Hello from the Other Side
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Snap Studios. 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, locked 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 bagpiper, throwing backpipes.

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 we're greeted 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 of something called Raka 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 songs.

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 exactly

It was right here. I know it. My friends over days we'd give a search, empty. I even looked online. Bulgaria at night. Scarce brief mentions, a few broken links. What? 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. Spooks die now. Snap Judgment is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on this podcast today, Smart Choice. Make another smart choice with AutoQuote Explorer to compare rates from multiple car insurance companies all at once.

Try it at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy. Day on Snap Judgment. We're featuring stories of mystery and wonder from our sister show Spooked. And our first storyteller comes to us from India. About a year ago, he wanted to just get some space to himself in Mumbai. He thought he'd find some peace and quiet down by the riverside.

But what he discovered instead, he's still trying to figure out. Snap Judgement. 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 our 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 turned 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 out. 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 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 walked 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 you.

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. 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'm a little scared. And I'm 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'm a little curious because the information I'm 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 4 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. She was okay.

All of a sudden, my cook comes and calls me and he's like, Sir, what are you doing? Come up.

Ken, Ken, please just come up. And I'm like, why is this guy calling me up at 4 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, she was okay. I went 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? 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 were 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 Ian Ford. Know this.

Not only is the Spooked Podcast available each and every week, wherever you get your podcasts. Now you can see the magic yourself. Get spooked on YouTube and peek behind the shadow. The mystical, magical, monstrous Spooked Podcast. Spooked Podcast.

I don't know if you've noticed, but there's an awakening happening right now. Things that people were reluctant to utter just a few years ago, a few months ago, are now finding a receptive audience. Like we're starting to collectively realize that there exists far more than meets the eye. And if you have a story, an encounter, an ability that you think the world needs to know about, you are right.

The world does need to know. We need to know. Let me know. Spooked at StampJudgment.org. Because there's nothing better than a spooked story from a spooked listener. We want to hear it. We want to share it with the spooked world. Spooked is brought to you by the team that loves to first warm their hands by the fire. Except for Mark Ristich. He likes to first warm his other side.

My name is Gunn Washington, and I went to yoga class.

And the beautiful yoga instructor told me to stand up straight, then reach down without bending my knees and put my hands under my feet. What? I'm lucky to touch my knees, much less my toes. And I felt hot shame as everyone looked at me and laughed. But I tried and I tried again the next day and the next. And I noticed something. My toes aren't getting any closer now, but I look around.

And no one's laughing. Not my beautiful teacher. Not the beautiful people. No, they're smiling. They never laugh. This is all in my head. Like when I stop drinking for a while and I think people will see and point and ask me what's wrong, what's going on. But people don't care. And if they do, they don't call me out. They give me love like the monster opened its maw and it grins.

Blessings sometimes wear shadow as their disguise and I wonder how many I've missed. How many blessings I've rejected because of my fear. I cannot afford to waste blessings. So my strategy going forward from here on out will never, ever, ever, never, never, ever, never, ever, never, ever turn out the lights.