went into the bathroom, turned on
STORY A: the water. I get in the shower and I start
STORY A: washing my hair, and all of a sudden, I hear
STORY A: the door squeak open, and then I hear David come
STORY A: into the room and close the door behind him. I
STORY A: waited for him to start talking to me, and nothing came,
STORY A: but I still felt the presence that I wasn't alone.
STORY A: So I looked out the shower to see what he
STORY A: was doing in the room, but I was completely alone.
STORY A: Nobody had come into the room. I tried brushing it off.
STORY A: I just continued my shower as normal, but I still
STORY A: felt like I was being watched. I finished up my
STORY A: shower and I got dressed. I noticed that the door
STORY A: was still closed, as if nothing had happened. I headed
STORY A: out to the living room, where Corey and David were
STORY A: watching the game. I looked at David and I go,
STORY A: did you come into the bedroom for anything? And he
STORY A: got a really confused expression on his face.
STORY A: We didn't move the entire time she was in the shower.
STORY A: We were just watching the game.
STORY A: I told them what I experienced, and they just brushed
STORY A: it off. Oh you probably just felt like you heard
STORY A: the door open and close, like okay, gaslighting 101. What
STORY A: would have made the door open and close its own?
STORY A: I couldn't find any explanation for it. I knew that
STORY A: something was watching me. David was always a skeptic and
STORY A: brushed off any paranormal experience I had until one day
STORY A: he was home alone and experienced something himself.
STORY A: I was in the master bedroom by myself, looking in
STORY A: my closet for a shirt. My work schedule was completely
STORY A: different than my roommate, so I was home when he wasn't,
STORY A: and out of nowhere I heard Hey. It sounded as
STORY A: if someone was right behind me in my ear. And
STORY A: I got chills on the back of my spine. Emma
STORY A: was not present, Corey was not present. It was clear
STORY A: as day. It wasn't like an old, wretched voice. It
STORY A: was like a middle aged female voice. I turn around,
STORY A: nobody's there. I go out and I look around. Nobody's there.
STORY A: There's nobody in the house. There wasn't a TV on,
STORY A: there wasn't a radio on. I didn't have any windows open.
STORY A: It sat on me all day. I kept thinking, I
STORY A: literally heard Hey in my ear behind me while I
STORY A: was by myself. My mother was over visiting, and I
STORY A: wouldn't say as a clairvoyant of any means, but she
STORY A: tells me all the time she has, you know, these
STORY A: connections with the other side. I've always just grown up
STORY A: thought my mom was a little out there, but I
STORY A: remember vividly going to my grandfather's grave and she would
STORY A: tell me he's here, and then the wind chimes would
STORY A: start chiming right next to his grave. So I brought
STORY A: this up to my mom when she was visiting. I
STORY A: wanted to talk about it. I said, Hey, I know
STORY A: this is a little out there, but this is what's
STORY A: going on. This is what Emma's told me that has
STORY A: happened to her, and my mom started walking around the
STORY A: house talking to whatever entity or whatever it may be.
STORY A: "This is my son. He's a good man. My son
STORY A: means no harm. He is here temporarily. Please leave him alone,
STORY A: Please leave his girlfriend alone." I remember, you know, following
STORY A: my mom around, and I was almost smiling. I'm like,
STORY A: I can't believe she's doing this. But nothing happened after that.
STORY A: This definitely changed his perspective on the paranormal and supernatural.
STORY A: I completely changed a lot of things. I don't know
STORY A: if maybe that disturbed things.
STORY A: I felt like they were seeing all the renovations being
STORY A: done to the house and they just didn't like that.
STORY A: I was only in the house for two years.
STORY A: Even after we did all that work, they were unable
STORY A: to sell the house. I believe it got foreclosed on.
STORY A: Till this day, it sits vacant. That house has something
STORY A: weird about it.
STORY A: I don't know who or what could have been causing
STORY A: these experiences, but they were not happy with David and
STORY A: I being in their space.
THERÉSA: Gaslight your girlfriend and then run to your mom. Len, at
THERÉSA: what age do men learn that women are always right? Oh, yeah,
THERÉSA: Len's not here. Well, I don't blame those ghosts for
THERÉSA: making a scene. I'd be pissed too if someone moved
THERÉSA: into my house and started knocking down walls, unless it
THERÉSA: was Tony. He's the best contractor I've ever had. He
THERÉSA: did all my fountains, indoors and out. Anyway, the spirit's
THERÉSA: won in the end. They got what they wanted, an
THERÉSA: empty home.
THERÉSA: Merlin didn't have any luck finding Len, and as much
THERÉSA: as I hate to admit it, I'm actually starting to worry.
THERÉSA: So listeners help me out here. If Len's on a
THERÉSA: little haunting escapade, you might be able to sense his presence.
THERÉSA: Not all of you are tuned to the other side,
THERÉSA: so I'll walk you through it. Close your eyes now,
THERÉSA: take a deep breath in for four and out for four.
THERÉSA: Make sure your feet are planted firmly on the ground,
THERÉSA: and focus on your breathing. Once your mind starts to clear,
THERÉSA: you're going to pay attention to any energies you might
THERÉSA: be sensing that are not your own. Good. Now, the
THERÉSA: feeling you're looking for is sort of a familiar discomfort,
THERÉSA: like that tight lipped smile you give a coworker in
THERÉSA: the office, or when somebody catches you drinking a full
THERÉSA: fat latte, or like a stinky cheese before you realize
THERÉSA: what you're smelling is cheese. If you're hitting on any
THERÉSA: of those, let us know on our socials at Glass
THERÉSA: Podcasts with the hashtag #FindLen. If that lucky son of
THERÉSA: a bitch crossed over, I will kill him! Anyway, while
THERÉSA: we wait, let's move on to our second story, which,
THERÉSA: by the way, Len would love because it's a really
THERÉSA: scary one about a bunch of creepy lurkers. But whatever
THERÉSA: his loss.
STORY B: I grew up in northwest Indiana, and there was so
STORY B: much death in that area. In the eighteen hundreds when
STORY B: there were early settlers, there was a river that ran
STORY B: through the neighborhood and there was a settler's camp that
STORY B: got flooded at one point and it killed like the
STORY B: entire camp. And then in the early nineteen hundreds to
STORY B: about the 1930s, caddy corner to our house was a
STORY B: city dump and there were dead bodies being dumped was
STORY B: causing diseases, and there were a lot of people dying
STORY B: in the neighborhood. My name is Mary, and I grew
STORY B: up with ghosts in the alley. The house I grew
STORY B: up in was an old house built in like 1909,
STORY B: and it was a two story stucco gray house. We
STORY B: had a small one car garage, and then alongside the
STORY B: garage was the backyard. It went and met the back
STORY B: of the house. Made like a square. Around the backyard
STORY B: was a chain link fence. You could see through the
STORY B: fence and see all the neighbors houses around you, but
STORY B: it was the back of everyone's houses, so you could
STORY B: see their garages and their backyards, and then you could
STORY B: see the alleyway with the trash cans and stuff like
STORY B: you would expect. When I was a little girl, when
STORY B: my mother was busy doing things in the house that
STORY B: she didn't want children under her feet for, she would
STORY B: send us outside to play in the backyard. The kitchen
STORY B: was right there, so she would still be able to
STORY B: supervise us and to get to us if we needed her,
STORY B: but we could also just play and just not be
STORY B: bothering her while she's trying to cook dinner or wash
STORY B: the dishes or clean the house. We were never out
STORY B: there more than an hour, just long enough for her
STORY B: to do whatever she was doing. My sister, who's four
STORY B: years older than me, we would play barbies and all
STORY B: kinds of fun toys out there, but I was terrified
STORY B: of the backyard, so I would cry and cry and
STORY B: tell my mom that I was scared to be back
STORY B: there because I could see people walking up and down
STORY B: the alleyway and I didn't know who they were. The
STORY B: people would look scary. They'd be dirty, they would be bleeding,
STORY B: or they'd look really old, wearing older clothes like they
STORY B: were from a long time ago. And they never spoke
STORY B: to me. They were just walking back and forth. When
STORY B: my sister was there, when we were playing, I would
STORY B: be able to ignore the people in the alley. But
STORY B: when my sister would leave me to grab a toy
STORY B: or go to the bathroom and I was by myself,
STORY B: they would start walking and coming closer to me, like
STORY B: they were all congregating to the backyard. I didn't know
STORY B: who they were, and I didn't want to be out
STORY B: there with them.
STORY B: I mentioned it several times to my parents, but no
STORY B: one else could see the scary people except for me.
STORY B: They would be like, there's no one in the alley,
STORY B: No one ever walks up and down the alley. I
STORY B: don't know what you're seeing. It's just your imagination. I
STORY B: told my sister, and I'd say, you know, Sissy, look
STORY B: there's this person over there, and she'd be like, I
STORY B: don't see anybody. One particular time, there was a man
STORY B: crouched in the bushes near my neighbor's house. My neighbor
STORY B: had a crazy yard. They had bushes that were really
STORY B: overgrown and went halfway into the alley and I could
STORY B: see a man crouched in the bushes. I ended up
STORY B: grabbing my sister and being like, Sissy, there's a man
STORY B: in the bushes. Do you see him? And she said, no,
STORY B: there's no one in the bushes. I don't see anyone.
STORY B: My parents never believed me, and my sister didn't see
STORY B: them either. No one took me seriously. They all thought
STORY B: I was telling stories or making things up. But I
STORY B: know they were there and they were real.
STORY B: I was very scared of them, so I just kind
STORY B: of dealt with it and would cry. One day, it
STORY B: was particularly bad, my sister had been inside a little
STORY B: bit longer than she usually was. I was having an
STORY B: absolute meltdown when my dad got home from work. As
STORY B: soon as his car pulled into the driveway, I ran
STORY B: out to him and I was just bawling and bawling, crying, "Daddy! Daddy!"
STORY B: He could see that I was really upset. He picked
STORY B: me up and hugged me and all that. Took me
STORY B: inside and told me to play with my toys while
STORY B: my mother finished up dinner. We all had dinner at
STORY B: the table. By then it was pretty late, so my
STORY B: mom and dad had us go to bed. The next
STORY B: day was just a normal day. My mom, as usual,
STORY B: sends us out to the backyard, and to my surprise,
STORY B: I wasn't able to see anyone walking up and down
STORY B: the alley. There were no scary people, nothing. I was
STORY B: so used to seeing them, but for some reason that
STORY B: day I couldn't. A little bit later, after we had
STORY B: been playing for a while, my sister went in to
STORY B: go to the bathroom. I was by myself, and I
STORY B: noticed a woman walking down the alley. She was an
STORY B: older woman, looked like my grandmother's age, and the first
STORY B: thing I noticed was that she had a beautiful long
STORY B: dress on and a smile on her face. She had
STORY B: beautiful gray hair that was pulled back in a bun,
STORY B: and she just looked so sweet and so nice and
STORY B: so kind. This was the first time I saw someone
STORY B: in the alley that I wasn't scared of. She just
STORY B: had a loving vibe to her. I knew that she
STORY B: wasn't someone to be scared of. She was walking pretty
STORY B: slowly down the alley. When she reached the back gate,
STORY B: she called me over. She leaned over and said, "Sweetheart,
STORY B: I see you're scared of the people in the alley."
STORY B: And I said, "yeah, I don't like them because they're scary."
STORY B: And she said, "that's okay. I made them go away.
STORY B: You'll never see them again." And she turned around and
STORY B: she kept walking down the alley, and after a while
STORY B: she just kind of disappeared and I didn't see her
STORY B: after that. My sister came back outside and we played
STORY B: for the rest of the afternoon, and there was nothing there.
STORY B: It was really nice. We had a great time. My
STORY B: dad came home from work later that day. We went
STORY B: in and did our usual dinner and then go to bed.
STORY B: After that day, I never saw anything in the alley again.
STORY B: It wasn't until about 20 years later when my mom
STORY B: passed away. I was helping my dad go through all
STORY B: of her things and go through some old photos. She
STORY B: just had a big plastic tub filled to the brim with photographs,
STORY B: and we were trying to decide what we wanted to
STORY B: do with them. As we were going through the photos,
STORY B: I came across one of an older woman. She had
STORY B: a beautiful smile and long gray hair that was pulled
STORY B: back into a big bun. I kind of made a
STORY B: noise like I was shocked, and then my dad looked
STORY B: over and he goes, "oh, yeah, I think that's your
STORY B: Grandma Moore." So I flipped it over and it did
STORY B: say Grandma Moore and it was dated from like the
STORY B: early nineteen hundreds. She died long before I was born,
STORY B: but I had heard stories about her growing up. I
STORY B: turned to my dad and I said, "Dad, do you
STORY B: remember when I was and I was scared of the
STORY B: people in the alley" And he said, "yeah, I remember that."
STORY B: And I said "do you remember when I told you
STORY B: a mom that the nice lady made the scary people
STORY B: go away?" And he said "yeah, I remember that." And
STORY B: I said, "well, Dad, this was a lady from the
STORY B: alley that made the scary people go away." Grandma Moore
STORY B: was the woman I saw in the alley. After I
STORY B: told him that, Dad said, well, I don't believe in
STORY B: this stuff, but your mom and I did pray for
STORY B: you that night to make the scary thing in the
STORY B: alley go away. I was really shocked. I had never
STORY B: met Grandma Moore so I was surprised that that would
STORY B: have been the person that came through and helped me
STORY B: in that situation. So as an adult, I can look
STORY B: back at that and realize I was probably seeing ghosts
STORY B: as a child, and then Grandma Moore made them go away.
THERÉSA: Okay, another story that deep down is about gaslighting. If
THERÉSA: your girlfriend is telling you the house is haunted, believe her.
THERÉSA: And if your child is telling you there's a horde
THERÉSA: of blood covered turn of the century zombie shuffling through
THERÉSA: your alley every day, believe her too. Believe women really
THERÉSA: is what it comes down to. Let's take a break.
THERÉSA: There's still no sign of Len and we didn't get
THERÉSA: any leads from our listeners. Maybe he's really gone for good.
THERÉSA: I'm having confusing feelings.
LEN: [MUMBLES]
THERÉSA: Len! Oh my god, you're here. Thank god. I wasn't
THERÉSA: sure if something had happened, or maybe you'd crossed over
LEN: [MUMBLES]
THERÉSA: I was really nervous.
LEN: [MUMBLES]
THERÉSA: Missed you? No, no, you can't just not show up
THERÉSA: to work. It's unprofessional and it's not my job to
THERÉSA: know what all these buttons do. I mean, I do
THERÉSA: know what they do, but I don't like pressing them.
THERÉSA: Just don't do that again, okay? And where were you anyway?
LEN: [MUMBLES]
THERÉSA: Haunting a board game convention and you lost track of time
THERÉSA: at the D and D table. You are so predictable.
THERÉSA: I can't believe I was actually worried. Well, that's our episode.
THERÉSA: Len's back just in time to stop the recording, and
THERÉSA: I need a massage to recover from carrying the entire
THERÉSA: show on my back. If you've got a scary story
THERÉSA: to share, email Len or I guess me at HauntingThePodcast@gmail.com.
THERÉSA: We'll see you next time. Where were you really though?
THERÉSA: You've been acting so weird lately.
LEN: [MUMBLES]
THERÉSA: It's just alarming when you're not where you always are.
THERÉSA: You're always here.
LEN: [MUMBLES].
THERÉSA: It went fine, I mean better than fine, probably best
THERÉSA: episode yet. I just I do value your contributions to
THERÉSA: this team is all.
LEN: [MUMBLES]
THERÉSA: I said, I value your contributions to this team is all. Wait,
THERÉSA: are we still recording? Len, you're gone all day and
THERÉSA: then you can't do your one job. What is the
THERÉSA: point of even having a producer?
CREDITS: If you have a haunting story To share, email us
CREDITS: at HauntingThePodcast@gmail.com, and if you like what you hear, please
CREDITS: like and subscribe. You can also follow us on social
CREDITS: media by searching for Glass Podcasts or by visiting GlassPodcasts.com.
CREDITS: Haunting is a production of Glass Podcasts in partnership with
CREDITS: iHeart Podcast. Haunting is created and executive produced by Nancy
CREDITS: Glass Andrea Gunning, Ben Fetterman, and Lauren Lapkus, and it
CREDITS: is hosted by Laura Lapkus as her character Therésa. Producer
CREDITS: Len Walker is played by Trey Morgan. Haunting is written
CREDITS: by Aleah Welsh, with additional writing by Nancy Glass. Trey Morgan,
CREDITS: and Ben Fetterman. Editing and sound designed by Matt Delvecchio
CREDITS: and mixed by Dave Saia. Operations and production support by
CREDITS: Kristen Melchiorre. Additional production support by Curry Richman and Todd Ganz.
CREDITS: Haunting's theme and original compositions were composed by Oliver Baines
CREDITS: and Dorry Macaulay of Noiser. Music Library provided by Mybe Music.
CREDITS: Special thanks to Speakeasy Sound Studios in Burbank, California. For
CREDITS: more shows from iHeart Podcasts and Glass Podcasts, visit the
CREDITS: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.