S18 Ep51: A wildman, a wolfman and a mermaid: Hometown Legends 18 Part II (Sn. 18 Ep. 51)
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I see there's a ghost on it right now. Worked by the U.S. And he was never doing that. He was robbing us blind. Now if you're looking for a creepy but fun and light podcast that feels like hanging out with friends around the campfire and telling ghost stories, check out Believing the Bazaar podcast. Believing the Bazaar covers topics like cryptids, UFOs, hauntings, conspiracies, demonic possessions, and more.

They accept and share listener-submitted stories, and also have episodes that include interviews and bizarre news, where they talk about that month's strange and unusual news stories.

They also do blind rankings, where they rank common topics in the paranormal world, like scariest cryptid, best comedy horror movie, and more. New episodes drop every Tuesday, and you can listen to them on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or wherever you get your podcasts. They also have full video podcast episodes up on YouTube.

So after you're done with this episode, go check out Believing the Bazaar and don't forget to let them know that MAU sent you. Good evening and welcome to Monsters Among Us. I'm your guide, Derek Hayes.

Hello MAU family and welcome to tonight's episode in the season 18 finale special Hometown Legends Part 2. Now a quick reminder before we get started that Hometown Legends typically feature dark stories about tragic events, murder, suicide, abuse, drug use. It's all included in tonight's episode. Now true there aren't a lot of gory details but

But all those topics will be discussed later on tonight. So consider that your trigger warning. Now, as promised, I have one heck of a program slated for this evening. And we're going to pick it up right where we left off. Sharing spooky stories. Beginning with our friends up in Canada. With stories like Annabelle's. Welcome to the program, Annabelle.

Hi, this is Annabelle calling from London, Ontario, Canada. So I have two different urban legends. Well, not urban. They're like true. So the Grand Theatre is known to be haunted. I have seen like four or five different ghosts there. And there is a poltergeist there.

I know that they like to mess around with the stage lights sometimes.

I go to the Grand Theatre every so often. Like, I watched "Elf" there with my class on a field trip last year when I was in grade seven. I also went there to watch "Mary Poppins," but I've watched a couple of plays there. While I was watching "Elf," I noticed something in the background. I think the characters were dancing or singing.

And I saw a little boy. And it looked like he was dancing along with the cast. I also went there to watch Phantom of the Opera. And I was looking up at one of, like, what do you call them? The ones with, like, three seats. There's, like, a railing thing. But anyways...

It looks like there was a little boy and his mother sitting there. And then it looks as if the little boy fell, and then his mother tried to catch him. She fell too. And it was just like two figures, and you could see them fairly clearly. Let's move on to the next one. So, Ward-Roberts Public School.

There's quite a few different ghosts there. There's a little girl who fell through the laundry chute. And you can still hear the thump of the girl falling down in the laundry chute. There's also a little boy that drowned in the pool. And sometimes you can hear the squeaking of feet in the hallway by the gym of kids running around.

on a wet tile floor, like a pool deck. And there's also a little boy that I think fell out of the window. And there's also a little girl that fled out into the little bucket.

So the little girl who bled out in the girls' bathroom. Her name is Victoria and she likes to stand by the door and sometimes she likes to hold it open. It's not rare for her to hold it open, but it's not common either.

And there's also a myth at our school that if you flush the last stall in the girls' bathroom three times, you'll be cursed for a year. So in some of the classrooms there, there's also cracks in the wall and brown splatters that look like blood.

There's also sometimes a smell of decay, which is not common. It's a very old school, but it's too strong to be like a rat or a raccoon. And in the upstairs hallway...

There's a light and the lights are almost always going out in that hallway. And like the rest of the power in the school doesn't go out. It's just that hallway.

Yeah, so that's our little urban legend thing about Lord Roberts and the Grand Theater. Thank you for listening to our call. Keep doing what you're doing. Keep being spooky. Okay, bye. Thank you, Annabelle. Now, if you were to tell me that a school and another theater would be featured on this season ending list, I certainly would have believed you.

Because not only are both establishments often featured as hometown legends, but both also seem to be haunted more often than they're not. And it certainly sounds like both locations that Annabelle described live up to those expectations. Because both seem to be chock full of activity. So thank you again, Annabelle, for sharing your call and getting us started here tonight.

Now folks, I have well over an hour's worth of calls to go through this evening, and I aim to get right back at it after these messages.

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That's U-P-W-O-R-K dot com. Upwork dot com. We've been keeping this a secret and just all of a sudden said that there's not going to... Alright, scouts. Our next campfire tale takes us to the island of Puerto Rico by way of Florida. Please welcome Liz to tonight's season finale episode.

Hi Derek and all the MIU Universe, my name is Liz. I am calling you from Central Florida, but this is for a hometown legend from my town of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Back in 1985, October 1985, Puerto Rico suffered one of the major tragedies in modern history, and this particular one was at my hometown. To give you the background of what was happening,

It was raining for like a week. It was a stationary tropical system that dumped liters of water in the island. All the terrain was saturated and this ended up having the consequences of two major tragedies. One was the collapse of one of the bridges on the highway from Ponce to Puerto Rico.

in which close to 14 people lost their life, I don't know the exact number and the other one was the tragedy at the Mameyes neighborhood that is M-A-M-E-Y-E-S for you to google it and to look for it and this tragedy a complete side of a mountain fall on top of a very poor neighborhood killing officially 143 people

But everyone that lived there that were present at Ponce at that time, we don't know that it was more than that amount. Because there were a lot of unusual activities taking place in that particular neighborhood. And there were a lot of people that were undocumented and they were living there. So everyone said that it was something close to between 300 and 600 souls that were lost at night. Now to the paranormal side of it.

There are a lot of circumstances that happened after the tragedy. One of them concerned the hotel. The ruins of the hotels are close to this area. That hotel is called the Intercontinental Hotel and the survivors from the collapse were taken over there and they lived there for a certain amount of time until they were able to find secure places for them.

Mind you, it was already in ruins but it was a safe, dry place to keep people at. That particular hotel is haunted. Many people say that many of the souls follow their families to it and they are trapped there, told from the people that were lost on the landslide.

You could experience anything from nervous attack, people talking, people crying. They say that they see kids from one place to the other running on the hallway. There is a lot of crimes that take place there, people that commit suicide. And one of the common things that they say is that when you go over there, you feel like you're having a heart attack.

there is tales of people that live on the road that goes up where the neighborhood was at they claim that they see people going up like in the normal day-to-day routine but they know that these are souls of people that used to live in Mameyes and one of the most common sightings is this lady that they see in jeans and a red shirt, long black hair, a very beautiful lady

and they all see her going up the main entrance to the neighborhood. There is also the rumors that when people go to visit the monument that is there to honor the victims, that they hear conversations going on like if people were just carrying their day-to-day, shores, and out of the sudden there is silence.

my own father told me that in one occasion he went over there to pay honor to the people that were lost there and what he thought was a lot of people souls floating around the area where the main collapse was at but anyway the most shocking part of all of this is what happened to the kids there was this head start school

that survived the collapse. But the Friday before this happened, the teacher that was there asked her kids to start drawing pictures she gave them, papers and crayons, for them to entertain themselves while their parents come over to pick them up at the end of the school day. So she collected all the drawings when the kids were home and kept them on her desk.

Of course, Monday comes to be, this happened on Sunday to Monday at night. Monday come and of course all of this was happening, all the tragedy, all the chaos from what was happening and she wasn't allowed to go up to pick up the drawings until like two weeks later. When she picked up the drawing she noticed that every single kid that had died in the tragedy

The drawings that they did that day all were related somehow to the tragedy. There were pictures that they did of crosses. There were drawings that represent people being surrounded by walls. It's open for interpretation, but all of these drawings are available for you to see. They're on the internet if you look for it.

And there is a museum that is the Museum of Ponce History. They have an exhibit with all of this. And if you go into the internet, you're able to get them because I saw them. I researched it. I'm reporting this and saying this with all the respect that you can imagine because there are still survivors that are alive. No one can tell what happened there, what's happening now, other than the people that were there.

The only thing that I can tell you on personal experience is that I have people on my family that live really close to where this happened and we were very afraid that we had lost them. That day, that night, we went to sleep knowing that most likely we were not going to go to school the next day because of all the rain that was falling but in the middle of the night there was this awful noise.

and we were not able to know what was happening because there was no communication like nowadays but we knew that there was something awful and everything that I say, I say with all due respect to the people that went through this and if you look into the lore this is just like the main highlights of what happened there it was really awful and really bad so yeah that's part of the lore from my hometown

I hope that I'm not in joy because it's not a happy story, but it's food for thought. Respect to everyone. Blessings. Thank you, Liz, for sharing. What a tragic event. And living up here in the mountains, I can certainly sympathize with the tragedy. We have plenty of landslides up here, but nothing of this magnitude. And those drawings done by the children just days before the incident.

Now we did find links to photos of a lot of these drawings, and they do seem to depict rather unusual scenes. One drawing by a student named Maria seems to show half a dozen crosses drawn outside a small house sitting on a hill. They almost look like grave markers to me, sitting right there in the front yard. Another student named Angel appears to have drawn houses on their sides, covered in what some assume to be mud.

And those same crosses that we saw in Maria's drawing are drawn outside of these leveled homes. In fact, many of the drawings seem to depict a chaotic scene. So perhaps there is something to these claims after all. Or we could just be assigning importance to some scribbles done by some school children. Now I've linked to many of these drawings over in the show notes. Just visit MonstersAmongUsPodcast.com and click the show notes tab.

to view those and many other links associated with tonight's entries. Now, I'd never heard of this mudslide before this episode, but now I promise you, I will never forget it. Thank you again, Liz, for sharing this unfortunate series of events.

Now, folks, if you have a story you would like to share here on the program, give my hotline a call at 888-608-NIGHT. That's 888-608-N-I-G-H-T. Or you can record your story using the voice memo app that's already on your phone. Then email the file to me at MonstersAmongUsPodcast at gmail.com. Now, I don't ask for much, but I do ask that you follow these rules.

Call from a quiet place. No moving vehicles. One story per call. You can call in as much as you want, just keep those stories separated so they're easier to edit. And if you get cut off, there is a five-minute limit per recording. Just call back and pick up where you left off. Connor will splice it up and make sure you sound as crisp as possible. So again, that number is 888-608-NIGHT and we can't wait to hear from you.

Now folks, this next entry takes us to the Windy City. So, Tony from Illinois, welcome to tonight's Hometown Legends special episode.

Hi Derek, this is Toni from Chicago. I have a hometown legend story for you. Hopefully you can use it. So back in the 90s, I had moved from New York to Chicago and was getting the lay of the land. And I got very excited because I was invited to a Playboy party at a bar at the time that was called The Dome Room.

here would know. It's part of another part of a giant nightclub that's now been renovated to a town. But the dome room has been notoriously known for being haunted. I believe in the 1800s,

There was a massive, I'm not very sure, but there was like boats that pretty much were sinking or crashed. But they had to use this building that's been around for years and years and years and years, probably decades now, for a temporary morgue. So this has left some energy.

I've had multiple friends back in the day talk about when they bartended there or waitress there that no one would go to dry storage, which was always up on the top level. No one would go in there. Everybody was afraid. There was just a heaviness in the room. It was scary. The staff would put candles out and they would blow them out by the end of the night, you know, to stack them and put them away to use them for the next day.

And suddenly all the candles would be back out in the places on the tables, on the bar, lit again. Things would go missing all the time. Now this is just secondhand information from people I know. Now what happened to me during the Playboy party, and it was like NBA royalty was there, I was up on the third floor where they would store like roses.

And they would give roses out or you'd find, you know, another little niche to make more money. And I went up there and at the time I was a smoker.

So I went up there. I had my cocktail in my hand. I put it down. I reached into my bag, pulled out a cigarette. And as I pulled out a cigarette to light it, my drink started jumping, like fidgeting right and left. And then it completely shot across the bar into the glass refrigerators where the roses were.

I saw my breath and this is a crowded nightclub. It was hot as hell. I have never run so fast that I literally ran into the mountain himself. Shaq got around him screaming, get me the F out of here and ran out to the street.

I will. I don't even care that it's cow. I will not go back in there. They did probably $35 million in renovation, and it's supposedly beautiful. Don't care. Not going back there. Scared the hell out of me. Well, that's my hometown legend. Hope you can use it. Thank you, Tony. Yet another tragedy. But that's par for the course for these hometown legend calls.

And that tragedy that Tony alluded to was a rather big one. On July 24th, 1915, the SS Eastland was docked on the Chicago River, just a few hundred yards from where Excalibur nightclub sits today. Now here is some news coverage from the 100th anniversary of the tragedy, courtesy of WFLD, Fox News 32, out of Chicago.

The SS Eastland capsized in the Chicago River. 844 people were killed when the steamship sank between the Clark and LaSalle Street bridges. That was in 1915. The passengers were employees from Western Electric, set to set sail across Lake Michigan for the annual company picnic in Michigan City, Indiana. However, the ship never left the dock, capsizing in just 20 feet of water.

More than 70% of those who perished were under the age of 25. A criminal trial did take place, but all of the accused were found not guilty. It rolled in 20 feet of water, if you can believe that. And this is reason number 64 that I do not like water and boats. You just can't trust them. But in addition to digging up this tragedy, we also dug up some of the claims of this hometown legend.

And believe it or not, we cannot find evidence that the building that now houses the Excalibur nightclub was ever used as a temporary morgue. However, it does seem that the nearby Harpo's studio, which is home to Oprah Winfrey's studios, was used as a holding place for bodies, which is a location we'll have to explore at a later time, because that building too is said to be very, very haunted.

But to be honest with you, Tony, with that much death, that much tragedy in such a small location, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that some of it bleeds over into nearby buildings, including the Excalibur nightclub. So please don't take this as a dismissal of your claims. I'm sure there are plenty of ghosts to go around downtown. Thank you again, Tony, for taking the time to call in.

It's a great question. Thank you for catching me up. Quasi-narcissistic who wants to get more power.

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Enhance your every day with fire. This was a while back, but it's so relevant. So, if you think about his recent wife had just set up their camping site and decided it was time to get some rest while dousing out the fire. Poor Jacob did expire as five sharp, long fingers tore right through his chest, drowning through our land.

Now that tune was sent in by Rob, host of Your Most Interesting Podcast. And it sets up the scene perfectly for this next entry. A spooky legend out of the hills and hollers of West Virginia. Please welcome Don to tonight's program.

Hey, Derek. This is Don from Michigan. I'm currently calling you because I listened to Season 16, Episode 25, where you had this special guest on, Miss LeGrow, I think it was. You had a caller call in about a dog man in West Virginia. I think I might be able to have a follow-up to that. I'm a researcher of the paranormal myself. I do it on the side, just something as an extracurricular. I've

I've been all over the world with the United States military. I've seen places, I've seen things that can't be explained. That's just the background. So basically, what I think she saw was an age, it's not that old of a myth. It's one known as the Blue Devil. Basically, from what I understand and have read up on it, it's a myth in West Virginia or a story that dates back to roughly December of 1939.

And it takes place basically in West Virginia.

It starts off with a farmer reporting seeing the Blue Devil. It killed his dogs. And basically, like, this is a... I guess it's just one of the many stories that surround West Virginia. Whether the Blue Devil is actually a dogman, and that's what they're calling it in that particular spot. But I think she possibly could have seen the Blue Devil. I mean, it's a possibility. Or dogman. But I figured I would just at least add that.

It would be season 16, episode 25 in reference to the dogman in West Virginia. I do firmly believe that could be maybe the blue devil that she saw if she did, in fact, see something.

I would recommend looking into it, Derek. It's a pretty good little tale of basically the same description. A wolf-like or dog-like creature that can walk upright and it can gallop when it runs. And it's a very powerful predator. And dating from 1939 to 1940 are the only reports I've been able to find in my research so far. There might be more, but it's part of the West Virginia folklore reportedly cited in Webster County.

It was described as a large blue dog-like creature with a ghostly howl, and it's not to be confused with the Jersey Devil either. But that's it. I feel like she saw the Blue Devil of West Virginia, or something similar to it. But it's definitely a lore, and I'm surprised that you and Miss LaGrode didn't actually mention that or know about it. There's lots of good West Virginia folklore, but that's it. Bye. Thank you, Don.

I'll tell you the truth, Don. I didn't bring up this story back then because, frankly, I'd never heard of it. This is a brand new cryptid for me, so I did what I do whenever I come across something paranormal that I don't know about. I asked Delaney to look into it. And not only has she confirmed the creature's existence in West Virginian folklore, but she also found some additional information.

The following information was compiled using a handful of newspaper articles from around the time that this flap occurred. Sources like the Charleston Daily Mail, the Webster Republican, and the Charleston Gazette. The Triangle of Hills in Webster County, West Virginia is home to the largest cluster of reported sightings of the Blue Devil.

These sightings, which occurred in the winter of 1939 and 1940, describe a bluish, dog-like creature, larger than a pony, that prowled the area late at night and emitted a ghostly howl. Now, according to many in Webster County, the animal was responsible for the deaths of a growing number of livestock over the period it stalked the land.

One of the first reported sightings of the Blue Devil was by John Clevenger, a farmer who claimed in December of 1939 that his much-valued hunting dog had been attacked and killed by the beast. Another farmer, Ernest Coger, reported that his livestock had been spooked for several nights and some wild animal had attacked and killed one of his cattle and one of his sheep.

Mrs. V. S. Cunlip reported hearing a wild inhuman scream outside her home, and H. A. Anderson heard something that sounded like a panther. Several claimed to have killed the beast, some seeking to collect the reward offered by the Valley Head Rod and Gun Club. The first man, Glenn Fisher, reported before the reward was offered that he had shot and killed the animal in December of 1939, but its body vanished before he could inspect it in the morning.

Coal miner Elmer Corley killed something that Webster County Game Protector C.T. Whitaker characterized as not a coyote, but resembling one. After collecting the reward, Corley assured the area residents that the Blue Devil was dead, and no further reports were issued regarding this beast. And the call that inspired Don to share this hometown legend, well, I just so happen to have it right here. And it comes to us from Robin.

and it originally aired back on season 12 episode 7. it begins with robin and her family flying into the state of west virginia and renting a car to go skiing over at snowshoe mountain and on the way there they saw something they simply couldn't explain

Our headlights landed on something on the left-hand edge of this little rock cliff. I'm going to say the cliff was about, on either side, they were probably both about 20 to 25 feet high, not too high, but our headlights landed on this thing, this strange thing sitting, perching on the edge of the cliff, and as we got closer, it

It looked like a giant dog. It definitely had dog-like features. We could see it in profile. So, you know, it had kind of a dog's muzzle and it had pointy ears. But this thing was huge. And by huge, I mean...

I'm 5'4", so I'm not tall by any stretch of the imagination, but this thing was in a seated position at the edge of this cliff, and I would guess that it would have been eye-to-eye with me. So it was pretty big for a seated dog.

Also, it was super muscular. I mean, this thing was this thing had giant muscles. They were really defined and totally bizarre, totally bizarre. And as we got closer and closer to it, probably only about 60 feet away.

This thing went from its seated position with no momentum and completely leapt across the entire two-lane highway, complete with emergency lanes on either side of the regular lanes, and galloped off into the trees on the other side of the road, of the cliff. Now, could it be the blue devil that Robin and her family encountered that day?

Something tells me that if you ask Don, he won't hesitate to tell you that it probably was. So thank you again to both Don and Robin for sharing those amazing and educational entries. Alright folks, this next entry originates out of Idaho and comes to us from a familiar voice. Please welcome Mikey back to the program.

Hey, Derek. It's your old buddy Mikey from Idaho. I've actually got something for your hometown legends at the end of the season. I was thinking about it and kind of doubt there's very many people who have called you with as many stories as me.

And so I hope that my credibility doesn't come into question, but I know what I'm saying is true, but I did come up with a couple theories on it. The first theory is, A, I'm just a crazy person, which, I mean, I could accept that one. But what I really think is going on is...

A lot of people I know have these paranormal experiences, and usually when they have one, it's not just one. Some people I know have just one, but a lot of us seem to have several.

So my father has never seen anything like that. And I wouldn't say he's a skeptic, but I also just don't believe that he's open to that sort of thing. So if something, you know, floated by and caught the corner of his eye, he wouldn't even think twice about it. He wouldn't look, you know?

So I wonder if those of us that do have multiple paranormal experiences, I don't know if saying that we're more open to it is the right term, but once you accept that it's a reality, you're more prone to envisioning

investigate something through that eye instead of people that would just brush it off like it didn't happen. The other theory I've got on it is that some of us are just, I guess, more tuned in to that sort of energy. Maybe the veil's a little thinner.

And then, of course, there's the theory that skeptics do see things like that, but they brush it off or they try to explain it away immediately, like it didn't even happen. So anyway, I just wanted to try and point out that all these stories are true. I believe they're true.

But I think that I'm just more in tune to that sort of thing. So anyway, back to my hometown legend.

So I didn't think we had one. And then I ride through the cemetery on my bike every night. I'll just stop by old tombstones to kind of pay homage to them because it's sad to me that those people are laying there and there's nobody around, nobody even alive anymore that realizes that they were a real person, that they existed. There's

There's nobody saying a little prayer for him. It's a strange concept to me that there's these beautiful, old, handmade tombstones that somebody obviously paid money for because they really loved this person that's in the ground. And the stone's still there and the person's still there, but all memory of their existence is wiped.

So anyway, I used to work at this cemetery, and we had a very large Chinese population that helped build the mines and the railroads here up in Haley, Idaho. I don't know if it was technically like slave labor or if they came over here by choice, but in the cemetery, there's a whole section where the Chinese were buried, and

and none of them have tombstones, but there's at the very least thousands of graves all kind of just piled on top of each other. I'm going to go by the cemetery and take some pictures so that I can send them to you. The ground there is very uneven from all these thousands of graves. In fact,

I couldn't even venture to guess how many Chinese people are buried there. Obviously very racist towards the Chinese back then, and that's why none of them got tombstones. When I would drive the lawnmower over that section of the graveyard, I mean, it's sickening to think how many people were buried there with no ceremony, with no typography,

type of reverence for their life whatsoever. Anyway, there is one tombstone and the story is that it was a white woman. She's about 21, I believe.

She was a white woman that fell in love with a Chinese man. And so out of spite, they buried her in the Chinese section of the cemetery. But they were, you know, nice enough to give the white woman to himself. The other part of the urban legend is the Chinese had a curfew.

And so they couldn't be out on the streets after, I don't know, dark or 9 p.m. or something. Well, these Chinese were miners, and so they dug tunnels all throughout the town so that they could...

go back and forth to their purported opium dens and, you know, have a life. So it's really crazy to think there's a neighborhood called China Gardens where all the Chinese lived. And there's actually businesses here. One of them's a tile and rug business that has in their basement an entrance to one of the tunnels that

that they've kind of preserved. The tunnel doesn't go very far. It used to, but they collapse it on purpose because obviously as kids, we had heard that this tunnel was in there. And so we wanted to go in there at night and videotape it. And they were afraid somebody was going to get hurt. But,

It's actually true that these miners did dig tunnels all throughout underneath our town so they could get back and forth to their tea houses and their bars or whatever. So my father used to own a restaurant in this probably 200-year-old building, and I was about nine years old when he owned this restaurant. And one day, being a kid...

I was just exploring on the second floor of this restaurant and I lifted up the heater. Great. Well, I reached in there and underneath there was all these old newspapers from like the 1800s. And I was like, man, this is really cool.

And then I kept reaching down in there and I started pulling up pipes, like smoking pipes. And I pulled up three or four of them. One was like a Native American pipe with beads.

Anyway, I brought him downstairs. I showed it all to my dad, and he said, where the hell did you find these? And I showed him, and he went and grabbed the flashlight. And in between the first and second floor, there was an entire room. It wasn't furnished, but it was carpeted and big enough for maybe, I don't know, six to ten people to just hang out and smoke opium. So...

I discovered one of their little opium dens. I guess looking back on it, I should have gone to the museum across the street and told them about it or given them the pipes.

I actually ended up saving the pipes and we thought that it was so awesome to smoke pot out of it in high school. But yeah, that's the story. Found a little hidden room, little ex-opium den and a bunch of ancient pipes and newspapers.

So, finding that room definitely lended a little credence to all the stories that we hear about the Chinese and their secret tunnels under the town. Anyway, hope you can use it. Have a wonderful evening. Please, please keep up the good work. Thank you, sir, as always. Now us Westerners owe a lot to those Chinese workers. Without their labor, many projects here in the Western region simply would not have been completed.

the Transcontinental Railroad for example, they were heavily relied on to do a lion's share of the labor for that project. And here in my area, I live in the mountains outside of Los Angeles, in a small community called Lake Arrowhead, a resort town known for its pine trees, celebrity hideaways, and the crystal blue lake that lies at the heart of it all, Lake Arrowhead.

Now it was built as a reservoir to hold and divert water down to the citrus groves below the mountain. And because of that, the lake was built with some odd features. Features that many claim were also constructed by Chinese immigrant workers. Like a tunnel that literally goes underneath the lake. You can either take an elevator down or go through the other side where it spills out into the mountainside.

There's a 145 foot concrete tower that stands right in the middle of the lake. At one point it was the highest concrete structure on the planet. Now the point of these tunnels and the tower itself was to facilitate the irrigation to communities down the mountain. But a lawsuit put a stop to any movement of water well over 100 years ago. Leaving the lake as it is today a resort getaway.

Which brings me to my mini hometown legend. Now the lake was constructed back before the turn of the century, the 20th century, and a small locomotive, a train, was used to haul concrete and other materials from the road on the rim down the valley to the dam that they were constructing. A dam that today sits right outside of my house.

Well, at a certain point, the water began to rise and it became too difficult to remove the locomotive. So they simply left it and allowed the lake to consume it. Now, the legend says that it still sits down there on its section of track, some 150 feet below the crystal blue waves. Now, I've heard this legend since I moved up here nearly a decade ago. And as I walk along the lake on one of her many walking paths,

I often stare out at that section of water and imagine what might be resting down there. A metal, earth-moving monster rotting away there on the sandy bottom. And you know a legend is what I always thought this was because I wasn't sure that these rumors were even true.

But thanks to an episode of California's Gold, an old PBS show from here in California, featuring the lovable Huell Hauser, that we finally learned the truth about this underwater mystery. Now here's the moment the legend comes to life, when Huell speaks with local historian Stan Bellamy, in this clip from the year 2000. And the construction of the dam...

And they used lots of these big, I've seen pictures of locomotives, of big shovels, all kinds of big equipment was used. Yes, Brighton Drew had a very large steam shovel which was back towards the dam here where we just left.

And there were steam engines around the various points in the lake where they were building the tunnels. And those steam engines, this is another little known fact about Lake Arrowhead, some of them are still down there. I figure there are probably four down there still. That they just left when the water started coming in? They were left there, yes. All right, that was 1891 when it started. It actually got finished in 1922. And all of that time, the whole purpose... Well, that's pretty exciting to me.

to not only have that story verified, but to know that there are actually several locomotives down there, not just one. Now I'm wondering how do we get someone to dive 150 feet down to take a couple of photos for me. Now folks, I have a whole lot more to share, but first we're overdue for a word from our sponsors. I only say this because I know his potential. I know he's not a superstar, Richie.

Now, it's time for another Haunted Road. Aaron from California, welcome to the program.

Hi, Derek. Great things you're doing on the pod. I listen every day. I'm a member of the Patreon recently, and I'm catching up and binging, and it's great. My name is Aaron. I'm from Fresno General Area. This is like a story for your hometown urban legends, whenever that happens.

It's like an August night, summer, couple years ago. Me and my friend go for a walk on a soccer trail, and his girlfriend's with his ex-girlfriend now, but that's not the point. So she suggests that we go to a haunted road in our town that's on the outskirts called Snake Road. For obvious reasons, the road's shaped like a snake.

But supposedly the urban legend of La Llorona lives there. So we go on the back end instead of starting from the beginning of the road. So we take a detour and go to the backside. Well, my friend, we're the only ones on the road. It's nowhere near to being sunset, but it's close.

It's about 7 o'clock. So he sees we're the only ones on the road. He's driving, being stupid, left to right, left to right swerving. He shouldn't have been doing that. It's dangerous, but still, we're alive. He's swerving left to right. And I look to the left, and I see a property we drive by.

And it's like an old white abandoned house, maybe 50 yards. But then I see in front where the gate's at, a guy, like a pale white guy. And overall, he's like nodding, like no, like back and forth on his finger. Like think of Dikembe and Matomo, but really, really slow and nodding his head no. And

Thank you, Aaron.

Snake Road sounds like quite a place. And if you're looking for this road on a map, you probably won't find it. Because technically, it doesn't exist. The road is actually called Channel Road. But that doesn't stop most locals from referring to it as simply Snake Road. And as for the story of the woman that wrecked her car into the Kings River and drowned, along with her two young daughters, well, Delaney couldn't find any evidence of that ever happening.

Not to say that it didn't happen, but those sorts of tragic events usually aren't easily forgotten. Yet, DB came up empty. But that's not to say that Snake Road isn't a strange place. And that's not to say that it hasn't been that way for a very long time. In our research on this call, several newspaper articles were uncovered describing all sorts of death and destruction occurring along that stretch of highway.

Here are a few of the more gripping headlines: Young girl is brutally beaten by three bandits. The Oakland Enquirer, September 15th, 1917. Death rides Canyon Road. Oakland Tribune, December 8th, 1932. A Schuster found shot dead by auto. Oakland Tribune, August 18th, 1926.

And you know we've included some contemporary examples as well, over there in our show notes, at MonstersAmongUsPodcast.com and under the show notes tab.

But essentially, each of these headlines stems from a section of that road, or parts of a road that existed there before it was Snake Road. So Aaron, if these headlines mean anything, Snake Road is certainly a gnarly area, and I'll be sure to pass by next time I'm driving through Fresno.

Now folks, before I dive into this next set of stories, don't forget that you have the power to help this show grow and to collect more spooky stories simply by sharing this program with folks in your life you think might enjoy it. Put it on the radio at your next family function. Tune every device to our YouTube channel in the Apple Store. Or get our logo tattooed on your backside and take your pants off at the bingo parlor or something.

However you want to spread the word, we greatly appreciate the effort, especially as we start Season 19. Alright, for this next Hometown Legend, we return to West Virginia. Eric, welcome to the program.

What's going on, Derek? This is Eric from Weirton, West Virginia, Northern Panhandle, or as we colloquially refer to it, the middle finger. My story...

basically the reason I stopped or at least started the journey from becoming a skeptic to a believer and uh you know basically an agnostic bordering on atheists to becoming a believer so back in 2004 I was at my house in Weirton with some friends

And we were on the subject of paranormal out of nowhere. And I was pretty bored looking for something to do anyway. So even though I'm a skeptic, I'm still interested in the subject. And he starts telling me about this house over across the river outside of Wintersville, Ohio called the Loftus House, where apparently all the local kids and stuff would go in and check it out because it was haunted.

And he was in there, he said, and he saw some stuff levitate. So, you know, I called bulls**t right away. But he adamantly defended himself. Like, he was 100% sure that it happened and certain and, you know, very, very adamant. So I'm like, you know what, man? I'm going to show you this, you know, isn't haunted. This place isn't haunted. Arrogantly, of course. You know, we're going to go over there and get a couple people and we'll check it out.

So in the meantime, he's telling me the story behind the place. So basically, the story going around was old lady Loftus went crazy, killed her family, got away with it. And so kids would go to the house and throw rocks at her house and say stuff to her and torment her because supposedly she killed her family. So, you know, she died basically and then haunted the house.

We went over there and I gotta admit, I was pretty spooked out. It's actually like in Fernwood State Forests and very spooky setting. You have to cross a ravine, a bridge, everybody calls a burnout bridge for obvious reasons, just to get to the house. And it's just right in the middle of the woods. There's really nothing around it. It's completely dark. And we went up there, the weather was completely clear.

When I got out, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. And that never happens to me. Like, I can count on one hand the number of times that's happened to me. So, it was pretty spooky. Now, these guys wouldn't go in the house. Like, I couldn't get them to go in there. And even though I'm a skeptic and I don't believe, I'm still pretty spooked out, I'm not going to lie. So, I made plans to get a braver group of guys and go back. And I did that. And I brought a camera and I brought, like, a tape recorder.

And I took a bunch of pictures inside and out of the house and recorded a bunch and went back home. Got the film developed because back in those days you had to do that. So never got anything concrete on the EVPs. Although there was a sound going on at the house, like a metal sound.

banging sound we could not figure out because first of all there was no real wind that night anyway it was pretty clear and calm but there's no draft there's no like real big holes in the house there's no water running from anywhere there's nothing moving that we could see but yet there's this steady rhythmic metallic banging so I don't know if that necessarily is paranormal but I definitely couldn't find an explanation for it but when we got the film that was the real interesting part so I got the film and there was about 30 pictures

And half of them came out pretty normal, good pictures. The other half came out with this white fog all through it. Like there was some with the white fog outside of the house. And of course, some pictures were normal outside and the same inside. And the worst picture was the picture I took of the whole house outside.

there was this big wall of white fog to the right of it. So I'm questioning the lady, I'm like, you know, what was wrong with my film is because I got a cheap disposable camera. And she gave me a really weird look and she's like, honey, there's nothing wrong with your film. If there's something on the film, it's because it reflected off something, like there was something there. And I'm just like, kind of weirded out by that, but still not really getting it. Not really thinking, you know, for sure paranormal.

So, you know, we took the pictures home and me and my buddy were looking at them and I'm just kind of thumbing through them. And he's over there looking at the one picture. I said, let's look outside with the big white wall fall. And his face goes white. And I'm not over exaggerating. His face went white. And I'm like, you know, what's going on? What's the matter? He goes, look at the picture, man. He goes, there's a face in the fog.

And I'm like, huh? So, you know, I'm looking at it. You know, of course, nighttime, it's the house. It's outside. And you have a nice, you know, clear wall, white fog. But I don't see anything. I don't see a face. He goes, no, turn it a little bit. So I turned it at like a 45 degree angle. And I swear, right then and there, that face popped right out of me.

And I know a lot of people have suggested, you know, pareidolia, but it wasn't pareidolia. There was way too much detail for it to be pareidolia or my imagination or his imagination. There was serious detail. Like, you know, you can see the eyes, but you can also see the irises, the ears, but you can also make out the earlobe, the bridge of the nose, cheekbones, gums.

And it was just, it was extremely eerie. We could never really figure out if we thought it was a man's face or a woman's face. But, you know, according to legend, it would be a woman's face, right?

but turns out I had the picture looked at a couple times by different people and everybody said, you know, hey, paranormal, paranormal. And I was showing it to my sister and my sister's boyfriend at the time who was from Wintersville. He goes, you know, hey man, my dad actually used to take care of that lady. And I'm like, huh? Really? He goes,

He goes, yeah, my dad used to take care of that lady. And, you know, that story that goes on around about her, it's complete crap. It's not really what happened. And I'm like, well, you know, tell me what happened. So I guess, according to him, you know, the lady was still alive in a nursing home as of, you know, me going out there. And what had really happened is that I guess the dad came home one night from work and the daughter was really messed up on drugs.

not doing well and hung herself off the bridge. And he saw her. He lost it, flipped out, went up to the house, got a shotgun, killed himself.

And, you know, understandably, the lady wasn't maybe wrapped too tight after that happened, of course. And then she had to deal with people tormenting her and throwing rocks at her house and accusing her of doing something that she didn't do after that. And then, you know, eventually she went into the home. But he goes, yeah, that's the real story of what really happened. And I'm not really sure, you know, who that was in the picture, but I suspect it could have been the daughter.

But, you know, I really like the podcast. I like the format. It allows everybody to kind of get a chance to call and tell their story, even if it's not maybe the most exciting or the longest story. So, you know, yeah, you know, you're neck of the woods. Zanesville's not that far from me. I actually have family in Zanesville. So anyway, appreciate what you do. Later. Thank you, Eric, for the phone call.

If you send me those photos, I'll gladly put them up on our social media and or show notes. I certainly want to see the face in the fog too, but I'll be honest, I don't know much about this legend. So I sent Delaney digging, and as it goes for most hometown legends, she didn't have good news to share, at least if you're a believer in the story.

According to her research, she found no evidence of a Loftus being murdered or dying by suicide in or around Wintersville, Ohio. So that puts a dent in the story straight away. But just because the facts are a little fuzzy doesn't mean the place doesn't harbor strange activity. And if the Loftus house is in fact infested with the spirits of distraught former residents, I wouldn't be all that surprised.

because the name Loftus was already associated with the unexplained and the unwelcomed. You see, there's another infamous house by the name of Loftus that's also said to harbor all sorts of strange paranormal activity.

Located on the Hook Peninsula in County Wexford, Ireland, Loftus Hall has a long and fascinating past, filled with stories of wealthy families visiting regals, bankruptcy, nuns, ghosts, and maybe even the devil himself.

So legend has it that one stormy night many, many years ago a stranger approached Loftus Hall and knocked the door and asked to come in for refuge from the storm.

So at this time Loftus was lived in by the Tottenham family and the Tottenham family had a young daughter called Lady Anne. She was really taken by the elusive stranger and one night while they were playing cards Lady Anne dropped her card and while she bent down to retrieve it she caught a glimpse of the stranger's leg under the table. He didn't have shoes on but he had cloven hooves instead.

And after that, the stranger shot up through the ceiling in a ball of flames. The story goes that Lady Anne never recovered from this ordeal and she was locked in the tapestry room where she died years later and her ghost is said to still roam the hall today. Now that clip attributed to abandoned Northern Ireland on Facebook. How funny is it? The similarities between these two loftus homes. A connection I could not help but to make here tonight.

And a great story on your end, Eric. We certainly appreciate you sharing it with us. And it's funny that that place is so close to where I grew up, yet I don't recall ever hearing about it. So thank you again, Eric, for sharing your hometown legend here with us. Yeah, big mess there if you are headed to Anaheim on... What it did and what I like...

Now folks, with this next entry, I'm breaking one of my own rules. One submission per person per episode. That's always been the rule. But like I said tonight, I'm gonna bend it. By sharing another call from someone that was just on Hometown Legends Part 1. But you see, both of his entries tied in so perfectly with other stories.

that I simply couldn't resist. So for the second time in one week, please welcome Fraser from England back to the program. Hi, my name's Fraser. I'm from Suffolk in the UK. There are many stories and hometown legends from this area. One you've already touched on, which is a Randolphshire Forest incident. But only a few miles down the road is a small village called Orford. This place has a few legends, as it was used during World War II for testing the A-bomb,

and there's also it was used to develop the radar there's still parts of it which are closed off to this day owned by the Ministry of Defence but what I'm going to talk about today is the Orford Wildman or Merman. Fishmen were perplexed when they raised their nets and found something mysterious in their day's catch a glistening naked creature with extremely hairy chest and a ragged beard

seemingly a merman who was unable to talk who seemed more fish than man. Others report the man dragged from the sea was covered from head to toe in hair. Terrified, the fisherman brought the creature to land and it was imprisoned in Bartholomew de Granville's recently built castle which still stands today as Orford Castle. He would happily accept raw food and he would squeeze the juice before devouring.

Fish was his favorite meal. He preferred to drink the liquid drained from the fish more than water from a cup. Determined to hear his story, the poor wild man was brutally tortured, normally being hung by his feet and whipped. His silence presumed an abstinence refusal to divulge his secrets.

His captors would drag him to church but showing no sign he believed in God or religion. When it was sunset he would seek his rudimentary bed in his cell and would stay there until sunrise. Abbot Ralph of Coggeshall documented this curious tale of the wild man in a book in 1207, several years after the creature's capture.

As to whether it was a mortal man or some fish pretending human shape or an evil spirit hiding in the body of a drowned man we will never know. But the story continues. Perhaps realizing the torture was bearing no fruit, the wild man was allowed exercise in the harbor. He was held in a particular area by three rows of strong nets which were placed across the harbor.

With ease, the wild man would dive underneath the nets and appear in the sea beyond them. But then to everyone's surprise, he would return and allow himself to be taken back to the castle. As time went on, the guards grew less vigilant and on one occasion he dove under the nets and out to sea. He did not turn back and was never seen again. Thank you again, Fraser. It's about time we get a wild man story in this installment of Hometown Legends.

and an old English one at that. Who would have thought it? Now given that all of this occurred so long ago, we'll probably never know the truth. But thanks to a 13th century chronicler named Ralph of Coggeshaw, we at least have an elaborate description. Now I'd read directly from that description here, but it repeats a lot of what Fraser already told us. But some of the parts that stuck in my craw was the fact that he squeezed the juice out of all the meat that he ate.

What an unusual detail. And I guess I could have done without all the torture as well. And you know there's one more detail regarding this story that's caught my ear. The fact that this creature is sometimes referred to as a wild man and other times referred to as a merman. A male mermaid. And this might sound like some sort of one-off experience from nearly 1,000 years ago. A fantasy or a bedtime story.

But what if I told you that similar sightings have happened elsewhere, at a much later date? And what if it wasn't me that was telling you? What if it was Jay from the state of North Carolina?

Hey Derek, this is Jay from North Carolina calling about the Cape Fear Mermaids. So in North Carolina, there's a place called Cape Fear Valley and it's pretty large. In fact, there's another legend that I'm going to tell you about for Cape Fear Valley after this.

In Cape Fear Valley, back during the Revolutionary War, some soldiers who were traveling through the area, heading towards an inn or something along those lines, saw a group of mermaids, which people have figured since then were probably trying to escape the cannon fire. Cannon fire, gunshots, something like that. They were just trying to escape the fighting. And when they saw the men or something else spooked them,

They jumped back into the river and swam away. The men ran back to the inn that they were staying at, and they told everyone there that there were these beautiful mermaids staying in the river. And even until now, sometimes people will report seeing beautiful mermaids in Cape Fear River and Cape Fear Valley. Granted, this happened at a place called Moncure, North Carolina. I've never been there myself, but...

The story is very old, well over 200 years at this point. And on top of that, Cape Fear has a legend that I'm not sure is a legend. It could actually be fact because that's how it's always been told to me.

that the reason why it's called Cape Fear is because when they first discovered the area, they had tried to send in smaller boats to explore the river and try to go deeper inland. So what happened was every time they sent a boat, something would happen, and the people would either walk back or the boat would just not come back at all. The sandbanks in the river change on an almost daily basis, so...

In the end, right now, my parents, till now, still warn me, don't go into Cape Fear River. The water can be extremely choppy in some areas. The river is extremely wide, and it's very difficult to actually traverse if you don't know what you're doing. On top of that, after the boats just weren't coming back from the just smaller boats, they

They decided to try to send in one of the larger boats. But the problem was, whenever they sent in a larger boat, it would almost instantly run aground. But this was only after running through the delta that leads into the Bay Area of North Carolina. And it just goes aground.

Once again.

So they just decided that it would probably be best to just walk from the beach all the way inland, which took way more time, but it was the safest option. Even today, people still drown in Cape Fear River. Some people blame the mermaids for drowning people. Some people just realize that the river is honestly very dangerous. With a lot of twists and turns in the sandbanks, you can get stuck very easily. So people get...

Drowned in the river on a almost regular basis. So that's just the stories I have right now for Cape Fear Valley and the Cape Fear River as a whole. It's a very large river. It spans quite a bit of the state. But yeah, have a good one, Derek. I hope this makes it in. Bye-bye. Thank you, Jay. Now that's a fun story. The Mermaids of Cape Fear. It almost sounds like a movie title.

Perhaps a good local band name. But it also sounds like an awesome hometown legend. And it checks all of the boxes. Monster, check. Water, check. History, check as well. What more do you need in a legend? Well, as fun as this story is, let's see if it's too good to be true. We started at the root of the tale.

where the Haw and Deep Rivers converge to become the mouth of the Cape Fear River, right there in Moncure, North Carolina, an area that's aptly named Mermaid Point, by the way. Now, one piece of information that we learned is that the inn that Jay had mentioned in his story was actually a tavern, Ramsey's Tavern to be specific. So these witnesses might have been drunk as skunks when they saw these mermaids.

Certainly something we can't rule out. And here is some additional information on these creatures according to an article from WRAL News. During the war, soldiers began to regularly visit the tavern. It was around this time that soldiers first began spreading tales of seeing mermaids along a long gleaming sandbar that divided the Cape Fear River.

According to oral tradition, soldiers believed these mermaids had traveled up the Cape Fear in order to wash seawater from their beautiful long hair. Now the tavern in the sandbar in which the mermaids were said to have lounged was eventually washed away in a massive flood. And that was just about the same time that the sightings of the mermaids seemed to have stopped. And it's noted that the disappearance of the mermaids

Seemed to coincide with the building of dams and locks along the course of the Cape Fear Perhaps cutting off the path of the mermaids up from the sea Now that could be true The construction of dams and the development of the river Could stop a mysterious species from trudging upstream That could explain how these sightings seemingly fell off Or why suddenly these mermaids seem to simply disappear But here is how I see it

There's a known animal that likely would have been affected by those changes in the exact same way. An animal that, although not native to the area, has been known to visit there from time to time. An animal that's already been mistaken for a mermaid. According to legend and apparently his shiplog, Christopher Columbus claimed to have seen mermaids near what is now the Dominican Republic.

but apparently he was appalled by their appearance stating that they were not half as beautiful as they are painted. Now, it wasn't a mermaid that he and his crew encountered that day back in January of 1493. Instead, he encountered a manatee, a 1,000 pound marine mammal that lounges around eating vegetation in places like Florida, the Caribbean, and the northern coast of South America.

Could that be the creature that those men saw all those years ago? Maybe they'd never seen a manatee before, or even heard of one. And from a distance, they can certainly be human-shaped. And maybe back then, they still had a straight shot right up through the river. And maybe just like they are today, they sometimes make their way up tributaries, like the Cape Fear River, as WWAY, News 3 out of Cape Fear, can attest.

An unusual visitor being spotted in southeastern North Carolina waters. Over the past 10 years, manatee sightings in the Cape Fear River have increased, with the most recent sighting happening last month. The mammals are a federally protected species, which means if you do see one, you must stay 500 meters away. Tiffany Keenan, UNCW Marine Mammal Stranding Program Coordinator, says that if you do see a manatee, it's important to report it to them.

Keenan says most of them come from Florida, seeking cooler water and seagrass. Now maybe you caught the same thing that I did in that clip, that you have to stay 500 meters away from any manatees. I certainly hope they meant 500 feet. I'm no math whiz, but I think 500 meters is well over a quarter mile. I don't even know if I can see a manatee from that far away.

Well, I couldn't resist, so I looked it up. According to savethemanateeclub.org, you have to stay 50 feet away from a manatee, which sounds much more accurate. Anyway, my point here is that manatee do make their way up the Cape Fear. And maybe back in those days, they could make their way further up. And maybe some of those tavern patrons were just drunk enough to mistake one for a mermaid. Or maybe they really were there on that sandbank.

washing their hair just like the legend says. Either way, I love the tale, and I appreciate you sharing it here tonight with us, Jay. And before we move on, I stumbled upon something I thought was kind of fun. A couple of hours from Mermaid Point is the town of Marshall, North Carolina. And every year, Marshall has their own run-in with merfolk. Now, the following advertisement was posted on Madison County's Instagram page.

spreading awareness for their mermaid parade. We have breaking news coming out of Marshall, North Carolina. Officials are reporting a number of unusual sightings on the French Broad River of mermaids, pirates, and other aquatic creatures. Curious locals wonder if it's related to the upcoming annual Mermaid Parade and Festival on June 1st in downtown Marshall. More on this story as we continue to investigate. You know I love a good paranormal festival.

And if you're in the area, maybe swing by Marshall to see what they're reeling in up there. June 1st, I believe, for those that are interested. And folks, that brings us to not only the end of the episode, but the end of Season 18 as well. But you can stick around until after the credits and the outro to hear just a little bit more of Season 18 and learn how you can gain access to an entire back catalog of paid MAU content. But first...

Monsters Among Us podcast is written and produced by me, Derek Hayes. Copyright Red Crow 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. Be sure to like us on Facebook and Instagram. We have a Discord that you can find via our Patreon. And of course, give us a like and follow on YouTube as well.

We sure could use the support over there. And while you're poking around the internet, why not leave us a rate and review wherever that sort of thing is possible. They tell me that's a good way to help the show grow. Now don't forget, 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, tonight's score was provided by Iron Cthulhu, Apocalypse, Co.agmusic, and Carl Casey at White Bad Audio. Now don't forget to check out our film Shadows in the Desert, High Strangeness in the Borrego Triangle. Just visit borregotriangle.com to learn where you can tune in. Amazon Prime and Tubi is where. And don't forget to take advantage of our moving sale in our merchandise shop.

One day here very soon, my mom is going to take over shipping duties for us back in Ohio. So we have to ship everything across the country. Well, but we can't sell first, that is. So visit MonstersAmongUsPodcast.com and click the shop tab to get 20% off anything in our shop. Now, don't go anywhere. I have more hometown legends for you right after these messages. ♪♪♪

Even hometown legends get a secret story.

And I saved a weird one for last. Or should I call it unsettling? Whatever it is, it's coming to us from Nick in Oregon. Hey Derek, this is Nick calling from Portland, Oregon. This is for the hometown legends. It's kind of a mini one. So, I grew up in Ventura, California. And there was a mall called the Pacific View Mall. And my sister worked at the Abercrombie & Fitch. And...

She and other co-workers had reported that they heard a baby crying, like in the stockroom. They heard it through the walls. It's really all there is to it. So I'm mostly just wondering, did anyone else happen to work at the Pacific View Mall and maybe heard this baby crying? I don't know. Thanks. Thank you, Nick. Well, how about it, folks? Anyone else ever been to the Pacific View Mall there in Ventura, California?

Have you ever heard a baby cry in the stockroom of one of the shops? Now, from what I understand, the Abercrombie & Fitch store is no longer located in that storefront. It actually moved out in 2010. Today, Sephora and D.W.'s stands in its place. Whatever D.W.'s is. So if you have any further information about this story, give us a holler. 888-608-KNIGHT Thank you again, Nick.

for sharing your hometown legend. Now folks, this really is the end of the line. That is, unless you're a Monster Squad member. More on how you can join us there here in just a moment. But first, I just want to say that on behalf of myself, Sarah, Delaney, and Connor, a gigantic thank you for helping to make this latest season our best season ever.

visiting our sponsors, buying merch, spreading the word about the show, calling in, interacting on social media, and supporting us over on the Beyond. It all goes a long way to help not only keep the show on the air, but it also allows us to grow in the way that we have these past few years. So I deliver a heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you. Now if you're one of those supporters over on the Beyond, I have something pretty cool in store for you tonight.

But for those of you that aren't on the inside, here is how you can change that. Get instant access to hundreds of hours of content spanning nearly a decade over on the beyond. Just visit us on Patreon.com or click the subscribe button or Apple homepage or visit MonstersAmongUsPodcast.com and click the Patreon tab to learn how you can get all of that for just five bucks a month. I can't even get a coffee for that these days.

And listen, if you're unsure, you can try it all for seven days, absolutely free. So what are you waiting for? Join us in the beyond today. And on tonight's beyond episode, we're continuing the hometown legend trend, but this time with a bit of a spin, because all four of us here at Monsters Among Us Studios will be providing our own legends this evening.

That's right, upcoming we have hometown legends submitted by our very own Connor Ryan, Delaney Bowers, Sarah Carter-Hayes, and of course, myself. So to kick us off here tonight, we begin with the newest addition to the team. From the state of Connecticut, the man that makes you all sound so good, please welcome Connor to tonight's broadcast.

Hey Derek, this is Connor from Connecticut. Long time listener, first time caller. I'm calling in with a hometown legend. I grew up in Torrington, Connecticut, and this story is about Dudleytown, which is located in Cornwall, Connecticut, about 20 minutes from where I grew up. So technically Dudleytown was never an actual town, but it was a small portion of Cornwall that was owned largely by one family.

The story started way back in England in 1510 when King Henry VIII beheaded a noble man.