Presenting: Otherworld | Zaza

Otherworld tells real stories of people who have experienced something paranormal or unexplainable. Host Jack Wagner takes an open minded and journalistic approach to the subject matter and aims to uncover some of the biggest mysteries of the world and how people react to it.

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

• 0:00Kaelyn Moore?

  Hello, my heart starts pounding community. I have something really special for you today. If you're looking for more stories that make your heart start pounding, especially if you like stuff that borders on supernatural, Otherworld is a must-listen. The stories shared on Otherworld make your skin crawl and your imagination run wild. Each episode dives into strange eerie places where the lines between reality and the unknown blur. These are true stories that creep under your skin and make you wonder what's really out there. It's one of my favorites, and you can stay tuned right now for a preview of the episode, Zaza. And as you're listening, be sure to search for the Otherworld Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

• 0:43Speaker 01

  Welcome to Otherworld. I'm your host, Jack Wagner. This episode comes from a woman named Kendra, who grew up in a small town in Wyoming, which is where this whole thing takes place. And it happened around 1996, which I think adds a lot to this story. All of this starts when Kendra is going into her freshman year of high school. At this time, her and her friends start playing with a Ouija board. At first, they attempted to contact John Lennon, which, if you ask me, is pretty ambitious. But then again, these are high school freshmen.

• 1:24Speaker 01

  They were not able to contact John Lennon. However, something did seem to come through on the board and start communicating with them. This is a very classic spooky story in so many ways. I'm gonna let Kendra tell it for herself, and I'll save the rest of my thoughts for after the episode. This episode is called Zaza, and you're listening to Otherworld.

• 1:58Speaker 02

  Hello?

• 1:58Speaker 01

  Is this Bobby?

• 1:59Speaker 02

  Yes, hello. At its core, the science, you can't argue with. I'm worried about... All the science.

• 2:04Speaker 01

  Up in the sky.

• 2:05Speaker 02

  It's almost frustrating that it's happening. I'm literally, I'm gonna die. If limbs were just like wrong.

• 2:12Speaker 03

  Everybody moves back into the light, even if it takes them a minute.

• 2:37Speaker 04

  I'm Kendra. I've been living in Idaho for about 11 years, 12 years. I'm in the banking industry. Love the outdoors, love living in Idaho and, you know, fly fishing. I'm also a musician. Play the mandolin and piano and a little bit of percussion, just all the things, just for fun. And yeah, like just loving life here. So I lived my whole childhood and grew up in a small, central Wyoming town, kind of the base of the Wind River Mountains. Very, very small town, you know, about 9,000 people.

• 3:22Speaker 04

  Right on the edge of the Wind River Reservation. So a lot of Native American history there, a lot of mountain men. You know, there's like a rendezvous site nearby. So a lot of history. It's a really cool area to grow up in. So this all took place, uh, leading into my freshman year of high school. So I think I was around 15, um, going into 16, uh, years old. And I had a few really close friends, um, that we'd been, you know, hanging out, you know, just doing normal high school stuff.

• 4:06Speaker 04

  Going into high school, this is like 1996, I would say, 95, 96. So, you know, a lot of the like grunge music was really in. That's kind of what we were listening to, you know, like Bush and Weezer and, you know, Stone Temple Pilots and that kind of stuff. So we were really into like, you know, we had guitars and a drum kit and we were just, you know, playing music for fun. Was really into the Beatles at the time too, and just like old school rock and roll, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, that kind of stuff.

• 4:48Speaker 04

  So, you know, we were just kids in the 90s and, you know, we would get bored, you know. We didn't have a lot to do, we didn't have the internet, you know. So, we were always just looking for things to get into, you know. Prank calling people, driving around town, just meeting up at the local parking lot where everybody hung out. It was a pretty fun time, I think. Like, I loved growing up in my small little town. Like I said, I was really into the Beatles at the time. And I was kind of obsessed with them, actually. And, you know, my friends were mildly interested in the Beatles as well. But, you know, this is the summer leading into high school.

• 5:33Speaker 04

  And we were really bored and looking for things to do. And so I decided, hey, what if we got a Ouija board and tried to contact John Lennon? So, all kind of in good fun in the beginning. We really just, you know, we're trying to go into it kind of in a lighthearted way. Like, how cool would it be if John Lennon came through to talk to us? So, we decided we'd go down to the local Kmart and pick up a Ouija board out of the game section. You know, I just took it back to my bedroom. I had like a ton of like Beatles memorabilia and things in there.

• 6:18Speaker 04

  And we were like, okay, we're really gonna try and concentrate and try and contact John Lennon. At first, you know, we're sitting in my bedroom, on my bed. And there were, I think, maybe two or three of my friends with me at the time. My best friend Lisa, and my friend Brooke, and another friend. And so, we just kind of started and a couple of us, you know, put our hands on the planchette. And we didn't know, you know, it was our first time, like, are we really moving it? Is it really working?

• 7:02Speaker 04

  And of course, it started moving and it really did feel like, you know, none of us was really...

• 7:11Speaker 04

  Intentionally moving it. And it did start spelling some things. And it was slow moving at the beginning. We were asking, you know, is this John? We were trying to contact John and it would go to yes. And, you know, just pretty basic things. And I feel like, you know, as silly as we were back then, we did have like serious intentions of like, and an open mind of having this work. And so of course it said yes. And, you know, we were going back and forth, asking it questions to kind of, you know, is this really John?

• 7:56Speaker 04

  If it's John, can you give us some kind of proof that it's you? And at that moment, I had a John Lennon photo hanging on my wall across the room and it fell off the wall at that moment. And we all just looked at each other and we were like, oh my gosh, like, I can't believe that just happened. Maybe it was just a coincidence. I don't know. But I mean, I had all four Beatles photos hanging on my wall. And for that to happen just seemed to be like such a, it couldn't be a coincidence.

• 8:40Speaker 04

  You know, at first that just kind of intrigued us to keep playing. You know, we kept wanting to come back for more because we got evidence that this thing was really happening. And so, you know, in the beginning, it was, it was very lighthearted and fun. And we kind of were just really open. And I think because we were so open minded and intentional with what we were doing, unintentionally, I think that's where things maybe kind of took advantage of us going forward.

• 9:17Kaelyn Moore?

  To listen to the full episode of Zaza and for more stories where ordinary life meets the paranormal, search for Otherworld wherever you get your podcasts. 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 heartstartspounding. But whatever you do, stay curious.