Earth Angel - Classic

Alfia is studying to be a nurse, but she soon discovers that science isn’t everything and a higher power is at work.

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

• 0:03Glynn Washington?

  Uncle Bill is falling down, falling down, falling down. Uncle Bill is falling down. He drank babies. Take the key and lock him up, lock him up, lock him up. Quickly, because when he wakes up, he gets crazy.

• 0:22Glynn Washington?

  You're listening to Spooked. Stay tuned.

• 0:32Speaker 01

  Why have so many crop circles appeared around Britain? How did thousands of people demonstrate powers of telepathy? Can the dead suck the life from the living? Join me, Tim Harford, for a trip into the paranormal throughout Halloween month on Cautionary Tales. Listen to Cautionary Tales on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 1:04Glynn Washington?

  My boy, he asked me one day, Daddy, do you believe in magic? No. Daddy, have you ever seen magic?

• 1:20Glynn Washington?

  Yes. But Daddy, that doesn't make any sense.

• 1:27Glynn Washington?

  Correct.

• 1:31Glynn Washington?

  Spook starts.

• 1:34Glynn Washington?

  Now.

• 2:25Glynn Washington?

  Yes, unspooked. We gaze into the darkness. You know this. We seek out the shadow, the monsters, but sometimes we do turn toward the light in order to properly understand the dark. And that is why I am so excited to introduce to you our next guest, who was asked to remain anonymous. And I want to give sensitive listeners a heads up. The story contains instances of premature birth, pregnancy loss, and cancer. Please take care when listening. We're going to call our speaker Alfia. And Alfia is studying to become a nurse. Spooked.

• 3:18Speaker 02

  Theo is my mom's brother, and he is my godfather. He was a big part of my life as a little girl. He's always just kind of magical and a little scary because he would do like strange magic tricks and pull things out of my ear and tell scary stories. But he's just, he's just ridiculous and wonderful.

• 3:48Speaker 02

  My mom called to tell me that Theo was very sick and gave me the stage three lung cancer prognosis. And then my uncle called me on the phone and he said, sweetheart, there's a famous priest who's coming to this church. People say he's healed so many people. If you go to see him, you're gonna get healed. And, you know, would you want to go with me? At that point, I was really finishing up with school. And I saw that I actually had to work that day.

• 4:31Speaker 02

  I was working also as a medical tech in the hospital while I was waiting to become an RN. So I said, "Zio, you know, I'm sorry this time. I can't make that. I can't do this one." And he's like, "You know, it's okay. Don't worry, it's fine."

• 4:54Speaker 02

  You know how when you have a regular dream, it's like a regular dream? And then sometimes you have a very, very vivid dream where it's just so very bright and so clear? It's around that time, maybe a few days later, that I had that dream that I'm in the hospital that I'm working at. I'm walking down a white corridor and there are doors and there's that shiny linoleum and the bad paintings. And I keep walking and as I get closer to a corner,

• 5:33Speaker 02

  I see a woman come out and kind of like give me the "come on over here" signal with her hands. And so I pointed at myself again, like, "Me? You talking to me?" And she nods, so I turned the corner and she kind of just gets me up against the wall. I remember her being Filipino, older lady, robust. But she was right in my face. She was like right against the wall and like in my space. And she said, "You know, your uncle's really sick." And I said, "Yeah, I know. My uncle is very, very sick."

• 6:18Speaker 02

  And she said, "Well, what are you doing about it?" And then she looked at me and she said, "Well, you know that nothing medical is going to save your uncle." So I just blinked at her and stopped and then said, "Well, then what should I do?" And she said, "Well, it sounds like you better think of something." And I woke up.

• 6:51Speaker 02

  And I bolted up in bed and just said, oh my God, oh my God, I have to take him to see this priest. So I called him the next day. I said, Zio, I'm gonna take you, we're gonna go. And he said, no, I thought you were working. No, no, no. I said, nope, nope, we're gonna go, we're gonna do this. And don't worry, I took care of it, it's all good. And so we're going.

• 7:20Speaker 02

  So we got there early and grabbed seats in the pews, pretty close up front. Within hours, it was just jam-packed with people. And they were wheeling in little children on beds with IV lines and oxygen tanks. My uncle looked at me and he said, what am I doing here? Like, I'm asking for me to get better? Look at, God has to take care of these children. Look at those children, oh my God.

• 7:57Speaker 02

  Hours went by and then the priest came out and he speaks and you could see the wounds on his hands and I think on his forehead. And the priest was, he looked like Johnny Depp. He's really handsome. He had kinda like long, dark hair, dramatic. And at one point, he came around with the big golden cross and it's very shiny. And he definitely passed in front of us. But I was taking it all with a measure of salt.

• 8:42Speaker 02

  It just seemed kind of melodramatic and crazy. And yet I was feeling a little swept up with it too. And of course, I was, I'm praying for my uncle. Praying for these children and I had a little like secret guilty prayer and I prayed, "Dear God, you know, help me know when I'm really a nurse because I'm going to be a nurse really soon and I don't feel like one yet." And just at that moment, the priest walked right in front of us with the big cross and an old lady just, she fainted right at my feet, landed literally on my feet, face up, holding a crucifix that was sort of like

• 9:26Speaker 02

  jammed into her neck. She was unconscious and I, of course, you know, crouched down very quickly. Security came very quickly and I pushed them all away. I just pushed my arms out and I said, "It's fine. I'm a nurse." And everyone just kind of stepped away. You know, security said, "If you need something, let us know." And I'm like, "We're good. I'll let you know." And I took care of her. I assessed her and she was breathing normally and I recognized she just got very excited and, you know, she just needed a little, little fresh air and a drink of water and she was fine.

• 10:30Speaker 02

  You know, after it was all over, I'm with my uncle. I said, "Wow, you know, I, that was amazing. I, I, I'm praying for you, Zio." And he said, "Oh, no, no, no, no. This was not for me. Let's pray for those children and the people really need." I, I, I've had a good life.

• 10:56Speaker 02

  The next time my uncle did his labs, the doctor was like, wow, those numbers are like amazing. My ZIO had imaging and that part that they couldn't take care of was not there anymore. That's just amazing. You know, that's it. Like, the doctor didn't understand and I don't know. I don't know. But he's never had a recurrence and he still runs his barber shop during COVID, against my better guidance.

• 11:36Speaker 02

  So that happened at the very, very beginning of my nursing career. And, you know, I transitioned and became a labor and delivery nurse on the night shift. And gaining in confidence, starting, I would say at this point, I wasn't a liability anymore. In labor and delivery, it takes a couple of years to not be, you know, a burden and actually be a help. Then it was years between the time that happened and I had that second dream.

• 12:17Speaker 02

  It happened after a long, awful night shift.

• 12:25Speaker 02

  It was one of those dreams that I can only describe as from the other side. I'm in the neonatal intensive care unit, which is a place I don't go very often. And I'm walking around different isolets with the babies inside. And there are nurses next to each isolet. And I'm just walking by and there are beeps and lights and it's kind of dark. And I come up to... A isolate and I see this baby.

• 13:08Speaker 02

  And in the dream, I say, wow, baby's alive. That's really nice. And I look over to the nurse and she had a very particular, her hair was kind of up in a modified bun, but some of it was down in the back. And little freckles on her face. Her body type was smallish and a little bit on the more round side, pleasing.

• 13:38Speaker 02

  As I was looking at her, I noticed behind her this huge form, this brilliant, large form of what you would picture to be an angel. But it's right over her, standing over her and towering over her. But around the darkness is a lot of light. And there's actually wings. And I see the angel moving its arms around this nurse. And kind of if the angel moves a certain way, the nurse would like move this baby's wire or guide the nurse's hands to this pump.

• 14:20Speaker 02

  Or it was like this angel, this creature was guiding her and standing behind her.

• 14:34Speaker 02

  When I woke up from the dream, I was laying in bed and thinking, you know, this is the baby, this is the baby that this mom and dad, first time couple came in unexpectedly in labor with an extremely premature baby. This baby was too early to be considered viable, which means the baby was too young to be expected to survive, even with high tech interventions.

• 15:08Speaker 02

  My friend, she actually took pictures of the baby. And she said, you know, "Oh, what a pretty baby. Do you want to see the pictures?" I said, "Oh, my God, yeah." So I'm looking at the pictures and I see like, the baby looks pretty pink, like some good color on the baby and kind of had some nice tone in, you know, its arms reflected. And I said to my friend, "You know, this baby looks pretty alive. You know, are you sure NICU came and said, 'No, you know, this is too not viable'?" She said, "No, no, no." It's, you know, they were very clear.

• 15:53Speaker 02

  You know, I don't want to step on my friend's space and her autonomy, but I really feel like this baby was defying all of the typical things that happen when a baby is born that prematurely. So I felt I needed to shift and respond to that. So I squared my shoulders and dialed the NICU and asked to speak with the NICU doc. And I said, "Can you please come downstairs?" She does. And she says, "I, there's nothing I can do." And I say, "There's a mystery that, you know, when something's just really knocking on our door,

• 16:38Speaker 02

  we, we have to, we have to like at least consider it." So the doctor said, "No, I can't do it." And she, she was tearful and left. And unbeknownst to me, she called her priest to says to her, "Yeah, why don't you give this baby a trial of life? Like, maybe there is mystery."

• 17:32Speaker 02

  NICU teen comes down with a big isolet. And at that point, my friend confronts me and she said, wait, what's happening and why? And did you call? And I said, you know, I'm sorry. I so respect you as a nurse. You're so wonderful. But I just couldn't. I really, everything inside of me is screaming, I had to do this. And so she was very angry. So we went our separate ways. I went home. And that's when I had that dream.

• 18:15Speaker 02

  That evening, I went to my labor and delivery unit. You know, I lock up my car and I start walking back to the labor and delivery entrance. I'd come a few minutes early because I wanted to, before punching in, go up to NICU to just sort of peek in and kind of get the story about what happened, how it unfolded. And as I'm approaching the labor and delivery unit entrance, I see a woman in front of me walking. And I'm not paying attention. I'm behind her. And as I get closer, I see that she's fumbling with, you know, an ID thing. And so I said, oh, you know, I'll let you in because she had scrubs on.

• 19:01Speaker 02

  She thanked me. But as I'm looking at her, I start getting like prickles up my neck. And I think, she looks really familiar. Why do I feel like she's familiar, but I don't know her? You know, and then again, I started looking at my time and getting, you know, realizing I have to run up to NICU to be on time to be there for report. So I run upstairs to NICU, start walking around the unit, looking at isolets.

• 19:36Speaker 02

  As I get close to the isolet, I see the nurse standing next to the isolet. It was the lady that was in front of me. And as I see her standing next to the isolet, I recognize that that's the woman in my dream. Like, that's exactly her. That's her face and her glasses and her hair and her freckles and everything. I'm just standing there, just like, oh, my God. And I'm looking behind her, thinking, there's probably this really big, glorious, angelic being right behind her.

• 20:20Speaker 02

  I can't see it, but I'm just like, like, flummoxed a little. And I introduced myself. And I said, you know, I've never met you before. And she's like, no, I'm a visiting, like, a traveler. And I've just started. I said, you know, this is gonna sound really weird, but I dreamed about you. And she's like, oh, really? I said, yeah, I had a dream about you. And you were taking care of this baby. And behind you is this really, really, really big angel watching over you and guiding you.

• 21:03Speaker 02

  And now that I know that you were in the dream, this is, this was you in the dream, I know that this baby's gonna live. Like, this sounds crazy. I know it sounds crazy. And she just looked at me and she goes, "Don't sound crazy at all." I was so relieved, you know? She, she took it all in stride.

• 21:31Speaker 02

  Well, the baby was in the NICU for months. And of course, at that point, every shift, I'd say, you know, "How's the baby?" And they're like, "Oh, she's doing great." You know, and the gift was to see the baby going home, you know, and whole and wonderful. And afterwards, I'd say like on the holidays, we would get, NICU would get a card from the parents with the baby for a few years. So we got the treat of seeing a picture of this baby every year. Doing great, meeting milestones.

• 22:11Speaker 02

  So with Zio, it was kind of a cause and effect because if I didn't take him, that nurse in the dream told me my Zio wasn't gonna survive by medical means. And with this lovely baby, it wasn't the dream that created the chain of events, you know, it was, it was the waking decisions that were made that night. But the dream illuminated to me that indeed, there is a mystery, you know, and bigger forces at play.

• 23:07Glynn Washington?

  Thank you, thank you, thank you, Althea, for sharing your story with us. Althea is a Spooked listener who wrote in and shared her story. And if you have a story to share, make sure you drop us a line. [email protected]. The original score for this story was by Sudhi Watchpress. It was produced by Annie Nguyen.

• 23:51Glynn Washington?

  Now, spooksters, we walk this dark path together. Spooked Season 6, Spooked Swag, it awaits. SnapJudgment.org And remember, if you like your storytelling under the bright light of day, get the amazing, stupendous Snap Judgment Podcast. It's storytelling with a beat.

• 24:33Glynn Washington?

  Spook was created by the team that has been taught the three incantations for silence, except of course, from Mark Ristich. He insists on using pig Latin instead of Latin Latin. There's Anna Sussman, our chief spookster is Eliza Smith, Chris Hanrick, Annie Nguyen, Lauren Newsom, Leon Morimoto, Renzo Goryo, Taylor Decot, Davy Kim, Marissa Dodge, Zoe Fridnall, Tiffany D'Elisa, Anne Ford, Jacob Winnick, and Doug Stewart. The Spook theme song is by Pat Massey Miller. My name is Glynn Washington. And some will tell you that the light and the dark are a continuum, a spectrum, that in reality, one is the same as the other.

• 25:15Glynn Washington?

  This is a distortion, a trick they play for their own purposes. Know that you will always need an anchor. And this is why I advise to anyone who will listen to never, ever, never, ever, never, ever, ever, never. Turn out the lights.