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Speaker 1: Welcome to Midweek Mysteries, and thank you for being here.

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I'm your host, Nick Ryan. Today's first Midweek Mystery comes

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to us from Dollin. Dollin's story is called Shadow Santa.

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Dollan says, Hello, Nick, I have really enjoyed listening to

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your podcast over the last few months. The story I

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have to share comes from something that happened when I

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was about ten or eleven years old. We were getting

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close to Christmas time, and I remember how excited I

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was for the holiday to arrive. One night, however, I

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did my normal nightly routine and got myself ready for bed.

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I fell asleep, and a couple hours later, I woke

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up to the feeling of being watched. I sat up

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up and realized that my door was slightly cracked open,

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which is bizarre because I always had my door shut

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when I sleep because my door led to a big,

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empty hallway. I didn't like to have staring at me

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while I slept. I got out of bed and started

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walking over to my door to close it when I

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realized that there truly was a figure standing in my

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doorway watching me. It was about six and a half

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feet tall and had a large, broad appearance. Confused and

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also terrified, I stared at it for a few seconds

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to make sure I wasn't seeing things. My first thought,

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after my terror washed away, was that it was Santa Claus. Yes,

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I believed in Santa still at this time. I mean,

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after all, he does watch over you to make sure

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you're being nice and not knotty. So I started walking

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closer to it, and as soon as I reached the door,

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the figure backed away. I opened my door to see

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the figure at the end of the hallway. After standing

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there for a few few seconds, he started sprinting toward

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me with his hands stretched out as if he was

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going to tackle me. As soon as he reached me,

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I screamed and grabbed a shoe that was by my

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bed and threw it in the direction of the figure.

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My parents heard me screaming and turned all the lights on,

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and just like that, the figure was gone. My father

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asked what was wrong, and so I relaid my experience

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to him. He told me everything was fine and to

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go back to bed. Still terrified, I climbed back into

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my sheets and stared at my closed door until my

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eyes grew heavy enough that I fell asleep. When I

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woke up. I had convinced myself that it was a dream.

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But when I opened the door again, I saw the

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shoe that I had thrown sitting right against my door.

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I didn't see where I threw it the night before,

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but I know it was farther than where it was

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sitting currently. My heart dropped into my stomach and I

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suddenly felt as though I was being watched again. I

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ran to my parents room and woke them up. I

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asked them if they put my shoe against my door,

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and they said they had no idea where my shoe

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even was. I am an only child with no pets.

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I told my parents what happened, and they told me

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that I must have been sleepwalking. However, I have never

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had a history of sleepwalking. Ever. I know what I

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saw that night, and the memory of it still haunts

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me to this day. Thanks for your podcast and keep

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up the great work. I look forward to your next

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one dollin our next midweek mystery comes from Ronnie. Ronnie's

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story is called Uophone Counters in Scotland. Ronnie says, Hi,

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I love your show. I've been binging on it during

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the lockdown. It has caused me to write down many

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events from my life and reassess them. On speaking to

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my sister to get her permission for this submission, we

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realized that we have had many, many in counters with

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the paranormal. It starts with my dad before my sister

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and I were born, and my dad spent several years

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service in the Royal Air Force. During that time, he

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was stationed in the remote far north of Scotland. He

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was a fireman and most of the emergencies they responded

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to were crashes, et cetera. He would teasingly hint at

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having seen UFOs and them being present at these serious crashes.

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One in particular in nineteen sixty seven, when several airmen

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died in an accident, not that UFOs had caused the accidents,

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but almost that they were being observed. This particular crash

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really stayed with him. He was only eighteen and it

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would turn out to be the worst he had attended

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for loss of life, and he knew some of the men.

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He as a young aircraft man, would sometimes look after

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the children of senior officers on the base and he

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knew two of the men on board well, and I

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remember being taken to visit their graves, but when it

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came to UFOs he would always stop short and say

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he couldn't tell us more as he had signed the

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Official Secrets Act. It was all very exciting, as he

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was quite the story teller, and we would hang on

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every word. One story he did tell us about happened

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when we were little. He was a truck driver by then,

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having left the Royal Air Force. He was delivering all

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over Scotland, and one lovely summer's day he stopped in

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a remote area to have his launch. It was a

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beautiful cliff top overlooking the sea. The sky was clear

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and there was no one around. As he sat there

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enjoying his sandwiches, he saw something silver appear from one

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horizon and travel to the other incredibly quick. It was

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something moving more quickly than this man that has lived

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on an Air Force base had ever seen anything travel before.

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It actually spooked him. He thought, what in the name

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of all that is holy was that? And then as

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quickly as it disappeared, it was back hanging in the

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air towards the horizon. He got back in his truck

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straight away and headed off to his next destination. A

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little shaken as he went along, he couldn't stop thinking

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about what he had seen and decided it was not

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man made. It was no prototype he had ever seen

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or heard of, and he had always maintained a keen

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interest in aviation. Traveling through this deserted rural area, he

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started to hear a whirling sound. Being in the middle

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of nowhere, he knew that any mechanical problem could be

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a pretty big deal. He stopped, but the noise continued.

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He checked the mirrors and looked around, but there was nothing.

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No one around in a pine lined road in rural Scotland.

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Very odd. With his hand on the cab door, he

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checked his window mirror again and saw a tall figure

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moving quickly up the side of his truck. He started

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the engine and took off at full speed. It shocked him,

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it really did. He was still shaken when he got home.

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The biggest animal in the wilds of Scotland that you'll

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find is a stag, but he said it had definitely

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been humanoid and with a weird gait. The second half

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of my story is about an experience my sister and

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I had. We lived in a small town called East Kilbride.

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Those of your listeners interested in UFOs should look the

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town up, as it has had a lot of sightings.

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My sister was home from university for Christmas and we

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decided to go visit a mutual friend across town. As

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we were going to have a drink. We walked on

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the clear, frosty night. We stayed a few hours and

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then headed off. We stopped off to pick up some

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food to take home, and due to this slight detour,

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we walked home away we usually avoid up a steep

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grassy hill and then along the side of a quiet road.

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This part of town is very quiet and with great

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expanses of sky. In the daylight, you can see north

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toward Ben Lamond and Trossex's National Park. Over the years,

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I have seen several shooting stars here and as a

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child we watched a Space shuttle fly over the town

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as a thank you for the work that was done

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in a local factory which contributed to the craft in

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some way. My sister, now a full fledged scientist, has

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always been keen on astronomy. The sky was clear on

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this frosty evening and there were many stars out. Looking up,

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I remarked to my sister, is that Venus? As I

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could see a very bright star. Looking up, she casually remarked, no,

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it's in the wrong place, And as we trudged on

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trying to get home in the cold, she looked up

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again and said, actually, what is that? So we stopped

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and looked at it. It was very bright, a different

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kind of light than a star or planet. As we

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looked at it and looked at each other in turn,

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it moved. It's moving a helicopter, I said, really staring now,

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because it seemed to rotate or shift shape. It was

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clearly now a triangle with a very bright light on

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each corner. It was slowly rotating. Now I am always

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very impressed with people that can tell how big something is,

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people that can calculate scale. Against this ink black star

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sprinkled winter sky. It was going to be difficult to

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work out anything like that, But as it seemed to

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be getting closer, all I can say is that I

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was struck by its density, and that made it appear massive.

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We were standing in shock, trying to desperately use logic

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to work out what this was. We kept walking, not

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wanting to make a strange situation worse. It was still

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slowly rotating when from one of the corners another light emerged.

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It flew out from the corner, but not too far.

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Then another and another, until there were around eight emerging

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from all three corners. And then it became clear that

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these lights were also triangles, with a light at each corner.

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Size wise, each of them were about one fiftieth the

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size of the original object. There was no noise, and

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the only thing I could hear was our breathing. The

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smaller objects were all flying around the bigger object, going

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a bit away, than returning to fly around the larger object.

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We realized we were following them eyes skyward. We were

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walking towards an even more secluded area. We give ourselves

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a shake. Realizing we were less than five minutes from

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home and that Dad was home. Maybe we could take

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him out and show him. We hurried home, all overwhelmed

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by what we saw. We realized we could still see

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the objects all the way home, maybe a sign of

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the altitude they were at. We got in and ran

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to our dad, telling him all about it. He went

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into the sitting room, and turning out the light, he

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peered out the window. The lights were still clearly visible

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with the smaller triangles around the large danse object. He

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then went into our garden to get a better look. Excited,

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we looked at our dad, wondering what he'd do. He

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looked at us, walked back in, shut and locked the door,

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walked into the living room and shut the blinds. He said,

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best we just leave that alone. Best not to chase

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these things. And then, unbelievably cold, scared, excited, and in

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reverence to our dad, we just left it and settled

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down to eat. We have spoken of it many times,

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but why didn't we report it? Why did Dad react

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like that? What was it? My dad has passed on now,

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so we can't ask him, but I know at that

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time we saw how serious he thought it was, that

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this man that had hinted about seeing or being around

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strange goings on, and of course the earlier event I described.

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We just thought that if he didn't want to know,

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then neither did we. People may think that it sounds

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like drones, but they were bigger than any drone I

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have ever seen, and this was either nineteen ninety nine

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or nineteen ninety eight. I have more stories I can share.

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I am particularly interested in the hat man. I'd never

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heard of him before. However, I have many experiences of

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thanks Ronnie. As we come to the end of this

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edition of Midweek Mysteries, I'd like to say thank you

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to all of you for tuning in and supporting the podcast,

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and a special thank you to Dolin and Ronnie for

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writing in and sharing their experiences with all of us.

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If you or someone that you know has witnessed something

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unexplainable and you'd like to have your story shared on

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the podcast, please contact me at Paranormal Mysteries Podcast at

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gmail dot com or visit Paranormal Mysteries podcast dot com

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and click on the tell your Story link. Please remember,

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no matter how insignificant or outlandish you believe your experience

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may seem, I'd like to hear about it from all

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of us at the Paranormal Mysteries Podcast. Thank you so

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much for listening, and please remember, don't wait for the

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unknown to come to you. Get out there and find it.