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I'm Dan Tabirsky. In 2011, something strange began to happen at a high school in upstate New York. A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms, and spreading fast. What's the answer? And what do you do if they tell you it's all in your head?

Hysterical.

A new podcast from Wondery and Pineapple street studios binge all episodes of hysterical early and ad free on Wondery plus.

Hey, weirdos. I'm ash.

And I'm Elena.

And this right here is morbid.

It's morbid. Listener tales brought to you by you.

For you, from you, and all about you, baby.

Yay.

What's up?

Nothing. I mean, so much. I was like, nothing of note right now?

No.

Yeah. Everything's just. You ever feel like you're just in a state of. With your professional life and just an animate suspended animation? That's what I was trying to say.

What do you mean?

Like, everything's just on hold? You know when you get in those little lull periods where, like, you're waiting on certain things to happen?

Yeah.

You're just like, come on.

Yeah, we live in different places, though. You live on earth and I live in clouds, so sometimes I don't even know when I'm in that period. I'm just like, look, a bird.

It is. Honestly, you're better off up there. Yeah, down here. This is not bleak down here.

You know what I heard, actually, this isn't something I should tell you, but here we are. Oh, no, I was listening to. I was just coming off of earth is bleak. I was listening to disrespectfully. It's Katie Maloney's podcast with Dana.

Yeah.

And they had Ariana on, and she was talking. Every week they have a segment where they put something in the basement, which we should start doing in the office. It's like there's a fly in here fucking terrorizing us.

It needs to stop.

The sound of a fucking eye just buzzity buzz, buzzing makes me angry.

It literally ignites every single one of my nerves. Yeah, I feel exposed.

We literally opened the window for him to go outside, too. I'm like, just get the fuck out.

So not only is he loud and gross, but he's fucking stupid, too.

He is. All right. Maybe if we ignore him, he'll leave. Cause he won't feel included. So they put something in the basement every week, which means it's their thing that they hate or fuck that we're getting rid of it.

We're just not gonna deal with that anymore. I love that.

I guess Ariana's been flying a lot because, you know, like, fucking bicoastal queen.

Yeah.

And she said that she's putting turbulence in the basement because, like, it sucks so much. And then she said that turbulence is just gonna get worse. She heard. Because of global warming.

I mean, that makes sense because all turbulence is just like, air.

And air is getting worse because, like.

Hot air, cold air, like, all the shit that, you know. I mean, turbulence is really just like air pushing on the. Yeah. Or like bumps in the air kind of thing.

Yeah.

But turbulence is okay.

Yeah. Cause you're just in jell O.

Cause it can't knock you out of the sky.

I think when I heard that, I said, don't tell Elena, don't tell Elena, don't tell Elena.

Don't tell me that.

But does that ever happen to you? Or you're like, don't tell that person that. Don't tell that. And then you're like, hey, I really have to tell you something. Does that ever happen to you?

Not on that level, but. But here we are.

See? One thing that doesn't happen to me and one thing that doesn't happen to you.

There you go.

What did you say? Suspended animation.

Yeah.

And turbulence and telling people about it.

Telling people with fears, implying about it. You're like, hey, get on a plane. Come on, get on a plane. And you're like, did you know that turbulence is only gonna get fucking worse?

Get on a plane. I'm not going anywhere with you. I don't have any trips planned with you as of late.

Get on a goddamn plane.

You should get on a plane. Go on vacation.

Yeah. Just know that turbulence could be worse after that. I can't wait.

All right, well, I picked the listener tales this week and I didn't read them. You didn't read them? I was in a place, I guess, because there's a lot of, like, grandparents and a lot of messages and signs. It's very ash.

You were in a place called space. So.

Aren't we all?

Yeah, it's true.

You want to start? I do.

Should I just start with the first one?

Yep. Because I want to read the second one.

Oh, look at that. It's perfect.

Oh, my God. This is why we work so freaking well.

Let's see. So this one is cooled the time my dead grandpa played cupid for me and my boyfriend.

Isn't that.

I'm kind of obsessed with that. It says please keep this anon. If you read it on the podcast, you can call me t anon. I will do that for you, t. It says, hello, my fellow witchy, spiritual spooky bitches. If you read this on the pod, I think I quite literally will shit my dick from excitement and maybe the shock of hearing my own story. So with that being said, I just got done listening to listener tales 86, where during my intent. During my intent listening, I was thinking about writing in this odd tale. And then the story you read immediately after mentioned Kachina dolls. And I knew that writing this not so spooky spooky tale was a must. With that being said, please excuse any side tangents or ramblanc blam, blah blah, blah, ramblances, ramblings. I go on. The neuro spiciness is so fucking strong. I feel that on such a deep level. Yeah, feel free to cut out any parts of this story that seem redundant, and I will do my best to stay on track. We will not do that. I put this in a double space size 14 puffant puddafa. I mean, hopefully it's a puddafa.

I am not necessarily the most tech savvy gal.

It's a puddafa.

It's a puddafa.

Anyways, I have a quick confession. I realized the other day that I don't even know how to make a fucking puddafa.

But you, like, demanded it.

I can't. Yes. I can't even argue that fact.

That's hilarious, guys.

I really would prefer if you put your stories because it's just, like, easier for me. And then I'm like, how do you make a puddafa? So here we all are. Here we all are.

That's who we are. We're just trying our best over here. We don't know how to do anything. Let's start with a little backstory, shall we?

We shall.

In April of 2021, I started a new job in a town over from where I was living. After a while of working there, one of the men on my shift caught my eye. Now, I'm not typically one to make the first move, because fuck the embarrassment that comes along with rejection. Like, excuse me while I go crawl into the deepest, darkest hole that I can find.

Oh, do I have a story for you, baby. Oh, my God. I won't tell it. It is a story, though.

I love that. However, this man caught my attention enough that I started making it a point to talk to him every day, flirt with him when possible, and eventually give him my number.

Good for you, t. I know.

Shoot your damn shot.

That's fucking amazing.

It's boss bitch behavior, and I just.

Love the fact that, like, they normally would never do something like this, but they did.

But you're like, I chose now. Yeah, I like that. Turns out that he had moved here from a different state about 1500 miles away, only a month before we started working at the company, and we were hired a measly three weeks apart. Even though I do wholeheartedly believe that the events of my life leading up to my employment at the same company as him were divine workings on the universe's part, I have no clue what the following events were caused by throwing in a side note here before I go further on into the story. My boyfriend is the furthest thing from religious or spiritual, very much a man of fact and believes in science and physical evidence, agnostic or atheist, if you will. After months of being friendly, talking, etcetera, our relationship slowly became more until by May of 2022, we were officially dating. Fast forward to November of 2023 and we take a road trip to Arizona to visit my grandma. When we arrived, my grandma had us get settled in what used to be my grandpa's bedroom when he was on hospice before he passed away in 2018.

I know. I'm sorry about your grandpa.

The room has not changed at all except for the bed. All of his decorations are still hung on the walls, and placed on the top of his dresser are watches, tv, and other seemingly random knickknacks. Now, everything else to add in here or something else to add?

Everything else I have to add everything else right here.

Now something else to add in here because I feel it is extremely important to the story is that my grandpa worked for the Bureau of Indian affairs specifically with the Navajo tribe in the Arizona New Mexico areas back in the seventies. During that time, he was gifted many things, including quite a few kachina dolls. I have attached photos of what these dolls look like. I do not believe these dolls are commonly seen out and about in stores and things, but I could be wrong. So please feel free to correct me. I never will live your life. I will never correct you.

Live your life. Also, I've never seen a kachine at all.

Regardless, unless you have seen them, you would not be able to conjure up an image in your mind because they have a very unique look to them. You are 100% correct. On our second night visiting, while my boyfriend and I were in the bedroom getting ready for bed, he turned to me and said, can I tell you something kind of weird. I told him, of course, and he went on to say, this has only happened to me a couple times and it has only been with a few random moments in my life. I muttered, okay, because he was starting to weird me out a bit. I've had a dream about this room before. I whipped my head up and looked at him with my brows furrowed.

What?

I tried to say it as calmly as I could. He is not a spiritual woo woo guy, so I didn't want to make him feel silly for sharing this. That's very nice of you.

I know.

Now I was just fully intrigued. Yeah, that doll. He motioned with a nod of his head to the Kachina doll on my grandpa's dresser that was placed on the side of the tv. That whole dresser? Really. The doll, the tv, the watches laid out, that pot in the corner, and even the large fake tree that sits off to the side. I sat silent, looking at the belongings scattered about that are now so precious to me, waiting for more detail. I have these dreams sometimes. This is where he really caught my attention because out of the two years we've been together, he has claimed to have only had one dream he can recall in those two years. And he also claims he doesn't dream. I think he just doesn't remember them. Because what kind of psychopath doesn't dream? No one. Exactly. Insert my best girlfriend eyeroll here. Had a dream probably four, maybe five years ago. I know I didn't know yet. This is him talking, by the way. Yeah, I know. I didn't know you yet. Well, I don't know if I would consider it a dream, a vision, maybe. It was just kind it.I feel like that's such an intervention there of something that we just can't.See because I didn't even think about that part. That you never would have shot your shot like I did with this. This guy. And it's like.And you went full force and you werein the old test like the house we grew up in. Did you ever, ever have experiences that you were like, I should be fucking terrified right now, but I'm not?Yeah, absolutely.Yeah, it's like. Yeah, it's a weird, inexplainable feeling.Yeah, no, that's scary. Just the fact that he was like. It makes me think of an. It follows.Yeah.The one scene that gets me the most. I think that movie is very scary. I think they do it really well.That movie's fucking terrible.It's very scary. And the ghosts are very scary. But the one scene and it follows that really makes my stomach churn for some weird reason, is when she's walking in the bedroom and that absurdly tall man just ducks under the doorway and just like follows right behind her for some. I don't know if it's like he's so tall and the proximity to her, how he's just like hollowing right behind her. He just jets right into the room. It gets me even thinking about it right now. I have chills.Yes, same. There's so many scenes in that movie. The two biggest, scariest ones for me. Like that one scares me, but not as much as the lady that pisses on the floor.Oh my God.Yeah. Cuz that's just horrific. And then the man, I think he's like naked and he's standing on the roof.Yes.That was scary.He's just watching that. That premise is terrifying. It is.And it's such a good fucking movie. The whole entire way they do it is like incredible.Very unsettling. Go watch it.Go watch it.This isn't an ad.I could see why that would remind you.Yeah, it's just thinking about this really tall, skinny, skinny.In a suit.In a brown tweed suit.Yeah.In the hallway, just with curly hair looking at you. No. Nope.Nor.I don't like it. So this says my house had been built in the seventies and the land had likely just been pine forest before that. So I came to the conclusion that he was unlikely to be a ghost. My guardian angel, perhaps. You're putting a lot of faith in this guardian angel business because I would assume that's a ghost. I feel like that's a ghost. That's a shadow figure.That's the thing.That's my sleep paralysis demon. That's what that is.I wonder if it was a thing of hindsight. Now you look back because in that moment I'm trying to like, distinguish if, like in that moment you felt like that was your guardian angel.Because I'm like, wow, that's impressive.It sounds more to me like it's hindsight. Chalking all the events up to each.Other that makes sense. Finally, my long story. I tried to find one of the articles written about this to confirm the date, but because of how long ago it was, I wasn't able to track down a digital version of the information. My cousin s is only a couple of years older than I am. She was the youngest of her siblings, and when her parents lived in the same small Georgia town where I grew up, she and I were very close, practically sisters. They moved away to California before I was a teenager. S came back to visit when she graduated from high school, then decided to move back and attend the local community college. We started spending time together again, and while it wasn't a matter of picking up where we left off, it was still easy to regain that closeness. The final story happened on September 20, 2000, if I'm not mistaken. If I am mistaken, then it was September 22, 1999. I got up early for my grandmother to take me to see you at the pole event that day. See you at the pole is a christian student worship and prayer meeting that occurs before school one day in September.It takes place at the school flagpole and is legal as long as it is student initiated and led. It was a gray Wednesday, and I was feeling nauseated. I don't think I stayed through the entire event and had my grandmother take me home again. While I was home in bed trying to recover, s bought a cardinal a used little red coop. I was feeling a little better that afternoon, so I agreed to go to church. S came to pick me up. Her boyfriend c. In the passenger seat. Their friend r. In the back seat behind c. I sat behind s. That took me a second. Rc s. I was feeling sick again by the end of church. Oh, I'm sorry that you're feeling sick. I hate feeling nauseated. So I know you're not feeling sick in this moment, hopefully, but it makes me think of feeling nauseated, and I'm.Like, oh, and like not being at home too. Like. Like having a car ride home.So s took me home first. I remembered spending most of the long ride home with my face against the cold glass of the window, trying to keep from throwing up. Oh. Once home, I went inside into my room to decompress and stay near the bathroom. Normally, s would have dropped me off last because we still tried to spend as much time as we could together, but that was how it had been in previous rides when she was using my grandmother's cardinal because I was sick, the order had changed. I was still awake when I heard my mother's panicked voice on the phone. I came out to see what was going on. S had been in an accident. She had gone to take r home after me. His family was one of the richest in town and his driveway was basically a private road. It was also newly repaved and it had been raining that day. One tire of the car had slipped off the high edge of the driveway and s had over corrected trying to get it back on. She drove off the other side, then up a tree, and the car fell backwards onto its roof.Isn't that fucking insane?In the backseat, r was conscious, unharmed, and able to get his seatbelt undone. He escaped through the shattered back windshield and ran home to get helped. This was 2000, remember, and even for rich kids, cellphones weren't much of a thing. Our town is still in the middle of nowhere and our house .Yeah, there's tears in Alina's eyes right now.Damn.And I drifted off into dreams of starlight. It's been quiet for a few months now, but here and there I'll get little hints of her saying hi and they are always welcome. A side note, the night my mom passed, I went to bed. I don't know how long I laid there, but I remember feeling the cold, wet boop of a dog nose on my face and a little nudge the same way Gaia would always wake me up in the morning. I think my girl knew how much I needed her in that moment. Thank you, lovely ladies for reading my tale. Attached was the email my mom had written I found when I had to go through her things. I'm not really good at goodbyes, so I'll just say see you later.But now we have obsessed with this.Her mom's listener tale, which is Denise's listener tale. Denise so Denise says, let me start out by saying, you ladies are wicked awesome.You're wicked awesome, Denise.I know the stories you tell, the cases you cover are dark and fascinating. I was binge listening to listener tales while cleaning my apartment and reorganizing when one of the stories hit me hard and I realized I'm not alone in my situation. Let me explain. I was adopted when I was four. My adoptive parents weren't any better than the abusive, alcoholic egg donor that gave me up.Oh, that's awful.The apartment we lived in at the time of the adoption was on the third floor of a three family home with a huge backyard and a massive tree in the back. I had recurring nightmares of being kidnapped by a massive vulture and not having a voice to scream for help. Fast forward to 1989. I was 17, working as a cashier and enjoying life, hanging out with my friends, being single, basically carefree. This is around the time I met my first serious boyfriend. We were dating for a bit when we decided to move in together. I was in charge of finding our apartment, so I set out to look into. I set out to look, and in my journey, I walked down the street where my first home was. I wanted to see the house and see if it still gave me the heebie jeebies. I got no vibes from the house and chalked it up to overactive imagination in my childhood. I turned around and found an apartment for rent sign on the house directly across the street from my childhood home.Whoa.Long story short, we took the apartment a few months later. My adoptive father passed away the same night he came to visit me. I was asleep in my bed next to my boyfriend sleeping when I heard him calling me. He wasn't quiet about it either. He made sure I heard him and woke up. He was yelling that I did this to him, I made him suffer. I was supposed to never tell anyone what he did. Oh, I tried waking up the you did, Malan.Hell, yeah.And I was wasting my time in school. So you could imagine the joy of graduation was gone, and I was just mostly beat down about it.It sucks because when you're in that, obviously, like, you're of course, like, soaking in what they're saying and, like, it hurts. But people like that say shit like that to successful people because they're upset that they didn't do shit with their life and that they're not successful.100% threatened. And they want to see it affect.You because they don't want you to succeed.Yeah. And they want. It makes them feel like they achieved something because they'll never achieve anything of importance or significance, so they have to. By making you sad or feel less than.So fuck you, dick bag.Yeah, fuck you, dick bag.We hate you.It was the week before graduation, on Mother's Day weekend. At the time, my family had this tradition where we go to my grandmother's grave on Mother's Day weekend to say hi and just talk to her. She passed away around Mother's Day, and my mom did not get to see her before she passed suddenly. So going around this time was super important for my mom that day. In my head, I told grandma at her grave, I wish she was here to see me graduate. And if she could send me a sign to let me know she was watching over me. Boy, did she ever. The day before my graduation, there was a religious ceremony at the university. At the time, I was in the thick of organized religion. Ick. That's. I did not say that the ick was religious. I'm just saying that's her personal feeling. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. And the day and the next day, to my knowledge, I graduated and had a lunch to celebrate. I was so emotional that day. Self worth was low, and I remember just feeling so down that night, even though I had just accomplished this great thing.Later that night, my mom calls me and says, hey, so I didn't want to make you sad earlier, but did you recognize the Bible verse on the program from the baccalaureate ceremony? I had no idea what she was referring to. She says, the program had the verse from your grandmother's tombstone on it. And today is the anniversary of her death, May 15. The verse was from. Was one from Isaiah. I have called you by name. You are mine. I immediately started to cry and told my mom I had asked grandma to give me a sign. She was still here with me while at her grave. This was my sign, and I almost missed it.Of all the Bible verses in the entire world.Like, what?And, like, just, like, even the words in that one. Like, I've called you by my name. You are mine.And the fact. That's the thing. And the fact of all of them in the world. The one that's on her tombstone.Right. And on the day that she passed away on the anniversary of her death.Like, you can't just let that go.Yeah. A lot of times, I just feel like there's no such thing as coincidence.Definitely not like that. Cut to present day, and grandma still gives me signs when I need them. Sorry. I had a hiccup. The last one was when I decided to quit my professional dance career. I was just doing a standard cry in the shower about it. The lights flickered while I was ugly crying in the shower. And for some reason, I was like, hi, grandma. But also freaked out because I was home alone. The next day, I'm on Google Maps trying to find a halfway location point to interview someone for a job on my team. At the time, my grandparents house happened to be in the city. That was the in between point between Dallas and Fort Worth where we were to meet. I plopped the little yellow guy on the map in a random spot to see if I could find a coffee shop. To my surprise, the street view was in the middle of the cemetery where my grandmother is buried. No.Come on.Come on. I had to call my mom to confirm the name of the cemetery, and it was. It was just another sign that she was here with me while I was going through a tough time. That's bonkers.Isn't that crazy? I've seen all of those things, like, together.I've since talked to a medium, and she told me, my grandma is one of my spirit guides. The medium gave me a specific situation that I had alone in my bedroom, where I was watching this emotional ass music video where a woman had dementia and was lump in throat, crying. She said my grandma was there and that I shouldn't worry about that. Like, this was a private moment alone. I had not talked about it. The medium said it was a way to prove my grandma is always with me. The medium also told me that birds were another way she was showing up hem cardinals. I'm sure she was like, get out of that relationship, idiot. Lastly, the medium also told me my grandma says that I shouldn't smoke the devil's lettuce eye roll.I love that she's, like, guiding you through all these hard times and showing up when she needs. And she's also like, stop smoking weed.Put down the weed. Come on, Miley.It's the devil's lettuce.And I love that. Everything else, you're like, oh, my God, grandma. Of course. And then that one, you're like, eye roll.Okay, grandma.All right. Anywho, I have so much comfort knowing grandma has always been with me, working through these difficult times. That must feel very comforting.Yeah, actually. Absolutely.I also want to point out that if you do want to connect with loved ones that have passed, you just have to ask and pay attention to the signs. I love that. Yep. I'll write back someday to tell you some other spooky tales. I've had the little dead girl saying hi. Or the time I lived in a haunted house. Guys, you gotta send these. You want these?You guys can send them all in one puddle if you feel like it. Like, if it's overwhelming to write all of that at once, we're for it. Yeah.I'm attaching a few things pic of beautiful grandmother Josephine. She is gorgeous. A queen.And she just looks like a hog.She looks like a hot.Yeah, she slayed.Yeah. Her gravestone with the verse and my program with the same verse and some of my past Halloween costumes because I go all the way out. Love y'all. Malan.Malan.I love all these. These pictures of Grandma Josephine are look like they're the most classic. Like forties.Yes.Pinup. Yeah. Beautiful gal. And she's just smiling and all of them, like, so happy.The wedding picture in particular, she just looks so happy. I love it. I love it. And I'm pretty sure your grandpa is like, whoever she married is winking.Yeah. And when I got tell you guys that Meilan does Halloween correctly.Oh, my God.Malan does Halloween parties for Halloween.She goes all the way off.Truly.I love it.All the way up.Love, love, love.Wow.These listener tales so much. They were all, like, hand picked.These.I did. I love a guardian angel.She loved it.A moment. Yesterday I texted.Oh, yeah.I was, like, stressed out about everything.In life and that we're always stressed out about.We're constantly stressed out about.Yeah.And also my armpit was swollen. So that was scary. But it turns out that I just have an infected hair follicle. Isn't that super cute? Yum. I was like, oh, no, what does this mean? And I was leaving Elena's house and I collide. I don't know if you heard me scream. I collided with the largest dragonfly I have ever seen.I saw that dragonfly after you left.It was.It hung around.Okay.And the dogs were trying to eat it out of the air.I'm glad they didn't because I think I knew that dragonfly. And I, like, I'm not kidding you, I collided with it. Like, it, like, skidded across my fingers. No joke. Like, I feel like it was trying to get my attention. And I just said to, like, somebody that has passed away in my life, like, hey, if that was you, like, I love you. Like, thank you. And I was, like, in my head kind of doubting myself. Like, who knows if that person that I love is, like, representing themselves by colliding into me as a dragonfly. Sounds a little crazy when you wear it like that. And then I'm pulling out of the street and I pull behind a car with the license plate eight eight eight, which is like an angel number, so. Hello. Hello? And I just. I felt comforted.And it was. It was during a moment where you.Needed to be comforted and during a moment where that particular person, like, knew the situation and, like, knew how much I hate doing certain things and.Yeah.You know, being wrapped up with certain things. Things. And they were always there for me through that.See, I love.Yeah, exactly.And I believe I. I think that too. I think it was that person I was.And I just like, immediate, because that's the thing. Like, I immediately was like, all right, I'm good. And it was like such an inexplicable feeling of just like, because I was so stressed and then it was just like, yeah.And that's when, you know, like, something has shifted. Yeah, yeah.And it was funny, cuz I got home and Drew was like, I was actually thinking of that person today.Like, that's so funny. Yeah, I love that.So I totally believe in all that stuff. And I. And I fucking love it.And they were just beautiful tales.They were gorgeous tails.I loved all of them. You all do such a great job with these.We really do.We really love doing it.Keep sending them in.Yeah. We fucking love you. You're honestly the best.You're the best part of this.That's why we love listener tales so much, because it's about you guys.Yeah.And we get to read your stories and learn more about you.It's so fantastic.We just dig you. Thanks for being there.Yeah. You make this worth it.You literally make it worth it. So thank you for doing that.And we hope you keep listening.And we hope you keep it weird.But not so weird that you don't keep sending in your listener tales. Because we love them.We love them. We love you. We love, love, love.These were so emotional.You're beautiful.If you like. Morbid. You can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wonderye us in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey@wondery.com. survey.

it.

I feel like that's such an intervention there of something that we just can't.

See because I didn't even think about that part. That you never would have shot your shot like I did with this. This guy. And it's like.

And you went full force and you werein the old test like the house we grew up in. Did you ever, ever have experiences that you were like, I should be fucking terrified right now, but I'm not?Yeah, absolutely.Yeah, it's like. Yeah, it's a weird, inexplainable feeling.Yeah, no, that's scary. Just the fact that he was like. It makes me think of an. It follows.Yeah.The one scene that gets me the most. I think that movie is very scary. I think they do it really well.That movie's fucking terrible.It's very scary. And the ghosts are very scary. But the one scene and it follows that really makes my stomach churn for some weird reason, is when she's walking in the bedroom and that absurdly tall man just ducks under the doorway and just like follows right behind her for some. I don't know if it's like he's so tall and the proximity to her, how he's just like hollowing right behind her. He just jets right into the room. It gets me even thinking about it right now. I have chills.Yes, same. There's so many scenes in that movie. The two biggest, scariest ones for me. Like that one scares me, but not as much as the lady that pisses on the floor.Oh my God.Yeah. Cuz that's just horrific. And then the man, I think he's like naked and he's standing on the roof.Yes.That was scary.He's just watching that. That premise is terrifying. It is.And it's such a good fucking movie. The whole entire way they do it is like incredible.Very unsettling. Go watch it.Go watch it.This isn't an ad.I could see why that would remind you.Yeah, it's just thinking about this really tall, skinny, skinny.In a suit.In a brown tweed suit.Yeah.In the hallway, just with curly hair looking at you. No. Nope.Nor.I don't like it. So this says my house had been built in the seventies and the land had likely just been pine forest before that. So I came to the conclusion that he was unlikely to be a ghost. My guardian angel, perhaps. You're putting a lot of faith in this guardian angel business because I would assume that's a ghost. I feel like that's a ghost. That's a shadow figure.That's the thing.That's my sleep paralysis demon. That's what that is.I wonder if it was a thing of hindsight. Now you look back because in that moment I'm trying to like, distinguish if, like in that moment you felt like that was your guardian angel.Because I'm like, wow, that's impressive.It sounds more to me like it's hindsight. Chalking all the events up to each.Other that makes sense. Finally, my long story. I tried to find one of the articles written about this to confirm the date, but because of how long ago it was, I wasn't able to track down a digital version of the information. My cousin s is only a couple of years older than I am. She was the youngest of her siblings, and when her parents lived in the same small Georgia town where I grew up, she and I were very close, practically sisters. They moved away to California before I was a teenager. S came back to visit when she graduated from high school, then decided to move back and attend the local community college. We started spending time together again, and while it wasn't a matter of picking up where we left off, it was still easy to regain that closeness. The final story happened on September 20, 2000, if I'm not mistaken. If I am mistaken, then it was September 22, 1999. I got up early for my grandmother to take me to see you at the pole event that day. See you at the pole is a christian student worship and prayer meeting that occurs before school one day in September.It takes place at the school flagpole and is legal as long as it is student initiated and led. It was a gray Wednesday, and I was feeling nauseated. I don't think I stayed through the entire event and had my grandmother take me home again. While I was home in bed trying to recover, s bought a cardinal a used little red coop. I was feeling a little better that afternoon, so I agreed to go to church. S came to pick me up. Her boyfriend c. In the passenger seat. Their friend r. In the back seat behind c. I sat behind s. That took me a second. Rc s. I was feeling sick again by the end of church. Oh, I'm sorry that you're feeling sick. I hate feeling nauseated. So I know you're not feeling sick in this moment, hopefully, but it makes me think of feeling nauseated, and I'm.Like, oh, and like not being at home too. Like. Like having a car ride home.So s took me home first. I remembered spending most of the long ride home with my face against the cold glass of the window, trying to keep from throwing up. Oh. Once home, I went inside into my room to decompress and stay near the bathroom. Normally, s would have dropped me off last because we still tried to spend as much time as we could together, but that was how it had been in previous rides when she was using my grandmother's cardinal because I was sick, the order had changed. I was still awake when I heard my mother's panicked voice on the phone. I came out to see what was going on. S had been in an accident. She had gone to take r home after me. His family was one of the richest in town and his driveway was basically a private road. It was also newly repaved and it had been raining that day. One tire of the car had slipped off the high edge of the driveway and s had over corrected trying to get it back on. She drove off the other side, then up a tree, and the car fell backwards onto its roof.Isn't that fucking insane?In the backseat, r was conscious, unharmed, and able to get his seatbelt undone. He escaped through the shattered back windshield and ran home to get helped. This was 2000, remember, and even for rich kids, cellphones weren't much of a thing. Our town is still in the middle of nowhere and our house .Yeah, there's tears in Alina's eyes right now.Damn.And I drifted off into dreams of starlight. It's been quiet for a few months now, but here and there I'll get little hints of her saying hi and they are always welcome. A side note, the night my mom passed, I went to bed. I don't know how long I laid there, but I remember feeling the cold, wet boop of a dog nose on my face and a little nudge the same way Gaia would always wake me up in the morning. I think my girl knew how much I needed her in that moment. Thank you, lovely ladies for reading my tale. Attached was the email my mom had written I found when I had to go through her things. I'm not really good at goodbyes, so I'll just say see you later.But now we have obsessed with this.Her mom's listener tale, which is Denise's listener tale. Denise so Denise says, let me start out by saying, you ladies are wicked awesome.You're wicked awesome, Denise.I know the stories you tell, the cases you cover are dark and fascinating. I was binge listening to listener tales while cleaning my apartment and reorganizing when one of the stories hit me hard and I realized I'm not alone in my situation. Let me explain. I was adopted when I was four. My adoptive parents weren't any better than the abusive, alcoholic egg donor that gave me up.Oh, that's awful.The apartment we lived in at the time of the adoption was on the third floor of a three family home with a huge backyard and a massive tree in the back. I had recurring nightmares of being kidnapped by a massive vulture and not having a voice to scream for help. Fast forward to 1989. I was 17, working as a cashier and enjoying life, hanging out with my friends, being single, basically carefree. This is around the time I met my first serious boyfriend. We were dating for a bit when we decided to move in together. I was in charge of finding our apartment, so I set out to look into. I set out to look, and in my journey, I walked down the street where my first home was. I wanted to see the house and see if it still gave me the heebie jeebies. I got no vibes from the house and chalked it up to overactive imagination in my childhood. I turned around and found an apartment for rent sign on the house directly across the street from my childhood home.Whoa.Long story short, we took the apartment a few months later. My adoptive father passed away the same night he came to visit me. I was asleep in my bed next to my boyfriend sleeping when I heard him calling me. He wasn't quiet about it either. He made sure I heard him and woke up. He was yelling that I did this to him, I made him suffer. I was supposed to never tell anyone what he did. Oh, I tried waking up the you did, Malan.Hell, yeah.And I was wasting my time in school. So you could imagine the joy of graduation was gone, and I was just mostly beat down about it.It sucks because when you're in that, obviously, like, you're of course, like, soaking in what they're saying and, like, it hurts. But people like that say shit like that to successful people because they're upset that they didn't do shit with their life and that they're not successful.100% threatened. And they want to see it affect.You because they don't want you to succeed.Yeah. And they want. It makes them feel like they achieved something because they'll never achieve anything of importance or significance, so they have to. By making you sad or feel less than.So fuck you, dick bag.Yeah, fuck you, dick bag.We hate you.It was the week before graduation, on Mother's Day weekend. At the time, my family had this tradition where we go to my grandmother's grave on Mother's Day weekend to say hi and just talk to her. She passed away around Mother's Day, and my mom did not get to see her before she passed suddenly. So going around this time was super important for my mom that day. In my head, I told grandma at her grave, I wish she was here to see me graduate. And if she could send me a sign to let me know she was watching over me. Boy, did she ever. The day before my graduation, there was a religious ceremony at the university. At the time, I was in the thick of organized religion. Ick. That's. I did not say that the ick was religious. I'm just saying that's her personal feeling. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. And the day and the next day, to my knowledge, I graduated and had a lunch to celebrate. I was so emotional that day. Self worth was low, and I remember just feeling so down that night, even though I had just accomplished this great thing.Later that night, my mom calls me and says, hey, so I didn't want to make you sad earlier, but did you recognize the Bible verse on the program from the baccalaureate ceremony? I had no idea what she was referring to. She says, the program had the verse from your grandmother's tombstone on it. And today is the anniversary of her death, May 15. The verse was from. Was one from Isaiah. I have called you by name. You are mine. I immediately started to cry and told my mom I had asked grandma to give me a sign. She was still here with me while at her grave. This was my sign, and I almost missed it.Of all the Bible verses in the entire world.Like, what?And, like, just, like, even the words in that one. Like, I've called you by my name. You are mine.And the fact. That's the thing. And the fact of all of them in the world. The one that's on her tombstone.Right. And on the day that she passed away on the anniversary of her death.Like, you can't just let that go.Yeah. A lot of times, I just feel like there's no such thing as coincidence.Definitely not like that. Cut to present day, and grandma still gives me signs when I need them. Sorry. I had a hiccup. The last one was when I decided to quit my professional dance career. I was just doing a standard cry in the shower about it. The lights flickered while I was ugly crying in the shower. And for some reason, I was like, hi, grandma. But also freaked out because I was home alone. The next day, I'm on Google Maps trying to find a halfway location point to interview someone for a job on my team. At the time, my grandparents house happened to be in the city. That was the in between point between Dallas and Fort Worth where we were to meet. I plopped the little yellow guy on the map in a random spot to see if I could find a coffee shop. To my surprise, the street view was in the middle of the cemetery where my grandmother is buried. No.Come on.Come on. I had to call my mom to confirm the name of the cemetery, and it was. It was just another sign that she was here with me while I was going through a tough time. That's bonkers.Isn't that crazy? I've seen all of those things, like, together.I've since talked to a medium, and she told me, my grandma is one of my spirit guides. The medium gave me a specific situation that I had alone in my bedroom, where I was watching this emotional ass music video where a woman had dementia and was lump in throat, crying. She said my grandma was there and that I shouldn't worry about that. Like, this was a private moment alone. I had not talked about it. The medium said it was a way to prove my grandma is always with me. The medium also told me that birds were another way she was showing up hem cardinals. I'm sure she was like, get out of that relationship, idiot. Lastly, the medium also told me my grandma says that I shouldn't smoke the devil's lettuce eye roll.I love that she's, like, guiding you through all these hard times and showing up when she needs. And she's also like, stop smoking weed.Put down the weed. Come on, Miley.It's the devil's lettuce.And I love that. Everything else, you're like, oh, my God, grandma. Of course. And then that one, you're like, eye roll.Okay, grandma.All right. Anywho, I have so much comfort knowing grandma has always been with me, working through these difficult times. That must feel very comforting.Yeah, actually. Absolutely.I also want to point out that if you do want to connect with loved ones that have passed, you just have to ask and pay attention to the signs. I love that. Yep. I'll write back someday to tell you some other spooky tales. I've had the little dead girl saying hi. Or the time I lived in a haunted house. Guys, you gotta send these. You want these?You guys can send them all in one puddle if you feel like it. Like, if it's overwhelming to write all of that at once, we're for it. Yeah.I'm attaching a few things pic of beautiful grandmother Josephine. She is gorgeous. A queen.And she just looks like a hog.She looks like a hot.Yeah, she slayed.Yeah. Her gravestone with the verse and my program with the same verse and some of my past Halloween costumes because I go all the way out. Love y'all. Malan.Malan.I love all these. These pictures of Grandma Josephine are look like they're the most classic. Like forties.Yes.Pinup. Yeah. Beautiful gal. And she's just smiling and all of them, like, so happy.The wedding picture in particular, she just looks so happy. I love it. I love it. And I'm pretty sure your grandpa is like, whoever she married is winking.Yeah. And when I got tell you guys that Meilan does Halloween correctly.Oh, my God.Malan does Halloween parties for Halloween.She goes all the way off.Truly.I love it.All the way up.Love, love, love.Wow.These listener tales so much. They were all, like, hand picked.These.I did. I love a guardian angel.She loved it.A moment. Yesterday I texted.Oh, yeah.I was, like, stressed out about everything.In life and that we're always stressed out about.We're constantly stressed out about.Yeah.And also my armpit was swollen. So that was scary. But it turns out that I just have an infected hair follicle. Isn't that super cute? Yum. I was like, oh, no, what does this mean? And I was leaving Elena's house and I collide. I don't know if you heard me scream. I collided with the largest dragonfly I have ever seen.I saw that dragonfly after you left.It was.It hung around.Okay.And the dogs were trying to eat it out of the air.I'm glad they didn't because I think I knew that dragonfly. And I, like, I'm not kidding you, I collided with it. Like, it, like, skidded across my fingers. No joke. Like, I feel like it was trying to get my attention. And I just said to, like, somebody that has passed away in my life, like, hey, if that was you, like, I love you. Like, thank you. And I was, like, in my head kind of doubting myself. Like, who knows if that person that I love is, like, representing themselves by colliding into me as a dragonfly. Sounds a little crazy when you wear it like that. And then I'm pulling out of the street and I pull behind a car with the license plate eight eight eight, which is like an angel number, so. Hello. Hello? And I just. I felt comforted.And it was. It was during a moment where you.Needed to be comforted and during a moment where that particular person, like, knew the situation and, like, knew how much I hate doing certain things and.Yeah.You know, being wrapped up with certain things. Things. And they were always there for me through that.See, I love.Yeah, exactly.And I believe I. I think that too. I think it was that person I was.And I just like, immediate, because that's the thing. Like, I immediately was like, all right, I'm good. And it was like such an inexplicable feeling of just like, because I was so stressed and then it was just like, yeah.And that's when, you know, like, something has shifted. Yeah, yeah.And it was funny, cuz I got home and Drew was like, I was actually thinking of that person today.Like, that's so funny. Yeah, I love that.So I totally believe in all that stuff. And I. And I fucking love it.And they were just beautiful tales.They were gorgeous tails.I loved all of them. You all do such a great job with these.We really do.We really love doing it.Keep sending them in.Yeah. We fucking love you. You're honestly the best.You're the best part of this.That's why we love listener tales so much, because it's about you guys.Yeah.And we get to read your stories and learn more about you.It's so fantastic.We just dig you. Thanks for being there.Yeah. You make this worth it.You literally make it worth it. So thank you for doing that.And we hope you keep listening.And we hope you keep it weird.But not so weird that you don't keep sending in your listener tales. Because we love them.We love them. We love you. We love, love, love.These were so emotional.You're beautiful.If you like. Morbid. You can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wonderye us in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey@wondery.com. survey.

in the old test like the house we grew up in. Did you ever, ever have experiences that you were like, I should be fucking terrified right now, but I'm not?

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, it's like. Yeah, it's a weird, inexplainable feeling.

Yeah, no, that's scary. Just the fact that he was like. It makes me think of an. It follows.

Yeah.

The one scene that gets me the most. I think that movie is very scary. I think they do it really well.

That movie's fucking terrible.

It's very scary. And the ghosts are very scary. But the one scene and it follows that really makes my stomach churn for some weird reason, is when she's walking in the bedroom and that absurdly tall man just ducks under the doorway and just like follows right behind her for some. I don't know if it's like he's so tall and the proximity to her, how he's just like hollowing right behind her. He just jets right into the room. It gets me even thinking about it right now. I have chills.

Yes, same. There's so many scenes in that movie. The two biggest, scariest ones for me. Like that one scares me, but not as much as the lady that pisses on the floor.

Oh my God.

Yeah. Cuz that's just horrific. And then the man, I think he's like naked and he's standing on the roof.

Yes.

That was scary.

He's just watching that. That premise is terrifying. It is.

And it's such a good fucking movie. The whole entire way they do it is like incredible.

Very unsettling. Go watch it.

Go watch it.

This isn't an ad.

I could see why that would remind you.

Yeah, it's just thinking about this really tall, skinny, skinny.

In a suit.

In a brown tweed suit.

Yeah.

In the hallway, just with curly hair looking at you. No. Nope.

Nor.

I don't like it. So this says my house had been built in the seventies and the land had likely just been pine forest before that. So I came to the conclusion that he was unlikely to be a ghost. My guardian angel, perhaps. You're putting a lot of faith in this guardian angel business because I would assume that's a ghost. I feel like that's a ghost. That's a shadow figure.

That's the thing.

That's my sleep paralysis demon. That's what that is.

I wonder if it was a thing of hindsight. Now you look back because in that moment I'm trying to like, distinguish if, like in that moment you felt like that was your guardian angel.

Because I'm like, wow, that's impressive.

It sounds more to me like it's hindsight. Chalking all the events up to each.

Other that makes sense. Finally, my long story. I tried to find one of the articles written about this to confirm the date, but because of how long ago it was, I wasn't able to track down a digital version of the information. My cousin s is only a couple of years older than I am. She was the youngest of her siblings, and when her parents lived in the same small Georgia town where I grew up, she and I were very close, practically sisters. They moved away to California before I was a teenager. S came back to visit when she graduated from high school, then decided to move back and attend the local community college. We started spending time together again, and while it wasn't a matter of picking up where we left off, it was still easy to regain that closeness. The final story happened on September 20, 2000, if I'm not mistaken. If I am mistaken, then it was September 22, 1999. I got up early for my grandmother to take me to see you at the pole event that day. See you at the pole is a christian student worship and prayer meeting that occurs before school one day in September.

It takes place at the school flagpole and is legal as long as it is student initiated and led. It was a gray Wednesday, and I was feeling nauseated. I don't think I stayed through the entire event and had my grandmother take me home again. While I was home in bed trying to recover, s bought a cardinal a used little red coop. I was feeling a little better that afternoon, so I agreed to go to church. S came to pick me up. Her boyfriend c. In the passenger seat. Their friend r. In the back seat behind c. I sat behind s. That took me a second. Rc s. I was feeling sick again by the end of church. Oh, I'm sorry that you're feeling sick. I hate feeling nauseated. So I know you're not feeling sick in this moment, hopefully, but it makes me think of feeling nauseated, and I'm.

Like, oh, and like not being at home too. Like. Like having a car ride home.

So s took me home first. I remembered spending most of the long ride home with my face against the cold glass of the window, trying to keep from throwing up. Oh. Once home, I went inside into my room to decompress and stay near the bathroom. Normally, s would have dropped me off last because we still tried to spend as much time as we could together, but that was how it had been in previous rides when she was using my grandmother's cardinal because I was sick, the order had changed. I was still awake when I heard my mother's panicked voice on the phone. I came out to see what was going on. S had been in an accident. She had gone to take r home after me. His family was one of the richest in town and his driveway was basically a private road. It was also newly repaved and it had been raining that day. One tire of the car had slipped off the high edge of the driveway and s had over corrected trying to get it back on. She drove off the other side, then up a tree, and the car fell backwards onto its roof.

Isn't that fucking insane?

In the backseat, r was conscious, unharmed, and able to get his seatbelt undone. He escaped through the shattered back windshield and ran home to get helped. This was 2000, remember, and even for rich kids, cellphones weren't much of a thing. Our town is still in the middle of nowhere and our house .Yeah, there's tears in Alina's eyes right now.Damn.And I drifted off into dreams of starlight. It's been quiet for a few months now, but here and there I'll get little hints of her saying hi and they are always welcome. A side note, the night my mom passed, I went to bed. I don't know how long I laid there, but I remember feeling the cold, wet boop of a dog nose on my face and a little nudge the same way Gaia would always wake me up in the morning. I think my girl knew how much I needed her in that moment. Thank you, lovely ladies for reading my tale. Attached was the email my mom had written I found when I had to go through her things. I'm not really good at goodbyes, so I'll just say see you later.But now we have obsessed with this.Her mom's listener tale, which is Denise's listener tale. Denise so Denise says, let me start out by saying, you ladies are wicked awesome.You're wicked awesome, Denise.I know the stories you tell, the cases you cover are dark and fascinating. I was binge listening to listener tales while cleaning my apartment and reorganizing when one of the stories hit me hard and I realized I'm not alone in my situation. Let me explain. I was adopted when I was four. My adoptive parents weren't any better than the abusive, alcoholic egg donor that gave me up.Oh, that's awful.The apartment we lived in at the time of the adoption was on the third floor of a three family home with a huge backyard and a massive tree in the back. I had recurring nightmares of being kidnapped by a massive vulture and not having a voice to scream for help. Fast forward to 1989. I was 17, working as a cashier and enjoying life, hanging out with my friends, being single, basically carefree. This is around the time I met my first serious boyfriend. We were dating for a bit when we decided to move in together. I was in charge of finding our apartment, so I set out to look into. I set out to look, and in my journey, I walked down the street where my first home was. I wanted to see the house and see if it still gave me the heebie jeebies. I got no vibes from the house and chalked it up to overactive imagination in my childhood. I turned around and found an apartment for rent sign on the house directly across the street from my childhood home.Whoa.Long story short, we took the apartment a few months later. My adoptive father passed away the same night he came to visit me. I was asleep in my bed next to my boyfriend sleeping when I heard him calling me. He wasn't quiet about it either. He made sure I heard him and woke up. He was yelling that I did this to him, I made him suffer. I was supposed to never tell anyone what he did. Oh, I tried waking up the you did, Malan.Hell, yeah.And I was wasting my time in school. So you could imagine the joy of graduation was gone, and I was just mostly beat down about it.It sucks because when you're in that, obviously, like, you're of course, like, soaking in what they're saying and, like, it hurts. But people like that say shit like that to successful people because they're upset that they didn't do shit with their life and that they're not successful.100% threatened. And they want to see it affect.You because they don't want you to succeed.Yeah. And they want. It makes them feel like they achieved something because they'll never achieve anything of importance or significance, so they have to. By making you sad or feel less than.So fuck you, dick bag.Yeah, fuck you, dick bag.We hate you.It was the week before graduation, on Mother's Day weekend. At the time, my family had this tradition where we go to my grandmother's grave on Mother's Day weekend to say hi and just talk to her. She passed away around Mother's Day, and my mom did not get to see her before she passed suddenly. So going around this time was super important for my mom that day. In my head, I told grandma at her grave, I wish she was here to see me graduate. And if she could send me a sign to let me know she was watching over me. Boy, did she ever. The day before my graduation, there was a religious ceremony at the university. At the time, I was in the thick of organized religion. Ick. That's. I did not say that the ick was religious. I'm just saying that's her personal feeling. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. And the day and the next day, to my knowledge, I graduated and had a lunch to celebrate. I was so emotional that day. Self worth was low, and I remember just feeling so down that night, even though I had just accomplished this great thing.Later that night, my mom calls me and says, hey, so I didn't want to make you sad earlier, but did you recognize the Bible verse on the program from the baccalaureate ceremony? I had no idea what she was referring to. She says, the program had the verse from your grandmother's tombstone on it. And today is the anniversary of her death, May 15. The verse was from. Was one from Isaiah. I have called you by name. You are mine. I immediately started to cry and told my mom I had asked grandma to give me a sign. She was still here with me while at her grave. This was my sign, and I almost missed it.Of all the Bible verses in the entire world.Like, what?And, like, just, like, even the words in that one. Like, I've called you by my name. You are mine.And the fact. That's the thing. And the fact of all of them in the world. The one that's on her tombstone.Right. And on the day that she passed away on the anniversary of her death.Like, you can't just let that go.Yeah. A lot of times, I just feel like there's no such thing as coincidence.Definitely not like that. Cut to present day, and grandma still gives me signs when I need them. Sorry. I had a hiccup. The last one was when I decided to quit my professional dance career. I was just doing a standard cry in the shower about it. The lights flickered while I was ugly crying in the shower. And for some reason, I was like, hi, grandma. But also freaked out because I was home alone. The next day, I'm on Google Maps trying to find a halfway location point to interview someone for a job on my team. At the time, my grandparents house happened to be in the city. That was the in between point between Dallas and Fort Worth where we were to meet. I plopped the little yellow guy on the map in a random spot to see if I could find a coffee shop. To my surprise, the street view was in the middle of the cemetery where my grandmother is buried. No.Come on.Come on. I had to call my mom to confirm the name of the cemetery, and it was. It was just another sign that she was here with me while I was going through a tough time. That's bonkers.Isn't that crazy? I've seen all of those things, like, together.I've since talked to a medium, and she told me, my grandma is one of my spirit guides. The medium gave me a specific situation that I had alone in my bedroom, where I was watching this emotional ass music video where a woman had dementia and was lump in throat, crying. She said my grandma was there and that I shouldn't worry about that. Like, this was a private moment alone. I had not talked about it. The medium said it was a way to prove my grandma is always with me. The medium also told me that birds were another way she was showing up hem cardinals. I'm sure she was like, get out of that relationship, idiot. Lastly, the medium also told me my grandma says that I shouldn't smoke the devil's lettuce eye roll.I love that she's, like, guiding you through all these hard times and showing up when she needs. And she's also like, stop smoking weed.Put down the weed. Come on, Miley.It's the devil's lettuce.And I love that. Everything else, you're like, oh, my God, grandma. Of course. And then that one, you're like, eye roll.Okay, grandma.All right. Anywho, I have so much comfort knowing grandma has always been with me, working through these difficult times. That must feel very comforting.Yeah, actually. Absolutely.I also want to point out that if you do want to connect with loved ones that have passed, you just have to ask and pay attention to the signs. I love that. Yep. I'll write back someday to tell you some other spooky tales. I've had the little dead girl saying hi. Or the time I lived in a haunted house. Guys, you gotta send these. You want these?You guys can send them all in one puddle if you feel like it. Like, if it's overwhelming to write all of that at once, we're for it. Yeah.I'm attaching a few things pic of beautiful grandmother Josephine. She is gorgeous. A queen.And she just looks like a hog.She looks like a hot.Yeah, she slayed.Yeah. Her gravestone with the verse and my program with the same verse and some of my past Halloween costumes because I go all the way out. Love y'all. Malan.Malan.I love all these. These pictures of Grandma Josephine are look like they're the most classic. Like forties.Yes.Pinup. Yeah. Beautiful gal. And she's just smiling and all of them, like, so happy.The wedding picture in particular, she just looks so happy. I love it. I love it. And I'm pretty sure your grandpa is like, whoever she married is winking.Yeah. And when I got tell you guys that Meilan does Halloween correctly.Oh, my God.Malan does Halloween parties for Halloween.She goes all the way off.Truly.I love it.All the way up.Love, love, love.Wow.These listener tales so much. They were all, like, hand picked.These.I did. I love a guardian angel.She loved it.A moment. Yesterday I texted.Oh, yeah.I was, like, stressed out about everything.In life and that we're always stressed out about.We're constantly stressed out about.Yeah.And also my armpit was swollen. So that was scary. But it turns out that I just have an infected hair follicle. Isn't that super cute? Yum. I was like, oh, no, what does this mean? And I was leaving Elena's house and I collide. I don't know if you heard me scream. I collided with the largest dragonfly I have ever seen.I saw that dragonfly after you left.It was.It hung around.Okay.And the dogs were trying to eat it out of the air.I'm glad they didn't because I think I knew that dragonfly. And I, like, I'm not kidding you, I collided with it. Like, it, like, skidded across my fingers. No joke. Like, I feel like it was trying to get my attention. And I just said to, like, somebody that has passed away in my life, like, hey, if that was you, like, I love you. Like, thank you. And I was, like, in my head kind of doubting myself. Like, who knows if that person that I love is, like, representing themselves by colliding into me as a dragonfly. Sounds a little crazy when you wear it like that. And then I'm pulling out of the street and I pull behind a car with the license plate eight eight eight, which is like an angel number, so. Hello. Hello? And I just. I felt comforted.And it was. It was during a moment where you.Needed to be comforted and during a moment where that particular person, like, knew the situation and, like, knew how much I hate doing certain things and.Yeah.You know, being wrapped up with certain things. Things. And they were always there for me through that.See, I love.Yeah, exactly.And I believe I. I think that too. I think it was that person I was.And I just like, immediate, because that's the thing. Like, I immediately was like, all right, I'm good. And it was like such an inexplicable feeling of just like, because I was so stressed and then it was just like, yeah.And that's when, you know, like, something has shifted. Yeah, yeah.And it was funny, cuz I got home and Drew was like, I was actually thinking of that person today.Like, that's so funny. Yeah, I love that.So I totally believe in all that stuff. And I. And I fucking love it.And they were just beautiful tales.They were gorgeous tails.I loved all of them. You all do such a great job with these.We really do.We really love doing it.Keep sending them in.Yeah. We fucking love you. You're honestly the best.You're the best part of this.That's why we love listener tales so much, because it's about you guys.Yeah.And we get to read your stories and learn more about you.It's so fantastic.We just dig you. Thanks for being there.Yeah. You make this worth it.You literally make it worth it. So thank you for doing that.And we hope you keep listening.And we hope you keep it weird.But not so weird that you don't keep sending in your listener tales. Because we love them.We love them. We love you. We love, love, love.These were so emotional.You're beautiful.If you like. Morbid. You can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wonderye us in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey@wondery.com. survey.

.

Yeah, there's tears in Alina's eyes right now.

Damn.

And I drifted off into dreams of starlight. It's been quiet for a few months now, but here and there I'll get little hints of her saying hi and they are always welcome. A side note, the night my mom passed, I went to bed. I don't know how long I laid there, but I remember feeling the cold, wet boop of a dog nose on my face and a little nudge the same way Gaia would always wake me up in the morning. I think my girl knew how much I needed her in that moment. Thank you, lovely ladies for reading my tale. Attached was the email my mom had written I found when I had to go through her things. I'm not really good at goodbyes, so I'll just say see you later.

But now we have obsessed with this.

Her mom's listener tale, which is Denise's listener tale. Denise so Denise says, let me start out by saying, you ladies are wicked awesome.

You're wicked awesome, Denise.

I know the stories you tell, the cases you cover are dark and fascinating. I was binge listening to listener tales while cleaning my apartment and reorganizing when one of the stories hit me hard and I realized I'm not alone in my situation. Let me explain. I was adopted when I was four. My adoptive parents weren't any better than the abusive, alcoholic egg donor that gave me up.

Oh, that's awful.

The apartment we lived in at the time of the adoption was on the third floor of a three family home with a huge backyard and a massive tree in the back. I had recurring nightmares of being kidnapped by a massive vulture and not having a voice to scream for help. Fast forward to 1989. I was 17, working as a cashier and enjoying life, hanging out with my friends, being single, basically carefree. This is around the time I met my first serious boyfriend. We were dating for a bit when we decided to move in together. I was in charge of finding our apartment, so I set out to look into. I set out to look, and in my journey, I walked down the street where my first home was. I wanted to see the house and see if it still gave me the heebie jeebies. I got no vibes from the house and chalked it up to overactive imagination in my childhood. I turned around and found an apartment for rent sign on the house directly across the street from my childhood home.

Whoa.

Long story short, we took the apartment a few months later. My adoptive father passed away the same night he came to visit me. I was asleep in my bed next to my boyfriend sleeping when I heard him calling me. He wasn't quiet about it either. He made sure I heard him and woke up. He was yelling that I did this to him, I made him suffer. I was supposed to never tell anyone what he did. Oh, I tried waking up the you did, Malan.Hell, yeah.And I was wasting my time in school. So you could imagine the joy of graduation was gone, and I was just mostly beat down about it.It sucks because when you're in that, obviously, like, you're of course, like, soaking in what they're saying and, like, it hurts. But people like that say shit like that to successful people because they're upset that they didn't do shit with their life and that they're not successful.100% threatened. And they want to see it affect.You because they don't want you to succeed.Yeah. And they want. It makes them feel like they achieved something because they'll never achieve anything of importance or significance, so they have to. By making you sad or feel less than.So fuck you, dick bag.Yeah, fuck you, dick bag.We hate you.It was the week before graduation, on Mother's Day weekend. At the time, my family had this tradition where we go to my grandmother's grave on Mother's Day weekend to say hi and just talk to her. She passed away around Mother's Day, and my mom did not get to see her before she passed suddenly. So going around this time was super important for my mom that day. In my head, I told grandma at her grave, I wish she was here to see me graduate. And if she could send me a sign to let me know she was watching over me. Boy, did she ever. The day before my graduation, there was a religious ceremony at the university. At the time, I was in the thick of organized religion. Ick. That's. I did not say that the ick was religious. I'm just saying that's her personal feeling. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. And the day and the next day, to my knowledge, I graduated and had a lunch to celebrate. I was so emotional that day. Self worth was low, and I remember just feeling so down that night, even though I had just accomplished this great thing.Later that night, my mom calls me and says, hey, so I didn't want to make you sad earlier, but did you recognize the Bible verse on the program from the baccalaureate ceremony? I had no idea what she was referring to. She says, the program had the verse from your grandmother's tombstone on it. And today is the anniversary of her death, May 15. The verse was from. Was one from Isaiah. I have called you by name. You are mine. I immediately started to cry and told my mom I had asked grandma to give me a sign. She was still here with me while at her grave. This was my sign, and I almost missed it.Of all the Bible verses in the entire world.Like, what?And, like, just, like, even the words in that one. Like, I've called you by my name. You are mine.And the fact. That's the thing. And the fact of all of them in the world. The one that's on her tombstone.Right. And on the day that she passed away on the anniversary of her death.Like, you can't just let that go.Yeah. A lot of times, I just feel like there's no such thing as coincidence.Definitely not like that. Cut to present day, and grandma still gives me signs when I need them. Sorry. I had a hiccup. The last one was when I decided to quit my professional dance career. I was just doing a standard cry in the shower about it. The lights flickered while I was ugly crying in the shower. And for some reason, I was like, hi, grandma. But also freaked out because I was home alone. The next day, I'm on Google Maps trying to find a halfway location point to interview someone for a job on my team. At the time, my grandparents house happened to be in the city. That was the in between point between Dallas and Fort Worth where we were to meet. I plopped the little yellow guy on the map in a random spot to see if I could find a coffee shop. To my surprise, the street view was in the middle of the cemetery where my grandmother is buried. No.Come on.Come on. I had to call my mom to confirm the name of the cemetery, and it was. It was just another sign that she was here with me while I was going through a tough time. That's bonkers.Isn't that crazy? I've seen all of those things, like, together.I've since talked to a medium, and she told me, my grandma is one of my spirit guides. The medium gave me a specific situation that I had alone in my bedroom, where I was watching this emotional ass music video where a woman had dementia and was lump in throat, crying. She said my grandma was there and that I shouldn't worry about that. Like, this was a private moment alone. I had not talked about it. The medium said it was a way to prove my grandma is always with me. The medium also told me that birds were another way she was showing up hem cardinals. I'm sure she was like, get out of that relationship, idiot. Lastly, the medium also told me my grandma says that I shouldn't smoke the devil's lettuce eye roll.I love that she's, like, guiding you through all these hard times and showing up when she needs. And she's also like, stop smoking weed.Put down the weed. Come on, Miley.It's the devil's lettuce.And I love that. Everything else, you're like, oh, my God, grandma. Of course. And then that one, you're like, eye roll.Okay, grandma.All right. Anywho, I have so much comfort knowing grandma has always been with me, working through these difficult times. That must feel very comforting.Yeah, actually. Absolutely.I also want to point out that if you do want to connect with loved ones that have passed, you just have to ask and pay attention to the signs. I love that. Yep. I'll write back someday to tell you some other spooky tales. I've had the little dead girl saying hi. Or the time I lived in a haunted house. Guys, you gotta send these. You want these?You guys can send them all in one puddle if you feel like it. Like, if it's overwhelming to write all of that at once, we're for it. Yeah.I'm attaching a few things pic of beautiful grandmother Josephine. She is gorgeous. A queen.And she just looks like a hog.She looks like a hot.Yeah, she slayed.Yeah. Her gravestone with the verse and my program with the same verse and some of my past Halloween costumes because I go all the way out. Love y'all. Malan.Malan.I love all these. These pictures of Grandma Josephine are look like they're the most classic. Like forties.Yes.Pinup. Yeah. Beautiful gal. And she's just smiling and all of them, like, so happy.The wedding picture in particular, she just looks so happy. I love it. I love it. And I'm pretty sure your grandpa is like, whoever she married is winking.Yeah. And when I got tell you guys that Meilan does Halloween correctly.Oh, my God.Malan does Halloween parties for Halloween.She goes all the way off.Truly.I love it.All the way up.Love, love, love.Wow.These listener tales so much. They were all, like, hand picked.These.I did. I love a guardian angel.She loved it.A moment. Yesterday I texted.Oh, yeah.I was, like, stressed out about everything.In life and that we're always stressed out about.We're constantly stressed out about.Yeah.And also my armpit was swollen. So that was scary. But it turns out that I just have an infected hair follicle. Isn't that super cute? Yum. I was like, oh, no, what does this mean? And I was leaving Elena's house and I collide. I don't know if you heard me scream. I collided with the largest dragonfly I have ever seen.I saw that dragonfly after you left.It was.It hung around.Okay.And the dogs were trying to eat it out of the air.I'm glad they didn't because I think I knew that dragonfly. And I, like, I'm not kidding you, I collided with it. Like, it, like, skidded across my fingers. No joke. Like, I feel like it was trying to get my attention. And I just said to, like, somebody that has passed away in my life, like, hey, if that was you, like, I love you. Like, thank you. And I was, like, in my head kind of doubting myself. Like, who knows if that person that I love is, like, representing themselves by colliding into me as a dragonfly. Sounds a little crazy when you wear it like that. And then I'm pulling out of the street and I pull behind a car with the license plate eight eight eight, which is like an angel number, so. Hello. Hello? And I just. I felt comforted.And it was. It was during a moment where you.Needed to be comforted and during a moment where that particular person, like, knew the situation and, like, knew how much I hate doing certain things and.Yeah.You know, being wrapped up with certain things. Things. And they were always there for me through that.See, I love.Yeah, exactly.And I believe I. I think that too. I think it was that person I was.And I just like, immediate, because that's the thing. Like, I immediately was like, all right, I'm good. And it was like such an inexplicable feeling of just like, because I was so stressed and then it was just like, yeah.And that's when, you know, like, something has shifted. Yeah, yeah.And it was funny, cuz I got home and Drew was like, I was actually thinking of that person today.Like, that's so funny. Yeah, I love that.So I totally believe in all that stuff. And I. And I fucking love it.And they were just beautiful tales.They were gorgeous tails.I loved all of them. You all do such a great job with these.We really do.We really love doing it.Keep sending them in.Yeah. We fucking love you. You're honestly the best.You're the best part of this.That's why we love listener tales so much, because it's about you guys.Yeah.And we get to read your stories and learn more about you.It's so fantastic.We just dig you. Thanks for being there.Yeah. You make this worth it.You literally make it worth it. So thank you for doing that.And we hope you keep listening.And we hope you keep it weird.But not so weird that you don't keep sending in your listener tales. Because we love them.We love them. We love you. We love, love, love.These were so emotional.You're beautiful.If you like. Morbid. You can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wonderye us in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey@wondery.com. survey.

you did, Malan.

Hell, yeah.

And I was wasting my time in school. So you could imagine the joy of graduation was gone, and I was just mostly beat down about it.

It sucks because when you're in that, obviously, like, you're of course, like, soaking in what they're saying and, like, it hurts. But people like that say shit like that to successful people because they're upset that they didn't do shit with their life and that they're not successful.

100% threatened. And they want to see it affect.

You because they don't want you to succeed.

Yeah. And they want. It makes them feel like they achieved something because they'll never achieve anything of importance or significance, so they have to. By making you sad or feel less than.

So fuck you, dick bag.

Yeah, fuck you, dick bag.

We hate you.

It was the week before graduation, on Mother's Day weekend. At the time, my family had this tradition where we go to my grandmother's grave on Mother's Day weekend to say hi and just talk to her. She passed away around Mother's Day, and my mom did not get to see her before she passed suddenly. So going around this time was super important for my mom that day. In my head, I told grandma at her grave, I wish she was here to see me graduate. And if she could send me a sign to let me know she was watching over me. Boy, did she ever. The day before my graduation, there was a religious ceremony at the university. At the time, I was in the thick of organized religion. Ick. That's. I did not say that the ick was religious. I'm just saying that's her personal feeling. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. And the day and the next day, to my knowledge, I graduated and had a lunch to celebrate. I was so emotional that day. Self worth was low, and I remember just feeling so down that night, even though I had just accomplished this great thing.

Later that night, my mom calls me and says, hey, so I didn't want to make you sad earlier, but did you recognize the Bible verse on the program from the baccalaureate ceremony? I had no idea what she was referring to. She says, the program had the verse from your grandmother's tombstone on it. And today is the anniversary of her death, May 15. The verse was from. Was one from Isaiah. I have called you by name. You are mine. I immediately started to cry and told my mom I had asked grandma to give me a sign. She was still here with me while at her grave. This was my sign, and I almost missed it.

Of all the Bible verses in the entire world.

Like, what?

And, like, just, like, even the words in that one. Like, I've called you by my name. You are mine.

And the fact. That's the thing. And the fact of all of them in the world. The one that's on her tombstone.

Right. And on the day that she passed away on the anniversary of her death.

Like, you can't just let that go.

Yeah. A lot of times, I just feel like there's no such thing as coincidence.

Definitely not like that. Cut to present day, and grandma still gives me signs when I need them. Sorry. I had a hiccup. The last one was when I decided to quit my professional dance career. I was just doing a standard cry in the shower about it. The lights flickered while I was ugly crying in the shower. And for some reason, I was like, hi, grandma. But also freaked out because I was home alone. The next day, I'm on Google Maps trying to find a halfway location point to interview someone for a job on my team. At the time, my grandparents house happened to be in the city. That was the in between point between Dallas and Fort Worth where we were to meet. I plopped the little yellow guy on the map in a random spot to see if I could find a coffee shop. To my surprise, the street view was in the middle of the cemetery where my grandmother is buried. No.

Come on.

Come on. I had to call my mom to confirm the name of the cemetery, and it was. It was just another sign that she was here with me while I was going through a tough time. That's bonkers.

Isn't that crazy? I've seen all of those things, like, together.

I've since talked to a medium, and she told me, my grandma is one of my spirit guides. The medium gave me a specific situation that I had alone in my bedroom, where I was watching this emotional ass music video where a woman had dementia and was lump in throat, crying. She said my grandma was there and that I shouldn't worry about that. Like, this was a private moment alone. I had not talked about it. The medium said it was a way to prove my grandma is always with me. The medium also told me that birds were another way she was showing up hem cardinals. I'm sure she was like, get out of that relationship, idiot. Lastly, the medium also told me my grandma says that I shouldn't smoke the devil's lettuce eye roll.

I love that she's, like, guiding you through all these hard times and showing up when she needs. And she's also like, stop smoking weed.

Put down the weed. Come on, Miley.

It's the devil's lettuce.

And I love that. Everything else, you're like, oh, my God, grandma. Of course. And then that one, you're like, eye roll.

Okay, grandma.

All right. Anywho, I have so much comfort knowing grandma has always been with me, working through these difficult times. That must feel very comforting.

Yeah, actually. Absolutely.

I also want to point out that if you do want to connect with loved ones that have passed, you just have to ask and pay attention to the signs. I love that. Yep. I'll write back someday to tell you some other spooky tales. I've had the little dead girl saying hi. Or the time I lived in a haunted house. Guys, you gotta send these. You want these?

You guys can send them all in one puddle if you feel like it. Like, if it's overwhelming to write all of that at once, we're for it. Yeah.

I'm attaching a few things pic of beautiful grandmother Josephine. She is gorgeous. A queen.

And she just looks like a hog.

She looks like a hot.

Yeah, she slayed.

Yeah. Her gravestone with the verse and my program with the same verse and some of my past Halloween costumes because I go all the way out. Love y'all. Malan.

Malan.

I love all these. These pictures of Grandma Josephine are look like they're the most classic. Like forties.

Yes.

Pinup. Yeah. Beautiful gal. And she's just smiling and all of them, like, so happy.

The wedding picture in particular, she just looks so happy. I love it. I love it. And I'm pretty sure your grandpa is like, whoever she married is winking.

Yeah. And when I got tell you guys that Meilan does Halloween correctly.

Oh, my God.

Malan does Halloween parties for Halloween.

She goes all the way off.

Truly.

I love it.

All the way up.

Love, love, love.

Wow.

These listener tales so much. They were all, like, hand picked.

These.

I did. I love a guardian angel.

She loved it.

A moment. Yesterday I texted.

Oh, yeah.

I was, like, stressed out about everything.

In life and that we're always stressed out about.

We're constantly stressed out about.

Yeah.

And also my armpit was swollen. So that was scary. But it turns out that I just have an infected hair follicle. Isn't that super cute? Yum. I was like, oh, no, what does this mean? And I was leaving Elena's house and I collide. I don't know if you heard me scream. I collided with the largest dragonfly I have ever seen.

I saw that dragonfly after you left.

It was.

It hung around.

Okay.

And the dogs were trying to eat it out of the air.

I'm glad they didn't because I think I knew that dragonfly. And I, like, I'm not kidding you, I collided with it. Like, it, like, skidded across my fingers. No joke. Like, I feel like it was trying to get my attention. And I just said to, like, somebody that has passed away in my life, like, hey, if that was you, like, I love you. Like, thank you. And I was, like, in my head kind of doubting myself. Like, who knows if that person that I love is, like, representing themselves by colliding into me as a dragonfly. Sounds a little crazy when you wear it like that. And then I'm pulling out of the street and I pull behind a car with the license plate eight eight eight, which is like an angel number, so. Hello. Hello? And I just. I felt comforted.

And it was. It was during a moment where you.

Needed to be comforted and during a moment where that particular person, like, knew the situation and, like, knew how much I hate doing certain things and.

Yeah.

You know, being wrapped up with certain things. Things. And they were always there for me through that.

See, I love.

Yeah, exactly.

And I believe I. I think that too. I think it was that person I was.

And I just like, immediate, because that's the thing. Like, I immediately was like, all right, I'm good. And it was like such an inexplicable feeling of just like, because I was so stressed and then it was just like, yeah.

And that's when, you know, like, something has shifted. Yeah, yeah.

And it was funny, cuz I got home and Drew was like, I was actually thinking of that person today.

Like, that's so funny. Yeah, I love that.

So I totally believe in all that stuff. And I. And I fucking love it.

And they were just beautiful tales.

They were gorgeous tails.

I loved all of them. You all do such a great job with these.

We really do.

We really love doing it.

Keep sending them in.

Yeah. We fucking love you. You're honestly the best.

You're the best part of this.

That's why we love listener tales so much, because it's about you guys.

Yeah.

And we get to read your stories and learn more about you.

It's so fantastic.

We just dig you. Thanks for being there.

Yeah. You make this worth it.

You literally make it worth it. So thank you for doing that.

And we hope you keep listening.

And we hope you keep it weird.

But not so weird that you don't keep sending in your listener tales. Because we love them.

We love them. We love you. We love, love, love.

These were so emotional.

You're beautiful.

If you like. Morbid. You can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wonderye us in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey@wondery.com. survey.