Your True Halloween Stories IV Part 2

SPEAKER_1 (0:05)

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Forrest Burgess (0:16)

On the last Thursday night of a church summer camp in the mountains above Southern California, three counselors set out after lights out to walk the grounds. The camp was laid out as one big oval, and the staff walked it like a racetrack, the rec room, the gym, the snack bar, the cafeteria, then down a hill to the two big bunk houses, one for the boys and one for the girls, with a small parking lot between them. No youth pastors were out at that hour. This was the counselors' time to walk, talk about music, and make sure nobody was out of bed. At about 10.30, they came over the top of the hill and looked down into the lot, and a girl in pajamas was standing alone, motionless, in the middle of it, with her back to them. They called down to her that it was lights out and she needed to get back inside. She stood there a second or two, then turned and walked back into the bunk house without ever looking at them. It wouldn't be their last encounter with her.

In the early 2000s, a young couple moved from the East Coast to California's Central Coast area and rented a guest house in San Luis Obispo. It sat behind an historic old family home just outside downtown. They had family just next door in a converted carriage house across a waist-high fence. The landlady was in her mid-70s and she'd been born and raised in the main house. On the day they met her, she told them the property's history, her father's rose gardens, the speakeasy the guest house had once been. Most people, she said, only stayed about a year. She thought they'd make it longer.

She was wrong.

And in the 1980s, on the night shift of a hospital coronary care unit, a young nurse had a patient the whole floor knew. He'd been in and out so many times they called him a frequent flyer, and he was, by all accounts, not a nice man. But like true professionals, they did not alter their standard of care for him. About a week before he died, he started asking every nurse who walked into his room the same question. Hey, who's that behind you?

Apparently, who or what was behind them had a plan, and it was only just beginning. Tonight, our listeners, Ray, Brian and Terry, tell you those stories themselves. This is part two of the fourth installment of a long-running tradition here at the show, Your True Halloween Stories. So turn down the lights, get the fire going if it's cold enough where you are, and settle in for some very unsettling and very personal Astonishing Legends.

Scott Philbrook (3:22)

Welcome back to Astonishing Legends. I'm Scott Philbrook, and this is our listener, Ray.

Ray (3:28)

I had a feeling overcome me. It was like a really hard feeling to describe, but I guess like goosebumps down your spine, like that type of deal.

Scott Philbrook (3:36)

Join us tonight as we sit down with three more of our listeners to hear their own true Halloween stories.

Forrest Burgess (3:55)

And we're back.

Scott Philbrook (3:57)

That we are, folks, and it's good to be back.

Brian (4:00)

It's going to be anywhere.

Scott Philbrook (4:02)

Yeah, 337 episodes of our main show. Can you believe that, Forrest?

Forrest Burgess (4:05)

I cannot, sir. That is pretty insane to me, anyway. 28 more and a new listener would be able to listen to one episode a day for a full year. Think about that.

Scott Philbrook (4:15)

Ooh, talk about Clockwork Orange. That would be true torture.

Forrest Burgess (4:18)

Well, some folks seem to like it, you know? But you would think nobody has that kind of time. But apparently people do. I wish I did. But more importantly, what's the latest on the limited run Halloween hoodies, sir?

Scott Philbrook (4:28)

Well, the latest is they are in the store now. Go to astonishinglegends.com, click on store and you will see them there.

Forrest Burgess (4:36)

They look pretty darn cool if we do say so ourselves. And we do, I guess. And just to tease you, they have that infamous cigarette-smoking red checkered shirt wearing Skinwalker on them. I think in kind of a lovely buffalo plaid. And guess what? He's not taking guff off anyone anymore.

Scott Philbrook (4:52)

Yeah, he did come out pretty cool. And by cool, I mean compared to him, we're all squares. But folks, we're only printing these this year and we're printing them to order. So like we said last week, you're gonna be able to pre-order these up until midnight on Sunday, October 25th.