Hey, weirdos, Alayna here.
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I'm Bonnie post glow up and I'm Nancy mid -glow -up she's sorry I am sorry.
Oh my mom and dad are calling me.
That's cuz you're trying to call that I did.
She tried to facetime them.
I said you're gonna give them a fucking heart attack They're older people.
We can't do that to them.
This is a look That's 30 seconds remaining.
Do you want a mix or a mix?
That goes in the whole head.
the journalists Hom diet!
And we had three because of Covid, and we had, he's like I'm even going home, Alyssa you up for the lingo?
Maybe because I spit on my own face also.
If you're not watching this on YouTube and you're listening to it, don't forget these are on YouTube now.
Listener Tails are on YouTube and we dress up and today we're dressed up like people from the craft. Yeah you don't want to miss this.
You really don't. Mostly for Elena's giddy up, giddy up, giddy up.
I even did the black eyebrows in case with eyeliner?
You did. It's the color over, you know?
Did you ever have like a goth phase like that?
I never had this. You had like an emo phase.
Yeah, I had an emo phase, I think, in like my soft goth.
So a soft goth era.
I never had this phase.
When she first put the wig on?
I respect this phase.
I just can't pull this face off.
Maybe in another life.
Yeah, I think I'm made to have the hair I have, I'm made to have the eyebrows.
It's because your features are so tiny.
Yeah, they're like all of the like the goth things are so harsh.
Yeah, but it's like I can't pull it off.
But you still look good in a weird scary way.
I don't know. I sent a picture to John he has not responded yet and he's right downstairs so.
You gave him a heart attack.
I think he's like a killed over.
I think I gave him a fright.
I think so. But yeah, I love Nancy.
Yeah, Nancy's the best. But Nancy pulls off Nancy.
I just wanted to, like, I wanted to wear a costume without wearing too much of a costume—I wanted to cheat a little bit.
You nailed Bonnie. Thank you.
Like, that is Bonnie.
Uh, so yeah. Go watch The Craft if you haven't watched it before, and also this is probably really strange if you haven't watched The Craft. If you haven't watched The Craft, what are you doing?
I know. How are you living?
Even the second one was pretty good.
Yeah. Yeah. It was all right.
I liked it better than I thought I was going to.
Yeah. Anyway. First one, first one slops yeah I have them holy that's what we're dressed like yeah like people we're doing like we're going to Catholic school make Catholic girls like Catholic were all right well you know what it is it's Listenertales it's brought to you by you for you from you and all about you remember if you're sending in a listener tale right now let us know if we can use the images in your in her tale, otherwise I thought - I'm explaining it Nicholas.
Did he say what? Yeah he said what, otherwise we're gonna pester you.
And if you haven't been here before and you're just joining for this episode, welcome.
Can you imagine? It's like can you imagine?
If this is your first rodeo in here, hello.
Alley -oop. Um and also that's Nicholas, he's our resident ghost that's gonna join us for listener tales and spooky episodes.
He was mean to me last spooky episode so hopefully we can repair our friendship today, Nicholas.
Hopefully. I'd like to.
I feel like you can.
All right well speaking of spooky things the first Listenertale is called Listenertale, read me I'm spooky AF.
witchcraft and exorcism.
I'm gonna close this.
Close. All right. So I'm not a Mac -forward. Don't be Mac -forward. It's like the Andrew McMahon episode when I was the most Mac -forward a girl could possibly be.
I was hiding I was a little bit nervous.
Anyway hi there Ash and Alina.
I'm a new listener here and I just have to say this is the most fun podcast ever, especially today.
Thank you. Thank you for all the laughter, even though your stories can be truly heartbreaking.
You bring so much light to my otherwise boring world.
I've been following you for almost a year and a half now.
And I absolutely love how you deliver each story.
You both make me so happy.
Oh, you make me happy!
Good day to all the morbid listeners.
I just want to share I just want to share my unforgettable and scary experience from when I was 14 years old and in seventh grade.
Please forgive me in advance if there are - Sufferi - Suffering.
Awesome. Please forgive me in advance if there are any grammatical errors, and I'll do my very best to tell every bit of my story.
Please stick with me until the end.
I promise it will be worth it.
We'll stick with you.
This is a 100 % true -to -life story.
I've only changed the names of the people involved, including mine.
Do you believe in spirits possessing human bodies?
Hell yeah. Just ask Nicholas.
Yes. Or should we call it exorcism?
Well, if you don't, just wait till you hear my story.
My name is Jean. I'm 27 years old, originally from the Philippines and currently working in the Middle East. This is my story of encountering a real life exorcism.
It all happened in 2007.
We were living in the province with my two siblings and four male cousins.
So that's seven kids in total, two girls, five boys plus our grandma and our grandpa making nine of us in the household.
Damn. I know, that's a lot of people.
We lived in our grandmother's house because both of our parents had decided to work abroad.
My cousins' parents were also busy running a business in another town.
First let me describe our house and the environment to add more spookiness to the story.
My grandpa and uncle owned a large farm lot that surrounded our house.
It felt like we were right in the middle of nowhere, with only two houses in the area.
Oh, yeah. A bowl? Maybe he's reminded ...
You say it's like he has a bowl haircut?
Maybe. And he said suffering and I think he means how itchy this is.
Wigs are itchy. Because I was itching and he was like suffering.
Especially like Amazon wigs.
This is ... Clouded.
It's pretty cloudy outside so he's correct.
It is, yeah. Good job, Nicholas.
Well, anyway, you'd have to walk literally 10 minutes just to reach the neighbor.
Imagine a vast farm filled with animals big trees a river behind our house and even a mountain just a five minute walk away Are you recording?
Did he say are you recording?
Yes Nicholas, we are.
Yes we are Nicholas.
Sorry, we should have asked your permission first Is that okay Nicholas Did he just say John?
Should we just abandon listenertails and listen to Nicholas?
Just snap my laptop in half and run out of here?
Ok Nicholas, you know too much. Ok, so remember, we're on a farm.
I'm terrified. Tell us, also if you get a chance, Nicholas, what about John?
Alright go ahead. Fair, fair.
So you'd have to walk literally ten minutes just to reach the next neighbor.
Imagine a vast farm filled with animals, big trees, a river behind our house and even a mountain just five minute walk away.
A happy place. Thank you.
You thought? Oh, I thought.
Are you ready for this?
Yeah. We were right next to the cemetery.
Oh, hell yeah. It's your happiest place.
I love that. Yes, at night.
If you looked at our bedroom window, you could literally see the cemetery.
Oh, I love that. My cousins and I were always traumatized by the sight of it, so we never slept in that room.
Instead, we all camped down in the living room because we were too scared.
Our favorite thing to do every night though was tell horror stories on weekends we binge watched scary movies then end up sleeping together all terrified those were fun and spooky times.
At night the farm became pitch dark there were no streetlights only the moon and stars lit up the narrow paths you'd hear nothing but the occasional hoot hoot of birds or sounds from the farm animals.
Now fast forward to when we received a call from one of our cousins who lived in Manila the capital city of the Philippines.
Our province was about a 7 hour drive away from the city.
We were told that our cousin, Anna, was very sick and the hospitals could not figure out what was wrong with her.
So my grandma decided to take her in.
She thought maybe Anna just needed fresh air since the city is crowded and heavily polluted.
The day finally came when Anna arrived with her older sister and we were all shocked when we saw her.
She looked so thin and pale with dark eyebags and dry lips and her stomach also seemed unusually swollen.
Anna was only 18 years old at the time, but to me, she looked much older than her actual age.
Poor Anna! And then the weird stuff started happening.
Her sister told us that before all of this began Anna had a terrible fight with her stepmother.
She believed she was the victim of black magic, what we call kulam, a type of Filipino witchcraft or sorcery.
Interesting. Oh, by the way we tried to get, um, witchcraft themed listener tales.
Yeah. Um. So the craft. Because the craft. Uh, they also believed that this was the main reason why the hospitals couldn't figure out what was wrong with Anna.
I remember she had a heart condition when she was a kid, but the doctor said it completely healed and that was - had - that had nothing to do with her current state.
There were days when my cousin Anna felt extremely weak and sick especially on Tuesdays and Fridays which are believed to be the days when black magic is at its strongest. Oh.
Isn't that interesting?
I didn't know that.
She would start making strange noises noises at night around 3 or 4 am, the so -called witching hours.
One night I woke up to the sound of her crying.
She stared directly at me with heavy breathing and her eyes just looked terrifying.
Even now just remembering it gives me chills.
That face did not look like my cousin Anna at all.
Two weeks after they arrived, the family finally decided to consult a folk healer, what we call an abuelero in Tagalog.
These are traditional Filipino healers who use herbal medicine and ancient rituals to heal physical or spiritual ailments.
After performing the rituals, the healers did confirm that Anna was indeed a victim of kulam, a curse cast by an old woman who happened to be a relative of her stepmother.
What the fuck's up with that lady?
They got in a fight and she - she cursed her.
Don't curse people.
I know. During the ritual - So fucking rude.
They tried to confront the witch's spirit.
What I saw was something I will never forget.
Anna began to move strangely, her body stiff, her voice completely changing.
She no longer sounded like herself.
She sounded like an old woman with a sharp angry voice shouting at the healer, I'm going to kill this girl you can't do anything about it.
That's so spooky. Fucking horrifying.
Imagine seeing your cousin doing that?
No. Like screaming in somebody else's voice, I'm gonna kill this girl.
Bleh. My grandma shouted back in anger and prayer.
It all lasted maybe a minute.
And then just like that, Anna came back to herself.
She would break down in tears, totally unaware of what had just happened.
We asked her where she went during those moments and she said she didn't know.
Everything just turned pitch black.
Creepy, right? I hate that.
The healer gave the family two choices, apologize to the stepmother and try to make peace or fight back but it would come at a cost and Anna would suffer more.
Of course this witch messed with the wrong family so we chose to fight back.
Hell yeah. For weeks they performed strange rituals.
They burned candles of leaves to create thick smoke while chanting prayers.
Anna was told to inhale the smoke which was said to cleanse her body and her spirit.
They also bathed her with salt and holy water.
I forgot to mention...
Oh Nicholas we're here!
Nicholas we're here!
Is it because we fought last week?
It's all good. Yeah, let's be friends.
I forgot to Anna hadn't pooped in over a month which explained her swollen and hardened stomach. I can't even imagine how much pain she must have been in.
I know. A month. Oh my god that's so bad.
After each session they gave her medicinal oils and plant -based remedies.
I remember one time she drank this weird medicine that looked like ash not me.
It even smelled burnt.
The expression on her face said it all, it tasted horrible I'm sorry.
But strangely it worked and she was finally able to poop a little.
I would do it. was that a Musil?
Maybe. That's what it was.
After about a month of seeing the healer regularly she slowly started to improve.
Her appetite came back and for the first time in weeks she could sleep through the night.
I thought everything would be okay because Anna seemed much better.
Then one day my grandma visited some Catholic Church members, mostly elderly women, to bless our house, or more accurately to cast out any evil spirits.
They prayed for more than 3 hours going room to room sprinkling rice mixed with salt while shouting over and over, we condemn the evil spirit in this household.
And that's when Ana started losing it again.
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She began whispering strange things in a cold terrifying stare directed at the old ladies.
She stayed eerily silent while the grannies tried to talk to her, but you could tell that something just wasn't right.
that's when we realized she was being possessed again by that same evil spirit, it's like the witch was watching us and she was pissed.
From that point on every day at 6 p .m. we would gather in front of our altar to pray the rosary and read Bible verses.
There were moments we could tell Ana wasn't herself again but we kept praying and tried to ignore the strange shifts in her behavior.
I sat beside her during these prayers since I was the eldest after her sister.
Being a student at a Catholic school, like me and Elena, I knew a lot of prayers by heart and I thought, yup, this is my jam, evil spirits, bye bitch. But weeks passed and Anna started to get worse again.
She couldn't eat, she was up all night, she started, she stopped pooping again.
She kept saying her shoulders felt heavy and her back hurt terribly.
We ended up buying her a wooden reclining chair because she could no longer lie down to sleep.
She had to sit up the entire time.
It really broke my heart to see her like that.
And she's so young.
I know. The healing sessions continued, but the evil witch just got bitchier.
Eventually, my grandma decided to surrender.
She agreed to apologize to the stepmom, the very one they believed was behind the curse.
Idiotic. And that is idiotic.
Idiotic. Not apologizing, but what the stepmother has done.
I agree. Yeah, yeah, Nicholas.
You right. But the stepmom didn't just show up in person.
They were able to speak to her, to like the grandma, by possessing Anna's sister.
What the fuck? so now we had two possessed people in the house what the actual fuck holy shit the quote -unquote conversation started with the healer just trying to intimidate the witch and the stepmom but they did not back down instead they started cussing out my grandma saying the nastiest things it's too late it's too late she already it's never too late you're right nicholas never she already by no means is it ever over.
Nicholas is on your side.
I love that. they said she already ate the curse food she will die and she will take her two siblings with her that's when everything had a new level of terrifying I forgot to mention both Anna and her sister at this point had to be physically restrained by four men oh my god I know the stepmom's spirit inside Anna sister was trying to bite people and she was strong as hell like super human strong.
Damn I could not sleep that night.
Actually i've really never slept peacefully again after that encounter.
Fast forward Anna got even more boat, he's like get the hell out of there on a boat.
Fast forward Anna got even more like death, like death.
Did you die on a boat?
He said my death or life, oh oh I think he drowned, i'm sorry Nicholas.
Nicholas! Damn that was heavy, wow well it's not about you right now though, okay we'll later okay that's good and I got even more ill so they decided to take her back to the hospital we would often visit and she seemed ok there but deep down we knew something wasn't right she ended up staying in the hospital for more than a month Wow still the doctors could not figure out what was wrong or how to treat her the healer continued sending her herbal medicines though I'm not sure if the doctors allowed her to take them one time when I visited Anna told me something that gave me chills she said a lot
of people had died in hospital room.
It had eight beds filled with some patients from newborn to elderly adults and she told me she saw someone die right in front of her.
Oh god. It traumatized her.
I felt so bad just seeing how scared and hopeless she was.
She'd been sick for more than three months now and she just wasn't getting any better.
Eventually the family decided to bring her back to Manila and to transfer her to a much larger hospital with better facilities.
But the healer strongly disagreed.
He warned us, if she leaves, it will be the end.
Oh wow! My grandma begged them to stay but the family insisted.
They just promised that they would come back once the doctors finally diagnosed Anna.
By this time, Anna was in a near vegetative state.
She was conscious, but she couldn't speak.
She was on oxygen support.
And then the worst nightmare happened.
On the way to Manila, she fell into a coma.
By the time they reached the hospital, she was completely unresponsive.
The doctors gave the family 48 hours to decide whether to keep her on life support or let go.
it broke all of our hearts.
i cried and i prayed that night just begging for a miracle.
we waited for more than two days holding on to hope but anna never woke up so the family made the heartbreaking decision to say goodbye.
on july 27 2007 anna passed away.
her wake was held at their family home in manila for almost two weeks and after that her body was brought to back to our province for another week -long week.
the moment i saw her in her coffin i was stunned.
she didn't look like Anna, she looked like a complete stranger.
When the healer arrived he explained, the face you're seeing isn't hers, it's the face of the stepmother.
Oh? I have full fucking chills.
Chills. Like I have I read this before, and I have chills.
Oh, I just got straight up chills.
The face of the stepmother like fucking haunting this family.
Oh my god. I hate the stepmother.
Why was she so mad?
She was a damn. he said Anna suffered greatly and you could see the pain in her expression before her heart stopped and he also told us in a few days her real face will return.
isn't that wild? shut up.
sure enough just two days before her funeral her face changed and she looked exactly like Anna again I remember asking my grandma did they put makeup on her because suddenly her cheeks had a soft blush her lips were pink her skin smooth she looked like she was just sleeping and the most beautiful part her lips were curled into a soft smile Oh it wasn't creepy at all and I knew deep in my heart that she was finally at peace.
A lot of strange things continued to happen even after the funeral but I'll stop here because this is already five pages long and my eyes hurt.
You're welcome to summarize this story however you like.
Let me know if you want to hear what happened next, we do.
Yes. Like when her sister and my cousin got possessed by spirits too.
Holy shit. I truly hope this story makes it to listener tales.
It did, it did. Thank you so much Ash and Alina, more power to you both and honestly I would die if you ever read this on your podcast!
Don't die. Do not die.
Damn, what a story.
That one was crazy!
Poor Anna. I know. Going through all that.
I hope you're right in that like she's finally at peace now, I bet she is.
I hope so because she didn't deserve that.
Sorry my ears are tucked underneath these, that's okay.
The part that scared me the most was when she had the stepmother's face.
No, I hate that. Aside from not pooping that also scared me.
That was also very scary because yeah we've all been there you know not in that way but yeah yeah even Nicholas was Nicholas was she was moved by that he was well let's see thank you for that one this one is called listener tales yeet a witch cursed me this one is fucked up cool and it's a little gory so if that's not your vibe like maybe skip it but I love it but don't stick around.
So this is yeet yeet yeet.
Okay, now that I got your attention from your favorite word, here is a pitiful and a doc of my listeners' tale.
I love it. Whichever is better, hope you guys love it.
My name is Briana and you can all use my name.
Hardy. Brianna. Brianna.
There you go. Warning!
The details of my nightmare are pretty messed up.
Hello, weirdos. Brianna here.
Feel free to use my name.
I have a long story, so read all of it and I am not sorry.
I like that. I like it too.
Because for this story of mine your bums will be clenched.
She's not lying. She's not?
This story goes best with a darkened room and blankets to cover your toes.
There's a blanket over there.
There is but I don't want to take it out.
It's a costume. I will talk about how much I love you guys and your podcast and all the mushy stuff at the end so let's get straight to business.
Yeah! When I was younger my siblings friends and I went walking near the river.
Shout out to June and Mags.
Mags was the person and who got me listening to you guys.
Shout out to you Mag, shout out to you.
Disrespectful. Nicholas, are we doing this again?
Nicholas are we doing this again?
Who's disrespectful?
You were the one talking.
No, you were reading.
No you said shout out to Mags and he said, disrespectful.
That's not disrespectful Nicholas.
Shout out means, thank you.
Maybe he didn't understand.
Maybe that's from a distant time.
I'm trying to explain it to him.
I appreciate that. I'm trying to be more open with Nicholas today.
So what that means is like, hey June, hey Max, thank you.
Okay, Nicholas. We were just messing around, that's when we found it.
An old wooden box. My sister handed me a stick to pry it open, thanks sis.
Inside, a bag of cornmeal and rice, bird skulls, strange mushrooms, and a rusty skeleton key.
That's what dreams are made of.
I'm not kidding you, I would've done anything to find this when I was younger.
Maybe not, though, when you find out what happens.
Probably not. Don't mind me, I'm going to do something extremely stupid right now.
It says, I picked up the key.
Honestly, I would've too, probably.
Who wouldn't? My sister freaked.
Drop it, that's some Bruharea shit, for those who don't know.
Oh, you gave me a pronunciation.
If I had read a little further.
Oh, I forgot. Thank you, I appreciate that.
Bruharea. Bruharea.
Oh, roll that r girlie, I know you can.
I love that you have so much faith in me, Brianna.
I cannot roll my r's but I got very British there.
Would you say like Evelyne?
Oh, yeah, okay. Yeah, I feel like that's right.
Yeah, that's hard to say I cannot roll my r's it's like genetic It is genetic.
Yeah, I can't do it I think I had it on my dad's side, but I really appreciate that that like support.
You were like, I know you can Shut up, okay show off So it means witchcraft in Spanish.
I put it back and we closed the box and went home the next morning I woke up with the key there under my pillow.
You just dropped that, like, you just, no build -up.
She said, Ruharya, Ruharya, witchcraft key.
Yeah, she said I just woke up the next morning and there it was.
I screamed, ran to my parents, they saw me a mess sobbing, holding up the key like it was burning me.
They blamed my sister, she swore up and down she didn't put it there.
We had been together the whole time.
No time to grab it, no time to plant it.
In the end, my dad buried it in the backyard, bad ideas all around.
I didn't say that, you did.
It's helpful where?
The nightmare started when I was 14.
It's always the same.
A pitch black forest, wind howling through the trees, fog curling around my feet.
I was always cold hugging myself as I wandered.
Then, out of nowhere a cabin, towering, rotting, its windows shattered like empty eyes.
Ooh, you write really well.
I enter the house and the door closes behind me, a long hallway stretched before me.
I can't speak. He can, he can speak?
Oh he can't speak. You just did though so don't worry.
Yeah you're speaking through the phone Nicholas you got this.
Yeah we hear you believe in yourself.
We can hear you. So I started with the first, inside a living room, a couch, a bookshelf, a dusty old TV in the corner, I moved further in standing behind the couch, that's when I heard it.
Now here's where it gets spoopy.
I hear a woman call out my name from behind me.
hello, brianna i turn around and there's no one there i turn my head back to the tv the tv flickered on static humming and an old woman sat cross -legged on the floor rocking side to side laughing a dry hollow cackle then silence she presses her hands to the screen then rose too tall tall enough to almost hit the ceiling i hate that uh skin stretched over her brittle bones her limbs grotesquely long.
Her mouth curled into a sick, toothy grin, but her eyes, her eyes were weeping.
Oh, I don't like it.
I don't like it either, Nicholas.
Nicholas, yes. It's a little scary.
It's scary. Then suddenly, methodically, she smashed her own eyes with her fists, the wet sound of breaking, the scream high and rattling, full of pain, and then she wrote in parentheses, Fucking Psycho.
Then it stopped. She reached into the hallowed and pulled out a rusty key, handed it to me.
I take the key and leave going to the next door.
I love that you were just like, okay.
I'll take that. We're just gonna go with this.
On to my next quest. On to the next.
I unlock it with the key that was given to me.
When I entered she, my bestie, looked perfectly fine.
She stepped to a broken window and plucked a shard of glass.
She held it up to her neck and dragged it across her throat.
Blood poured, but she kept grinning.
She stuck her tongue out and sliced it out.
I told you it was messed up.
If I had this dream I would never go to sleep again.
This is rough. She started to laugh again but she began to gargle and choke on her blood.
Mind you this whole time she's staring straight at me for this whole interaction.
She sticks her hand into her neck, pulls out another rusty key, and hands it to me too.
Okay people! Flowers.
Ponies. And puppies.
We're making our way through.
Flowers, ponies, puppies.
Mikey is stressed in the corner.
I grab this one and exit but before I leave I hear her gurgle the words, just wait a bit longer gurgle gurgle.
Last year, long crime brought you the trial that captivated the nation.
She's accused of hitting her boyfriend.
and Boston police officer John O 'Keefe with her car.
Karen Reid is arrested and charged with second degree murder.
The six -week trial resulted in anything but resolution.
We continue to find ourselves at an impasse.
I'm declaring a mistrial in this case.
But now the case is back in the spotlight and one question still lingers, did Karen Reid kill John O 'Keefe?
The evidence is overwhelming that Karen Reid is innocent.
How does it feel to be a cop killer, Karen?
I'm Christen Thorne, investigative reporter with Law and Crime, and host of the podcast Karen the Retrial.
This isn't just a retrial.
It's a second chance at the truth.
I have nothing to hide.
My life is in the balance and it shouldn't be.
I just want people to go back to who the victim is in this.
It's not her. Listen to episodes of Karen the Retrial, exclusively and ad -free on Wondery Plus.
Hey, weirdos, if Ash and Elena's episode on Ken McElroy left you wondering how someone could become so cruel, manipulative and untouchable, you'll want to hear my psychological breakdown of this case on my podcast, Killer Psyche.
I examined the twisted mindset behind McElroy's reign of terror, how he exploited fear, used charm as a weapon and turned an entire town into his victims. understanding what made him tick is exactly the kind of insight I bring on killer psyche where I use my experience profiling criminals for the FBI to uncover what drives people like Ken McElroy to become predators.
So if you're curious about the mind behind the mayhem, join me for an inside look at the psychology of a man who got away with everything until he didn't.
Follow killer Psyche on the Wondery app, or wherever you get your podcasts.
I ran to the next door to unlock it.
I went into the next room and she was back to be stressed.
Me too Nicholas! Nicholas, you're being a great third host today.
You are, Nicholas is stressed.
I went into the next room and she was back to being whole again, this time She was in an empty room with just a small table, hate my dream self, fucking run of the house dummy.
She was singing a tune and went down on her knees and started banging her head against the table and saying, don't forget, can't forget, why can't I remember?
She stuttered and repeated this over and over.
Then as she was banging her head, chunks of her brain started coming out and with it was a key.
At least the key is always involved, she's always thinking like end to the next room.
She picks it up and hands it to me.
People, rainbows, and kittens.
This is not a drill.
I took this key and ran out of the door and unlocked the last door.
This room was the kitchen, her being perfectly whole again.
She grabbed the kitchen knife.
I'd be like, no. We know how the sounds.
Digging into her left leg with the knife, she stabbed herself in the leg once, twice, again.
Still grinning, still humming.
She reached in, fingers slick with blood and pulled out another key.
I'll be waiting, she whispered, handing me the key.
I turned to run, and when I got to the end of the hallway to leave the house, I froze.
The old woman stood at the end of the hallway, her body broken, every injury, every wound, blood dripped from her hollow eye sockets, her throat and her shredded limbs.
Then laughter, a wild heaving laugh that rattled my bones.
When she stopped, she stood up completely straight and still.
Suddenly, she was right in front of me, and all her wounds started to heal one by one.
I felt as if I was crying and touching my face.
There was blood on my hands, and I realized that my eyes were bleeding.
My throat was cut, and my tongue was missing.
My leg had a huge hole and was bleeding out.
I limped out of the house and managed to get past some trees until I heard this horrific scream, a hand cold pressing back against my back.
I fell. I rolled onto my back just as she reached for me her long withered fingers wrapping around my neck Squeezing I choked I clawed at her mouth shoved my hand deep inside her mouth and pulled out the final key Her grip loosened I gasped for air and she just smiled then she was gone my girl Gasping coughing choking.
I open my eyes and always see her in the corner of my room Hate that.
Hate that. Watching and smiling, then she turned, stepped into the wall and disappeared.
On one of these nights, I took it upon myself to keep a pen and paper on my nightstand.
So, when I was able to move after my dream, I turned the lights on and started to draw her to show my siblings.
The pen broke, and ink splattered everywhere.
But I continued since it felt like a trance and I couldn't stop.
I sent you the drawing.
We got it. Also, I showed my 11 -year -old brother and traumatized him slightly.
just wanted to make them stronger.
You were 14. It's fine.
You know, I didn't have the dream again.
Not for a while. At 16 the dream returned.
I feel like should we bring the - BRENDA.
Oh it's her name Brenda?
If this witch's name is Brenda I'm done.
You're all - you're all not ready for this.
Let me see Brenda. Brenda.
That's - that's Brenda.
You know, like, I'm Brenda.
So scary. Imagine she's just like, I'm Brenda.
So scary. She's kinda whimsical in a way though.
I don't know. In what way exactly?
Name the way. The hair.
It's what we want. It's what we want.
Brenda's not what we want.
Brenda is not, in fact, what we want.
But she's beautiful.
But she's beautiful.
You're gorgeous, Brenda.
At 16, the dream returned.
but in this dream the woman was saying that it was finally time and when I woke up from the dream I felt a hand planted on my back, being the big girl that I am.
I flipped over onto my back and saw her again.
She was there, her body broken, her wounds fresh.
She lunged at me. Then nothing.
I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the age of 17.
Oh I'm sorry I know.
My symptoms are depression, anxiety, and memory loss.
Speech problems like stuttering and fumbling my words.
My anxiety convinced my brain that my vision was different, that I had something extremely wrong with my eyesight.
I didn't. And that my left leg, left leg, would walk on its own.
It would walk outwards.
It felt weak. And I walked with a limp.
I had to go to physical vision and speech therapy for a year and a half.
So if you hadn't put two and two together yet, every wound she gave herself, I carry them now.
Isn't that walking bananas?
and I always will for the rest of my life.
If I have children, they might carry them too.
I am now 21. I'm getting treatment, so I'm doing better.
That makes me so happy.
My memory and speech are still such a huge issue for me.
Sometimes I feel like if she comes back, she won't need to haunt my dreams because next time, I won't wake up.
I still forget things, but I know one thing for sure.
A witch cursed me. Whoa!
Ooh. Thank you so much for listening to my story.
I love your podcast so much you girls are the absolute best you guys are my go -to podcast i feel like we're totally on the same wavelength best friends in the making keep it real don't worry i know how implausible and probable inconceivable and outlandish this story sounds so i made sure to bring proof you can post the drawing yes print it out then burn it whatever you guys want the image i sent is the drawing i made back then and something to prove my diagnosis oh my god you did not need to do that i believe you but thank you i we did not need that and said because fuck hippo.
Love you guys and hope the kids are all happy and healthy.
Thank you, bye hope you all keep it weird but not so weird that you open a random curse box touch the random skeleton key and get haunted by witch that curses you for no reason and get the disease given to you by the witch for the rest of your life.
B .S. don't worry the page is just my accommodations for my school that say that I was what I was diagnosed with.
That picture is haunting so scary And when you said the pen exploded, you can see that it exploded because it's like all smeared.
Like, you're an incredible artist, though.
To draw that and your writing is unbelievable.
Yeah, because truly, I saw all of that.
I saw all of that and I want to unsee it, please.
That just like the symbolism in that dream and everything.
That's so scary. And I'm so sorry that you've been like dealing with that, but I'm so happy to hear that you're doing better.
Me too. And that, like it was multiple dreams and she said, it's time now.
Yeah, she was building up to it.
Yeah. Ugh. That's scary.
So scary. That's scary as hell.
Don't open random boxes in the woods, y 'all.
Mm. Don't do it. I got a little bit of a palate cleanser, Listenertail for after about a while.
Okay, cool. This one is called, Listener Tails.
The time my black ass manifested a whole ass cat.
Amazing. Hi Alaina.
Hi Ash. Hey. My name is Danae.
Hi. Please feel free to use my name if you decide this, sorry, if you decide to read this, Inflation is Real and I can't afford to care if my name is used to listen.
I wanted to say I'm a really huge fan of the podcast and I listen to you wonderful, witchy, spooky weirdos pretty much every day at this point.
It's like the only way I can get through work.
I love that. Also, Ash, I wanted to say I'm a witchy Gemini sun and rising too.
You're a double Gemini.
Wonder twins power activate, glad to see the witchy Gemini representation.
Also, also, also sorry this is so long, you know what they say about Geminis and how talkative we are.
Anywho here's a story all about how my life got flipped turned upside down - okay I'll stop now.
Yeah about how I manifested my pet who uh was totally manipulative who I totally now consider my familiar.
Oh I love it. Okay so flashback to the summer of 2018 to the Pangaea Covid.
It hadn't hit my cat Iris passed away and I was an art student at my local community college.
I had this beautiful Siamese cat named Loki.
My mom named him. Leave it up to me, name would have been trash goblin or lasagna or some shit.
Lasagna. Please name your next cat lasagna.
That's amazing. He was such a sweetheart.
He loved to cuddle, loved to be picked up and was cross -eyed, like I'm telling you this cat was a literal angel.
Oh my god! One night, my fiance didn't close our front door all the way, and he was gone.
Of course, that broke my heart because we had him and his brother Aris along with another cat Malik since they were kittens, so that was effectively my son that went missing.
Oh no! We put up signs, put up some old t -shirts, we even did the kitty trick, and still no Loki.
As time went on the house began to feel empty like someone was missing and it got to a point where we just had to accept that he wasn't coming back no matter what we did.
I brought up getting another cat not to replace Loki because no one could replace him simply because there's just no other cat like him.
But because I was finally ready for another cat, but of course my grumpy capri sun Capricorn sorry Elena was against it.
I will now will call be calling you Capri Sun. I like that.
After going back and forth for some time I said fuck it I wanna damn cat now normally I would respect his wishes in this type of situation because a new pet might as well be our new child for us and that's some shit I take serious grandfather huh but in this case after listening to my enabling friends as well as being the proud I am I said fuck it I want a cat and I would use any means to get this cat while keeping my hands clean of course some did I turn to my budding witchy woowoo practice I love this already it's a fantastic around this time I was very, very, very new to my practice but in true
Gemini fashion, rather than looking up tried and true ways to manifest in spells and shit, I just went off pure intuition.
What little I already knew.
Curiosity, my death, she did not go off her death necklace, and pure vibes, that is very Gemini.
It is, that's the most Gemini ever.
Pure vibes! I do be doing spells off pure vibes sometimes.
So I made a list of what I wanted in a cat.
I forget what I put on there but I strongly remember putting that I wanted a boy cat because only cat, Malik Shakur Dank, my cousin named him, is a boy.
Malik Shakur Dank is a boy and he wasn't neutered yet, and my Black ass wasn't ready to be a cat grandma!
I'm literally obsessed with you.
I burned the leaf, the list with some bay leaves with the flame of a white candle after I read aloud what I wanted and then I set the ashes into the wind.
I love that. Based off pure intuition, I feel like that's a pretty good spell.
I think you killed it.
I think so. Being new to all things witchy and manifestation as well as going as well as being in this is so relatable sorry let me say this again being new to all things which he and manifestation as well as being an ongoing victim of instant gratification I feel we have met Nicholas hi yeah thanks Amazon Prime I figured this manifestation would come in looking like my fiancee just finally saying yes to a to getting a cat oh well no he kept saying no until finally I just got patient with the universe and with him and just quickly gave up hope about me ever getting a cat.
Life went on as per usual and I accepted that we were going to be a one -cat household and that was that.
One day on a morning so cold that ten Bundy would be glad that he's burning in the heat of hell, in a half awake stupor I got ready for work.
I got up at like five in the morning for work and I have to walk to work on top of that.
So yeah, the neurons were not rearing to go if you I catch my drift. I feel that.
I shuffled out the door, still half awake, and I spot my cat outside.
Assuming the door was left open again, in typical black mom fashion, I said, get your black ass in the house.
I gestured to the door that was still open, and my cat is just looking at me like I'm crazy.
I start walking towards him trying to grab this cat and telling him to get back in the apartment cause it's cold as fuck and the last thing I need is PETA on my case because my cat decided he was about that life and grew tired of being a suburban cat.
That's what I call indoor cats.
We can't afford to live in the suburbs.
LMAO. My cat started to run off toward the neighbor's door and my ass was really trying to get him in the damn house, but this cat was doing everything to duck and dodge me without going too far away from me until he just finally started to run down the stairs.
Mad because I was going to be late to work for chasing my cat.
I just went out and shut the door so I could chase after this asshole cat.
I notice a black cat in my kitchen staring at me like, Bruh, you good fam?
The entire time I had been chasing some random ass cat.
So her cat was inside and she was chasing after a different cat.
Now I'm really annoyed because now I'm late for work for no reason at all and I really go shut the door.
And this random ass cat just comes back.
It looked up at me and it started scratching at my door, and it clearly wanted to come in because it was - You can't understand.
That was like, very intense.
That was very intense.
That scared the shit out of me to be frank.
He's like, you can't understand this kind of - But he said you can't understand!
Yeah, he's upset about it.
Nicholas, we understand.
He feels a lot. Okay.
So the cat looked up at me and started scratching at my door.
It clearly wanted to come in because it was super fucking cold outside.
Now I'm a lot of things in true Gemini fashion, but I'm not heartless.
I talked it over with my fiance, and we both agreed that the cat could stay in the house until it got warmer that afternoon, and of course, we would give her food and water and then just let her back out.
I ended up picking up the cat, which to my surprise was okay.
The eldest. Is it the oldest cat?
The eldest cat. The eldest cat.
That sounds like a good book, and to my surprise.
The eldest cat. I would read it.
Would you? Yeah, absolutely I would.
Mikey! What the fuck was that?
The eldest cat. It sounds like a good kid's book.
Yeah, like your kids would like that book and I would read it to them.
That's very true. To clarify.
There you go Okay, so the cat was okay with being picked up by a random stranger and that's when I felt it.
This was my cat Oh hell, yeah, it was.
So a note a side note about my own witchy abilities like a lot of witchy woo -woos I'm sensitive to energy.
I read Tarot, the whole nine yards.
I'm also a channel So sometimes I'll hear phrases or words from guides, spirits, and the like.
Oh I'm jealous. I know that's really cool When I picked her up I instantly saw me performing my manifestation months before, flash before my eyes and I knew this was supposed to be my cat.
Even though I wasn't 100 % sure cuz I have no way of knowing at the time, I instantly knew this was a girl cat, that she couldn't have babies, and I heard the word tapeworms. I tried asking my fiance if we could keep her thinking the answer would be different because this was clearly my manifestation cat and it had to work out this time right?
Of course. lmao no again the answer was no and this time i was upset because i knew the universe gifted me this cat i asked for but i wasn't in the mood to fight so i went to work and i said fine we'll just let her go later then my fiance asshole he's the fight i guess we'll just leave this cat my fiance texts me again to tell me we can't keep her this time including a reason saying she was trying to fight malik and i explained to him that most cats just don't get along at first and the answer became i don't know babe still i was he's shifting he shifted still i wasn't in the mood to and I said
nothing. He then text me hours later explaining that the cat just wouldn't leave. Of course not.
That's your familiar right there.
I'm like what do you mean the cat won't leave?
Come and find out she ran in my room.
We have separate rooms because he's a streamer and she hid under my bed and would not come out at all.
He tried everything to coax her out of there and she just flat out refused to leave. Oh my god.
I finally get home from work and she finally comes out and I snap a few pics and tried to see if anyone would take her in.
No takers. No, because that's your familiar because that's your fucking cat!
Yeah! My fiance, after having much time to think about it, decided since no one else would adopt her, we would keep her.
Yeah! I got my fucking cat!
Hell yeah you do! He won't leave!
He won't leave?! Whoa, oh my god!
That's right Nicholas!
Nicholas is getting the hang of this!
He is! Trying to get my Capricorn stellium fiance to change his mind, guys, literally took witchcraft!
I have a Capricorn sell him to do yeah yeah you did I was trying to think if anybody else did we ended up taking her to the vet and come to find out she was in fact a girl she couldn't have kittens because she was already fixed and we have we have catch -and -spray programs here for strays to reduce the stray cat population and sadly in fact she did have tapeworms oh of course she's been treated for it and has become part of our little family I've included picks because who doesn't love cat pics hell yeah and that is how I manifested my pet cat Mars Mars such a cool name.
Yes. If you read this out loud thank you for your time and sorry it took me a few tries to figure out the right email and stuff.
Or if you didn't, still thank you for your time and I hope you definitely - Not even close.
Wow. And I hope you definitely keep it so fucking weird that your bratty ass manifests a cat and your grumpy ass fiance who originally said no later becomes best buds with him or with her excuse me.
She's so cute. Maybe Nicholas was talking about the other uh emails that she might have sent it to.
He was like not even close.
Not even close to those emails.
Oh my god, let me see Mars.
Mars is so cute. Go Mars!
We'll post some pics.
Oh look at that collar.
I know! That fancy -ass collar.
Oh that's a familiar.
Yeah, that's a familiar right there.
That's a famil -er. Yeah, I love it.
I love that story. Oh that was needed story.
It was. Alright, let's see.
Let's see. Should this be the last one?
Yeah, so should we...
which one should I do?
I definitely think we should do Yeet the Yiddies.
Yeah, I think so, too.
actually how can you not um so this one's called yeet the yiddies my mom's a witch our future children and current children hello ladies my name is Gigi oh my god I love that and yes you can absolutely use my name and any other names as i've already changed them for you you're a real one uh here's my story in 12 point double space puddas as i've been listening for so long i was trained to write this to your liking lol thank you brother i want to start off like any other tale and praise you for your bad bitchery.
You bombastic ladies have gotten me through some rough times and I will forever be grateful for you.
I like that too. Elena, congrats on your book.
Thank you so much. I am so proud of you for not only being an amazing mother, but also pursuing your dreams. Thank you so much. That's like the best compliment.
Ash, congratulations on your engagement.
Oh bitch, I'm so married now, thank you.
I'm also getting married soon and feel as if we're doing it together like two best friends.
You're probably married now too, congrats.
Congrats. Anywhosers, today is the day I finally pushed myself to send in my tale.
If you're reading this, Deb -Deb, please give me a shot and send this in.
She did. Who wouldn't want to see a 5 foot nothing lady lose her shit?
Let's get on with the story.
I'm going to start off with some backstory.
I grew up in a teeny tiny town known as Hastings, Nebraska.
I've lived here since I was nine years old.
My parents moved up here looking for better job opportunities to support their family.
I'm originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico.
When I was 18 and freshly graduated my mother decided to move back to New Mexico to support my older brother while he and his fiance had their first child.
So nice. That's so nice.
My mother made this decision in one day, packed up her things, decided to inform me the day of, and gave me the choice of either you come or you stay.
Damn, that's a grandma right there.
Whoa. As a young adult I was thinking about college and starting my own life and not dropping everything to move a few states away.
I decided to stay with my now husband and drive a couple of cities away for college.
I am now in my last year of veterinary technician school and graduated in May.
Congrats! I love vet techs.
I love them. Yeah, you're special people.
It's true. The next time I saw my mother, she gave me a protection jar.
Now my mother has always been an empath and has done some things I couldn't explain, but I never took it seriously until this story took place.
The jar she gave me was a small mason jar she filled with rice, coins, dollar bills and other various trinkets.
She told me to put it in my car, as I would be traveling between Hastings and Norfolk It took me a second to know the information for this date.
The amount of times that's happened to me throughout these Listenertales?
The M's are the ones that kill me.
Yeah. I can never figure out which ones they are.
And that it would keep me safe but to make sure no one but myself would touch it.
At first I thought it was a joke and she just didn't want me to lose it but boy was I wrong.
One day a couple of weeks before I moved for college I was driving around with one of my friends, we'll call her Asia, and she asked me about the jar.
At first I was calm and explained what it was until I noticed Asia holding the jar.
I wasn't too worried at first, but let her know no one else was supposed to touch it.
That night I called my mom and told her what happened, when I tell you this lady freaked the fuck out.
Any Hispanic listeners will understand when their moms get upset.
Hispanics are naturally loud but angry.
Oh dear. I definitely held on to my butt after that.
My mom starts telling me, don't worry, it'll be okay and just do exactly what I say.
Reminder, she isn't even in the same state as I am at the time, she's fifteen hours away and expects her half -brained daughter to perform witchcraft over the phone.
You got me fucked up!
So she instructs me to pour out the contents and replace the rice in place, replace the rice and place the contents back in the jar and say a certain phrase or prayer if you will.
Again, at this moment I just - Please go.
Please go. We're almost done.
We're almost done. Nicholas knows we have a very busy day today.
Yeah he's like - you have a meeting.
He's like moving along.
Again at this moment I just thought she was some crazy superstitious lady and assured her I did what she asked me to do and called it a night but did I actually?
Absolutely not. The following events are 100 % true and told to the best of my memory.
I always love when something starts out that way.
I know. The next day, I woke up and was getting ready to hop in the shower, as one normally does, when I look in the mirror and notice a clusterfuck of burns all over my chest. Sort of like when you burn yourself with hot oil and oil splatters everywhere.
That was the best way to describe it.
I could picture it so easily.
At that moment, I knew I should've listened to the crazy bruja witch in Spanish.
I love how much Bruja and Bruja magic we're getting.
So fun. I took for granted.
I was terrified, so I called my mother, hysterical, and explained what was going on.
And this time I actually did what she told me to do.
Very smart. And to my fucking surprise, the next day, the burns were gone.
Yo mama's a powerful bruja.
A bruja. After it was all said and done, I told Aja about the whole ordeal and she yelled at me for letting her touch the jar in the first place.
She gets it. To my mom, if you hear this, never trust your daughter, or any of your children for that matter, with some witchy shit I'm not responsible enough for, but I will never, ever doubt you again.
Thank you for reading my tale.
Cursed! oh no thank you for reading my tale and I hope it wasn't too long and if this made it to the pot I will lose my marbles anyway keep it weird but not so weird that take it away ash not so weird that your mom makes you a dispelled jar and then you let other people touch it after she told you not to touch it and then you get clusterfucks and burns on your chest gee that's where the you know listen to your brouhah mama yeah I'm glad you decided to listen to your brouhah mama a brouhah mama brouhah mama that's really fun to say brouhah mama that does feel good like That was fun.
That was a fun one.
I like that they were different kinds of witchcrafts.
I did. That was a good mix of really cool ones.
Yeah. That's so interesting.
I know. I love witchcraft. It's so fun.
I had to miss a couple installments of my witchy class, but I'm going back this month and I'm really excited.
Hell yeah. Yeah... party.
All right well thank you so much for tuning in.
Thank you for listening.
If you have Listenertales, you can send them to morbidpodcast at gmail .com.
Please And please remember to include your, like letting us, your permission.
That's what it's called.
Your express permission.
Your allowance to use your name.
Yeah, say that. To use, you're like please say that.
To use your name, to use any pictures.
Any anything in there that you will, that's like identifying or your own thing.
Just give us your express permission to use it.
Just because we want to be cool.
Yeah, and remember that these are on YouTube and you can see us dress in ridiculous costumes.
Ridiculous, what are you talking about?
I can't wait to get this off my head because it's so itchy.
With that being said, we hope you keep listening, and we hope you get it weird!
But that's the way that you throw your wig off!
Aw, I thought you were gonna do it!
Throw it off. Throw it off!
Oh, wait I have a net under there.
It's fine. Just throw it off.
Just throw it off! Throw it off your wig.
Plausible. Plausible?
Yeah. See? Even Nicholas is like it's plausible.
Oh no, it's stuck! Oh I put it together.
Hello. Oh honey. Honey, we have to go.
Goodbye. Look inside.
Look inside? Look inside yourself.
He said look within.
Oh that was serious.
units of women. If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad -free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
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