Episode 78

You're listening to a Tinderfoot TV podcast.

Let's be honest, you've been a fan since day one, but now your merch has matured with you.

At Box Lunch, it's all the pop culture you love reimagined for your space, your style, and your life.

Think Marvel Mugs for your WFH setup, Elevated Disney fashion, Ghibli art prints, and so much more.

Plus, every $10 you spend helps donate a meal to someone in need through Feeding America.

So yeah, feel good gifts for yourself or your fandom crew.

Box Lunch, where pop culture meets purpose.

Find your store or shop now at boxlunch.com.

Hate waiting a week for the next episode of Radio Rental?

Subscribe to Tenderfoot Plus to get early access to episodes, ad-free listening, and bonus scary stories.

Visit TenderfootPlus.com for details.

The following podcast includes scary stories with content that could be triggering to some listeners.

Listener discretion is advised.

Take a break from the same old boring blockbusters and experience a new kind of movie night with Radio Rental.

At Radio Rental, our videos come to life in your living room, defy all logic and reasoning, and make you question your own reality.

This is not your ordinary video rental store.

At Radio Rental, we carry one-of-a-kind videos so frightening, so mind-bending, you won't be able to sleep at night.

You've gone.

Radio Rental.

Um, hello?

Hi, hi, welcome to Radio Rental.

Um, which I guess is actually a video rental shop.

There's an exclusive collection of tapes with true stories, all told by real people.

Sorry, this is probably really jarring for you.

Clearly, I'm not Terrence.

Uh, my name is Ed.

Ed Gary.

Hi, it's nice to meet you.

Sorry, I hope I'm doing this right.

I didn't have a lot of time to prepare.

I got this strange voicemail, actually, totally out of the blue.

Well, maybe it's better.

I'm just going to play it for you.

Hey, pal.

How's it going?

It's your very good friend Terry Carnation from work.

From like 31 years ago.

You remember me, don't you?

I worked a few cubicles down from you.

Back then, I wasn't going by Terry, I was going by Terrence.

Do you remember?

Of course you do.

We had such...

We had such great fun, big fun, all the laughs about all those

very specific jokes that we used to laugh about.

All the passionate discussions about all the local sports teams in...

whatever area that was in.

Remember that one joke we always loved.

Oh, that one always gets me.

Anywho, I need a little favor.

Now, when I tell you that I was surprised to get this voicemail, I mean, I haven't seen Terry since the day he packed up his cubicle and was escorted out by security.

And honestly, I'm just so honored to get this voicemail.

You know what I mean?

I didn't know that I made such an impression on him.

He always called me the wrong name at work,

to be clear.

And

oh,

maybe that's the joke that he's referencing,

right?

Oh, I never got it until now.

Maybe we were actually really close friends.

Awesome.

Anyway, Terrence,

Terry, he was just the coolest guy at the office.

Everybody loved him.

He had the best stories.

He had great hair.

Anyway, he's a super busy guy.

So I'm just happy to know that he's actually been thinking about me all these years and clearly, he deeply trusts me.

Anyway, Terry left some instructions on how to run the store for a little bit.

So let me just

see right here.

Pretty comprehensive.

Terrence always a comprehensive guy.

Then I think someone else is going to take over after me?

Huh?

Oh, hi.

Whoa,

I guess Terry left his cat too.

Hi.

Hi, kitty.

You know, I'm gonna be honest, I'm not much of a cat guy myself, but a friend of Terry's is a friend of mine.

Hi.

You kitty kitty?

Be good, kitty.

Okay.

Well, all right.

Reading through the instructions, I guess I just need to play you a couple of these tapes.

Cool.

I love movies.

So just

not anything scary or anything dark.

You know, as long as they're not scary or dark, then I am great.

Cause I love movies.

Okay.

Um,

all right, I guess this is the box here, and I am supposed to play you

this one.

Simple,

enjoy your radio rental.

happened in 2005.

Just finishing up high school, about to go to college.

I had a girlfriend at the time.

Routinely, we would fight quite a bit.

This specific night, I ended up going to a party with my girlfriend.

We sort of got into it again, just like a little spat, and I wasn't really feeling it.

I just said, you know, that's enough, enough.

So I decided to just like go home i wasn't drinking smoking none of that stuff and i immediately turned around and said you know what i'm just gonna go home so it's like pretty early in the night probably like 10 o'clock at night

i make my way home i go to my parents house the way my parents house is set up the garage opens up and then the driveway and then it's like an intersecting street and on the other side of the street is my neighbor's house.

And my whole life, I knew who lived in that house.

It was Miss Hawking's.

And some new family had moved into that house.

I'm in the garage.

I'm smoking a cigarette, kind of bummed out about the situation with my girlfriend that just happened.

I just look across the way.

You can see on the back of this house, there's this massive window, and you can see like a light on in the background through that window.

And I look over and I can see a silhouette of a human being.

Not a man, not a woman,

just a shadow of a human being.

The shadow is like

bouncing around erratically from side to side in this window.

Super erratically that it's almost like drawing attention to itself.

And I know who lives in that house at this time.

Miss Butler and her two children live in that house.

I'm thinking like, what the heck is going on?

Kind of stare stare at it for a little bit and then I sort of walk to the edge of my driveway and it's still doing this erratic movement behavior.

Quick ducking and weaving back and forth, back and forth.

I just started coming on.

Yo!

Hey!

Trying to get its attention.

I do this a couple times, and then all of a sudden,

the figure just stopped.

Dead in the center of that window.

Just stopped and stared at me.

And I say stare, but like there was no eyes.

I honestly wouldn't be able to tell you if that was the back of someone or if it was the front of somebody.

It doesn't move again.

It just stops.

So still.

It's almost like kind of off-putting how it just stayed there.

And I kind of back up into the garage.

I put my cigarette out.

And I close the garage door

and then I just start walking back into my parents' house and I kind of look over to my left one more time

and it's still there

just staring at me.

And then I go inside.

I go to bed.

The next morning I wake up.

I tell my mom basically what I saw last night in the garage and she didn't really think anything of it.

And then a week goes by

and she's at the grocery store and she talks to miss butler

and she tells miss butler oh ryan was out last friday night and basically saw this like weird shadow figure in the house and miss butler proceeds to tell my mother that

they weren't home that night they were at her mother's

her and the kids

And then she goes on to tell my mother that her and the kids are moving out of that house because

whatever room the kids are in, the twins, the doors are slamming shut, the lights are turning on and off, and the kids were speaking to something that wasn't there.

They are moving out because of the things that are happening with the children on such a frequent basis that she can't handle it anymore.

She said that's why she's not in the house on that Friday night.

She said they spend more time at her mom's house than they do in that own house.

She's so uncomfortable being in that house by herself with just the kids.

They got a split.

Two years later, I'm living in St.

John's, Newfoundland, and I'm going to college out there.

I've sort of forgot about this.

This has just become like some kind of story I tell at like a campfire.

Now I'm in the Havilla Mall with my friend Robert, and we're walking through the mall.

And all of a sudden, I see Miss Butler in this jewelry store.

I run up to her and I'm like, Miss Butler.

And she gives me a hug and she's like, hey, how's it going, Ryan?

How you been?

And I'm like, oh, I'm great.

I'm good.

And I'm like, we have to talk.

And she's like, we have to talk about what?

I'm like, we have to talk about what I saw in your house that night.

And she just kind of steps back.

And she goes like white in the face.

She didn't expect me to say that.

And that was the only thing I wanted to talk about.

She said, Ryan, I don't speak about that house ever to anyone.

And I told her, I said, I know, but I need to know what I saw that night.

She said, Ryan, I don't talk about that house.

I'm sorry.

I can't talk about that house.

I don't talk about that house at all anymore.

And I'm like, Miss Bother, I need to know what I saw in that house that night.

And she gets visibly upset and runs out of the mall and runs away from me.

And I've never seen her since.

I have no idea what I saw that night in the window.

The scariest part of the whole thing was her reaction.

Physically running away from me in the mall was bonkers.

It was such a traumatic experience for her and those kids in that house that she could not speak to me about what went on in that house.

It made me terrified.

I go home now.

If the sun is down, I don't look at that window.

I just walk straight into my parents' house.

I won't dare look left into that kitchen window ever again.

I always think I'm just gonna see that shadow again.

Terry, Terry, Terry, Terry, you are a joker.

You remembered that I hate anything remotely scary, and then you snuck that one in there as a

good old prank.

Good one there, buddy.

Thank you.

That was...

Whew.

Okay, I was.

I thought that was going to be like a

coming-of-age story at first or something like that.

Like a sweet girl next door love story.

Um,

yeah, it says here that we need to take a break for the ads.

Um,

I don't really know what that means, but let's do that.

Let's do the ads thing, uh, guys.

I could use a break.

Could you?

Let's.

Hopefully, we have a different kind of tape when we get back.

So,

yeah, then we'll be back after the ads here with a totally different kind of tape.

Sorry about that.

Roll the ads?

As a young adult, finding the right path to your future can feel overwhelming.

It starts with Year Up United's tuition-free job training program, Career Pathways.

If you're without a bachelor's degree, but have a high school diploma or GED, you can get skills-first training to succeed in the industries you're passionate about, all while earning a weekly education stipend to offset basic expenses.

From there, you'll have access to internships and hands-on experiences with Fortune 500 companies.

And with Year Up United's job placement services and personalized coaching and mentorship, you can put your knowledge, skills, and most importantly, confidence into practice.

Apply to Year Up United today.

and take the first step toward achieving the career you want.

Visit yearup.org to learn more.

You ever fake like you know someone just to get out of an awkward situation?

One time I was at a gas station and this guy was giving serious stranger danger energy.

I spotted a woman walking out of the store, made eye contact, and just blurted out, oh my gosh, hey, like we were long lost friends.

Bless her, she played along.

We chatted just long enough for him to leave.

I owe her my life, or at least a copy.

Point is, the unexpected happens fast, and I want to be sharp, focused, and ready, which is why I'm never skipping my cachava shake.

It's a whole body meal packed with 85 plus superfoods, nutrients, and plant-based ingredients that keeps me feeling energized and clear-headed.

And the new strawberry flavor, it's a game changer.

Real freeze-dried strawberries, creamy texture, zero junk.

Just seriously delicious fuel.

I've also been loving the vanilla and coconut acai, but this strawberry one, sweet, refreshing, and somehow still a full meal.

I blend mine with a splash of oat milk and frozen berries.

It's fast, smooth, and keeps me going for hours.

So yeah, no cold plunges, no weird routines, just good nutrition that's ready when I am.

You've never tasted strawberry like this, go to cachava.com and use code RADIORNTLE for 15% off your order.

That's cachava, k-a-c-h-av-v-a.com, code radio rental for 15% off.

The process of accepting insurance outside of a group practice can be tough, but most people looking for mental health care want to use their benefits to pay for sessions.

If you're interested in seeing clients through insurance, Alma can help.

They make it easy to get credentialed with major insurance plans at enhanced reimbursement rates.

They also handle all the paperwork, from eligibility checks to claim submissions, and guarantee payment within two weeks.

Plus, when you join Alma, you'll get access to time-saving tools for intake, scheduling, treatment plans, progress notes, and more in their included platform.

So you can spend less time on administrative work and more time offering great care to your clients.

Visit helloalma.com to get started.

That's hello ALMA.com.

We're back from the ads.

That was fun.

Okay.

So let's see here.

This is the next tape.

Here, supposedly.

Let's hope this one is a little different.

Am I right?

Come on, Terry, give us something fun.

Raunchy comedy, maybe.

Yeah, I'd like for it to be a a raunchy comedy.

Let's roll the raunchy comedy, please.

My husband and I had been married about three years.

We had moved back to West Virginia from Tennessee.

It was me, my husband, and our one-year-old daughter, and I was about seven months pregnant with my son.

We were laying in bed playing a video game one night and we had no air conditioning in the house so we had our window open with a box fan in it.

We heard some arguing going on outside so my husband went to check on it.

He said it's probably just some drunk people.

Why don't you call 911 and we'll get them out of here so that way they won't come further into our yard.

I called and the operator said that they would send someone out and the officer would come talk to us after they had gotten the people out of our yard.

We laid there for a little while longer and we didn't hear anything anymore.

We never heard anything from the police.

So we just kind of moved on with our night.

A few moments later, my husband starts hearing the neighbor's dog bark.

And he's not one to bark at a lot of things.

He's used to people and larger animals and things like that.

But this bark sounded different.

So my husband went out back to check to see what was going on.

He

heard the dog barking in a way that just wasn't normal for him.

He sounded almost scared.

He was looking behind one of our buildings in the backyard and he was jumping backwards while he was barking at them.

My husband was like, okay, it must be like a really large animal, maybe like a bear or something.

Or it could be one of the drunk people has wandered up into our yard.

So he came back in and he asked me to call 911 again.

And they said,

well, we've already sent someone out there, so we're not going to send anyone again.

There's probably nothing out there.

So we just kind of left it alone.

My husband went back out to double check that there was no one messing around in our buildings.

And he saw a figure run from behind one building on one side of our yard to behind another building on the other side of our yard.

And he thought to himself, that looks human.

Looked too big to be an animal, but he thought maybe it might be too small to be a person.

Maybe we should call the police again.

About that time, he heard this growl.

It didn't sound human.

It didn't sound like any animal that we'd ever heard of before.

He came back inside.

He said, it doesn't sound human.

And it doesn't sound like an animal.

And I said, so you mean it sounds demonic?

And he said, that's it.

He grabbed his gun.

He was like, I don't know what's in our our yard, but I need you to go ahead and call 911 again because it could be a person or could be a bear and we're going to need some help.

Someone or something is in our yard.

I'm not really sure what it is.

I call 911 and I walk into the kitchen where the back door was with him.

He's got the gun in his hand and he's looking and he sees this figure walking toward us.

toward our back door slowly and creepy with its head head cocked to the side.

My husband thought that that meant the person had a gun and was aiming it at him.

So he just kind of stood there for a minute and was watching.

At this point, we could tell that it was definitely human, and it was just walking very slowly toward us.

My husband was watching it while I was on the phone arguing with 911.

As the figure got closer, he said, they don't have a gun.

And then he just went quiet.

He was just staring at this figure.

The 911 operator is like, we've already sent someone out there.

We're not going to send someone again.

You got to stop calling us.

And I hanged up.

I'm talking to my husband.

I'm like, close the door.

Move away from there.

If they're coming up this way, you've got time to close the door.

And he was like hypnotized almost.

He was unresponsive to me.

So I ran over to him and I grabbed him and pulled him away.

And I slammed the door shut and locked it right as this person was reaching up to grab the door.

We could make out that it was human-like and female,

but it was so dark that it just looked like a black figure.

But we could tell that it was female because of the long hair and like the outline.

The way she's growling, she might be able to knock that door down.

What should we do if that happens?

My husband has the gun point at the door the whole time.

She's growling, she's scratching, she's shaking the door, trying to get in.

I was freaking out and shaking.

We walk back into the living room where my daughter was sleeping and we're talking about what needs to be done.

She's scratching at the door.

and she's growling.

911 has told me that they're not going to send anyone else.

I walk over to check on my daughter.

I put my hand on her to make sure she's okay and sleeping well.

The growling had stopped.

Everything fell silent.

So we're just standing there waiting for the next thing to happen.

And I look up and straight ahead of me, I can look out that open window in our bedroom.

And I see this figure walking back and forth.

It starts growling and then it starts clawing and scratching at the screen while it's growling at me.

We both just stand there watching.

I'm panicking.

I need to figure out a way to grab my baby, run upstairs or out the door or something in case this thing can get into our house.

I turn to my husband and I say, hun, you have to call that officer that you did the ride-along with last month.

So he calls this person.

He's in the northern part of the state.

He's like, I will be there as soon as I can.

At this point, this figure had moved away from our bedroom window around our house to our front door, where she was still scratching and growling and trying to beat the door down.

We're standing there, we're listening to this.

I'm prepared to run with my baby if necessary,

and it all gets silent.

You could hear a pin drop.

There was no noise at all.

Did she leave?

What happened?

And we look at each other

and then we see the police lights pull up into the driveway.

The officer that my husband had called went to the girl who was on our front porch who had been clawing and growling.

And his partner came inside to talk to us.

And he's like, when we pulled up, she was passed out on your porch.

We had concrete stairs going up to the porch and her head was on the top stair and her body was on the porch.

She had just passed out.

It was like mid-claw.

She just fell.

It took a while for them to get her to come to.

They had to like rub her sternum.

They talked to her and she said that she had no idea where she was.

She thought that she was three towns over and she was trying to get into her own house.

The other officer gets her in the back of the car.

They come and tell us she must have been high on bath salts.

So we're gonna take her to the hospital, let the high wear off of her, and then they would take her back home.

Have a good night.

We, however, think that she was demon-possessed.

That growl was just so

not human, not animalistic in any way.

I felt like we were in a horror movie.

She was absolutely possessed as far as we are concerned.

Are you kidding me, Terry?

Hell no.

No, that was even

more unsettling than the first tape.

Don't, don't, don't do that, kitty.

Don't just don't, don't, don't make that sound right now.

It's, well,

am I crazy or is this cat doing that on purpose?

Is this even his cat?

Where?

Whose cat is this?

All right, let's, um, let's take another break for the ads.

The ads is fun.

I've, I've had just about enough.

The process of accepting insurance outside of a group practice can be tough, but most people looking for mental health care want to use their benefits to pay for sessions.

If you're interested in seeing clients through insurance, Alma can help.

They make it easy to get credentialed with major insurance plans at enhanced reimbursement rates.

They also handle all the paperwork from eligibility checks to claim submissions and guarantee payment within two weeks.

Plus, when you join Alma, you'll get access to time-saving tools for intake, scheduling, treatment plans, progress notes, and more in their included platform.

So you can spend less time on administrative work and more time offering great care to your clients.

Visit helloalma.com to get started.

That's hello ALMA.com.

Ready to level up?

Chumba Casino is your playbook to fun.

It's free to play with no purchase necessary.

Enjoy hundreds of online social games like Blackjack, Slots, and Solitaire, anytime, anywhere, with fresh releases every week.

Whether you are at home or on the go, let Chumba Casino bring the excitement to you.

Plus, get free daily login bonuses and a free welcome bonus.

Join now for your chance to redeem some serious prizes.

Play Chumba Casino today.

No purchase necessary, VGW Group, Voidboard prohibited by Law 21 Plus.

TNCs apply.

Have you been enjoying your summer?

I know I have.

Sure, it's hot out, but it doesn't get much better than beach trips, barbecues, and bathing in the sun.

Just make sure you apply that sunscreen so you don't get burned.

And while you're at it, take a look at your phone bill because chances are you're getting burned there too.

It seemed like every year my phone bill kept creeping up in price with no warning and no improvements in service.

But that all changed when I made the switch to Mint Mobile a couple years ago.

With Mint, I'm getting better coverage and faster speeds at half the cost of what I was paying before.

Make the switch to Mint Mobile.

This year, skip breaking a sweat and breaking the bank.

Get this new customer offer and your three-month unlimited wireless plan for just $15 a month at

slash tenderfoot.

That's mintmobile.com slash tenderfoot.

Upfront payment of $45 required, equivalent to $15 a month.

Limited time new customer offer for first three months only.

Speeds may slow above 35 gigabytes on unlimited plan.

Taxes and fees extra.

See Mint Mobile for details.

Hey, hey guys, we're back from the ad.

Sorry.

As you can see, I'm just packing up here because

I got an urgent call.

My sister is having a baby right now.

I was just called to help her with the birth and that's really important.

So I got to go deliver a baby.

So what can you do?

Anyway, sorry to do this to you and to Terry, to leave so suddenly.

I really like Terry and all, but I also...

really don't know the guy.

And now that I think about it, his stories at work were really off

and he was really selfish when it came to the communal office snacks.

That really, really bothered me.

Anyway, I'm going to head out early.

I'm going to text Terry.

I'll let him know the whole baby thing and me delivering.

And so just if you follow these instructions right there on the clipboard, you could lock up.

Right.

You know your way around, I'm sure.

And yeah, I'm sure someone else will be here next week.

Don't know who, don't care.

Yeah, so see you around.

This is Radio Rental and yeah, bye forever.

Forever.

Radio Rental is created by Payne Lindsay and brought to you by Tenderfoot TV.

Showrunner is Meredith Stedman.

Lead producer is Eric Quintana.

Executive producers are Payne Lindsay and Donald Albright.

Our main host is Rain Wilson as his character, Terry Carnation.

Written by Meredith Stedman.

Additional writing by Mark Lachlan.

Original score by Makeup and Vanity Set with additional score by Jay Ragsdale.

Editing by Eric Quintana, Steven Perez, Meredith Stedman, Tristan Bankston, and Sean Nerny.

Sound design mix and master by Steven Perez and Cooper Skinner.

Additional editing by April Ruha and Dayton Cole.

Our production manager is Jordan Foxworthy.

Our social media manager is Caroline Orogema.

Video editing by Dylan Harrington.

Cover artwork by Trevor Eiler and Rob Sheridan.

Radio Rental Merchandise by Byron McCoy.

To shop Radio Rental Merch, visit shop.tenderfoot.tv.

Special thanks to Orin Rosenbaum and the team at UTA, as well as the Nord Group and the team at Odyssey.

If you have a Radio Rental story that you'd like to share, please email us at yourscarystory at gmail.com or contact us via the form on our website, radiorentalusa.com.

Follow us on Instagram at Radio Rental.

On behalf of the Radio Rental store, we'd love it if you'd subscribe, rate, and review.

As always, thanks for listening.

Mike and Alyssa are always trying to outdo each other.

When Alyssa got a small water bottle, Mike showed up with a four-liter junk.

When Mike started gardening, Alyssa started beekeeping.

Oh, come on.

They called a truce for their holiday and used Expedia Trip Planner to collaborate on all the details of their trip.

Once there, Mike still did more laps around the pool.

Whatever.

You were made to outdo your holidays.

We were made to help organize the competition.

Expedia, made to travel.