Hello from the Other Side
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Chim Chimity, Chim Chimity, Chim Chim Carly. I'll pick the cards to show your destiny. Chim Chimity, Chim Chimity, Chim Chim Chiru. There's no turning back cause there's naught you can do. So run till your mom's seen. And we'll catch her too. You fall so dispute, isn't it?

Stay tuned.

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Late Friday, I get off the bar train. In the bad old days, downtown Oakland near City Hall is deserted. Nothing but boarded up windows.

Lock doors. And with four women, three guys, friends walk and huddle close for safety. Head on a swivel. Don't want no funny business. Like from a fairy story, we hear the peals of a bagpipe. What? Who knows? Maybe there's some underground Scottish thing going on. Let's maybe check it out. This music pied pipers us along. And there, between two dark buildings...

Warm light spills onto the sidewalk, an open door, and there are people, old people, young people, mothers holding babies, men hugging old friends, laughing, shouting, singing, grandmothers dancing to the backpiper, throwing back tiny glasses of something that looks alcoholic in the window. A small, handwritten sign reads, Bulgaria at night. We peek in like wild-eyed refugees and for greet it,

With smiles, with slaps on the back. Hey, man, what's going on with the bagpipes? There's some kind of Scottish. There are bagpipes. Our Bulgarians, don't you know? Scott stole the bagpipe from Bulgaria. It's our national instrument. Then he's pressing the cups with something called rocker into our hands. One sip and I almost go blind. Some kind of crazy, balking moonshine. They laugh as I stagger.

Pour another. There's food. Thick, blood-red sausages. A woman shoves spiced beef into my mouth. Cabbage rolls and cubes of cheese that don't come from a cow. In the corner, a couple sing operatic accompaniment to the bagpiper. A guy hands me a baby to hold while he dances. More moonshine. Hey, tell a story! Alcohol gives me courage.

My tail makes him laugh and pour more moonshine. At a table, an old man slams my buddy's wrist down at arm wrestling. Everybody else is dancing, dancing, dancing, eating, dancing, dancing, laughing, drinking, dancing, spinning. We finally stagger away from Eastern Europe, back onto the streets of Oakland. Four in the morning, smiles on our faces, songs in our heart, 50 brand new best friends, and I know...

Exactly where I'm spending every weekend for the rest of my life with my people, the Bulgarians. When I return the next night, there's no warm light, no sign, no bagpipes, nothing. And I know it was right here. I know it. My friends over days, we'd give search empty. I even look online, Bulgaria at night. Scarce brief mentions, a few broken links, whatnot.

And this was years ago. Every once in a while I see one of us who walked into the light that night. One of us who was there. We looked at each other in the eyes. That happened, right? We were there, right? Right? Here's the thing. Every once in a while I still go by that spot. I'm still looking for that sign. Believe me. This time, if I hear bagpipes, I don't know if I'm coming back. Now.

The apartment was very small. I found it on Craigslist.

It was obviously at one time a building that was one unit and the owner had split it up. No washing machine, no dishwasher, no parking. Basically a studio that happened to have a door on the bedroom. It didn't feel like a permanent place. It felt like a place just to crash and then start over from. I lost a lot of friends in the divorce.

I wasn't leaving the house and I wasn't dating. In the beginning, I had three jobs. I worked from 3.30 in the morning until 8 in the morning, opening a juice bar. Then I would change into my business attire and I would go to a job where I was working as a recruiter for an agency downtown from 8 to 5 a.m.

And then on the nights that I had help with my son, I would pick up shifts at restaurants until 10:30 or 11:00 at night. I don't know how I did it. You just do. One night a few months after we moved in, I came home, I hit the pillow and fell asleep. A noise shocked me out of sleep at 1:00 in the morning. It sounds like the grumbling of a crowd.

My son sleeps like the dead, so he didn't wake up. I blinked a little bit, and I saw a blue light coming from the living room. And I went, "I didn't leave the TV on. Or did I?" I walked out into the living room, and the TV was on full volume. It was on the Weather Channel, something that I don't watch. I turned off the TV.

And I thought, that's weird. And then I went back to bed. About three days later, I was having a night that I couldn't sleep. I was really worried about the reality of the situation that I was in. How I'm going to do daycare, how I'm going to do babysitting. All of a sudden, the TV was on. Unfortunately increases the fire danger. And it was blasting. It was so loud. Now, wildfire season has become a year-long threat...

I got up. I went out to the living room. It's on the Weather Channel again. Volume 50 out of 50. I turned it off and I went to bed. But this time I was thinking, wait a minute, I turned that off. What the hell? After that second time, it just started happening all the time. Always at night. Always super loud. And there were only two channels that it would come on.

the Weather Channel, and HGTV, which I thought was really funny because I did not have a home or garden, but at the same time, it made me really angry. I was exhausted. I was barely making it through the day. And then my TV's gonna come on at full volume and wake me up? What a cruel joke. I figured, okay, there's something about this technology that I don't know anything about.

I looked on YouTube and I watched some videos about it. And then I Googled TV wiring. Should I change the plug to somewhere else? Do I need one of those big breaker plugins that protect it from a power surge? I ran all these things by my stepdad, who is a home builder, and he does electric work. He just said, there's nothing possibly wrong with your wiring that could cause that. Just unplug it.

I was so tired I hadn't even thought about it. It felt like a birthday present. I said, that's a great idea. Thanks, Dad. I'm going to do that. That night, I unplugged the TV, and it did not come back on. The next night, I unplugged it again. It did not come back on. I had fixed it. And then the third night, I was asleep. And then the TV is blasting again.

This time it's the Weather Channel. I got up and I stormed out to the living room. The TV was plugged back in. I remembered specifically unplugging the TV right before I got into bed. My son was only three, and I wouldn't even have let him play with a plug. I knew that I wasn't hallucinating about the TV being on. I knew that I didn't watch the Weather Channel.

If it wasn't me and it wasn't my son, it had to be a ghost. That's the only thing that I could think of. And I said, what do you want from me? What do you want? Stop it. And I turned it off, unplugged it, went back to bed. But things ramped up. Like I was in a relationship with this awful roommate. Instead of the TV coming on once every three nights, it would come on every night.

The volume was so loud that earplugs or anything like that would have done nothing. I would cuss this ghost out. You, are you serious right now? I was so tired and I didn't understand why this was happening to me.

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About a year into my living at this apartment, I had a light bulb moment. I'd been watching a documentary, and it was in French. So I was reading closed captions. And then my mind was like, holy s***, I can do this for the ghost. If I'm reading closed captions on this documentary, maybe the ghost will read the closed captions if I leave the TV on, and then I can sleep.

I said in the living room out loud to the ghost, if I put on the closed captions, will you stop turning the volume up? Nobody said anything back to me, but I felt like it was a compromise. I didn't know if this idea was going to work, but I did my best to sound confident that it would. So at night, instead of turning the TV off, I muted the volume on the TV and I put the closed captions on.

Even switched to the Weather Channel. When I woke up in the morning, I was like, holy sh*t, it worked. From that point on, I never woke up again to the blasting volume of the TV. I eventually quit working three jobs, figured out that I could start my own recruiting agency at home and make money. My son was going to regular daycare. We had our bills paid and we had food in the fridge. I had money in the bank. I was sleeping.

We were living in peace. Eventually, I hired someone who was going to work in operations, billing and invoicing and computer systems and all sorts of stuff like that. I hired a gal from Texas who I had met on LinkedIn. I flew her out to Seattle to meet her face-to-face.

We were going to go out to dinner, and I wanted to have her drop her files and her briefcase and her laptop at my house so she didn't have to lug it with her to the restaurant. We walked into the building. We walked up the stairs. I opened the door. She paused in the door and turned white. And I said, are you okay? She just looked at me and she said, you have a ghost in your house.

Her name is Christine. I didn't need her to tell me I had a ghost in the house because I already knew. But it was the name of the ghost that was brand new. It was almost like solving a murder mystery. Like, I got you. It's Christine. You're the one. And I said, you can tell Christine. It's time to cut. That ghost has just really pissed me off. She didn't really know how to take that. She looked shocked. I don't blame her.

For dinner, I took her to a really nice restaurant in Seattle on the water, and we just talked about work. It wasn't until later on during the dinner that I started asking, how do you see ghosts? She was pretty reticent to talk about it, but after a glass of wine, she told me, yeah, I've seen them my whole life. It wasn't something that she was proud of. It was almost like a, I'm sorry, right?

I told her all the things that had been happening for over a year at this point. And then she told me a little bit about the ghost. She said that she was wearing a dress and she had brown hair in a bun. She said this particular ghost was a recluse in life, almost to the point where she was agoraphobic. And she never left the house. And she was really shy about it.

She said, I think she likes you because she thinks that you're also a recluse and that you also don't leave the house. And she's comfortable with you. And I was like, well, I hope she's not because I hate her. And I never want to see her again. I went home. My son was with my mom that night. So the house was empty. I turned the TV on, closed captioning. I just left it on something my son was watching, the Disney Channel. And I went to bed.

I woke up the next morning and the TV was not on HGTV or the Weather Channel. It was on the Disney Channel, which is what I had left it on. It was the first time ever. I was like, oh my God. As the days went on and it didn't come back on, it went from having a day-to-day roommate who I interacted with and had some kind of peace with to nothing. It made me feel really alone.

I started regretting the way that I had reacted to finding out that my ghost's name was Christine. I started thinking, that was rude and I was mean. That was the only time that she had made an effort to show me who she really was. She wanted me to know her name. I had never been nice to this ghost. I was frustrated with this ghost every day.

I learned her name and I snapped at her. I felt very guilty. I reached out to the gal who flew out from Texas and I said, "Hey, I think that ghost is gone." She told me, "Put a feather on a piece of paper. Write 'yes' or 'no' on the piece of paper and then you can ask a question. And in the morning, the feather will be either on 'yes' or 'no.'" I wrote "yes" and "no" and I put the feather in the middle.

I said, are you still here? Christine, are you still here? And I went to bed. I came out in the morning. The feather hadn't moved either way. She was gone. Six years later, I turn on the weather channel from time to time and leave it on. Just while I'm doing dishes, laundry, I just leave it on. It's comforting to me. Ingrid and her son Rex, they don't live in that apartment anymore.

But they are loyal spook listeners. Thank you, Ingrid, for keeping the lights on. The original score for that piece was by Clay Xavier. It was produced by Ann Ford. Our next storyteller comes to us from India. About a year ago, he wanted to get some space to himself in Mumbai. He thought he'd find some peace and quiet down by the riverside. What he discovered instead, well, he's still trying to figure out.

I went on this trip with three of my friends because we were bored. Just a weekend getaway. We started early. We left our city. We took a long drive towards the countryside. We are joking. We are laughing.

We were there by 11, 12 during the day. This was right in the middle of nowhere. A remote village kind of a place and I could see a very small beautiful lake out there. And over this side, we have just a small trailer where we can get our food. Also, there were small tents to sleep on and a small bonfire place. That's it, nothing much.

I was like, "That's fine. I can spend two days here very comfortably." The host wasn't available that day. There was only the cook who would just help us out in whatever we need. We went down to the lake, sat on the rocks, put our feet in the water and just sat around listening to the sound of water crashing the rocks. Very silent. It was a peaceful place. Took some pictures, came back up, had some tea and then we lost the daylight.

And you can hear the night, some animal sounds, some birds sounds. We knew that the biggest animal here could be a fox. So nothing much to worry about. My friends prepared chicken in the bonfire, helping the cook do the barbecue. You basically hang it over the fire. And I wanted to take a smoke break. Across the lake is some mountains. And on my right hand side, there is a small river.

I went to that spot by the riverside. It's not very far. Like what 15-20 steps. They could see me from the tent. It's that close. I light up a smoke. It's very dark. There was birds noises. I could hear the sound of water and puffing in the cigarette. All of a sudden, I hear a slight sound of someone's presence there. I turn to my right. I see a man standing on the other side of the river. Not very far.

It's just a small jump and you're on the other side. I cannot see his actual face because it's dark. But I can see a silhouette of him. He just looked like a normal guy to me. He says hi. I say hi. I was like, how is this place? I'm here for the first time. He's like, oh, so you don't know much about this place. I'm like, okay, enlighten me. This cook interrupted me saying, sir, please come up. I don't know why he was calling me, but...

I just ignored him and I continued my conversation. The guy who was talking to me is like, so the thing is, probably you are on the wrong side. I'm like, what do you mean by wrong side? And he goes, something really bad happened very, very, very long ago. There was an angry god who cut that land into half and passed a river through it because that side is banished and that side is cursed. The story of this place is that

There's one side of the river that's completely fine to go to. And the other side of the river is where you're not supposed to step into. It's said to be a very haunted place. Now that you're here, be very careful. The first reaction that I had was, a random person is trying to bully me. Are you trying to scare the s*** out of me? Okay, fine. I'm not going to buy it. I was like, okay, it's nice meeting you. I need to go back now. And I left.

While I walked, I'm like, look at this place. What do I have to worry about here in such a nice place? I walk back up to the tent and just sit back with my friends and start chilling again. Listening to music, having barbecue, talk about random things. Chicken is delicious. I did not mention to anyone that I met someone. It just slipped my mind. I'm talking to my friend who came along with us. He's the guy who always researches on everything. As he tells me,

This place has a story to it. I'm like, yeah, what's the story? Very seriously, he tells us, there is a side of the river that is cursed. You're not supposed to go there. If you go towards that side, you'll never come back. Before I could utter a word, he goes on and saying, if you hear anybody from that side, you're not supposed to respond. I'm like, what happens if I respond? Then he goes,

The story goes, someone tries to call you on his side. Then the moment you jump the riverbank and go towards that side, is the time that you're not coming back. And now a little fear does come into me. What is happening? Why is someone telling me something like this? I kept on thinking in the back of my head. Am I on the wrong side? Are they on the wrong side? I tried to go back to my tent and take a small nap.

One hour passed, I cannot fall asleep. I was like, you know what, let me just go back to the riverbank and see if I can see someone again. And I go back to the riverside again. Now, when we were kids, the thing that we were told about paranormal things or ghosts and stuff was light up any sort of fire, the ghost will never come near. So I am lighting a cigarette because I know I have fire in my hand. Nothing's going to go wrong. I'm standing there listening to the silence of the river flowing.

And then I again hear someone's presence. And I see his silhouette again. The guy is sitting there. I can see his back. This time I am a little scared. And I am also very curious. I want answers now. So I say, can I continue the conversation with you? Last time you were saying something about me being on the wrong side. I am a little curious because the information I am coming with...

says that I'm on the right side and the side that you are on is the side that is cursed. He's like, I am not meaning to scare you, but your side is really small. There are not good stories of people coming back from that side. All of a sudden, my cook comes and calls me and he's like, Sir, what are you doing? Come up. Can, can, please just come up. And I'm like, I'm having a cigarette. Why is this guy calling me up at four o'clock in the night?

Every time I come down, this guy calls me up. And suddenly, my friend in the tent screams at the top of her voice. I run back. I'm like, what happened to you? And she said, I thought something came and touched me. I tried to calm her down. It was okay. I get inside my tent. I take a small nap. Get up in the morning, 7, 8 o'clock. I get out of my tent and I tell my friend, why did you scream last night? And she says, when did I scream?

I'm like, last night, I was smoking on the riverbank. You screamed at the top of your voice. You said that you felt like something touched you. She's like, no, I don't remember screaming. I'm like, okay, you must have forgotten. We said we'll leave around 10, 10.30, 11 o'clock in the morning. And in that two, three hours, we again took a small bath in the river. Took some pictures. Packed our stuff. I'm like, you want to just tell the cook we are leaving tomorrow?

He's like, what cook are you trying to talk about? I'm like, the guy who was making the chicken barbecue for us on the bonfire. He's like, yeah, I did it. I'm like, okay, I saw you there. But there was a cook there. Both of them are looking at me in surprises. Are you trying to mess with us early in the morning? We haven't had our coffees yet. There's a small shiver in me. I have goosebumps and I'm a little scared.

I'm like, guys, please do not mess with me. We had a cook. I spoke to him every time I would go to the riverbank for having a cigarette. He would call me and I would tell him, I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming. One of my friends told me, listen guys, let's get out of this place. Let's just get out of here. Let's start walking back to our car. There was silence for some time until we hit the main road highway. The moment we hit the highway, we started talking about it again.

I'm like, guys, I saw the cook. I spoke to the cook. I saw you helping him do the barbecue. He's like, there was no cook there. And then he says, you know what else was weird? Every time you're going on the riverside, we hear you talking to someone. Why were you talking out loud to yourself? I'm like, I'm not talking out loud to myself. I was talking to someone on the other side. And he's like, all we know is we would overhear you talking out loud.

Why were you shouting, "I'm coming, I'm coming" again and again? I was like, "That cook was calling me." They're like, "There was no cook." So the story is left to a big question mark. Who was this cook? What side I was at? And who was the guy I spoke to on the other side? We never know the reality of anything. Could be that the guy who says you are on the wrong side, he was on the wrong side. Maybe the cook was my savior.

Maybe the guy was my savior. I can tell you for sure. Something was trying to get me on the other side. Big thanks to our storyteller for coming back to tell his tale. The original scores by Nicholas Marks was produced by Ann Ford. Now then, 1726, Mary Toft, a woman in Surrey, England, begins experiencing contractions. Bent over in pain, Mary starts giving birth to parts of animals.

including what looks like a rabbit. The local doctor, John Howard, is called and astonished as Mary keeps delivering more and more animal parts, including whole rabbit heads, legs, intestines, witnessing a medical miracle. The doctor notifies other physicians, even sends specimens to King George's court. At once, the king's personal physician comes to see the marvel for himself and see it he does.

Mary births more rabbits in front of his eyes. The story becomes national news. Newspapers scream, Mary gives birth to rabbits. Unfortunately, spooksters, under examination, this little story unravels. Mary has to come clean, spend some time in jail. Every doctor that signed off on this farce has her reputation ruined forever. Horrible stuff.

Terrible shame. The biggest tragedy is the world. It's far crazier than rabbits. The shadow lands are so strange, so fantastic, so weird. You don't need to make things up. That's why we appreciate so much. The best listeners in the world reveal what really happened. And if you have a story.

I would surely love to hear about it. Spook at SnapJudgment.org. Because there's nothing better than a spook story from a spook listener. Spooks brought to you by the team that always turns the other cheek, except for Mark Ristich. Those are the wrong cheeks, Mark. Put on some pants. Nobody wants to see that. Here's Davey Kim, Zoe Frigno, and Ford.

Eric Yanez, Teo Ducat, Marissa Dodge, Miles Lassie, Doug Stewart, Paulina Kriki, Elizabeth Z. Pardue, Aditya Mattu, and Lulu Jemima. The Spook theme song is by Pat and CeeDee Miller. My name's Glenn Washington. And there have been so many times sitting right next to a person, a person I love, when we experience the same moment completely differently.

The same words, the same place, the same scene. And if you ask us both what happened, the answers, it's like we weren't even in the same universe. And I wonder, if someone so close can be so far, is it possible that someone so far can be close? Do we sense echoes of others, echoes of ourselves? Are the spaces between us both enormous and small at the same time? And if so...

What is the glue holding us all together? Maybe. Maybe we're not as far away from each other as it might seem. And if we're trying to maintain a connection in this vast darkness, perhaps the best thing you can do is to never, ever, never, ever, never, ever, never the lights.