S20 Ep35: Unbelievable tales from Utah (Sn. 20 Ep. 35)

I know that you want to listen to your podcast, so I'll keep it short. Because if you think it's important to make a duurzame keuze, can ASR maybe help? I think, how then? Well, for example, when you're doing something to do with the things you love to do with Schade. Will you know more about the instructions where a duurzaam schade-restal can be? Go to asr.nl slash duurzamekeuzes. This does ASR for you and a duurzame community. ASR does it. So, then you can now listen to your podcast. Starting a business can be overwhelming. You're juggling multiple roles, designer, marketer, logistics manager, all while bringing your vision to life. Shopify helps millions of business sell online. Build fast with templates and AI descriptions and photos, inventory and shipping. Sign up for your one euro per month trial and start selling today at shopify.nl. That's shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. Let's do sick! Good evening and welcome to Monsters Among Us. I am your guide, Derek Hayes. Hello everyone, and welcome back to Storytime. I'm not only your guide, but I'm your curator as well. And I've curated quite a collection for you here this evening. An episode full of tales that all stem from one particular place. The 45th state, the 30th most populated, one quarter of the infamous Four Corners states, home to several national parks and one of the largest inland bodies of water in the U.S. I'm talking about the state of Utah. And tonight's show is jam-packed with calls from that very location. So, let's get it all started. Beginning with the wild entry from Kay. Hi Derek, my name is Kay. I live in Utah and this story takes place, I want to say, when I was around three, maybe four years old and during the time my parents both worked. So during school time, well if I was around three or four, I probably wasn't in school. My sister was and my grandma would take care of us while my parents worked. During this time, I remember very distinctly, my grandma had like an old computer desk in her office. So just to make a layout of where my grandma lived, she lived in like a little duplex. And this duplex was, you know, just one floor. It maybe had two, maybe three bedrooms. And one of the bedrooms was used for her office. And in this office, she had one of these really old computers from the early 2000s that was, you know, pretty high-end at the time, and I was really fascinated by it. I wanted to, you know, learn how to use it, but I was really young, so I wasn't allowed to use it. So while my grandma and older sister were out of the room, I remember having this inclination of wanting to get on top of the computer desk, you know, how kids are at these days, you know, just want to explore. The world is your jungle gym, you know? And I remember climbing up on the chair and getting up on top of the desk. And I was stood up just kind of like trying to figure out how this computer worked. And all of a sudden I fell off the desk. And as I was falling, I remember very distinctly, I was like basically falling in slow motion. And I'm not sure what to attribute that to maybe it was just like a trick of the brain maybe you know this was a very long time ago I'm 23 now so this was almost 20 years ago now but I do remember that I was falling in slow motion and I was like reaching for the air like trying to grab onto something and it maybe took me around five to seven seconds to actually finally hit the ground and I'm not sure how tall the desk was, maybe like three feet off the ground. So that was a good five foot drop for me if I was standing straight up and I fell on my back, like I said, because I was reaching for the air. So when I hit the ground, finally, I didn't feel any pain. You know, I didn't feel anything. it felt like I was like light as a feather just slowly falling to the ground and my sister or grandma didn't come running in to like see what happened because I didn't make like any thud or anything like that and like I said the floor plan was like there was no basement no upstairs it was just all one level so there's no way they could not have heard me if I did make a thud you know so to this day I can't explain it but I like to think maybe this was like a guardian angel and you know it kind of gives me hope that I wasn't supposed to be hurt that day and I have more to give to this world and yeah thanks for your time bye thanks Kay that's not the first time we've heard a detail like that just last season on season 19 episode 4 I shared a story from Catherine who also attributed an angel for saving a woman from a disastrous fall. And I'm sure these two aren't the only examples of this phenomenon that are out there. Thought-provoking stuff, Kay. And we thank you again for getting us started. And to keep us going here tonight, please welcome Blair to the show. Hi, my name is Sawyer. I'm from Utah. And I had a scary story I learned still. It happened to me. It was probably between the ages of 9 and 12. Probably like 3 in the morning as I was sleeping. I woken up from a dream, I guess. I don't remember what the dream was. but as I woke up I noticed that there weren't any sheets or blankets on me and as I rolled over I saw my sheets they were floating up like a foot and a half, two feet in the air and it really freaked me out but it was just like for a split second and then it fell back down on me I didn't see ghosts or ghouls or anything at all but it just really freaked me out I never told anyone about it. That's all I got. I love the podcast. Keep it spooky. Bye. Thank you, Blair. Now, if stories like this are what Utah has in store for us, it's going to be one hell of a night. And we'll get to those additional entries right after these brief messages. Thank you, Blair. That is one thing we must not say. I don't accept this. So, we can now listen to your podcast. Membership is free. So sign up today. Now let's welcome Eric as tonight's next contributor. Hi, Derek. This is Eric. I am in Utah. I am 32 years old. So I'm recently divorced. I just was moving out of my place. And due to financial reasons, I had to move back into my mom's basement. On the day that I'm set to move in, my mom and her fiance are actually out camping, so I'm moving in to the house by myself. There's no one else here. I spent the whole day moving in, you know, did my whole thing. I go to go to bed, passed out, exhausted, spent the whole day moving. Now, it's the middle of the night. I'm dead asleep and I'm in the basement. My mom has hardwood floors upstairs and she has a couple little dogs. So I'm dead asleep and all of a sudden I hear like the sound of dogs running around upstairs. You know what I mean? You can hear like the click clatter of like them running around upstairs. And I don't have any idea what time it is. and I'm thinking to myself like oh like maybe she came home early from camping because I know it's still dark outside so I'm laying there and I'm trying to fall back to sleep next thing I know my bedroom light turns on and like wakes me up wakes me up now you know when you're dead asleep and pitch black and somebody turns the light on you don't immediately like open your eyes the light kind of hurts your eyes so you're kind of squinting so I kind of like halfway open my eyes like squinting like looking around and there is an old lady standing in my doorway pointing at me and at first I guess I just barely like open my eyes for like a split second and then I like closed them again because the light hurt my eyes but for the split second that my eyes open. In my head, I was thinking like maybe my mom came home early from her camping trip. I closed my eyes and I tried to open them again. I'm kind of squinting and there's an old lady. Yeah, she's sitting there pointing at me. And then next thing I know, she turns the light off and exits my room and closes the door behind her. Like I said, I had just barely woken up. So I'm laying there for a minute. Now I'm awake. And I reach over and I grab my phone and I look. And it's like three something o'clock in the morning. So then it hits me and I realize like, okay. Like, if my mom just got home from a camping trip at 3 o'clock in the morning, like, something is wrong. You know, who comes home from a trip, you know, that early in the morning? So, I get up, and I go upstairs in the end of the front room and stuff. I'm looking around. The entire house is pitch black. Nobody's here. Everything is locked up. so naturally I'm like what the heck just happened I searched the entire house off the bottom I even open up the front door I go outside look in the driveway there's no cars here there's no nothing so I come back downstairs and I'm sitting there really thinking to myself what just happened a long time listener I love the show thank you Eric an old lady standing in your doorway, pointing right at you. Gnarly stuff, Eric. And how rude of the entity to flip the light on like that. I accidentally do that to our cats from time to time. I suppose to them, I am the old lady in this scenario. I was unhinged as that experience might be, Eric. You have to at least be a little grateful that she turned the lights back off afterward. and that ruckus that Eric heard that he thought was his mother and stepfather could that have been that same old lady like I said gnarly stuff Eric and we love every second of it thank you again for ringing in now folks if you too have a story you would like to share give our hotline a call at 888-608-9 That's 888-608-NIGHT. Or shoot us a voice memo to MonstersAmongUsPodcast at gmail.com. Operators are standing by. Now up next, we stay in the state of Utah. Of course. Please welcome G to the program. Hi, my name is G. I just found your podcast, and I'm, you know, listening through the back catalog, and I'm on season 11, episode 19, and the story from the firefighter about the dreams he had and this attachment. My God, if this guy is not describing this thing that I have dealt with my entire life, okay, so here's where it starts. When I was about 11 or 12, this thing started happening where I would fall asleep and I would have this dream, and it was the same dream every single time. Everything was white, everything. I was in this white nothingness. Essentially, I was in this white space, and this dread would sink in. The dread is this thing, it is visceral, it is all-encompassing, and it would wash over me in this dream. And then basically, I would watch everyone I love taking turns die, essentially. And I would wake up in this insane panic. I don't know if it was a night terror, but like I could get up and walk around and see. And I have memories of this. But the level of dread and fear and panic I would feel. It's like my body was awake and I could move, but my brain couldn't feel anything but this like insane fear. I would run around screaming and my parents finally figured out if they poured something cold on my head, I would come out of it. So this went on for about a year or two, right? you know, then it went away. But then that changed into something else. And the dread remained, you know, I would be, you know, going about my life, and I would get this feeling of sinking downwards, almost out of myself and accompanying that with this dread. Oh, my God, it's so hard to explain. Dread is the only word I have for it. Then came the nightmares. So I'm 34 now. And ever since I was a teenager, I started getting these nightmares and they were, God, so horrifying, violent, things that I can't even tell people. And they started coming every single night, all night long for years. Three months on, three months off, three months on, three months off. And that's continuing to this day. However a couple years ago I started exploring my own spiritual path and the person who was mentoring me he among several other people in my life at different times had said something akin to well we think you have an attachment you have an attachment. So I went through this incredibly intense month-long, basically like cord-cutting ritual, and it stopped for a while, you know. I've been through a lot of things since then, and I'm always afraid that it's going to come back. The nightmares, like I said, are still there, but they're not the same kind that they once were. But I just had to call in after hearing that because, man, hearing somebody else describe so closely this thing that I have gone through my whole life and hardly told anyone about it, it was just insane and I had to call. Anyway, thank you. Bye. We appreciate your time, G. That sounds pretty intense. And it sort of sounds like sleep paralysis could be involved. But it also sounds like something supernatural might be at play here as well. And for this story to be so similar to Justin's call from Season 11, Episode 19, it's a wild coincidence, at the very least. Incredible stuff, G. Thanks again for calling in. This is why I have life insurance. Search engines were filled with... Uhm, I know you want to listen to your podcast, so I'll keep it short. Because if you think it's important to make a cost-effective choices, can ASR maybe help? Now I think, how then? Well, for example, when you're paying a cost-effective money, who are loved by harm. Want more information about the insurance where cost-effective harm is possible? Go to asr.nl slash duurzamekeuzes. This does ASR for you and a sustainable society. ASR does it. So, now you can listen to your podcast. and photos, inventory and shipping. Sign up for your one euro per month trial and start selling today at Shopify.nl. That's Shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. Stupid blanket statement. Well, uh... Now next up is a call from Macy. Now there is a brief mention of suicide in this one, so proceed with caution. Menar. I was vengeful. So I looked up the girl's boyfriend whom she was cheating on for my boyfriend. And I connected with him. And I found out that he was actually friends with my cousins since childhood. So we became really good friends. And he decided to move in with me just as a roommate, as a friend. While we lived in this apartment, we had these really strange experiences. This one day, I just was walking towards the front door. I think I was leaving. And to my right on this blank wall, there was no mirrors or windows. I saw a shadow man, a full apparition shadow man walk directly next to me on this wall. It didn't spook me or give me like an evil feeling. It just kind of took me by surprise and I tried to analyze it. I think my brain didn't fully process what it was, so I didn't mention it to my roommate. We'll call him Ken. And he came home and later that night, he was like a DJ. He's really good at like making up his own songs and doing raps. And we used to play on this machine he had where he would spin and we would just spit raps. Well, later on that night, We were just dinking around, having fun and just making up raps. We hadn't been drinking. We didn't smoke marijuana or anything. We were sober friends. All of a sudden, he said, there is a shadow behind you on the wall. And that's when I got spooked. It just hit me that what I had seen earlier that day was indeed something. So I laughed at him. I tried to play cool and I laughed at him. And then about five minutes later, I saw another one on the wall behind him. So we turned off the music and we got scared and went to bed. Well, about a month later, he decided to move out and I lived alone there. And the longer that I stayed there, the more of an evil, evil presence I could feel in this apartment. I couldn't figure out why. And I would lock my doors. This one night, I heard three knocks really loudly in the dead of night at my front door. And I thought it might have been him or maybe the ex-boyfriend. And I ran to the front door and looked through the peephole, and no one was there. So I got the nerve to open the door, and I kind of stepped out and looked around, and there was just nobody. At that point, I got really scared to stay there alone, and I researched different places that I could move into, and I ended up moving out shortly thereafter. And during the transition of my move, I left some furniture and some stuff in there for a few weeks while I was transitioning. And one day I went back. The door had been, it looked like someone had tried to break in. Like it looked like someone had taken a crowbar and just bent all the metal around the door. The very last thing I took out of that place was a trash bag and I put it outside my front door. And it was leaking and I took it to the garbage. And when I came back outside my front door, the leak had formed into like the form of an angel. And I took a picture and I saved it. Just the whole experience was very bizarre. The most bizarre part of the experience is I had reconnected on Instagram with this friend, Ken, just to ask him kind of how he was doing. And he mentioned to me that he didn't think it was the ex-boyfriend that came and tried to break in. because he said that particular apartment complex was the only complex in Salt Lake where my ex-boyfriend would never, ever step foot. And that is because they had a mutual friend who committed suicide there. I always wondered if this apartment was where their mutual friend had actually committed suicide and that we were being haunted by this friend. I've looked up shadow people. I can't comprehend what they are, what they're made of. I've had my own near-death experience, and I know there's some sort of existence outside of our realm. Anyway, I'm a huge fan of the show, and thank you for letting me share. Thank you, Macy. Now I get why you would want to leave. That sounds like a wild apartment. And if you are curious enough about the history of that apartment, you can always visit DiedInHouse.com and do a report. I believe you will get your answers then. And on the topic of haunted apartments in the state of Utah, please welcome Zach to the program. Hi there, this is Zach from Utah. So my girlfriend and I live in this apartment. We've been in there for not too long now, just a couple months. And there have been a couple of weird things that have gone on. The first one, it was in the winter. And my girlfriend woke me up because she was laying in her bed and she heard, like, coughing. She said it was like an old man coughing. It sounded like it was coming from in her room. It wasn't like coming from outside or the one in the neighborhood. It sounded like it was in the room. It's a small apartment. It's not like somebody was hiding in there. We just chalked it up to maybe a nightmare. I don't know. Then there's another instance. I was alone at the apartment. I was working in my office. I had the office door open. It was probably 9 or 10 o'clock at night, doing some late-night work. My girlfriend was out running some errands. And out of the corner of my eye, I saw something small and black peek around the corner of my door and run away as I went to look at it. And I thought, oh, she's home because she has a small brown chihuahua that she takes with her when she goes on errands or whatever. So I thought, oh, she's home. And that was the chihuahua, right? I was like, hey, babe. Nothing. I stand up, go out there. Nobody. Nothing. And I saw something looking at me from that door for now. I have no idea what it was. This is all taking place over the course of like from December to like early February. I woke up one morning and I heard the sound of somebody doing the dishes in the kitchen. Normally I do the dishes, but the night before it would have been late, I hadn't done it. So I was like, oh, my girlfriend's doing the dishes, that's nice of her. Because we have relatively thin walls. I could hear the sound of plates clinking, the cupboards opening and closing. I was like, oh, that's so nice of her. I'll go thank her. I got up, walked out there, nothing. But one of the cupboards was open, but all the dishes had not been done. And my girlfriend was still sleeping. So we're looking to possibly not stay here. We're not super comfortable. I'm more of a skeptic than she is, but she told me a couple times how she felt like something was watching her. Just felt uncomfortable. I don't know how to feel, but I definitely saw and heard something. Maybe I'm crazy. I like the show, and thanks. Bye. Thank you, Zach. No apartments are the only structures that are said to be haunted in the beehive state. The following list of haunts is courtesy of KSL.com. You have Rock Canyon Trail outside of Provo. By day, it's a peaceful family hike. But by night, hikers report phantom footsteps, ghostly figures, eerie lights, whispers, and apparitions, including a 1970s clad man and a singing young girl linked to decades of mysterious disappearances. Then there's Peekaboo Slot Canyon and Spooky Gulch. Now Peekaboo and Spooky Gulch and Grand Staircase Escalante are narrow slot canyons requiring sideways passage and scrambling along a three and a half mile loop. Known for its disembodied, wind echoed laughter, their silent twisting walls feel beautiful by day, yet haunting after dark. Then you have Dead Horse Point in Moab. Dead Horse Point overlooks the Colorado River, abandoned by cowboys whose spirit roam the rim. Visitors report phantom hoofbeats and equinesque silhouettes. And finally, there's the Bigelow Hotel in Ogden. Used as a boarding house, the Bigelow Hotel, also known as the Reed Hotel and the Ben Lomond Hotel, was notorious for its underground tunnels built for smuggling alcohol and other illicit contraband. The hotel's guests were a revolving door of outlaws, gamblers, and sex workers who brought their own type of trouble. Paranormal reports include the faucet turning on in the tub where a woman drowned, the smell of cigar smoke, disembodied whispers, and elevator doors that open at odd hours. Now for the complete list, be sure to visit our show notes. And if you find yourself in the Mormon state, perhaps you'll want to check out a few of these unearthly locales. Thanks again to both Macy and Zach for sharing. With precision and without... With a dedication to lasting quality. I know you want to listen to your podcast, so I'll keep it short. Because if you think it's important to make a cost-effective choices, maybe Acer can help. I think, how then? For example, when you're selling the things you love to buy, you want to know more about the insurance where a cost-effective choice is? Go to acer.nl. This does Acer for you and a cost-effective community. Acer does it. So, now you can listen to your podcast. designer, marketer, logistics manager, all while bringing your vision to life. Shopify helps millions of business sell online. Build fast with templates and AI descriptions and photos, inventory and shipping. Sign up for your one euro per month trial and start selling today at shopify.nl. That's shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. We didn't find any fraud. Now time for her next entry. Peggy, you're on the air. Hi, my name is Peggy and I'm calling from Utah. My story takes place back in the 80s. I was a dispatcher for the Utah Highway Patrol and it's part of the area that we patrolled was Provo Canyon. And Provo Canyon had a winding road that was up against the Provo River. Part of our training involved us going on what's called ride-alongs with the troopers so we get a feel for what it's like on the other side of the radio from where we're dispatching. And one night I was on a ride-along with an older gentleman who'd been with the patrol for over 20 years. And he was kind of grizzled and kind of scary to us new dispatchers, but I'm on a ride along with him. And as we're going along, I asked him, I said, well, you've been with patrol long enough now. Do you have any weird or unusual stories about patrolling? And he hesitated for about a long 15, 20 seconds. And then he said, I'm going to tell you this story, and I don't know if you're going to believe me or not. But this is what happened. He was patrolling one night, and it was raining. They got a call, but there was an accident in Provo Canyon. and there was a notorious curve in this canyon that is hard to see at night, especially when it's raining. And on this curve had been many accidents. So it's your typical dead man's curve. And it was a straight, rocky embankment down into the river on this curve. There's not a lot of shoulders. So apparently, and this was back before a cell phone, so if there was an accident in Pearl Canyon, people had to drive out of the canyon to the nearest payphone to call for help. and that's what had happened. The car had gone into the river, and it flipped upside down right there on Dead Nun's Curve, and this particular trooper was the first one to be sent up to it, and he got there first, and there was a couple of cars parked along the side of the road with people out there in the rain, and there were bodies or people laying on the side of the road, and as he started to examine them, they were alive, and a couple of them were unconscious, and as the ambulance and other personnel started to arrive they started to ask these kids they were teenagers what had happened as they're sitting in tow cars waiting for ambulances and the first one was sitting with a particular trooper in their car trying to get warm and said what happened and he said i don't know we were driving and then the next thing i know we went off the road and he said and then how did you get up on the embankment and he said i don't know and he says what do you mean you don't know and he said i remember that i died and then the next thing i know i was on the embankment and you were there and he said what do you mean you died and he said i was in the water and i couldn breathe and i died now the next teenager that they spoke to didn say they died said that they went unconscious But they don't know how they got up on the side of the road. The third teenager also said, I died. I was choking on water and I drowned. And the next thing I know, I was up on the side of the road. And you guys were there helping me. and the fourth teenager they had to talk to in the hospital because they were unconscious and didn't regain consciousness at the scene but when the trooper went in to speak to them later to follow up on his reporting the teenager also said i don't know i thought i drowned and i don't know how i made it up on the embankment the next thing i remember is i'm on the embankment and when the trooper talked to the people at the scene none of them said that they were the ones that pulled these kids out of the water, and nobody had seen anybody pulling these kids out of the water. They just came upon the scene with the kids like that. And it was a steep, rocky embatement that would have been really hard for one person, let alone several people, to pull these people out of their upside-down car submerged. So, that gives me chills to this day. That's my guardian angel story, but love your podcast. Thank you, Peggy. What a tale. Now I hear your suggestion that it might have been a guardian angel. And sure, that makes a lot of sense. But let me toss out one other, not so obvious, suspect. Something a little more earthbound. Now Peggy mentioned that it would have taken great strength for the teens to have been pulled from the water and up the rocky embankment. So what if it was someone or something? known for its size and power. A creature that said to roam that part of Utah. For more than 20 years now, the Provo area and Provo Canyon specifically has been rumored to harbor a monster. Eight feet tall, covered in hair, in human strength. Most know the creature as Bigfoot. Now there are a number of videos that supposedly show that creature That have stemmed from that very area There are links in the show notes If you don't believe me So is it possible that a passing Squatch Saw the kids in peril And stepped in to help It might be a bit of a stretch But so are guardian angels If you don't believe in them Either way, what an incredible story, Peggy. So thank you again for sharing. And speaking of monsters, the state of Utah is full of them. There's the Bear Lake Monster, an aquatic creature that lurks below the surface of that freshwater lake. Accounts from early settlers claim that the cream-colored sea serpent is anywhere between 50 and 90 feet in length, with a spindly body and a horse-like hat. You also have the water babies of Utah Lake. Folklore from the Shoshone and Paiute nations tell of spirits that dwell in springs, lakes, and other bodies of water. Described as having long, dark hair, fangs, fishtails, and scaly skin, the entities appear as crying infants and lord victims to the water's edge only to pull them under or perhaps you've heard of old Ephraim old Ephraim was a massive bear that roamed the northern mountains of Utah back in the early 20th century standing over nine feet tall and weighing over 1,000 pounds, Old Ephraim terrorized local farmers and their flocks. Eventually, Ephraim was hunted down by a farmer, and now the bear's 18-inch skull is displayed at the Smithsonian Institute. Now there's also the Wasatch Wildman and the monster of the Uintas, including the aforementioned Provo Canyon creature, a bipedal, Sasquatch-type cryptid that stands over 8 feet tall with long, dark fur, and glowing eyes. Sightings of the creature date back decades and became more numerous during the 70s and 80s. I know Utah is a big outdoor recreation state, so be careful out there if you find yourself in the wilds of Utah. And truth be told, from the sounds of some of these calls, I guess you should be careful indoors as well. The beehive state seems to be quite paranormally active. Take Alexander's story here, for example. Hey Derek, my name is Alexander. I'm calling from Utah. I wanted to tell you some stories about the haunted house that I grew up in. So when I was like 8 or 9, the house was, there was the main floor, then there was a basement. So I was up on the main floor and my brother and I were home alone. At the time, I was probably like eight or nine. So he would have been like 12 or 13. We were just standing in the kitchen. We were talking and we had a watering can sitting on the island next to us. Right. So this is kind of late. It's probably like 10 or 1030. And we're sitting there talking. And suddenly this watering can, like it tips over onto his side. but then immediately it comes right back up and then tips over onto its other side then again immediately comes right back up and then tips back over onto the other side again it does this like four or five times like it's going back and forth almost like a hand on a pendulum and it kind of surprised us you know we're looking at it we're like what on earth is this watering can doing So, you know, my brother, being the budding scientist that he was, he would later go on to geology. But even at the time, he was already, like, viewing things through the scientific method. So he thought, well, let's try to replicate this. So we're sitting there. We're hitting the island. We're jumping up and down. We're slamming cabinets. You know, we're doing everything we can. And this watering can does not move. does not move a single inch. And the thing is, you could say maybe it's like an earthquake, right? But nothing else moved, just this watering can. So we thought that was pretty weird, and we decided to call it a night there. We went back downstairs where our bedrooms were. Now, the second story happened a couple years later. I was probably about 12 at this time. And my sister had a big toy plush horse. You know, like those big teddy bears that are like the size of a person, you know, that like little kids can sleep on as like a mini bed. It was kind of like that, except this was a horse and she would sit on the back of it, pretend she was riding it, you know, like all this stuff that kids do. She was only like five or six at the time. So I went down the stairs and out of the corner of my eye, I saw this plush toy horse. And I'm standing at the base of the stairs and I look over at it. And for some reason, this horse terrifies me. I'm sitting there and I'm staring at it. And I've never felt fear like that before. Like never in my life. But at the same time, my brain is going like, why are we scared? There's nothing here. This is just a toy. And I look at its head. And on its head, only one of the eyes was visible from where I was standing. It's like those black, like marble kind of glassy eyes, right? So I'm looking at this eye. And then suddenly the horse's head moves just a tiny bit. But it moves so that I can see the other eye too. And it's like it's looking directly at me. And once again, scared me half to death. I went running back up the stairs the whole time. You know that feeling where you feel like you're being chased up the stairs. I look back, I'm half expecting this toy plush to be, you know, crawling up the stairs after me. It didn't, of course, it wasn't there. So I stayed upstairs for an hour or two. And then I finally went back down and the horse's head was back to where it was before. So you could only see the one eye. But the weird thing is, I didn't feel scared at all when I saw it. I looked at it and I said, oh, there's the toy. And it's like all the fear had just vanished. and so I just ignored it. I went about my day. Now, in that basement, there was a storage room and it was shaped like a big L. So there was a long hallway and then it would curve at the end so there was another little section like the bottom of an L. And you couldn't see into that part of the room from the doorway. You had to go down to the very end so you could see everything there. And that room always terrified me a little bit because you can't see the whole room from the doorway. And so I always thought, oh, what if there's something hiding in there? The weird thing about it was that the door to that storage room would never stay shut. So I was working late. This was when I was much older, when I was like 19, 20, 21. At the time, I was a manager of a movie theater. And I would work closing shifts. And the thing is that when super long movies would come out, you would be out until, you know, three or four, right? So I would be the only person awake in the house. My parents were working regular jobs. I was still living at home at the time. My brother was attending college and, you know, he wasn't taking night classes, so he was asleep. My sister was still in high school at the time, so she was still asleep. So I would be the only one awake at the house at like 2.30, 3, 3.30, 4. So I would come downstairs to the basement where my bedroom was, and that doorway would always be open. Always. It was never shut. And I always hated seeing that doorway open, especially, you know, at 3 o'clock in the morning and it's dark. So I would go and I would shut the door. And I noticed that after a while, what would happen was that I would sit in the living room with my back to that door, because that's where my computer was at the time. And I'd just play around on my computer a little bit before I go to bed. So I would sit with my back to the door, and then there would be times where I would turn around, and the door would be open again, even though I distinctly remember shutting it. and every time that happened, it made me feel a little scared. But my logical part of the brain was going, oh, well, you just didn't click the door shut. Like, you didn't shut it all the way, and the natural airflow of the house just made it open a little bit. So what I would do is I began shutting it, and then I would pull the door until I heard the latch click into place, and then I would push on the door, to make sure that it didn't open again, right? To make sure that the latch was fully in place. It's the same thing that we would do when we were locking up the movie theater. But there were still, once or twice, only one time I heard it. But there'd be once or twice where the door would open again. And that one time I was sitting there and I clicked it shut, you know, and I pressed it, I made sure the door was shut. And then I sat down at my computer with my back to that door. I was only like five or ten feet away. and then I heard the knob turn and the door popped open. And so, of course, at that point, I'm thinking there's an intruder. So I pop open that door, you know, I turn on all the lights, I run in like I'm holding a knife. Nothing there, room's empty. And after that, I'd never looked at that door as much as I could. I just avoided it. That basement, I was not the only person who felt this. My brother lived down there with me as well at the time. He and I both always felt like we were being watched. So when I would sleep, my bed was in the corner. I could not lay with my back to the door of that room because it felt like something would be sneaking up on me. So I could only lay so that I could see that door. I also felt like, you know that moment where you're taking off a shirt, you pull it over your head, and the cloth of the shirt kind of covers your face for a second? Almost every single time I changed, almost every day, I felt like there would be something standing there watching me once the shirt was up over my head. And my brother felt very similarly, which I did not know until five years after we moved out of that house, and I spoke to him and I asked him if he ever felt that way. And he said, all the time. I always felt like something was watching me down there. And my parents moved to a new house. And at the time, since I was still living with them, I decided to move as well because I was still going to college. So we all moved to this new house. And at this new house, I didn't feel any of it. It was like, it was that house. Anyways, Derek, I want to thank you for the show. you and the whole team, you guys are great. Bye. Thank you, Alexander. Now, our editor, Connor, has suggested that a mouse might have gotten trapped inside the water can, and as it ran from side to side in search of an exit, it caused the can to rock back and forth. Now, if that were the case, I imagine it would have to be a pretty big mouse. But what do you think here, folks? How do you explain the experiences Alexander and his siblings had? Well, I don't know if we'll ever get an answer. But I can say that we thank you, Alexander, for taking the time to call in. Now gang, I have one more ad break to get through. But don't go anywhere. I have more creepy Utah stories right after this. It is so baffling to me. I'm sorry to listen to your life. Come together. Per doet het. So, we kunnen nu lekker naar je podcast luisteren. Starting a business can be overwhelming. You're juggling multiple roles. Designer, marketer, logistics manager. All while bringing your vision to life. Shopify helps millions of business sell online. Build fast with templates and AI descriptions and photos, inventory and shipping. Sign up for your one euro per month trial and start selling today at Shopify.nl. That's Shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. It has to go deeper. It absolutely must. Now these next two stories take place at a very similar facility. Please welcome Dave to the program. Hi Derek, this is Dave from northern Utah. My father has worked at the same nursing home facility for my whole life, and so I've basically grown up there. When I was five years old, so this would have been the year 2000, it was winter, if I remember right, January. I was walking out with my dad, and it was dinnertime, and so residents were in a main dining room area. And all of a sudden, all the nurses started to panic, and we looked over, and this resident fell over. and the nurses go over to help her out. And, you know, we just left. The next morning my dad wakes me up and he goes, hey son, are you okay? I just wanna make sure you're all right. I was like, yeah, I'm fine. He like well do you remember that lady from last night And I was like oh yeah the one that was having struggles He like well yeah she passed away And I just want to make sure you okay Cause it the first person to get you back And being that old I wasn really affected by it I didn think much of it You know, I didn't comprehend life and death. Fast forward 14 years. I was 19 at the time. I was currently working in the kitchen, you know, doing random things. And so that particular evening I was serving this main dining room. Now everybody sits in the same spot. If a resident sits there, that's where they sit. The person that had passed away is a very clean eater, very particular lady from what I've been told. The person that now sat in that spot was very much the same way. Very quiet man, just very clean eating. Well, one night he made just an absolute mess, just not who he was. And I was thinking this and I was like, this is really weird. So either way, I just went on with my day. I cleaned it up and kept going. Later, I'm sitting here wiping down carts, and there's double doors to go from the kitchen to this dining room. And it's my responsibility for this certain shift to shut the doors. And there's deadbolts at the top. So I shut the doors, and I look up to shut the deadbolt, and I look down, and boom, there's this lady in front of me, directly my height, my eye contact. It screwed the crap out of me. You know, elderly woman, you know, graying hair, pale face, slender. And I'm just like, holy crap, okay. So I look up to unbolt the deadbolt and I look down again and she's gone. And so I'm freaking out like, what in the crap? Where's this resident gone? Because I think it's a resident. And I go through the doors and I immediately around the hallway because there's a long hallway to go back towards the resident's room. there's no way this person probably made the length of the hallway in time for me to miss her and I'm like okay that's weird you know I just missed it I'm like I'm seeing things so I shut the door again and I go on my way and now I'm wiping off carts and it's about 10 minutes later and somebody else pushes dishes past me and as he pushes them past they make noise and I look up and this lady is right there again and so then i'm just yelling at him and i said ryan get your ass through that door right now and go stop that lady like right now do not let her leave and i busted out a side door that went directly into the hallway that led back to the residence rooms and this lady was nowhere and i told ryan what was going on so we walked to the back of the dining room which is not a very big one but there is a wall that wraps around that goes to another part of it and she wasn't there and he was like dude I just don't feel good both of us were the hair standing on the back of our necks and we were just like yeah let's just go so I went home and I told my dad about it and he was like huh let me do some checking and so I go into work the next day and my boss my dad and the director of nursing who's been there just as long as my dad has are both sitting there when I walked in and they had a bunch of files and they were like, okay, we heard your story. Do you see the person you saw last night in one of these files? And I immediately saw her and I pointed at it and they all kind of gasped. And my dad just goes, do you remember the person that passed away? You know, when you were a kid and I was like, yeah, I do. And my dad was like, well, the day that I'd seen this was the anniversary of this lady's dead and the look on her face i don't know my original feeling was fear but now looking back on it like i said i was very disturbed that this man had left a mess and obviously now looking back i'm like holy crap this lady was you know causing him to be upset and so i don't really know you know why she's upset she passed away from choking so maybe she was upset the nurses would have passed away and just the fact that maybe I was there and that I was there on the anniversary and that I had served the dinner to this gentleman that made the mess. Maybe it was all enough connection to let her control him and affect his emotions. It was really weird. While I'm here, I figured I'd share another story with you about this same nursing home as I'd mentioned. My father has lived there my whole life. And the man that he took over from apparently had sounded a lot like he did. I was 15 at the time of this story. There is one elevator in this building, and it's a service elevator. The shaft is very loud and Nicholas. Me and my friend were there helping my dad, and we shut the elevator doors, and he told us he would meet us up top. and right as the elevator door shut, we had watched my dad go out the side door and go up some stairs. So he was out of the building at this time and right as we shut the door, we heard what me and my friend were for sure certain, my dad, and he just said, oh, f***. So at this point, this is very typical of my dad when he was angry. So me and my friend are sitting here going, oh, we're going to get in for it. So when we get to the top, and we said, we heard you swearing, and we figured we did something wrong or something else came up. What's going on? And he said, no. I thought for certain that was you guys. And so then we all looked at each other, and then that's when he told us. He's like, well, I've been told I sound like the man that I took over for, and at this point, that man had passed on. So that's my story for tonight. I really love the podcast. Bye. Thank you, Dave. Now I know they're not supposed to be, but nursing homes can be creepy AF. And based on what we're about to hear with this next entry, the same vibe can be extended to other similar facilities. Please welcome Rockwell to the Airwaves. Hi Derek, this is Rockwell in Utah. I used to work as a caregiver for people with mental and physical disabilities. group homes. So, you know, like it'd be four or five individuals who would live in a home. We'd go in and spend our shift there taking care of like cooking, cleaning, playing games with them, just, you know, helping them have a life. So I got hired on and started working in a group home for women. And there was two stories to the house. And I always, always felt uncomfortable in the basement and I didn't say anything because I was a new guy. I didn't want to like stir things up, but with my ability senses, like I knew something was off. We had this one resident who was non-verbal and she was mobile and she lived downstairs. She would just wander the house. So one day I was going down the stairs to do laundry and all the lights were off downstairs, which was odd because most of the residents don't like the dark. Anyway, I go down the stairs, and I come into the living area downstairs, and there is a dark humanoid shape just standing in the middle of the room. So I'm trying to find the lights, which I call her name, and she doesn't respond. Still trying to find the lights. I say her name again, and she doesn't respond. and finally find a light switch. And I flick it on and that shape is just gone. There was no way that somebody could move from the middle of the room because I was blocking the doorway up the stairs and the only way out of that room was down the hallway to the other bedrooms. The figure was just gone. Talking to other staff after that, I mentioned it and other staff started telling me some of their stories. But I just wanted to tell you that one because it was on my mind today. Thank you, and I hope you keep it going. Bye. We appreciate the entry, Rockwell. And we certainly do intend to keep it going. Now maybe like nursing homes, these group homes have the same paranormal connection. Maybe it's all those people in close proximity. Maybe it's the pain, the suffering. or maybe there's more to it. Either way, it sounds like a creepy place at times, Rockwell, and that's exactly what we're looking for here on the program. So thank you again for taking the time to call. And folks, that brings us to the last story of the evening. And the topic of this one is sure to excite a good number of you, as we're about to visit a few synchronized friends. we haven't heard from in a while. Anonymous from Utah, welcome to the show. Hey, Derek. So I'm going to keep this anonymous. I'm a truck driver. Back in April this year, 2025, I had just delivered a load to a certain rocket fuel company in northern Utah, and I'd ran out of hours on my logs, So I found a place to park just outside in a large lot near some of the offices, just outside the fence area. I want to say it was probably around 5, 5.30 at night, and I decided to take my pup out for a walk since he'd been cooped up in the truck for the day. We hadn't gone too far when my dog just kind of froze up on me. I looked around to see what was wrong, and my eyes went to two women that were walking towards some of the buildings inside the fence line. Although there was nothing really eye-catching about them, they were identically boring, I'd say. The same height, same weight, wearing the same planned gray pantsuit, and they even had the same relatively short hair. What kept my attention, though, was the fact that their movements were all synchronized to the point I almost felt hypnotized by them. I don't know how long I was staring. It felt like it was probably hours, but more likely it was just seconds. But what broke my trance was they must have felt me watching. In a perfect unison, they turned their heads, looked straight at me, and well now this is where things get a little lost for me because I don't know if my memory's playing tricks on me but I'd swear their faces seem to be almost shifting or going in and out of focus really but that's the last thing I really remember because next thing I know My dogs licked in my face, and I woke up in the sleeper of my truck. Oddly enough, I was in my bed. The truck was all locked up, turned off. My phone was even next to me on the charger. I checked the time, and it was about 11.30 at night. Well, I've gone back and forth in my head, trying to remember what I missed, or if somehow maybe it was all a dream. I just fell asleep really early or something in my truck and I don't know. But things took another strange turn the next day. I was up on another load up in northern Idaho. It was maybe about 24 hours or so later after I'd left that place. And I'd gotten the news or noticed on the news that one of the buildings at that location where I'd seen those women walking towards, I'd blown up. I don't know if it's related, although I don't really like coincidence, and it might be simply that, but, you know, I just don't know. I was able to call a guy I knew at the facility, and unfortunately he couldn't tell me anything really specific, only that there wasn't anything too suspicious about the explosion, that it was probably just an accident. that's my story take it for what it's worth you know it has some similarities to stories I heard on your show but you know with some very obvious twists maybe someone else has had similar experiences and just haven't made the connection yet maybe there isn't any correlation and it was just you know strange happenstance anyways I hope this story helps and you can use it for your podcast love your show love listening I appreciate everything you do Derek Thank you. Thank you, caller. Well, that's unsettling. Could this have been the infamous mirrored man? Well, mirrored women, in this case. Let's run down the checklist and find out, shall we? Inclement weather. Well, there was no mention of that by our caller, so I'll say no to that one. A rural location. Well, sort of. It didn't sound like it was a bustling part of town or anything. What about missing time? Sure, it sure seems like our caller lost some time when he went unconscious. But what about the description of the entities? First off, there's the identical appearance. Check. Moving in unison. Check. Three men. Well, that's where we run into an issue. This might not be the first time we've heard of two of these strangers, rather than three. But I believe it is the first time that they turned out to be women. What a twist. Now I'm not sure if I can stamp this one as an official Mirrored Man experience or not. But I don't think I would mind at all if our caller labeled it as such. It certainly checks off a lot of the most important boxes. creepy as hell, whatever it was, caller. And we can't thank you enough for taking the time to share it here with us. So thank you again for calling in. And folks, that's going to do it for this one. 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 now be sure to like us on our social media accounts give us a like and follow on youtube we sure could use the help over there join us over on discord and leave us a rate and review wherever you can do such a thing now don't forget you can catch the show every saturday evening at 10 p.m eastern on the unaxe digital network. Just visit on xnetwork.com to tune in. Now tonight's score was provided by Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse, Co.he Music, and Carl Casey at White Bad Audio. Now be sure to watch our movie, Shadows in the Desert. Go to borregotriangle.com to find out how. Or just visit 2B or Amazon Prime to watch for free. And tune in to Monsters Among Us Jr. New episodes drop every other Wednesday. A new one will be released tomorrow, in fact. And finally, remember you can get days worth of bonus content over at The Beyond. Just visit MonstersAmongUsPodcast.com and click the Shop tab. That'll get you all the info that you need. Alright gang, I'll catch you back here on Thursday with a brand new installment. Until then, keep it spooky as possible and have yourselves a good night. I'll see you next time.