A musician haunted by a toy and much more on this edition of Jim Harold’s Campfire!
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TRANSCRIPT
Jim Harold (00:00:00):
Haunted by Furby?! We’ll find out more on this edition of Jim Harold’s Campfire.
Announcer (00:00:20):
Welcome to our gathering tonight. Here we share stories of ordinary people who have experienced extraordinary things. Sit back, relax, and warm yourself by Jim Harold’s Campfire.
Jim Harold (00:00:32):
Welcome to the Campfire. I am Jim Harold. So glad to be with you once again. And if you enjoy scary stories, spooky stories, stories of ghosts, cryptid creatures, UFOs, strange occurrences happening to everyday people than you are in the right place. This is Jim Harold Campfire, and welcome to it. And you know what? This week we’re going to get right to the stories and here they are. You might remember a while back, we had Ellen on the show from Ireland, and she has the coolest jobs. She’s a bassist and a comedian, and she’s from Ireland, so she has a very cool accent and does some great ghost stories to boot. And she has another one for us about a ghost child. Ellen, welcome back to the show. It just seems like we spoke mere moments ago. Tell us what happened.
Ellen (IRE) (00:01:25):
Yeah, well, part of my job, obviously I’m a session bass player, I have to go off and play with different artists and I also teach in a music school. And this particular gig, the artist I was playing for, the gig was ages away way down in Cork. That’s a good three, four hour drive. And I had to be up early the next morning to teach music and I didn’t want to have to go home to where I’m from and it would just add more to the journey and I’d be wrecked. So I was just like, could I stay in your house? He lives in this absolutely beautiful cottage in the middle of the woods. He’s a singer songwriter, lives in the woods in Ireland. Ridiculous.
Jim Harold (00:02:04):
That’s pretty, yeah, that’s like out of something, out of a movie. That’s pretty cool.
Ellen (IRE) (00:02:08):
Yeah, absolutely. It’s a lovely homely vibe to it. But it was in the winter and it was particularly cold. And his house is, I’d say it’s about 200 years old or something, and it’s drafty and everything. And anyway, we came home after the gig hours later and I got to his house and he was like, oh, I can stay in my son’s room. He’s away at his mother’s house. There it is. And the room was, well, it was absolutely freezing. It was pretty bare apart from when you come in through the door, the bed, there was a single bed on the left hand side at the wall. There was a rickety little window right in front of me. And then to the right, there were all these teddy bears all lined up on the floor, on the wall. Just big massive piles of all these bears and stuff like that.
(00:02:54):
And I remember seeing this big, huge, like a furby thing, but it was massive. I’ve never seen a furby that big. It was huge. I just remember kind of looking at it going, never seen one that big before. It was double the size of a normal furby, anyway, it was like three in the morning and I was like, I need to get up in four hours, so I need to get the head down. So got ready for bed, came into the room, and there was no table lights running, so you had to kind of use your phone to get from the door to the bed once you put the light off. And I got into the room, I was absolutely freezing. And I mean, it was a really particularly bad cold snap in Ireland as well at the time. And a very drafty old house and all this crack, you know?
(00:03:37):
Got into the room, closed the door, and he left the hall light on. But the house is so old that the door was all rickety and it was kind of bent up over the floor. So there was a big massive shaft of light, huge shaft of light and cold coming from this kind of under the door thing. Anyway, put the light off, close the door, and I used my phone torch to kind of get into the bed, which was freezing. And once I got into the bed and I put the torch off my phone off, I looked at the door and there was a shape, really distinctive shape in the door. Now I walked from the door to the bed and there was nothing in the way. So I was like, what’s that? And I was like, there’s no cat in here. But it looked like it was the shape with a huge furby. It was massive. And it was blocked right square in the middle of it.
Jim Harold (00:04:24):
Oh gosh. I’m thinking of Five Nights at Freddy’s right now.
Ellen (IRE) (00:04:29):
Chucky or something. Haunted by a Furby.
Jim Harold (00:04:35):
Haunted by a Furby.
Ellen (IRE) (00:04:37):
This thing is, and the light is shining behind it. So it’s the silhouette of this furby with the fluff and everything. And I’m looking at it going, how did that get there? I remember looking at it in the corner of the room as I came in. And anyway, I put my torch back on my phone and I shone it at the door. Nothing was there.
Jim Harold (00:04:55):
Oh!
Ellen (IRE) (00:04:59):
Completely nothing. Because I mean, I walked from the door to the bed and there was nothing on the floor space at all. No clothes, no toys, nothing. Only for the corner, which was all really neat. And I got freaked out and I just remember thinking, okay, I’m just shining the light on this corner for a while before I put it off again. But I was like, oh, think. I have to get up for work in the morning and I’m none of this. I’m not let myself get scared. And I got back in. And then eventually I was brave enough, put the torch off and I was staring at the door, nothing in the door. The whole light was free. It was free of Furbys, everything. And then I was kind of snuggling down and I was only kind of in the bed for a few seconds when I felt in the bed to my right hand side in with me to the side of me, little kind of hands, little cold hands of like a child.
Jim Harold (00:05:51):
Oh geez. Oh my God. It wasn’t Furby, was it?
Ellen (IRE) (00:05:58):
No, it felt like a little child, just a little kid. Just little hands tickling me as if they were kind of held together and then lying on their side next to me and then tickling me, diagonally right into my side, but not over my clothes, in under my clothes.
Jim Harold (00:06:16):
Oh gosh. Hey, that’s not cool
Ellen (IRE) (00:06:18):
Skin to skin.
Jim Harold (00:06:19):
Yeah, that’s not cool.
Ellen (IRE) (00:06:21):
And I just kind of jumped and I jumped out of the bed, ran over to the door, put the light on, nothing there, nothing in the bed, nothing ran the room. I was there thinking, is there rats? But big mess of hands and furbies, what’s going on?
Jim Harold (00:06:34):
Oh man.
Ellen (IRE) (00:06:36):
And pulled all the bed clothes off, checked the room. The Furby was where it was meant to be in the corner. There was no weird ghost kid in the bed and there was nothing. And then I was like, and the room was cold. I don’t think the room was cold because of ghost. It was just freezing. But no matter what I did, I couldn’t get warm, but I was in no humor. I had to work the next day. I was in no humor for any messing. So I curled back into my stuff. I put the light off, had my torch on, got back into bed, and then I kind of just said into the air, none of this, I’m having none of this. Tomorrow’s an important day. No, none of that. No, no, no. Stop. And then, I dunno how I eventually got to sleep, but in the morning, the artist I was playing for, he was like, oh, wake me up in the morning. I’ll make you breakfast. I hoofed it out there and I haven’t been back since.
Jim Harold (00:07:28):
I’m like, enough, enough. Wow. Wow. Geez. That is something else. I mean the huge Furby then the ghost child tickling you. Oh my gosh. But it’s interesting what you said. You said you kind of told it, Hey, off limits, I’ve got a big professional day tomorrow, I’m not going to have it. And it stopped. And I’ve heard that before. I was talking to a famous author who has since unfortunately passed, but he said, and he did books on all this stuff, Brad Steiger. And he said that I asked him if anything ever bothered him, and he gave me one anecdote where he was working one night in his upstairs, I think it was, and he was convinced there was a ghost or something messing around. And one thing happened and another thing happened, and the same kind of deal. He was working, it wasn’t playtime. And he just said, look, knock it off. And this is paraphrasing, but look, knock it off. I’m trying to get some work done here. Sure enough, it knocked it off and that was it. So these things happen. That’s a great story. You’re a great storyteller, Ellen. I know you have even more. I look forward to speaking with you again, and thanks for being a part of the Campfire. Stay spooky,
Ellen (IRE) (00:08:40):
Stay spooky. Jim
Jim Harold (00:08:42):
Erin is on the line from North Carolina. We’re so glad to have her with us. She’s been listening since the pandemic time. Amazing. How many people found podcasts and found this podcast during that time? Wish it would’ve never happened. But regardless, we are glad that Erin and everybody out there did find us. Erin, this story is about your dad. Please tell us what happened.
Erin (NC) (00:09:04):
Yeah, so we lost my dad to suicide in July of 2009. It was July 7th.
Jim Harold (00:09:11):
I’m sorry.
Erin (NC) (00:09:13):
Thank you. And just to tell you a little bit about him, because it’ll help with the story, he was always listening to music, always the life of the party. So I grew up with him just listening to music all the time. He was a big university of Wisconsin Badgers fan, so Jump Around was played in our house all the time. Actually, it was a song that he played when he met my now husband for the first time, picked us up from the airport blaring, jump around from this big red suburban. So that’s a song that if I had to think of my dad, that would be one of the first ones that came to mind. So this happened this past summer. My family, we did a big European cruise.
(00:10:02):
It was like my entire family, my mom, my sister’s family, everybody. And it happened to fall on the anniversary of my dad’s passing. So it was July 7th and the day, you never know how anniversaries are going to go. I like to think I’ll know how I feel, but I never do. And that day I just, nothing went the way I wanted it to. And so dinnertime rolls around. My husband and my sister and I are sitting on a balcony in my mom’s room, sitting on the balcony, eating room service. And we’re in Bordeaux, France. And we were talking about my dad. He was so funny. And so we were just talking about him. And out of nowhere, crystal clear the song, Jump Around, you can hear it. I mean, I get goosebumps now just even talking about it because it was so clear. I started jumping on the balcony.
(00:11:05):
It was so clear that my sister thought I was playing it on my cell phone as a remembrance to him. Yeah, it was quite something. And we all just kind of froze and we hadn’t heard any music really, the whole trip, nothing like that clear. And for it to be in France of all places where you don’t really hear jump around that much, at least in my experience, it turned out it was a guy on a bike with a little Bluetooth speaker that just rode his bike by our balcony. So for me, it kind of felt like, oh, my dad was saying like, hi, and don’t worry about it so much. I feel like he had a really great sense of humor. So he was probably like, Erin, knock it off.
Jim Harold (00:11:52):
You what? I believe it. I believe. I don’t know how it works. I’ve had a similar experience, which I’ve told on the show about my late uncle. I believe when they’re on the other side, sometimes they can move things like chess pieces or ask somebody to do or something where they can put signs like a roadblock in your way, signs that are impossible to ignore. And they’re very specific and very targeted. And I believe that’s exactly what happened with you. And I love your dad’s taste in music, jump around. When it came out, I think I was dating my wife, or it had come out a couple of years before the early nineties or something. And every time that when they used to play videos on TV that would come out, I would crank it up and I’m like, yeah, I love that song. And I’m not even a big rap guy or anything. And then also, I love your dad’s taste in music because we’re recording this folks on video and Erin has her video on, and I could see some record albums on the wall, Jimi Hendrix, Ray Charles, the Beatles, some of my absolute favorites. So your dad had great taste in music.
Erin (NC) (00:13:03):
Yeah, hank you. I agree. I mean, he played everything from Polka to Beatles.
Jim Harold (00:13:09):
That’s me, that’s me. I listened to the occasional polka. I grew up in Cleveland. So just like Wisconsin, you would love it. Big, big, big polka area. Now I know you have more stories about your dad. Some things have happened recently. I do want to mention this though, because I think it’s so important. Anytime the topic of suicide comes up, I want to say, if you feel that you’re in crisis, if you need help, if someone needs help in the us there’s the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. It’s available 24 hours. It’s English and in Spanish, and it is 9 8 8. That number is 9 8 8. So please, if you are feeling as though you are in crisis, they provide free and confidential support for people in distress prevention and the crisis resources, please call 9 8 8. We want you around. Erin, you had some other stories about your dad?
Erin (NC) (00:14:09):
Yes. Just really quickly. So my mom has since passed away. She died in November of this last year. So just a few months after the trip that we took with her. And so my sister was getting her car ready to be sold. So she had gone to my mom’s house, got in the car, cleaned it out, turned on the car, and the very first song that played was the Green Day’s Time of Your Life, which is the song that we played at my dad’s memorial. And it was the song that he requested. And so my sister was like, that could be a coincidence. The very next song that played was that 8 6 7 5 3 0 9 song. And my mom’s name is Jenny. So she was like, okay, hi dad. I got it. It was just a nice little moment because it’s an upsetting thing to have to go through your family stuff. And then finally, the day before my mom’s memorial, I had just gone to my sister’s we’re upset. I get in the car, turn on the car. First song that place is time of your life yet again.
Jim Harold (00:15:28):
And again, I think it’s one of those things where you guys, as a family, it sounds like music was always very important to you. It was like the forefront. So it’s been used as the communication now, but communication medium. I think that’s kind of cool. Yeah,
Erin (NC) (00:15:42):
Absolutely. Yeah, it was nice. It was just a nice little moments.
Jim Harold (00:15:47):
Aaron, thank you so much for being a part of the Campfire. We appreciate it and take care. And we thank you for sharing this very personal story.
Erin (NC) (00:15:55):
Thank you so much.
Jim Harold (00:15:57):
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Announcer (00:18:29):
If you love the Campfire, be sure to check out the Paranormal Podcast where every week Jim interviews experts and authors about strange mysteries. Find it for free wherever you listen to this podcast. Tune in to the Paranormal Podcast today. Now we return to Jim Harold’s Campfire.
Jim Harold (00:18:44):
Next up on the Campfire is Christina from Michigan. We’re so glad to have her. She said she doesn’t have a lot of paranormal experiences, but she does have this story about a very special friend. Christina, welcome to the show and tell us what happened.
Christina (MI) (00:18:59):
Thanks so much for having me, Jim, and letting me share the story with you. So what I’d like to do is sort of set the stage for you, because my experience was really short and sweet, but I want to give that background so you could understand just how meaningful it was to me. So my dearest friend Eric, was just incredibly brilliant, a great sense of humor, loved to eat healthy, exercise, take care of his body. And during lockdown, I decided to actually use the gym equipment that I had in my basement. And so every morning I got into the routine of going down there and I’d get on my stationary bike and I have free weights and a bench also in my basement. There’s this wall, about half of the wall is built in bookshelves. My cousin was downsizing, and this was decades ago, and she was an avid reader, so she didn’t want to get rid of her books. So she had asked me, would you mind storing my books for me? And I had all these empty bookshelves. I said, of course. So these books, I’ve never read any, well, I’m not really a reader. I’m more of a podcast listener. And so these books have been in these bookshelves for literally decades. And in 2021, Eric passed away.
Jim Harold (00:20:35):
I’m sorry.
Christina (MI) (00:20:35):
Thank you. I appreciate that. And the grief was, it was really hard as it is with everyone. And I managed to move through it. And last spring in 2023, something just incredible happened. I was in my basement. I always am in the morning exercising, and I’m weight training at this point. And you get into that zone when you’re doing something repetitive and you’re kind of focused in on it. And I’m in between sets of weight training, and I’m sitting up at the edge of my weight bench, and you give yourself that 30 seconds or so before you do your next set. So I’m sitting there and all of a sudden I just stand up and I start walking over to the bookshelves. Now I realize I’m doing this, but I don’t know why I’m doing this. I go over, I’m not really looking at the books, but I reach up and I grab one book in particular, and I’m in the middle of exercising, and I don’t know why I’m doing this.
Jim Harold (00:21:56):
Right, because you said yourself, you’ve never read any of these books.
Christina (MI) (00:21:59):
I’ve never read any of the books, and I’m holding this one particular book that I pulled from the shelf. I’m holding it in my left hand. So the spine’s in my left hand with my right thumb, I’m fanning the pages of the book, and the pages stop because there’s something tucked inside of the book, and I look, and it’s a piece of paper that’s folded, sort of like a greeting card would be folded. And it’s a professional illustration in black and white, but it’s not a greeting card. It’s on this really thin paper. And the illustration is of flowers and a butterfly, and it says, for a special friend. And Jim, it’s not like there were objects moving across the room, or it wasn’t like there were electronics going on and off, but the feeling that I got throughout my entire body was incredible. It was goosebumps from head to toe, and my hands were literally shaking, and my hands are actually shaking. Now, again, thinking back on this, and I had this knowing Jim, I had a knowing that it was Eric, and this was a message that he was sending me.
Jim Harold (00:23:27):
Oh, that’s awesome.
Christina (MI) (00:23:28):
Now, what really makes it significant is, and I wasn’t thinking this at the time, but after I down, I’m thinking about it. And he sent his sign, literally in a book. And that’s significant because Eric was a New York Times bestselling author.
Jim Harold (00:23:51):
Wow.
Christina (MI) (00:23:54):
And so I’m looking at the book again, the publisher of the book that I pulled off my bookshelf was, it’s a major New York publisher. It was Eric’s publisher. And it was about a day or two later, I’m looking at the book, and it finally dawned on me the title of the book is The Ghost Who Fell in Love. And that is when you’ve been best friends with someone for over 20 years, their personality, their sense of humor, and that is so very on track with his sense of humor that I, it was a beautiful, beautiful sign. And there was no doubt that I know it was from him.
Jim Harold (00:24:47):
Wow. And of all the books that little piece of paper could have been in, and it was in that one, Ooh, you just gave goose goosebumps
(00:24:56):
That that was the kicker. Because at first it was like, oh, that’s a nice little story. That’s a nice little story that’s a little more interesting. That’s a little interesting. Then they go, the big reveal. Whoa, the Ghost Who Fell in Love. That is awesome. Wow. Well, that is amazing. So awesome. Thank you so much for joining us today, Christina. I appreciate it. Thank you for being a part of the Campfire. And again, I always say this, we have the scary, creepy stories. Ooh, those kind of things. Those exist. I don’t deny they exist, but I think these sweet stories exist too. And I think they’re just every bit as important, maybe actually more important. Christina, thank you for joining us today.
Christina (MI) (00:25:37):
Thank you so much, Jim.
Jim Harold (00:25:39):
Oh, and I almost forgot, Christina, before we go, William told you about the show it sounds like almost 10 years ago, and that’s why you’re listening, your older brother, William. William, thank you so much and stay spooky. And Christina, you stay spooky too.
Christina (MI) (00:25:55):
Stay spooky, Jim.
Jim Harold (00:25:56):
Hey, Jim here. Just wanted to tell you about something real quickly. We have introduced a stay spooky candle. Yes. A stay spooky candle. It is in our Mausoleum of Merch. Just go to JimHarold.com/merch, click on the Etsy option, and you will find our stay spooky scented soy candle. It’s got several different scents, white sage and lavender, sea salt and orchid, clean cotton, cinnamon vanilla, and apple harvest. And the best part of all is not only do you get to enjoy those great scents when you get this candle, you’re also supporting this show, and we appreciate it very much. Check it out. It is the stay spooky scented soy candle only at Jim Harold’s Mausoleum of Merch at jimharold.com/merch. Thanks and smell spooky.
(00:26:51):
Oh, I love to hear from our international callers. Nicole is calling from Japan. It’s the evening time here in the Eastern US, but it’s just the start of the morning for Nicole, and she took some time to spend with us. I’m so glad that she did. And she has a story about an old friend. Nicole, thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate it. And tell us what happened.
Nicole (JAP) (00:27:14):
Thank you so much, Jim. So happy to be here. Okay, so for a little context, I am in Japan, and I’ve been living here many years. And this friend of mine I met back in the nineties, the mid nineties. He was actually my boss when I worked at a small English conversation school in Tokyo. And it was a very small school, and we were a close knit group of friends, our boss and other teachers at the school. We would often go out drinking after work. And it was a fun place for me. At the time I was very young and not terribly focused on career yet, so just kind of having fun in life and adventures and that sort of thing. So over the years, we lost touch, and once in a while you’d hear from him, and I had heard he moved back to the UK several years ago.
(00:28:14):
I can’t really remember the exact year, but it must have been, oh, I’d say at least 15 years ago, something like that. And then a few years back, maybe three or four years, a mutual friend let me know that he had developed a brain tumor and he had been living with this brain tumor for several years. And I tried to stay in touch, but it was difficult for him to communicate. And so that brings us to last year when the same mutual friend informed me that he had passed away. And this would’ve been, let’s see, in autumn of 2023. And so of course it was very sad, even though you lose touch with friends over the years, but they still hold a special place in your heart. And I was sad, but not surprised and actually very relieved for him that his suffering had ended.
(00:29:19):
And so that night, I was alone in my living room and I thought, okay, let me just make a little toast to this friend. And I went to the cupboard and I took out this beautiful green drinking glass that he had given me many years ago. He used to give his employees gifts every Christmas time. And so we had all received something special, and I had received this special green glass. And so I got this glass out, and I don’t drink alcohol anymore. I don’t drink wine anymore, but I put some water in it, and I went to sit down in the living room and made a little toast. And I said out loud, I said, I’m very sorry that you’re gone, but I’m very glad that you’re at peace. And the exact words I used, I said, please feel free to drop by for a visit now that you’re free to roam around.
(00:30:21):
And so that’s where I left it. And then I would say maybe an hour or two later, I was going downstairs to the bedroom and I noticed, now this is the first part, and it’s a fairly straightforward story, but this one, okay, so I was going downstairs and I have two photographs on the hallway downstairs and a family photo. And these, now remember, we’re in Japan and we have earthquakes, major earthquakes, major events all throughout the year. And we built this house 16 years ago. And so these photographs on the hallway wall had never fallen off. No gust of wind had ever blown it off, nothing. And so I get to the foot of the stairs and one of the photographs, the framed photos, is flat on its face on the floor. I thought it was very strange, but I thought, okay, that is weird.
(00:31:24):
This has never happened. And I just put it back up and went to sleep. Then the next day, I am getting ready to go to work. I leave for work, I’m on the train to the office to Tokyo, and I arrive at the office and my daughter messages me with a photo. She had been taking a shower in the bathroom, and it’s a little hard to explain how the shower and the bathroom area is set up in Japan. It’s a little bit different. But anyhow, she left the bath, opened the sliding door, and right when she did that, how do you call it, it’s like the light fixture itself that covers the bulb had completely burst. It’s very heavy grade plastic. I don’t think it’s glass, but it’s extremely heavy and sharp, and it completely burst over her head and narrowly missed hitting her and just slammed onto the floor.
(00:32:28):
So this also, I mean, I’ve lived in different apartments and homes, but again, we’ve been in this home for 16 years. As you can see, I’m looking around, we’ve never had any kind of light fixture just pop off and explode and crash to the ground. And she was pretty freaked out. And she knew that my friend had passed away, and she’s also really into the paranormal. And so we listen to your podcast and we’re always talking about this kind of thing. My friend who passed, he was a bit of a prankster. He was a jokester. He was very creative, and I immediately thought, this must be him taking up my offer to come and visit, although it was a little bit misdirected because it scared the heck out of my daughter, but I’m certain that this was him. And I had to say, I said, right then, I said, thank you for coming. It was really great that you dropped by, but you really scared my daughter, and please don’t do that again. But I really feel strongly because, and I’ve never had this happen before, even though over the years I’ve been wanting very much to have a paranormal experience, this one really took me by surprise. So that’s why I decided to call into your show.
Jim Harold (00:33:53):
Oh, well, thank you so much for that. And yeah, and I wonder if it’s a case where I wonder how hard it is for them to communicate from the other side and could sometimes a very kind of innocuous just effort to communicate, use the word misguided, maybe somehow that energy became misguided and became a little bit destructive.
Nicole (JAP) (00:34:19):
That’s exactly how I feel about it. And also having listened to your show and other people who call in, I imagine it would be very hard, I mean, for someone on the other side to perfectly be in tune and reach us in the perfectly appropriate way. But I definitely felt the energy and it was shocking. Yet at the same time, a little thrilling, if that makes sense.
Jim Harold (00:34:55):
If it’s okay, I want to ask you an extra question because your kind of perspective, you are in Japan now, I hope it’s okay to share. You would share with me your originally from Ohio. How would you compare and contrast attitudes towards the paranormal and things like ghosts between the states and Japan as somebody who’s seen it from both sides?
Nicole (JAP) (00:35:18):
Oh, there’s a very good question, and I’ll try my best to answer. Definitely we have kind of, I would say a religious perspective here to consider people in Japan, they definitely have great respect for ancestors and rituals and honoring the dead. And there’s also a very healthy regard for horror and paranormal. And there’s of course, the genre. They have their own kind of brand of horror films that released in theaters and that sort of thing. So I would say that there is the United States a healthy respect for it, but at the same time, and maybe a bit more fear, because when I’ve tried to talk to people, I’m close with family members or others, sometimes it’s like they don’t want to invite it in. They don’t want to bring it into their lives by talking about it. There are also other rituals that people do, and I can’t speak. My partner is Japanese, but he’s not traditional at all. So everything I know, I just kind of had to pick up from just being in the culture and absorbing it that way. But I do know that, for example, when someone passes in your home, you’re supposed to safeguard your home with salt and any number other rituals to protect the home so that spirits don’t enter. So I would say it’s a combination of healthy regard for this genre and the paranormal combined with deep respect for one’s ancestors, if that makes sense.
Jim Harold (00:37:19):
Makes sense to me. Nicole, thank you so much for joining us today, taking time out of your busy day, and great to hear from you from Japan.
Nicole (JAP) (00:37:29):
Thanks so much, Jim. Huge fan here in Japan.
Jim Harold (00:37:32):
Jim Harold’s Campfire is brought to you by Calm. Now, are you like me? Do you sometimes find yourself getting into bed and you start checking all your social media apps and all of a sudden it’s like 45 minutes later and you’re still not asleep? Now, if you are a nighttime doom scroller, like sometimes I am, let Calm help you form new and healthy bedtime habits. Now, I’ll tell you, I’ll start doing that and then I’ll realize, wait, you’ve got the wrong apps. You’re looking at the wrong apps. You only need to look at one app. And that is Calm. And then I’m reminded, I turn on Calm and all is well because Calm is the number one app for sleep and meditation, giving you the power to calm your mind and change your life and Calm recognizes that everyone faces unique challenges in their daily lives that needs differ from person to person.
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Announcer (00:39:45):
Want the entire Campfire archive going back to 2009 plus much more? Get in on Jim’s Plus Club at JimHaroldplus.com. Now back to another great story.
Jim Harold (00:39:55):
Next up on the program is Sarah from New Mexico, and she has a workplace story. I love to hear workplace stories, and Sarah says she’s a big fan of the shows and I appreciate it. Sarah, this one was so bad, it really kind of got you to take some very serious action. Tell us what happened.
Sarah (NM) (00:40:15):
Yes. So I worked at a spa, this maybe happened about seven or eight years ago. I worked at a spa in town, and it’s a big building, multiple, like a multifaceted business. And I was someone that opened up the spa every morning, and I always knew that there was a presence in the spa just because people would talk about it. And there were some things that would happen that led me to believe that was true. But one Saturday morning, I was definitely convinced because I went to work. I opened up the spa as usual. The other girl, Allison, arrived and there was just the two of us in the building. It was about six in the morning, doors locked, just the two of us. And she was in the boutique setting things up. And I told her that I was going to go upstairs, which our administrative offices were to get some supplies for the day.
(00:41:13):
She said, okay, yeah, that’s fine. So I went upstairs, as per usual, I grabbed the supplies and I decided I’ll use the restroom while I’m up here. So I proceeded to the restroom, which I have to make a note, does not have a lock on the door. There’s no lock on this door. It’s just a regular handle. And so I went and did my business, which took less than two minutes, literally. And I went to open the door and I couldn’t get out. It was like locked. So I thought, well, that’s weird because there’s no lock on this door. So I pushed the door and it pushed back at me, and I was like, okay. Yeah. So then I pushed it again, and when I pushed it harder, I saw that there was something like covering the door because in the seam of the door, I could see a black, well, it was a bookcase, to be honest, something or someone had moved this bookcase that was at least seven feet tall, that lived right next to the bathroom door, slid it in front of the door to block me in the whole bathroom.
(00:42:21):
And I know, and the thing is, this bookcase has tons of equipment on it. My old employer was a hoarder to put it lightly. So she had old printers and monitors and books. I mean, this thing was not, you could not move this thing without noise or serious conviction with all these things on it in less than two minutes. There’s no way, because even the bottom is a cheap bookshelf. The bottom was, it was on carpet. You would really have to tug at this thing, and it would make noise. You would hear it scratching on the floor. But no, it was there in front of the door. And I freaked out because I was like, how? And so since it was just the two of us in the building, I had to scream from inside the bathroom for Allison to hear me downstairs, and she finally did.
(00:43:15):
She ran upstairs and I heard her say, what the F, you know. So I said, Allison, get me out of here. So it took all her might. She had to unload the bookshelf, started dragging it back across the floor, and enough for me to get my hand out of the door so I could help her push it with my right hand a little bit. She got me out and she was like, who did this? What happened? And I said, I have no idea, but it happened in less than two minutes, maybe even one minute. And so we were just standing there like, oh my God. And then we used to have this Polaroid camera that the owner would use to take pictures of her staff and post it around the spa or the boutique. And it was sitting there in the middle of the floor facing us. And when we looked at it, it took a picture of us on its own, and we screamed and ran, and I really wish we would’ve. Yeah, I really wish we would’ve had grabbed that photo, but we didn’t because we were so freaked out. And that camera, excuse me, that camera was not on the floor when I crossed to go to the restroom. So it somehow got there on its own, took a photo of us.
(00:44:35):
Yeah. So a few hours later, I mean, we really freaked out for a while. A few hours later, we have a shaman that works there. She came in and we told her, oh, can you please go upstairs and see what you feel? What happened? And she went up there and she said, there’s no photo in that camera. So we dunno what happened to it. I know, very scary.
Jim Harold (00:45:00):
I mean, what did this place, did you know anything about the history of it or something that would’ve kind of encourage this kind of a presence?
Sarah (NM) (00:45:11):
I know that it was like a jail back in the thirties, a Piggly Wiggly of all things, not anything, maybe the jail, but there was not that kind of presence there. Other things that I heard was we would have cleaners come in at night and all of them would quit because they would see this lady, and I saw her a few times who would walk around the store and they thought, oh man, a customer got locked in here. So they would approach her, excuse me, and she would turn the corner and just disappear. But she had your long black hair and no, she wasn’t wearing white. I posted it on the virtual and everybody asked me if she was your typical lady in white. No, but she lived in that spa. You could feel her presence. Every time I would go in that spa, I felt so uneasy. I hated it. At one point, I even had my husband at the time walk in the building with me to turn everything on, because I felt you just knew you were not alone there. And I dunno why that ghost targeted me, but it definitely happened. It was scary. But, I don’t know.
Jim Harold (00:46:21):
I mean, that actually led you to leave the spot, no?. Or help encourage you to go away from that?
Sarah (NM) (00:46:28):
Yes, because I ended up pregnant. My husband and I were expecting a baby, and I truly felt that the energy there was so negative. I thought, it sounds a little new agey, but I didn’t want that negative energy to affect my child a new soul. And I don’t know, there were just so many things that happened there. Like a chair would drag across the floor by itself. Things would fly off the shelves randomly. And it’s always like when you’re alone, sometimes when people were there, but usually early in the morning when you’re alone.
Jim Harold (00:47:05):
Interesting.
Sarah (NM) (00:47:06):
Yeah.
Jim Harold (00:47:07):
Haunted workplaces, folks, if you have any stories, we love to hear ’em because we always hear about haunted houses. But I love hearing these haunted workplace stories. I find them interesting because commercial places have a lot of history. They have a lot of energy. Maybe that was someone who was upset at the Piggly Wiggly, who knows
Sarah (NM) (00:47:29):
My current workplace is haunted. And I deal with that every night while I listen to your podcast too. So.
Jim Harold (00:47:34):
Well, you’re a brave soul. Well, Sarah, I know you have another doppelganger story you’re going to tell us next time, and can’t wait to hear that. Thank you for being a part of the Campfire today and stay spooky.
Sarah (NM) (00:47:45):
Thank you, Jim. What an honor.
Jim Harold (00:47:46):
Tammi is on the line from Kentucky, and we’re so glad to have her on the show. She’s been listening since the October timeframe, and we’re so glad she found the program. And she has a story about a Titanic Ghost. Tammi, welcome to the program. Always. I’m a history buff, so I’m always interested when the paranormal meets history. Tell us all about it.
Tammi (KY) (00:48:10):
Well, I’m a history geek myself and my husband as well, plus my degree’s in anthropology. So I love researching and studying this kind of stuff. But as far as this, well, here in Kentucky we have an arena downtown, a sports arena, Rupp arena. And back in the early two thousands, of course we have the Kentucky Wildcats basketball here, which is anybody into basketball knows who they are.
Jim Harold (00:48:34):
Sure. Oh yeah, the wildcats. Absolutely.
Tammi (KY) (00:48:37):
Yes, sir. Yes sir. And one point in time there was a basketball museum at Rupp Arena. Strangely, it did not fly. It wasn’t there for long. They closed the museum down unless this open exhibit space that they struggled to fill. So in 2013, someone decided that they needed to bring in a traveling exhibit, and when they chose was the Titanic. And when I heard that was coming, I thought, oh, I’ve got to apply. So I did. I applied and I got the job as the assistant manager for the exhibit for five and a half months from September of 2013 until January of 2014. So a couple of weeks into getting everything set up. I would still come in in the morning, the curators were there, the artifacts had arrived the night before, and it was going to be my job to open up and work with them to set up all of the displays in their places in the museum.
(00:49:33):
So I was first going in, came in, unlocked the door, turned on the lobby lights. I went back to my office space, put my stuff away. And as far as the setup, the lobby and the gift shop area adjoined. However, when I turned on the lobby lights, there was just very sparse lighting into the gift shop area, and that’s where the restroom was. So I went into the restroom before I went back to meet with the curators, came out and not two feet in front of me. I just about walked into a gray man. And yeah, he was over six feet tall, maybe six one, not too far tall. What I could tell just from stopping there frozen was that he was a well-dressed man. He was dressed as a man in the period. I could tell how his hair was parted. I could tell he was wearing glasses.
(00:50:29):
I could tell the length of his coat. He had his right arm crooked at the elbow with his hand resting on his abdomen, and his left arm was out as if he were holding a walking stick. Well, the thing is, I wasn’t frightened as much as I was just so completely fascinated by standing there looking at this. And it was just a matter of seconds, but he was looking straight at me. It was a face-to-face meeting there, and he started to dissipate. And as soon as he dissipated, I just kind of shook myself off and went back and met with the curators and never spoke about it with anyone that I worked with. But the more I thought about it later on, I thought, okay, this is what’s going to happen. So I accepted it, went on about my job, and from that point on every morning when I went in, I said, good morning. When I left at night, if I was the last person to lock up and turn out the lights, I said goodnight. And I just felt like he was there as a guardian and he wanted me to know he was there. And I never felt frightened or scared, a little on edge and nervous when I was the last one in a dark building at night. But it wasn’t too bad. It was really one of the most interesting experiences of my life.
Jim Harold (00:51:47):
Now being a researcher and into these subjects, were you ever able to pin down who specifically you think you might’ve been?
Tammi (KY) (00:52:00):
I did come home, excuse my dog, barking. I did come home and got online and saw that this was not an uncommon experience with these traveling exhibits because these artifacts carry energy. And one of the more common ones noted. Now, I can’t say that this was him, but evidently John Jacob Astor was one known to show up at some of these exhibits. Can’t say it was Astor, but I can tell you it was a first class male, well dressed.
Jim Harold (00:52:27):
Wow. He would probably, he definitely would be first class, no question, being absolutely a multimillionaire kind of magnate of the time kind of then Andrew Carnegie class, I would say, yes, JP Morgan, those kind of people. Yeah. What you say is exactly what I was going to say about haunted objects. I mean, it seems pretty apparent to me that objects can carry spirits. I’ll give you a perfect example, and you’re probably familiar with this, is I’m looking at a book on my shelf right now, my bookshelf, it’s called the Ghost of Flight 4 0 1. It’s by the late John G. Fuller. And this came out, I believe in the seventies. And there was this plane wreck, the old Eastern Airlines in the Everglades in Florida. And not all the people were killed, but some people were killed, other people survived. And there was TV movie about, I think it was a big deal.
(00:53:32):
So they crashed into Florida Everglades and they had to rescue people and all these things. And then the airliner, which to me that would be a total loss, but apparently they took that plane and they scavenged parts that they felt were reusable, and they put them on other Eastern airline planes and people would report seeing ghosts of people who died like the captain, I think from, I think it was one of the flight crew from that plane. They would report seeing them. I think there was something that we used in a kitchen galley. I don’t know if it was like a microwave oven at the time, which was very new. I mean, I think for airplanes, I believe for airplanes, even though it came out of World War II, the whole idea of microwave ovens. But the point being there was something in the galley that they reused, and people reported seeing ghosts in the galley. So that fits almost perfectly, except it’s the sky as opposed to the land and the sea. But this idea of these spirits kind of carrying with these objects.
Tammi (KY) (00:54:40):
Exactly. And we had a mixture of different types of objects. We had pieces of the ship like a porthole, and then we had a lot of personal items from people. We had some jewelry. We had the guy who was on the ship that was selling perfumes. We had his perfumes, his portfolios, his samples that were in one case. And so I don’t know that we had anything particularly tied to the Astors, but I would think that there would be a mixture of energies tied to these and not just the him in particular.
Jim Harold (00:55:16):
And the other thing about it is, I think anytime you can see, particularly, I find that very mundane things make the tragedy all the more real and the victims all the more real. I think about the great country music singer, Patsy Cline, who died in an airplane crash, and they talked about some of the very mundane things like a shoe and different things that were found. And when you see those artifacts from people who passed something maybe they used in their daily lives, maybe a razor, maybe, whatever it might be, it makes it more real. And it kind of deepens that pulls at the heartstrings and really makes it even more sad. Did you find that when you saw this exhibit and when you saw these items?
Tammi (KY) (00:56:04):
Yeah, a little bit. And when people were in the museum, of course, I was really occupied with making sure the guests were doing what they were supposed to and that I had enough volunteers. But when everybody was gone is when it would kind of hit me when I was the last one to lock up and turn out the lights is when I would start thinking about things. And literally, I could feel, I think the room also absorbed, the exhibit space, absorbed the energy of everyone that was in there that day. And as I was turning out the lights, I kind of felt that as well as whatever was left over from the artifacts. So it was kind of intense sometimes. It was nice to get out of there at the end of the day.
Jim Harold (00:56:45):
Yeah, it had to be pretty heavy stuff. Well, Tammy, a great story. We thank you so much for sharing it. I know you’ve got another story. We’ll get that on another call. I’m looking forward to that. But thank you so much for being a part of Campfire Today.
Tammi (KY) (00:57:00):
Thank you. And it’s so nice to meet you
Jim Harold (00:57:02):
Now. Do you hear that gigantic sucking sound? Well, that subscription’s taking money from your pocket. And that’s why I’m so glad to say that today’s episode is brought to you by Rocket Money. Did you know nearly 75% of people have subscriptions they’ve forgotten about? It’s true. And people are paying way, way more every month, and most folks are paying a lot more every month for subscriptions than they think they really are. They might think, oh, I’m spending 30, 40 bucks. You might be spending upwards of $200 a month on subscriptions. That’s why you need a helper to sort through those subscriptions. Keep the ones you want and get rid of the ones you don’t. And that’s why you need Rocket Money, because Rocket Money is a personal finance app that finds and cancels your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings with Rocket Money.
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Announcer (00:59:00):
You are listening to Jim Harold’s Campfire.
Jim Harold (00:59:03):
Karen is on the line from Arizona, and we’re so glad she is and she has a story for us, and we’re so glad to have her on the program. Karen, welcome to the show, and please tell us what happened.
Karen (AZ) (00:59:17):
Okay, thanks, Jim. This happened back in the summer of 2014, and my dad’s health had suddenly taken a downturn and his doctor says, I think we have to put you into hospice care. And he did not want to be in a facility or anything. He was like, could I just spend my final days at home on the farm? He had been a farmer in Iowa for many years, and he put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into that farm. And I have three siblings. And we said, sure, dad, we will take care of you out at your home and make you feel comfortable. And my mother had passed away in 2003, so he had been by himself, but he just loved to be out there. So we decided to have a hospital bed brought in to the living room so he could stay there.
(01:00:14):
And then whoever was staying with him that evening would stay in the master bedroom, which was basically just right around the corner from the living room. So we would be within earshot if he needed anything during the night. And this was working out fine. And one night it was my turn to stay with my dad, and we sat there and watched TV for a while, and I think maybe the Cubs were on. He was a big Cubs fan, and were sitting there and then he says, oh, I think I’m ready for bed. So I says, that’s fine. So I got him into the bed in the living room there, and I stayed up for a little while longer to make sure he was sleeping. And I heard him kind of snoring softly. So I’m like, okay, that’s fine. I’ll go bed. So I retired to the bedroom around the corner, and I wasn’t in bed more than maybe 10, 15 minutes at the most, and it felt like someone was shaking the bed.
(01:01:13):
They were just bumping up against it and kind of vibrating the bed. I was laying on my side kind of opposite, my back was facing the door, and I was like, somebody come into the room, but it was just my dad and me at the house, and we live on a farm and we’re about a half mile from anyone else. So I was like, what is going on? Well, it just kept bumping, and then finally I felt someone crawl into bed and lay next to me. I just had a sheet across me and the sheet tightened. Someone was laying on top of the sheet and basically snuggled right up to my back, and I was, oh, my heart. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. My heart was pounding so hard. I was like, who or what is in bed with me?
(01:02:02):
And I finally got the courage to say, please go away. I was so terrified. And then I got the courage to turn around and look behind me. And of course, nothing was there. There was no indent on the pillow or anything. No one was there and it had me a little rattled. So I turned on the light and got up and walked around, and no one went and checked on my dad. He was sound asleep. He couldn’t get out of bed without assistance anyway, and I knew I couldn’t anyone, so I was a little shaken. But eventually I did finally go back to bed and fall asleep. And the next day I was talking to my two sisters and I was relating the story to them. And my younger sister, Nancy, said, oh, she said the same thing happened to me a few nights ago, and I was like, you’re kidding.
(01:03:02):
You didn’t warn me with this. But she says, no. She says, I was laying in bed and I felt like somebody was bumping up against the bed. And she said, I felt someone crawl into bed and snuggle up behind me. And she says, I could even feel hair on the back of my arm, the head of someone that was there. But she figured it out. It was my mother who was making her nightly routine crawling into bed next to my dad or something. And she says, hi, mom, which my sister lot bigger than I was. I think they put two together and figured it was my mother just doing her nightly thing. So as we thought, well, should we tell dad? And so we’re like, okay, we’ll bring the story up to my dad. And he goes, oh, he says, that happens a lot. And he says, I was even slapped on the shoulder once.
(01:04:07):
Definitely my mother, because he’s known for his snoring and his snoring could wake the dead literally. And I’m sure that it was my mother that she was just making her rounds. And then, well, a few months later, my dad’s health was deteriorating and he was put into a hospital and he was in the hospital room. Unfortunately, I was in Arizona and I wasn’t there, but my three siblings were. And they said he just kept staring over into a corner of the hospital room, like standing there, and they couldn’t see anyone of anyone else that was in the room was standing there. And he just kept kind of staring and looking. And then finally he says, well, what are you waiting for? And he laid his head back, closed his eyes, and passed away. So yeah, they were coming for him. My mom finally said, okay, Virgil, it’s time. And he departed then. But it was an experience with my mother and I kind of regret. I was like, oh, I should have said something.
Jim Harold (01:05:28):
Do you think your mom was specifically visiting you guys at this time because your dad was close to passing?
Karen (AZ) (01:05:35):
I think so. I think she was kind of basically she wanted to, he was a person that he just loved life so much. He was a very social person. He would go for coffee in the morning and then he would go in for a beer in the afternoon with his friends and fellow farmers and just talk about everything that was going on. And he was very social. I just think he did not want to leave yet. But I think she was saying, come on, Virgil, it’s time. It’s time to go. Your time is up. Come join me.
Jim Harold (01:06:11):
What a neat story. And particularly that death bed experience that is so common. I’ve said it multiple times on the shows, but even famous people have had these interesting statements at the time of death. Last words, I think Steve Jobs looked to be looking in the distance and said, oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow. Thomas Edison said, it is very beautiful over there. On a funny note, Oscar Wilde said, either this wallpaper goes or I do, which is one of the best ones. But I mean, in the seriousness like Edison and Jobs and so many others, there’s definitely looking at the corner of the room that seems to be very common. Other people are there speaking to somebody who isn’t there to the rest of us. I believe it’s real. I believe it’s real. I believe these people, as they’re passing over, they’re kind of in the middle and they’re seeing, and it’s just amazing. Karen, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you for being the part of the Campfire and sharing this very personal story.
Karen (AZ) (01:07:21):
Well, thank you, Jim, for having me on your podcast. I appreciate it.
Jim Harold (01:07:25):
Jonathan is on the line from Atlanta, Georgia. Now, he called in 2019 pre pandemic. I was telling him a few things have happened since we talked last. He’s been listening for over 10 years, and he’s back and he’s going to tell us about a family road trip and some strangeness that ensued and some validation. Jonathan, welcome to the show again. Nice to talk to you again and tell us what happened.
Jonathan (GA) (01:07:50):
Hey, Jim. Nice to talk to you again too. Yeah, so my story begins about 13 years ago. My wife and oldest daughter, who was two at the time, and my wife’s friend and her son, who was also two decided to go to Chattanooga for the weekend. So living in Atlanta, it’s like a two hour drive, so it’s like a really easy, quick getaway weekend thing. So they wanted me to join them, and I think they went up on a Friday and I had just started a new job, so I didn’t want to ask off for ask time off. So I told ’em I’ll join ’em Saturday. So I get up there Saturday morning, I don’t know, early, I dunno, 10 or 11, and get to the room. And they’re staying at the Reed house in Chattanooga, I think downtown Chattanooga. And this hotel, it was built in 1847.
(01:08:47):
It had a huge part in the Civil War. It was right next to the Chattanooga Choo, which is a major train depot, just moving supplies all over the place, all over the south and everything. And also a lot of, well-known people have stayed there like Winston Churchill, Walt Disney, Elvis Presley, Al Capone stayed there when he was on trial on federal trial. And the hotel also has his own resident ghost too, in Room 311. I know that for years they boarded up the room and you didn’t even know it was there. And then apparently they tore that down, and you can stay in that room now, but there was a woman that was murdered in that room by jealous lover. She was murdered in the bathroom. And it happened in 1927. And like I said, you can stay in that room now. You can make reservations, and the room is still set up the exact same way.
(01:09:50):
I mean, obviously they had cleaned it up, but still set up the exact same way. It was in 1927. So anyway, so I get up there Saturday morning, go up to the room, and they’re getting the kids ready to go to the pool. And so they get ready and we start head to the pool and walk into the elevator. Nature called. So I told my wife I got to go back to the room. So I walked to the elevator and then made sure they out of the elevator, and I walked back to the room, go in the room, the restroom, and I’m sitting there, and this was before iPhones. So I’m literally just sitting there like counting tiles.
Jim Harold (01:10:33):
I mean, yeah, back in the old days when we had to just sit and think.
Jonathan (GA) (01:10:36):
Yeah, exactly. Right. So anyway, so I left the door, just a jar a little bit. But anyway, so I heard the hotel room door open and shut. I heard it shut, and I was like, oh, no, I didn’t want my wife’s friend to walk in or anything. So I heard it shut. And so I’m sitting there and I holler out for my wife and no one answers. So I holler out again and no one answers, and finish up. And I go out into the room. I noticed that all the drawers on the dresser where the TV sits on every single drawer was pulled all the way out. All the way out. And so I look at this and I’m not even thinking, I’m not even thinking paranormal.
Jim Harold (01:11:31):
You’re thinking somebody’s messing with my stuff,
Jonathan (GA) (01:11:34):
Something. My brain didn’t even go to paranormal. So anyways, but at the same, I thought this was weird because one of my wife’s pet peeves is have those drawers open and stuff, but whatever. So I shut drawers and head down the pool, and I get into the pool and I ask my wife, I’m like, did what of y’all come back up to the room or anything? She’s like, no. They’re like, that was it. I didn’t really think anything of it after that. But then we get home and my wife starts doing research, and then we find out the history of the place. And I felt like, Ooh, that’s creepy. Anywhoo, so fast forward, I guess to about 2018. We go to Chatanooga again for a weekend, and I wanted to do a ghost hunt or a ghost tour, and I wanted my kids to go with me and everything, but there’s certain, the ghost tours are haunted houses, and I could convince them otherwise.
(01:12:33):
So no one wanted to go on a ghost tour with me. So thankfully, my cousin lived in Chattanooga, so I called him up and he was on board. He wanted to go for sure. So we met up for dinner. Then I went to the ghost tour place, but I start the tour going around Chattanooga, and it was actually really interesting. I just really enjoy ghost tours anyways for the history and just all that kind of stuff. And so we finally get to the Reed house, and I’m all excited about, oh my gosh, I’m probably going to get validation, whatever. So I get right in the front of the group and listening to the stories. She talks about the murder and alcohol and just here and there, things of what happened, but she never really mentioned anything of what I experienced. So get to the end of the tour, people are dispersing. And so I go up to the tour guide and I say, Hey, I had an experience here about a couple years ago. And she goes, oh, yeah, she asked to tell her about it. And so I was telling her about it and everything I just told you. And right before I got to the part about the drawer, she interrupted. She goes, were all the drawers pulled out?
(01:13:54):
And I said, yeah, all six of ’em are pulled all the way out. And so she said that apparently there’s a spirit of a procurer of women that goes around looking for clothes for his ladies. That’s what she told me. So I was like, okay, well, that’s what happened. I mean, like I said, I heard the doors shut, and then I didn’t hear anything else, and then I saw the drawers out. That was it. That’s really, it was crazy just to get validation that just really kind of blew my mind. My cousin, my cousin’s mouth just dropped. So yeah, that’s my story in Chattanooga.
Jim Harold (01:14:34):
Well, very good. And I thank you very much for sharing this story. And I love the fact that she said that before you said it kind of like that, really put the exclamation point on it because it’s like, it’d be one thing if you said, what happened with the drawers? And then she said, oh, yeah, that happens. But she said at first it’s like, that’s like, okay, haunted by a devious person up to no good. Well, Jonathan, thank you so much for sharing your story, and wow, what a kind of neat validation you got.
Jonathan (GA) (01:15:11):
Yeah, exactly. It blew my mind. It really did.
Jim Harold (01:15:14):
Ms. Holly is on the line from Montana, and she has a story revolving around her family, and she says she’s new to podcasts, but she loves the Campfire. Ms. Holly, thank you for joining us and tell us what happened.
Ms Holly (MT) (01:15:29):
Yes, Jim, thank you so much for having me. This is a story that I think is important because it involves my brother, sister, and I, and our mom and dad, and we’re all very different people. We’re all adults now, but we are spiritually, religiously, and politically, all very, very different people. And it revolves around a couple days before my dad died, and this did occur in South Dakota in about May of 2017. Now, this was after 11 years diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. So he was diagnosed quite young, had mild cognitive impairment, 11 years of Alzheimer’s and hospice had said he had about a month live, and they were spot on. And it happened exactly about a month later, and it was a couple of days during the time that my dad dies that everyone in my family kind of has some experiences. So this takes place in a memory care unit.
(01:16:28):
And actually the title of the place translates into the House of the Angel. Now, this place was started in the 1990s, and it was kind of a progressive setup at that point in time. But what’s interesting about this is that it was started by a woman named Marilyn, who was 62 years old at the time. She starts this facility because she had raised four sons and she was really busy and she didn’t want to slow down. What was also interesting is that she was my dad’s administrative assistant at this time, and he would’ve been about 45 years old. And both families talk about how encouraging he was for her to leave him and to start her dream of this memory care facility, and that he would die in a room in that facility 27 years later.
Jim Harold (01:17:16):
That is kind of ironic, isn’t it?
Ms Holly (MT) (01:17:18):
Yes, very much so.
(01:17:21):
His room was kind of off the nurse’s station, and this is a small place with 16 residents, and there’s two chairs on one side of the room, a bathroom, and then the twin bed was against the wall, and it kind of overlooked into a courtyard. It had brown curtains, very sheer, and I remember the room was very, very, very beige. A couple of days before my dad actually died, I remember looking out the window and focusing in on one singular blackbird in the back of this courtyard. And it was just weird that I even remember this because I don’t even remember what barely I have for lunch. So for me to remember all of this is quite interesting. So I focus in on this blackbird, and it’s like a beautiful South Dakota. This happened in South Dakota, very beautiful blue bell day. I mean, clear blue sky, the sun’s shining.
(01:18:15):
It’s spring, it’s just gorgeous out there and am thinking about how beautiful it is out there. And inside this room, the air is heavy, it feels dense, and it feels like death. It feels like the smell of death is in this room. So the very next day, my mom and I are back in the beige room, and I’m looking out the window again. And at this time, I remember making an off the cuff comment like, oh, I don’t remember ever so many blackbirds being in the back of this courtyard, but it was just like a very off the cuff comment. Later that day, my mother says, why don’t you go home, take a nap, refresh a little bit, and then come back. So I go home, and at this time, I’m living in a super old two story apartment complex house renovated that my parents owned, and there’s the downstairs apartment and upstairs apartment.
(01:19:08):
And I lived both in between apartments several different times during the six years that I helped take care of my dad in South Dakota. I moved between several of my parents’ apartments, and I went downstairs into this basement area, which is a side door, and it’s locked. And the neighbor gal had been gone for several days. I remember just being very alone in my grief, and I put a load of laundry in. I went upstairs, I took a shower, I took a little nap. I go back down to this little foyer area about an hour and a half later, and I walked down the steps and right where I need to be, right in front of the dryer is a dead blackbird, just right there. Now, up until this point in my life, everything is a sign to me. I remember watching John Edwards and Sylvia Brown on Donahue and Montel, home sick from school in fourth grade. If unexplained Mysteries or unsolved Mysteries had a near death experience or something.
(01:20:13):
I’m riveted. I was reading books about the Paranormal UAPs, everything. My life has been a succession of super fun stuff, synchronicity, manifestation, luck. If there’s something to win, I’m going to win it at this point in time. There’s none of that going on. This is just a straight up perplexing problem, and I don’t have any idea how this black bird could have possibly got in this basement when the windows are super old, they’re painted shut. The only positive thing this basement’s got going for it is the washer and dryer, and there is this small area to get in. And like I said, the neighbor gal was gone. I tell people they breed us big on the prairie, and there’s no way this bird came down these stairs with me. We keep this door locked as well. As an adult, I was charged and almost attacked by a Canadian goose on a picnic. And lemme tell you, when you have an experience with large poultry like that, you’re a little more animal aware.
Jim Harold (01:21:16):
Yeah. I remember one time I worked at a radio station that had a lot of geese around it, and one day I thought I was going to get flogged going into the door, and I’m like, I just want to get in and do my job., guys. Don’t mean any harm. So I know what you mean about that.
Ms Holly (MT) (01:21:31):
Totally traumatic. Absolutely traumatic. So yeah, I have no idea how this bird could have possibly gotten into this area, but yet at this point, it’s not a sign. Certainly not a sign of death. But my dad would die almost exactly 24 hours later.
Jim Harold (01:21:47):
Wow.
(01:21:49):
Yeah. So we’re back in the very, very beige room the very next day, and this time it’s my mom and I and my brother and my sister lives out of state, but she was on FaceTime a lot during the days before my dad passed. And so we would just prop up the phone so she could see my dad. And there was about three days where we just really didn’t know when he could pass or so we kind of just took turns and we were there. But at this point in time, we had had this lovely afternoon and we had told family stories and just kind of laughed. But once again, my dad is non-responsive. He’s just laying there. But it was just kind of us talking about memories. Suddenly, my mom just kind gets up in the afternoon. I was sitting by my dad’s bed looking out in the courtyard again.
(01:22:39):
She motions for me to switch places. And then she sits down next to my dad, and I’m sitting in the chair and my brother’s taking a nap in the chair, and she starts just kind of rubbing his face and she’s talking softly to him. And she says that later, she’ll tell us that he opened his eyes and his breaths were getting slower and slower. And then he opened his eyes and he kind of took one deep breath, and she’ll say that he locked eyes with her and that he didn’t want to go, but he said goodbye and I love you. But he never opened his mouth, but he looked her in the eyes. Now, and he was present. For her to say that he’d been present is huge because for the last year and a half in this memory care center, I couldn’t even tell you the last time that I could say that I saw my dad behind his eyes and was present, and the last six months of his life were a total mess, and he lost his ability to speak.
(01:23:42):
But when he would see us, he knew he knew us, but the only thing he could say is love. So we’d walk in and he’d go, love, love, love, love, love, love, love. Yeah. It was really sweet. So I’m glad that she got that opportunity, but it’s not like my parents spent their whole life running around talking about mentally telepathically talking to each other. So I’m glad that my mom had that experience. Well, my brother, when this is happening, he is pulling out of this nap, and this is the time that I would expect to see my brother take charge. He, he’s been the patriarch of our family. He had to make a lot of decisions over the years due to Alzheimer’s and my dad not being well, and this is where he would tend to shine. But at this point in time, he’s acting very confused.
(01:24:34):
His energy’s off. I can’t really tell what’s going on, but we did just watch our mom walk her best friend 48 years out of the world. So I mean, we’ve never seen this before, so of course he could be confused. Well, we make our phone calls, we do what we need to do, and then an hour and a half later, it’s just him and I, we go over to my mom’s house and he can barely speak, and it’s like giving me a kind of a start in my stomach because something isn’t right here, and his pupils are wide, and it’s like his synopsis aren’t firing and he can’t even barely communicate, which is really weird. My brother is, he’s a lot like my dad, an excellent husband, an excellent communicator, loves his kids involved in his church, the community. He’s a public speaker. He’s also a super funny storyteller. So the fact that he can’t speak right now has really got me weirded out. Right. Well, he says it’s like he’s got disbelief, but he’s amazed. But he says, Holly, when I was waking up from that nap and I saw, he’s like, dad was dying. And he said, I saw a lit figure, a figure of light at the end dad’s bed. And he said it had wings. I think, and he said, no, Holly, I know it was an angel.
Jim Harold (01:26:17):
Wow.
Ms Holly (MT) (01:26:18):
Yeah. And of course, I’m in the room right next to him and I’m sitting right there, and I totally miss this. I’ve waited my whole life to see something like this, and I miss this in my grief, in my exhaustion of being a caretaker, I think. But he straight up said he knows what he saw, but it was hard for him to even say it aloud. What’s funny about this is I’m very direct. I like my communication. Open, honest, adult, give it to me raw. Right? I’ve never been able to bring this back up to my brother. It’s seven years later. I want to know details. I have never been, just because of his level of shock and stunned, I’ve never been able to bring it back up to him at all. Something interesting that happens a few days after this, our sister comes home from New York and we’re planning the funeral and all that type of stuff, and she’s home for about three days, and her and I are out for dinner, and my sister’s younger. She’s seven years younger, but she’s much more responsible than I am. She’s always been very scientific. She is responsible with Armani. She just is. She’s been an early agnostic. One of our favorite family stories is that when she was about third grade, she and another girl in the neighborhood, a little blonde haired, blue eyed little girls, rolled their bike over to a Methodist church, put up a sign that said, closed on Sundays and taped up the doors.
(01:28:00):
But my parents were just thrilled that it wasn’t our Lutheran church, like two blocks over that we attended. But yeah, my sister’s always been a very early agnostic, and she just focuses on science. She has also been bailing me out of situations our entire life, including literally after I spent three days in jail during the 2001 Sturgis bike rally. Talk about stunned. Our own mother was stunned out of her mind when she found out that I could actually get myself arrested at a bike rally, let alone Sturgis, for heaven’s sakes.
Jim Harold (01:28:32):
Well, I’ll tell you these signs. I believe that our loved ones send them, and that’s so neat that they had that telepathic communication even to the end. And I believe that is a thing, and I think that people sharing stories like yours, I think it can be very comforting for folks, and I appreciate you taking time and sharing it on the Campfire today.
Ms Holly (MT) (01:28:56):
Yes, absolutely. And just another cool thing that happens is I think for my sister, she got to see it because was, it might’ve been my dad saying, Hey, sweet girl, I see you, even though I can’t talk about it. I think my brother saw what he saw because he was pulling out of the nap, and it was in a different state of mind. I think I saw what I saw, the dead bird, because it’s absolutely a sign, and sometimes they say it’s spiritual. When you find a dead bird, it’s like spiritual regrowth and you’ve come out stronger on the other side. And that’s exactly what Alzheimer’s and being a caregiver did for me and for my mom. One of the cool things about her is my dad’s birthdays on 11/11. Our house we grew up in was 1111. 11 11 all the time. But I know that that’s a numerology thing, and I know there’s more to that, but it’s just kind of a cool thing. But absolutely, this is just a story of love.
Jim Harold (01:29:52):
Yep. Holly, thank you so much for sharing your story on the Campfire.
Ms Holly (MT) (01:29:58):
Thank you, Jim. Have a nice day.
Jim Harold (01:30:00):
Thanks for joining us today on The Campfire. I appreciate it. And if you want to get access to all of those back episodes of the show, all of those great stories, thousands of them, join my Plus Club. And if you’re on Apple Podcasts and that’s how you listen to the free shows, couldn’t be easier. You just go into your Apple Podcasts app and you search for me, Jim Harold, you’ll find my Spooky Studio Plus channel, and right there you can join up. And that really is the easiest way. If you listen to your podcasts on Apple Podcasts for all other platforms, you just go to JimHaroldplus.com and click on the banner with my smiling face, and then you’ll get all the information on how you can join my Paranormal Plus Club. If you’re not on Apple Podcasts, we’ve got really something for everyone, and we hope you join because really our plus members are what makes this go. We love our sponsors and please do support them, but we couldn’t do it without our plus members. It kind of takes both sides of the equation to keep the spooky studio running for you. Well, we thank you so much. We’ll talk to you next time. Have a great week, everybody. Stay safe and stay spooky. Bye-Bye.
Announcer (01:31:15):
You’ve been listening to Jim Harold’s Campfire. Tune in again next time for more stories of ordinary people who have experienced extraordinary things.
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