S1: EP 13 — "I Didn't Know if I wanted to Scream, or Just Run”

Therésa and the Haunting team took a short hiatus while Len took advantage of his timeshare at the River Styx, but things aren’t quite back to normal. While dealing with intern issues and personal drama, Therésa shares JJ’s experience as a late-night hospital security guard who was in over his head. We also met Priyanka, whose family Christmas celebration was more fitting for a tale set around the nightmare before... well, you get it. 

If you would like to reach out to the Haunting team and share your own ghost story, email us at [e-mail].  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

THERÉSA (00:16):
Hi, Hello, Howdy Haunting fam. No, your ears don't deceive you.
We're back. We had to take a hiatus while Len
was out of the office. He has a timeshare on
the River Styx and I guess the dates are pretty
set on those things. Although again, time seems kind of
hard To track down here.

LEN (00:32):
[MUMBLES]

THERÉSA (00:34):
That's okay, Len, No need to explain how time shares work.
I'll be haunting my family's Malibu house this season. That
is if my brother isn't already "haunting" it himself. And
by that, I mean rotting in the living room working
on the investor pitch for his Pokemon themed nightclub aka
a Virgin meetup.
He says the ocean air clears his head, but I've

(00:54):
been checking up and so far all he's doing is
smoking weed and mining doge coin.

LEN (01:01):
[MUMBLES]

THERÉSA (01:02):
Yes, you're right, I'm getting off topic. I said, less
personal stuff. Anyway, Welcome back, listeners. For those of you
tuning in for the first time, I'm your host, Therésa
Dead influencer doomed to host this podcast in Purgatory for
all eternity, and I'm joined in the studio by the
Haunting team, our producer Len

LEN (01:20):
[MUMBLES]

THERÉSA (01:22):
and our former UCLA student turned succubus turned intern, Naomi. Nay,
say hello
Naomi.
So that's why there's no coffee today. Len, you need
to talk to her. She can't just not show up
to work. I don't care if it's unpaid or indefinite.

(01:43):
It's an internship, and I may have fan mail that
needs sorting. Find her

LEN (01:47):
[MUMBLES]

THERÉSA (01:49):
While Len figures that out. Let's get into it. Our
first story today comes to us from one second Naomi
prepares my intros.

LEN (01:59):
[MUMBLES]

THERÉSA (02:04):
Just forget it! Our first story comes from our good
friend [unintelligible mumble] who's supernatural encounter left them totally spooked. Do
I have to do everything around here? Find her notes, Len!

STORY A (02:22):
They had a conference center. They would do different exhibits
and stuff, and you'd have to check all the doors
and everything. It was just always this feeling of somebody's
watching you, and I knew there's nobody there, so it
was always weird walking around. But that wasn't the worst.

(02:43):
The worst was in the actual hospital. I'm JJ. While
working the graveyard shift as a security guard, I saw
and heard things that I still cannot explain. Back a
few winters ago, the world was shut down due to
COVID and I needed work. I was looking for different

(03:06):
things that I could do, and I saw security officer.
It's at a hospital nearby, I can do that. It
was the graveyard shift, which was fine because I've always
been a night owl. It's the hospital, Right? how much could happen?

(03:27):
The job basically consisted of doing rounds. You would patrol
the building. Once an hour, you're walking around, checking on
the hospital, making sure nothing's out of place. It's a
very boring job. On a normal night really you're just
sitting around waiting for something to happen. There's different areas

(03:49):
of the hospital that are restricted, such as lobby E.
It was laid out kind of like a square. If
you looked up, you could see the glass railings of
each level and it echoed, so if you yelled something down, HI,

(04:09):
how you doing? It was, you know, like a big chamber.
I would hear it down where I am, especially in
the middle of the night. It was actually a really
quiet night, and I was sitting at the desk and
the lobby was always boring until something happens. And then

(04:32):
something happens. All of a sudden, I started hearing things.
I heard footsteps, but there's nobody else in that building,
so how can I be hearing footsteps. I try to
figure out where it's coming from. I got up. I looked,

(04:53):
there's nobody down the hallway. It's coming from upstairs. And
then I looked at the monitor. If you've ever seen
a hospital security setup, there's about sixty cameras on this screen.
You can see every angle. I'm leaning into the monitor
and I'm going through each camera, clicking on it and

(05:15):
enlarging it, making it bigger, and there's nothing, nothing there,
But there's still footsteps. You know, I had the full
view of, are any of these cameras out? Am I
missing anything? Nope. Everything is in order. It doesn't seem believable,

(05:36):
but you're hearing it. Obviously there's something there, but I
have every camera angle up and I can't see it.
So it's making no sense to me. And all of
a sudden, they're just gone, just vanished. What the hell
is this and what's gonna happen next. I was actually

(06:00):
very scared at that point, is whatever it is going
to come down and appear in front of me? About
five minutes later, my relief gets there, but it really
felt like it was about an hour. There's usually about
a five minute changeover, so we brief each other of

(06:22):
anything unusual, anything like that. I said, yeah, all the
checks are good. Everything's great. By the way, I heard
some footsteps upstairs. Have fun with that, and just down
the hallway. I was out of there. I got home,
but I could not go to sleep. I'm tossing, I'm turning.
I think I slept two or three hours. I got

(06:43):
called in for day shift because I was a per
diem so if somebody called out, there were a lot
of times where I would have to go and cover.
so I went back. I started with a shift at
the wellness center, which is where you'll go in for
different doctors appointments, and in there you had a bunch

(07:03):
of different areas, one of which was where all of
the pediatric patients would be, so all your kids. One of
my responsibilities was to check on this very important machine. It
was down a long hallway and we were the only
hospital in the area to have it, so we had

(07:24):
to check it at least once an hour to make
sure it was online and ready to go, because if
it went down, it took hours to come back online.
But you had to walk a decent ways to get there.
So I decided I'm gonna go check that first, I
started walking down this long hallway and there's multiple doors

(07:44):
you have to get through. It was like a high
priority area, restricted posted everywhere. It would be dark in
all these places. You'd be carrying flashlights around. It's just
me alone, and it's really quiet, definitely creepy, and the
doors would close because you're going through multiple doors, it

(08:07):
would echo. You know, you could hear a pin drop,
that's how quiet it is. So I'm going down and
it starts getting colder. As I'm going down the hallway,
I'm like, something don't feel right here, but I have

(08:28):
to go check this machine. So I get to the
last door. I swiped my badge and it would not open.
What the heck? I kept trying. I kept trying. I
kept trying nothing. That's weird, and it's really cold. So

(08:51):
I'm looking around. I'm looking around, like what the hell
do I do now? Eventually, I was able to open
that door, and as I'm walking in probably no more
than three steps, I heard something in my left ear.
It was just like a voice and it just went, "Don't!"

(09:18):
Almost like I had an ear piece in. That's how
close in my ear I heard it. It was definitely
a male voice, and it was really soft. It was
so quiet. If you were standing next to me, I
don't think you'd hear it. Okay, footsteps one thing, But
now I've actually heard something go "don't." That's chilling. Sticks

(09:42):
the hair up on your back. You don't know if
you want to scream or if you want to just run.
I go back.
I play the camera back. There's nothing there. It wasn't
even a question. Did I just hear that? I know

(10:02):
for a fact that I heard it. Apparently, I wasn't
the only one that happened to. One of the security
officers told me that he had also heard a voice.
He wasn't able to make out exactly what it said,
but he had an encounter down that hallway in that same section.

(10:25):
Another one said, that's not uncommon to hear stuff in
that area. He remembers walking around the same building, going
upstairs and hearing like a little kid go "mama", And
he said he did the same thing. He ran away.
He's like, I ain't dealing with this. They said that part

(10:46):
of the building is the most haunted, and that's where
the most activity is. Putting all the puzzle pieces and
thinking about it. Now, I think that it might have
been a dead patient. You know, somebody passed away there
and now they're looking around at where they passed. I

(11:06):
do wonder, were they trying to warn me of something?
What did they not want me to do? I guess
I'll never know for sure.

THERÉSA (11:24):
If I was working the graveyard shift, I wouldn't need
to be told "don't." Of course, it doesn't matter when
you're working, in a hospital you're bound to cross paths
with a wandering spirit trapped between realms at some point.
We might be recording this from a hospital right now,
for all I know.
No, I'm fairly certain our studio is in an old
Hot Topic at an abandoned mall. Hard to know for
sure though, the astral plane is tricky. What counts is

(11:47):
that when the ghosts said "don't", JJ listened. It's more
than can be said for my brother and the family
court's very specific instructions regarding use of the Malibu house.
I know you can hear me, Neil! Hopefully he gets
the message. Now, let's take a quick ad break and
we'll be back in just a minute.

(12:14):
Hey, Len, where are we on that Naomi situation?

LEN (12:17):
[MUMBLES]

THERÉSA (12:20):
What do you mean crossed over? Crossed over what?
Crossed over like "over the pond" in the cheeky British sense?
Or like a "crossover episode" like she's guest appearing on
Call Her Daddy? Are you saying she's successfully gone from
pop to country? Is a "crossover" some kind of sports term?
What do you mean crossed over?

LEN (12:38):
[MUMBLES]

THERÉSA (12:45):
I'm fine. I'm fine. Hey take over for a moment,
will you? I need some air.
When Sharon? When? I've been stuck in this hell hole
for eons
Okay, fine, Not literal hell because that would imply there's
been any movement in my case at all. If you

(13:07):
do not get me out of here, I will rip
that fugly appliqué vest right off your undead body and
shove up your little supernatural.

STORY B (13:21):
I heard a loud crash, like something falling down. Maybe
someone was downstairs and knocked over something. I thought that
person might need help, And then when I came down
the stairs, my gut told me to run, just run.

(13:44):
My name is Priyanka, and I thought I saw Santa,
but it was something else and it was much more frightening.
I don't really tell people about my paranormal experiences. People
tend to be skeptical. You know, oh, you're just tired,

(14:06):
You're just hallucinating. Maybe that shadow is your own shadow.
So I don't really tell people. I am a night owl.
I tend to work better in the nighttime. It's just
more peaceful, it's more silent at night. My ideas just

(14:27):
flow better. It was very late at night. I was
seventeen years old. I was studying in my room. That's
when I heard a knock on my window. I thought
I was just tired, so I try to ignore it,

(14:50):
but then I heard the knock again. The first knocks
were very soft, and then the next were like louder
and louder. It came in threes, always in threes. The
curtain is always closed and thank god because my room

(15:11):
is on the second floor. If something is knocking on
the window. Birds don't fly at night, so it's got
to be something else definitely. The knocks were just the
first stage. The second stage was whispers. It's as if
it's beside me in the room with me, right near

(15:34):
my ears. I know it's words, but I cannot make
out because it sounds like many people. My heart beat
really fast. I definitely have goosebumps. I couldn't move. I'm
just too afraid I wouldn't dare turn and look whether, you know,

(15:58):
it's really there or what. I just close my eyes
and say my prayers. The whole week I experienced this
paranormal thing. At that time, I didn't know that one
of my neighbors passed away the very night it started.

(16:18):
I am from Hindu culture. I'm an Indian. We do
believe that there is afterlife, and if they die from
natural causes like you know, health issues, they go straight
to God. The ones who, you know, suicide, like forced death,
they are the ones who roam around and haunt people.
We believe in that. In my culture, if you talk

(16:41):
about the spirits, it will attract them. They can be anything.
Let's say you are afraid of snakes, it'll come in
a form of a snake. If you're afraid of clowns,
it will come as clowns. It can take the form
of your fear. I'm very afraid of the dark, so

(17:03):
it can come as anything. When I was twenty years old,
I was doing my foundation in science. I was staying
in the hostel and I wanted to, you know, go
to my friend's room. You have to pass by an
open study area with a huge tree. I saw this

(17:31):
thing sitting under this tree. This thing had red eyes,
long black hair, and it was wearing a white gown, but
it has blood on it. This creature was smiling at me.
That scared me. That smile wasn't a good energy smile.

(17:54):
It was something else.
The week after that, I was at my aunt's house.
My aunt is a Christian, so we have celebrated Christmas
since I was a baby. It was a few days
before Christmas, so we were at my aunt's place for
this Christmas celebration. My aunt would decorate the house with

(18:20):
lights and the Christmas tree. I was really excited because
of the bonding, the activities, the cookies. I see my cousins,
my nephew, my nieces. It's a joyful moment. We spent
hours telling each other stories. I think it was around

(18:41):
nine thirty when my nephew, nieces, they, one by one, they
started to, you know, go to bed. So we thought, okay,
it's time to go to bed. I went to the
bathroom and when I came out, I heard a loud crash.

(19:05):
You know if a Christmas tree falls down. That sound?
I thought that someone was downstairs and maybe someone accidentally
knocked over something because it was really loud, but no
one woke up, surprisingly. My mind automatically was like, is
that Santa? I don't know why I said that. Don't
be crazy, you know it cannot be Santa Claus. I

(19:30):
decided to check out what was the noise about. My
gut didn't have this good feeling. I tried to be brave.
I must be brave to go down and check. I
kind of walk down the stairs slowly. It was really dark.
Who would be doing anything in the dark? They can't

(19:53):
even see their own hand. When I came down the stairs,
the decorations were still on the tree, the lights were
still on the tree. It was just like how we
left it. And then I saw this figure standing right
in front of the Christmas tree, just looking at me.
It was really huge. I couldn't see his face properly

(20:19):
because it was dark, but I could see his eyes glowing.
It was yellowish color. He was just standing there, and
then with a really really deep and harsh voice said "stop!"
It wasn't human at all. I was so afraid. I

(20:43):
just wanted to run away. I felt goose bumps rising
up and I had the chills. I just froze. My
hands are shivering, like leaves, and I couldn't get my
voice out. I couldn't bring myself to scream. My gut
told me to run, just run. My legs were really wobbly,

(21:06):
but I pull myself up and I said, I have
to get out of this place. I ran up the stairs.
Everyone was sleeping peacefully like nothing happened
At that moment, I just curl up on my bed
and I tried not to think about it. I was thinking,

(21:30):
you know, what did I hear? What did I see?
I know very well it's not human, it's not someone,
It's something. The next morning, the decorations on the tree
were all on the floor broken. There's one shelf where

(21:52):
my aunt placed the cross and her bible there. The
whole shelf was just on the floor, broken with the cross
and the Bible on one side. I told my whole
family that I saw something in the middle of the night.
My aunt told me they've been having reports that the

(22:13):
paranormal activities are going on in that area. She was like,
I'm going to pray. So the whole family gathered and
they started praying very loudly, and they started singing songs
to remove the negative energy from there. I do not
know whether it worked or not, but after this incident,
I did not see anything after that or hear anything.

(22:34):
No one talked about it after that it was normal again.

THERÉSA (22:43):
Oh yikes. I haven't had a Christmas that brutal since
the year the Fed seized our assets and we had
to stay to Marriott Residence Inn. We also never talked
about it again. We're going to take a quick break,
but we will be right back.

(23:06):
It's not all disembodied footsteps and demonic Santas here on Haunting.
We actually have some good news today. It seems our
beloved intern has left purgatory and crossed over to the other side. We're,
of course, all very thrilled for her. Such a deserving soul.
And we thank her for her contributions to the podcast.

(23:30):
We're now in need of a new intern. If you're
a self-starting spirit with incredible attention to detail who thrives
in a fast paced environment and is looking for a
way to spend eternity, email Len at [e-mail]. And to
all our mortal listeners, if you've ever had a supernatural experience,
we'd love to hear from you. I'm late for my

(23:52):
caseworker reassignment hearing, but I hope everyone excluding a certain
succubus has a great day. Naomi, I'd tell you to
go to Hell, but you're probably already there, and I
bet you're just loving it. Theresa out.

CREDITS (24:09):
If you have a Haunting story to share, please email
us at [e-mail], and if you like what you hear,
please like and subscribe. You can also follow us on
social media by searching for Glass Podcasts or by visiting glasspodcasts.com.
Haunting is a production of Glass Podcast and partnership with
iHeart Podcast. Haunting is created and executive produced by Nancy Glass,

(24:30):
Andrea Gunning, Ben Fetterman, and Lauren Lapkus, and it is
hosted by Lauren Lapkus as their character, Therésa. The show
is directed by Aleah Welsh and produced by Trey Morgan.
It is written by Aleah Welsh, with additional writing by
Nancy Glass, Trey Morgan and Ben Fetterman. Additional production support
by Curry Richman and Todd Ganz. Additional voice acting by
Trey Morgan as the character producer Len Walker, editing and

(24:52):
sound designed by Matt Delvecchio and mixed by Dave Saia.
Operations and production support by Kristin Melchiorre. Haunting's theme and
original compositions were composed by Oliver Baines and Dorry
Macaulay of Noiser. Music Library provided by Mybe Music. Special
thanks to Speakeasy Sound Studios in Burbank, California. For more
shows from iHeart Podcast and Glass Podcasts, visit the iHeartRadio app,

(25:13):
Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.