Episode 506: The Woods Look Back

First uploaded Monday, September 25.

Episode Details

 * Christine from Texas describes hearing a growling sound coming from her phone while listening to Episode 439: The Band Played On but explains she wasn’t able to hear the noise again when she replayed the episode. She next tells the story of being 10 years old and hearing her dad call out for her sister, only to learn that her dad isn't home. When she calls her father, he confirms that he is indeed out of the house. In her next story she describes waking up in the night to see the white figure of a child peeking over the edge of her bed. She explains that even her skeptical sister has admitted to having odd experiences in the house. Finally, Christine discusses her ability to intuit the character of certain kinds of people.
 * Sysco calls in with further detail about Episode ?'s “snot witch," a woman with a long, swinging chain of snot hanging from her nose who once stalked a young Sysco through the woods. Sysco describes running into the house to hide from the woman only to have her mother assure her that there's no one outside. Yet when Sysco looks through the window, there the woman stands, watching her from behind a tree. Sysco then explains that, after her mother’s death, she went to live with her aunt and uncle in their new house only to discover that their new house looks directly onto those same woods where she first saw the snot witch. Some days later when she and her cousin are playing frisbee in the yard, the frisbee flies over the fence and into the woods, and Sysco refuses to retrieve it, deciding she would rather deal with an irate cousin than a snot witch.
 * After Sysco's call, Jenny makes history by actually asking Tony to do something ridiculous. That is, she asks him to use his movie-trailer voice to read an ominous sounding line from Sysco's story. Tony then makes it awkward by segueing into an imagined remake of Ghost featuring a cat in the place of Demi Moore.


 * Brittany from California's Imperial Valley describes staying with her devoutly Catholic grandmother and hearing footsteps walking around at night despite there being no visible person there to make them. She goes on to tell of how, a few years later, her grandmother developed leukemia and went into hospice care. She explains that after saying her goodbyes, she returned home and several days later woke up inexplicably just before her aunt called to announce her grandmother’s passing. She then recounts the story of a cousin who was staying at their now-deceased grandmother’s house when a bowling ball rolled down the hall, curving around to come to a rest in the room where her cousin was sitting. But Brittany explains that her cousin wan't the only family member to have a strange experience at the house after her grandmother's passing. Specifically, after going out drinking with a friend, her uncle and his friend both crashed at the grandmother’s house. The next morning, the friend wanted her uncle to thank his mother for the glass of water she gave him during the night. When her uncle explains that his mother is deceased, the friend then wants an explanation for the empty drinking glass. Finally, Brittany tells her last grandmother-related story, this time of being in college and walking out to her car after class to see a gathering of police cars in the parking lot. She learned that a car had veered off the freeway and totaled two of the cars parked near her's in the parking lot, and she wonders if her grandmother may have intervened to save her car.


 * Drew from Utah describes staying overnight at his in-laws’ house while they’re away. Around three in the morning, he’s awoken when his dogs become restless. He then hears what he thinks is the sound of someone walking in the hallway, and his wife confirms hearing the same sound. They then see that the hallway light is on, and he can see a shadow moving down the hall. Drew opens the door and sees nothing--but hears a loud crash downstairs. Drew and his wife run out of the house and wait in their car for the police to come. The police don’t find anyone in the house, but, after the police leave, Drew hears noises in the basement and is convinced his in-laws live in a haunted house.


 * An anonymous caller describes falling into a bout of depression after her brother’s untimely death. She explains that she had decided to kill herself by taking an overdose of medication, but when she laid down on the bed to wait for death, she heard the voice of a woman insisting she get up and tell her husband what she'd done. The voice persists by telling her things about her future that she would later learn to be true. The voice continues urging her to get up until she finally acquiesces and tells her husband to take her to the hospital. Since then, she explains, each time she’s been close to death, she’s experienced paranormal phenomena.


 * Kelsey from North Carolina calls with a story about the Lizzie Borden House in Fall River, Massachusetts. She describes feeling nauseous and uncomfortable while touring the house with her family. After telling the other members of the family how she's feeling, Chelsea discovers that everyone in the family has been feeling sick since starting the tour. But, oddly, as soon as the tour ends and the family leaves the house, they each feel perfectly well again.