S18 Ep49: Civil War spirits, a celebrity ghost and another Ouija prediction (Sn. 18 Ep. 49)
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Good evening and welcome to Monsters Among Us. I am your guide, Derek Hayes. Hello, ghost ghouls and goblins. It's great to have you back with us here tonight. The last regular episode of season 18. But more on that here in a bit.

First, let's kick this thing off the right way. Joining us this evening from the Rocky Mountain state of Colorado is Sean. Welcome to the program, Sean. Hey, Derek. This is Sean from Colorado. I've been sitting on this one for a while. This happened when I was a kid. I was about 11, and my best friend, he's my brother in every sense of the word because I've known him for 25 plus years.

Him and I lived as next-door neighbors way back in the day on the west side of Colorado Springs. We used to play a lot as kids, and we had this weird game at night where we would hide from cars that were traveling down our road, because I had a set of bushes that were in front of my house that you could easily get behind. And we would hide behind these bushes and call it spy. We played this game, and something very particular happened.

But I want to go back a little bit further and describe what led to this whole thing. So next to my house on the left was my best friend's house. Next door to the right was a burned down house that had been burned down before we even moved in there, me and my parents. The story goes that

The house had caught fire. I don't remember how it caught fire, but there was a family. It was a mom, a dad, and a little blonde girl that had got caught in the fire. And the dad and the blonde girl had died.

in that fire and no one had touched that house for years because they didn't know what to do with it or maybe they didn't have the funds or maybe the state took possession of it. I don't know. But it was burned down the entire time that I lived there and I've lived there for about five years. So we would look at this place and I mean, it's just two story house, everything's burned down, boarded up. But sometimes you would hear

the laughter of a little girl coming from the house when me and my best friend would be playing in the backyard. There were a couple times that we dared each other to go from the back door to the front door and knock on it and then run back. And we did that a couple times and nothing strange ever happened. I mean, we kind of heard some laughter coming from the upstairs, but we

kind of dismissed it as maybe we were hearing things. So now I'm going to come back into the current set of the story. We were playing the spy game and cars were passing by down the road and we were running the bushes, you know, we'd laugh at each other like, ah, they never saw it. We're such good spies. But there was this one time there was a white van that pulled up in front of that burned down house. And me and my brother were laying on our stomachs on the ground,

And we look at each other like, why is there a van pulling up to this house? No one has ever pulled up in front of this house. And we look at each other like, yeah, you're seeing this, right? Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah. So we're both seeing this. And we look over and this white van stops in front of that house. The passenger door opens up and it's a little blonde girl in a flowy white dress that gets out. She's maybe four or five, like super small girl.

gets out, hops out of the van and starts walking towards the door at the same time that there's a man in a white fancy suit and a white cowboy hat who stands at the front of the van with his head tipped down. He has his back leaning on the van. So think about the Marlboro Man image. But this guy is just in an all white suit and a white cap while this girl walks up to the house.

As she's walking up to the house, me and my brother are looking like, "What is going on?" And she takes three steps up the front stairs to the house and just fades into nothing. And me and my brother, we look at each other like, "Oh my God, you saw that, right?" We look at each other like we're not crazy. We look back and the van is gone. We didn't hear it start up. We didn't hear it leave.

And the other part is, the van made noise as it pulled up. You can hear the rocks crunching under the asphalt. You can hear the exhaust, the engine, all of it. We look back, and this thing is gone. We both freaked out and ran. And we've talked about it a couple times since then, but nothing too crazy. But anyways, what you're doing is amazing. Have a good day, guys. Keep it spooky. Bye. Thank you, Sean, for that eerie entry. What do you think, folks?

Was that a ghost van? Were these two individuals the father and daughter that were taken by the fire? If so, why had they returned? And how have they returned? And what exactly is the deal with that van? Now, I have lots of questions, Sean. But something tells me that you do as well. I'm sorry we don't have any answers, but we sure do appreciate you taking the time to share that story.

Now folks, they tell me now is the best time statistically to take our first scheduled break. So let's get that out of the way. But when I return, I have several creatures, entities, famous ghosts, and a prediction from a Ouija board. I'll be right back. And when it comes to the fan base and how they view this team...

As you know, we get a lot of calls over here at MAU, and unfortunately not all of them end up on the show. Sometimes they cut out with a person called from their moving vehicle, and the sound quality is just too bad to put on the air. There are many reasons why a call could end up in the dreaded foobar folder. Whatever the reason, it always breaks our heart because these are some great stories that deserve airtime.

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Club level has been where these players play abroad. Now I can't begin to speak volumes of the mentality... Well then, this next entry comes to us from the state of Nevada. Please welcome Ashley to the program. Hi Derek, my name's Ashley. I live in Carson City, Nevada. And I'm calling on something that I've personally never heard on your podcast before.

I am a holistic therapist. I'm a neuromuscular therapist. I've been in the field for about four years now. And something that I've learned rather quickly is there's a lot of energy in our practice. I've worked alongside acupuncturists and Reiki masters. A lot of different practices kind of mesh together and they'll be runting out like a business.

So you'll have multiple people in a short proximity of each other. So you can only imagine the type of energy that's accumulated in a small space. When I was going to school is when it was first exposed to me. I've always been a really sensitive person, but as a child, I would see things and get really scared and I just turned it off.

As I've gotten older, I've been forced to turn it back on because it's such an energetic practice and that's such a major part of myself. I was finally able to, you know, hone into it and use it for the better and not be so scared of it. I was exposed near the end of going to school. We were starting to learn Eastern practices and in such that included energy work.

At my school, they never really talked about anything super spiritual. We very stayed Western-minded. And we were all in class together, about 35 of us. And we're in a classroom that has fluorescent lights. And so if you're laying on a table and you're partnered up with somebody and you have your eyes closed, you can see the practitioner walking around.

just by blocking out the fluorescent lights. Now, my partner and I, we kept having the teacher come back over to our table. I'm the one on the table, and I can tell that they're walking next to us because they keep blocking out the light. And they're coming back so frequently but not saying anything.

And I'm wondering what the is my partner doing that he's having to come back so much. And my feet are getting cold and I feel like he's standing right below me and then come up towards my head and then my head will start buzzing a little bit and I'm just thinking it's my partner. Finally, he gets extremely close to me, too close for comfort. And I open my eyes to look at him and, you know, ask him, is everything okay? And there wasn't anyone there.

And I asked my partner, how come the teacher keeps coming back over here? And my partner tells me that he's been at the front of the classroom the entire time. I was a little bit confused, and so I didn't say much, and I let our session continue. And then when we switched, he had the same experience happen, but he felt somebody grab his toes, like he felt a pressure on his toes. So we started talking about it,

And the teacher does inform us that there has been sightings of a ghost, specifically in that room, which is where energy work is always taught. And then moving forward, working in different facilities, I started my first job in a spa. And we would always see a gentleman, not to be correlated with something else, but a gentleman wearing a hat. He seemed very Western kind of style, very tall person with like a long trench coat jacket and a hat.

Never anything negative perceived from him, but he was just always there. It's like he was curious. We would always see him. You'd be walking by towards the break room, and you would see him out of your peripherals. And then at night, we'd be turning off all the lights, and we would feel this kind of playful energy, kind of like a little kid wanting to play peek-a-boo. We talked about it. So if he is aware, he knew that we knew of him.

but it was just really crazy to talk about it amongst my co-workers. Every new person that started there would ask us like, "Hey, have you guys ever felt anything?" And it was just really fun to all talk about it. But everywhere I've ever worked, there have been presences drawn towards the energy work. And it wasn't until my instructor told me after working on the campus, became really close with that person,

He shared his point of view that that type of work can draw things. And it's always been positive, thank God.

I was just curious if there are any other therapists, energy workers, any Reiki or acupuncture, physical therapists, neuromuscular therapists, massage therapists, anyone in that field that have these unique stories of encountering these entities, for lack of a better word,

Because it is such an energetic practice that you put so much of yourself out there, it's really easy to experience and feel things and see things, especially as a person like myself who, frankly, shut it off for a major portion of their life. And then for it to be open all of a sudden, it feels like a veil has been lifted.

I'm able to perceive things a lot better than I could in the past. And it's not a scare anymore, thankfully. But I really appreciate your podcast. I love it so much. And I just wish you and your family and your new employees nothing but success. Thank you, Derek, and hope you have a great day. Thank you, Ashley. You know, maybe we can do a Tuesday episode on energy workers if this inspires any new submissions.

Because frankly, I haven't received a lot of these over the years. It's almost like a majority of these energy workers can see this negative stuff coming. But I guess it would make some sense that there would be energy workers out there affected by this sort of thing. Because if you open yourself up to unseen forces, of course other unseen forces can work their way in as well. So if you're an energy worker and you've had a strange experience during one of your readings,

Or if you're just an everyday Joe like myself and you have a story you'd like to share, a true story, call our 24-7 hotline at 888-608-NIGHT. That's 888-608-N-I-G-H-T. Or record your story on the Voice Memo app on your phone and email it to me at monstersamonguspodcast at gmail.com.

And don't forget about the rules. True stories only. Call from a quiet place. No moving vehicles. Finish your story, even if you have to call back in. And one call per story, please. You can submit as many as you'd like, just keep them all separated. So it's that simple. If you submit your story, you could be like David from Kansas, because he's tonight's next caller.

Hi, my name's David and I'm in central Kansas, actually close to a town called Geneseo. They've got a sign that says UFO sightings, capital of Kansas. I do a lot of driving for work. I see that sign all the time and never really thought anything of it. But this morning, it's about 7.30 by the time I saw this. Sun's not quite up. And I'm just driving, listening to a podcast actually. And out of the corner of my eye, I see...

Something kind of bright in the sky is in my peripheral. So I turn my head and look at it, and it's a black orb in the sky. It's bright all the way around it. It just kind of shoots across the sky pretty quickly. I saw long enough that I went down to reach for my phone to grab a video of it. By the time I got my phone, it shot up and disappeared. I have never seen anything like that.

it's the day after halloween i thought that i would just call you and see if anyone else has seen anything like it i listen to your podcast all the time and thanks for everything you do thank you david how about that witnessing a ufo in your state's ufo hot spot it's funny how it works out that way now that orb shape is a shape we're all too familiar with

There have been an abundance of orb-like UFOs reported and even photographed over the last 10 or 12 years or so. And if you really dig into it, you'd realize the encounters go even further back than that. The Betts sphere out of Florida comes to mind. A 22-pound metal sphere found by the Betts family in 1974.

Now the family claimed that the ball possessed certain powers. It could move around on its own, emit tones and would even follow family members throughout the house. Now of course the military got its hands on this sphere. And when that sphere was returned back to the bats, many people believed that it was simply a copy and that the Navy kept the authentic object.

because all of the abilities the sphere seemed to have possessed went away once they got the ball back. And if that's not convincing enough for you, you should look up the Mosul sphere from 2016, because one of these things was caught on military surveillance video back in 2016 at a base in Iraq. You can find links in tonight's show notes. So it's interesting stuff, David, and not something that you see every day.

But we do thank you for telling us all about your experience. Now I think I have time to squeeze in one more call before our next break. So, Cole from Missouri, what exactly do you have for us?

Hey Derek, this is Cole. I'm from Missouri. This is my experience with shadow people. When I was a kid, we lived in a fairly older house, nothing too crazy, but I used to hear stuff in my bedroom at night and would get scared and run to my dad's room and ask if I could sleep in there with him and he'd say yeah. And so I'd sleep in there and it would be the side of the bed that I was laying on looked out into our living room, which was eliminated from the outside light. And

Throughout the night, I would lay there and look out his door out into the living room, and I would see, as far as I could tell, shadow people, a shadow person, man, walking around out in the living room. And I could hear him go back towards my room and through the kitchen, pots and pans with boob on the strainer and the dish strainer.

He would walk into my dad's room and I would, you know, almost close my eyes just so he would think I would be asleep, I guess. And he would walk across the foot of the bed, maybe stand at the foot of the bed for a minute or so and then walk out. Well, that went on for quite some time when I was young. And then we moved and got divorced.

Got to the new house, no experiences, nothing for a long time, like years. Well, there's one night where me and some friends were talking in a group conversation on our cell phones back in the day when that was cool. And I knew my phone was charged and it didn't have any battery issues or anything like that.

but we were talking on the phone and all of a sudden my phone died. And so I pulled my phone away from my face and held it out to look at it. And behind me is my closet and the closet light was on. So, I mean, it was kind of dark in my room, but lighted up to where I could see, you know, anything in the room. And behind my phone, as I'm looking at my phone screen to see what had gone on and why it turned off, I see something black raise up behind my phone.

And I'm like, what in the world? And I moved my phone away from my face and there's just a black figure standing there. And I'm looking at it for a good couple seconds probably. And then all of a sudden it comes right next over to me on the side of the bed and back to where it was at and down through the floor it went. And I jumped up and was scared to death and slept in the living room that night.

All throughout the night, I heard banging in the basement and everything else, too. And that was the only experience I had in the new house. My dad says that he hears talking and stuff like that that he can't make out in the house. I definitely believe there's some things that go bump in the night floating around somewhere out there. So love the show. Thanks, man. Bye. Thank you, Cole. Now, which part of that last experience is the worst part? Looking past your phone screen only to see a dark humanoid figure standing there.

Or having it come up on you all fast like that. Or was the worst part when it ducked down and disappeared? Because who knows where it actually went. Pick your poison on this one, folks. And thank you again, Cole, for sharing the nightmare fuel.

Now if you would, join me in South Carolina, where Alex is waiting with a rather unusual entry. Hey Derek, it's Alex from South Carolina.

I wanted to tell you guys a story that's kind of weird and it might make me sound crazy, but I was raised in South Carolina as a Southern Baptist. I'm not religious anymore and I'm not really sure what I believe in. And I've kind of been a skeptic my whole life until recently. And one night when I was eight years old, I would sleep with all the lights off and my fan on.

I had a Maine Coon cat that would sleep with me. I was just sleeping. I wasn't dreaming or anything. And you know how, like, you feel like you're falling in your sleep and you just don't awake? That happened. And I opened my eyes and up in the left corner of my canopy bed, I saw an angel. It was like a classic painting of an angel. He had really gorgeous blue eyes and like strawberry blonde hair.

I was kind of scared, but then I wasn't. I just felt calm and peaceful. I only looked at him for a couple of seconds, and then I looked around my room. I could see everything in my room, and that's how I felt real, because I saw my cat laying next to me, and there was just like a dim golden light. And I closed my eyes, and I went back to sleep. I told my mom the next day, and she was like, oh, you were just dreaming, whatever.

And I didn't really think of it much after that at all. And I had been living in Germany. Then I moved to North Carolina when I was 18 to a really small town. And I got a job at a grocery store called Pico Wigley. I ran the main register. I knew everybody and what they would normally get. And I started going by Lexi. I don't know why, but Lexi.

I just wanted to change. And this man came up. He put just a few items on the belt. And I was like, hi, how are you? And he was like, I'm really good, Lexi. I just came in to check on you. And I was like, okay, this is weird, but whatever. I was like, yeah, I'm fine. And he was like, okay. I finished ringing up his stuff. And I was like, your total is $777. He laughed and he was like, yeah, I figured...

I looked up at him and he had like the same color hair and the same really pretty eyes but this time he was like super clean cut and his shirt matched his eyes and he was like okay I'll be back to check on you and he left and I was like that is so weird I don't even know like who this person is and I looked down there I wasn't wearing my name tag

Thank you Alex. Now who was that man? And why did he keep appearing to Alex? Was this one big coincidence or was her guardian angel in that Piggly Wiggly? I'm afraid I'm not an expert in this field so I'll just say awesome stuff Alex. I hope one day you finally get the answer.

But until then, thank you again for the amazing phone call. Now for another odd submission. Please welcome Jeff from the state of Oregon. Hey Derek, this is Jeff in Portland, Oregon. I have a ghost story with maybe a little bit of high strangeness.

It was about 2014 in October, near Halloween, and I always like to go to the Lone Fir Cemetery here in Portland. It's right in the heart of Southeast Portland. It's one of the oldest cemeteries on the West Coast. A lot of frontier pioneer graves there.

So on the back of this property, there's a larger crypt that's kind of crumbling. I always like going by there because it's really neat. You can almost see inside. It's nice to imagine, like, what's going on there. Can you get in there? It's since been kind of fenced off, but at the time, you could just walk up to it. So in the back of it, I was looking at the trees and stuff. It was a beautiful fall day, cold and crisp, but sunny.

And I was just watching the wind blow these yellow maple leaves across. And it was just like this moment, you know. And at this moment, there was a crunching sound to the right of me. Of course, I looked to my right. It sounded like someone was walking up to me. It was clear. It was crunch, crunch, crunch. It wasn't a squirrel. There were no birds. There's nothing around. It wasn't the sound or pitter patter of the wind taking leaves or anything. It was clearly someone walking up to me.

but there was no one there. I heard the crunch, didn't see any evidence of the crunch, and it came up right up to me from about 10 feet away and stopped right next to me on my right side. And at that exact moment, someone called me on my phone. I picked it up. I was like, hello? I saw it was my dad. I picked up and like, you will not guess what just happened. And he's like, well, I don't know. Try me. Well, I told him the story. I was like, where are you?

And he goes, I'm on my way back from a funeral. I was like, what are the odds that you call me on your way back from a funeral after I just had this interaction? And I didn't know if that was necessarily a ghost or maybe there's something related to the person that died. It wasn't like a close friend of his or anything. It was just kind of like an acquaintance. But he paid his respects.

I didn't think it was important enough for that person to kind of visit me or whatever was going on, but regardless, that happens. Love the podcast. Happy Halloween. Thank you, Jeff. And a happy Halloween to you as well. Yet another mystery. And a wild coincidence to boot. Precisely the kind of thing you would expect here on Monsters Among Us. That and good old-fashioned ghost stories.

Like this thriller from Anonymous over in PA. Hi. I'd like to preface this story by saying that my father's a physicist. My siblings and I were raised to want to believe, but to question everything. And it's with a healthy dose of skepticism that I share this story. Although I can find no explanation for it, neither can my scientist father.

So I'm sharing on behalf of my little brother who didn't want to call and share this story because it freaks him out too much. We grew up in central Pennsylvania, kind of near Gettysburg. And my younger brother, James, was spending the afternoon with a friend who lived on the edge of the Gettysburg Memorial Parks and the historic landmark areas there.

He and his friend and the friend's mother went for a walk. It was a sunny day, nothing creepy about the day, middle of the afternoon, beautiful Pennsylvania afternoon in the summer. And they were walking along one of the historic trails through the park of battlegrounds and monuments when my brother and his friend, I think they were probably about 12 or 13 years old, like pre-teens,

heard a moaning coming from the edge of the wooded path they were walking on. My brother and his friend walked over to the edge of the path, kind of in search of this moaning sound. Definitely sounded like a person, not a wounded animal. And my brother lifted some bushes, some vegetation at the edge of the path. And there was a young man in

Civil War era military uniform, Southern, all in grays, and was laying bleeding under the bush. And of course it scared my brother and his friends quite a bit. I don't know if they thought it was maybe a Civil War reenactor who had gotten hurt. I don't think their first thought was that it was a ghost.

but they kind of jumped back and dropped the bush and greenery and vegetation back on this wounded young man and kind of ran back to where the mom was and said you know there's somebody hurt so they went with the mom a few feet back over to the edge of the path and lifted that same greenery and vegetation and there was no one there and no pool of blood no moaning figure nothing

and they searched a few feet back and forth up and down the path and never found any sign that anyone was there at all, aside from themselves. And my brother told this story to us when he got home, and he was so frightened. And we were all really freaked out when we heard it. And I've never forgotten it because my little brother doesn't lie and doesn't tell stories.

He was always a good boy and a good little Boy Scout and a son of a scientist. And we all sort of mocked the boogeyman and kind of anything you can't measure or see with your own eyes. We just never took as fact or anything to be real or frightened of. But this really frightened him.

And I just thought it was a perfect story to call and tell you because it's sort of like the one thing I've never been able to explain or understand. Thank you so much for everything you do. It's great. I love listening. It's a real treat. And take care. What a wild story. Thank you again, caller, for sending it in. Now put yourself in our caller's shoes.

Could you imagine lifting some shrubbery and discovering a wounded man in a Confederate soldier's uniform? The only thing I can think of that would be more out of left field than that would be having that very same man disappear mere moments later. Blood and all. Now my dad was actually just in Gettysburg a few weeks ago and he told me that he ran into a reenactor out there in the fields.

According to him, it was a young man in a Confederate soldier's uniform. Now my dad spoke with the gentleman briefly and learned that he was replicating a series of marches that occurred back during the battle. And the point here is that there are reenactors out there. People do run into them, but they're usually not wounded, hidden, or covered in blood. Now we all know the reputation that Gettysburg has.

We've all heard the claims, in abundance, so abundant, in fact, that I have an all-Gettysburg episode coming up early next season. And speaking of next season, perhaps now is a good time to bring you up to speed on exactly how next season will go. Now, unfortunately, there will be no new episodes next week. Both Tuesday and Thursday will be dark.

I need the time to process this mammoth season-ending Hometown Legend episode that's scheduled to drop on the following Tuesday. After that, we're going to jump right into Season 9. No rest for the wicked. So again, your only interruption will be next week. We will be dark in preparation for that Hometown Legends episode. And it gives us a little breather before we dive headfirst right into Season 19. And I suppose it gives time for everyone else to catch up.

Now there are big things in store for MAU, so keep tuning in. And please share the show with anyone you think might be interested. Just think, what if that person has an amazing story? If you hadn't shared with them, we'd never get the opportunity to hear it. ...united, a team that was difficult to play against...

Cardiovascular disease is the number one cure of women. To learn more about their risk factors and how they can take charge... Okay, who wants to hear an amazing Ouija board story? Well, luckily for us, Ricky from Massachusetts just happens to be standing by with one. Welcome to the program, Ricky. Hey Derek, my name is Ricky.

I'm calling from Ridgewater, Massachusetts. Calling about a Ouija board experience that I had when I was about 13 years old. It was me, my two siblings, and my grandmother. It's weird, I've never known Ouija boards to like tell the future. But being 13, I asked it, "What will be the name of my next girlfriend?"

and it spelled out the name Rosie. And at the time, I didn't know anybody named Rosie. And I remember this specifically because I knew a girl named Rose that was my girlfriend shortly during middle school. Then at the beginning of high school, I met the girl named Rosie, and she ended up being my girlfriend. So...

Thank you, Ricky. You know, this isn't the first time I've heard a story like this. In fact, we've even shared one here on this program before. Long-time listeners might remember Sherry from Ohio, whom also had her spouse forecasted by a Ouija board.

And since her original call was relatively short, here are the highlights from Season 17, Episode 22 1⁄2. It was 1964, and I was in second grade. It was a small rural school and not that many kids. And we second graders sat at a lunchroom table next to the third graders. One Monday morning, the third graders, they told me about a summer party that they had over the weekend, and they'd play with a Ouija board. And...

They asked them who I was going to marry. The Ouija board said I was going to marry a boy named Barry Pfeffer. Well, it was second grade and I had no romantic interest in Barry Pfeffer. So I said, no way. It spelled out Barry Pfeffer. And they said, no, it spelled out BP. And Barry Pfeffer was the only BP in our school.

I don't know. The two seem awfully similar to me, but maybe it's all just a coincidence.

And maybe both of these quote-unquote predictions too were just happenstance. Or maybe those little boards are more powerful than we originally thought. Either way, I thought it was a fun story. And with Sherry's tie-in, it's the perfect addition to tonight's program. So thank you again to both of those callers. Now folks, I said it before and I'm going to take a brief moment to say it again, just so that it sticks.

Please share the program with others. That is bar none the best way for us to grow as a program. And the best way for us to ensure that fresh stories continue flooding into my inbox. So give us a share on social media. Tell your friends about the show. Hell, tell your enemies. Either way, we'd really appreciate it if you could help spread the word. Because we certainly don't want those fine folks to miss out on stories like Willem's.

from a city i know well and hold dear willem from los angeles welcome back to the program

Hello, Derek Hayes. This is Willem from Los Angeles, California. This is a secondhand story that my mother told me. My mother was a choreographer and a dancer, so she was very involved in Hollywood. She would have parties with lots of big names and whatnot.

This is maybe late 80s, early 90s. And she had a party where a bunch of these big name people would have been there. And one of the people was River Phoenix. And a few weeks later, he died. That comes into the story later, I suppose. So my mother and her two friends were sitting around and they were talking about

the house and how they felt like it was haunted. So they thought they would do this experiment where they lit a candle and they sat around it and they asked it questions. When it was moving, it didn't mean anything, but when it went still,

it was a yes because maybe there's wind in the air, whatever it is. So they would ask you questions like, were you a doctor? Were you a male? Were you a female? And when they were asking the questions, you would either be moving, and so that was a no, and when it went stiff and it went straight, they said that that was a yes. They asked the candle, if there's a spirit here, were you a female?

Nothing happened. Then were you a male? And the candle went straight. So then they say, okay, were you a doctor? Were you a lawyer? Were you this? Were you an actor? And it went straight. And then they said, okay, does your name start with an A, a B? And it went all the way to R and it went straight. And they basically spelled out the name and it apparently spelled out River.

So my mother, knowing that River Phoenix was at our house a few days before, really got chills. And in her recounting of the story, it was so apparent to her that it was River Phoenix coming through this candle. Whatever else they asked, I'm really not sure. But I did find it interesting that amongst the many spirits that might be in this house,

In this 1950s built home in the Hollywood Hills, there might be River Phoenix chilling out and hanging at one of the last places that he went to a Hollywood party at. Anyway, love the podcast. It's the best. You guys are the best. Love y'all. Thanks, Willem. Good old River Phoenix. And for those that don't know who he was, here is a quick news bite that ran the day that he passed away. October 31st, 1993.

And the mysterious death of actor River Phoenix is also shaking the film community tonight. The 23-year-old Phoenix collapsed early this morning and died a short time later. It happened outside a West Hollywood nightclub. Phoenix's friends say he had been acting strangely shortly before he collapsed. The young actor made his name in such films as Stand By Me and My Own Private Idaho. An autopsy is scheduled to determine the cause of Phoenix's death.

Now I couldn't find the exact source for that clip, but I'm certain that it's from a local Los Angeles affiliate. And that cause of death was an accidental drug overdose. He passed away right there on the front steps of the Viper Room. A club owned by Johnny Depp at the time. A club that wasn't all that far away from Willems Hollywood Hills home. Now I had Delaney do some digging, and she did not find any reports suggesting that River haunts the Viper Room.

after his passing, nor does he seem to haunt it today, because from what I can tell, it's still open. But there's no denying that those hills are full of magic, Willem, so you never know who might just be hanging around. Lord knows there are certainly worse places you could be. So thank you again, Willem, for sharing the tale. And as always, it's great to hear from you.

And folks, that leaves us with one more entry. One more call to share with you here this evening. And this one is yet another entry out of California. So please put your hands together and welcome Leslie from the Golden State.

Hi, my name is Leslie. I live in Fallbrook, California, and I got a really great story for you. I just started listening to the show. I heard a Grim Reaper story the other night, and it totally just brought back this experience I had a couple years ago. I was working at Escondido for a chiropractor. I was at my desk, and the waiting room was right there. It was just a normal day, nice sunny day.

around maybe 10 o'clock in the morning. My patients were coming in, signing in, saying good morning to them. And this one patient came in that she hadn't been in a while. She was signing in and I looked over at her and it was like my higher power just started screaming at me to not look at her, not touch her. I saw this big black cloud around her. It was hugging her from behind.

And it was like every cell and hair and everything stood up on my body. And I listened to my higher power, which I really don't listen to it all the time. And I always get pie in my face when I don't listen to it. So I was really listening to it right at that moment. I just thought, OK, I'm just not going to look at her. I'm just going to do what myself is telling me to do. Come to find out she had died that night.

We found out the next day that she had died. I immediately knew what it was. It was the Grim Reaper holding her from behind. And she looked dead. She already looked dead. It was the most incredible experience I've ever had. It shakes me to the core till this day. Yeah, I just wanted to share that with y'all.

I'll let you know that this stuff is real, and if you are sensitive and open to it, it will speak to you. All right, you guys are awesome. Thank you so much for being there for us. We love you. Take care. Bye. Thank you, Leslie, the Grim Reaper. You know, I looked it up. Most historians agree that the classic image of the Grim Reaper, tattered hooded cloak, skeletal form, the scythe,

It all came from 14th century Europe, during the Black Death specifically, where about one third of all Europeans died of the plague, in case you needed a quick history lesson. But you know the concept has been a staple ever since. But is that what Leslie witnessed hovering over the nearly departed? Was that indeed the Grim Reaper or was it something else?

some other thing come to drag her away. And whatever it was, it made for an incredible story, Leslie. And we can't thank you enough for sharing the experience tonight with us. And folks, that's going to wrap it up for this evening. For the most part, at least. Stick around until after the credits to get your hands and ears on some bonus content. But first...

Monsters Among Us podcast is written and produced by me, Derek Hayes. Copyright Red Grow Media. Additional support is provided by Sarah Carter Hayes, Delaney Bowers, and Connor Ryan. All media used in this production is done so under the protection of fair use. Give us a like and follow on social media. Give us a like and follow on YouTube. And give us a rate and review wherever that sort of thing is possible.

Don't forget that you can catch the show every Saturday evening at 11 p.m. Eastern on the UnX Digital Network. Just visit unxnetwork.com to tune in. And finally this evening, tonight's score was provided by Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse, co.agmusic, and Carl Casey at White Bat Audio.

Don't forget to tune in to our film, Shadows in the Desert, High Strangeness, in the Borrego Triangle. Just visit borregotriangle.com to learn more. And don't forget to visit our shop while everything is still on sale. We still haven't taken it down yet. So monstersamonguspodcast.com and click that shop tab. All right, folks, for now, have a good night, and I'll see you all on the other side. ♪

Hand her phone to him, and it was always a bad reception. You know, you really have to be a fan to enjoy that kind of analysis. Arrogant when it comes to it.

Now tonight's secret story is the only monster story for the night. But don't worry, because this one from Jamie puts quality over quantity. Hello, this is Jamie. When I was listening to the show, there was a fellow named John that had talked about something black and amorphous that he had seen while hiking in the forest with his kids, I think. It just kind of disappeared.

And it reminded me, I was in the mountains in BC with a good friend of mine who's a physicist. I'm a teacher. And he wanted to take my picture, so he told me to stand on this trail, about a 10-foot wide old logging road that we were hiking up the side of this mountain with. And at the time, there was a thunderstorm coming around the side of that mountain off in the distance. You could hear it. So I'm standing there waiting for him to take my picture.

and then he balls up his fists and drops his camera and it was on like a necktie so it just fell down hanging and he looked like he was gonna punch me out and i laughed and said what are you doing bro and then he kind of snapped out of it and he said something just stood up beside you was all black it just appeared there came into view stood up and it was all black and tall then it just disappeared

And he said, I thought I was going to have to jump in there and fight it to protect you. And he was that kind of guy. He's not really afraid of nothing, really. He kind of would go from zero to 60 in no time flat. So anyway, we just kind of laughed it off and continued our hike. But the look on his face, I've never seen him that serious. I don't know. Maybe the same thing happened to this John fellow. Maybe it was something like that.

Anyway, love the show. Take care. Thank you, Jamie. Get you a friend that'll fight Sasquatch for you. Let's see, lifelong friend right there. And while it's pretty awesome that he was willing to throw down to save Jamie's life, it also would have been nice if he clicked that camera before he put up those dukes. Because that's one photo I would love to lay eyes on.

Well, regardless, coming from BC, Canada, I don't think there's any question about what that creature was. Proving its existence, however, that becomes the tricky part. Thank you again, Jamie, for sharing that hair-raising tale.

Well, folks, this is where we cut the lines and float off into the beyond. The After Show found only on Patreon and Apple subscriptions. To join us, just visit MonstersAmongUsPodcast.com and click the Patreon tab. From there, you can pick your method, but either way, five bucks a month gets you about two additional hours each month, and sometimes even more than that, and you get it all ad-free.

MonstersAmongUsPodcast.com and click the Patreon tab to hear stories like Marty's out of the state of Pennsylvania. Hey Derek, this is Marty from Pittsburgh, PA. My father remarried and he moved in with my stepmother. And my stepmother was previously married. And I'm not exactly sure what the cause of death was, but her previous husband had passed away in the house.

My father would tell us stories, you know, we thought were just kind of just to scare us as kids about how he would wake up in the middle of the night to voices. He said it was three voices. It was a man and two women looking for his wife's, my stepmother's previous husband. They were asking him where so-and-so was. He would freak out. He looked his wife up and she...

Didn't hear anything herself, but he said every night it would happen. As time went on, he said he would just start to ignore it. They just wouldn't bother him, I guess. Because he was separated from my mother, we would visit him on weekends. It was myself, my younger brother, and my older sister. We all shared a bedroom.