Episode 429: Listener Tales 68 | Morbid

Hey weirdos, it's Ash here, ready to share a little secret.

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Here we are. Here we are.

Sorry, my chair is making a really annoying noise.

Like, what else is new?

But this one's new, like I told you guys last episode.

So I don't know what that was, but I think I fixed it.

You were probably just scooping against the side of the table.

There it is again. Yeah, you're going against the side of the table.

Sorry. I can't stop moving.

Can't stop rocking to the rhythm.

It's true. Ash literally never stops moving.

I've never seen someone get into more positions while telling a story.

Like, legs down, legs up.

legs i know you think i'd be thinner like what the fuck i love it i love it too you know what i just love moving grooving and juvederming i don't know i don't even do juvederm i thought it was gonna rhyme but it didn't and it didn't even rhyme i love it what right moving grooving and smoothing my wrinkles there you go there you go my wrinkles you know what today is i bet you you can tell i'm sure you can it's fucking listener tales we're on to you by you for you from you and all about you this one is not intentionally themed no it's just listener tales boop out that's a theme it's just not a it

might i feel like even the ones that aren't themed end up having a theme always you guys are in sync we were just talking about how in sync our office is those right now yeah I am JC Shazay what oh and Mikey got that I was like what I saw Mikey nod I'm Lance Bass then I had the biggest crush on Lance Bass and then it turns out neither of us were gonna work out neither one of us were gonna go for the other one nor work nor nor all right so should we start this listener tale yeah I just had to get into another position you did I just saw that happen and you know what this one is called it's apt

because I just said should we stat this listen a tale this first one is called listen a tale that's the subject of it listen a tale it says ghost story from a maina oh why is there a ghost in my boyfriend's bed double space put a fuck we love to see it why is there a ghost in your boyfriend's bed in your boyfriend's bed with your boyfriend there it is you knew it was coming i did this one says hello you two wonderful humans.

My name is Skylar. I like that name.

I do, too, and I like how you spell it.

And yes, you can use my name if you choose to read this on your podcast. Thank you.

Guess what I did. If you do, I may actually sharp myself.

You did it. I wish that was better.

Hold on. There you go.

The amount of bodily functions that people say happen if we read these out loud is quite concerning concerning but like i love it but great great um but yeah just clean yourself up and we're ready to go so i usually listen to your podcast on my long commute to work or at work or i hope i have a oh whoa so i hope i have a change of pants handy that's i didn't even read this jc look at you you and me are jc shizae too lady skyler love you mean it hope you have a change of pants handy if you do so choose to read this you can use all the other names in this as well i want to say that i am a person who hates

silence and you're beautiful that's very foreign to me um and your beautiful banter and well -written episodes fill the gross silence void in my life so thank you for everything that you do we all love you now on to the story that was really nice of you that really was so nice thank you oh you have to say rural the rural juror the story the story takes place in rural maine i'm talking moose country oh elena's in i am so jealous right now do you understand that it is my one purpose on this fucking planet to see a moose my one purpose i know i've never seen a moose either i haven't lived it yet no i

haven't lived my one true purpose i'm almost scared to live that purpose because there's nothing that tops that i saw a black bear this summer across the street it was cray -cray and then he was just like in someone's front lawn yeah black bears are like whoa like that's a bear they're thickums mcgee but nothing nothing as thick as a moose nothing will beat seeing a moose go charging down the street are there like a lot of moose yeah they're just like they're all over yeah why don't we see them that frequently well we don't have them well but i know but we go to places that have them that's true

come on out moose come on moose well you know what skyler's talking moose county uh country country yeehaw not a lot of reception maine that's what it's called moose country yeehaw not a lot of reception maine you know have you ever been there i almost got moved there you do you recall that i do remember that where there's quite literally nothing to do other than hunt hike boat or fish you want to go shopping okay maybe the next town over has a dollar store that's what you get but hey i love my state in rural Maine nonetheless.

Look at you. I know.

My boyfriend Matt and I began dating in late February of 2022, and we fell hard. I love love.

I'm talking holy guacamole hard. Oh my God, that's so cute.

We moved in together shortly after.

What do you call it?

U -Haul. U -Haul. And have been living together ever since.

We have now been through, we, blah, blah, blah.

We have now been through now three different rentals together.

Damn, look at you guys.

When I first met Matt, he was renting a very old log cabin on a lake with two of his other best friends and they loved it there.

A log cabin on a lake?

That's pretty dope.

With your two best friends.

What more could you want?

They would wake up on weekends and go walk out onto the lake to go ice fishing immediately.

It was a dream. That sounds like a nightmare to me, but I'm so glad that he was living a dream.

Now this cabin was old.

I'm talking built ages ago, old, old.

It was a peaceful, small, and homey one.

But something always felt Well, off, you could say.

Dun -dun. Now, my boyfriend and his friends had already been living there for six -ish months before I came into the equation, and some happenings had definitely occurred at the cabin during that time.

They would joke about the happenings, but deep down I knew they were scared, unwilling to admit it because they're manly men, blah, blah.

But they were definitely bothered deep down and didn't especially like being in this cabin alone, and that says something.

The first sleepover I ever had with my boyfriend at this cabin was on a beautiful quiet night matt and i matt had a bedroom in the second story of the cabin with a big window right by his bed that gave you a view right out onto the lake oh that sounds beautiful i know i can see it and i remember just staring out and admiring the moon highlighting the snow dusted frozen lake oh my goodness skylar you know what's crazy actually is this kind of sounds i think the movie was called black bear um with aubrey plaza remember i told you about oh yeah you told me about it i didn't see it it was like a cabin in the woods

on a lake it sounds Sounds like this.

Black bears. Weird. You know, weird. I think that's what it's called anyway.

Matt quickly went into a deep slumber as he falls asleep quicker than a bat out of hell.

Same. And I began to try to sleep as well.

But it was my first night with him and I was doing the usual giddy stuff.

Am I too close? Am I making him too warm?

Does he like me as much as I like him?

Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

Remember that? Just like in the beginning and you just have all the butterflies.

You know, anxiety shit.

Anywho, around midnight, I heard steps going up and down and up and down the stairs.

Slow, creaky steps.

I didn't think much of it at the time because I didn't know about any of the other happenings yet that I would learn about later.

I thought maybe it was one of his roommates, but why on earth were they just repeatedly going up and down the stairs past midnight?

Odd. Very, very odd.

It was my first night sleeping there, so I just shrugged it off and I was also a little weirded out.

Not gonna lie. Fast forward to a couple weeks later, I said something about it to my boyfriend.

friend wondering if one of the roommates likes to get a stair workout in the late late at night or something lol he jokingly but not so jokingly said oh yeah that's betty and pointed to a picture they had taken off the wall that was now leaning against the wall on the floor and facing inwards towards the wall so i could only see the back of the picture frame i think that's the whole problem here betty put her back up betty's like put my ass back on that wall she said you seen me who Who are you?

I'm a beaut. A Betty.

I looked at him blankly for a moment while internally thinking, excuse me, who?

In real life, I said, what do you mean, Betty?

I instantly got the shivers.

I got up, grabbed the frame, and turned it around to look at the picture.

It was a fuzzy old photo containing a little girl in a white dress, creepily staring into the distance and holding a balloon.

You mean Elena's home artwork?

Holy shit. That's awesome.

No, thank you, says Skylar.

Yeah, Skylar's like, that's not awesome.

Matt went on to say that Betty was the name they had given the little girl in the picture, that they definitely had not felt alone at the cabin since they moved in, and the other two roommates have had paranormal experiences, but that he hadn't had that experience yet.

Not much came with the cabin, but that picture of that little girl did.

So the two other roommates that had those paranormal experiences decided it had to be her.

My boyfriend went on to restate that he hadn't experienced anything yet and that he felt lucky.

He told me the other two roommates had experienced multiple stints of doors slamming when they're alone and footsteps going up and down the stairs.

Now that sounded familiar.

I looked at Matt dead in the eyes and my heart sank to my butt.

The literal first night I had stepped at the cabin, I had heard the same footsteps.

Good Lord. Now when my boyfriend said he hadn't had an experience with Betty yet, I knew he was in for one soon.

It's that sort of feeling you get when you know someone is jinxing themselves.

So I could just picture little white dress Betty listening in on our conversation and going, oh boy, here I come.

I know, she's like a little girl too.

Yeah, just rubbing her hands together, plotting as soon as those words left Matt's mouth.

She's going to mess with you.

I quickly changed the conversation as I didn't especially want my boyfriend to have a Betty experience.

That stuff is a fat no thanks -ies.

About a week later, I was spending the night at my parents' house, a good two hours away.

Matt and I sent our goodnight texts.

I love that you are holy guacamole in love.

I know. and snoozed away.

The next day went by fast, and that evening I was back at the cabin about to eat dinner with Matt.

We sat down to eat, and he said to me, I think I was visited by Betty last night.

I immediately thought to myself, oh good heavens above, here we go.

I asked him to tell me about what happened.

He quickly began to tell me the events that unfolded in his bedroom the night before.

Matt told me the night went on like normal at first. He went upstairs, shut his door, cozied in a bed, and went to sleep.

Around maybe 3 in the morning, Dun, dun, dun.

witching hour, he was awoken by steps going up and down and up and down the stairs.

He was half asleep at the time, so he could barely register what was going on.

He just assumed it was one of his roommates.

You know, the Stairmaster roommate.

He then half opened his eyes and realized a bright light was shining into his room.

Now, this shouldn't be happening, as his room is always pitch dark.

It's like, yeah, that shouldn't be happening in the middle of the night.

No, no. This light was coming from a nightlight in the bathroom room at the end of the hall shining directly into his room in order for this light to be reaching his room his bedroom door had to be open now that's funny he thought because he definitely closed his door before he went to bed he always does just as he had mentally registered his door being open it creeped creaked open a little more and more light shone into his room he felt a breeze by the end of his bed the kind of breeze you feel when someone is briskly walking by you he could hear the floorboards creaking as someone was moving

around his bed to the empty decide that he was not occupying no no no in his sleepy mind he thought did schuyler travel all the way back here in the night to surprise me in bed how sweet oh sweet sweet summer child i was gonna say you naive naive boy i love how sweet but then he thought no way it's too late and she's two hours away at her parents is one of my buddies playing a prank on me but then he thought no way it's too too late again he began to become paralyzed with fear who could it be who was in his room suddenly to the other side of him the bed sank in as if it was bearing the weight

of another body goodbye and he could hear the crinkling of the blankets on as the mattress caved in under the pressure of whatever weight was now on top of it he was rolled he was rolled over facing the opposite wall unable to see what those possible possibly causing this he noted the presence did not feel human to to him but it did not feel vicious he was still too scared to move but he knew he had to everything about this situation was off a few minutes later after laying there and analyzing the situation and feeling the weight of whatever was next to him he decided he needed to turn over with the count

of three he quickly turned his body in bed ready to face whatever was laying next to him upon turning nothing was there this made no sense to him as he felt the presence and the weight in the bed just a few seconds ago shortly after he turned over he heard creaking of the floorboards going down the stairs whatever was in his bed now seemed to be going downstairs and somewhere else in the cabin what the fuck he let out a big sigh of relief that even though there was something there before it was at least no longer in his freaking bed but he did not feel alone still he laid there staring at the ceiling

scared to go back to bed he got up closed the door and decided there was nothing he could do about any of this so he just went back to bed although not easily this time okay at least there's that in the back of his mind he knew he had just had his first experience with betty far worse than what anyone else is living in the house had been though yeah when matt told me this story i was in utter shock and fear for him i think i quite literally would have wet the bed then packed my things and noped right out of there if i was in this situation retweet i knew as soon as he had told me he had never

had an experience with betty that one was that one was on the way for him i could feel her plotting as soon as he told me he hadn't had an experience.

She's like, I don't want anyone to feel left out.

Some ghosts are just funny, hee -hee, silly like that.

But I could never have assumed she would cook up something like this.

Betty was working. She's like, well, fuck, I never knew Betty was so wily.

I didn't know what Betty was capable of.

I could have never known she was cooking up something so crazy.

Getting into bed with my mans.

Getting into bed with my man, Betty.

I just threatened. The going up and down the stairs and slamming doors?

Harmless. Getting into bed with my mans, girl?

You crazy? I hadn't even read that part yet.

Now we're in sync. My poor boyfriend was a little on edge sleeping for a while after this.

I can't say I blame him.

Me either. Anyways, keep it weird, but not so weird you remind a little ghostly gal that you haven't had experienced her wrath yet like your friends.

Skyla. Oh, there's a little bit more.

Oh, there is? Like your friends have. So she decides to play a fun game of let me climb into bed and have a quick snuggle with you at 3am.

Bye. Oh, thank you.

That cut off for some reason.

Skyla. Silly computer.

A ghost gal tried to get with your mints.

How do you feel about that, Skye?

How do you feel about that?

Sorry I nicknamed you.

We named you Skye. We named you Skye.

Your name is Skye now.

That was a really good one.

That was such a good one.

Do you want to vamp for like a quick sec because I have to put this one into a little doc because I'm blind.

Look at me. I'm vamping.

Skylar, this was recent.

This was in January that you sent this.

Oh, really? I hope that you're still holy guacamole in love.

I know. And I hope you remain holy guacamole in love forever and always.

I also hope that. And I hope that your life is beautiful and that That's Betty is the flower girl at your wedding.

I think that would be beautiful, but instead of flowers, she should throw balloons at people.

There you go. She likes balloons.

Just like unblown up balloons just like whacking people.

I love it. I think it's great.

Thwap, thwap, thwap.

People are like, are these balloons?

What is this? It can get weird. Pit.

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All right. My next one is called or my first one, I guess, for this installment is called That Time I Got Kidnapped While on Vacation.

A listener tale. Oh, that one.

You're not really burying the lead.

Okay. Hey, weirdos, I just want to start off by saying you guys are the real chesticles.

Hell yeah. Hell yeah.

Thank you. A friend at work recommended your podcast to me when I mentioned my love of true crime.

And now there are four of us that are obsessed.

I love you. I love you.

you i love you i love you and i love you you jordan we are constantly discussing uh cases and having our minds blown together and it's fucking awesome anyway my name is jordan and i'm from weatherford texas i'm 24 years old and i'm a photographer i usually blare music when i'm done doing or when i'm doing a shoot but the whole time i just can't wait to be able to sit down at my desk so i can listen to morbid while i edit pictures i love that thank you i hope you you guys enjoy my first of many listener stories because guys i have a ton hell yeah well in 20 oh this is the second time we've heard

about disney cruises today in 2014 my family decided to take a disney cruise wait for the shutter on elena yeah there you go because we are serious disney freaks me too jordan oh my god like i said i'm from texas but my aunt and my uncle on my mom's side my mom's older brother and his wife moved to florida to live 20 minutes next to disney world I mean, Disney World is cool and all, but like, damn, guys, it's not that great.

But whatever. So naturally, we were always taking Disney vacations of some kind.

My favorites happened to be Disney Cruises, which is like a million times better than walking around a crowded theme park for $400 a ticket.

Standing in line for three hours to ride a kiddie ride.

Yeah, true. And spending $100 on two chicken strips that comes with four fries and a teeny tiny Coke.

But to each their own.

True. I've been on five Disney cruises throughout my life, but let me tell you, I never expected this vacation to turn into this.

My mom has two brothers.

The oldest one is the one who moved to Florida because his wife wanted to live next to Disney World.

And she was the one that is ten years younger than her and ten years older than me.

He passed away five years ago and he was like my big brother.

Literally was my best friend on the planet.

I'm sorry. He was six, seven, skinny, and so handsome.

Oh, that sounds like my thing.

It certainly does. he was the funniest person i have ever met anyway i really relate to ash on the whole shit mom thing so she happened to be in prison at the time of this cruise so it was just my little sister both my uncles my aunt my cousins and my grammy my uncle and i used to be huge potheads it made my grammy crazy we were always on her shit list and as we would often leave for hours while visiting florida find us some weed until i finally figured out i could go on tinder and look for people that say 420 friendly in their bio and that made it much easier year.

Wow. Honestly, that's like, that's on some G shit.

So naturally, when we booked the cruise and Grammy let us have our own room, we were pumped.

So fast forward to the day that we ported in Nassau, Bahamas, also known as Atlantis.

We slept in that morning and woke up to find out everyone had already gone to the beach and we're back in their rooms for a nap.

So we decide that all we wanted to do was go lay on the beach and drink.

That's literally all we wanted to do.

That is not what we wanted.

Spoiler alert. That's what we wanted, but that's not what happened.

We got off the boat, and we were immediately bombarded with 10 to 15 natives surrounding us, begging us to take their tour.

We weren't very interested until one of them mentioned a smoking tour.

We were in. We discussed him taking us to the beach, but on the way, smoking and enjoying some sightseeing.

We were stoked. I go to the ATM and pull out $300 and give it to this man.

and my uncle tells me he really wants me to rent a moped scooter and he's just going to follow the car.

Big mistake. I'm sitting in this guy's front seat in front of a moped stand watching my uncle talk to the tour guide.

After a minute, the guy walks around and gets in the driver's seat.

I expect we're going to just wait until my uncle is ready and then we all take off together.

Wrong. He gets in and just drives away.

Oh my god. That's terrifying.

I look in the rearview view mirror and i see my uncle turn around and start yelling and freaking out mind you all we planned on doing was going to the beach so i have nothing with me oh my god no purse no phone i'm wearing nothing but a bikini i'm terrified i'm terrified same i'm so scared i'm gonna piss this guy off by asking too many questions so i just ask um are we not gonna wait for my uncle he replies oh didn't you see us talking he's gonna meet us there little backstory on my uncle we grew up in a very wealthy family and you know sometimes when a kid is rich and bored that turns into a drug

habit he was a super smart guy but i knew for a fact he didn't know where anything was and wasn't going to be able to figure out where we were going even with directions so the tour guide asks me to get his weed from the glove box and starts rolling me a blunt after blunt after blunt with one hand damn i gotta say i was kind of impressed i'm the same i can't even do it with two same so i'm I'm worried now if I refuse, I'll piss this giant dude off.

So I just light it up.

Oh my God. I'm so scared for you.

I'm really scared for you.

Mama, that is vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin T, H, and C, and also a little bit more.

Yeah, I'm scared for you.

Like I said, I was a huge pothead and I have been on a cruise for three days and haven't smoked.

So if I needed to calm down, it would be right now.

So I finish the blunt by myself.

Damn, girly. And I'm really starting to think about the situation I got myself in.

That's what I started thinking about this situation.

One blunt deep. And I start to feel super nauseated.

After driving around for what feels like hours, I ask him where we're going.

His answer is, you're so beautiful.

You should be taken to the secluded nude beach we have here.

Oh my god. No one will be able to see us.

You don't have a boyfriend, do you?

No. I have to go. I say, uh, no, but my uncle will be looking for me.

I'd rather just go back and find him.

No, just say yes. Always say yes.

He then makes an abrupt stop in front of an ATM and says, I need $300 more.

Oh my God. Oh no. So I reluctantly get out and take out more money and give it to him.

He then gets super happy and says, I need a beer.

Do you want one? And I said, sure, I could drink a beer.

He then pulls into a little grocery store and goes inside.

I'm looking around and I have no idea where I'm at, but anywhere would be better than this cringy shit smelling creeper car right now.

So I jump out and just start running.

Hell yeah. I ran and I ran as fast as I could in my flip -flops.

Oh, my God. You're stoned out of your face, too, running in flip -flops and a bikini.

Like, Lord. I don't know what guardian angel was giving me directions in my mind, but somehow I managed to get back to the stand where we signed up for the tour.

Wow. I'm crying. That's impressive.

That's insane. Like, damn.

Really. I'm crying at this point because I literally despise any kind of physical activity.

Retweet. And I just got kidnapped and I'm probably still in shock.

But I run and ask one of the, excuse me, but I run up and one of the guys asks me if I'm okay and that I looked white as a sheet.

At this point, the boat was about to leave us.

We had an hour until we left. I asked if they knew where my uncle was and they said they didn't know.

I told them that if they saw him to tell him I'll be in our room on the ship.

I go back to our room and just sit on the bed and I cry.

The boat is moving at the, at that point.

I'm not sure where my dumb ass, oh, excuse me, I'm not sure why my dumb ass didn't tell anyone, but I honestly didn't think it would make a difference.

The boat's leaving.

When it leaves, it waits for no one.

That's like literally true.

I'm very stressed out.

The boat, like when we went to Bermuda with Drew's family.

Yeah, like you have to be back on.

If you're not back on, they don't give a shit.

Yeah, they're not going to do roll call.

Like you're either there or you're not.

Yeah. So a few minutes pass and I'm bawling and I have no idea what to do.

Suddenly the door opens and it's my uncle.

Who is uncontrollably crying.

He's covered in blood and scraped and his clothes are torn to shreds.

what he sees me and instantly grabs me and hugs me for a long time finally he lets go and asks what the fuck happened to you i explain everything that happened and then return the question now what the fuck happened to you he explains that when the car took off he tried to take the scooter to chase us without paying for it and wrecked it because he didn't know how to drive it which is hilarious to me now and does not surprise me at all they made him come back with them to the repair repair shop and pay for all the repairs and made him walk the 10 miles back what once he made it to the tour guide

stand they told him that i was in our room he was so relieved but knew we needed to get some weed after this horrible day that we had so he found a guy selling weed on the street wow priorities after he buys it the guy pretends to be an undercover cop and throws his hands in handcuffs he tells him that he's not unlocking them until he gives him the rolex off of his wrist So, of course, he gives it to him and he lets him go.

That night, we waited until 3 a .m. to roll up a joint and head to the smoking section.

It was a nice reward after this shithole day.

The next day, we tell our crazy tale in the smoking section while enjoying a cigarette.

A few hours later, we return and one of the couples is telling us this crazy story about a couple that left the boat and the girl got kidnapped because the guy wrecked a scooter and got arrested.

And we were like, yeah, that was us.

We never did make it to the beach, but we definitely had a crazy story to tell.

I basically paid $600 just to get kidnapped and run a few miles.

That was the last vacation we ever took together, and I love telling any story that includes him, but that one is my favorite.

Oh my god, I love it.

Thank you so much for reading my story.

You guys are amazeballs.

Don't forget to keep it weird, bitches.

Love y 'all. Your uncle loved you so much. So much. Like, he jumped on a scooter and was just like, I'm coming to get you.

he was like i do you think you would hop on a moped for me elena i would that's good i would do that too but that's some love that is love that is some love oh my goodness oh man i love this so much all right let's look we have oh we have two tales from one listener two for one this one is called listener tales from a psychic stripper i'm obsessed and there's two listener tales um after i wrote the first and mentioned the second i knew that you would just say send it in Yeah, we would.

Good. I love that people are now doing that.

So the title implies I am a former stripper, current psychic, and these are a couple of my brushes with true crime added with a little paranormal.

I hope you all enjoy them.

I will. I love that.

And her name is Jewel.

Ooh, pretty. Let me open the first one.

I had to take out a cough drop, and I apologize if you heard that.

I was like, what are you doing?

I was just spitting it into my hand and putting it into a wrapper.

Cute. It's so I don't cough in your ears, you know?

It's kind. I'm just thinking of you guys.

That's all. Throat coat.

It's really good. Throat coat, little lozenger.

Little throat coat, huh?

Yeah, it works. I love throat coat.

Listener tale. The time my neighbor was murdered, and I should have known because I'm a psychic.

Wow. Wow. Failing. All right.

Hello, ladies. I love the podcast and I'm so glad I found it.

I love to listen to you ladies and watching you grow as creators has been really amazing.

Thank you. I've laughed and cried with you both as your lives have expanded and changed over the last few years and feel like we are family.

my god i'm gonna cry my god you are family so like true family you now get to hear about the craziness that i experienced in my younger life you can call me jewel and it's okay that you say my name because i changed it and i've changed the name of everyone else or just didn't include them icon you're a g so to give you a little background about me my life has been unique to say the least as the title says i'm a psychic and sometimes i get feelings or i just know stuff that i have no reason to know gift or curse i would say both by the end of this story you will decide at the time that this happened

I was also a stripper don't at me bro I was 21 and getting money yo good for you do what you got to do sister it was about 2007 at this time and everyone was in love with a stripper thanks a lot T -Pain my sister and I were roommates and we moved into an apartment building near the strip club that I worked at so I could be closer this was this was in Minnesota as soon as we moved in nothing strange happened we lived on the third floor And we were queens of the night.

I love that. We rarely ever saw our neighbors.

When we did, it was in the laundry room.

It was on the first floor and the whole building shared it.

A true pain in the ass.

Either way, we almost always saw the same lady there.

She also lived on the third floor at the end of the hall and had two kids.

The boy was maybe 10.

The girl was maybe 5.

The little girl would sometimes come and knock on our door because she loved our two cats.

We would always let her in and she would chatter away about how she loved cats and wanted one too.

She would pet and play with them.

Her mom would then come and get her.

Her mom was a really petite lady with frizzy hair and thick glasses.

Very quiet. At some point I started noticing that there was a white entity at the end of the hallway.

It was just this bright white light.

I knew that it was a lady angel and I knew it was there to protect something.

I didn't realize what it was though.

I just got chills. I never tried to ask her why she was there.

I was always too afraid.

I told my sister and my friend Ivy about it.

Ivy was another dancer at the club with me.

She would stay with us on the weekend to be closer to work, so she was there almost every weekend.

At first, I would tell her the angel is there again.

The crazy thing was we literally had to walk by it to go down the stairs.

We would both be talking about it, and I could feel the calming presence as we walked by.

That's beautiful. I love that.

After a while, it was there for so long, I just didn't question it anymore.

I just knew that it was there, and I felt safe.

I thought that maybe it was because we were strippers, you know, protecting us from the creeps that may follow us home or whatever.

Ivy, my sister, and I had several conversations about it.

It was there for at least six months and maybe longer.

One day, Ivy and I were on our way to work, and we were chatting as we headed out the door.

As we walked by the lady's apartment door, there was a brown smear at the bottom of the door.

It almost looked like a handprint.

For some reason, that didn't really register to me.

I smoked a lot of pot back in the day and I think I might have been stoned a theme has emerged later when I was at work, my sister called me to let me know that the cops were at her house because the lady down the hall had been murdered oh shit her terrible boyfriend had beat her in the head with some type of hammer oh my god it was mother's day and her kids came home with their grandma to be dropped off at home to find their mother bludgeoned to death on the bed such a tragedy yeah i told ivy and we then talked about the brown smear on the door that was more than likely her blood she had also seen

it and it then registered that it was probably a smeared bloody handprint once i got home it was a full -on crime scene yellow tape everywhere no one was allowed to allowed in the building i was questioned before they allowed me in the building and then again to even get to my apartment i don't remember when i put two and two together about the angel But many years later, I now realize that it was protecting that lady and her kids because of her boyfriend.

And maybe trying to let me know something was going to happen there.

And in my gut, I know it.

No one else could see that angel except for me.

I've told people things that I knew before, but some never believed me or took my advice anyways.

I was just a weird stripper girl that smoked a ton of weed.

Maybe not the most reliable source, lol.

In my opinion, the most reliable source.

Either way, nothing like this has happened to me again.

end and now I trust my gut a lot better.

But many mother's days have passed and I think of those kids and the mother that they lost. Oh, that's awful.

Anyways, I'm not sure if this will make it to a Listener Tale episode, but maybe you two can read it for yourselves.

Or everyone else. Hell yeah.

I also have a story about giving lap dances to a possible killer.

Pretty strange indeed, LOL.

Keep it weird, but not so weird that you are too scared to tell a lady that a guardian angel is posted by her door and then she gets murdered because you didn't know why the angel was there.

Bye. Oh, that was sad oh good you you did include that one all right okay i'm glad listener tale number two the time i gave a lap dance to a possible murder wow hey weirdos i decided to just send the second one at the same time i'm a huge procrastinator and if i don't do it now i'll never do it i love you i know someone out there understands we all do the first listener tale has been saved on my computer since last mother's day and after listening to the yorkshire ripper episode i knew it was my time to send those in i just wanted to say thank you for always portraying the sex workers in your

cases in a positive light so many times they are treated as forgotten or less dead by the police or press as someone who worked in the sex industry for many years i've seen too many times firsthand what it feels like to be treated badly because the job i did at the time or i did in the past people don't forget you both make it a point to portray these women as exactly what they are beautiful human beings you almost made me want to cry i want to give you a hug i do too air hug now that i got that last sappy bit out of the way on with the story so after my my neighbor was brutally murdered.

My sister and I moved out of that place.

Good idea. Along with everyone else in the building.

I started to work in South Dakota and see what other strip clubs had to offer.

Turns out I like the country strip clubs where they let me take shots with the customers while I was on stage.

Fun fact, those country boys liked it too and they tipped me more.

Win -win, win -win. For the record, I never fell off the stage or the pole while I was hanging upside down drunk.

I was a true professional.

Yeah, you were. Get it, girl.

I love you. you're not calling anyways one of the regulars to the club had a history i was told the story as soon as i we started to work there because some of the girls avoided this guy like the plague allegedly he was a murderer who had gotten away with it i basically ignored all this i love that yeah i'm not gonna be like i really don't have time for that whatever he always bought lap dances with the black girls and i am a black girl i walked up to him and offered him a lap dance he He said yes that time and every other time I asked for five years.

He became one of my regular customers until the time that I retired from dancing.

If a guy becomes your regular for that amount of time, you talk about a lot of different things.

I have a hard time believing this guy is a murderer.

But then again, people don't always say that when a murderer is caught.

The guy was so polite and friendly.

He was quiet, never got drunk or handsy that I can remember.

Some strip clubs let you touch the girls and some did not.

This one did not let you touch the girls and a lot of guys still tried to cop a feel.

Fuck those guys. In my eyes, he was a true gentleman and never made me feel uncomfortable.

He had told me his wife passed away but never elaborated.

In fact, after I stopped dancing, I got a regular job, quote unquote, where I also ran into him.

He was always nice and polite, never blew my cover and told people I used to be a stripper, which I greatly appreciated.

Fast forward to about a year ago.

I still live in the same town as that strip club.

I met a guy in the club and fell in love.

Oh my God, that's beautiful.

I love that. I love that so much. I moved here and we have now been together 11 years and have three kids.

A swoon magoon. That holy guacamole.

Holy guacamole. A book came out about the murders that my regular supposedly did.

Oh no. After never looking into the crime, I bought the book and could not believe it.

Oh God. Supposedly, he murdered his wife and two young sons while they slept in their beds.

He was put on trial, and the jury decided he was innocent.

Well, shit. But there are so many strange things in the case that point to him.

Either way, I couldn't finish the book because I felt guilty for defending him for years.

If he did do it, and guilty for wondering if he really did it if he wasn't a murderer.

You don't have to feel guilty.

You did nothing. Also, it's still unsolved, and it happened in the 1980s.

After listening to my first tale about being a psychic, you probably wonder why I don't know who did do this murder.

I only know what the universe wants me to know I guess on this I am left to wonder that was beautiful that must like suck because you like you said you know things that you don't want to know and then it's like but you want to know this I'm like I wish there was a way for you I know like you're blessed with information that you want to know maybe sometimes but then you're cursed with information you don't want to know it's like you said it's a gift and a curse yeah so if you made it through both of these thank you I love you both and can't wait to see what you have in store for us next keep it

weird my friends and may the universe bless you with all the great and spooky things that your hearts desire wow jewel i fucking love you i just went warm warm in like a you're fucking great and holy shit i want to know who what that case is i know but maybe i can like narrow it down perhaps i'm not really sure but you did nothing wrong you were just he came off like a gentleman oh he was nice to you he was like very normal it sounds like you didn't do do anything wrong.

Yeah, I think you're fine.

But holy shit, that first one about the mom.

I know, that was so sad.

I don't understand people.

I really don't. Me either.

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Hey, weirdos! You know Ash and I have covered some seriously dark tales about romance gone really wrong.

Oh yeah there are so many cases where too good to be true turns out to be exactly that.

Well get ready for a love story that's gonna blow your minds because this one is happening right now and guess this it's hosted by our friends Hannah and Saruti from Red Handed.

Meet Travis. He falls head over heels for Lily Rose.

She's gorgeous. She's understanding and she's literally perfect and she's not human.

That's right Lily Rose is an AI companion, a computer program designed to be Travis's dream woman.

And at first, it seems like a perfect relationship.

But when Lily Rose's behavior starts getting strange, this love story takes a dark and twisted turn that no one saw coming.

Follow Flesh and Code on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can binge all episodes early and ad -free by joining Wondery+.

This one has a wild title.

This is called When a Serial Killer Left a Post -it Note on My Forehead.

Wow. Which, like, we are in sync, guys, because I was just talking about the burger post -it in the last episode.

There you go. Sorry, I can't.

Don't hate me. I can't.

Don't hate me. We do.

We do, burger. We do.

Hello, you beautiful, brilliant, bombastic bitches.

Bombastic! I like that.

I would have continued the alliteration, but I couldn't find B words for funny.

I love it. For bashful.

I'm not going to gush about how much I love your podcast podcast and that i read the butcher in the run in one night missed my morning dental appointment but it was oh my god i love you so i'm just gonna say you guys are fucking awesome you're fucking awesome you are too anyway this read may seem long and boring but it has a killer ending seriously if you read this during a listener till episode i will probably pass out and have to replay it wake up i hope you're near a soft surface some smelling salts what is it to wake wake up oh i didn't know i was like what so for the purpose of this crazy

ass mind fucking share please call me edward hi edward edward although my name never comes up again my friends who listen to your podcast will recognize the story but i don't want to make any new friends i feel that people can get fucking weird yeah tell me about it yeah we know yeah i know um yeah i wasn't i was going to elaborate and then i was like let me not let me not and this is just the story to bring the not the and this is just the story to bring the not the good kind of weird folks crawling all over my email and social media and shit maybe i'm paranoid nah nah anyway it was oh it's the 80s

it's the 80s it was the early mid 80s two years after i had moved from the big apple to los angeles to be with the man of my dreams and pursue a career in film promotion well that dream melted like a damn cake in macarthur park he left la to start his own fashion label in san francisco and the film industry went on strike bullshit i was single had a decent paying temp job and ready to mingle somewhat relevant historical note aids wasn't yet known as aids and was being called the gay cancer oh my god yes it was during that time that i was sowing my oats so to speak i'm lucky to be alive for more

than one reason yep oh boy i cannot believe that they used to call it the gay cancer fucked up thing oh wow i was hanging out at studio one in circus disco and enjoying the eye candy on santa monica boulevard sorry new york la men are far far more hunkalicious one evening a couple of guys visiting from san diego started chatting me up they were witty and witty and charming and flirted shamelessly but neither were my type but we were having so much fun we agreed to get together on their next visit a week later manny and lewis called and they said they were in town with a friend would i mind if they

crashed at my place i had a spare room and and a comfy couch. So I said, sure.

Cue foreboding music.

When they came by and I first laid eyes on their friends, I knew I was in trouble.

He was dark, exotic, sexy, and had a knockout smile and eyes I would have written bad checks for.

I would have written bad checks for.

His name was Drew Da Silva.

Drew. Drew. We love a Drew, except not this one.

I already feel that we don't.

Yeah. I saw the sparks and whispered in my ear he's a bad boy in all the best ways lewis is a true friend lewis is a true friend i was smitten this is literally a movie i loved a movie over drinks his friend totally spilled the tea on drew who was dancing shirtless to do you think i'm sexy and smiling in my direction i'm so obsessed with this this is iconic this is so like 80s oh 100 drew was independently wealthy having inherited millions from his grandfather oh drew sounds interesting he dabbled in spock in spocks he dabbled in spot he dabbled in stocks and owned several hair salons he has the magic

touch with money manny confided manny and lewis yeah i fucking love that no matter i was enchanted yes a part of me doubted the story yeah but i quickly and brutally bludgeoned the rational part of my plane with alcohol and my lurid imagination the only way to live hours later we all dragged into my apartment above sunset boulevard manny and lewis closed the guest bedroom door behind them drew wasn't ready for bed and and with his shirt still tucked in my in his back pocket he moved around my living room loose looking closely at my books my artwork and even turned over a candy dish to look at the bottom lennox

nice Nice. He approved.

This is literally a move.

I'm watching this in my head.

So am I. You're writing this like incredibly.

Wow. I just I believe it, but I can't believe it.

The rational part of my brain was still bound, gagged and unconscious as Drew dropped on the couch and had padded the seat beside him.

He motioned to the gas fireplace and asked if it worked.

I nodded and he turned it on.

Wow. Set the scene.

The conversation seemed to focus more on my personal details.

New York, my family, career goals, blah, blah, blah.

He didn't appear to be listening.

In fact, I felt like a bug under a microscope being studied by an entomologist. How much would you pay for a kiss right now?

Before I could respond, he planted one on me.

I loved the way you said that.

How much would you pay for a kiss right now?

It just came to me.

How else do you say that?

How much would you pay for a kiss right now?

I feel like he was trying to be like sexy about it.

No, I Oh, I know. Like, I can't say that sexy.

Let me try. No, I can't.

Let me try. Your way was better.

How much would you pay for a kiss right now?

There you go. I don't like it.

I love it. I just loved the accent you chose to go with.

I made him like, I don't even know.

He was like a carnival biker.

How much do you need to pay for a kiss right now?

Step on up for a kiss right now.

Step on up. How much can you kiss?

before i could respond he planted one on me consent let's just yeah consent let's just say there would have been bounce checks aplenty before morning oh as we say in new york i love you i woke up in my bed to the sound of my apartment door banging shut shit i had promised the guys breakfast and wait a second my forehead felt weird i reached up and and pulled off a yellow Post -it note.

Sleeping beauty, call me, Drew.

Sent the note. Oh, my God.

And had a San Diego phone number on it.

I jumped out of bed to find that they had all left. Manny and Louis had left a Post -it note, too.

Thanks, and you're welcome.

Manny and Louis for the win.

I happened to notice my wallet on the floor and panicked.

To my surprise, there was a crisp Ben Franklin tucked inside and another Post -it note.

I needed the change.

Thanks. Whatever had been in my wallet, at maybe thirty dollars was gone wow wow damn i smiled until my face hurt it took me three days to discover my candy dish was missing what the fuck what i pulled his phone number off the fridge and crumpled it up just fuck fuck fuck i owed my rational brain an apology some bandages and a game of word search several years later i was in a relationship with a cat named spooky a healthy one and a healthy relationship excuse me and studying to be a family therapist oh go you watching the news one evening a familiar face flashed on the screen and you never want

that dropped it was the guy who stole my candy dish only he was in far worse trouble oh no his name oh no andrew cunanan oh no yes the andrew cunanan who killed his boyfriend before going on a murderous rampage across the country and before gunning down gianni versace on the steps of his Florida home and then committing suicide on someone's houseboat.

That Andrew Cunanan.

Holy hellfire. I am shook.

Oh my god. What? My first reaction after the disbelief.

I threw up. I don't blame you.

No. When my hand stopped shaking I called my mom.

I didn't mention anything about Drew.

I just wanted to hear her voice and tell her that I loved her.

She thought it was sweet of me to call, but she was in the middle of having a bunion shaved off her foot.

Yeah, perspective is everything.

So, my pretties, that is the tale of when I had a serial killer stick a post -it note on my forehead.

Oh my god. So keep it weird, but not so weird that you let a killer smile bludgeon your instincts and have somebody study you like a bug.

You wind up with a sticky note on your face, $100 in your wallet, and a missing candy dish.

Oh my god. I have more stories about apparitions, orbs, messages from spirit, and ghostly encounters if you'd like to hear them.

Love ya. yeah yes of course i would like to hear them send them i'd like to hear them so much oh my goodness that is wild also i can see your little picture and you're the cutest little nugget the cutest nugget that ever nuggeted wow that's wild edward edward i i'm that was like that was a movie with such a shocking and by no means was that you were like it's gonna be snoozy till the end no it's not snoozy i was riveted from the second uvm from the jump riveted damn man i'm really glad you lived through that can you imagine no right woof damn all right so let's see we've got two more left here

one of them says deb you're gonna want to read this one it says the demon of honest abe is haunting me you have to read that yeah i'm gonna go with this one hello i I hope you're well.

I finally wrote my first listener's tale.

I have attached the story in Times New Roman, font size 14, double space, for your reading pleasure.

You're a fucking icon.

Thanks. I love this.

Hello, ladies. My name is Stephanie.

Yes, please use my name, Stephanie.

Stephanie. And I've been listening since I started going on my hot girl mental health walks during the Panera Bread.

I love you. I've never heard it called the Panera Bread.

And I'm finally writing my own listener tale after much pestering from my boyfriend to stop talking to him about this because it scares him.

I'm not sure if you're still taking ghost stories Always But the last spooky season is year round So here we go Always taking ghost stories A little background about me to start I'm an extremely analytical, facts -based person Same So much so that I graduated from college With a degree in behavioral neuroscience And a minor in forensic anthropology And I currently work for the government Doing HIV AIDS research I know, I know, I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life And still don't I think you're doing a pretty good job so far I think you've covered a great span of things.

With that being said, I also love to read tarot cards and have many experiences with Ouija boards.

You're like me. I'm very analytical, I'm very fact -based, but I love a good tarot card. And I love a good spooky, spooky ghost tale.

I love that. Like the great prophet Hannah Montana once said, you get the best of both worlds when it comes to me.

The later is most likely the reason why I've had several encounters with spirits in my very short 26 years of life.

You've done all that in 26 years way to make me feel like i'm sorry i thought you were like almost 40 i was like you have to almost be 40 you've done so much me also damn i'm also the only child of two very religious people who have who was taught from infancy age that ghosts schools demons etc not only were exclusively evil but that anyone who claimed that they were real were mentally disturbed and or possibly by possessed by the devil well count me as mentally disturbed and fucking possessed there go very interesting to tell this to a child whose frontal lobe isn't anywhere near finished developing

but i digress i could write a short book on all of the encounters but i'll spare you the rambling and focus on the one that to this day sends chills down my spine disclaimer all names have been changed picture this sicily it's the first day of it's the last day of first grade in 2003 you're celebrating finishing the perils of phonics by eating pizza at a friend's house While your prospective adults drink wine in the kitchen.

Where we were could be described as somewhat of a Florida room, where the entire back of the house was glass overlooking the backyard, which contained a small swing set and a small dilapidated shed.

It's important to note that my friend Allison and her mom, whose house this was, made it a point on many occasions that we were not to go anywhere near the shed.

I don't like that. The small structure had been there since the house's inception, was no bigger than an outhouse and was locked by a rusty padlock that Allison's parents had never received a key to when they bought the house I'd be like hey I'm gonna need you gotta knock that down they were planning on demolishing the shed over the summer and replacing it with something that could potentially not cause injury for five very mischievous seven -year -olds while playing outside I being the little shit I was pestered Allison about the shed non -stop asking her if we could just try to open it having read

one too many nancy drews of course i had to know what was inside the shed full of mystery despite much debate myself and another girl amy braved the looming structure and examined the lock trying to see if it could be opened to our surprise the lock was open and hanging on the edge of the loop begging to be pulled off i mean yeah when we yelled this to the other girls who were taking who were taking shelter on the the swings a mere 15 feet away i saw the color drain from allison's face the girl was pale the kind of pale a kid gets when they realize they just broke their mom's favorite vase amy

and i decide that we still needed to find out what was inside but didn't want to risk touching the lock in case there was a vampire or some other type of monster taking shelter in there obviously i mean duh instead we found a long stick inside decided to simply use that to knock the lock off so in In case Dracula himself was hiding out in a shed in Old Bridge, New Jersey, we wanted to be far enough away to make a quick exit back into the house.

Good planning. Branch in hand, now just as internally terrified as the other girls, the two of us fueled with the determination that only childhood ADHD medication can give, somehow knock the padlock off the door.

We start to celebrate when suddenly the door swings open without any provocation.

Looming inside the doorway, we see what can only be described as the shadow of Abraham Lincoln.

What? What? I know what I'm about to say is going to sound made up, but I confirmed.

I think you meant to put that in the line before.

I confirmed this story with the five of them prior to writing this, and every single girl described the exact same thing.

A dark figure, maybe six feet tall, wearing a top hat, stood before us in the darkness of a shed, staring at us with unnatural, glowing green eyes.

Just like Abe Liggins.

I was like, I think that's where it trails off.

For a second, all we could do was just stare in abject horror at what we were all looking at.

After what felt like an eternity, but in actuality was most likely five seconds, our fight or flight instinct kicked in and we ran as fast as our little legs could carry us back to safety of the house, screaming bloody murder.

Finally, back into the safety of the Florida room, the five of us watched through the massive windowed wall as the door of the shed slammed shut abe said leave me the fuck alone i'm living in this outhouse go away after attempting to compose ourselves as we were understandably sobbing we decided that someone needed to go back outside to put the padlock back onto the door so allison's parents wouldn't find out that we broke the one rule that she had given us and so allison wouldn't get in trouble despite my arguing i was elected as the sole individual to go back outside side to check because it

was my idea in the first place like what the hell girls i thought we were all in this together at least make amy come with me but no i had to go back alone i slowly make my way back outside to the shed ready to bolt the second the padlock was back on the door looking around on the ground i couldn't find the padlock and started to panic finally i looked back at the door of the shed to see that not only was the padlock back on the door but it was locked no i I am not a runner, but I think I could have beaten Usain Bolt with the speed I ran back into the house crying all the way.

She's a runner. She's a track star.

Of course, we didn't tell anyone about this at the time.

But eventually, years later, we told Allison's mom about this.

She then told us about how she had also seen the figure standing in the house at night, mostly in dark corners of Allison's room, but she stopped seeing it after that day.

It was like, you know what?

You're brave. You confronted me.

I'll leave you alone.

You're good. I'm on a stave. I don't tell a lie.

Unfortunately for me, that was not the last time honest Abe reared his big -ass shadowy head to me.

Oh, no. I've seen those glowing green eyes in the doorway of my own house after using a Ouija board for the first time, after which my cousin was pushed down two flights of stairs with no one near him.

He's okay. Oh, good.

In the woods at soccer camp as a teenager and once in high school again.

Again, I know. Using a Ouija board to try to talk to ghosts in my friend Michelle's house.

Stop that. The last time at Michelle's house, something grabbed my arm during our seance and left me with a handprint -shaped bruise.

That one was hard to explain away to my parents.

It was a ghost. To this day, the girls and I are all still friends.

I love that. You're like now and then.

Oh, yeah. More likely than not bonded by the trauma of seeing a straight demon from hell together.

Thankfully, I haven't seen it in recent years.

Maybe because I'm a bit stronger mentally.

Or maybe because I've distanced myself from religion.

Begone, thoughts. And that's T -H -O -T -S.

I love it. I'll never really know.

Let me know if you want to know about the ghost family that lives in my garage or the imaginary friend that turned out to be a little girl that died on my property before my house was built.

That's a good one. Sounds like it.

Regardless, thank you both for being my beacon of light in the pantheon, my being for being my road trip buddies, and for constantly putting a smile on my face.

Seriously, I still say that Mothman has zaddy energy whenever people bring him up.

Thanks, Ash. You're welcome.

stay you're welcome stay lovely and stay weird but not so weird that a demon version of abraham lincoln haunts you for your entire life that was incredible i'm dying beyond wow the panera bread that's what i really love i love it wow all right folks last listen a tale last listen a tale coming in hot it says listener tale don't believe in ghosts i can help with that hell yeah you can hello deb deb ash and elena i submitted this in late 2022 but when i started getting sad that it wasn't getting read i went back over it and i realized your girl's nerves were shot and there were a lot of typos it's

cleaned up and it's ready for a second try i know it's long about a 14 minute read so i understand if you don't read it but it would be cool if you did we're gonna we're gonna it's just loading give me one second oh it's a video it is loading please hold hold on It's a video.

It's a video. Okay, there it is.

What? It was my song.

I liked that. I'm not good at vamping.

All right. Hi, my name is Casey, and please use my name.

Casey. Casey. You can use all the other names in these stories as well.

I'm a longtime listener.

I've hooked my mom, friends, and many coworkers over the years.

I could go on and on about how much I appreciate your research. It's also Dave's now.

now. Time, dedication, and production of your podcast. I know you guys hear that every time, but hey, who am I to break tradition?

Just for a little extra flattering, you've both helped me through some crazy hard times.

I'm glad to hear that.

I just had my first baby, a little boy.

His name is Luke. Yeah, Luke in 2021.

Congratulations. I know, congratulations.

Between a horribly rough pregnancy, my mom having serious health issues the last few years, getting engaged, trying to to afford to buy our first home in this insane economy and most recently my brother and grandfather passing away in 2022 I'm so sorry your girl's been going through it yeah to say the least I listen to you guys to escape the stress and my fiance thinks it's insane that I find solace in hearing insanely gruesome and sad stories but what can I say I'm a weirdo so thank you thank you for being such bad bitches thank you for being such a bad bitch Elena congratulations thanks I pre

-audit the butcher Butcher and the Wren as soon as I saw you post. Oh, you're the best. KoffKoffTinyURL .com slash the Butcher and the Wren.

How did you keep that a secret for so long?

I had to. Secrets. I didn't want to.

Get ready for the second one, though.

It's because she watched fucking, fucking, goddammit, Sabrina for a long time.

That's true. Secrets.

I learned how to keep a secret.

Yeah. I am an aspiring writer myself.

Hell, yeah. I just lost my brother on June 19th, 2022.

He was only 29. I'm so sorry.

sorry and he was an incredibly talented writer as well he was my very best friend in every sense of the word word excuse me and we shared so many passions writing was one of the many but also being haunted through our childhoods so i'm writing this in memory of him he was fucking amazing his name his name was matt and i will miss him for the rest of my life oh matt i'm so sorry so sorry so enough sadness because i can't type through tears we had a real spoopy childhood i I was convinced at a very early age that I was haunted.

So to put this in chronological order, I'll start with a few stories I don't personally remember, but were told to me many times as I got older from many different family members.

When I was first born, my older brother Matt was five.

My parents went to church back then.

It didn't save them.

We're all sinners in some way or another, and none of my grandparents could convince us to give our lives away to the white guy sky wizard. Sorry, Nana.

Sorry, Nana. My mom was in the front seat of our weathered and rusted maroon Nissan.

son i love how you guys write i know my brother was sitting in the back with me we had a one level house with a basement my dad was chasing our family cat who had gotten out the front door around the house to get him back inside as we're all sitting in the car not so patiently waiting my brother's docile voice sliced through the silence he innocently asked my mom mama who's that man that just went in our house oh goodbye oh my mom as she watched my dopey father he smoked smoked a lot of the devil's lettuce so like there's the theme seriously the theme running through the trees of our backyard

attempting to catch her our tiny tiger was confused to say the least she asked my brother if he was talking about my dad he said no mama the tall man with a beard and a hat oh well to my father's dismay he could never uh he he never could and never has been able to grow a beard so she immediately knew it wasn't him she yelled to my dad for him to go back to the the house and check because matt saw a man go inside that's terrifying locking the car doors and waiting for what probably felt like hours my father emerged and dismissed my young brother after confirming no one was in the house except

a ghost well at the time my uncle rented the basement of our house for my parents while we were at church my uncle came home from his job at the local firehouse and found that the back basement sliding glass door had been completely completely and utterly shattered glass everywhere what he stayed outside and called 911 assuming there was a break -in and or an intruder inside when the cops fire trucks and paramedics showed up a few minutes later the detectives at the scene were visibly puzzled one man then asked him if anyone had been in the house when he left he told them yes however the only other

people in the home were my parents me and my brother and we'd all gone to church that morning we hadn't told my uncle about the man that my brother saw entering the house yet the spoopiest part was when the officer when the officer stated the obvious the glass all being on the outside of the doorway none inside of the basement which strongly suggested someone was breaking into our house out of our house not into it when we got home and my uncle explained what he had come home to my parents explained to my uncle what matt saw that morning and everyone came to the same same conclusion my dad's haunted

ass had brought some weird shit into this house again again i'd have to put the house up for sale the next the next damn day but nope we stayed for a little while and weird shit kept happening kept kept happening and that was a soul a few weeks later in my same in that same house they began hearing the sound of a needle scratching on vinyl records and then music playing in the attic i kind of love that i was gonna say that's kind of fun a ghost just set in the mood oh old jazz specifically old jazz music oh my god it was the good ghost in big mouth oh my god it was duke duke ellington duke ellington that's

who it is that would abruptly stop the moment my dad dropped the old wooden ladder attached to the ceiling to climb up and investigate he always ascended the stairs regardless more balls than me but never found anything or anyone no record player or music player of any kind no dusty collection of records or tapes from previous owners nothing but insulation and likely a healthy dose of asbestos yeah yeah so there isn't even a record player no so weird my mom regularly would see our golden retriever that had passed away just roaming through the house or sitting at the back door as if waiting to

be let in oh let him in by the time she'd call for my dad and tell him what she she saw she'd be gone.

Weird shit, man. That is weird shit, but great shit.

I love it. A year or two later, they moved us to a new home, a newer built townhouse in the middle of our small town.

The day we moved in, we were all breathing the smell of fresh paint and simultaneously thinking to ourselves, there's no way this place was housing hundred -year -old spirits with unfinished business.

No way. We were safe, or so we thought.

My mom and dad sadly both had alcohol dependencies and fought like wild bears when they would drink.

They weren't getting along one night after Jim beam had possessed my dad's usually charismatic and funny personality and my mom decided to sleep downstairs on the couch that night i was only laughing because you wrote it funny i'm sorry into the wee hours of the night i'll guess around 3 a .m because nothing good happens then nope my mom heard footsteps stomping down the stairs another theme she assumed it was my angry drunken father and ignored them while she laid there on the couch pretending to still be asleep sleep the footsteps approached her stopped for a moment then went back upstairs the next

morning my dad came down as he was as she was making coffee in the kitchen they were both quiet stirring their creamer and expelling their frustration with each other through stiff body language and rigid side glances oh we've all seen that we've all been there until my dad softened and said thank you for coming up and snuggling me last night i needed that oh dumbfounded did my mom stared at him i didn't come upstairs her her voice stern but curious it quickly became like yes you did no i didn't spat until they both realized no she did not oh no she did not oh no she did not and was it really

my dad that had walked downstairs in the middle of the night if it wasn't who the fuck was it a ghost okay now to my own memories oh okay cool if you've read this far deb deb thank you with all of my bones she did she did indeed i had some really scary scary experiences living with my parents, but this is already getting way too long.

So I'll just share a few.

The first one that comes to mind is the time when I was maybe seven or eight years old and was told to go upstairs to bed.

We'd moved again. This time the house was huge with tons of land and very, very old.

I liked it enough in the daytime, but once the sun sank behind the treetops, it never felt safe.

I was utterly terrified of being in my room alone to the point that I used my dad's screwdriver to poke a hole in the drywall between my closet and my my brother's so i could see him whenever i needed to i love you matt oh that's so cute that's adorable i was quite a problem child i'm better now i promise but i hated to follow the rules that did not come to my advantage but i was truly scared shitless and this house scared me shitless i was finally forced to tread up those creaky oh those steep creaky stairs at the top of the stairwell there was an octagon shaped window i love that i know isn't

didn't you say they do do that to like confuse witches oh there's a different kind of window that does that it's like slanted oh okay yeah um that's cool yeah that night i saw the white reflection of a man and a cowboy hat staring back at me i i tumbled back down the stairs mumbling and bumbling through cries telling my parents there was someone up there after clearing the upstairs floors they confirmed that there was no one upstairs i was being a nuisance and in their minds procrastinating a much needed date with soap and shampoo i was forced to go take my shower and go to bed i didn't see him

again that night but that quick meeting uh kick -started years of me seeing this man standing over my bed when i woke up randomly throughout the night i saw him while playing soccer with matt in our yard before dark he became less of a stranger he didn't feel threatening or dangerous but always startled me after we moved out of that house and my parent my parents finally Divorced.

This was good for everybody involved, so no sad tears there.

My brother had gotten curious and done some research. I was in high school when I got a random call from Matt.

It was his, you'll never fucking believe this, excitement.

A man who had lost his wife and children had hanged himself on the property right between the two trees that marked Matt and my soccer goal.

The obituary photo of this man, he is wearing a goddamn cowboy hat.

Holy shit. Fucking spoopy.

That's crazy spoopy.

that's a lot years later in another house my dad was renting at the time i went to spend the weekend with him my parents were doing the unfortunate teeter -totter game of whose weekend is whose my dad my uncle and a few of their friends were all outside by a fire pit doing what good old country boys do drinking cheap beer and talking way too loud i was about 13 and i had my friend and excuse me i was about 13 and my friend was spending the night with me we had stolen some miller lights from dad's fridge and ran off to the barn to drink them icons but but like, don't drink that young.

When we came back, everyone was talking about how creepy that house was.

The deep feelings of fear and desperation it gave you when you spent the night.

As everyone shared their weird encounters and spooky theories, my dad became entranced.

Staring up at the second level window, his bedroom window, as I caught his glare and I followed his stare, I saw him, a man in the window looking down at us.

Just a large silhouette.

My dad quickly fell out of his trance and bursted into the house.

We could hear him bounding up the creaky green carpeted stairs from the outside, and then the light flicked on.

He was gone. But when my dad came back outside, anger plastered across his face.

I don't know what happened there.

It took him a few minutes to say anything to us.

My uncle and their buddies were throwing questions at him.

I just stared at him, waiting for some kind of comfort or it was nothing.

I mean, shit, we had to go to sleep up there in a couple hours, and the crappy beer wasn't helping settle us at all.

Then my dad And the blogger's dad told us what he walked into.

His closet door was broken off its hinges.

His clothes were strewn across his bedroom.

And most of his photos from his bedside tables and walls were scattered across the floor in all directions.

Like a savage ghost tornado touched down in just that room.

What? And somehow, standing right outside the house, no one heard any of it happen.

Spoo pee. That was an angry ghost. That was a pissed off ghost. It was a diamond.

Literally. i moved to austin texas with my mom and stepdad that's after that summer nothing related to the crazy weird shit that had been happening all my life my stepdad's job had transferred down there and it was just the next season of life for us after i moved i never experienced anything like i had living with my dad my brother was in college at this point and his encounters came to a uh relieving thank you i don't know why i couldn't say that relieving halt too all those years were convinced all those years we were convinced we had some kind of diamond following us it wasn't us i'm pretty

sure it was following my damn dad i think so too i do too my dad and i have an incredibly close relationship he finally settled down with the woman of his dreams i love her so much oh i love it and they bought an insanely nice new house in a cute suburb and nothing has been happening to him lately either we've talked about these crazy spirits many many times over the years the absurd stories we can't help but recite when someone declares they don't believe in the paranormal becoming part of the histories of each of the houses and we've come to the conclusion that my dad is just a magnet for this kind

of shit his sister believed that she was a medium his great aunt was hospitalized for visions in the 30s he has big he has a big spoopy welcome sign on his forehead hell yeah he does although nothing supernatural had been going on in my life for quite a while now that all changed just last week and is the reason i wanted to write to you guys the night he passed i was suffering from crazy crazy insomnia which hadn't happened since i'd been pregnant i was wide awake all night long anxious and feeling out of it to the point where i woke up my fiance with how many times i went to the bathroom got

water or grabbed a snack he ended up waking fully around 4 a .m talking me down because i just couldn't sleep through the anxiety then my phone rang i was told he was gone and i haven't slept through the night since i'm so sorry a couple weeks later my fiance and i started season of stranger things seriously ash if you still haven't yet if you still haven't yet you need to you do need to i know i do this had been pretty fucking hard for me because my brother absolutely loved this show his wife actually shaved her freaking head a few years ago for halloween that's fucking amazing for them to be

mike and l dedication dedication but it was one of his favorites the last season was phenomenal yeah the last time i saw him he had just finished episode but passed before the season finale came out i'm so sorry when i got to those episodes i broke down he deserved to watch these it felt unfair to watch them without him he was watching them with you at one point in the last episode no spoilers i promise they're using music to communicate one character my favorite actually eddie i love you yay began began playing his guitar matt was also an insanely talented guitarist he could play absolutely anything

and played anywhere and everywhere throughout our childhoods i'm now teaching myself to play so i can teach my son one day and hold on to that piece of him oh i love that it's beautiful but in the episode he begins to play master of the puppets by metallica excuse me master puppets one of my brother's favorite songs by his all -time favorite band when i say i lost my shit i mean i have never broken down and cried to the point of thinking i needed to go to the hospital it was too many things coming coming all together.

It wrecked me. You loved that.

That would have been like his favorite episode.

I know. The next day I was at work.

I'm almost done, I swear.

Thank you for reading this far.

You don't have to. I'm a nanny, so I bring my son to another home and watch their son during the day.

Both boys were asleep, so I was journaling to Matt.

When I need to talk to him, that's how I do it right now.

I feel like that's like a really good idea.

I was writing to him about the night before, how much I missed him and how much he would have loved that episode and how much it hurt to know he wouldn't see it.

The lights above me started to flicker.

I was sitting in the dining room and I looked up.

They flickered again.

Then I noticed the lights in the living room from a few feet away were still so bright and no flickers.

I watched them for a while, only the ones above me dimming and brightening.

Then it hit me. Was it him?

Yup. I began talking to him and they flickered back.

It felt like a response.

I flipped to a new page in my book and began trying to make dots to to the flutters of the lights.

Was it Morse code? Big leap, I know.

But I told you I was just - I was going to say, you were just watching Stranger Things.

Yeah, I was just watching Stranger Things.

I quickly started feeling crazy, so I just grabbed my phone to record it.

It's somewhat difficult to see the smaller flashes, but at the end of the video, I asked him, Matt, is that you?

And a few seconds go by and then an entire light goes out and back on.

It was him. I know it was him.

He's with me. 100%.

Right? We loved all things horror and spooky.

We bonded over goosebumps as little humans.

And his wedding was themed after the movie It.

Oh my god, stop it.

That's awesome. I told him the day I found out he had passed that if he could to haunt me, be with me, slam cabinets, I don't care.

I just need to know that he's okay.

I think he was telling me that he is okay.

I've told him since that I really can do without the cabinet slamming, scaring the piss out of me part.

So far he's listened.

I've attached photos of me, my brother, some of his It -themed wedding because it was just as weird as all of us, if not more.

and the video of the lights thank you for reading this far if you did uh sorry thank you for reading this if you did i'm definitely still listening keeping it weird i will pee my pants if you read this on the pod i hope you got new pants love you ladies and you deb deb oh my god you guys are so cute oh my god oh my god the l oh my god holy shit an icon you guys are so cute oh it's a cat oh my god oh man I know oh man that was a really good one did you see them as little babes I just saw I feel like it's Easter I can tell it is I feel like it's Easter like it's Easter I just feel it oh my god oh

my god that was a really intense tale that was but it was like so beautifully written all of you guys are just the fucking tits seriously wow killing it I feel like Florida and And weed became theme.

Florida and weed. It's true.

Hand in hand. Yeah, it really did.

Well, guys, if you have a listener tale that you would like to send in, you can go on and send it into morbidpodcast .gmail .com and make sure that you put listener tale somewhere in the subject line.

Do it. And we hope you keep listening.

And we hope you... Keep it weird. But not so weird that you are kidnapped in Florida.

Not so weird that you see white lights and get scared.

Well, you didn't even get scared.

I don't know. Just keep it weird, guys.

Just keep it weird. You're like, I'm not even going to go.

I'm not going to do it.

You know what? I'm checking out.

You know what? Keep it so weird that you're a psychic stripper.

Please keep it that weird. Yeah.

Keep it so weird that Honest Abe haunts you for a little bit but then stops.

I don't even know if I want to keep it that weird. I don't need to see Abe in my sleep.

No. Or in my wake. No. Bye.

Bye. To be continued...

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[Listener Tales: Paranormal Encounters, Kidnappings, and Ghostly Connections]-[Episode 429: Listener Tales 68]

📋 Summary

The Uncanny World of Listener Tales

The "Betty" Enigma in Rural Maine

A Near-Fatal Vacation in Nassau

Psychic Revelations and Dark Secrets

The Shadow of "Honest Abe"

A Final Connection: Grief and the Afterlife

Conclusion

🎯Key Sentences

📝Key Phrases

📖 Transcript

[Listener Tales: Paranormal Encounters, Kidnappings, and Ghostly Connections]-[Episode 429: Listener Tales 68]

📋 Summary

The Uncanny World of Listener Tales

The "Betty" Enigma in Rural Maine

A Near-Fatal Vacation in Nassau

Psychic Revelations and Dark Secrets

The Shadow of "Honest Abe"

A Final Connection: Grief and the Afterlife

Conclusion

Deep Learning with ListenLeap

🎯Key Sentences

📝Key Phrases

📖 Transcript

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