0:05

Snap Judgment Studios. A

0:11

story without words. Level

0:24

level level. Listen

0:35

to spooked.

0:42

Every minute in your morning routine

0:44

counts and I get that. My

0:46

name is Jeff Pierre. I'm the host

0:48

of the seven from the Washington Post. It's

0:51

a new podcast where we give you the seven

0:53

most important and interesting stories

0:55

of the day and all in just a few

0:58

minutes. You'll be caught up and ready

1:00

to drop knowledge without missing a beat. I

1:02

promise. Listen to the seven

1:05

weekday mornings. Follow the show

1:07

now. I'll meet you there.

1:12

From KQED and PRX,

1:14

you've crossed over to spooked.

1:27

OK, so like a lot of folk,

1:29

I love dim sum. Traditional

1:32

Chinese small plates of deliciousness. I

1:34

love it. A while ago, perfect

1:37

dim sum weather. Scoop up my

1:39

kids, head over to this fantastic

1:42

spot not too far from my place. Of

1:44

course, it's packed. That's

1:46

part of the fun. Everybody has the same

1:49

idea because not only is the food

1:51

here tasty, the view

1:54

overlooks the entire San Francisco

1:56

Bay

1:57

Golden Gate Bridge, Marin. Have

1:59

a beautiful day. gorgeous

2:02

happy families everywhere we finally get

2:04

a table and a small army of

2:06

servers busting about

2:08

they start serving up the shumai the

2:10

little my guy the banana leaf the dumplings

2:13

and turnip cake broccoli with the oyster

2:15

sauce and my favorite specialty

2:17

of the house they're flaky eggy

2:20

sweet custard tarts yeah boy I

2:22

look up

2:24

grinning at my kids they

2:26

grin right back at me but

2:29

they both clap their

2:31

hands over their ears and

2:36

they scream wow

2:39

their faces distort in obvious

2:41

pain I jump up

2:44

around us everywhere in the restaurant kids

2:47

babies teenagers screaming I'm up

2:49

in my daughter's face darling what's wrong what's

2:51

wrong what's wrong what's wrong she opens

2:54

her eyes looks at me bewildered

2:57

you don't hear

2:58

that you're what hands pressed

3:01

hard against the sides of her head and

3:03

then all

3:08

over the restaurant

3:10

kids stop screaming like

3:13

turning off a light switch there's

3:17

this kind of residual whip ring bewildered

3:20

parents examining their children's bodies my

3:23

own kids are incredulous pops

3:26

you didn't hear that how

3:29

could you not hear that

3:32

I'm looking around and the other

3:34

mummies and daddies are shook shaking their heads

3:36

at me they didn't hear anything either whatever

3:38

it was it happened

3:41

at a frequency

3:42

outside an adult range of perception

3:46

like the biblical angel of death starting

3:50

only the youngest the

3:52

rest of us unscathed

3:54

and I don't know why

3:56

it took me

3:58

this long I

4:01

don't. But since

4:03

grabbing a hold of my kids confused in that

4:05

restaurant, I've noticed there

4:08

are lots of things. Lots

4:11

of things outside my range of awareness.

4:15

Things I have no notion

4:17

of. But

4:19

things that are there. Just

4:22

the same. Garrett

4:34

Brooks acy

4:54

Garrick Britt

5:08

XOH You

5:24

don't know what you don't know. Our

5:32

next storyteller is anonymous by request. He's a minister

5:35

these days. But

5:38

the story is from a time in his childhood when he bumped

5:41

against some mysterious powers, forces

5:44

that didn't come with an instruction manual. The

5:48

story starts just as his family is moving

5:50

into a new house. Very

5:54

Good. It

6:07

was so small. I

6:09

mean incredibly small. There

6:12

was no true dining room. The

6:14

kitchen was the dining room and it was like 10

6:16

foot by 10 foot. Our

6:19

bedroom for my brother and I had a darkish

6:22

stain. It was about

6:24

the size of a basketball

6:27

on the floor right in the middle of

6:30

the room. That just

6:32

didn't seem right.

6:41

Our acreage connected with a creek all

6:43

the way back to the Des Moines River. We

6:46

would go back there and spend hours having tremendous

6:48

fun, play football,

6:52

having cows chase us,

6:56

jump the fences and things like that. From

6:59

a five-year-old's perspective, this

7:02

is awesomeness.

7:10

I was the oldest

7:12

of my brothers about a year and a half behind me and then

7:14

six years behind that was my younger

7:17

sister.

7:21

One day my brother and I had an argument and

7:24

my dad came in the room to talk to me

7:26

and sent him out.

7:30

I'm approaching the teen years

7:32

and I was whining about something.

7:37

Why is it that my little brother get to do everything

7:39

the same time I did? Why

7:42

is it the same day I got to shoot the tangage?

7:44

The same day he gets to shoot the tangage.

7:48

My dad was 6'4", 275, could take the back end of

7:50

a Volkswagen

7:53

Beetle by the bumper and take it off the ground.

7:56

He didn't speak to me often. He

7:59

just wasn't a jig.

7:59

the abber box. But when he spoke,

8:03

I knew, listen.

8:06

My dad, he said this between you and me

8:08

son, there's been worse

8:10

things that happened in this room, you know,

8:12

there was a murder in this room. A

8:16

woman was murdered in this very room.

8:21

It sure stopped any whining. I didn't

8:24

ask, how do you know this dad?

8:26

My reaction was,

8:28

wow, that's

8:30

serious.

8:32

I never would have thought that.

8:35

I got a pretty good.

8:41

It was a summer night and I'm

8:43

on my bed. My bed is pushed

8:46

up to the windows. There's

8:48

a gentle breeze outside, just

8:51

that perfect summer breeze. It's

8:54

the middle of the night and the next thing I know,

8:56

I am sitting

8:58

straight up and

9:01

I'm pondering why am I

9:03

sitting up? I didn't

9:06

know. My

9:09

brother, he's over there sawing logs.

9:14

Then I felt a irresistible

9:17

urge to look at the TV

9:19

at the end of my bed. It

9:23

was on a stand at the end of the bed.

9:26

It's a strange feeling that's hard

9:28

to put in words, but

9:31

it's like you better look and

9:33

you have to look and you can't

9:35

look away.

9:38

Even though it's dark in the room, I still see a little

9:40

reflection off the screen,

9:43

off to the right, over

9:45

my bedpost. A

9:48

little white mist

9:50

formed. Well,

9:55

what is that? It began

9:57

to take shape. And

10:00

then I could tell exactly what it

10:02

was, is the head of a young woman, looking

10:06

right at me. There

10:10

was only a head. There was no body.

10:14

She looked like a teenage girl. Dark

10:18

black hair. She has

10:20

a very determined look.

10:22

I would say serious look on her

10:24

face. And then she

10:27

started speaking.

10:30

She said, I have to

10:32

warn you.

10:34

You're in danger. There

10:38

has been a murder in this room. And

10:41

there's going to be more bad things happen. You've

10:45

got to take this warning. You're

10:48

in danger in this house. Whoa.

10:55

What are you talking about? What type of danger?

11:02

I had never experienced anything supernatural

11:05

before.

11:08

I don't know where she was

11:10

from or who she was. But

11:14

she showed up to definitively

11:16

warn me.

11:19

There was nothing dreamlike about it.

11:25

She's calm, but serious. I'd better

11:28

listen.

11:31

But things did not remain calm. The

11:35

TV immediately caught on fire. A

11:39

pop and a woof. And

11:41

then a burst of flame

11:44

that came out of the TV.

11:46

Now

11:49

I'm shocked and now I'm in panic

11:51

and I... I freeze. I

11:54

don't know what to do here. But

11:58

Dad will know what to do. So

12:01

I start yelling, Dad, the TV

12:03

is on fire! Dad,

12:05

the TV is on fire! Barreling

12:10

down, oh I hear him coming. What's

12:13

going on boys? And

12:15

all of a sudden the door just swings open.

12:18

He goes on over to that TV. He

12:21

pulls out the plug and lifts

12:23

it up by the extension cord. He

12:27

zooms out of the room with this TV

12:30

is on fire, smoke is coming out of it.

12:33

He goes out into the side yard and

12:36

just throws the TV out there.

12:42

I'm so shocked. I still

12:44

don't know what to do. I'm

12:46

just sitting in bed still trying to

12:48

absorb the reality

12:52

of it all. The

12:54

whole house is up now. Well,

12:56

what happened? Why did this happen? I mean,

12:58

were you watching TV or... I

13:01

just was staring at it. It

13:03

caught on fire. I

13:05

was looking at it and it caught on fire. I

13:08

did not tell them about the talking head. I

13:11

was fearful that they

13:14

would think something is wrong with me. After

13:20

all the conversation, everything

13:22

seems to be safe now. There

13:26

wasn't a lot of talk about it. That's

13:29

the type of family that we were.

13:33

It's not like it just completely

13:35

left my mind, but there's a lot of stuff

13:37

that we're doing. My

13:39

dad's got work. We're going to

13:42

have baseball the next day. I

13:45

mean, I've got a big game coming up against my cousins

13:47

here.

13:49

We got to win.

13:52

Let's get back to sleep.

13:58

This show is sponsored

14:01

by BetterHelp. Let me ask

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slash Glenn, G-L-Y-N-N.

14:53

Oh, it's like a couple weeks later and

14:56

I'm going into my

14:58

sister's bedroom. There

15:02

was a rocking chair in there.

15:06

It was an old rocking chair, but very sturdy.

15:09

I just loved how it felt. I

15:11

like to sit and daydream. So

15:14

I just plopped in the chair. I'm

15:18

sitting in my chair, and I'm just sitting

15:20

there, and I'm just sitting in the chair.

15:22

Then that

15:23

feeling came over me,

15:28

just like I had in

15:30

my bedroom those days

15:32

before. I

15:36

felt an overwhelming urge

15:38

to stare at a little white electric

15:41

clock that was on her dresser.

15:44

I didn't resist it. And

15:47

the only thing I can see is the clock. The

15:51

only thing I can hear is that tiny, tiny electric

15:54

motor going around.

15:58

Here I am again.

15:59

and staring intently at an

16:03

object. Why is

16:05

this happening?

16:07

But before I can ponder it all too

16:10

deeply, I hear little

16:12

sparks. I hear sizzling. Smoke

16:17

starts billowing out of the top of the clock. I'm

16:21

frozen for a second, but I do remember

16:23

what my dad did. So

16:27

I grabbed this by the cord. I

16:29

unplugged it, and I took

16:32

it outside running with it

16:34

on fire, smoke coming

16:36

out of it, and I threw it out in the yard.

16:42

My mom came running and wanted

16:44

to know what had happened. I

16:47

mean, there was smoke in the house.

16:52

I said, the clock caught on fire. Well,

16:56

what were you doing to the clock? I wasn't

16:58

doing anything to the clock. I

17:00

wasn't messing with it. I wasn't opening it.

17:03

It just caught on fire.

17:07

Well, it's a good thing that you

17:09

were there at that time and caught

17:12

it as it caught on fire.

17:16

I think, well, that is a good thing. It did

17:18

not catch on fire until I

17:20

stared at it intensely. So

17:25

am I really the savior of the house here

17:27

or am I the cause of it? My

17:32

dad checked the breaker box. Do

17:37

we have a short circuit here? There's a

17:39

mouse eating something, and

17:42

he did not find any problems with

17:45

the wiring. Nothing

17:47

in the breaker box that showed

17:50

signs of fire, no

17:52

sign of a spark. Everything

17:54

seemed to be working the way it was intended.

17:57

Of course.

20:00

What do you say to that type of look?

20:04

I don't know.

20:07

But to this day, I don't know.

20:12

The only thing I know is that it's happened.

20:17

After these events, I did find myself

20:20

spending less time alone. I

20:27

was afraid that if I was in a room by myself,

20:30

I'm going to have this urge to stare, and

20:33

something else is going to catch on fire.

20:37

The worst thing that could happen is that I

20:40

didn't do the right thing if a fire did start and I

20:42

lost my family. But

20:46

I was fortunate that I had a summer

20:49

of baseball. And

20:52

trying to make the All-Star team, my dad was

20:54

going to be the coach of it. And

20:57

then school was coming up too, so we had

20:59

to get ready for all that. Life

21:02

just kind of took over. And

21:05

the incident stopped.

21:08

It didn't happen again.

21:11

But there's always that little nagging

21:13

thing in your mind.

21:16

What if I have to stare again? It

21:19

kind of never really goes away.

21:28

It was about 15 years later. I

21:31

was on my motorcycle going down

21:34

Cedar Avenue. I

21:36

felt an urge to look at

21:39

a street light. I looked

21:41

at it. It turned

21:43

off.

21:47

I said, that was weird. But

21:50

then I really put it to the test. I

21:53

was going down a hill on that same avenue. This

21:56

was an evening between 9 and 10. So there were

21:58

not lots of people.

21:59

lights and I'm fighting more traffic. I

22:03

felt pretty much alone. I

22:06

looked at a light and

22:08

I said go out and

22:11

it went up. I

22:13

looked at the second one it went out. I looked at the third one

22:16

it went out. I

22:18

felt goosebumps. I felt the hair

22:20

standing up. I

22:23

was thinking is there some

22:26

relation to what occurred in my youth?

22:28

Is

22:29

this going to escalate? I

22:32

am a minister. I don't

22:34

want to lose credibility. I

22:39

was done. I pulled over. I checked

22:43

all my headlights. Are they pointing

22:45

up at sensors and now turning things off sporadically?

22:47

There

22:50

wasn't anything wrong.

22:53

You just walk around a bit thinking am

22:56

I insane? Am

22:58

I insane?

23:02

So then I actually decided to tell my wife about

23:04

it. We

23:08

were at a little strip mall and

23:10

I could feel it coming on.

23:14

I just feel like there's going to be something

23:16

with the light. I said

23:18

watch Robin. So

23:20

we went over under a light. I

23:23

just put my hand up the direction of the light

23:25

and it turned

23:28

off and she goes whoa.

23:32

She was freaked out. That

23:35

was 26

23:39

or 27 years ago. I've pondered it. Don't have

23:41

the answers. I

23:47

don't have any urge man. I sure hope something

23:50

new happens. I've

23:52

had enough.

23:59

secret things of God.

24:06

As a minister, I understand I'm just not going

24:08

to get to know.

24:11

There are simply things that are going to be unexplained.

24:16

So

24:21

I know what happened after our last

24:23

interview, but for listeners who

24:26

don't know, you and I

24:28

said goodbye and then what? The

24:31

recording man is looking at his equipment.

24:35

There was a lit screen on it and

24:37

it went out. He

24:41

goes, oh no. Here

24:44

we go again, maybe.

24:58

Many thanks to our anonymous storyteller

25:00

for sharing his experience, but

25:03

no thanks to whatever did

25:05

that to the tape of our first interview. I did

25:07

not appreciate it. Original score

25:10

was by Yari Bundy. It was produced

25:13

by Ann Ford. Oh,

25:30

spooksters,

25:31

thanks for going beyond the veil with us.

25:33

But now I have a question for

25:35

you. She's become something

25:37

of a trope in crime

25:40

movies and mystery novels. The police are stumped.

25:42

They can't find the evil doer. So the hero

25:45

gets his better judgment, consults a person able

25:48

to somehow, somehow glean a

25:50

residue and energy from

25:52

the few clues brought before her and

25:54

then point the finger in the direction of

25:57

who done it. So

25:59

here's my request.

28:00

Be fooled, be wary, be prepared. Your

28:03

first line of defense? Never,

28:06

ever, never, ever, never,

28:09

ever. Turn out

28:13

the light.

28:21

This story was Summoned in the Dark

28:23

of Night by KQED

28:26

and PRX.