1 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:14,240 For a foreign exchange program. Katie went to a world unknown to her. 2 00:00:15,279 --> 00:00:20,079 Once there, she started feeling like she wasn't alone. Could someone close to 3 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:26,519 her from home be with her or could it be something else, something darker. 4 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:42,119 My name is Edwin, and here is katie true scary story. My 5 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:48,520 story takes place in Brazil in twenty eleven, when I was eighteen. I 6 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:55,280 somehow convinced my parents to let me do a student exchange there. The family 7 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:58,880 that I stayed with they had a daughter that essentially switched cities with me. 8 00:01:00,159 --> 00:01:03,159 The family has two daughters. One of them was in Texas and then the 9 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:08,359 other one was there. While I'm there, she introduces me to all of 10 00:01:08,359 --> 00:01:11,879 her friends, and one of her friends was Mariana, who I'm actually still 11 00:01:11,879 --> 00:01:17,719 friends with to this day. But she spoke the most English. I'm going 12 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:21,480 to Brazil with a high school level of Spanish when it's a country that speaks 13 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:26,400 only Portuguese. She became my friend. She instantly was just so friendly and 14 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:30,200 wanted to help me, and so I felt very comfortable talking to her. 15 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:34,799 So I'm there for a couple months. It's about five months into my exchange 16 00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:40,879 and I'm sleeping in my host sister's bedroom, the one who's in Texas. 17 00:01:42,719 --> 00:01:49,760 After about five months, I'm having trouble sleeping. I cannot sleep like on 18 00:01:49,799 --> 00:01:53,280 a normal schedule. I have to have all of the lights on, I 19 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:57,719 have to have all of the doors locked. The adjacent bathroom, the light 20 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:00,280 has to be on, the door has to be locked. It just feels 21 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:09,120 like somebody's in the room with me. It's like such an uncomfortable feeling, 22 00:02:09,199 --> 00:02:13,800 like I'm just sweaty, and I'm like there's something in here. It's a 23 00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:20,599 very flight or fight response. So my host family they realize, Okay, 24 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:23,840 you're having trouble sleeping. Obviously you're not getting much sleep. The lights are 25 00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:28,879 on all the time, and you're not going to bed until the sun was 26 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:32,000 literally up, what's the deal. At the same time, my other host's 27 00:02:32,039 --> 00:02:38,719 sister, her bedroom was across from mine. I noticed one day that like 28 00:02:38,879 --> 00:02:44,159 all of the mirrors in her room were covered. She was never in there. 29 00:02:44,199 --> 00:02:46,800 She was like literally only in there to like change. And then she 30 00:02:46,039 --> 00:02:53,080 always slept in her parents' bedroom on the floor, and I thought that was 31 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:55,919 odd. It is what it is. People have their peculiarities and whatnot. 32 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:00,360 And so my post parents were like Oh, why don't you in her bedroom 33 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:05,719 with her. She's got two beds. I think it would be great, 34 00:03:05,759 --> 00:03:07,319 you guys could both get in good night's sleep. She's not sleeping in our 35 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:10,599 bedroom anymore. Just try it out. I'm like, at this point, 36 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:16,280 I haven't been getting sleep. I'm in her room. All the mirrors are 37 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:23,800 covered, and she's got the TV on and it's just on mute. Around 38 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:30,520 two am, I just feel this presence again, and I wake up and 39 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:36,319 it's my host's sister and she's like standing over me, and she's mine mine, 40 00:03:36,479 --> 00:03:39,879 and it just keeps getting louder and louder, and it's mom in Portuguese. 41 00:03:39,879 --> 00:03:45,080 Mine is mom in Portuguese, and it's two am. My American brain 42 00:03:45,159 --> 00:03:47,159 is not comprom hending, like what is going on? And I'm like, 43 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:52,639 oh my god, this is terrifying. And so her mom runs in the 44 00:03:52,719 --> 00:03:54,439 room and is, oh, it's okay, it's okay, tries to get 45 00:03:54,439 --> 00:03:58,360 her back to sleep, and I'm like, at this point, I'm like, 46 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:00,879 this is too much. If she's having trouble sleeping in here on this 47 00:04:00,919 --> 00:04:05,159 side of the house and I'm having trouble sleeping, I would just much rather 48 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:09,439 go back into my room and lock all the doors because I don't need someone 49 00:04:09,479 --> 00:04:15,400 standing over me. At two am in passing, I mentioned this to Madi 50 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:18,120 because I'm like, I don't understand, like, what's going on. I've 51 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:23,399 never had this sensation before or this feeling. And she's, hey, so 52 00:04:24,079 --> 00:04:28,360 I'm actually like a medium. Do I go to this place called Centro, 53 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:32,439 which gabbles in this thing called it mo or spiritism, which was really big 54 00:04:32,519 --> 00:04:39,600 in the eighteen hundreds in the US and it stayed in South America, and 55 00:04:39,639 --> 00:04:43,560 so Brazil still really has a big culture around it. And she's just come 56 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:46,000 with me, it'll be fine. We can find out, like what's going 57 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:47,439 on with you? And I'm like, man, I am from the South. 58 00:04:47,639 --> 00:04:50,519 We don't normally play with this type of stuff. This is so out 59 00:04:50,519 --> 00:04:54,680 of my comfort zone. I just don't sure. I guess I was so 60 00:04:54,800 --> 00:05:00,399 desperate to sleep and to have some normality in my life that I was like, 61 00:05:00,519 --> 00:05:06,319 yeah, let's go. So we go, and it is so bizarre 62 00:05:06,319 --> 00:05:10,680 to me. There's Saint effigies all around you, and you're sitting in a 63 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:15,399 circle and there's Saint effigies all around you and candles lit and there's several different 64 00:05:15,439 --> 00:05:21,360 people at tables with writing utensils and paper, and Madi's at one of them, 65 00:05:21,639 --> 00:05:24,879 and they just tell me that we're going to say the Lord's prayer and 66 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:29,720 then we're going to start going into this how they described it as almost like 67 00:05:29,759 --> 00:05:32,040 a trance. And I was like, whoa, Okay, this is a 68 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:35,560 lot, but all right, let's do this. We do all of this, 69 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:40,800 and I look over at Mahdi and she starts going into this trance. 70 00:05:41,319 --> 00:05:46,079 At that same time, I just start like sobbing, just so emotional, 71 00:05:46,839 --> 00:05:48,240 just can't keep it together. I think, I don't know what it really 72 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:56,279 was. It was just this overwhelming feeling inside of me. And after everything 73 00:05:56,519 --> 00:06:00,360 ends, everybody shares their stories, all of the meta, tell you what 74 00:06:00,439 --> 00:06:04,360 spirit they contacted, what they wanted, how they helped them, that sort 75 00:06:04,399 --> 00:06:10,199 of thing. And Madi starts to tell who she contacted, and she looks 76 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:13,680 at me and she goes, do you know somebody named Ballo or Paul. 77 00:06:15,279 --> 00:06:19,040 I'm a little like surprised, and I'm like, that's my grandfather's day. 78 00:06:19,959 --> 00:06:25,399 And she goes, did he have trouble like remembering anything? And I said, 79 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:30,120 yeah, he passed of Alzheimer's. At this point, I'm just like 80 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:33,399 there's no way that she could have known this stuff. We'd only been friends 81 00:06:33,399 --> 00:06:36,759 for about five months. My grandfather passed away several years ago. It's not 82 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:41,120 anything that I would have ever brought up to her, anything that's online or 83 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:44,560 anything like that. And so I'm just like, oh my god, like, 84 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:47,199 how do you know this? And she's he's the presence that's in your 85 00:06:47,199 --> 00:06:50,519 bedroom. He's who you're feeling. He's been out for you while you're here. 86 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:59,639 He just wants to make sure that you're okay. I'm like, what 87 00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:05,160 is going on? This is insane? And started following you when you left 88 00:07:05,199 --> 00:07:11,279 a place with a blue star and I'm like, a blue star, Like 89 00:07:11,319 --> 00:07:15,160 what is she talking about? So fast forward a couple months and my parents 90 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:19,240 send me a care package and in it is a photo album with like our 91 00:07:19,319 --> 00:07:23,639 house and like restaurants we used to go to, and the beach and all 92 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:27,680 sorts of stuff. And we're flipping through and she's a wait, go back, 93 00:07:28,279 --> 00:07:30,680 and she points to a picture and she's that's where it started. That's 94 00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:36,560 where he started following you. And it was my house in the US with 95 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:47,959 a blue star of Texas on her. It was unbelievable, and I've ever 96 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:54,079 since that moment, I a thousand percent believe I believed it a little bit 97 00:07:54,079 --> 00:07:58,399 before, but this really solidified it for me that there was absolutely no way 98 00:07:58,439 --> 00:08:01,720 she could have known any of this. In no way she could have known 99 00:08:01,759 --> 00:08:05,920 any of this, and it was just just like mind blowing. Honestly, 100 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:13,240 I don't really know if I have an explanation for what happened. I think 101 00:08:13,279 --> 00:08:18,480 that she probably really does have the ability to communicate with the beyond, and 102 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:22,600 as much as people harp on that or they don't believe in it, I 103 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:26,800 can't dispute the fact that she knew things that there's absolutely no way she could 104 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:35,720 have known. With the idea that it might have been her grandfather watching over 105 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:41,399 her, Katy was able to feel relieved. But then what was the reason 106 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:48,279 behind the host's sister avoiding the room. As we'll find out, Katy wasn't 107 00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:52,879 the only one with the strange experience there, and I love that it's coming 108 00:08:52,960 --> 00:09:03,080 up next. I think I didn't know how to process it. When I 109 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:05,600 told my mom this story, she of course was very like, there's no 110 00:09:05,639 --> 00:09:09,320 way that was your grandfather. Don't play with this stuff. It could have 111 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:11,159 been something disguised as him and I'm like, you know, I don't know. 112 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:16,360 I don't know, but I did. But after going with her to 113 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:22,200 this, it dissipated, like that feeling of being so uncomfortable was no longer 114 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:26,000 there. I was able to actually sleep, and I was actually able to 115 00:09:26,759 --> 00:09:28,759 accept that, Okay, this could be my grandfather in this room with me. 116 00:09:30,399 --> 00:09:31,960 I was able to accept it, and I was okay after it. 117 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:37,559 It was very bizarre. I was part of a group of exchange students and 118 00:09:37,679 --> 00:09:41,559 we switched houses. So I stayed with this family for a few months, 119 00:09:41,559 --> 00:09:45,919 and then another exchange student who was also in my group stayed with them as 120 00:09:45,919 --> 00:09:48,559 well. And there was one time towards the end of our exchange that she 121 00:09:48,799 --> 00:09:52,759 asked me. She was like, did you ever feel like weird? Did 122 00:09:52,799 --> 00:09:56,279 you ever have trouble sleeping? And I was like, and I never told 123 00:09:56,279 --> 00:09:58,919 her any of this, And I was like, yes, and she said, 124 00:10:00,159 --> 00:10:05,480 so have I. She said, I've locked the door and somebody has 125 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:13,480 been trying to get into my room and the door handle keeps shaking and nobody 126 00:10:13,879 --> 00:10:16,559 is doing this. There's no feat like at the bottom of the door, 127 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:18,679 like where you could see it. Because she has the lights on too, 128 00:10:20,279 --> 00:10:22,759 and she was like there's no feet down there, but there's handle shaking. 129 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:28,000 So I think there is something in that apartment, and I think that my 130 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:33,480 other host sister was picking up on it. And it's two it was essentially 131 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:37,879 two apartments put together, so it could have been just that half of that 132 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:41,840 apartment. There's just something there because I don't know, it's just she would 133 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:45,600 not sleep in her room. And I probably should have picked that up from 134 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:48,679 the very beginning that there is something going on there, but I never really 135 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:56,799 got to the bottom of that. It was just terrifying. So after going 136 00:10:56,879 --> 00:11:01,240 to Centro for a while, I would go with Maddy and just sit and 137 00:11:01,279 --> 00:11:03,200 watch all of this happen because I started to get more comfortable with it. 138 00:11:03,759 --> 00:11:07,440 And so in the beginning, we would sit there and people would start to 139 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:09,399 wander in and they'd sit at these chairs and everything, and I would always 140 00:11:09,399 --> 00:11:13,960 look around the circle and just recognize faces, and there would be faces I 141 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:18,440 didn't recognize. There was always people coming and going. And so there's one 142 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:22,600 time where Mattie starts to go into this kind of this trance and it's a 143 00:11:22,679 --> 00:11:26,799 very like heated one. She's very emotional, she's crying, she's raising her 144 00:11:26,879 --> 00:11:31,200 voice, and it's not uncommon, but it doesn't happen as often for her. 145 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:35,840 And I'm watching her and she's the last person to explain what's going on. 146 00:11:37,559 --> 00:11:41,000 She looks dead at me, and she said, so, the girl 147 00:11:41,039 --> 00:11:46,320 I'm talking to doesn't know that she's dead. She's has something wrong with her 148 00:11:46,399 --> 00:11:50,320 heart, but she doesn't know why. She doesn't know why all of these 149 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:54,679 other people are ignoring her, why her family's ignoring her, And how come 150 00:11:54,720 --> 00:12:01,159 only the American can see her. I was the only American there, and 151 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:05,120 I'm like, oh my god, this is crazy, Like she must have 152 00:12:05,159 --> 00:12:09,679 been one of those new faces I saw it didn't recognize. And so since 153 00:12:09,720 --> 00:12:16,399 then they had contacted the family, and she gave them enough information to contact 154 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:18,759 the family and they said, yeah, our daughter passed away very suddenly of 155 00:12:18,759 --> 00:12:22,679 a heart attack. We've been trying to contact her, because that's a very 156 00:12:22,679 --> 00:12:24,879 common thing there is to try to get in touch with your loved ones and 157 00:12:24,919 --> 00:12:26,360 things like that. And they said, we've tried to contact her and she 158 00:12:26,639 --> 00:12:30,960 just died very suddenly of a heart attack. And so essentially the people in 159 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:33,960 the Santro and Mariana tried to help her pass over and help her find peace. 160 00:12:35,519 --> 00:12:37,960 But I was a little taken aback by the fact that I was the 161 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:41,159 only one that could see her. And I don't know. I think I 162 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:46,240 saw a picture of her later when they showed me her obituary, and she 163 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:50,519 just looked like a girl that I had seen coming and going into the centro, 164 00:12:50,799 --> 00:12:56,399 and I just didn't really think anything of it. It's a wide room, 165 00:12:56,519 --> 00:13:01,360 it's all tile, and then you have just fold chairs essentially in a 166 00:13:01,399 --> 00:13:05,320 circle, and you have these little folding tables set up around the space, 167 00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:09,960 and so in the middle or at the bottom at the base of the circle 168 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:13,279 is like the Saint effigies and you light a candle before you start. So 169 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:20,360 it's very open. I guess you could say you could like look up like 170 00:13:20,399 --> 00:13:24,159 Centro di Espiritismo or something like that, and you could type in Brazil. 171 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:28,879 But I think really just in these like people's houses, like on the bottom 172 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:33,879 floor in the garage essentially of these people's houses, or in the common space, 173 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:37,799 and there's all open. There's like the doorways are open to allow people 174 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:41,519 and spirits to come in and out, and it's just very open. A 175 00:13:41,559 --> 00:13:46,159 lot of people who go are very Catholic. I'm part of the church, 176 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:50,240 and so if this was happening in the US, people would think, oh, 177 00:13:50,279 --> 00:13:54,960 this is or you're dabbling with witchcraft and what have you. But there 178 00:13:54,039 --> 00:13:58,759 it is very just normal and accepted, and people really go to it for 179 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:03,919 comfort. They have these centers where they cleanse you of your energy of bad 180 00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:07,679 energy and things like that, which I mean as an American who had no 181 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:13,279 exposure to this going into it, it was a very mind opening experience and 182 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:16,639 it was just very neat that this is what people went to for comfort, 183 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:20,639 and you know, you see that, like people were having real experiences and 184 00:14:20,679 --> 00:14:26,039 getting closure, and I think that's really cool. You'd almost think of it 185 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:28,399 as trying to think almost a patio is how it was set up like a 186 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:33,399 covered patio with a few more walls, and it's all tile. All of 187 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:37,399 it is tile, very calm, there's like usually no talking. I thought 188 00:14:37,399 --> 00:14:39,600 it was interesting because when they would start, the people would whisper and things 189 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:43,679 like that. But when you started, they would ask you to uncross your 190 00:14:43,759 --> 00:14:46,080 legs. I had my feet crossed and they said you have to uncross them 191 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:52,840 because it doesn't allow the good energy to come through. I thought thought that 192 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:56,279 was interesting, and I said, oh, okay, And I've always looked 193 00:14:56,320 --> 00:15:01,120 into these decentros too because I'm curious just to see how it is a cross 194 00:15:01,159 --> 00:15:05,120 continents, if it's the same or if it's a little different. But yeah, 195 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:11,080 it's a very, very mind opening experience and it definitely made me a 196 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:28,200 believer. I'll tell you that. Do you have a strange experience you want 197 00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:33,600 to share, visit true scarystory dot com on your browser right now and tell 198 00:15:33,639 --> 00:15:37,679 me about it. You can also find me on Instagram and Facebook by going 199 00:15:37,679 --> 00:15:43,120 to Edwin dot Fm, which you'll link to into the description of this episode. 200 00:15:43,919 --> 00:15:46,080 If you want to hear me tell scary stories, check out Scary Story 201 00:15:46,159 --> 00:15:50,039 Podcast. You can find it by searching for it on your app. Try 202 00:15:50,039 --> 00:15:54,600 listening without ads by going to scary plus dot com or on our Apple podcast 203 00:15:54,679 --> 00:15:58,919 channel. Thank you very much for listening, See you soon.