114. Ghosts on the Appalachian Trail, Creature Encounters in The Backwoods, and more Listener Stories

A man sees someone who might not exist on the Appalachian Trail. Someone is lead into the forrest by strange lights, and one woman smells something decomposing coming from a closet on her campus… These are Listener Stories, sent in from you guys. Show Notes: https://www.heartstartspounding.com/episodes/appalachiantrail Get stickers! https://shop.heartstartspounding.com/ Subscribe on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/heartstartspoundingfor bonus content and to become a member of our Rogue Detecting Society. Patrons have access to bonus content as well as other perks. And members of our High Council on Patreon have access to our after-show called Footnotes, where I share my case file with our producer, Matt. Apple subscriptions are now live! Get access to bonus episodes and more when you subscribe on Apple Podcasts. Follow on Tik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@heartstartspounding?lang=enand Instagram https://www.instagram.com/heartstartspounding/ for a daily dose of horror.

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

• 0:00Kaelyn Moore?

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• 0:44Kaelyn Moore?

  built on a reputation for quality and reliability. So when it's time for your next Toyota, you could trade in for more. From a great deal today to a great value tomorrow, a Toyota is right for you. Shop toyota.com for deals and details, or stop by your local Toyota dealer today. Toyota, let's go places. This episode is brought to you by Bigelow Tea. By now, you should all know that I'm obviously a very curious person, and I'm also a big tea drinker. So I have always heard about this tea called Bigelow Constant Comment. It's been around forever, and people absolutely love it. I realized I had no idea what it actually tasted like. Obviously, I had to investigate, and now I'm obsessed. Constant Comment is this incredible black tea with real orange rind, cold-pressed orange oil, and sweet spices.

• 1:29Kaelyn Moore?

  The best way I can describe it is it's like Christmas in a cup, except you get to drink it all year long. Then I learned the story behind it, which made me love it even more. Constant Comment was created by Ruth Campbell Bigelow and her New York City kitchen in 1945. She shared it with her friends, and everyone kept talking about it. And all of those "Constant Comments" actually gave it its name. The recipe is still a Bigelow family secret over 80 years later. So this one is a mystery worth investigating for yourself. Bigelow Constant Comment. Curiously different, impossible to forget.

• 2:03Kaelyn Moore?

  Every now and then, I get an email from one of you guys that sends shivers down my spine. This was one of those emails. It comes from Angel, who writes, "When I was 12, I used to go hunt for animal bones in my neighbor's woods. It was my favorite thing to do in a town where there really wasn't much to do. I would bring my sketchbook and draw everything I found. I was really good at finding bones, like abnormally good. And some people wondered how I did it. But the truth is, I had a little bit of help. Let me explain. It sounds strange, but sometimes when I was out around sundown, I would see lights in the woods, like little glowing orbs. I would follow them, and they would always bring me to bones.

• 2:47Kaelyn Moore?

  They were usually small and bird or other animal shaped. I honestly didn't think much about it. I thought maybe they were light bugs or something. One day, I had an odd feeling, but I went out to the woods anyways. And that night, I saw a much larger light floating around the edge of the woods. This was definitely not a light bug. This time, I followed it through the trees, and it led me to an old house. And I found bones there, not of an animal, but a human skull. I screamed, and I ran out of the woods immediately. And my neighbor saw me running and said, "Hey, sweetie, have you found any good bones today?" I was upset, and I told her about the skull.

• 3:30Kaelyn Moore?

  She got this panic look on her face, and she called the police. What I eventually ended up learning is that 13 years ago, there was a boy who lived in that house, and he disappeared in the woods, and they never found him. His parents had moved out of the house shortly after. I never found out if they confirmed it was his skull, and honestly, I'm too afraid to check. I still see those lights in the woods sometimes, but now I never follow them. I'm afraid of what I'll find. Sometimes, I feel like I can even hear a boy calling me from the woods, asking me to help him.

• 4:06Kaelyn Moore?

  It terrifies me to this day.

• 4:10Kaelyn Moore?

  Welcome back to Heart Starts Pounding, a podcast of horrors, hauntings, and mysteries. Today is one of my favorite types of episodes where I get to celebrate you guys, the community, and all of the very, very scary and disturbing stuff you are living through. Today, we have tales of backwards horror, of haunted houses, and of terrifying individuals. But these stories were all sent in from you guys, who continuously proved to me that the truth is really stranger than fiction. Now, if you have a terrifying story that you would like to share with me, you can send it via Crow to the Rogue Detecting Society. Our house ghost, Jinx, checks the mail every few days. But of course, you can also send it via the form on our website if your crow is sick

• 4:53Kaelyn Moore?

  or something. I think you guys are really gonna like this episode today. And I actually think our listener, Jeff, is going to especially like this one, because he let me know that he listens to the show at his job, being a groundsman for a cemetery. To which I say, Jeff, please let the spirits know I send them my best. And let's get back into it.

• 5:14Kaelyn Moore?

  So you guys know that Appalachia is very, very scary. If you don't, listen to our episode on terrifying Appalachian folklore. But I know we have listeners who live there, who have hiked the Appalachian Trail. And every now and then, one of them will reach out with something they've experienced. This is one of those stories from our listener, Paul. He writes, "So I'm originally from Nashville, Tennessee. In 2008, after high school, I would hike parts of the Appalachian Trail in my free time. I planned a weekend camping trip with some friends, and I went up a date early so I could hike longer parts of the trail and have my friends pick me up at the end and take me back to my car. It was on this trip where I had a, I guess, a strange encounter.

• 5:59Kaelyn Moore?

  Now, I had heard many of the ghost stories and strange tales about things in the Appalachian Mountains growing up, but I never really believed them. On this trip, I was hiking a popular part of the trail, south of Klingman's Dome, the highest point in Tennessee, when it started torrentially raining."

• 6:17Kaelyn Moore?

  The rain quickly turned to a full-blown storm with very high winds. I took shelter under a small rock overhang because the wind was so strong, I was worried about being hit by a falling tree or branch. Normally, this sort of pop-up storm is over as quickly as it came, but this storm lasted for a few hours. After the storm had finally passed, I didn't have time to make it to the hiker's shelter before dark, so I set up my tent just off the trail and figured I would get an early start in the morning. I normally don't like to solo camp unless I've made it to a hiker's shelter. I wasn't so much worried about bears or other wildlife, but I just always felt better in the shelters.

• 6:59Kaelyn Moore?

  The next morning, as soon as there was a pale light in the sky, I packed up and started hiking. I was much closer to the shelter than I had originally thought, and it was still pretty dark out when I saw it. These shelters are rustic, and they're meant to provide quick, limited shelter for hikers on the trail. This shelter had three stone walls, a fireplace, a roof, and a wooden floor. There were large logs just outside the shelter that were set around a metal campfire ring. I quickly approached the shelter and saw two other hikers sleeping inside. It was a man and a woman with very nice sleeping bags and expensive hiking gear. Since it was still so early and I really didn't sleep well, I decided to lay down to get just a little bit more sleep.

• 7:44Kaelyn Moore?

  I ultimately decided to sleep outside the shelter because I didn't want to wake up the couple sleeping inside, so I put down a tarp and got cozy in my sleeping bag just a few feet from the campfire ring. I must have been exhausted because I was asleep almost instantly. But then, I was startled awake by the smell of smoke and the heat of a fire on my face. I sat up quickly to see a fire burning bright in the campfire ring, and a man sitting on one of the logs across the fire from me. I sat up and said, “Good morning,” to which the man gave me a slight nod, but his gaze never lifted from the fire. There was a small pot near him, and I assumed the man was cooking his breakfast.

• 8:29Kaelyn Moore?

  As I sat there, I was wondering to myself how he was able to start a fire and cook without waking me at all. I also noticed how odd the man’s clothing and gear seemed to be. Now, as I said before, I was just out of high school, and pretty much all of my hiking and camping gear were secondhand or from a thrift store. But this man’s gear looked rough, almost antique, something you would expect to see in like, an old sportsman’s catalog. I sat there awkwardly for a few moments, and then rummaged through my pack, grabbed my toothbrush and toiletry bag, and I headed to the outhouse that was a few yards into the woods behind the shelter. After I was done, I made my way back. I thought about if I was gonna say anything to the man, or just leave him be and get back on the trail.

• 9:13Kaelyn Moore?

  But when I came back around the shelter, he was gone. And he wasn’t just gone, everything was gone. His camping gear, his pack, and the strangest thing, the fire was gone. And I’m not just saying the fire was out, it was gone. There was no smoke, no burning embers, not even fresh ash. I placed my hand in the fire pit, and it was still wet from the rain the day before. At first, I thought I must have been dreaming, or at least in the stage between wake and sleep, when you’re not sure if you’re still dreaming or awake. But no, I had felt the heat of the fire, I smelled the smoke, I felt the slight sting of smoke in my eyes when I awoke.

• 9:58Kaelyn Moore?

  It had happened. I checked the shelter, and the two other hikers were still asleep. For a split second, I thought about waking them up just to ask them about the man, but I decided against it. I finished the hike, and I told my friends about what had happened. I had seen a ghost on the Appalachian Trail.

• 10:22Kaelyn Moore?

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• 11:05Kaelyn Moore?

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• 11:48Kaelyn Moore?

  The biggest one that comes to mind is when my dog Fitzgerald needed to stay somewhere. I was traveling with him and I had something to do for a full day. So I found a sitter on Rover and he had the best time. He played outside in a big backyard all day with a couple of other dogs. I got pictures the whole time. Getting photo updates while you're away turns panicked texting into real peace of mind. Exclusively for new users of Rover, use code HEARTSTARTS20 for a $20 discount off your first booking. Valid only on eligible bookings. Offer expires January 24, 2027. Terms apply.

• 12:23Kaelyn Moore?

  You know what they say about if you see something strange in Appalachia? They say, no, no, you didn't. So Paul, I don't know who that man was that you saw at the campfire, but I think for the protection of everyone listening, you didn't see anyone at all. Yes, you did. It was a ghost. Would you believe that wasn't the only terrifying camping experience I got? I mean, I can, I've never gotten a camping story from you guys that didn't make me lie awake staring at the ceiling at 3:00 AM? Because apparently, when you enter the woods, you re-enter the food chain. So just keep that in mind. This story comes from Michaela. She writes, "I'm not quite sure how to start this because I still get shivers when I think about it today.

• 13:06Kaelyn Moore?

  But about a year ago, I was on a camping trip with my family. We were at Walla Walla Lake in Oregon, and it was a really lovely trip, aside from one thing. Surrounding the lake on one side, there was a lush forest. And on the second day we were there, I decided to go explore what was in this forest. Just outside of our campground, there was a little path that led into the green and dense vegetation. I stayed on it for a while and then proceeded to hike off into the trees because that was definitely a smart choice. By this time, it was about 3:00 in the afternoon, so it wasn't as bright as it would have been when I first started my climb. Finally, after some time trekking,

• 13:50Kaelyn Moore?

  I found a more open spot and I started looking around. Along the evergreen shaded hillside was a series of giant boulders. And as I made my way over to one, I saw something that caught my eye. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that it was a leather shoe, and a very nice one at that. But there was only one. I thought that was odd, but I kept going. Not long after, I found another shoe, but not a matching one. It was smaller and still leather, but it was more boot-like than the last. Weird, I thought. By now, you maybe can tell that I don't really have the best sense of what's sensible. So I kept on going.

• 14:35Kaelyn Moore?

  And as I got further up the hill, I saw more articles of clothing. First, the shoes, then there was a glove, but it was missing a finger. It was like it had been ripped straight off. After that, a large work boot, all strewn around and tattered like a wild animal had gotten to them or something. The one thing they all shared was that they were all leather. I still don't know what significance that had, but I didn't forget it. And now, I was a little freaked out, but I kept on walking just a bit further past all of the boulders. And after some time, I managed to find a circular little meadow with white and purple wildflowers all littering the ground. It was honestly so pretty and so peaceful, so I stayed there for a while, just reading

• 15:20Kaelyn Moore?

  my book until late afternoon, when I spotted some deer roaming in the trees. I watched them for a while, just taking in the beauty of the scene. And then I noticed the many birds singing perched on the branches above me. I continued reading, perfectly content. At one point, though, I looked back up, and I realized the deers and the birds were gone. The meadow was completely silent, which was really odd because the animals were there the entire day. I kept reading despite the obvious peculiarity of the situation, but then I started getting a really strange feeling.

• 16:02Kaelyn Moore?

  And suddenly, I heard a rustling in the bush on the other side of the meadow. I passed it off as a deer at first, but soon I realized it was far too heavy of a sound to be a deer. There it was again, closer now. I sat completely still, unable to move. Something felt very wrong. I had to go. Now adrenaline pulsed through my veins and I ran the fastest I've ever run. Down the hill, past the boulders, into the campground. I didn't see what it was that was stalking me, but something told me I didn't want to. That night at the campfire, I was recalling my story for my group, when one of my uncles went dead silent.

• 16:45Kaelyn Moore?

  He said two words that I'll never forget, something that many people in the area know about but are too afraid to discuss with one another: skinwalker. The site was dead quiet after that. There was no humor in his voice when he said it. And I think he might have been right. So I actually wanted to jump in here and add a little note to Michaela's story because I looked into this area after she sent me this. And while I couldn't find any local indigenous lore about skinwalkers, I did find another monster story from the local Blackfeet and Nez Perce tribes talking about the Wallowa monster that resides in the area. Now, this

• 17:27Kaelyn Moore?

  creature is said to live in the lake, and that's at least according to an 1885 article where a local is describing an encounter with the creature. It was described as having a snake-like body and a hippo-like head, and it was around 80 feet in length. And it was so well-known to the tribes in the area that they refused to go into the water because of it. And it seems like the creature has been seen a few more times throughout history, even earning the nickname Big Wally, with the most recent sighting being in the 80s when two men saw it. Big Wally has never killed anyone, at least not that I could find. And it does seem to mostly live in the

• 18:07Kaelyn Moore?

  water, but who knows? It does seem like something is afoot at Wallowa Lake. Okay, this next email is one that I got more recently. And when I read it, it made me absolutely stop in my tracks. It was sent to me by a listener named Heidi, and she writes, "In the fall of 1999, I was a freshman at Michigan State University, living on the third floor of the South Wonders dorm with a good friend of mine from high school. During a heat wave in mid-September, everyone in the dorm began complaining about an unpleasant odor while walking towards the cafeteria located between the north and south buildings. Students who ventured to the basement to use the laundry room or study in the adjacent large creepy

• 18:50Kaelyn Moore?

  room, which was formerly a snack bar but now just was filled with tables and chairs and used for studying or blood drives, they all said the odor was even stronger there." One afternoon, my roommate and I left for an afternoon sociology class. And by the time we returned, just 90 minutes later, it was an absolute media circus near one of the dorms. Local and non-local news crews were on the scene with their cameras and their vans. We parked and locked up our bikes and took a walk around the complex. And by the service entrance, we passed by a man dressed in white coveralls and booties with a respiratory mask hanging around his neck, taking a smoke break. He looked haggard, and we asked him what was going on.

• 19:34Kaelyn Moore?

  He didn't say much, but he did warn us that it was gruesome.

• 19:41Kaelyn Moore?

  Well, it turns out, after days of graduate advisors and residents receiving countless complaints from the students, a dorm assistant manager was dispatched to the basement to track down the origin of the smell. And inside the study lounge, behind a locked door, there was a small storage room that housed a commercial cooler used during the basement snack bar days. Tragically, the body of a 23-year-old man, Neftali Valdez-Green Jr., was discovered inside the closed cooler. He had previously graduated from the school, and he wasn't currently a student. By all accounts, he had potentially been there for weeks. While we were out there, anyone who had a window facing the Circle Drive

• 20:26Kaelyn Moore?

  at the south building's entrance had opened their windows and removed the screens to observe the media action outside. The resident advisors frantically ran from floor to floor, ordering those students to close their windows, fearful someone could tumble out and they would just have another tragedy on their hands. This was before cell phones, but I can't imagine what it would be like now with everyone able to film and take pictures. It felt like complete chaos. And as the day turned into evening, everyone started to speculate whether the death was a murder, a suicide, accidental. The circumstances, as we knew them at that point, just seemed so strange, too strange for an accidental death or a suicide.

• 21:08Kaelyn Moore?

  The dorm was locked down, and we had to show IDs to come and go. It didn't really make sense that someone who didn't go to our school wound up there. The news crews were camped out for days, but even after they left, none of the Wonders Hall residents felt like their questions were answered regarding Green's death. We felt like our RAs had more information than they were sharing, and that really scared all of us. And then, the following week, more distressing news came to light. It was revealed that Green had attended a controversial church in the area called Emanuel's Temple Community Church, which was located in Lansing. This church had a really controversial past,

• 21:49Kaelyn Moore?

  because it was the same church that a man named Demetrius Underwood attended. Now, Demetrius was an NFL player who sliced his own neck at his girlfriend's home in Lansing after screaming that he was not worthy of God, and he wanted to be saved and meet God. Luckily, he survived this, and he was eventually committed to a mental health clinic where he received treatment. But after the event, his mother blamed the church. She publicly called it a cult and warned anyone who was thinking of joining. One of the rumors circulating campus in the days following the discovery of Green, which I'm not sure if this is actually true, was that he was found with a Bible

• 22:30Kaelyn Moore?

  against his chest. But again, this was never officially reported or substantiated. Ultimately, the police ruled Green's cause of death, suffocation, and manner of death, accidental. But the one thing that has always crossed my mind in the last 15-plus years is I don't ever recall hearing about the toxicology reports, or any sort of investigation as to why Green found his way into the Wonders Dorm. How did he manage to get there, find his way to a secluded and locked storage room, and then voluntarily climb into the cooler? After all, Green was no longer a student, and by all accounts, he never even lived close to the Wonders complex while he attended the school, so I don't know why he would have been in that specific dorm.

• 23:14Kaelyn Moore?

  And furthermore, was there a coincidence between Underwood's incident and Green's untimely death? I don't think we'll ever know. Though the case was officially closed, it still remains a mystery for a lot of us that were literally so close to the incident back in 1999.

• 23:32Kaelyn Moore?

  So this is another story where I just want to jump in and talk about some additional research I did because I dug into these stories a bit more and it turns out there actually was a toxicology report done on Green and it was ruled that he had no substances in his system, which adds a little bit more to the strangeness of the situation, maybe. I also read that he had been found sleeping on campus before, kind of in odd areas even after he was no longer a student anymore, but no link was ever found to the church. And to this day, the church insists that they're not a cult and they had nothing to do with the bizarre deaths of their two young members. So this might be one where we may never really know what happened.

• 24:17Kaelyn Moore?

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• 24:59Kaelyn Moore?

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• 26:20Kaelyn Moore?

  Okay, our next story takes place on a ranch. And I don't know what it is about ranches. My husband was raised on a ranch, and I just think really freaky things tend to happen there. When you have a bunch of animals all mixed together, it feels like it can attract other, scarier creatures. And sometimes, even things from an entirely different world. Like this story from Ulysses. He writes, "When I was six years old, I was living in Mexico with my grandma on her ranch. I was born in the US, but I was raised in Mexico with my grandma. I grew up with my grandma, my older brother, and my sister. In Mexico, and in general, on a ranch, we have to tend the animals, and no matter how young we are, we all have a job.

• 27:05Kaelyn Moore?

  My job was to take care of the goats and walk them to a pasture about a mile away. We lived in a small town, so we all knew each other, and there was not really any danger. So it was safe for me to do these chores even as a young child. One night, it was getting a bit late. So I walked the goats back home to the ranch. I started counting them. One, two, three. I counted through the whole group, and I realized I was missing one. So I let my older brother know that, and we went back to look for the goat. It wasn't safe out there for a goat by itself at night, and we had to find it." At this point, it was pretty dark and we didn't bring a flashlight. So only the light of the moon was guiding us.

• 27:49Kaelyn Moore?

  We looked everywhere for that goat, calling out its name, offering it food, and we just couldn't find it anywhere. We were gonna just walk back home when behind a tall bush, I heard the voice of my sister. She sounded panicked. "I'm back here, come grab me, I need your help," she was saying. Me, being young, I thought she was there and I told my brother that she needed help and we should go grab her. But as soon as my brother heard the voice, he lost all the color in his face. He tensed up and he said in a low voice, "We need to leave now, that's not her." Together, we ran back home and sure enough, my sister was with my grandma in the kitchen.

• 28:34Kaelyn Moore?

  I asked her if she was in the pasture and she said, "No", that she had been with my grandma the whole time. And my grandma agreed that, yeah, she was by her side. And if that wasn't strange enough, about five minutes later, the goat that was missing walked by, as if it had been home with the other goats the whole time. I had no idea what was behind that bush that night. But if it weren't for my brother, I don't know what would have happened to me.

• 29:04Kaelyn Moore?

  I also don't know what was behind that bush and I'm glad you didn't stick around to find out. I don't want to be the person that says if you hear your sibling crying out for help, you should run away. But I think if you take a beat and try to figure out if it's really your sibling or a creature sent from the underworld, that's fine. Okay, I have one more story for you all today, sent in from a listener named Olivia. And Olivia had a story about something strange happening in a house. It's a story that proves sometimes a ghost isn't the creepiest thing that can haunt a place. Olivia writes, "In 2018, a good friend of mine asked me to dog and house sit for her. She owned a cute Cape Cod-style house right next to a high school. She had two dogs.

• 29:48Kaelyn Moore?

  One of them was Charlie. He was extremely old and he had a hard time getting around, and he was the reason she begged me to dog sit for her instead of asking her niece. Charlie was 15 years old and he needed help going outside, so I always made an effort to go back to her house on my lunch breaks from work and let him out. The first couple of days were normal and the dogs and I really got into a routine. On my third day, I left for work and I saw a car in the drive backed all the way up to the privacy fence. I figured it was one of her friend's sons who actually went to the high school right next to her house. That's really all I thought about it, though. I went back on my lunch break to find that Charlie had an accident on his bed, so I cleaned him up, put his dog bed in the washer,

• 30:32Kaelyn Moore?

  and then I moved it to the dryer before I left to go back to work. I got back from work that night and I went to get Charlie's bed out of the dryer. However, when I opened it up, it wasn't there. That's when I noticed the washer door was open and sitting in water was Charlie's bed. I freaked out because I swore I had put the bed in the dryer. Maybe I was rushing and I just didn't pay attention, but no, I remembered grabbing a dryer sheet and putting it in the dryer. Anyways, Charlie needed his bed, so I finished another wash cycle and I just went about the rest of the night. The next day came and I went about my routine. I looked outside and the car was still in her driveway.

• 31:15Kaelyn Moore?

  Once again, I thought, maybe it's just the high schooler, so I went to work. But that afternoon, when I came back from my lunch break and tried to go in the front door, I couldn't get it open.

• 31:28Kaelyn Moore?

  I figured that the other dog might have been playing with a toy and got it wedged, which is weird, but it's happened with my dogs at my own house before. So I decided to go in the side door. I walked in and I turned the corner to the living room. And that's when I saw the reason the door wouldn't open. The coffee table had been placed in front of it. I went over to move it and I saw that the side table had been moved to block a path to the hallway. And Charlie was lying on blankets instead of his bed that I had cleaned for him the night before. I don't know what was going through my head, but I knew that dogs didn't do this. No dog is going to rearrange the furniture to perfectly block the door and the hallway. I ran out of the house with the two dogs.

• 32:13Kaelyn Moore?

  I put them both in my car and I called the cops and the sister of the friend who I was house sitting for, her name was Holly. The cops came pretty quickly and they went through the entire house, but they didn't find anything. They did inform me, however, that the man who lived across the street was actually being searched for because he skipped out on bail. Everyone in our town at the time knew him as the quote gnome bandit because he had stolen so much property in the area and he skipped out on his bail and now he was wanted by the police. So they asked me to keep an eye out for him as well. Um, okay. While I'm searching the house for Poltergeist, I guess I'll also keep an eye out for the gnome bandit.

• 32:55Kaelyn Moore?

  Holly and I were outside after the police left and we were discussing the whole gnome bandit situation. Eventually we went back inside and I found Charlie's bedding back in the washing machine, sitting in water again. The unease I had at that point was wild, but part of me was thinking that the police searched the house and they didn't find anything or anyone. Also, I'll add, I was in Kentucky, so I went over, brought my gun in and I knew if anything really bad happened, at least I would be able to protect myself. The next day I did the same routine. I was feeling better about the situation since the cops had come and they didn't find anything. But when I got back from my lunch break, my jaw hit the floor.

• 33:40Kaelyn Moore?

  Things were moved all over the house. The kitchen table was moved to block the side hallway. The coffee table was in front of the front door again. Side tables had been moved to the hallway that led to the bedrooms, and they had stuff stacked on top of them. Once again, I called the police and I called Holly. Freaked out, I just stayed outside the entire time. I was not going back in that house. And this time, when the police came, they were not so gentle. Holly and I were on the driveway when we heard the police start screaming from inside the house. A couple of minutes later, they walked out with a man. He was about 55 years old, a full beard and receding hairline. I had seen this guy's picture before.

• 34:23Kaelyn Moore?

  It was the freaking gnome bandit, and he was covered in insulation. The cop then told me that he was found in the attic. But the reason they didn't find him the first time was because they didn't see that the attic had a small area where it dropped down a little further. He was tucked away in there, like the episode you did about the Denver Spider-Man. I was so mad. I ended up asking the cop if I could ask this gnome bandit a question. Holly and I just ended up yelling at him. Why were you in there? He said, because if I stayed in my own house, they'd find me eventually, as if it were obvious. I asked him why he was moving stuff all around the house, and he just got this wicked look on his face. And he said, I thought I could scare you into not coming back,

• 35:08Kaelyn Moore?

  so I wouldn't get caught. But after the first time, I enjoyed hearing you squirm. You and Holly had such a nice conversation about me yesterday. With that, he was arrested. I never went back to that house. I read a book last month, a thriller, and someone ended up being in the attic, and I couldn't sleep for three days. This whole thing still messes with me to this day.

• 35:32Kaelyn Moore?

  So my worst fear is someone being in my home without me noticing. I mean, here I have Jinx and I have Gordy, but what are they gonna do? No, it feels like people are the real danger in this kind of situation. I ended up looking more into this story as well, and I found an article from when this happened. And get a load of this. The article reads, quote, "The notorious Louisville gnome bandit is back in handcuffs after a second manhunt. Thursday, Barton Bishop was arrested after falling out of the attic of a home where he was hiding in the upper highlands. He was taken into custody. Louisville Metro Police posted about his arrest on Facebook, saying tips led them to his hiding spot."

• 36:14Kaelyn Moore?

  Um, if by tips you mean our girl Olivia calling multiple times swearing there was someone hiding in the house messing with her, then yes, sure, it sounds like there were tips that led you there. This just goes to show that sometimes the scariest things happen when you least expect them to. When you're out on a hike, when you're walking to class, or when you're watching your friend's dog. Then you look over and see that one piece of furniture is moved just ever so slightly. And you think to yourself, am I just losing my mind? Or did that he will just move? And little do you know, there's a man two stories above your head, watching you.

• 36:59Kaelyn Moore?

  Please keep sharing your personal stories with me. You can always reach out at heartstartspounding.com. We have a form you can fill out and send me your story. And if you'd like more listener stories, I'll actually be reading some of the ones that didn't make it into this episode on Footnotes, our weekly after show, available to the High Council tier on Patreon. That's where I share more from my case file on each week's episode. Recently, I actually shared ghost photos from the Port Arthur jail. I shared the Alaskan triangle mystery that didn't make it into the episode. And I also talked about another theory for spontaneous human combustion that includes ley lines. So you're definitely gonna want to catch those. Anyways, that's all I have for you today. I love getting these stories from you all. Stories of people being

• 37:44Kaelyn Moore?

  the danger of ghosts in the woods, of spooky lights that lead you to bones. I love it all. There's a lot of scary stuff happening out there, and you guys are at the forefront kind of experiencing it all. You can join me here next week for another episode of Deathbed Confessions. That's right. I think we did one about two years ago and I'm really excited to tell you guys about what I found. And until next time, check your crawl spaces.

• 38:15Kaelyn Moore?

  Heart Starts Pounding is written, produced by me, Kayla Moore. Heart Starts Pounding is also produced by Matt Brown. Our associate producer is Amanda Olson. Sound design and mix by Peachtree Sound. Special thanks to Travis Dunlap, Grayson Jordanigan, the team at WME, and Ben Jaffe. Have a heart pounding story or a case request? Check out heartstarts pounding.com.

• 38:35Kaelyn Moore?

  This episode is brought to you by our partner, Vistaprint. If you run a small business, you know that there's a moment where you go from just doing the thing you love to realizing you need stuff, like physical stuff. Custom merch for an event, branded apparel for your team, business cards that actually look professional. That was definitely me with Heart Starts Pounding. What started as a podcast I made in my closet turned into something that had merch, had mugs, had stickers, had all of this stuff that I needed to get made. And Vistaprint made it so much less overwhelming. They are a true print expert. Premium quality products, fast turnaround, and design tools that actually make sense. I actually got custom mugs made from Vistaprint, and they are gorgeous and very, very good quality. The quality feels expensive without

• 39:18Kaelyn Moore?

  having an expensive price tag. There's a reason over 17 million businesses trust Vistaprint with their print needs. Vistaprint, print your possible. Right now, new customers get 20% off with code new20 at Vistaprint.com. That's 20% off at Vistaprint.com using code new20. Do you want more darkly curious stories in your life? Sign up for our Patreon for free and get access to a rotating shelf of bonus content, our weekly Rogue Detecting Society newsletter, and the HSP Book Club. Paid members also get monthly bonus episodes and archive access, which I think is more than 40 episodes at this point. You also get a cool jinx sticker after your first three months. And you can check it all out with a free seven day trial. Link in the bio or go to patreon.com backslash heart starts pounding. Well, whatever you do, stay curious.