Speaker 1: I have had too many cocktails with my friends tonight,
Speaker 1: when my vision started to blur from the intoxication, I
Speaker 1: decided to stop and go home. Everyone uses Uber, right,
Speaker 1: so even after my friends insisted on dropping me home,
Speaker 1: I refused and ordered an Uber. I just wanted to
Speaker 1: go home. My app dinged with the name James. I
Speaker 1: loved that they let you know the name of the
Speaker 1: person picking you up. It makes you feel like you
Speaker 1: have a sense of familiarity with the person. I could
Speaker 1: barely stand when the black car pulled right next to me.
Speaker 2: Oh thank god.
Speaker 1: I jumped in the back, buckled up, and we set
Speaker 1: off to my destination. Before the car started, I heard
Speaker 1: the locks click and didn't think much of it. Water
Speaker 1: bottles were placed in a cooler pack in the middle seat,
Speaker 1: along with a tray of snacks consisting of granola bars,
Speaker 1: Jolly Ranchers, etc. I loved it when the drivers did this.
Speaker 1: I would give them five stars, especially after a night
Speaker 1: of drinking. Those water bottles were gods. I dug through
Speaker 1: the pile of snacks and tossed a candy in my mouth.
Speaker 1: Hey James, do you have any good tunes? He didn't respond. Indeed,
Speaker 1: he heard me, or maybe I was drunk and slurring.
Speaker 1: I piped up again, this time louder. After clearing my throat, James,
Speaker 1: excuse me, He looked at me through the rear view mirror. Sure,
Speaker 1: he answered in a cold way, and turned on the music.
Speaker 1: James finally began to speak up after a few minutes
Speaker 1: of awkward silence. You've been drinking tonight? I looked out
Speaker 1: the side window and.
Speaker 2: Replied, yeah, just a few drinks.
Speaker 1: Now. His eyes were stuck on the rear view mirror.
Speaker 1: One hand was on the steering wheel as he kept
Speaker 1: us steady on the road. I could tell that he
Speaker 1: was trying to catch glimpses of me without me noticing.
Speaker 1: He spoke up again, this time with a grin what
Speaker 1: did you drink tonight? Bored with the dragging of the ride,
Speaker 1: I figured this was innocace, small.
Speaker 2: Talk, well, some bears and a few shots of you
Speaker 2: know what.
Speaker 1: He sat up in his seat, one arm still on
Speaker 1: the wheel. Those deep brown eyes kept flickering at me
Speaker 1: in the rear view mirror. Almost every couple of seconds.
Speaker 1: He started to pry, you drink tequila often? I casually replied,
Speaker 1: while I kept my eyes out the window.
Speaker 2: Sometimes depends on my mood.
Speaker 1: He laughed, So you must be feeling drowsy. Huh. Now
Speaker 1: I started to feel uncomfortable. Why was he questioning my
Speaker 1: level of coherence? I kept my eyes focused out the
Speaker 1: window because I was getting creeped down. Ummm, nope, just
Speaker 1: a little relaxed. He kept a tight lipped smile and
Speaker 1: then spoke, you want to be drunk, though I have
Speaker 1: a bottle at tequila back there. I stared at my phone.
Speaker 1: Just five minutes more till I was home.
Speaker 2: No thanks, I'm actually good.
Speaker 1: He had both hands on the steering wheel now, gripping
Speaker 1: it tight and rubbing his hands against the leather. This
Speaker 1: nervous feeling rose in my gut. And I know they
Speaker 1: say never to ignore your gut feelings. But I was
Speaker 1: already in the car with this guy. I was a
Speaker 1: few minutes from my house. What was I supposed to do?
Speaker 1: I sat there and kept my eyes glued to the window.
Speaker 1: Perhaps he would just get me home without suggesting anything
Speaker 1: inappropriate if I didn't show any interest in conversing with him.
Speaker 1: Whatever I was doing seemed to work, because he changed
Speaker 1: his tune through his following response, So you're done partying?
Speaker 1: For the night. Huh responsible. I let out a short
Speaker 1: chuckle and agreed with him, I was being responsible. He
Speaker 1: piped up again, this time more friendly than before and
Speaker 1: less interrogating. Well, help yourself to the water, I have plenty.
Speaker 1: My heart started to slow, and I realized that he
Speaker 1: was just trying to earn that five star review by
Speaker 1: being accommodating. He may be trying to be excellent. He
Speaker 1: has all these snacks and drinks in his car and
Speaker 1: free alcohol. Perhaps he was trying to get his Uber
Speaker 1: score up. He may have a family at home who's
Speaker 1: trying to provide for Was I being too judgmental? I
Speaker 1: silently scolded myself for the intrusive thoughts. I grabbed the
Speaker 1: water bottle, twisted the lid off, and took a couple
Speaker 1: of gulps. I saw the turn from my street ahead,
Speaker 1: and a rush of relief washed over me. That is,
Speaker 1: until he passed it. That's right, he ultimately passed my street.
Speaker 1: I sat in my seat, screwed the lid back on
Speaker 1: the water bottle, and spoke up, Hey, you passed my street.
Speaker 1: He didn't say a word, only smiled, Hello, you passed
Speaker 1: my street. What he said next made my heart jump
Speaker 1: into my throat. I know, wait, what why didn't you stop?
Speaker 2: Then?
Speaker 1: That's because you aren't going home tonight. My body started
Speaker 1: to shake. I immediately opened my app to report him
Speaker 1: and call for an emergency when I got the biggest
Speaker 1: shock in my life. The uber I ordered before getting
Speaker 1: into his car has charged me for making him wait
Speaker 1: and then not showing up. This means the car I'm
Speaker 1: in right now was never my ride home. My shaking
Speaker 1: hands slowly went to the door handle, but but it
Speaker 1: was stuck. Why isn't wait, this isn't stuck. Something is
Speaker 1: the doors won't open for me inside I've activated the childlock. Suddenly,
Speaker 1: he stopped the car in the middle of the empty
Speaker 1: street and turned back at me with a huge knife.
Speaker 2: What you know, Please don't do this.
Speaker 1: The story you just saw is loosely based on the
Speaker 1: tragical death of Samantha Josephson. Twenty one year old Samantha
Speaker 1: got into Nathaniel Rowland's car after a night out in
Speaker 1: Columbia's Five Points entertainment district. She mistook his car to
Speaker 1: be her Uber ride that would take her back to
Speaker 1: her apartment. Halfway down the journey, Samantha started suspecting Roland's
Speaker 1: odd behavior, but it was already too late for her.
Speaker 1: She found herself trapped inside the car as Roland had
Speaker 1: the child proof locks on her body. Has later found
Speaker 1: with one hundred and twenty stab wounds in remote woods,
Speaker 1: sixty five miles from Columbia. No outright motive for the
Speaker 1: killing was suggested by prosecutors during the course of Roland's trial,
Speaker 1: but Judge Newman said the killer was totally heartless. When
Speaker 1: the news reporters questioned about Roland's motive, the top prosecutor,
Speaker 1: Byron Gibson said it was absolutely a random act of violence.
Speaker 2: In college, I started working as a bike rider for
Speaker 2: Ruber around the town. I would drop off young students
Speaker 2: like myself at an affordable fair. It was a new
Speaker 2: thing at that time. My busiest time was helping my
Speaker 2: friends sneak out for parties in the middle of the
Speaker 2: night who had wealthy parents paid a lot. Sometimes they
Speaker 2: would invite me to the party as a friendly gesture.
Speaker 2: I had this one friend called Aston, who got caught
Speaker 2: throwing parties in his parents' absence. So the next time
Speaker 2: Aston's parents went for a trip, they sent Aston to
Speaker 2: stay with his grandparents. Who lived on the outskirts. On
Speaker 2: a Saturday night, Aston rebooked me to pick him up
Speaker 2: from his grandparents' house. He texted me the address in
Speaker 2: detail and told me to be there around eleven thirty.
Speaker 2: I agreed. It was late November. I finished my dinner
Speaker 2: and was headed for the address. The house was pretty
Speaker 2: far and the way to reach it could have been better.
Speaker 2: The road was terrible, with so many bumps. There was
Speaker 2: no street light throughout the entire drive. I had to
Speaker 2: rely on the light of my bike. I remember asked
Speaker 2: in mentioning a turn for a shortcut. The cold air
Speaker 2: was poking straight into my lungs, even after all the
Speaker 2: layers of clothing. I drove for fifteen minutes but couldn't
Speaker 2: find the turn. Slowly, I began to realize that I
Speaker 2: was lost. Eventually, when I hit a dead end near
Speaker 2: an old house, my realization became a fact. I stopped
Speaker 2: the bike and called asked.
Speaker 1: In where are you, dude? I think I'm lost. Man,
Speaker 1: the GPS needs to be fixed here. You gotta guide me.
Speaker 1: Where are you now? Can you tell me a landmark? Uh,
Speaker 1: there's an old house on the side of the road.
Speaker 1: You missed the turn back, take a U turn, and
Speaker 1: then take the first ride. I'll be on the call
Speaker 1: with you.
Speaker 2: I went to make a U turn when I saw
Speaker 2: something on my left. It appeared to be a shadow
Speaker 2: in the front yard of that old house. I had
Speaker 2: no clue someone was standing there and watching me. The
Speaker 2: shadow was very close to the road.
Speaker 1: Oh shit, some guy standing in his front yard looking
Speaker 1: at me. I'm probably wondering why the hell I'm just
Speaker 1: sitting here at the stop sign.
Speaker 2: The app showed that I had been stopped at the
Speaker 2: stop side for about five minutes, so I could imagine
Speaker 2: I seemed sketchy. I began to turn my bike left.
Speaker 2: My headlights illuminated the shadows end. My headlights revealed an
Speaker 2: old lady standing there with her hands folded as if
Speaker 2: she was praying. She looked up at the sky and
Speaker 2: her mouth moved quickly. I couldn't make out anything she
Speaker 2: was saying at a home. All I heard was her creepy,
Speaker 2: hurried whisper. Her mouth was just moving one hundred miles
Speaker 2: an hour. She seemed like she was in a trance.
Speaker 2: She was five feet from my bike. I sat there
Speaker 2: and stared. It was probably ten degrees outside, and she
Speaker 2: was wearing a white dress. My headlights were directly on her,
Speaker 2: and she didn't even look at me. I didn't know
Speaker 2: what to do precisely. At first, I was concerned for
Speaker 2: the old lady, but the more she stood there, the
Speaker 2: creepier everything started. Aston realized I hadn't said anything for
Speaker 2: a few minutes.
Speaker 1: Dude, are you still there? Yeah, this old lady is
Speaker 1: just standing here. What is she doing? She's just just
Speaker 1: praying right by the road. What the hell it's past midnight?
Speaker 1: Is she okay? I think so. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: really don't want to ask.
Speaker 2: She started moving her upper body back and forth like
Speaker 2: she was possessed. I was scared to move ahead, thinking
Speaker 2: she would run in front of my bike. As I
Speaker 2: slowly drove by, having her inches away from me, my
Speaker 2: heart beat slowly. She stil didn't budge her mouth, never
Speaker 2: stopped mumbling.
Speaker 1: Wait, is this the house with the red door?
Speaker 2: That's when I first noticed the dim lighthouse porch. Yes,
Speaker 2: the house at a red door, which looked.
Speaker 1: Od Yeah, I've never seen any house like this. Just
Speaker 1: get the hell out of there, man. The woman who
Speaker 1: lived in that house hung herself in the attic a
Speaker 1: week ago.
Speaker 2: My stomach dropped and I quickly looked at the lady,
Speaker 2: but but she wasn't there. I began sweating in fear.
Speaker 2: I clearly remembered seeing her a few seconds ago, or
Speaker 2: did she go there? I felt the back seat being
Speaker 2: pushed down, like somebody had just sat on the bike
Speaker 2: behind me. Two pale, skinny hands slowly wrapped around my waist.
Speaker 2: I never felt this cold before. The hands were freezing
Speaker 2: like ice. My trembling face moved slowly. I looked at
Speaker 2: the side mirror attached to the bike handles, and then
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, her head tilted to the side,
Speaker 2: making a breaking noise, and I saw the bone inside
Speaker 2: her neck pierce out from the corner, and then she
Speaker 2: disappeared into thin air. Ah. I stumped on the gas
Speaker 2: pedal about ep until I got close to town. When
Speaker 2: I arrived at Aston's I told him everything I saw.
Speaker 2: We were both in disbelief. Aston didn't go to the
Speaker 2: party that night. He let me crash at his grandparents place,
Speaker 2: and I caught a high fee for that night. I
Speaker 2: kept having bad dreams for a week after that incident.
Speaker 2: Now I take a different way to Aston's Grandma's if
Speaker 2: I go there at night. Remember, don't stop for the
Speaker 2: old lady if you guys stumble upon the same neighborhood.
Speaker 2: The story you just saw is loosely based on this
Speaker 2: footage running around the internet, and the footage you can
Speaker 2: see a guy driving through a remote location in the
Speaker 2: middle of the night. The man was completely relaxed and
Speaker 2: seemed to be enjoying his late night ride. When he
Speaker 2: spots something beside the road, he passes too quickly, but
Speaker 2: if you look carefully at the footage, you can see
Speaker 2: a woman wearing a white dress standing on the side
Speaker 2: of the road. Once the man notices this suspicious woman
Speaker 2: standing alone in the middle of the night, he doesn't
Speaker 2: hesitate to slope down at first, but as he gets
Speaker 2: closer to her, you can see him suddenly pick up
Speaker 2: speed and move past her quickly. Lucky that he didn't
Speaker 2: stop that night. There's no follow up on the footage
Speaker 2: on whether that woman was a demonic spirit or a
Speaker 2: crazy woman with some scary intentions. What do you think?
Speaker 2: I've been driving uber for about a year now and
Speaker 2: never really had an incident, except for that one time
Speaker 2: when a drunk student tried to punch out my backseat
Speaker 2: window on a Friday night, but we've all been there.
Speaker 2: But this particular incident is the only reason why I
Speaker 2: put an end to this job. Twelve thirty am on
Speaker 2: a Monday. Out here, it doesn't matter what night it is.
Speaker 2: People are out and about and you barely have to
Speaker 2: wait long for a ride. I was parked near the
Speaker 2: sidewalk when I got a request pick up Pamela, located
Speaker 2: zero point four miles away. Let's do this, Pamela. I
Speaker 2: arrived at the address given, but no one was outside,
Speaker 2: not unusual. I began messing with the radio and getting
Speaker 2: the ox cord set in case Pamela wanted to play
Speaker 2: some sweet Jams, and that's when the rear right door opened.
Speaker 2: I looked back, and I was confused right away. Pamela
Speaker 2: was old like the early eighties. At least ought to
Speaker 2: see someone in this demographic this late, but I've had
Speaker 2: others in the same age range, so I ignored it.
Speaker 1: So how's it going tonight, Pamela.
Speaker 2: I asked. She didn't answer. She struggles in and shuts
Speaker 2: the door behind her. I glance in my rear view
Speaker 2: mirror to study her face. Nothing but blank looks in
Speaker 2: her eyes, almost as if she just woke up from
Speaker 2: a coma and can't decipher what's happening around her?
Speaker 1: Where are we headed tonight?
Speaker 2: Again? No response? Can she even hear me? Does she
Speaker 2: not speak English? Then my phone be new destination entered
Speaker 2: seventeen hundred North Lock Street Avenue. I shrugged my shoulders
Speaker 2: and started the engine. It's a short car ride, but
Speaker 2: I thought to try again.
Speaker 1: Are you from Los Angeles?
Speaker 2: I glanced in the rearview mirror, and she stared at me.
Speaker 2: Her gaze was sharp enough to pierce my soul. In
Speaker 2: a deep, shrill voice, she finally spoke, why don't you
Speaker 2: just take me to the address?
Speaker 1: Okay, I get it. I'll just drive you to your destination.
Speaker 2: We're ways off from the destination she entered when she
Speaker 2: spoke again, drop me off at the next corner. I
Speaker 2: looked up in the rearview mirror, her eyes still on me.
Speaker 1: Are you sure we're still a monk? I'll stop at
Speaker 1: the next corner.
Speaker 2: The way she snapped at me felt a little insulting. Now,
Speaker 2: all I tried to do was be polite, But some
Speaker 2: people don't deserve the good in you, right? Sure? I
Speaker 2: wanted her out of my car, so I was happy
Speaker 2: to oblige and stop. I pulled off on a quiet
Speaker 2: corner a few blocks off of Flock Street Avenue. I
Speaker 2: slightly turned my head to look over my right shoulder, saying.
Speaker 1: Have a good.
Speaker 2: But as I turned, she was right beside my face,
Speaker 2: leaned up and between the seats, just inches from me.
Speaker 2: I froze. I couldn't speak. My scared eyes were stuck
Speaker 2: onto her pale, white eyeballs. I've never encountered such dead eyes.
Speaker 2: Before she started breathing heavily. I could hear the gargle
Speaker 2: of wind struggling to pass through her throat and lungs.
Speaker 2: I don't know how long we kept staring at each
Speaker 2: other like that, But then she tried to listen to something.
Speaker 1: Pamela, is everything all right?
Speaker 2: She put her hand on my shoulder. Her touch was
Speaker 2: ice cold. I was wearing my hoodie, yet still her
Speaker 2: fingers chilled my bones. Her eyes were completely white, now
Speaker 2: wide open, like her pug had rolled up in her head.
Speaker 2: I began fearing for my life now. Before I could
Speaker 2: say anything, she whispered, creepily, take the stairs tonight. I
Speaker 2: stared back at her.
Speaker 1: Sorry what She didn't repeat herself.
Speaker 2: She just exited my car. I sat there watching her
Speaker 2: slowly waddle away into a beat up apartment building and
Speaker 2: then disappear inside it.
Speaker 1: Okay, what the hell just happened?
Speaker 2: I was in no position to take rides that night.
Speaker 2: I turned off the app and drove back to my apartment.
Speaker 2: When I reached my building, I sat in my car
Speaker 2: for ten to fifteen minutes trying to figure out that
Speaker 2: weird lady in her words before leaving. When I finally
Speaker 2: calmed down, I stumbled onto the entrance of my tenth
Speaker 2: floor apartment. I've recently shifted to this apartment for its
Speaker 2: cheap rent. Being an old building, the landlord needed help
Speaker 2: to increase the rate. The facility desperately required repair. The
Speaker 2: landlord didn't care anymore. I lived on the sixth floor,
Speaker 2: so I walked up to the elevator. I pressed the button,
Speaker 2: and slowly the number plates started to change.
Speaker 1: Gash.
Speaker 2: I jumped, screaming. No one was around. Then Hoop whispered
Speaker 2: into my ear. Just now did Pamela follow me home?
Speaker 2: Maybe she's some old cycle woman whose stalks are praying.
Speaker 2: I couldn't wait for the elevator. I sweat started to
Speaker 2: curl up on my forehead. I rushed upstairs and almost
Speaker 2: crawled like a four legged animal. After a point, I
Speaker 2: constantly looked back to see if anyone was running behind me,
Speaker 2: but all I saw was pitch black darkness. When I
Speaker 2: got to my apartment, I slammed the door behind me
Speaker 2: and sat on the floor. I was having difficulty breathing.
Speaker 2: Suddenly I heard it huge collision, like something had collapsed
Speaker 2: on the ground. The fire alarm started ringing and people
Speaker 2: were screaming. I opened my door and saw other tenants
Speaker 2: staring at the hall and talking to each other in
Speaker 2: a panic.
Speaker 1: Hey, what happened? The elevator looks like it malfunctioned and
Speaker 1: broke down, crashing straight to the ground floor.
Speaker 2: What my jaw dropped? But everyone thought I was only
Speaker 2: shocked like them. No one knew the actual reason for
Speaker 2: my surprise. The landlord was charged for the risky management
Speaker 2: of the building, and the tenants called the cops, fearing
Speaker 2: for their lives. Everyone was angry at the landlord for
Speaker 2: being irresponsible. Only I remained silent. I was just stunned
Speaker 2: to be alive. When the cops took the landlord away,
Speaker 2: I overheard you tenants.
Speaker 1: Saying, remember that once he said he fixed it, but
Speaker 1: still missus Miller died. Yeah, dude, the poor lady got smashed.
Speaker 1: Even imagine how horrified she felt when the elevator crashed
Speaker 1: with her in it.
Speaker 2: I asked, feebly, who who are you talking about?
Speaker 1: Pamela Miller, the woman who lived in your apartment before you.
Speaker 1: She died in this same elevator, but the landlord somehow
Speaker 1: managed to get away with it. But not this time.
Speaker 1: I still visit her grave sometimes, God bless her.
Speaker 2: My head was banking Pamela Miller? Did I just? I
Speaker 2: fumbled as I asked the last question.
Speaker 1: Where's her grave? Not far that cemetery on lock Street Avenue.