National Park Encounter + Haunted Hospital | True Spooky Stories from Reddit | Ep #21

0:00 If you have a true strange story of the unexplained you'd like to hear, read on the podcast, e-mail it to madamstrangeways@gmail.com or go to madamstrangeways.com or just check the show notes for a link. I can't wait to read it. Well hello Strangelings, it's me Madam Strangeways, thank you for joining me again, I'm always glad to see you. Today I've got 2 new true strange stories for you and as always, solicited or not, usually not, I share my thoughts and observations after each spooky tale.

0:45 Now it's time for you to dim the lights and get while I read you these true strange stories here on Madam Strange Ways breaking strange news. You can now support me on patreon@patreon.com/madam. Strange Ways. Thank you so much to my very first patron, TJ Hotter. And when you sign up under the Certifiably Strange tier, you too can hear your name at the beginning of every episode.

1:33 You'll also get exclusive access to polls and help me decide which strange topics I'll discuss on future episodes. Your support means so much to me. Thank you and now on to the strange stories possible encounters from a Michigan nature park worker by Hawkeye. For my safety, I do not want to reveal which park system I work for, but it is important to the story that I, female, 19, work at a position at a Michigan nature park not entirely dissimilar to that of a park Ranger.

2:25 My job duties usually include manning the entry booth and locking up the buildings at night, and although not a usual duty, sometimes they ask me to walk or take a park vehicle through some of the trails. As I am on the younger side but still have several years of experience at the park, I'm a relatively experienced outdoorsman. I've had some odd things happen to me while on the job that I can't quite explain. I'm decently well versed in some areas of the paranormal, and although not entirely relevant, it's of note that I am also a Norse Pagan as part of a family belief and often wear protective symbols as well.

3:12 And to be honest, I've started wearing them more since these odd things have been happening. I've tried looking into it myself, but overall I'm overwhelmed and not sure where to look. So a friend suggested I ask a forum like this about my experience. There are two things in particular I want to ask about. Thing one, I usually work the night shift, and this night in particular it was raining a lot and the conditions were getting unsafe. I was posted out in the booth, which is multiple miles from the office, so when things took a turn for the worse, my boss radioed me back.

3:55 Some people who don't spend a lot of time in the woods don't realize how dark deep woods can get, much less in the dark at night. But I had both a flashlight and the light from the booth which gave me probably 30 feet of visibility. And when I went to grab my stuff so I can lock up the booth and get to my car, I swore I saw something that moved very human like but moved in a really odd way. Like the only way I can describe it is if a horse deer hybrid tried to run like a person but there were no people out there and it was most definitely not a deer. I'm probably not describing it in the best way, but it was very off so I got to my car ASAP and it didn't start right away. A bit odd but not entirely out of character for my car. But when I turned the key a second time, I saw something out of the corner of my eye and it looked like whatever it was had gotten closer.

5:19 The drive goes without incident, but I'm still off about what I saw, and when I get closer I radio in to see if they need me to pick anyone up and the radio doesn't work right. Which was very out of character. These radios are designed to work in awful conditions, and I was the closest I'd been to any sort of signal in a while. I chalked it up to the weather and pulled into the office, but as I do something runs past me. I did not get a good look at what it was, but it was not a person and I'm telling you, there's not an animal in that woods that I know of that looks like either of the things I saw and I just can't seem to shake it thing to.

6:14 This happened more recently and is what prompted me to finally reach out to a forum of some kind. I was walking the trails for security purposes close to closing. We close around 11:00 PM and start a final walk around 9:00 PM. We do this to make sure no one's stuck on the trail or hurt so they aren't stuck overnight when there's fewer staff and none that patrol those trails. So I was walking one of our trails and I was pretty deep in woods already as I'm a fairly fast hiker and this is a trail I know well. I was already about a 2 miles into the trail when things start to get weird. I hear a noise off in the distance and at first I thought it could be a coyote or an owl, so I pressed on. Coyotes stay off the trails won't go after people unless they have dogs, and dogs are banned in the woods here and they know when we do our sweeps, so I was not concerned. But then the noises got weirder.

7:29 I'm used to the sounds of the woods and I know the area and the wildlife very well, and I have never once in my life heard that sound before. It didn't come from any animal I recognize, and it most definitely was not human. I've never aborted A sweep before, even when I've had coyotes nearby, but it did not feel right and I got out of there. We are allowed to use our judgement in these cases. If anyone has any idea what either of these things could be, please let me know.

8:12 I really appreciate it. Thank you, Hawkeye, for that horrifying story. It's funny because I say horrifying because that would not be a job that I would want to do. But I bet there's people listening that are thinking that sounds like a good job. Like, how do I, how do I get that job? Where do I apply? Nope, I'm good. It sounds like a horror movie, honestly, like it sounds like the setting. I can just picture it.

8:53 Everything that you were describing I was picturing very vividly in my mind, especially, you know, it's being so dark and how you were saying like people don't realize how dark the the woods are like the forest is. I believe that I I don't know. I don't go outside unless it's absolutely necessary or, you know, it's like there's a blood ritual that needs to happen and it's a full moon. OK, that's different. But I, you know, I, I don't need to know how. I don't want to know how dark the woods get really, really far out away from civilization. Although, see, now I'm talking myself into it because that actually does sound.

9:38 That does sound good. That sounds amazing. So in the story Hawkeye mentions using some protective symbols and I wanted to know more about that. So I deemed her and what she said was that personally she uses OK, I'm trying. This is a Nordic word. I feel like there's a lot of Nordic or at least Northern European words that I end up stumbling across in this podcast, so I'm going to try my best. I did Google it, but I have two different sources telling me two different ways, so we're going to try it. Vague Visir, which is spelled V e.g.

10:19 VISIR, but that first I has a little accent going off to the right, so vague V seer. And what that symbol is is a Nordic compass. So it's Icelandic magical tradition and the name translates to signpost or wayfinder. And so Hawkeye uses that for protection while traveling. Good for, you know, finding your way. And I guess she's traveling all the time in her job because that's what you do when you're just hiking around outdoors. I would love to learn more, but we're going to jump back to the story. OK? So just knowing that those are the symbols that she's using for protection.

11:00 Hopefully they worked out for her and that's why she lived to tell the tale. Hawkeye, this figure that you see, and I love how you described it. I say love meaning it's horrifying and super scary. If if I had seen it, I hope I would have been half as good at describing what you saw as you were. So how it was sort of like a person but definitely not, but more like a mutated horse slash deer, but not a deer. And I bet that people listening or thinking, oh, it's a not deer. I don't think so though. I thought immediately I was like, people are going to think this is a not deer because the story literally says not a deer.

11:46 But I don't think so. I don't think so. And there was some conversation in the thread that Hawkeye originally posted and there was back and forth, someone said, is it Bigfoot, which spoiler alert, we have some Bigfoot stories coming up very soon. But you know, they're going, is it Bigfoot or is it this one particular bird? Because this one kind of bird. And you know what, hold on. I got to look up the kind of bird. OK, the bird is a Wilson's snipe. They said it. They suggested that it could be the winnowing of a Wilson's snipe. And so now you know what I got to do. Now I got to go and see what does that sound like?

12:28 OK, I have to say, although this is spooky, in no way does it sound like what I was picturing from Hawkeye's description, which is something like an owl crossed with a coyote. Here it is spooky, but not right. I feel like any outdoors woman worth her salt, which Hawkeye seems to be, would absolutely know that that is a Wilson's snipe. A duh, duh. Everybody knows the winnowing call of a Wilson snipe, so clearly that's not what it was, but people were speculating.

13:11 Is it this? Is it that, and you know, if anyone, I don't have to even be an outdoorsman to kind of know what that means when you say like I'm familiar with the sounds about of of the outdoors where I work. Because look, I'm going to tie this back to when you have a cat or cats or dogs or kids, OK, Sure. If you have something in your home that makes different sounds than you do, you know them and then they kind of become background noise, right? So if something is different, it really stands out because you're used to the noises that they normally make. And now there's been a noise and you go hold on a second, that's not my cat, or like, that's not my neighbor, or that's not my dog or my child.

13:56 So I completely understand that what what she's saying in the story is, I heard something and I know that it's not something I'm familiar with. I'm very familiar with everything around here. It's not like I'm misunderstanding what a sound is. So it's not something that she's already heard before. It's not something that is native to the area. And she also went further in the post to say it. It sounded kind of like a dog, but like, not like a dog. More hollow actually. OK, actually, she doesn't say dog. She says canine. And then I think that's specifically referring to a coyote. So she's saying it didn't it wasn't a coyote. It kind of sounded like a coyote. And this is what's really spooky is that it sounded more like something imitating a coyote in a messed up way. And that's the sound that it made, which is so scary. OK.

14:50 So OK, it's not a it's not a not deer, but this takes place in Michigan. And so today I learned about the Michigan Dog Man. Now for those uninitiated like myself, the Michigan Dog Man is also known as the Michigan werewolf. Now I don't think it is a werewolf, but you could be forgiven for thinking that it is a werewolf. And I'll tell you why because this is the description of the Michigan Dog Man. It's described as 7 foot tall, blue eyed or amber eyed bipedal canine like animal with the torso of a man and a fearsome howl. According to legends, they appear in a 10 year cycle that falls on years ending in seven.

15:46 Which so does that mean they showed up again like in 2017 and then they'll go away again? And this is like cicadas. Anyway, here's here's the key part. The key part is that the Michigan dog man, or I guess dog men can be deterred by clapping loudly. So just, you know, maybe you don't need Hawkeye. Maybe you don't need protective sigils. Maybe you just need to clap really loudly. I mean, maybe, maybe that's all you need to do. And then you won't have to worry about the dog man anymore. You know, also, here's the thing. I'm reading that description of. I'm reading that description of what the dog man looks like. And all I'm thinking is like, book talk would be a fan. Book talk is into it.

16:38 They're ready. I mean, yeah, I don't even think, I don't even think you need to be a monster romance girly to be into that. Because what is it? You know, I mean, what? He's how tall is he? He's over 6, but he's 7 feet tall. So I mean, maybe, you know, maybe my true calling in life is to be a matchmaker, like a supernatural paranormal matchmaker. And Hawkeye, you know, are you single? Are you, are you looking for a Michigan dog man? Is that are you open to that? Because if you're not totally understand, I'm sure someone else will be. So if, if, if anyone's listening and you're single and you're thinking, oh, Michigan dog man, like, OK, I'm ready, then just go ahead.

17:27 Send me an e-mail at madamstrangeways@gmail.com. And you know, I'll see you. I'll see what we can make happen. In the meantime, though, Hawkeye, you know, please stay safe. I know that you're already very capable and that you take a lot of precautions. And I trust that you know what you're doing because you're a professional. But do please stay safe out there. And if anyone has any sightings of any sort of dog men, regardless of whether they have romantic interest in them or not, or if you have your own scary unexplained stories that happen in a National Park, for instance. Or if you just have any thoughts on this story, maybe you've seen something similar and you want to just, you know, chime in, please also feel free to e-mail me.

18:12 And Hawkeye, thank you so much for letting me Share your story, My experience at the hospital by Ted. I am a clinical laboratory scientist working in the hospital laboratory. I love my job working behind the scenes to provide the doctors the data that they need to diagnose and treat patients. I usually work the night shift because I like the hours and I have more time for my family during the day. One night I was in the pathology grossing room cutting up a piece of tissue.

19:04 The hospital morgue is also in this room. I was concentrating on my work when suddenly a few plastic slide holders and clamps came flying out of the cabinet behind me across the room and hit the opposite wall. I couldn't rationalize it to an animal because these things flew out of the open cabinet instead of just falling down. I couldn't leave in the middle of my work so I just said out loud, I'm working here. I finished up as quickly as I could and ran out of there. I was also a specialist in blood banking and transfusion. It was a busy night and I was having a checklist in my head of what I needed to do next.

19:56 I was totally in the zone. I opened the refrigerator with the glass doors to retrieve a unit of blood when I swung the door closed. I saw a dark figure in black scrubs sitting on the counter in the corner behind me, crossing his arms and looking down. I couldn't see his face because his body was completely black. I was on autopilot mode so I didn't process what I saw until a couple of seconds later. I turned around and saw that there was no one in the corner.

20:37 In fact I was the only person in the blood bank. I ran outside to tell my Co worker what just happened. The hairs on my arms were raised and there were goosebumps all over. Before this occurrence I would see phantom lab coats in my peripheral vision, even occasionally disembodied size or someone calling my name. But I chalked it up to just me being sleepy and tired. I was neither of those when I saw the dark figure. I've changed a few jobs since then without any other incidents. At my newest job however, a month into it I saw and felt a male presence watching me work.

21:27 I thought it was my Co worker coming to check on me but when I turned around to say hi there was no one there. I am certain he will continue to manifest himself to me in the times ahead. Ted, as usual, thank you so much for letting me read so many of your hair raising stories because this one, you know, you just, you just ride out the bat.

22:10 You're working in the morgue. You know, it's like, oh, I work in the hospital laboratory. Oh, that also happens to be in the morgue. Like as if, Ted, as if you don't see enough scary shit, you're going to go and you're going to work in a morgue. Do you want to see this stuff? I feel like I feel like Ted, I feel like parts of you want to want to be experiencing this stuff or you would not take a job in a morgue. Come on. That's so scary. I have no interest in working in a morgue. None. You know, actually, the two jobs described in this episode in particular are two would be two nightmare jobs for me.

22:54 I'm good. I'm so glad that y'all like your jobs so that I don't have to do them. OK, so the first one when you're in the morgue, stuff comes flying out of the cabinet and hits the opposite wall. OK OK, so you can rationalize like you were saying, like, was it an animal? No, unless it's like super strong animal that is also silent and invisible. And then I guess maybe it could be an animal if that kind of animal existed. I think I just described a ghost, which is not technically an animal. So like you, I'm I'm struggling to rationalize and I always do when stories mention things that fly across the room and hit the wall. I feel like there's a lot of different ways that you can explain things falling or like maybe going a little bit of a distance, but like across the room and hitting a wall. I know I don't know how you, I don't know how you explain that. And I do love especially how you're like, I'm working here and just to let them know I'm working here, like don't make me leave.

24:04 I can't leave. I need my paycheck. So please stop bothering me while I'm working. Spirit in the morgue. Guess that's the message there. The thing is, and I know I'm a broken record here, but here's the thing, not everybody listens to every episode. And this may be someone's first episode, in which case I am not yet a broken record. So I am going to take the opportunity to say one of the other ways that you could rationalize something flying across a room and hitting a wall would be that it didn't actually do that, that there was a hallucination involved. And as a reminder, again, don't worry, I'm not a broken record to some people, only certain people. The thing about hallucinations is that you don't actually have to be mentally unwell.

24:49 You don't have to be schizophrenic. You can just be, you know, really tired, which I see is one of the things that you've even thought about and you're very mindful about, about those things. Like, I guess I'm just tired if this is happening. Maybe I'm just too stressed. Of course, those are reasons why someone could hallucinate. Also, you know, carbon monoxide poisoning. I don't know what's going down in that morgue. Maybe there's other things you don't mold. Maybe there's. OK. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. But if those things were actually on the floor and no one was in there and no one was pranking you. Yeah. I don't know how you explain those things flying across the room in a morgue. I can't get over the morgue. OK. So in this this next part of the story, though, you're not in a morgue, which is good, but there is still something scary happening to you because these things just follow you, Ted. So you're totally in the zone, You're focused. And I know exactly what you mean. Like you are completely wrapped up in what you're doing, and you see something out of the corner of your eye and you're like, I will address this thing later.

25:46 Like you're seeing a person. They're sitting there. They're watching you. You're even thinking, I can see the outline of this person having their arms crossed. Like that's how much detail that your brain is telling you you're seeing. And OK, great. And now you're done. And you turn around to see who's sitting there watching you like a weirdo. And oh, there's no one there. Oh, there's no one there. Oh, in fact, actually, not only is there no one there, but there's no one in the entire building. I am alone. I'm alone here in the building. What? That's terrifying. How did you how did you stay? Like how how did you stay here?

26:28 I guess, like I said, if this is happening to you, regardless of where you work, I guess it doesn't matter where you go. But I would have been completely freaked out as well, especially you know how how you were saying you were even hearing people say your name or like voices say your name or like disembodied sighs like, or is it more like wistful or like longing? Like like which one? But both are scary if they're disembodied. Anything disembodied that you don't know where it's coming from, also scary. I'm glad that, you know, you haven't had these incidents everywhere that you work. But then apparently at your new job, at your new job, there's a presence and a masculine presence watching you work, which is not ideal.

27:22 I think, you know, it's not. I don't have to tell you, you know, selfishly it's ideal for me because that might mean that I get a story about this presence if something else happens. But for you, I kind of just, I kind of just want to break for you, if that's what you want for yourself. You know what, Ted? This is what I'm going to say. If you don't want to break and you actually, you know, you kind of enjoy this, then I hope you have more experiences, so long as they're not dangerous. But if you are sick and tired of this, then I really hope that you don't have another experience like this ever again. And for anyone listening, maybe this is your first time listening. Maybe this is your second time.

28:02 Ted has submitted to me a wonderful collection of stories. So if you, like Ted, have had a lot of weird stuff happened to you and you fancy writing it all down, then you too can have a bunch of your stories read here on the show. I would be forever undyingly grateful for that, like I am to Ted. Thank you, Ted, and to every single person who allows me to read their story on the show. So if you're interested in submitting one or more stories, you can just go ahead and e-mail those to madamstrangeways@gmail.com, or you can jump on my website, madamstrangeways.com, and you can submit it there.

28:48 Thanks in advance. Thank you so much for joining me for such a lovely spooky time. Remember, you can feel afraid and not be in danger. If you've enjoyed yourself, please follow the podcast so you can get alerts when new episodes come out. And if you've really enjoyed yourself, it would mean a lot to me if you would tell a friend about the podcast and follow me on Instagram at Madam Strangeways or leave me a rating or review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Or I mean, just send me an e-mail at madamstrangeways@gmail.com to just say hello. I'd appreciate it.

29:40 Madam Strangeways is produced and narrated by me. Madam Strangeways thememusicisbymarina.ryan@marinamakes.co You can submit your own strange story at madamstrangeways.com or send in your thoughts or theories on the stories in this episode to madamstrangeways@gmail.com. Thank you for listening. Until next time.

30:31 It seemed like a potential sort.