Encounters x258

Hey, spooky friends! 👻 Get ready, because this week on Two Girls One Ghost Podcast, we’re sharing listener encounters that’ll make you want to leave a nightlight on. From toe-pulling ghosts on old railways to haunted mirror shards appearing out of nowhere, these stories are full of the kind of spine-tingling details you just can’t make up. And then there’s “Dominic the Demon” — a name we won’t be forgetting anytime soon. Imagine ghost hunting in a hotel, only for the word demon to flash on your phone...yeah, we weren’t okay. 😳 Oh, and we may or may not be debating bringing a scrying mirror into the studio. Because why not add a chance of a spirit showing up on screen, right? (Only if it leaves by sunrise, please.) One listener even reported haunted lights, flickering fans, and possessed vacuums after listening to our last cursed episode... so if your place starts acting up after this one, don’t say we didn’t warn you! 🕯️ Grab your favorite cozy blanket, dim the lights, and settle in for some laughs and serious goosebumps. Hit play if you dare, because who knows what might be waiting on the other side… Have ghost stories of your own? E-mail them to us at [email protected] Encounters episodes are released every Thursday at 9am PST/12pm EST. Corinne and Sabrina hand select a couple of paranormal encounters from our inbox to read in each episode, from demons, to cryptids, to aliens, to creepy kids... the list goes on and on. If you have a story of your own that you'd like us to share on an upcoming episode, we invite you to email them to us! This episode is sponsored by VIIA, Betterhelp and Nutrafol. VIIA is the only lifestyle hemp brand known for their award-winning THC & THC-free gummies & vapes, THCA flower, soothing topicals, and calming drops. This holiday season, gift yourself some peace of mind. If you’re 21+, head to Viiahemp.com and use the code TGOG to receive 15% off. If you’re thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. Visit BetterHelp.com/tgog today to get 10% off your first month. Nutrafol is the #1 dermatologist-recommended hair growth supplement brand, trusted by over 1 million people. The cold, dry air of winter can be unforgiving, but your hair doesn’t have to suffer! For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners ten dollars off your first month’s subscription and free shipping when you go to Nutrafol dot com and enter the promo code TGOG. If you enjoy our show, please consider joining our Patreon, rating and reviewing on iTunes & Spotify and following us on social media! Youtube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Discord. Edited and produced by Jaimi Ryan, original music by Arms Akimbo! Disclaimer: the use of white sage and smudging is a closed practice. If you’re looking to cleanse your space, here are some great alternatives! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  Low energy, unfocused, foggy? You might be dehydrated. Whether it's hot yoga, over 100-degree weather, or too much sun. Gator Light, with a specialized blend of five electrolytes, was scientifically designed to help move fluids into the body faster for rapid rehydration. Shop now at retailers nationwide. Gator Light: Hydrates Faster Than Water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist.

• 0:30Speaker 01

  When everything feels nonstop, movement becomes the pause. So give Lululemon this holiday season. Smooth, seamless running gear builds momentum through every mile.

• 0:42Speaker 01

  Targeted support adds steadiness to every pulse and hold.

• 0:48Speaker 01

  And dynamic stretch expands presence through every pose.

• 0:54Speaker 01

  Give the feeling. Shop in-store and on lululemon.com.

• 1:21Corinne Vien?

  Hello.

• 1:22Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Hi.

• 1:23Corinne Vien?

  This is Two Girls, One Ghost.

• 1:25Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Two girls, one ghost. And we are your Ghostesses. That's Corinne.

• 1:30Corinne Vien?

  I'm plucking hair off of her microphone.

• 1:32Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  And I'm Sabrina. And eventually, all of y'all will have mic stands.

• 1:38Corinne Vien?

  All of y'all, every single one of you will own a mic stand.

• 1:41Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I meant all of y'all who are like...

• 1:43Corinne Vien?

  Not us, though.

• 1:44Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  You two are making me stressed by how much you're moving around your microphone.

• 1:50Corinne Vien?

  Yeah. So Jamie, who edits our podcast, our promise to you...

• 1:54Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yes.

• 1:55Corinne Vien?

  Is that, so we bought this table to explain it to everyone.

• 1:59Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah.

• 1:59Corinne Vien?

  And I ripped the box apart and all the Styrofoam that came in it looking for the screws, because...

• 2:04Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Usually.

• 2:06Corinne Vien?

  Usually it comes with the hardware. It did not, and so now we've been waiting for weeks for the...

• 2:11Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Replacement hardware.

• 2:13Corinne Vien?

  ...to send us the hardware. This is all very precariously perched. Luckily, it's heavy enough that nothing comes crashing down. But it certainly is not heavy enough... To hold 10 pound microphones.

• 2:24Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  No, so we are working out while recording our podcast.

• 2:27Corinne Vien?

  Yeah, we are.

• 2:28Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Getting a really strong muscles on one arm.

• 2:33Corinne Vien?

  We gotta switch.

• 2:34Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I know.

• 2:35Corinne Vien?

  I bet that sounds really great on the microphone.

• 2:39Corinne Vien?

  Hot potato.

• 2:40Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Also, there is some background noise today. We have a lawnmower and an ax murderer chainsawing outside. Oh, wait, actually, okay, this is wild. It's also very sad, but I was, I was watching forensic files. I watch it every night when I go to bed because I need noise.

• 2:57Corinne Vien?

  Yeah.

• 2:58Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  The one I watched last night was wild. So it is the murder of Peter Porco and his wife. And their son had done it and it's a solved murder. The son has been put away and everything, but they were axed to death. It's so horrific and horrible.

• 3:16Corinne Vien?

  Really disturbing way to take someone's life.

• 3:20Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  But the part that I'm bringing up is so Peter Porco was in bed when his son came into the house and he was whacked in the head with an ax 16 times. The wife was hit three times. And at some point, the Peter Porco had regained consciousness after being axed in the head 16 times. And the way that his brain had been damaged, his like consciousness was damaged, which is like the top part of your brain. And I'm not, I don't know, like, I don't remember the specific term for that portion. So anyway, so he couldn't really like feel or understand the pain and what he was feeling.

• 4:00Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  But the part that performs like the more primal, second nature, routine portion of your brain was not damaged. So when he regained consciousness, he got out of bed, went downstairs, made breakfast, got the newspaper, literally went outside, picked up the newspaper. He accidentally, the door closed behind him when he went to get the newspaper, that he got the key that was in the plant potter or pot, plant. Pot? Why does that sound so weird?

• 4:32Corinne Vien?

  The planter.

• 4:33Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  The planter, thank you. The planter that was right next to the door opened the door. And I don't know how long, because I mean, no one really knows the amount of time he spent doing this morning routine. But he, after going back inside, lost consciousness, fell and passed out and died at the foot of the stairs.

• 4:49Corinne Vien?

  Oh, my gosh. This is so upsetting, too, because it's like, if the right person had gone by in that moment when he got himself locked out, like, that could have been.

• 4:56Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I don't think he ever would have survived it, just based on the damage.

• 4:58Corinne Vien?

  Yeah.

• 4:59Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  But, oh, isn't that wild?

• 5:02Corinne Vien?

  That's horrific.

• 5:03Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  It's so horrific, but I was just like, I had never even, yeah, I mean, it's, it's so sad, but I was just like, wow.

• 5:09Corinne Vien?

  Man. Oh, I wish they lived.

• 5:12Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I know, it's really tragic.

• 5:13Corinne Vien?

  Geez, I'm.

• 5:13Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Anyway, that's not why we're here.

• 5:16Corinne Vien?

  We tell ghost stories on this podcast.

• 5:18Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  We do tell ghost stories.

• 5:19Corinne Vien?

  But in order to have ghosts, you do have death, and oftentimes, they are graphic.

• 5:22Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah.

• 5:24Corinne Vien?

  But this isn't about the stories that we have or researched. This is about your stories that you email to us at [email protected]. So we have plucked some emails to read to you today. This is an encounters episode.

• 5:36Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Would you like to begin?

• 5:37Corinne Vien?

  Sure. This is called toe-pulling old-timey railroad ghosts.

• 5:42Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Okay. Sounds kind of fun and lighthearted after that really disturbing thing that I shared with you all. Sorry.

• 5:48Corinne Vien?

  Hi, guys, and cats. I'm new but already devoted pod fan, and this is my ghost story.

• 5:53Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Amazing.

• 5:54Corinne Vien?

  When I was 15, my parents bought a big new dream house in a brand-new subdivision. It backed up to the woods and a creek, and in our minds, only old houses were haunted. So when we moved in, we would routinely find shards of a mirror in strange places where none of our mirrors had broken. And then we would also sometimes feel like we'd bump into someone invisible as we were unpacking our boxes. But we were able to talk ourselves out of anything too scary. Of course, because it's a new house.

• 6:21Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Of course.

• 6:22Corinne Vien?

  It can't be haunted.

• 6:22Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  No.

• 6:23Corinne Vien?

  Alarm bells didn't start to sound until one day I was working out on the elliptical in what had been intended to be a storage room. As it was a storage room, it had no lights, no TV, nothing at all, except for an egress window and the elliptical. And all of the sudden, I felt something sharp drop onto the top of my head. Ow. I took off my headphones and I looked down, and there was a shard of a mirror that had fallen on top of my head from absolutely nowhere.

• 6:51Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  What?

• 6:52Corinne Vien?

  I ran upstairs and even though it was definitely odd, there was nothing anyone could do. So we just continued about our lives.

• 6:58Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  That's so weird.

• 7:00Corinne Vien?

  I know. This almost reminds me of when we were in this, or I was alone in this particular room and like, none of this stuff was here. When dirt just manifested and felt like it was, I was standing where you are. I should probably look perfectly where you are.

• 7:13Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Dirt, come to me.

• 7:14Corinne Vien?

  Yeah. Until one night, myself and my friends were playing pool in the basement and my mom and dad were fast asleep in bed on the third floor. Out of nowhere, my dad, who staunchly never believed in ghosts, would snore like a freight train and had literally once slept through an actual earthquake, shoots straight out of bed in a panic. My mom, watching, frozen with fear, and my dad just says, "Did someone just pull your toes?" My dad looked all around the top floor, which is where their bedroom was, and the floor plan was open, the floors were notoriously creaky, but he didn't see or hear anything.

• 7:42Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I love that he is staunchly against the paranormal, but doesn't say, "Did you just pull my toes?" He knows that someone else pulled his toes.

• 7:51Corinne Vien?

  Somebody's, there's a toe puller a foot.

• 7:53Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah.

• 7:59Corinne Vien?

  I love when it works out like that.

• 8:03Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  That was amazing.

• 8:04Corinne Vien?

  Both of us, "Oh, it worked." A pun. It came out.

• 8:09Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  A toe puller a foot.

• 8:13Corinne Vien?

  My brain is catching up to my words.

• 8:15Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah.

• 8:15Corinne Vien?

  I'm like, wait, that was good.

• 8:16Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  That was really good.

• 8:18Corinne Vien?

  About a month after this, I was on my computer with my friend and chatting with our other friend on AIM. I'm old. We were on AIM too.

• 8:25Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  We did that too, yeah.

• 8:26Corinne Vien?

  Oh, like, I'll never forget the sound of like, the door swinging open when you logged on or logged off. And all of a sudden, the brand new computer we had just bought, because I fried the other one with LimeWire, of course, started typing, "I am a man. I am a layman man. I am from Georgia." Over and over. My friend and I freaked out and we called my mom in and she sees it and she just shuts the computer off in a panic. Later that week, the same friend and I decide to go down and explore the creek as we were terrified of the computer now. And when we get back, no one is in the home.

• 8:59Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  There's no better way to get the kids outside than a ghost typing you on AIM.

• 9:02Corinne Vien?

  On the computer. No one is home. We decide to take some showers, me in my parents' bedroom and her in my bathroom. We know my brother and his friends will be back soon, so we both lock our doors. Fairly soon into my shower, I hear the doorknob jiggle. I yell out that I'll be done in a minute, but the jiggling continues, so I get out, I wrap a towel around me and I open the door, but no one is there. I go to the bathroom and my friend is still in there, the door is still locked and the shower is still running. So I tell myself, I'm just hearing things. So I get back to my shower, but the second that I turn the water back on, an invisible hand slams so hard against the glass shower door that I jump and I run out of the shower. I'm genuinely shocked that the glass did not break from either the ghost or from my panicked exit.

• 9:43Corinne Vien?

  That was the final straw for me. That night, I stood in my bedroom. I summoned up all the good energy that I could muster and I said out loud, "I'm a child of God. You cannot be here. It's scary now, not fun or interesting, and you need to go."

• 9:57Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Hell yeah.

• 9:58Corinne Vien?

  The activity stopped for 10 years, until my mom started to move to a smaller house while my dad was dying from cancer.

• 10:04Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Oh, I'm sorry.

• 10:05Corinne Vien?

  All of the sudden, we were bumping into people that weren't there. We were finding shards of a mysterious mirror in strange places all over again.

• 10:13Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Oh, it's almost like they didn't want you to leave.

• 10:15Corinne Vien?

  I know. Chills. I don't know if people that live there now are experiencing anything. I've been told that the area was once a camp in the 1800s for transient people using the railroad that was once just beyond the creek and maybe that this was the source of the activity. We did find railway ties in the creek bed and brought them home once, but either way, I now most definitely believe in ghosts. So watch your toes and leave the shit you find in the creek in the creek. Thanks, Sarah.

• 10:44Speaker 00

  Low energy, unfocused, foggy, you might be dehydrated. Gatorade Zero powders have been scientifically designed to help improve hydration balance in the body with a clinically proven electrolyte blend and no artificial colors or flavors. Great tasting hydration, no matter where you're going. Shop now online or at retailers nationwide. Gatorade hydrates better than water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist.

• 11:14Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Sarah, I'm curious where Sarah lives, but also it could be just the fact that it used to be a place where transient people like would pass through because the I'm from Georgia. Like, does Sarah live in Georgia? Or was this just a man who was from Georgia who passed through this area? The pieces of the mirror are strange to me. I'm like, I don't understand what that is.

• 11:34Corinne Vien?

  It's so weird.

• 11:35Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah. I wonder if you looked into the mirror, if like you would see the ghost.

• 11:39Corinne Vien?

  Oh, ew. Oh, it's like a scrying mirror that has been shattered because people were too afraid to look in it. And now it's trying to get them to piece it back together. What's the ventriloquist doll from Goosebumps?

• 11:51Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Slappy?

• 11:52Corinne Vien?

  Slappy, yeah. Like, if you take it apart, it's fine, but if you piece it back together, yes.

• 11:57Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  He comes alive.

• 11:58Corinne Vien?

  Yes.

• 11:58Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  One of my ideas, which I never actually pitched to you because I don't think you'd ever be down for it, was to turn this mirror into a scrying mirror, like get like a film.

• 12:07Corinne Vien?

  Yeah.

• 12:08Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Or actually, my original pitch was because when I went to the Salem flea market, they had some scrying mirrors there and they were really cool antiques. And I was like, we could buy one and put one up, but I figured maybe we don't do that. My other pitch was doing like a cool decal, which we-

• 12:23Corinne Vien?

  I think we could still do the cool decal.

• 12:25Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah.

• 12:25Corinne Vien?

  I think I'm not against a scrying mirror so long as it's not actively always open.

• 12:30Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Fair, like you cover it?

• 12:31Corinne Vien?

  Yeah.

• 12:31Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah.

• 12:32Corinne Vien?

  Like, maybe it's not hanging on the wall, but like we could put it away and then when we want to put it out for display, we could do that, too.

• 12:36Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Okay.

• 12:37Corinne Vien?

  You know what would be interesting?

• 12:38Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  What would be interesting? Putting one right up here for people to see?

• 12:42Corinne Vien?

  Like, if people would see different things through a computer by staring at the scrying mirror. Should we test it?

• 12:46Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah.

• 12:47Corinne Vien?

  Should we be like Greg and Dana Newkirk and try to like-

• 12:49Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yes!

• 12:50Corinne Vien?

  -be paranormal researchers and like see and experiment with this one thing?

• 12:54Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Not gonna question it. Just gonna let it happen because I'm shocked you're saying this.

• 12:58Corinne Vien?

  Yes. But then the mirror has to live with you.

• 13:02Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  That's fine. I will take it home. I will, it will be the traveling scrying mirror.

• 13:06Corinne Vien?

  It's allowed field trips here, but it doesn't spend the night.

• 13:09Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Okay.

• 13:10Corinne Vien?

  I actually am agreeing to this one.

• 13:12Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  It's on record.

• 13:13Corinne Vien?

  Not like the picture game where I chickened out.

• 13:15Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  But you did agree to it. Wow. Okay. Well, I'm curious about this house and if the current residents are experiencing things.

• 13:22Corinne Vien?

  It is so strange. And also, just like the typing, I'm so curious, like, when it was typing out on the computer? Was it typing really quickly? Did the words just appear? Or was it like, somebody who's never used a computer before, typing like, one key at a time, like, pressing it?

• 13:35Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Like in the show Ghosts?

• 13:37Corinne Vien?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 13:38Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Okay, so we've heard of Dominic the Donkey. Have you heard of Dominic the Demon?

• 13:43Corinne Vien?

  Mm-mm.

• 13:44Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  You're about to.

• 13:45Corinne Vien?

  Okay.

• 13:46Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  This is a longer one. It's from our listener, Lo, she/her, and it is called Dominic the Demon, Astral Air Travel, and My Mom's Possession Story. Hey, ghoulies, my name is Lo, she/her, and of course, I must start with the obligatory, I love the podcast.

• 14:02Corinne Vien?

  Oh, thanks.

• 14:02Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I'm a longtime listener and a longtime procrastinator, so here are my ghost stories, finally. Thank you both for the many laughs, chills, spooks, and entertainment over the years. I've listened since episode three, and I love watching the podcast grow along with you both. I have quite a few ghostly encounters in my life, but I thought I would send in my longest haunting, a quick astral projection story, and then a bonus, truly terrifying encounter that happened to my parents.

• 14:27Corinne Vien?

  Love it.

• 14:28Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I'll try my best to give you the Cliff Notes version. Did I age myself? No, we use Cliff Notes. Of each of these stories, but as someone who feels details are crucial for setting the scene, this is likely gonna be a long one, so buckle up and hold on to your butts.

• 14:45Corinne Vien?

  I thought you were literally about to grab your butt.

• 14:47Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I'm settling in. I'll probably fidget and move again in this moment, but, okay. This first story is one that truly changed my life. I had lived in Portland, Oregon, for a year after college. And during my time there, I fell into sadly, the darkest depression of my life, and I ended up moving back to Southern California to be closer to my family and get my mental health back on track. At the time, I was working for a company that was entirely remote. This was pre-pandemic, so it was not the norm, but I was very isolated most of my days, which did not do anything to help my mental state. However, shortly after I moved back, the company decided to host our A yearly planning meeting in person at Mission Inn in Riverside, California, which if you haven't researched it yet, this is a must do for the podcast.

• 15:31Corinne Vien?

  Oh, okay.

• 15:32Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I think I have seen this. It's beautiful. I saw this as an opportunity to try and connect with my coworkers and I had high hopes that this would be a step in the right direction towards healing. That being said, I was still very much in the thick of my depression and had a very heavy, sad aura about me, which explains a lot of how the events later unfolded. When I first arrived at the hotel, I was struck by how ornate the building and decor inside was. The place had a definite vibe, though I couldn't exactly put a finger on what it was yet. We'll put pictures in the YouTube video because it is cool to look at and it, I think, paints the picture. I checked in and walked up to my room. As I was walking down the hall, counting room numbers, trying to find mine, I found a door on a corner where my room number should have been that was marked "do not enter."

• 16:17Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I rounded the corner and found the actual door to my room, but it appeared that the corner door had been the room's original entrance.

• 16:23Corinne Vien?

  Oh, ooh.

• 16:26Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  And when I stepped inside the room, I did notice a door to my left had been sealed off.

• 16:31Corinne Vien?

  So spooky, sealed doors. What's, why?

• 16:34Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I figured this was connected to the room's original entrance, which was kind of weird to have a sealed off section in your room, but who knows, perhaps things were in the middle of a remodel process. Later that afternoon, we all met in one of the downstairs rooms to kick off the planning meeting. As we were all gathering, I heard a bunch of conversations being exchanged about other bizarre and unique features in my coworkers' rooms. I wish I could remember more of the descriptions, but the one that stuck out to me was that someone's room had a door that appeared to be a closet, but ended up being a whole second room with a single window that looked into the main room. And inside this room with a single window was only a chair. Nothing else.

• 17:14Corinne Vien?

  So freaky.

• 17:16Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I got the chills and immediately thought of the sealed off door in my room. It makes me think that that door was supposed to be closed and there's like a weird thing where someone sits in there and watches people.

• 17:25Corinne Vien?

  Yeah, ew, that's really gross.

• 17:27Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Doesn't it kind of give you that vibe?

• 17:29Corinne Vien?

  I was thinking like abandoned hospital, you know, where like there's one wheelchair in a room.

• 17:34Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  But it's a hotel.

• 17:35Corinne Vien?

  But yeah, and like, why would there be one chair?

• 17:38Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah. In the midst of all this story swapping about weird rooms, someone mentioned that the hotel was said to be haunted. Of course, my interest was piqued. The company we worked for was based in spiritual work, so many of my coworkers were open to the paranormal. As word got around about the hauntings, one of my coworkers, Blaine, who actually ended up becoming one of my best friends after this experience, started rounding up a group of people who were going to go ghost hunting after the meetings and dinner wrapped that night.

• 18:05Corinne Vien?

  Ooh.

• 18:06Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  In the interest of trying to make friends and of course, my own love of ghost stories, I said I would tag along. We all met in the lobby of the hotel later that night and I suggested we download some of the ghost hunting apps. We downloaded two, an EVP reader and one that was supposed to be able to sense spirits on camera. Both apps were from different developers, so we figured we could easily debunk anything that didn't show up on two apps at the same time. We also knew to take what the apps picked up on with a grain of salt because they were probably made to spook people out.

• 18:37Corinne Vien?

  We approached apps.

• 18:38Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  The same thing.

• 18:39Corinne Vien?

  The same way.

• 18:40Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  And to be fair, like the one that I had originally purchased, which I can't remember what it's called, I feel like was more of a to spook people.

• 18:47Corinne Vien?

  Yeah, because there was also like a filter.

• 18:48Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  A filter of like scary voices.

• 18:50Corinne Vien?

  The ghost tube has proved itself to us. Time and time again.

• 18:54Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah. So we had read about a few of the common areas where people had experienced hauntings in this hotel and we started there. We started with six of us. Three of the members very quickly dropped out because they were spooked by different energies. So at one point in the evening, we found our way into a strained hallway that was very narrow and sloped. At the end of the hall, there were a small set of steps that were roped off and led to a door with a plaque above it that said Aunt Alice. Both of the apps picked up on a spirit nearby when we approached the door. A message, "Change it," came through the EVP reader on my phone. We said hello and asked the spirit their name. And shortly after, the word "aunt" came through.

• 19:34Corinne Vien?

  Huh.

• 19:35Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  We were pretty sure it was Alice we were speaking to. Turns out Alice Miller was one of the inn's owner's sisters, and this door was to her room. We asked a few questions, feeling comfortable with the spirit as the presence felt friendly. As we turned to leave, one of the apps said, "Stay," as if she wanted us to stay with her. We told her politely that we would be back to visit, but set the boundary that we did not want to be followed.

• 19:57Corinne Vien?

  That's good.

• 19:58Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  This sounds like what we do in hotels.

• 20:00Corinne Vien?

  Yes.

• 20:00Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I love this so much. In the rush of this encounter, we started to get more daring. When a question was posed if we should scan one of our rooms to see if it was haunted, I offered mine.

• 20:11Corinne Vien?

  No.

• 20:14Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Especially because of my curiosity about the sealed door. Big mistake.

• 20:19Corinne Vien?

  Oh, God. This also feels like something that we would do, and by we, I mean you. And we'd be sharing a room, and I'd be absolutely panicking.

• 20:26Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yes. When we got into my room, immediately the video app said the word "demon."

• 20:33Corinne Vien?

  Fuck. Change rooms.

• 20:36Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I rolled my eyes.

• 20:37Corinne Vien?

  Hotel reception, there's a demon in my room. I need a new one.

• 20:40Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I need a new one. I rolled my eyes, assuming this was one of the ways the app was designed to scare us. And shortly after the video app had notified us of this presence, the EVP app on my phone started registering a bunch of words. Nightmare, near death. I asked if the spirit needed help, and the word "doctor" came through. I figured this was a lost and confused spirit stuck in a memory about its death, and I asked if the spirit realized it had moved to the other side. And the word "memories" came through the EVP. I then asked its name, and the word "Dominic" came through. After Dominic revealed his name, we tried asking a few questions, but the presence started to feel angrier, and then it stopped communicating with us altogether. So we decided it was time to wrap things up.

• 21:25Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  All of us were feeling a little uneasy, and the two other girls asked if I wanted to come sleep in one of their rooms, which is so nice.

• 21:31Corinne Vien?

  That is really nice.

• 21:32Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  But with my social anxiety and the near desperate desire for friends, and especially to seem chill, I said, "No, no, no, I'll be fine." And that I would just tell the demon to leave me alone. They did give me their room numbers in case I changed my mind, but I waved it off and we parted ways.

• 21:49Speaker 00

  Low energy, unfocused, foggy? You might be dehydrated. Gatorade Zero powders have been scientifically designed to help improve hydration balance in the body. With a clinically proven electrolyte blend and no artificial colors or flavors. Great tasting hydration, no matter where you're going. Shop now online or at retailers nationwide. Gatorade: Hydrates Better Than Water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist.

• 22:19Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I had a very hard time falling asleep that night, feeling like a dark presence was hovering around the end of my bed, just watching me. I kept repeating in my head, "Leave me alone. It's not real, you're just freaking out. Leave me alone. It's not real, you're just freaking yourself out." After several hours of trying to fall asleep, I finally started praying. Now, I'm not religious and I didn't exactly pray to a god, but instead prayed to my late Nana. This is actually what I do.

• 22:44Corinne Vien?

  Really?

• 22:44Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah.

• 22:44Corinne Vien?

  Oh, I love that.

• 22:46Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  She was a devout Catholic and I figured if anyone knew how to square up with a demon, it would be her. After a few minutes of praying, I did feel a bubble of light energy around me. And after a few moments, I finally was able to fall asleep. I awoke the next morning exhausted, but the room felt pretty neutral. Like any of the angry energy I had been feeling in the room the night before had simply left. So I got ready for the day of meetings. I left my room feeling tired and sad, but that wasn't uncommon for me during this time. At the time, I had a pet rabbit named Darla, who had such a big personality and I love that little bunny so much.

• 23:20Corinne Vien?

  Darla.

• 23:21Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  However, as I was depressed, I was having a hard time giving her the care that she needed. So a few weeks prior, I had posted on a few Facebook groups about needing to re-home her, which was a very, very hard decision to make. But ultimately, I knew it was selfish of me to try and hold on to her when I knew I could hardly take care of her, let alone hardly get myself out of bed in the morning.

• 23:42Corinne Vien?

  Oh, that's a very respectable choice.

• 23:44Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  It is. During one of the meetings that morning, my mom texted me and said that someone had responded to the post and wanted to pick Darla up that day. They had experience with rabbits and seemed like a very nice couple. My mom wasn't sure if I wanted to be there to say goodbye, but I responded that it probably would be too hard for me to be there, so it was okay for them to pick her up while I was gone. After sending this text, I was overwhelmed with emotion, of course, and immediately got up and left in the middle of the meeting. I texted my boss to let him know that I needed to step out for a few minutes for a personal matter and then rushed up to my room sobbing. I cried for a little while, utterly devastated and unsure if I was making the right decision, wishing desperately that I could explain to Darla what was going on. I got up to go to the bathroom and grab some tissue and I noticed my face in the mirror. Now granted, faces get a little bit more swollen when crying,

• 24:29Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  but I truly didn't recognize myself. I was disturbed by the fact that when I looked into my eyes in the mirror, I didn't recognize the face looking back.

• 24:38Corinne Vien?

  Oh.

• 24:38Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I even took a few photos to later analyze to see if I could discover why I looked so different. This shook me enough that it distracted me from my emotional state and I was able to pull it together, clean up my makeup, and head back to the meetings for the rest of the day. Of course, the rest of the day, the news of Darla being rehomed was hovering over me like a dark cloud. But I also couldn't shake the feeling that I was a stranger in my own body.

• 24:59Corinne Vien?

  I don't like this. It's like your secondary consciousness and something else is sharing your body with you.

• 25:06Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Right, because it's almost like the feeling of not recognizing herself was more the spirit within her.

• 25:12Corinne Vien?

  Right.

• 25:12Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Giving her that thought. The rest of the time at the hotel was relatively uneventful, but I was consistently trying to fight off a deep sadness. Again, this not being out of the norm because I was struggling with depression, but this felt darker than usual. I tried to ignore it. I threw myself into the work events to distract myself and get through the week. Once I was back home, more crazy stuff started happening. I would feel someone standing in the corner of my room at night, watching me. But when I would get brave enough to look, there would be no one there. Things kept getting misplaced and then reappearing in weird places. A Jasper crystal that I had kept on me often was on my bedside table and then went missing, only for me to find it weeks later, set on top of a load of clean laundry I had just finished.

• 25:52Corinne Vien?

  Ew, it's almost like there's more than one spirit at play here, right? Like maybe something is trying to take over a little bit and then someone else is coming in to try to protect, like here's your crystal back.

• 26:04Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Oh, hopefully, or. Well, my bad idea was that the demon is moving it and then just like putting it back when it's too late, you know? Kind of, or trying to make her feel crazy.

• 26:15Corinne Vien?

  Yes.

• 26:16Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  One time I went to look for a spice in the kitchen, pulled everything out of the cabinet, could not find it. Closed the cabinet, opened it again a few minutes later, and it was literally sitting in the front and center of the shelf. Once a container of coffee was thrown off of our kitchen counter while I was home alone. Later, the screen door to our backyard would slide open by itself. Dominic didn't feel evil per se, but it definitely felt like creating chaos and fear.

• 26:41Corinne Vien?

  Well, that's kind of the beginning. Like, that's the start of something that you may one day call a demon.

• 26:50Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  You may one day.

• 26:51Corinne Vien?

  For me? You may one.

• 26:52Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Me specifically, or people listening?

• 26:54Corinne Vien?

  Just people listening. Like, it starts as like, oh, haunting activity, and then it starts to escalate.

• 26:59Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Gotcha. Like, eventually you do acknowledge to be a demon?

• 27:03Corinne Vien?

  Yes.

• 27:03Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Okay. He would either do things that would aggravate me or try to send shivers up my spine. While it was effective in those moments, my energy was also so low that I basically just accepted this attachment and didn't do much to rid it of myself, which is probably why he latched on in the first place. Then, about a month later, I went out to visit my cousin in Utah for the New Year, and we decided to make New Year's Eve a little bit more fun, and I brought some special mushrooms for us to try.

• 27:29Corinne Vien?

  Oh, interesting.

• 27:30Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  We set up her collection of crystals and stones on a table in her living room that we thought would look cool for us to look at throughout the evening, and didn't even consider that this would essentially create an altar and supercharge any spirit's energy big time.

• 27:44Corinne Vien?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 27:45Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  As we were prepping.

• 27:46Corinne Vien?

  Like, the ideas are within, but the understanding of repercussions.

• 27:50Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I know. Because also, there could be a potential that these crystals serve as a protective altar.

• 27:55Corinne Vien?

  Yeah.

• 27:56Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Doesn't sound like that's what happened.

• 27:57Corinne Vien?

  No.

• 27:57Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  As we were prepping to eat the slices of pizza with our little treats on them, we were standing in her kitchen pouring champagne when all of a sudden I looked up and saw a man, tall, dark-haired man, standing behind my cousin. Before I could even react, my cousin started screaming, which set me off, and we both ran screaming into her living room. I asked her panicked what she was screaming about, and she said that she felt someone behind her pull on her sweater hard, as if they were trying to pull her backwards.

• 28:27Corinne Vien?

  Oh, God.

• 28:28Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I immediately dashed back into the kitchen, fully expecting to see someone real there. Turns out, I'd be the one to die in a horror movie. Never thought I would be the one who ran towards danger. But-

• 28:39Corinne Vien?

  Sometimes it's scary. You just run in circles. You don't know. You Scooby-Doo run where you're running, but you're never actually moving.

• 28:44Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  But as we expect, no one is there in the kitchen. I searched the rest of the apartment and saw no evidence of anyone else being there. We were both so spooked, but decided to try and calm down and enjoy the rest of the evening. My cousin was fully aware of my Dominic attachment, and we joked that he was a trickster and wanted to spook us and get an energy burst when all of that crystal energy was there to feed off of. The rest of the evening was uneventful. We enjoyed our trip, and the rest of my visit was much less haunted. I'm glad because, given that experience, it could have been so much worse.

• 29:15Corinne Vien?

  Yes.

• 29:15Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Especially knowing that you're in a less conscious state.

• 29:20Corinne Vien?

  Right.

• 29:21Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  However, that experience made it much more real to me. I felt a little unsettled the rest of my visit, and when I was on my drive back home, I decided that I needed to get myself back on track and release this negative energy that was surrounding me. So when I got home, I took the day to do a full cleansing ritual. First, myself, then I tackled the house. And I noticed when I was doing the sound slash smoke cleanse, there was a very strange-looking bug by our front door. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before, so I jokingly started calling the bug Dominic. And I let him know that he would be leaving soon. Unlike any other bugs I'd ever encountered, it literally stayed there and it stayed still when I was walking around it, stepping over it and near it, to the point where I was like, maybe it's dead.

• 30:05Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Once I made it through the entire house, I sat down on the living room couch, exhausted from the hours-long process of getting smoke into every corner I could. And after a moment, I looked back over to the bug, still sitting in the same spot, and jokingly said, "Are you ready to go yet, Dominic?" And it moved.

• 30:20Corinne Vien?

  Stop!

• 30:21Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I stood up, and being someone who never kills bugs, but catches and releases them, I bent down, trying to scoop it up in my hands, only discovered that the thing had wings.

• 30:32Corinne Vien?

  Oh, no.

• 30:33Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  It flew up in a circle around me, and I gently tried to guide it out the front door, saying something like, "Go back to where you came from."

• 30:39Corinne Vien?

  Oh, gosh.

• 30:40Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  But what happened next is a feeling I was never able to quite describe until I heard another one of your listeners' stories in an Encounters episode. She was describing, telling a dark, veiled spirit to leave her alone, and then described the spirit's departure like a layer of skin being removed from her body. That was exactly what it felt like when this bug flew up into the sky.

• 31:02Corinne Vien?

  Ew.

• 31:03Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  The further away it got, the lighter I felt, which was truly an unforgettable feeling, and in that moment, it empowered me. I realized that I got to take control of my life and could rid myself of all the darkness I felt was around me.

• 31:15Corinne Vien?

  I'm glad that it's such a positive feeling, because the description of it reminds me a little bit of, like, the Tokolosh, like, a skin suit, like, just everything, just kind of, like, creaking and falling off of you. I'm picturing the shedding in kind of a disturbing way.

• 31:27Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yes, but it's shedding in a positive way. It's shedding something that didn't belong to you in the first place.

• 31:33Corinne Vien?

  Right. You feel lighter and brighter.

• 31:35Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Why don't I feel like that should be like a makeup motto?

• 31:37Corinne Vien?

  Shed your skin suit.

• 31:38Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Lighter and brighter.

• 31:39Corinne Vien?

  Oh. Feel lighter and brighter. Shed your skin suit with hyaluronic acid, sponsored by Two Girls and Co.

• 31:47Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  With some, what's it called? The R-word?

• 31:49Corinne Vien?

  Retinol?

• 31:50Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Retinol.

• 31:54Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I didn't mean like that. I just didn't know what I couldn't think of retinol. I just knew it started with an R.

• 32:01Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  All good.

• 32:02Corinne Vien?

  Retinol.

• 32:03Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  You know what I meant and you said it. Thank you.

• 32:05Corinne Vien?

  Retinol, retne.

• 32:09Speaker 00

  Low energy, unfocused, foggy, you might be dehydrated. Gatorade Zero powders have been scientifically designed to help improve hydration balance in the body. With a clinically proven electrolyte blend and no artificial colors or flavors. Great tasting hydration, no matter where you're going. Shop now online or at retailers nationwide. Gatorade hydrates better than water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist.

• 32:39Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  So I knew that I could shed the darkness and I could be the one to save myself rather than waiting for someone else to do it. And while on some level, I always knew this, the act of having to come up against a demon to do the exhausting work myself to remove it, proved it to be true. Interestingly, in the story from that encounters episode, if I remember correctly, that dark veiled spirit, though it seemed dark and scary, was actually a manifestation of a guardian. Looking back and having that similar sensation I experienced when he departed, makes me think that perhaps Dominic attached to me not to feed off of my negative energy, but instead to teach me that very lesson that I was in control of my life.

• 33:18Corinne Vien?

  Wow, I love this spin on it.

• 33:20Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I know, I like that.

• 33:20Corinne Vien?

  Yeah.

• 33:21Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I mean, it's interesting because when we talk about demons, there is an element of some cultures speak about demons not as negative entities that possess people in the way that we in Western society and culture do talk about it, but in a hard part of your life, like almost shadow work. Things that you have to face and overcome that are really, really difficult and trying, but teach you great lessons.

• 33:48Corinne Vien?

  Well, and too, like there's, I feel like we fall back on this one listener email that we received years ago, where there was that negative emotion eating demon that helped someone significantly.

• 34:00Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Fun side story about Aunt Alice. We went back to the mission in the next year for the same planning meeting. And one night, me and the same girls that had gone on our ghost exploration the year previous, a few more friends, one a powerful medium who is clearly able to see ghosts, were in our room laughing, drinking, and hanging out, when at one point, we could tell the medium friend was getting uncomfortable. She suddenly interjected and she said, "I'm sorry, but the lady sitting in the chair over there really wants Blaine to know that she likes your purse."

• 34:28Corinne Vien?

  Just, she's literally, "Won't leave me alone. She has to pay this compliment."

• 34:33Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  We laughed and told her thank you. Apparently, the woman had been shouting at the medium over all of our laughter, insisting that she tell Blaine.

• 34:40Corinne Vien?

  Just aggressive compliments from the spirit world.

• 34:43Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  And the spirit's like clearly sitting in the room with all these girls, like having a good time, you know?

• 34:48Corinne Vien?

  Wants to be part of it.

• 34:49Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Later in the week, in one of our meeting rooms, we found a stained glass window of a portrait of this woman, Aunt Alice, and it had the words, "In remembrance of a lover of friends, Alice Miller Richardson by countless friends beloved." We were so excited and realized that it was probably Alice in the room with us lusting after the purse, and Alice who remembered us from the year prior, when we told her we would come back to visit. Because that story ended well, and we have a happy Aunt Alice, I'm gonna read the other two stories, especially because one is about a possession, on our Patreon bonus.

• 35:21Corinne Vien?

  Encounters episode.

• 35:22Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Which it comes out in December.

• 35:23Corinne Vien?

  Well, if you didn't know, on Patreon, we do have, every single month, we have an additional, full-length episode. So we alternate between encounters and regular research episodes. Great fun. Great fun.

• 35:34Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Great fun. And we'll read the rest of those two stories on one of those encounters in December.

• 35:39Corinne Vien?

  Perfect. I'm glad that Lo gave their perspective and their understanding of what happened, because there's no one that can understand what happened to you better than you yourself, when it comes to the haunting.

• 35:49Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Right.

• 35:50Corinne Vien?

  But I don't know if I would have assigned this sort of lightness to the story, and I'm glad that they did.

• 35:57Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah, I mean, it's interesting because it's like the first word that came through when they went into the room was demonic, demon, demonic, you know, so it's like, it feels weird for Dominic to like self assign demon and then not be a demon, but was, but or

• 36:14Corinne Vien?

  Is it just our understanding of demons?

• 36:15Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Or was there a demon and then Dominic came through and pushed the demon away and was like, hey, so the, just so the demon didn't take over you, I'm gonna go home with you.

• 36:24Corinne Vien?

  Or was Dominic trying to tell a joke and it just didn't land?

• 36:28Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Maybe.

• 36:29Corinne Vien?

  You know?

• 36:29Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Because like if I were a ghost and a bunch of people walked into my room, I'd be like, demon!

• 36:35Corinne Vien?

  Demon!

• 36:37Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah.

• 36:37Corinne Vien?

  And people are actually freaking out and you're like, oh shit.

• 36:39Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  No, I'd be like, yes, my job here has been done.

• 36:45Corinne Vien?

  Maybe that's how demons are created.

• 36:48Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  By pretending to be one?

• 36:49Corinne Vien?

  Yeah. Maybe that's like the curse of the afterworld.

• 36:52Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Listen, I would love to be a demon. I think that would be so fun. I really would. I think it'd be a great, great time.

• 37:00Corinne Vien?

  Okay.

• 37:01Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I'd rather be a demon than live in hell.

• 37:03Corinne Vien?

  Well, but where do they go to sleep at night?

• 37:06Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  No, but I, okay, I mean, like be like a spirit that just goes to hell. Like I'd rather be a demon.

• 37:12Corinne Vien?

  I thought you were like, oh, if I get to work as a demon, I don't have to go to hell. And I was like, well, I think maybe you do.

• 37:17Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  No, I would, but then like at least I get the perks of being a demon.

• 37:21Corinne Vien?

  Yeah.

• 37:21Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah.

• 37:22Corinne Vien?

  Yeah, they give you like a lunch card and you get to do that. Yeah, you get your 401.

• 37:26Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Hell care.

• 37:29Corinne Vien?

  Hell care. Yeah, it makes sense.

• 37:33Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yes.

• 37:33Corinne Vien?

  Oh, but performance reviews, ew. Hate those.

• 37:37Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  No, they have those like every day because it's hell.

• 37:42Corinne Vien?

  Oh, man, as someone who worked in HR, that would actually be my.

• 37:46Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I've never had a performance review.

• 37:48Corinne Vien?

  I had one. Well, my, my hell is mostly like, I'm usually on the other side of it where like I'm going through everybody's performance reviews. I'm teaching managers how to give up. Like, oh my God, so annoying.

• 38:00Corinne Vien?

  Anywho, I don't work-

• 38:00Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Well, guess what? You don't have to do that anymore.

• 38:04Corinne Vien?

  Okay, this is called, "Was I Possessed By My Guardian Angel?" Interesting.

• 38:10Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Okay.

• 38:11Corinne Vien?

  Feels...

• 38:12Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  We've got a theme.

• 38:13Corinne Vien?

  Yeah, yeah. "Hello, you beautiful ghostesses. I started listening to your podcast a pre-game for Halloween, and I haven't stopped since. You guys are the perfect mix of creepy and feel-good vibes, which is a great palate cleanser from my typical chain-smoking of brutal and terrifying murder. Weird demons are a palate cleanser."

• 38:31Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Who knew? Which we, you got a little bit of both in this episode.

• 38:34Corinne Vien?

  Yeah, you do.

• 38:35Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah.

• 38:36Corinne Vien?

  "Anywho, I have an experience I wanted to send in to both share and get y'alls ghostly opinions. I will try and make this as short as possible while still including relevant details. So, when I was five years old, my mother and I had fallen asleep in my parents' bedroom. They had a waterbed, late 90s staple, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever, so I took every opportunity to sleep in there. As we drifted off by peaceful, serene candlelight, exposed wax candles on a wooden bed frame, our peaceful slumber turned to panic and chaos real quick. Before I continue, you know the phenomenon where recounting a story by multiple witnesses will never be the same? I think it's called misinformation effect or memory bias. Well, this is the perfect example, because one sibling thought the one asleep with my mother

• 39:19Corinne Vien?

  was my younger brother, who was literally a baby in the crib at this point. Another thought it was my dad, who had fallen asleep watching TV on the couch, also a late 90s staple."

• 39:27Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I just misinterpreted that last sentence, and I thought it was one of us thought it was my baby brother sleeping with my mom, and the other one thought it was my dad sleeping with my mom. Like, that's what I interpreted it as.

• 39:37Corinne Vien?

  Wait, what is it? What is it? That's how I interpreted it, too.

• 39:39Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Someone thought it was death.

• 39:40Corinne Vien?

  Okay, wait, let's re-read.

• 39:41Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Okay.

• 39:42Corinne Vien?

  Fall back. "One sibling thought the one asleep with my mother was my younger brother, who was literally a baby in the crib at this point. Another thought it was my dad." Yeah, so you interpreted it right.

• 39:52Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Oh, okay, so, so our listener is saying the sentences while also saying where they actually were.

• 39:57Corinne Vien?

  Yes.

• 39:58Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Okay.

• 39:58Corinne Vien?

  Yes.

• 39:59Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Got it.

• 39:59Corinne Vien?

  So they were with their mom, but all the other siblings were like, "No, it was the baby you experienced. No, it was dad."

• 40:04Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Okay, okay. I feel like we just did a math problem.

• 40:05Corinne Vien?

  Yes, I know. "My siblings and my mother have revisited this night to try to get the clearest version of what happened, and since as a five-year-old, memories can be clearly a little bit spotty, I will give you my best recounting of this wild and confusing night."

• 40:20Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Okay.

• 40:21Corinne Vien?

  "I had woken up to a glowing, yellow-orange light above my head." Ooh, how pretty was my initial thought.

• 40:28Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Alien.

• 40:29Corinne Vien?

  Aliens. I remember that claw.

• 40:34Corinne Vien?

  I remember feeling warmth around my head and the smell of burnt hair, a smell that will forever remind me of this night. I vaguely remember my mother panicking and running out of the room, carrying pillows set aflame. She had grabbed the pillows barehanded and ran them into the hallway towards the front door and threw them outside into the snow.

• 40:51Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Wait, it was a fire?

• 40:52Corinne Vien?

  Yeah, because they had the candles going too, remember?

• 40:55Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Holy shit.

• 40:56Corinne Vien?

  There were charred marks on the carpet down this hallway from pieces of the pillowcase that had fallen out of my mother's grip, and she had burns on her hands, but luckily nothing too severe. The thing was, in her panic, she had forgotten a pillow in the room, the one under my head.

• 41:11Corinne Vien?

  Now, this is where the story takes a turn. My memory jumps from the panic of my mother to being in the bathroom, down the intersecting hallway, just standing there staring at the bathtub that now had a charred pillow in it. This is where my mother found me, still amidst the commotion. My soft, still baby-like hands had no burns on them, nor did the hallway that was a longer stretch than the route that my mother took to the front door. There is a gap in my memory here. I'm in the room, then I'm not, and I'm unscathed, mind you. Both of my sisters had not left their rooms, and my dad was woken up by my mom opening the front door. So did my five-year-old brain kick into preservation mode and carry this pillow to the bathroom where I knew it could be doused and I blocked this traumatic

• 41:55Corinne Vien?

  occurrence from my memory?

• 41:57Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  While also maintaining or getting no damage and sc- like scarring or?

• 42:03Corinne Vien?

  Not dropping a single ember onto the carpet.

• 42:06Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Or on themselves, carrying a fire-ablazed pillow and not being harmed by it?

• 42:11Corinne Vien?

  And closing the distance between them and the bathroom in less time than it took

• 42:16Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah.

• 42:16Corinne Vien?

  a grown adult.

• 42:17Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Glad we're on the same page, all of us here.

• 42:19Corinne Vien?

  Yes, you're with us, right?

• 42:20Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah.

• 42:24Speaker 00

  Low energy, unfocused, foggy, you might be dehydrated. Gatorade Zero powders have been scientifically designed to help improve hydration balance in the body. With a clinically proven electrolyte blend and no artificial colors or flavors. Great tasting hydration, no matter where you're going. Shop now online or at retailers nationwide. Gatorade, hydrates better than water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist.

• 42:54Corinne Vien?

  My mother thinks that it was her mom who'd passed away when she was 13, her guardian angel stepping in. So naturally, as a child, I'm picturing this pillow floating down the hallway, being garried by a ghost. But revisiting this as an adult, however, I don't see any other explanation besides me carrying that pillow. What do you mean? Yeah, what else is that? It's the ghost. Yeah. And now, after listening to other stories on your podcast, I'm a little more inclined to believe that I was potentially guided, or maybe I was taken over, possessed wouldn't be the right word, if they're helping you, I suppose, by someone on the other side protecting their grandbaby. It is possible I acted alone. However, I choose to believe that I had some assistance that night.

• 43:37Corinne Vien?

  My hair wasn't fringed, and like I said, I had no burn marks anywhere on my body. Since that night, I haven't really experienced anything paranormal, if that's even what that is. It is something I would like to tap into, and any tips for someone who isn't as sensitive to spirits or the paranormal would be appreciated. I've since lost my father and am occasionally visited by him in dreams. Oh. Not as much as I would like to be. I get very sad when I wake up and I realize that those moments slipped away, and who knows when I'll get to see him again. Oh. However, always happy that he's not gone from my memory. Well, thank you for reading my story. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Keep up the spooky and occasionally uplifting tales.

• 44:16Corinne Vien?

  See you on the other side, Cassidy.

• 44:19Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Well, Cassidy, I'm sorry for your loss. I do think it sounds like you are semi in tune with the paranormal, especially because you are having these dreams with your father. And clearly, there's some type of protective energy around you. I have another pitch to add to the list of possibilities that Cassidy pitched to us, pitched to us specifically.

• 44:40Corinne Vien?

  Yes, yeah. She called and said, hey, I got a pitch for you.

• 44:42Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah, here's what I'm thinking.

• 44:44Corinne Vien?

  Hear me out.

• 44:44Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Well, okay, Cassidy, here's what I'm thinking. What if, not necessarily being possessed by a guardian, but what if a guardian spirit did show up, took the pillow to the bathroom, and Cassidy, as a child, like, followed?

• 44:57Corinne Vien?

  Oh, yeah.

• 44:58Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  You know, especially because there was no injury.

• 45:02Corinne Vien?

  That makes sense. It's just, I'm hung up on the detail that Cassidy said, where the amount of time it would have taken for Cassidy to move from the bedroom into the bathroom should have taken longer than it was for her mom to.

• 45:15Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Right. But she lost time. We don't even know. Like, it's like a weird jump in time.

• 45:20Corinne Vien?

  And it's also weird to think that, like, she could just dematerialize and re-materialize in the bathroom.

• 45:26Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  It is strange.

• 45:26Corinne Vien?

  But also, the chaos of the moment, maybe that did happen, and they thought that less time had gone by than what had actually happened. Oh, also, Cassidy asked for advice for tapping in.

• 45:36Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I, me too.

• 45:38Corinne Vien?

  Join our Discord is, I guess, our advice, because there are some people that really psychically have opened themselves up, people who understand how to connect a bit more. I think the only thing that I can think of is like, kind of like what you were doing. Like, you actively go out and set intentions and boundaries, but open yourselves up, open yourself up and like.

• 45:59Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  My multiple selves.

• 46:00Corinne Vien?

  Whole versions of you. Like, you actively speak out loud and, and request.

• 46:05Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah, and I think.

• 46:06Corinne Vien?

  You open the channel and say, like, I'm, I'm ready.

• 46:08Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  And doing what feels right to you. And I mean, that's something that we learned from Phyo De De Parma. They had recommended just start practicing.

• 46:16Corinne Vien?

  Yeah.

• 46:16Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  In, in the way that feels right to you. And I feel like exploring oracle cards or tarot cards was one way that I'm doing that. But then a lot of it is, you know, sitting down and doing the intention of communicating to my guardians and spirits.

• 46:30Corinne Vien?

  Right.

• 46:31Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  And I'm still learning. I don't, I don't, I don't think I'm psychically in tune yet.

• 46:34Corinne Vien?

  I don't know. Your aura says that you're about to pop off.

• 46:38Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Lock it, drop it.

• 46:39Corinne Vien?

  It's a future you can see.

• 46:41Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  You really want me to be that so, Raven?

• 46:43Corinne Vien?

  I do.

• 46:44Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Okay, well, I'm gonna end with something we did by accident.

• 46:47Corinne Vien?

  Okay.

• 46:47Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  We haunted one of our listeners.

• 46:49Corinne Vien?

  Oh, sorry, but not.

• 46:50Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah. It's from our listener Jill, and it's called Weird Stuff Happening After Listening to Smurl Part One.

• 46:56Corinne Vien?

  Okay.

• 46:56Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  And at this point, when we're recording, Smurl Part Two hasn't even come out yet to the public.

• 47:00Corinne Vien?

  Oh.

• 47:01Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  So, stay tuned. Hi there, I'm a somewhat newish listener within the last six months, and now you're pretty much on my daily routine. I grew up in a haunted house and consider myself open and sensitive to paranormal experiences. That being said, I've never experienced anything after listening to a podcast. I know from what you've both shared that you have experienced things while recording, and even when you recorded Part One of the Smurl Family Possession.

• 47:23Corinne Vien?

  Yeah.

• 47:24Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  It was released today, 10/21, when I'm sending this email, and I listened to it this morning on my earbuds as I got my kids ready for school and started getting some stuff done around the house. A lot of things went wrong today. On their own, I wouldn't think of anything, but cumulatively, cumulatively?

• 47:41Corinne Vien?

  Cumulatively.

• 47:42Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Cumulat- cum-.

• 47:46Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  But all together and coinciding.

• 47:49Corinne Vien?

  Thesaurus.

• 47:51Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  And coinciding with the energy of the story of the Smurl case, I'm a bit perplexed. First, the battery on my key fob went out, which has been working fine and usually works within close proximity of the car, but this morning, it was just dead.

• 48:02Corinne Vien?

  Hmm.

• 48:03Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Then, while vacuuming my floors, listening to the podcast, my vacuum started surging and decreasing in power, then surging again. Never done this.

• 48:11Corinne Vien?

  It's ghost busting.

• 48:12Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Then, we had one of those tacky Halloween yard inflatables, yay kids! And again, it's been working fine for the years that we've had it, and I went to plug it in and turn it on, and it's just dead.

• 48:22Corinne Vien?

  Oh.

• 48:23Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  No issue with the breakers or the outlet. Finally, this evening, I went to go clean up after dinner and after putting the kids to bed. The kitchen lights, the dining area light and fan, the playroom fan and light, all started flickering and surging. Again, we've never had any electrical issues in this house, ever.

• 48:40Corinne Vien?

  It's odd that all these things are all happening.

• 48:42Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  On the same day as Jill's listening to this episode. I immediately thought of the Smurl podcast and can't help but wonder if there's some energy or anything related to that. It makes me nervous, get a little bit excited to listen to Part Two. Stay safe and weird, and happy Halloween, Jill.

• 48:59Corinne Vien?

  Wow.

• 49:01Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Sorry, Jill.

• 49:02Corinne Vien?

  Sorry, but but also I feel like that was bound to happen to a lot of people.

• 49:07Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah.

• 49:07Corinne Vien?

  I mean, like, because we were experiencing things ourselves.

• 49:09Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah.

• 49:10Corinne Vien?

  And I feel like what Jill is experiencing, yes, it definitely is like paranormal activity. But I'm glad that, based on the topic of possession, and you'll find out like how, well, Smurl, it's already out by the time this comes out.

• 49:23Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah.

• 49:23Corinne Vien?

  But like, basically, they never really solve the problem.

• 49:27Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Well, they did, they did, they were able to not experience it again, but there was no like real rhyme or reason.

• 49:34Corinne Vien?

  But it's not like the demon was like put away and vanished.

• 49:37Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Right.

• 49:38Corinne Vien?

  It was just they moved. So I'm glad, based on all the things that could happen and could be summoned, that these are some of the experiences that Jill's having.

• 49:47Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah.

• 49:48Corinne Vien?

  But it's a lot.

• 49:49Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  And it's also concerning because it's very similar to the beginnings of that possession slash haunting that the family experienced. Okay, here's one thing that I'm taking away because our listener, Eric, shout out to you, Eric, who is also like always on Campfire Stories and whatnot and on the Discord.

• 50:07Corinne Vien?

  Moderates our Facebook group.

• 50:08Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Eric found an EVP in that episode, and it sounds like the father of the Smurl family.

• 50:14Corinne Vien?

  Jack.

• 50:15Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah.

• 50:16Corinne Vien?

  Yeah, I need to listen to that because when he was playing it on Campfire Stories, you had it on your computer and you were pressing play.

• 50:21Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  We can put it in here.

• 50:23Corinne Vien?

  Yeah. The Smurls were like, phew, the Warrens came and saved the day. And the Warrens were like, we've been here for a few hours.

• 50:31Speaker 04

  Yep, Dawn, daughter's Dawn, Heather, Shannon, Karen, our twins.

• 50:39Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  And it's super brief. And if anything, like, I don't hear it saying a word, but it sounds like a gruff male, like, grunt or something.

• 50:49Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah, so maybe Jack is visiting everyone.

• 50:51Corinne Vien?

  I mean, we've recorded that in front of my fireplace in the living room, too. Like, there was nobody.

• 50:55Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Right.

• 50:56Corinne Vien?

  We were in the center of my house.

• 50:58Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yeah.

• 50:59Corinne Vien?

  It's not like we were near a window or something and someone randomly hopped on my property and grunted by the window.

• 51:05Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Popped into the fireplace and was like.

• 51:08Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Santa, was it Santa?

• 51:10Corinne Vien?

  Santa.

• 51:11Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I don't know why.

• 51:11Corinne Vien?

  Oh, Santa. Santa Claus.

• 51:13Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Anyway.

• 51:14Corinne Vien?

  For the Christmas, poppin' in.

• 51:16Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  I mean, it's almost Christmas. But anyway, if any of you had experienced anything while listening to the Smirral Possession two-parter, please email us. Or if you've had any paranormal encounters whatsoever, please email us at [email protected].

• 51:31Corinne Vien?

  You can create an interview on iTunes, tell everyone about us. That certainly helps. If you're looking for sponsor codes, you can check out our show notes, check out our website. We've got merch also on our website, social media, all the things.

• 51:43Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Patreon, if you want ad-free and one-week early episodes. And bonus content and Campfire Stories every Tuesday.

• 51:50Corinne Vien?

  Mm-hmm. And we've got an awesome community over on Patreon, also on Discord.

• 51:54Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yep.

• 51:54Corinne Vien?

  And shout out to Jamie, who edits our audio and video.

• 51:57Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Yep.

• 51:58Corinne Vien?

  Thank you, Jamie.

• 51:58Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  Thank you. We love you all so very much.

• 52:01Corinne Vien?

  And we will.

• 52:02Sabrina Deana-Roga?

  See you on the other side.

• 52:09Speaker 01

  Very spooky.

• 52:12Speaker 01

  When everything feels non-stop, movement becomes the pause. So give Lululemon this holiday season. Smooth, seamless running gear builds momentum through every mile. Targeted support adds steadiness to every pulse and hold.

• 52:30Speaker 01

  And dynamic stretch expands presence through every pose.

• 52:37Speaker 01

  Give the feeling. Shop in-store and on lululemon.com.