Speaker 1: Tonight's episode is brought to you by my newest supporter, Jess.
Thank you for making the show possible. Welcome to Paranormal Mysteries,
and thank you for joining me as we explore the unknown.
I'm your host, Nick Ryan. Let's begin tonight's journey with Maya,
who calls their experience dark Mass. Maya says, my dad
was a project manager for a construction company in South Africa.
At that time. He started on a new project in Costead,
about a four hour drive from Port Shepstone. Coxtead was
a small old town in the mountains. Her on apartment
in Market, which is close to Poor Shepstone. This was
our quote unquote base, as my dad's job required him
to move around a lot, and frequently sometimes we would
join him, other times we would stay in Market. I
was twenty years old at the time and suffered from depression.
The moment I walked into that old house, my stomach
reacted badly and I felt like a nervous wreck, even
though I wasn't nervous at all. It's a very strange
thing to try to explain to someone that feeling and
sensation your body is reacting like you're in a very
stressful situation, but you are not stressed. It's the only
way I can describe the effect that house had on
my body in my mind. I have never felt anything
like it, and I had no idea what to do
about it, so I tried to go about my days
as normal. It started slowly. For instance, a light bulb
angled at forty five degrees would land on my brother's
head when he had already passed it and was walking
in the opposite direction. I would open only the hot
water faucet and fill the bathtub with extremely hot water,
only to have it be ice cold by the time
that I had taken my clothes off. And the other
thing that would happen was we would all be sitting
in front of the television and there would very clearly
be someone walking from the kitchen to the room that
I was sleeping in. The last one was particularly strange,
as both my dad and I both realized at the
same time that all four of us were sitting together
in the living room at that time and watching TV.
My dad looked at me and I asked him, who
the hell was that? Is there someone else in the house? Well,
at that moment, we all got up and walked through
the house, but there was no one there. We had
a plumber come over to check the pipes one day,
and we decided to leave our little dog in the
room I had been sleeping in. This was just to
make sure that she didn't get out by accident or
run away while there was a stranger in our house.
My mom loved that pup as much as she loved
does we all did. She was part of the family.
So we told the plumber that we had to complete
a few errands and that she would be in the
room in case he heard something. We put some food, water, peepads,
and her comfy bed in there. We then locked the
door and we took the keys with us. Well. We
hadn't been gone for more than ten minutes when the
plumber phoned my mom and asked whether someone else was
in the room with our dog because there was a
terrible ruckus going on in there. This was extremely odd,
as she was a very quiet and relaxed dog. We
felt extremely worried, so we left everything and we headed
straight back. Immediately after his call, I said to my mom,
it's that damn room. She then gave me this strange look,
but didn't say a word. We rushed back, unlocked the door,
and our dog came bolting out. I ran after her,
got a hold of her and comforted her. She was
crying like a baby. I just held her and soothed her.
I felt guilty for leaving her in there when I
was fully aware that that room, that house made me
feel the same way. My mom then called out to me,
and I put our dog on the couch, not wanting
to take her back into that room, and I walked
to where my mom was. It was a mass. Even
the plumber came over to have a look. The bed
had been toppled over, my pillows were all over the place,
and our little dog had peed and pooped everywhere. It
was clear that she was terrified in the room, and
that's how her little body reacted to the fear. We
felt terrible for leaving her in that damn room right there,
and then I told my mom that I was going
to leave the next day and that I would take
our dog with me. I didn't want to be there,
not since arriving five days ago. The house affected me
and our dog the worst. My mom, dad, and brother
were also aware of something, some feeling or sensation, but
they never felt like they were in any sort of danger. Unfortunately,
I didn't have a license yet and it was pretty
late in the afternoon. My dad suggested that I stay
the night and that my mom could take me back
to our apartment the next morning. It was a good
four hour drive, so I agreed. Otherwise, my poor mom
would have had to drive that road through a mountain
pass at night. No one wanted to do that, as
the road to the mountain was tricky and very dangerous.
That night, I went and took a shower in my
parents' bathroom. As it was on the newer side of
the house. You could clearly see The rest of the
house was old, but their onsuite area had been built
and added to the structure much later on. I wanted
to spend as little time in the old part of
the house as I possibly could, so I sat in
their room, listened to some music, took a shower, and
then went to bed. Unfortunately, I had to sleep in
that terrible room for one more night. Feeling scared and
getting that nervous feeling in my stomach every five minutes,
I decided that it was a good idea to read
a few verses from the Bible and pray for protection.
It worked, and I felt a bit more at ease,
even being able to fall asleep quite fast. Now I'm
not sure how long it was after this, but I
woke up and things went south very fast from there.
I woke up because I couldn't really breathe. I remember
trying to breathe in but I only managed a very
shallow breath. My next thought was to try to move,
which I was able to do. But I realized that
I could try and move as much as I wanted,
but I was only moving around on the bed, kind
of like an insect trying to get out of its cocoon.
I panicked. I kept moving and struggling, and I mean struggling.
I remember getting this picture in my mind of a
person being in a strait jacket. That was probably what
it felt like. Through all this, it began occurring to
me that there was something pitch black on top of me,
not touching me, but almost hovering on top of me.
Now this town was high up in the mountains with
very little light pollution, so it was dark, but this
was darker. I remember how I could clearly see a
small space between my body and this pitch black mass,
just hovering. It wasn't touching me, but it was putting
immense pressure on my lower chest and my stomach. Or
was it pushing me down on the bed. Either way,
the result had been the same. I couldn't get out
of that bed, and that damn room and this dark
mass was the cause of my inability to get up.
I needed to get out of there. I tried to
scream for help, really doing my absolute best, but I
remember only being able to get a whisper out. I
was crying at this point, and I'm sure that I
was on the verge of getting hysterical, so in my fear,
I started praying. I was unable to shout or scream,
but I was whispering as clearly as I could. I
was pleading for help for protection, reciting the Lord's Prayer
and every verse I managed to remember from the Bible.
And then finally, as I was still squirming around on
the bed like a person in a strait jacket, I
managed to throw myself off the bed. I got up
as fast as I could and started running for the door.
The damn door started closing on me, and I hit
my shoulder on my way out. However, nothing was going
to keep me in there. I ran straight to my
parents room. It was shut, but I paid no attention
to it, and I burst in there, crying hysterically. I
think my dad immediately saw that this was something else,
and he quickly sat me down on his side of
the bed. As he was guiding me, he held my
hands in his and he started praying. At that point,
I hadn't uttered a word. I was still only crying hysterically,
but he just knew. As he was praying, his side
table was knocked over. There was no one there. Whatever
was in that room had followed me into their room,
which was strange as this was the new part of
the house. As I mentioned earlier, I just remember the
side table going up into the air and everything that
was on there, the ashtray, his glass, everything was going
up and up into the air, and it was almost
in slow motion. I was not aware of what happened
after that. I woke up in the living room on
the couch with my mom and dad sitting next to me.
My dad looked at me and asked how I was feeling.
He was looking at me like he was searching for
something in my eyes. Very intently. I was fine. I
was tired, but fine. They then grabbed my suitcase, which
my mom had packed as I was sleeping, and my
mom then took me and our dog to our apartment
four hours away. I will never forget that experience, the terror.
I didn't know it at that time, but my dad
was looking so intently at me because he wanted to
make sure that he was speaking to me. Years later,
my mom said that after he started praying for me
that terrible night, that they couldn't really recognize me. It
was like they were looking into someone else's eyes. She
said that I wasn't responding to anything that my dad
had asked me at that time. While he was praying,
I was just laughing, hysterically, peed my pants, and then
I passed out. She said that he continued praying for
me and that she he joined in, and that at
some point they could see that my body started to relax.
I honestly do not remember any of this. I can't
explain what happened to me after that side table flew
up in the air. To this day, I never stepped
foot in a house that has that sick feeling about it.
I prayed diligently, and I never go to bed without
reading from the Bible. There are dark things hiding everywhere
around us. We need to be aware, vigilant, and prepared.
A few years ago I read up about that house.
About ninety two years ago, a mister Hawthorne lived in
that very house, which is a long time ago. In
South Africa, apart from the cradle of Humankind, history is
quite young in the country. Regardless, every record of Hawthorne
suggests that he was a hateful and cruel man. He
had many workers, and he would take the men's wives,
rape them and abuse the men. He would hit them
and disrespect them in every way possible. These poor men
were unable to do anything as he was their master. Now,
I don't think it's just Hawthorne that hangs around there.
I think the workers are still there too. A house
or land keeps hate, helplessness, and anger within its walls.
I think there are many spirits there, and together it
adds up to one big, sick and terrible energy. That
house is sick, the land is sick, and sensitive people
are receptive to its sickness. I believe that's what happened
to me there. I never went back, and my family
moved into another townhouse on the other side of town.
I started listening to your podcast a few months ago
when I got a job in China. My parents passed away,
and I'm taking care of my brother as he's on
the autism spectrum. Life can be cruel, but your show
actually helps me get through some bad days. We do
what we have to do and just try our best.
I have empathy for the others who had their own
terrible expls Uerian says, but I appreciate that you have
a platform for all of us to share our own experiences.
Before I continue, please consider showing your support by subscribing, sharing,
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show is the best support of all, and I'm grateful
to have you here. Now, Please stay tuned and I'll
be right back. After these brief messages, our next experience
of the Evening comes to us from Emma Grace. Hello, Nick.
I started listening to your podcast over the last couple
of weeks, and I'm obsessed with that. Listening to your
episodes has also reminded me of all the weird, unexplained
things that have happened to me in the past and present.
I am a Christian and I believe in the supernatural world,
but I don't necessarily believe in ghosts, but I do
believe in spirits and demons. I have three main places
that I have experienced weird paranormal activity. The first place
is my childhood home, and I will title this story
The Creepy Smiling Man and the Tree House. For some
back story, I have grown up in eastern Colorado and
my parents and I lived on a rural sixty acre
ranch that is mostly woods and hills. We have a
tiny cabin there with only one bedroom and a loft
that you can't stand up in. I lived in that
loft until I was around eight years old, when my
dad and my brother built me a tree house for
my bedroom. The treehouse is about two hundred feet from
the house and is fully finished and has electricity in everything.
It's every child's dream room. The woods around here are
very pretty and fun to hike around in, but they
are also very spooky and I always felt like I
was being watched and I was always on edge. There
had also been lots of known Native American wars in
this area as well. I don't know if that is
why I have had some weird experiences here or not.
While I was living in that treehouse, I had numerous
times where I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and
I would go to check and see what it was
and see if it was an animal, but there would
be nothing there every time. I would also regularly wake
up at three o two in the morning, which was
strange for me because I'm a very hard sleeper. This
information will also be important later. I also had multiple
instances when walking in the woods where I would see
a black figure go behind trees, or I would hear weird,
non animal like sounds. I was also in the garage
one time home alone and there was knocking on the
door in the middle of the night. This was very
strange because there wouldn't have been many people out there,
especially coming all the way up our long head a
half mile driveway in the middle of the night. I
thought that somebody might be lost or stuck on the
road or something, and I went outside to check, but
there was nobody anywhere. The knocking continued for several intervals
for over an hour, and then stopped and I never
heard it again. The scariest experience I had at my
home was when I was around fifteen and I was
home alone. This particular night, I was on edge, and
so I decided to stay the night in the house
instead of my tree house, and I went to bed
in my parents' bed. I woke up in the middle
of the night and I looked at the clock on
the wall and it read three o two am. I
then rolled over to my right and in the open
space on the bed was a man with a huge,
creepy smile looking straight at me. At first, I tried
to believe that I was dreaming or something, but I
knew it was real. This was the first time that
I was ever paralyzed with fear, and I stayed awake,
frozen until the sun came up that morning. Ever since
that incident, I would always sleep with my dogs whenever
I was home alone to make me feel more safe
the next place. I have had a lot of weird
supernatural experiences with was my mom's office, and I'll title
this one the office goes for context and backstory. My
mom bought her cosmetic medical office in twenty sixteen, and
it was previously a medical center as well, and it's
likely that some people have died there. And it's also
in a sketchy part of Colorado Springs. The layout of
the office is kind of confusing, but there is an
upstairs with lots of different rooms that are rented out
by other estheticians as well as massage therapists. Then there
is a basement that you can access from the outside
in the back. The basement has a U shape with
three hallways and there are rooms with doors lining the hallways,
and each door corresponds with other offices in the building
who rent the basement from my mom. There is also
a laundry room on the left side of the first hall.
The opposite side of the U shaped hall is a
room that is not finished and it just has a
dirt pit and it's really creepy. Many of the people
who have worked there have noticed strange things happen, or
thinking somebody walked past the front desk when they were
there alone. Some clients have even said that they felt
a male presence there. Personally, though, I have the most
experiences here because my mom would leave me there alone
a lot at night as a kid so that she
could go to meetings and stuff. Countless times I have
been there alone at night and I would hear loud
footsteps walk through the office and they would stop at
the doorway at my mom's private office room that I
would be in. One time, during the middle of the day,
everyone upstairs heard very loud metal crashing downstairs. It sounded
like big metal shelves were falling over or something. The
office manager and I decided to go downstairs and check
it out. The basement was locked and the lights were off,
so it wasn't likely that there were people down there.
We decided to go and check all the individual doors
to see if there were still long The first door
we checked on the left was unlocked, but there were
still cobwebs in front of it, so no one had
been in or out. We then went upstairs and got
more people to come down and check it out with us,
But when we went back to the open door once again,
it was locked but the cobwebs were still there. It
was just weird. The biggest incident that happened was when
we built a new wall to close off a room
of the office upstairs. That night, in the stock room
that we lock, every single piece of product had been
pushed onto the floor. The next morning, when one of
the ladies who worked there came in, she opened the
door and had to push the product out of the way,
proving that no person had opened the door. Later, we
tried all sorts of things to get the merchandise to
fall on the floor by banging on the walls and
slamming the doors, but nothing happened. I ended up calling
this entity Ivan, and we all joke about him now
and we don't have as many occurrences with him anymore.
The third place is my current home, and I'll call
this one the old new house. So I moved in
with my second oldest sister and her family because my
parents are getting a divorce and I'm still a minor.
This house is super old, and it's straight out of
the seventies and it's in the middle of nowhere in Montana.
The lights flicker all the time, but my sister likes
to blame it on bad wiring, But whenever I tell
it to stop, loudly. It usually stops for the rest
of the day. My nieces and nephews, who are around
ten also say that it feels creepy here. One time,
when I was having a sleepover in my room with
my niece, which by the way, I live in the
basement where most of the creepy stuff occurs. I closed
my closet door, and I then went and got ready
for bed. When I came back in and turned the
main light off and was getting in bed, my closet
door slowly opened and the light inside was on, which
was originally off. My closet door stays put even when
it's partially open, and it doesn't swing back and forth.
Although this happened, I don't think that it was threatening,
and it didn't scare me as much as I think
it should have. The most recent occurrence that has happened
was when my niece was in the garage, which is
part of the basement since we are on a hill.
She was playing with the puppies that my sister's dog
just had when the lights flickered and a hammer fell
off the table. The poor girl was scared out of
her wits. And now the kids don't like going down
there alone, and I'm the only one who lives down there,
which is a little unnerving. Before I bring tonight's episode
to an end, i'd like to thank all of our
experiencers for coming forward with their stories, and of course,
I truly appreciate each and every one of you for
listening and showing your support. With that said, I hope
you have a wonderful rest of your evening and I'll
be back in just a few short days with more
tales of the unexplained right here on Pair A normal
Mysteries