The Watchers in the Woods – Ep. 232

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_01] Odd Trails is a true paranormal podcast. If you have a story to share, send it to stories at oddtrails.com. Enjoy the show.

[00:00:23] [SPEAKER_01] I used to do star photography in the wilderness by Freak Like Me.

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_01] One spring night, I went out with my camera gear on a mile-long walk to a good place to watch the stars. It was a long and wide trail that I was very familiar with, and I walked that area without a flashlight often. I would prefer not to use a light, because I have a higher chance of seeing a beautiful animal that would otherwise be startled away. I also love the darkness.

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_01] Anyway, I arrived at the viewing location and set up my tripod and camera. I started taking some long exposure photos when I heard some rustling across the small body of water I was near. I'm very familiar with the wildlife in that area, and while there are a few bears and wolves, the population was very small. I was very familiar with the forest.

[00:01:54] [SPEAKER_01] It's an isolated island, with more coyotes than anything, so hearing some noises in the woods didn't really bother me. I just tuned in to listen and tried to figure out what it could be. Moments later, whatever it was began to let out the deepest booming yells that I had ever heard in my life. It sounded like both noises of distress and anger from what I can best describe.

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_01] I have never felt unnerved out in the woods, at least not in that area, at night. But those noises made my blood run cold. It let out another series of yells, and my body snapped from being frozen to scooping up my tripod and sprinting with it a mile back to my car. All the while, I could hear that bone-chilling yell, although it was growing faint as I put distance between me and it.

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_01] I will admit that the experience really shook me. I haven't gone out for a night hike since. My only explanation was that it could have been a bear in pain, or a very large badger. They can make some scary noises. Even though my logical brain knows it wasn't some kind of giant unknown creature, my inner feelings tell me that it was something I had never experienced before.

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_01] But here's something else that happened before that event. I was still in my night hike phase. I was on a hike with my girlfriend, not far from the location of the first story. We were just going to walk down the straight path until we reached the end, and then turned back. On our way in, the forest was still and serene, with deep blackness surrounding us on all sides.

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_01] I can't really explain why, but we love this kind of stuff. I reached the turnaround point, and not too long into our return, we noticed a bright red glowing dot in a large tree. It was considerably bright, and we definitely hadn't noticed it on our walk in. At first I thought it must be the light from a building beyond the forest,

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_01] but as we approached I realized it was coming from the center of a big oak tree. Almost like a reflector, but much brighter, and with no light sources around it. I had also walked that trail at night without a flashlight many times, and I never noticed this. We got a bit creeped out, and made our way back out. I'm not sure what that was, but it was eerie in the moment.

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_01] Now this last one has more to do with the first story, but didn't necessarily happen out in the woods. I was in the field behind my house, surrounded by forest. It's the same forest where I had heard those noises on my last night going out, but on the opposite side. I was out there with my tripod again, photographing Orion, when I heard two loud thumps on the ground.

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_01] Like the sound of someone purposely stomping their feet as hard as they could to be as loud as they could. I was perplexed until a second later I heard, but couldn't see, those loud thumping steps coming quickly, thundering in my direction across the field. I turned and ran with everything I could grab, as fast as I could manage, with heavy equipment. I was convinced I wouldn't make it from there to the back door.

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_01] The entire run it felt like something was going to grab me from behind. I made it back, and I felt a strong sense of dread that night that I just couldn't really place. I was always the most skeptical person in my group, and I had no fear of the darkness in the forest. But after those few experiences, I do have a bit of a different perspective on the North Woods. A respect for sure, but a notable sense of fear.

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_02] The Protective Hand by A.A. Vako I felt several nudges to write this story over the last year, and upon hearing the prophetic dream story shared,

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_02] I decided to try to get this one written down. Typically, I have no issue rattling off my personal stories, but this one is precious to me, and I want to make sure I do it justice. One of my close friends, Sterling, passed on in December of 2021. We met in school way back in 2010, while we were studying to become physician assistants. We had a small but close-knit pack of friends.

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_02] One who was also included in this story. Let's call her Kat. After Sterling's passing, Kat and I had no reservations about making the trip out to a celebration of life. We were in contact with his husband, who invited us to join them before the event started, and we planned to do just that. Sterling lived in Utah at this time. Kat and I lived in Arizona, where the three of us went to school.

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_02] So we planned our weekend in Salt Lake City. The week before we left, Kat called me. She had a strange, vivid dream, one that stuck with her enough to call me and share it. In the dream, she said that we were dressed to go to a funeral, dresses, heels, the whole ensemble. She said that before making our way there, however, we stopped for a drink.

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_02] She described in detail this dive bar that we stopped at, making sure to mention we were overdressed for the establishment, to say the least. When we went to leave, we tried to cross a busy street. Traffic was heavy, and as we made our way across, there was a sudden flood. She said the water rushed at us, pulling quickly around our feet, and rising at an alarming rate.

[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_02] She said we couldn't cross the rest of the street, due to how much water was now threatening to sweep us away. Suddenly, she said, we looked up and saw Sterling. She said it was more so just his face, but we knew immediately he was watching out for us. She said his hand, now the only visible part of him, came down and blocked the rushing water.

[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_02] His hand shielded us, allowing the road past him to clear, and for us to safely get to the other side. She woke up after this, and because vivid dreams are more my thing than hers, she knew she had to tell me about it. She had no idea the meaning behind it, but it was something she couldn't forget. Fast forward to Salt Lake City the following weekend. We both forgot about Kat's dream.

[00:09:26] [SPEAKER_02] We felt all the emotions that come with grief, along with the stress of being away from home and our young kiddos. After our flight and getting set up in the hotel, we planned to get ready, grab a quick bite to eat, and head over to the funeral home. As we left, we found a small bar and grill connected to the hotel. It was a run-down spot, but we enjoyed ourselves. We made friends with the bartender,

[00:09:56] [SPEAKER_02] had a couple of appetizers and a drink, and then ordered an Uber. The Uber driver, Chet, arrived quickly in his Chevy Volt with a soda-covered backseat. He mumbled apologies as Kat and I tried our best to not get too sticky. The sun started to set. Chet took off down the freeway at a solid 80 miles per hour. It was Friday during rush hour, but despite this,

[00:10:25] [SPEAKER_02] Chet was determined to maintain his speed. Unfortunately, this didn't leave much room for air. When a black sports car cut off a minivan two cars ahead of us, creating an abrupt halt, Chet smashed into the back of the vehicle in front of him. The airbags deployed as the sound of metal crunching and glass breaking joined in. As we looked around, Kat and I quickly realized we were in the middle

[00:10:54] [SPEAKER_02] of the five-lane highway. We also noticed we were at the bottom of a hill, and with the waning sunlight, it was difficult to see where we were stopped until about halfway down this hill. Traffic was still hurling towards us at full speed. Chet was on the verge of a full panic attack. He refused to try and move the vehicle over. Kat and I went from pleading to screaming

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_02] as a semi-truck nearly hit us. If you've seen any Michael Bay movies in a surround sound theater, pick any scene where heavy machinery gets thrown. That slow-motion noise of a thunderous roar echoing the theater was exactly how it sounded when the 18-wheeler missed the small car by inches. The 911 operator assured us help was en route. Some cars were stopped behind us, but quickly merged

[00:11:51] [SPEAKER_02] to avoid getting hit themselves. We were sitting ducks. Chet continued to refuse to move the vehicle. We considered jumping out, but there was nowhere to actually go as the shoulder on that particular part of the highway was minimal. Kat kept saying, we should stay. We will be safe if we stay in the car. I didn't believe her, but I also had no alternative plan.

[00:12:21] [SPEAKER_02] A second semi-truck swerved past us, again missing us by mere inches. I was convinced we were not going to walk away from this, but somehow we did. It was as if an invisible barrier was placed just far enough to shield us from even the closest of calls. The fire truck finally came, creating an actual barricade. EMS moved Chet's

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_02] crumbled car to the side, past the narrow shoulder, to a spot where we could safely get out. At some point during this whole experience, I turned to Kat and gasped. Oh my god, your dream! She immediately burst into tears. It wasn't a flood of water, it was a flood of traffic. We were dressed similarly to how we were in the dream, leaving the run-down bar

[00:13:20] [SPEAKER_02] and unable to get across to safety. To this day, I believe that invisible barricade was Sterling's hand protecting us. Ster, I love that you're only a thought away, but I hate that I won't hear your voice, your laugh, or see you again in this lifetime. Thanks for keeping us safe, and thanks for always continuing to look out for us. Miss you, love you,

[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_02] and eventually, I'll see you on the other side.

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[00:15:41] [SPEAKER_01] and 101 nights to try out your mattress. If it's not the right fit for you, you get your money back. Upgrade your sleep with ghost bed, the makers of the coolest beds in the world. That's ghostbed.com slash trails, code TRAILS, for an extra 10% off site-wide. The Cinema Time Slip by UpsetConcentrate667 I had a strange

[00:16:10] [SPEAKER_01] experience as a teen that I still can't explain. Keep in mind, this was 15 years ago. I was really into movies back then and would regularly, almost daily, visit my local Cineworld in the UK. I had an unlimited membership card that allowed me to watch as many movies as I wanted so I got into the habit of watching some of a film, leaving to hang out with some friends or do something else and then return the following day to watch the rest.

[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_01] This is what I did that day. I came in and the entrance area was empty, save for two members of the staff. One was behind the counter and another was sitting on a bench near the podium where you hand in tickets. After getting my ticket for the other half of the film, I walked over to the podium and the woman sitting there got up to take it. She pointed me to the doors to the screen where the movie was already playing right next to her and I went in.

[00:17:10] [SPEAKER_01] What I found, however, was an empty screen. No people, no movie and no lights on. Confused, I assumed she pointed me to the wrong screen or something like that so I left the screen still holding the door open and told the woman there was no movie and it was empty. She exclaimed, really? With a look of disbelief on her face. She walked past me through the still open door. I turned to follow when I noticed

[00:17:40] [SPEAKER_01] the lights were off. As I got to the back of the seating area, the film was playing. People were in the seats. She looked at me like I was an idiot who wasted her time and just left. I gave her an awkward thank you as she passed, like she had somehow fixed it. I stood there for a moment, trying to put everything together logically in my head. I failed to do so and went home.

[00:18:09] [SPEAKER_01] That's my time slip story. I have no idea if it was actually time travel, a hallucination, an elaborate practical joke, a glitch in the matrix, or even swamp gas hitting the weather balloon. Either way, they moved to a nearby shopping center not long after that.

[00:18:44] [SPEAKER_02] A Whistle While We Worked by A.A. Vako I worked at a family medicine clinic that used to be a hospital many years prior. It allegedly had a morgue as well. I'm a physician assistant and this clinic had several PAs, NPs, MDs, and DOs working there. We would rotate coverage on the weekends since the office would schedule patients on Saturdays.

[00:19:14] [SPEAKER_02] Saturdays were a much smaller crowd, consisting of the medical provider, the medical assistant, and someone to run the front office. The clinic was haunted because, of course, it was. On my first day there, one of the doctors told me this. We were very used to seeing things move that shouldn't move, objects put in different places than where we left them, in certain rooms just having a denser or heavier feeling

[00:19:43] [SPEAKER_02] than other areas of the office. But nothing was ever harmful or scary, at least not that I found. Generally, I was just amused by the sheer amount of activity. Most of us simply accepted it as part of a normal workday. One of my Saturday clinics had a slow schedule. Marissa was the medical assistant, and Sally was covering the front desk. The three of us sat and chatted as we waited for the last patient to show up.

[00:20:14] [SPEAKER_02] The door to get to the back where we were sitting was locked. We also verified no one else was in the clinic. I was actually paranoid about this, and I would do frequent walkthroughs to make sure nobody snuck in somehow. It had been at least an hour since our last patient. There was a lull in our conversation when we heard a whistling tune. It sounded loud enough for someone to be visible from where we were sitting. As it continued,

[00:20:44] [SPEAKER_02] though, the sound moved away from us, gradually fading out. It was the whistling tune from Kill Bill, but slower, like the cadence of a lullaby. All three of us heard this. Sally and I jumped up and ran toward the sound before it completely stopped. We knew no one should be in the clinic, but needed to verify this immediately. I ran down the hall following the tune

[00:21:13] [SPEAKER_02] until it seized. No one was there. The hallway was a dead end leading into several offices, all of which were empty. we checked the rest of the clinic to be sure. We confirmed it was just the three of us, like it had been that whole afternoon. A delivery driver came into the lobby through the front entrance sometime during the midst of our search, but we saw him enter, and we were met

[00:21:42] [SPEAKER_02] with confusion when we asked if he had been walking through the clinic a little while earlier. We had to be sure. Oddly enough, I did quit that job, but not because of the paranormal occurrences. Management was a nightmare to deal with. The disembodied whistling and playful poltergeist activities were fun nuances to the workday.

[00:22:28] [SPEAKER_01] The Watchers in the Woods by Mallory I've always had weird experiences of feeling watched or feeling uncomfortable when I'm alone. One main factor in this discomfort may be the woods behind the property. It's a fairly large farm with an old road lined by other farms or farmhouse properties. Anyone who has gone into the woods has felt watched. It always feels like there's something in the tree line

[00:22:57] [SPEAKER_01] waiting and watching. I'm not the only one who feels this way. One day, as I was outside doing something in the arena, I heard what sounded like a scream coming from a man, but it was almost inhuman. It echoed and all of the birds in the woods flew up. I immediately went back inside and locked my doors. Now, to touch on the history of this property very quickly, the current house was built in the 1960s,

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER_01] but there was another house on the property before that. The builder of the current house has since passed on. Not only that, but the property is built on a Civil War battleground, or more likely a Confederate base camp that was part of a battle. Now, to add my two cents on what may haunt this house, I believe it's haunted not only by the original owner, but perhaps by Civil War soldiers,

[00:23:57] [SPEAKER_01] and maybe something else that isn't even human. I'm going to split this up because I believe there are different spirits in different areas. My brother's room and mine are haunted by soldiers because I've heard not only footsteps, but I've had decor fly off the walls in my rooms, things fall down and move that I didn't touch, and my bedroom door shakes and opens on its own. The same thing has happened in my brother's room.

[00:24:27] [SPEAKER_01] The master bedroom, however, is different. I've seen a man in a bowler hat, maybe standing six feet tall, I'm not entirely sure. He would peek out from the bedroom. I've also seen things there while passing by. Is there truly something there or is it just my human instinct to find something before it finds me in the dark? I'm not sure, but I am sure that I've seen and heard things in that room. It gets worse

[00:24:56] [SPEAKER_01] if I talk about it, so I imagine I'll have a hard time sleeping tonight, as I'm sure whoever's here is watching, because they always are.

[00:25:22] [SPEAKER_02] The Footsteps in the Hall by Bballer96 This happened when I was 20. I had just moved into my first apartment by myself. I had an upstairs unit. The apartment complex didn't give me weird vibes, but something happened in my hallway that I'd like to share with you. It wasn't the main hallway inside the apartment, but the narrow one right outside my bedroom. For some reason,

[00:25:51] [SPEAKER_02] it always felt colder there. Not dramatically colder. Just enough that you noticed it when walking through at night. I mostly ignored it. Around that same time, I would usually stay up late playing Xbox with my friends, so of course my sleep schedule was horrible. Most nights, I'd be awake until like 3 or 4 in the morning with my headphones on. One night, I took my headset off because I thought I heard someone downstairs.

[00:26:21] [SPEAKER_02] At first, I figured it was the neighbor in the bottom apartment coming home late, but then I realized the sound was inside my place. It sounded like someone was walking slowly down that hallway toward my room. The floors in the apartment creaked pretty bad, so you could always tell where someone was walking. These steps were slow and spaced out, not sneaking exactly, just heavy.

[00:26:53] [SPEAKER_02] I remember staring at my bedroom doorway, waiting for someone to walk past it, but the footsteps stopped right outside my door. I waited for maybe 10 seconds, then got up and looked. Nobody was there. The hallway light was on, and the apartment was empty. It freaked me out, but I convinced myself I was just tired, and hearing things because I'd been gaming for hours.

[00:27:23] [SPEAKER_02] After that, though, it kept happening. Always late. Always the same footsteps coming down the hallway, and stopping outside my room. Eventually, I got into this habit where whenever it happened, I would immediately open the bedroom door as fast as possible, like I was trying to catch someone before they walked away. Every single time, there was nothing there. But one night,

[00:27:52] [SPEAKER_02] I had fallen asleep on the couch. I woke up sometime around 2 a.m. because I heard the footsteps again. Except this time, they sounded closer. Faster, too. Before I could even sit up completely, I heard three knocks on the wall directly behind me. Not loud pounding, just three very clear knocks. I actually yelled out loud,

[00:28:22] [SPEAKER_02] hello? I don't know if I actually expected a response. I grabbed my phone flashlight and checked the apartment, but I didn't find anything. What really got me, though, was my dog. He was usually lazy and unbothered by everything. But after the knocking happened, he would not go near that hallway at night anymore. During the day, he acted completely normal. But once it got dark,

[00:28:52] [SPEAKER_02] he'd stop right before entering it and lock in with a stare, stiff and completely silent. A few months later, I mentioned this to my downstairs neighbor while we were outside smoking. Before I even finished explaining, she told me that the last tenant told her that the apartment was haunted. She didn't give me any details, though. I didn't want to know either.

[00:29:21] [SPEAKER_02] I actually had to move back in with my parents not long after that, for financial reasons. I still have no idea what was going on in that apartment. Every true crime story has money somewhere in the mix.

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[00:32:13] [SPEAKER_01] The Neighborhood That Doesn't Exist by Tud13BerryAllen One night back in high school, I was out with some friends. It was a completely normal night. The friend who was driving drove all of the time. He knew his way around town perfectly, and so did the rest of us. Collectively, we had moved to different areas of town or changed schools throughout our lives, and we went places almost every day

[00:32:42] [SPEAKER_01] at some point. That night, at almost midnight, we cruised around the basic neighborhoods, burning time until we had to be home. Suddenly, we found ourselves lost. Not just a turn into the wrong street, or a cut into some random alleyways, but lost. We were on a suburban street that we had no idea even existed. We recognized none of the houses,

[00:33:12] [SPEAKER_01] street signs, or anything else, which already didn't make sense because we knew how to get everywhere and what the entire town looked like. We got to the end of the block, thinking maybe we would recognize something. Turned the corner expecting to be on our way, but from then on, it was just this completely random neighborhood. The street we stuck to was kind of on a slope, so we were just driving down this little hill.

[00:33:42] [SPEAKER_01] There were no street lights, just a very dim lamp on one of the curbs, and a few houses had decorative porch lights and floodlights, but they were of no help. We could only see the sidewalk and the fronts of the houses when we were cruising right past them. The sky was pitch dark with only the North Star and a couple of others visible in the distance. The blocks around this street didn't look familiar at all. The street names were completely random,

[00:34:12] [SPEAKER_01] either streets we had never heard of or streets with extremely generic names. The area didn't even fit the vibe of the town. It was almost liminal, like the design of a non-specific neighboring town, town, but with the same air as our town. We joked about being lost, but really, we were laughing out of genuine fear, not knowing how we were going to get home. You could have told us we left town by accident, and I would have believed it.

[00:34:41] [SPEAKER_01] Even though it's extremely obvious when you leave my town because it requires taking the highway, a very specific long road leading to towns that are 30 to 60 minutes away, or going over one of the bridges that have multiple signs. Many times, right after this happened, two of my friends and I, and sometimes just me alone, went around town in the daytime and nighttime taking various turns and streets trying to find where we had gotten lost. I've tried this

[00:35:11] [SPEAKER_01] as an adult as well. I've never found it. Never found any of the streets, the street lamp, or even the same slope. Did we somehow leave town on a little path without knowing it?

[00:35:46] [SPEAKER_01] Sorry, I'm so late. I was mostly on time today. I had to take my wife to a dentist appointment and then I had therapy and then I rushed to get through all my stuff, but as soon as I was about to, you know, call you, I couldn't find Chip, so I went outside and he was chewing on his own poop.

[00:36:05] [SPEAKER_02] Oh, well, I guess every story has a happy ending after all.

[00:36:09] [SPEAKER_01] It stopped him from doing it and then I went inside to go to the bathroom. Then when I came back, he had carried the poop onto my bed, onto, on top of my blanket because my wife and I use different blankets. Just sleep better that way. I recommend it to all couples. And yeah, he was just like chewing on his own poop. Wow.

[00:36:27] [SPEAKER_02] I've never heard of dogs carrying gross stuff into beds and houses. Cats for sure, like rodents and birds, but yeah, that's the first I've heard of a dog bringing in something like poop. poop.

[00:36:38] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah, he's basically a cat though and he loves cat poop. He used to, like when our old house, when we would get cats in the backyard, we would always have to stop him from eating cat poop. He's just obsessed with poop. So I have to pick up after them every day, all the time in the backyard.

[00:36:53] [SPEAKER_02] Wow. Well, I'm fostering some kittens right now, like bottle feeding, that whole thing. They need like a humidifier type of situation. They're like super, super young. I don't know what happened to the mother, but went to a rescue and they provide all the tools and everything. But anyway, yeah, my my bigger dog, he loves when anytime they're out, he likes to go up behind him and start just licking and licking and stimulating all that pooping and peeing, which is helpful, but I can't have him doing that. That's disgusting, but it does help them

[00:37:23] [SPEAKER_02] poop and pee.

[00:37:24] [SPEAKER_01] I guess we should talk about podcast stuff. Sure, sure. Hoggle says that this is a Hoggle from Discord. Yeah. Hey, so I was listening to the latest episode and I wanted to chime in on the whole time thing. I had a dream that I feel helped me understand time. Oh my God, the dogs are barking. They're going nuts right now. I'm just going to work through it. Yep. When we're in our

[00:37:53] [SPEAKER_01] physical form, there's time like a current or a river. When we're out of our form or our bodies, we're outside of time. I think we can time travel by astral projecting and, well, dying. What are your thoughts?

[00:38:10] [SPEAKER_02] That's funny that she mentions that, time traveling by dying, because in one of the stories that I read this week, the protective hand story about Sterling and the whole car accident thing. We can get into that in a little bit, but I do think that maybe there is something to that as far as when we pass away from this life form, we're capable of perceiving time in a different way that's not as linear.

[00:38:36] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah. I think so too, especially when I look back on stories from like Robert Monroe, when he would have out-of-body experiences experiences and he would just spend days and days and days, sometimes years, in like a different dimension, just messing with those people in that different dimension. I think that, yeah, as soon as you exit the body and the brain, you go into that other dimension, time probably doesn't make any sense. It doesn't matter.

[00:39:02] [SPEAKER_02] I just really want to know how come people aren't winning the lottery like day one. You know what I mean? Like, you would think lottery numbers could be something easy enough to transmit to other people here on Earth. Like, whether it's writing something in the sand or a mysterious text message something, lottery numbers should be something that people would be able to obtain quickly and conveniently.

[00:39:25] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah. I think that would be way more efficient use of your time than just haunting people, scaring people. Yeah. Celestial Molly says, speaking as someone who has ADHD, what you're describing about accidentally tuning out your wife sounds a hell of a lot like ADHD hyper focus. And I've heard that throughout my whole life. And it's always been my problem. I should definitely see somebody about it and talk to somebody about it. There's definitely

[00:39:54] [SPEAKER_01] something going on there. I've always been curious about that.

[00:39:58] [SPEAKER_02] I highly recommend it. Better late than never. Getting that diagnosis in my 30s changed everything. Like I hated just going through life feeling like, oh, I have this. But then also being all self-conscious and not wanting to be like, oh, yeah, I have ADHD and self-diagnosing myself. But enough was enough. And I just couldn't take it anymore. And I saw a good doctor who actually listened and didn't think I was just trying to get some speed. And yeah, everything really clicked after that. And Adderall completely

[00:40:27] [SPEAKER_02] changed everything for me. Even if you did like a very small dose, I think it could benefit a lot.

[00:40:32] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah, that was kind of the same thing with OCD for me. I always, you know, people always just throw that word around. But until I actually talked to a professional and found out that I have OCD, like it all clicked. It made sense. And my wife was like, yeah, duh. I could have told you that. Like, oh, yeah, yeah. People aren't supposed to be thinking about these things. Right. Yeah. It sucks. It sucks, man.

[00:40:56] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah, no, it definitely does. Have you thought about something like, I know there's secondary conditions that come with that? Like for me, ADHD that was undiagnosed resulted in depression. So then I ended up taking Welbutrin and that helped too. Have you thought about anything like that?

[00:41:11] [SPEAKER_01] No, not really. Therapy's been helping a lot and I'm seeing a therapist that specializes in this kind of thing. But it's also resulted in a lot of mind-body things. Like I'm constantly scanning my body and if there are weird sensations, I can't, I can't function. Like I can't handle it. Like my side kind of hurts a little bit. It throws off my whole day. I just obsess over it. Yeah, I get it. Yeah. Let's see. Moving on. Araceli. So we're pronouncing it right here. Araceli. But I forgive you because I love y'all.

[00:41:40] [SPEAKER_01] You just brought me back to grade school and substitute teachers mispronouncing my name. It's a Mexican name. Yeah, so in a previous episode I mispronounced your name. But hey, I learned something new today. That's a first. I haven't heard of that name. Me too. It's a nice name. I like that. Sam Lulu Bell Divine said, I'm wondering if the comment about burnt toast was actually a misremembering of the Canada Heritage Minute commercial about Dr. Wilder Penfield. That's a whole bunch of stuff I've never

[00:42:10] [SPEAKER_01] heard of.

[00:42:11] [SPEAKER_02] I got to interrupt you real quick. The Canada Heritage Minute, all I could think of was the Colgate Comedy Hour.

[00:42:18] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah, same. I thought the same thing. Yeah. Yep. And yeah, I've never heard of it. And so it was Dr. Wilder Penfield who helped a lady with seizures by probing her brain until he found a spot that made her smell burnt toast, something she always experienced before or with a seizure. It's what came to mind for me at first. And yeah, I remember reading something about seizures being connected to smelling burnt toast.

[00:42:47] [SPEAKER_01] I don't, maybe there's something there and maybe the Colgate Comedy Hour was on to something.

[00:42:54] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah, I think they could be.

[00:42:57] [SPEAKER_01] Speaking of, have you ever had gazpacho?

[00:42:59] [SPEAKER_02] No, I've been wanting to ever since that episode though.

[00:43:01] [SPEAKER_01] Me too. It's supposed to be room temperature, I guess, or a little chilled maybe. A little chilled, yeah. A little chilled, yeah. It was room temperature so it burned his mouth because he was expecting it to be cold. We'll have to get our first gazpacho together. Yes. Sinana Mouse says Absinthe was what Dumbo was drinking which is supposed to be hallucinogenic. I can't confirm because the quote unquote real stuff is illegal in the US. Hopefully no one is triggered by the mention of Dumbo

[00:43:31] [SPEAKER_01] flying under the influence. I'm sure we get a lot of angry letters about that one.

[00:43:35] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah, some pilots take that seriously.

[00:43:37] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah, I have heard that it's supposed to be hallucinogenic like the real absent so who knows.

[00:43:42] [SPEAKER_02] There's got to be something more to it than just stronger alcohol content if it does in fact induce hallucinations. I've heard that too but haven't confirmed it or really cared to dive too deep into it.

[00:43:54] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah, I just am not interested.

[00:43:55] [SPEAKER_02] No, no, there's better hallucinogens out there.

[00:43:58] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah. Let's move on to that protective hand story. I'm curious about what you thought here.

[00:44:02] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah, well like I was mentioning earlier the whole time thing Sterling clearly was protecting them. I definitely agree with the author here and it just really makes me think if after death if the people that look over us or whoever is able to look down on us right if they are able to see time in the future and kind of protect us and why it appeared in a dream you know like was it I mean it had to have been Sterling. I don't know what else like let's say let's say God.

[00:44:32] [SPEAKER_02] I don't know why God would utilize Sterling's face as the protector in that situation so that tells me it was Sterling I guess cautioning them and then also Kat had mentioned like oh we'll be safe if we stay in the car. It sounded like that was more of like a subconscious or inner knowing rather than oh yeah that dream Sterling is protecting us right now like they made the connection later so I don't know it's it's a really powerful thing.

[00:44:59] [SPEAKER_01] Yes and I'll tell you the connection I made while reading this story.

[00:45:02] [SPEAKER_02] Okay.

[00:45:03] [SPEAKER_01] We have AA as their name A.A. Vaco. Vaco?

[00:45:07] [SPEAKER_02] I say Vaco but

[00:45:09] [SPEAKER_01] Vaco sounds nicer. So their close friend's name is Sterling. Here's a wild connection here but AA Milne is the writer of the Winnie the Pooh books and Sterling Holloway I believe. Yeah Sterling Holloway was the voice of Winnie the Pooh in the animated movies.

[00:45:28] [SPEAKER_02] Oh I like that. I like that's a good conspiracy rabbit hole he could go down.

[00:45:33] [SPEAKER_01] It was the stork in Dumbo the Cheshire Cat and the Jungle Book like he did a bunch of voices. That's cool.

[00:45:41] [SPEAKER_02] I like that. I don't like Chet the driver though. Mr. Sticky Soda backseat in his Chevy Volt speeding during rush hour. He really set them off to a bad start there.

[00:45:53] [SPEAKER_01] Do you remember the Uber that picked us up at my older house when I lived in Sacramento vaguely. To take us to the airport and it smelled like cigarettes and we got out of the car and we just stank of cigarettes and we had to go to the what was it the little boys room. No we had to go to Midsummer Scream so we like we had to go there smelling like cigarettes so we had to change our clothes and everything in the hotel before we went over there.

[00:46:13] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah that is correct.

[00:46:15] [SPEAKER_01] Dude don't drive Uber if you're gonna smoke in your car.

[00:46:18] [SPEAKER_02] I don't get it. I really don't. Gotta yank their license from that. Hopefully Chet's got yanked as well. Not his license but you know what I mean. The Uber credentialings.

[00:46:29] [SPEAKER_01] Have you been to the movies lately? No.

[00:46:32] [SPEAKER_02] No. I don't remember the last movie I saw in theaters. I'd really have to think about it.

[00:46:38] [SPEAKER_01] I went and saw Hulcum. It was really good. The Adam Scott movie. Super creepy and interesting enough story. I liked it and I'll probably watch it when it comes out. But anyway moving on to the cinema time slip story. This was a very interesting story. I used to work in a movie theater and it does get a little weird and creepy especially when it's empty and it can be a little bit confusing when there are multiple screens. But the movie theater was just completely empty and there was no movie playing. He turns around and talks to a worker goes back inside.

[00:47:08] [SPEAKER_01] The movie's playing and there are already people in there. It was like he time slipped all of a sudden. That was really interesting and it reminded me of those creepy nights working at the theater and cleaning the empty theaters late late at night and we also had a ghost hunter on staff and she actually did a ghost time. I probably talked about this in the past and there were like multiple different ghosts that she said were in the theater and the one that I always got creeped out in was one that had a ghost. She said it was an old usher that was like a

[00:47:38] [SPEAKER_01] ghost that would just go walk between the halls and that one theater. I found that to be interesting. But yeah I asked about seeing a movie because when was the last time you went and saw a movie alone like this guy?

[00:47:49] [SPEAKER_02] I actually do remember that and it was The Force Awakens Star Wars Episode 7.

[00:47:55] [SPEAKER_01] Whoa that was a long time ago.

[00:47:57] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah 2015 was the last time I went to the movie theaters alone.

[00:48:00] [SPEAKER_01] How do you feel about going to the movies alone? I'm all for it. Yeah.

[00:48:03] [SPEAKER_02] I'll sit down in a restaurant alone too. It's all good.

[00:48:05] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah me too. I kind of like it. There was only a couple of movies that I've ever seen by myself. It was Licorice Pizza a few years ago. That was a really good one and then recently I went and saw Holcomb by myself because my wife has decided she just doesn't like to go to the movies anymore and I completely understand because it's all for some reason it's always a miserable time when she's there because we always end up with the loud people eating loudly being obnoxious in our theater. Whenever I go by myself they're not there. I get lucky.

[00:48:36] [SPEAKER_01] Even if you catch a

[00:48:36] [SPEAKER_02] matinee you still get a bunch of losers.

[00:48:38] [SPEAKER_01] There's always somebody man. There's always somebody ruining the movie these days and it's getting worse as time is going on.

[00:48:46] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah I get that.

[00:48:47] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah nobody wants to hear this stuff. Let's move on.

[00:48:50] [SPEAKER_02] Nope.

[00:48:52] [SPEAKER_01] I want to talk about your whistling story.

[00:48:54] [SPEAKER_02] Okay also by A.A. Vako.

[00:48:56] [SPEAKER_01] I know yeah.

[00:48:57] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah thanks for sending in a double feature here. What I really want to know is if the Kill Bill whistling was the actual tune from the movie or if it was just something similar. Of all things to haunt the place with why that? It could have been a former patient who just loved the movie or it could have just been a similar lullaby cadence. I'm not too sure.

[00:49:18] [SPEAKER_01] That immediately reminded me of the movie that that tune is actually from. There's this movie called Twisted Nerve with Hayley Mills and Hywel Bennett. They actually made a couple of movies together that I really like but Twisted Nerve is really cool. It's pretty controversial and it's dated but it's very interesting. The killer in the movie whistles that tune exactly and Tarantino just basically lifted it from the movie. It's pretty cool. You should check it out.

[00:49:44] [SPEAKER_02] I think I will. Yeah.

[00:49:45] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah. Hayley Mills is one of my favorite actresses. She was also in Endless Night with Hywel Bennett as well. That was a Agatha Christie adaptation I think. Really good movie as well. Sorry I'm nerding out super hard in this episode.

[00:49:58] [SPEAKER_02] No it's good. It's relatable. People like I think some people do like hearing this when we nerd out over certain niche. I guess films aren't niche but you know what I mean. Yeah. Well I mean Twisted Nerve is a bit niche. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. That works. Yeah. I don't really have anything else to add to this one. Appreciate the stories AA.

[00:50:15] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah. Keep sending them in if you got more. I love it. Moving on to the last one I want to talk about from my bucket this week that neighborhood story the one that doesn't exist. So I still find strange places and towns even towns that I know well like the town I live in the town that we both grew up in. I can drive around and find a place that I've never been to in that town and I don't recognize but it doesn't just disappear you know what I mean like in this story where they found themselves in a place that didn't even seem like their

[00:50:45] [SPEAKER_01] own town once they get out of that neighborhood they try to go back and find it and they can't find it. It just doesn't exist. It completely disappeared. That's creepy enough but yeah I mean even you could probably go back to our hometown and find somewhere

[00:50:59] [SPEAKER_02] you've never been right. I go on the maps a lot and look for random neighborhoods and streets and look for places that I haven't been or if say like I'm reading the police blotter and it'll say so-and-so of Parker Avenue was arrested like Parker Avenue where's that and I'll look it up and then sure enough like huh I don't I've never been there but I know exactly where that could be. I could navigate there easily but I know for a fact I've never been down that street or ever had a reason to and our town's not even

[00:51:29] [SPEAKER_02] that big which is even more fun. I kind of want to go back and look at all of it.

[00:51:34] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah. Speaking of going to the movies by ourselves and police scanners man there's a lot of uh synchronicities and connections here. I was recently going to go to the movies like two weeks ago and I went to get some grab some food beforehand and I decided you know what I just don't want to see a movie and I went home when I got home my wife was like I'm glad you didn't go see a movie. There was a fight at the movie theater with 50 teenagers. It was like a giant brawl that was on the police skater. Think about it 50 teenagers brawling.

[00:52:03] [SPEAKER_01] I'm like I kind of wish I would have been there.

[00:52:05] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah seriously just teenagers how harmful could they really be if they don't have guns and you're minding your own business that's some good entertainment right there.

[00:52:14] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah. Anyways yeah very cool uh very cool neighborhood story. You know how did we ever get around without Google Maps? I know we I used to print out MapQuest and stuff and definitely try to follow that but before that you had to write shit down and just figure it out. Do you remember that?

[00:52:30] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah I didn't start driving until like 2007 and by then I had a TomTom but the MapQuest era that was more like when our parents were driving us and I was always so impressed how like any adult just could get in a car and drive hours away like how can they do that? I guess Maps is the answer.

[00:52:49] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah I always think of a goofy movie and the map like that's just how everyone got around back then.

[00:52:54] [SPEAKER_02] Max that ugh what a turd.

[00:52:57] [SPEAKER_01] He was a turd. Yeah anyways uh thanks everybody so much for listening. Uh we had some cool stories this week some cool feedback. If you have a story make sure you send it in to stories at oddtrails.com and if you want to get ad-free episodes go to patreon.com forward slash oddtrails to sign up and support the show and check out the new episodes of my other podcast Let's Not Meet in the Old Time Radiocast. See you next week. Stay safe. Peace out.

[00:53:19] [SPEAKER_00] The ghosts and the ghouls disturb you guys.