Strangetober Macabre Minisode #3 | True Paranormal Stories for Halloween

0:05 Welcome stranger, it's strange tober. So it's time for another Strangeoween mini sewed with me Madam Strangeways. Before we get to our true strange stories, just a quick reminder. If you're watching or reading a whole lot more spooky stuff lately and you're feeling kind of anxious, remember that you can feel afraid and not be in danger. Nothing in these stories can hurt you. Probably, almost definitely, probably not. And a very special thank you to my Patreon patrons who helped make the podcast possible. TJ Hotter of tapes of trepidation, G Man music, Ted, Keith and Tori. Now it sounds like it's about to rain Hellcats and hell hounds outside, so you know what that means.

0:48 On to the true Strange Tober stories here on Madam Strange Ways. I work in a haunted prison by Rumble Skunk. I'm a corrections officer in a really old prison. The instructional grounds were built in the 1850s and we're a boys industrial school for about 100 years before being converted into a state prison.

1:33 I work a one man post on 3rd shift in an old dorm built in the 1880s so it's already a creepy place. There's two or three ghosts running around the place. The first one is the key man. I hear him a lot, just the sound of jangling keys. Some old time CEO still making his rounds I suppose. Second one is the shadow man. I've seen him a few times. It flows when it moves like coffee spilled on a table. I don't know if the shadow man and the key man are the same entity or not. The third one is the boy, a little boy, maybe 10 years old, with dark hair and a white T-shirt.

2:20 He's always on or near the stairs and moves real quick, like seeing a mouse scurry away out of the corner of your eye. I've never felt threatened by any of them. I just felt like sharing my nightly experiences with you all and see if any of you have had similar experiences. My grandparents house by Leah. So I'm back at my grandparents house, this really peaceful place I grew up in, tucked in a quiet area in town. It's always been filled with people, always felt like home. But honestly it's always had this weird energy too I think. Like it's comfortable but never completely settled, if that makes any sense.

3:18 This was built in the 80s but barely used for the first decade or so, only a few months a year until my grandparents and the rest of the family moved back in around 98 or 99. Since then it's never really been empty. It's a big house and someone's always been here. Cousins, uncles, someone living upstairs. But even with all the life and noise, weird stuff just happens and it never makes any sense. Like one time I brought this huge glass jar of honey, put it in the cabinet and a few days later it was just gone, nowhere to be found.

3:59 Another time I woke up to three slow and precise knocks on my door. Then the heavy wooden door creaked open by itself and you guessed it, no one there. Same thing happened again. Same pattern on the door leading upstairs to my uncle's apartment, which literally never gets used at all as there's another door that my uncles and their kids use to get to the upper floors. And there's this one apartment upstairs that really has a vibe, if that's a correct word to use in this case. We used to live in it for a bit only during summers before my uncle took it over. It's small, just a hallway with rooms branching off. But I used to have the strangest dreams there and it is actually a horrible place in my opinion.

4:51 I always saw this young teenage girl in my dreams sitting on the kitchen table in the rooms or just standing in the hallway. It was never comfortable unlike the rest of the house and floors. I used to dread sleeping there. Then there was a summer of 2022. Only a few of us were staying in the house, and we'd hear what sounded like footsteps around the yard. Not animals, actual human footsteps crunching through soil and leaves. The house is surrounded by trees and open space, so sound travels. But this was different. It was like something was moving around us at night.

5:34 We never saw anything, but we all heard it and there's no hesitation that it ever tried to harm us. But you know what? It's just weird. Another time, just last year, I went up to the third floor. It's an apartment where one of my uncle's lives, a huge one, like a whole floor, unlike the smaller ones below. He and his family were travelling, so my brother and I went up to turn off the electricity. The moment I stepped back in, the air just stilled. It felt wrong. I shut off the power as fast as I could and went back downstairs.

6:15 Later that night, while folding laundry in a bedroom that overlooks the huge front yard, I heard hissing. At first it was faint, like it came from far off, and well, I ignored it. But it got closer, even louder, as if someone was right outside the window trying to get my attention. It went on for a few minutes when I finally turned around and checked nothing. Thing is, my family is religious, the area is safe, the neighbors are kind. It's not the kind of place you'd expect anything strange, but there's just something about this house. It doesn't feel evil or threatening. I don't know how to explain this, but it's as if something is present.

7:08 I've had really weird stuff follow me elsewhere too, but this house I have no explanation at all. I'm staying over for a month and well, I don't like the fact that I don't understand what's happening at all. CD track 2 by Anonymous. My ex was a practical joker. About a year after they died, I came home from work and turned on the vanity light in the bathroom to get ready for bed.

7:52 Midway through brushing my teeth, the light multiple bulbs shut off. Flipped the switch several times, Nothing turned on the overhead. It worked fine. I thought I had nicked a wire drilling holes for a shelf the day before, so I went to the basement to turn off the breaker so I could deal with it after I got some sleep. When I opened the panel it was already off. Flipped the breaker a couple times, went back up and tried the light again. Nothing. Went back to the basement, turned off the breaker, go back upstairs, made sure the lights in the bathroom were dead, walked into the bedroom and realized that breaker killed all the lights and outlets in my bedroom as well. Muttering a string of obscenities, I went back to the basement.

8:44 The breaker was already on when I opened the panel again. By this point I was so exhausted and pissed off I just said screw it, the house can catch fire, I need sleep. I flipped the breaker off and on, then went back up. I reset my alarm clock, crawled into bed. Literally the moment I pulled the duvet up over me, I see a light come on in the hallway. I get back out of bed and that damn vanity light was lit up and working fine. Later that afternoon, as I drove to work, I heard a song start playing. I thought it was odd because I had never heard that song on the radio ever.

9:27 The first time I heard it was when I was somewhere with the XI, bought the CD, and it had gotten stuck in my car stereo months before they died. It wouldn't play or eject and I didn't care enough to spend the money to get the stereo fixed. After they died, I either listened to the radio or drove in silence. I looked over and instead of the radio station I always listened to, I saw CD track 2 on the screen. I let the song play through and it just stopped. After that song I tried to eject the CD. It wouldn't eject or play again.

10:12 I eventually sold the car with that CD still stuck in it. And if you're curious what song it was on that CD, the CD was Robin Trower, Bridge of Size. Thank you for joining me. For more true strange stories of the unexplained, remember that you can feel afraid and not be in danger. You're safe here with me, probably. Please follow the podcast, leave a rating on Spotify or Apple, or tell your friends and foes about the show.

10:56 It would mean the world to me. The underworld, obviously. I mean, come on. Was that not? Was that not clear? Madam Strangeways is produced and narrated by me. Madam Strangeways thememusicisbymarina.ryan@marinamakes.co Cover art is by Andrea Chisel Roldan at Cult of Teddy on Instagram. You can submit your own true strange story at madamstrangeways.com or e-mail it to madamstrangeways@gmail.com. See you soon, she said ominously.