Episode 77

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Speaker 6 My name is Ed. Everyone say hello, Ed.

Speaker 6 I'm from a very rural background myself. My dad is a farmer, and my mom is a cousin.
So like, it's not like.

Speaker 7 What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? I know it sounds like the start of a bad joke, but that really was my reality nine years ago.

Speaker 6 I just normally do straight stand-up, but this is a bit different.

Speaker 7 On stage stood a comedian with a story that no one expected to hear.

Speaker 6 On the 22nd of July, 2015, a 23-year-old man had killed his family.

Speaker 2 And then

Speaker 6 he came to my house.

Speaker 7 So what do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? A new podcast called Wisecrack, where stand-up comedy and murder take center stage. Available now.

Speaker 7 Listen to Wisecrack on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 2 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.

Speaker 2 Visit tenderfootplus.com for details.

Speaker 9 The following podcast includes scary stories with content that could be triggering to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

Speaker 2 Take a break from the same old boring blockbusters and experience a new kind of movie night with Radio Rental.

Speaker 2 At Radio Rental, our videos come to life in your living room, defy all logic and reasoning, and make you question your own reality.

Speaker 2 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.

Speaker 2 You've gone. Radio Rental.

Speaker 2 Hello?

Speaker 2 Hello?

Speaker 2 Lock the door behind you.

Speaker 2 Thank you.

Speaker 2 Down here, I'm down here. Under the counter.
Hi, hi, just lean over. It's me.
It's me, Terry.

Speaker 2 And you're at Radio Rental, a video rental shop with a collection of the most horrific stories you've ever heard, all told by real people.

Speaker 2 And speaking of horrific stories, something very, very bad is going on here at Radio Rental. Honestly, I don't think you should even be here.
I...

Speaker 2 Don't pick it up. Don't touch it.
Leave it unplugged.

Speaker 2 Dear customer, you see, I am being stalked. I'm sure of it.
And this time I'm not crying, wolf.

Speaker 2 There's strange figures lurking around the store at all hours, and my phone rings, but then when I pick it up, no one is there.

Speaker 2 It sounds like a... It's like a man with long COVID.
Just so much profuse, heavy breathing. Could really use some mouth tape, if you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 I mean, normally, I would find this all very flattering. If not even a little arousing.
I mean, I'm used to adoring fans, as you know. I am Terry Carnation, for fuck's sake.

Speaker 2 I mean, I don't mean to be self-absorbed, but I'm a kind of a... Well, kind of a sex symbol in my industry.

Speaker 2 I'm basically the Rock Hudson of the AM late-night radio set.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I'm a pretty big deal.

Speaker 2 More like Mr. Bean, you say? Oh, how dare you? I'm nothing like Mr.
Bean.

Speaker 2 I mean, I adore that beloved English silent buffoon, but I look nothing like him.

Speaker 2 I hope the stalker gets you, Malachi. I really do.
You deserve it. You could benefit from some healthy adversity in your life, frankly.

Speaker 2 Lack resilience. Grit, as the psychologists call it.
You should listen to Angela Duckworth's seminal TED Talk on grit.

Speaker 2 But you won't. No.

Speaker 2 You'll just watch a moth in the screen all night.

Speaker 2 Idiot.

Speaker 2 Anyway, anyway, customer, how about you crouch down here with me? I know you're here to enjoy one of my scary stories from my exclusive collection of tapes.

Speaker 2 But I have the box right down here with me and the VCR and even some snacks. But come on back, come on down.
It's very cozy. I'm sure I could live like this forever.
My legs might atrophy,

Speaker 2 but I will have as many milk duds as I please because I've got a stalker and that's the unwritten rule.

Speaker 2 Okay, what are we gonna play? What tape shall we play? What tape shall we play? Oh, here's a gnarly one.

Speaker 2 Here we go.

Speaker 1 In the early 2000s, I was about 25 years old.

Speaker 1 I had a full-time job. I was doing pretty well, so I had some extra funds.

Speaker 1 I was always into motocross and dirt bikes. My best friend, Michael, he was just about in the same part of life as I was, and we both decided to go in and buy brand new bikes.

Speaker 1 I had been doing it my whole life. He wanted to get into it.
He rode a little, but he wasn't really great. But I helped him become a much better rider.
Every weekend we'd be on a different track.

Speaker 1 The times that we weren't racing, we'd be finding spots to practice at. All over the place.
There were illegal spots. There was a website, actually.

Speaker 1 It had hundreds of different places to ride, and most of them were illegal. They don't advertise that at all anymore.
But back then, it was all good.

Speaker 1 So we would find these different places, and then we'd go, we'd travel, we'd seek them out, and most of them were really cool. Have a really, really good time.

Speaker 1 As the summer wore on, we found this one spot. It was about 45 minutes outside of Manhattan.

Speaker 1 It was like an overgrown old amusement park.

Speaker 1 There was like rides, all broken up, just pieces still left there. It was in business in the 70s and 80s, I think.
But it was just shut down. It was like a swamp back there, too.

Speaker 1 So it was like built on this shaky ground kind of. So they just left it to rot.
Most of it was still back there.

Speaker 1 We read that you could ride guard bikes back there. we went one particular Saturday and we went early in the morning, all serious, full gear and everything like that.

Speaker 1 We look at where the track is. There's a track there and it's defined and we look through the whole thing before we start riding.

Speaker 1 I want to see how it goes, where it is, so we know how you know the layout of it. So we do that.

Speaker 1 We walk the whole thing, we come back, we get our gear on, and then we start ripping laps around the whole thing. And it's fun.
We're having a good time. It's just the two of us.
Nobody's there yet.

Speaker 1 As we're there,

Speaker 1 we're hearing this phone ring

Speaker 1 the entire time.

Speaker 1 It would stop.

Speaker 1 20 minutes later, you'd hear it again.

Speaker 1 That old Nokia ring, like that original ring that everybody knows.

Speaker 1 Where is that coming from? It sounded like it was right next to us.

Speaker 1 And we'd look for it and it would stop. It couldn't find it.

Speaker 1 And I pointed it out to him.

Speaker 1 Somebody's here with us. We're on somebody's property or something.

Speaker 1 It's kind of freaky. Maybe somebody lost a phone here.

Speaker 1 Or there's other people here that we're not seeing because the place is totally overgrown.

Speaker 1 It was when we would stop, like go take a break, get some water. We would hear it again.

Speaker 1 I mean, it was continuous.

Speaker 1 We'd take a couple of laps, come back in 20, 30 minutes, and it'd be ringing again.

Speaker 1 And then you get like right near it, thinking like you're going to zero in on where it is and and it would stop.

Speaker 2 Just freaky, really.

Speaker 1 You knew something was off.

Speaker 1 Like, what the fuck is this? What is that? Where is that coming from? Driving is crazy.

Speaker 1 And we couldn't find it. I just assumed, honestly, if it wasn't anybody coming to make themselves known, that somebody must have lost their phone in the bushes somewhere.

Speaker 1 People must hang out here and somebody must have dropped their phone.

Speaker 1 So the day wears on.

Speaker 1 And we're riding and the place starts to get crowded now. Other people start rolling and some bands roll up.
These guys, like, know how to drive in. They must be the regulars there.

Speaker 1 You know, this is our first time there. I don't know how it works or anything like that.
We parked across the street in like a shopping center and walked the bikes across the street.

Speaker 1 These were like thuggish dudes that roll up and have no respect for the direction of things, and it's getting kind of dangerous. Guys going the wrong way, nobody's wearing helmets.

Speaker 1 But we continue to ride, and everything was cool, honestly, with those guys too.

Speaker 1 Until he had the head-on with the guy,

Speaker 1 there's a jump like one good jump in the whole place and we were hitting it all morning

Speaker 1 as you hit the jump it's kind of like a skinny landing and it happened it was a hard left turn right after that

Speaker 1 michael hits the jump after me i make it i come back around

Speaker 1 As he's going to land, that guy's coming the other way on a four-wheeler and he hits him just as he lands, like right into the front of the guy.

Speaker 1 And then that breaks out into an all-out brawl.

Speaker 1 I roll up, I drop my bike, and I walk over there.

Speaker 2 I'm like, yo, chill, be cool, calm down, you know, all that.

Speaker 1 And then the fucking phone is ringing as I'm waking this up.

Speaker 1 Phone is ringing continuously as these two guys are fighting.

Speaker 1 Stopping and starting again, like four times.

Speaker 1 Somebody wasn't giving up on the other end.

Speaker 1 Full series of rings, five rings,

Speaker 1 and it would just stop.

Speaker 1 And then it would start again immediately right after.

Speaker 1 And they're yelling back and forth, and the phone is ringing. I'm like, whoa, what the fuck happened here? You know?

Speaker 1 Finally, break it all down. Everybody calms down and the phone stops ringing too about the same time.

Speaker 1 I'm talking to Michael. I sit him down.
He's banged up, beating stitches.

Speaker 1 I'm like, dude, relax. I'm like, I'm going to take you to the hospital.
I'm going to collect the rest of this shit here and then we'll get out of here.

Speaker 1 I'm looking around.

Speaker 1 I hear that phone again, But now it's like really close.

Speaker 1 I'm collecting pieces of the bike, his pads that he was wearing, like the visor from his helmet, all broken up, all over.

Speaker 1 I'm just tossing him back to where he's sitting, finding things because I want to get out of there quick before something else happens with these dudes.

Speaker 1 I go to grab the final piece of the bike that I see while the phone is ringing.

Speaker 1 As I reach my hand in the bushes and look down,

Speaker 1 and I go to grab this last piece,

Speaker 1 I brush against two shoes connected to legs in the bushes

Speaker 1 as if somebody was laying on their belly

Speaker 2 like what the fuck

Speaker 2 the phone is ringing coming right from that

Speaker 1 and I'm like Michael we got to get the fuck out of here now

Speaker 1 He's like, why? What's the matter? What's I'm like I'll tell you later. I'm like get up get your bike He's like take your shit We got to get out of here right fucking now.
Let's go

Speaker 1 And that's what we did wheeled his bike out of there he had to push it it was all fucked up i pushed mine too holding all of his stuff and then we got out of there

Speaker 1 i'm like michael there's a fucking dead guy in the bushes

Speaker 1 like that phone that we were hearing that's a dead guy in the bushes laying on his stomach I fucking saw him. He's wearing a black suit and black shoes.
I was right next to him.

Speaker 1 I'm like, that's a fucking dead guy in there.

Speaker 1 He's like, we should call the cops. I'm like, no, I think we should call him now.
I I think we should get the fuck out of here first and then call them, you know, later.

Speaker 1 And that's what we did.

Speaker 1 Went back and I waited a little while and thought of what to say and we called them anonymously.

Speaker 1 I was nervous.

Speaker 1 I told them where it was and they knew the area completely.

Speaker 1 So we were back there exploring and we kept hearing the phone ringing and eventually we found out where it was ringing from.

Speaker 1 There was a dead guy in the the bushes.

Speaker 1 We tried to get our names and all of that, like many times. And I just, we just hung out.

Speaker 1 We wanted to go back days later and like see if it was roped off with police tape and all that, but we didn't go.

Speaker 1 Felt like I did a good deed though, honestly, reporting it.

Speaker 1 I told my dad about it. I'm like, dad, we found a dead guy.
There was a phone ringing and we found a dead guy in the bushes and we were riding. He's like, what? Like, yeah.
We talked about it.

Speaker 1 I called the police and I told him where it was and that was the end of it. He's like, did you give him your name? I'm like, no.
He's like, I didn't know what to do.

Speaker 1 I said, just, we've made an anonymous call. And he's like, you really should have given your name.
I'm like, no, I didn't want to get mixed up in that.

Speaker 1 But I guess he started reading the paper and, you know, he knew and he started following it more too because I told him.

Speaker 1 He found an article about it.

Speaker 1 He found an article about the body that was found, the guy's identity, who he was, who he was related to, and how his family had been looking for him for the last three or four days prior to that.

Speaker 1 It said that he was found by kids or something that were exploring the property in there, something like that. An anonymous phone call.

Speaker 1 He was a gangster that was missing for like three or four days. And he was out there in the weeds.

Speaker 1 Nobody knew he was there. We found him.

Speaker 1 That was like a spot where they would dump gangsters. The early 2000s.
A lot of that stuff was probably still going on. You know, all those guys weren't in jail yet or in other businesses.

Speaker 1 He was shot to death. So I guess if we turned him over, we would have seen bullet wounds up his front.

Speaker 1 He was shot to death and he was left dead there.

Speaker 1 I think it's very New York in my eyes. That's what it is.
Or how New York used to be.

Speaker 1 I'm sure there was others there too.

Speaker 1 It was big enough where nobody would ever find it.

Speaker 1 Fucking crazy Saturday.

Speaker 2 Wow, unbelievable. Imagine going out for a serene day of dirt biking and having to deal with that.
Wild.

Speaker 2 Also, why does anyone dirt bike?

Speaker 2 Why would you want to ride your bike on dirt when there's pavement?

Speaker 2 Certainly, surely nearby.

Speaker 2 Anyway, wild stuff, wild stuff.

Speaker 2 You know, I get it. It's tempting to want to be involved in the mafia.
A strong male friend group, beautiful women.

Speaker 2 Spaghetti.

Speaker 2 But I mean, had they not seen Goodfellas, Scarface, Godfather, Godfather 2, my favorite Godfather Part 3. It never works out, people.

Speaker 2 Except on Ibrasco.

Speaker 2 You locked the door, right? Okay, good, good, good, good.

Speaker 2 Oh,

Speaker 2 that story really set me on edge. Let's take a little break for ads.
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Speaker 2 Okay, we're back.

Speaker 2 Unfortunately, in a prison of my own making.

Speaker 2 It seems my

Speaker 2 charisma and natural pheromones have attracted a stalker.

Speaker 2 I probably should have seen this coming. I should have hired security.
Look,

Speaker 2 if they break in, I'm going to offer you up as a sacrifice. Sorry, I just don't know you that well.
So thanks for being so cool about it.

Speaker 2 Oh,

Speaker 2 oh, God.

Speaker 2 So unsettling.

Speaker 2 I can't call the police. You know full well I have some tax

Speaker 2 situations.

Speaker 2 You know what? Let's just plug in another tape, shall we?

Speaker 2 Ooh, ha ha ha. Ooh, this one is fitting.
Yes, I'll pop it in.

Speaker 2 Here, have a lemon head.

Speaker 2 Have a flaming hot milk dud.

Speaker 2 Everything is flaming hot these days.

Speaker 2 Flamin' hot cottage cheese.

Speaker 2 Flamin' hot orange juice.

Speaker 2 Have a flaming hot rice cake.

Speaker 2 You know what's flaming hot? My anus

Speaker 2 after eating all those flaming hot snacks.

Speaker 17 I'm from a small town in Utah.

Speaker 17 In this small town, one of my family friends had opened up a survival store. and needed a employee.

Speaker 17 Because we were family friends, my dad thought me, a 15-year-old needing a job, going into high school, would be a great fit.

Speaker 17 I was his first employee. And being the first employee and the only employee, he slowly let me have responsibility there, even at 15.

Speaker 17 I was there by myself quite a bit after being trained. It wasn't super popular.
So a lot of the time I was just sitting on my phone or behind the register.

Speaker 17 One of the days, I was sitting behind the counter. It was about half an hour until close.
And at that point, most of of the time, no one's coming in.

Speaker 17 I was geared up, ready to shut down shop until I heard the dingle of the doorbell.

Speaker 17 I kind of looked up.

Speaker 17 Most people would kind of peek their heads in or just kind of look inside as it was new on the main street and just give a wave or whatever.

Speaker 17 A man walked in.

Speaker 17 White hair, but not elderly, just a little bit older.

Speaker 17 And he came in and I kind of waved at him and said, hey, welcome to the store.

Speaker 17 let me know if you need anything he just kind of nodded and looked at me and came in and started browsing around and I kind of watched him and surveyed him as he went around but still kind of occupied with my phone

Speaker 17 every once in a while I would poke my head over to look and see where he was at or what he was doing and every time I would do that his eyes met mine

Speaker 17 Every time I would look over the counter, he was looking right back at me.

Speaker 17 Customers would do that when they need my attention but he was just looking at me from different spots in the store over and over

Speaker 17 it felt off it felt creepy it gave me chills when i would look up and see him looking right at me he was looking at me more than the average customer would

Speaker 17 so after a few times of him staring at me and looking at me i kind of called out to him and said is there anything i can help you with is there anything you need he just said no no i've i'm you know i found what i'm looking for walked over to the cash register and he came up and had a fistful handful of things that he had grabbed from the shelves.

Speaker 17 And this is a survival camping store, so there was an array of a ton of items. And the things that he laid down

Speaker 17 was a thing of paracord, a fire starter, and zip ties.

Speaker 17 It was a little strange to see all three of those things.

Speaker 17 Those things to me didn't really coincide. I try to make some casual conversation with him as he's setting his stuff down, like, oh man, you know, what brings you in today?

Speaker 17 And he said, well, I was just walking on Main Street when I saw your store and I saw you sitting behind the glass and you seemed friendly.

Speaker 17 So I thought I'd come in and there were a few things that I needed. And I said, wow, well, that's great.
I'm glad that we could have the stuff you need. We're glad that you're in.

Speaker 17 While we were checking out, he started asking me some questions, some regular questions most people would ask, asking me how old I was. And I told him, you know, I'm 15, about to be 16.

Speaker 17 He said, well, do you live around here? And I said, yeah, you know, I just live in the next town over.

Speaker 17 It got kind of weird when he told me, you're a good-looking fit young man. Do you play any sports?

Speaker 17 Most people don't ask, you know, oh, you look really good. Do you do sports, especially as like a 15-year-old? I said, yeah, you know, I play basketball.

Speaker 1 I run track.

Speaker 17 But I really like to sing. That's like my thing.

Speaker 17 I've always been into the arts.

Speaker 17 and he said really and his expression lit up

Speaker 17 said well i'm a professor at a college in nevada right next door and we have a really good choir program i know the director you should come to the college and i can give you a tour

Speaker 17 and that's when he gave me a card he gave me a card with his name and had like his instagram handle on the back

Speaker 17 I didn't know what to say. I mean, I'm 15.
College is not even on my radar. I just barely kind of came out of junior high.
This is my about to go in like my first year of high school.

Speaker 17 I just kind of told him, you know, no, thank you. I appreciate it.
Not really looking for that right now.

Speaker 17 His expression changed immediately. He went from like a super high to the lowest low.

Speaker 17 He was

Speaker 17 smiling and had a gleam in his eye. And it's like he went dull.

Speaker 17 He didn't say another word.

Speaker 17 He grabbed his bag and stormed out the door right to his truck that was parked on Main Street, right behind my truck that was also on Main Street, the white pickup truck, and sped off.

Speaker 17 This was super weird. This was really awkward.
Made me kind of uncomfortable with some of those questions and how he was watching me in the store.

Speaker 17 The interaction worried me enough that I called my boss. My boss just said, hey, don't worry.
I'm too far away to come check in on you, but you can close up early. I know there's only 15 minutes left.

Speaker 17 Just take your stuff down and you can go home.

Speaker 17 Flipped the sign shut, locked the door, and got in my truck and drove home.

Speaker 17 I didn't really think much of it after that. I kind of told my parents about it when I got home.
I think I told my dad, but that was it

Speaker 17 until later that night.

Speaker 17 I had a girlfriend at the time. I wasn't allowed to have my cell phone in my room, but what we did did have was landlines.

Speaker 17 No one used them, but I would sneak it into my room and call my girlfriend at night and we would just talk all night long.

Speaker 17 It was a night like any other.

Speaker 17 Snuck the phone in my room. At about midnight, I called her.
We were on the phone. We were chatting.

Speaker 17 When you talk that much back and forth, your mouth can get kind of dry. You get that cotton mouth.
And so at about three in the morning, I said, Cheyenne, I got to run upstairs and get some water.

Speaker 17 At the same time, I'm going to check, make sure my parents are asleep.

Speaker 17 I crept up our wooden stairs, got up to the top.

Speaker 17 And to the left of the stairs is a living room where my siblings, they would often just sleep in the living room. They would love to have sleepovers in there.

Speaker 17 And my parents, when they were doing that, would keep their door open that was just left of the living room. I could see in there and I saw both my parents sleeping.
I could hear my dad snoring.

Speaker 17 Okay, they're asleep. They're not listening to me.
I'm going to get my water and get back downstairs.

Speaker 17 I get down to my room. I'm the only one in the basement.
I shut my door. I get on my bed and pull my phone out from under the pillow and I say, hey, I'm back.

Speaker 17 Cheyenne said, whatever you're doing, it's not funny.

Speaker 18 I'm not falling for this joke.

Speaker 17 I was confused. I didn't know what she was talking about.

Speaker 17 What do you mean I'm not funny? What's what's not funny?

Speaker 18 And she said, I know you've been down here the whole time.

Speaker 18 I know you never left your room.

Speaker 17 I was now even more confused. I didn't know what she was talking about.
And said, no, I'm pretty sure I remember going upstairs and getting water.

Speaker 17 Why would I make that up?

Speaker 18 She said, you didn't get me. I'm not scared, and it's not funny.

Speaker 17 And I said, I wasn't trying to scare you. What are you talking about?

Speaker 17 And she said,

Speaker 18 Then who's laughing in the room?

Speaker 18 Who's on your phone laughing or breathing?

Speaker 18 It has to be you.

Speaker 17 I then thought that she was playing a prank on me. She's trying to freak me out.
She kind of had that sense of humor. I said, no, you're messing with me.
Like, it's not funny to me.

Speaker 17 I don't find this funny. And she said, you really weren't downstairs.

Speaker 18 You weren't in your room.

Speaker 17 And I said, no, I was not.

Speaker 17 And she said, well, if it's not you,

Speaker 2 then there's someone in your room.

Speaker 18 Someone was on that phone. Someone was laughing.
There's someone in your room.

Speaker 17 And then she started crying.

Speaker 17 At that point, I knew it was real. And so I flipped on my lights.
I jumped out of bed. And I have a closet that's open.
There's no doors. So I kind of moved all my clothes around in there.

Speaker 17 They were hanging up and there was nothing. Checked under my bed as much as I could.
There was nothing.

Speaker 17 Then I thought anyone could have left my room. And so I started searching the basement, turning the lights on.
There's no one in the laundry room. I checked our bathroom down here, there was nothing.

Speaker 17 And there's one other place that I hadn't checked, and that's the kitchen that we didn't use. There was a kitchen downstairs, and it had a back door and a window.

Speaker 17 And it was mostly filled with junk, just kind of a storage space almost.

Speaker 17 And as I started going towards the kitchen, I got a chill.

Speaker 17 The hairs on my arms stood up, and I realized that the downstairs downstairs window was open.

Speaker 17 And that window's never open.

Speaker 17 I walk over to go shut the window.

Speaker 17 And that's when I see one of the three landline phones laying in the windowsill.

Speaker 17 I mean, I lost it. I didn't know what to.
I was freaking out. I thought.

Speaker 17 There is someone inside of our house.

Speaker 17 This is not right. There's no one else up.
This was not open earlier. I don't know where this phone even was, but now it's on the windowsill.
No one would leave this here.

Speaker 17 I'm the only one that uses these landline phones, and it's to call my girlfriend in the middle of the night.

Speaker 17 I shut that window, grabbed the phone, and ran upstairs. Ran straight into my dad's room and woke him up.

Speaker 17 I didn't care about how it was going to sound if I was on the phone, which was my biggest worry when I was 15.

Speaker 17 Woke my dad up. I said, there's someone here.
There's someone in the house.

Speaker 17 There's someone in our house. I don't know where this person is.

Speaker 17 So he got up out of bed, kind of just said, what are you talking about? I just was explaining myself over and over. And he said, okay, well, let's go check.
And we walked downstairs through the house.

Speaker 17 He checked the basement. He double checked the basement with me.
And I said, well, they've got to be in the backyard. They're not in the backyard, then they're gone.

Speaker 17 We went into the backyard

Speaker 17 and we checked

Speaker 17 and there was nothing.

Speaker 17 We didn't find anybody.

Speaker 17 Not a single sound of anything back there.

Speaker 17 I was just scared shitless.

Speaker 17 My dad saw how worked up I was about this and decided to text our neighbor. We didn't have cameras at the time.
We didn't have a security system,

Speaker 17 but our neighbor did. And he had one camera kind of pointed towards our street and our driveway in the front yard.

Speaker 17 My dad that night texted him and just said, Hey, can you pull the footage from about three o'clock in the morning last night? Something weird happened.

Speaker 17 It wasn't until the morning that my dad got a text back.

Speaker 17 He just sent the video and said, This is what I have.

Speaker 17 We fast-forwarded it up until about 3:14 in the morning, and I'd walked upstairs at about 3.07.

Speaker 17 At about 3.14 in the morning, a pair of headlights turned on down the street.

Speaker 17 We have one streetlight on our road.

Speaker 17 And as we slowed the video down and the truck drove past that streetlight,

Speaker 17 we saw that it was a small white pickup truck.

Speaker 17 It all snapped into place.

Speaker 17 I do believe that the man from the store was the man in the vehicle that was the man in my house that night.

Speaker 17 I think that they were all intertwined.

Speaker 17 Just too many coincidences for me. It was too creepy.

Speaker 17 It wouldn't have been hard for him to round the block on that main street and see where my truck went. and followed me home.

Speaker 17 Came in through that back door that was always unlocked. Foolish of us not to lock it, but it was always unlocked.

Speaker 17 And he'd been in my house.

Speaker 17 I know that's what it was. And I know that my life could have been in danger that night.

Speaker 17 My mind went back to the items he'd bought.

Speaker 17 But in that moment, it didn't seem so random to me.

Speaker 17 It was zip ties and paracord. and a fire starter.

Speaker 17 My mind then jumped to a lot of places that, you know, I didn't want it to be.

Speaker 17 Definitely went to places that were not good.

Speaker 17 Oh, God.

Speaker 2 The call is coming from inside the house. Literally.

Speaker 2 I wonder if it was that odd guy from the store, or if the storyteller's girlfriend just has an incredibly sick sense of humor. Either way, I'm glad that family is safe.
Hopefully.

Speaker 2 And hopefully I'll be able to say the same for myself in due time.

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Speaker 2 And we're back. You know what? I'm tired of living in fear.
I am getting up from my hiding place under the counter here.

Speaker 2 Oh, God, my legs are so stiff.

Speaker 2 You know what? It's time I face the world head-on.

Speaker 2 There's a person standing at the door. I can see their outline in the moonlight.

Speaker 2 It's quite beautiful in a horrifying way.

Speaker 2 Who are you and what do you want?

Speaker 1 Leave me alone.

Speaker 2 They're crouching down. What are they doing?

Speaker 2 They're they're

Speaker 2 gone

Speaker 2 they've gone they slipped a letter through the extra wide cat door

Speaker 2 oh my god look at this it's like a ransom note it's like a proper ransom note little cut out magazine letters and everything it's it's actually kind of aesthetically pleasing

Speaker 2 terry what are you saying this is most certainly a heinous threat

Speaker 2 It's like a blaming hot heinous threat.

Speaker 2 Okay, I'm gonna read it.

Speaker 2 It's a a little choppy and discordant but here goes terry

Speaker 2 we know where your wife zelon is

Speaker 2 if you want to see her meet outside the store tomorrow at 534

Speaker 2 a.m

Speaker 2 i hope that's actually p.m hey no it's a it's a m

Speaker 2 oh

Speaker 2 That's a worse torture than having a stalker.

Speaker 2 I'll have to set my alarm for 440.

Speaker 2 It says, you will be gone for a while. How long is a while? I don't know.
A couple hours, a couple days, a couple longer.

Speaker 2 Make arrangements.

Speaker 2 And that's it. No signature, nothing.
Oh, God, it can't be. Malachi, do you think this is real? Do you think they know where

Speaker 2 my...

Speaker 2 my missing...

Speaker 2 Perhaps extinct wife, Zelon, is?

Speaker 2 No, I know, I know this is probably not advisable, but I have waited and waited and searched so long and so hard for my missing wife Zelon for years.

Speaker 2 I don't know if I can be let down again, but I also don't know if I can pass up a lead such as this.

Speaker 2 No, I know, Malachi, this might be a trick. I'm not a frickin' idiot.
I've seen movies.

Speaker 2 I currently work in a video rental store. Hello.

Speaker 2 Okay, be courageous, Terry. Be courageous.
Oh, Zelon.

Speaker 2 You hold a special place in my heart. I miss you so much, dear.
My life has not been the same

Speaker 2 since.

Speaker 2 I haven't laundered this turtleneck, not once.

Speaker 2 Dear customer, I have a pretty big decision to make, and

Speaker 2 I just want you to know that I wouldn't leave the radio rental store for anything less than earth-shattering news such as this.

Speaker 2 Malachi, I may need you to watch the store for a while.

Speaker 2 I know, I know, that wasn't part of the deal, but I'll only be gone a little while. I mean, that's what they said.
You'll be gone for a while. It could be half an hour.
Half an hour is a while.

Speaker 2 Just until I retrieve Zelon,

Speaker 2 the love of my life.

Speaker 2 If I even go.

Speaker 2 Oh, dear customer, I don't know what will happen now, but please, please come visit Radio Rental again next week.

Speaker 2 You never know what we'll have in store for you.

Speaker 2 Take care, and...

Speaker 2 And also...

Speaker 2 I love you.

Speaker 2 Was that too much?

Speaker 2 I feel like we've built to this kind of relationship by now, don't you?

Speaker 2 Trust.

Speaker 2 I was about to offer you a sacrifice, however. I'm sorry about that.
I take that back. I would never do that.

Speaker 2 No, please.

Speaker 2 All you love is pumpkin spice, tuna, and genital licking in front of company.

Speaker 2 Malachi,

Speaker 2 take a look at this.

Speaker 2 They spelled Terry wrong.

Speaker 2 You see this? But they spelled Zelon right?

Speaker 2 Hmm, these people are for real.

Speaker 2 The psychological warfare starts now.

Speaker 2 I know it's only 7 p.m., but I better start packing and hit the hay. I'm gonna get up at 4:40 a.m.

Speaker 2 What do I need to bring? Only the essentials:

Speaker 2 lip balm,

Speaker 2 Graham crackers.

Speaker 2 Flip-flops.

Speaker 2 iPod shuffle.

Speaker 2 Potpourri.

Speaker 2 I always travel with my own potpourri.

Speaker 2 Shoulder girdle.

Speaker 2 Regular girdle.

Speaker 2 Waffle iron.

Speaker 2 12-pack of tab.

Speaker 2 Well, off to bed for me, and off I go.

Speaker 2 In the pre-dawn light.

Speaker 2 Wish me luck, everyone.

Speaker 2 So long, Radio Rental. Until we see each other again, after

Speaker 2 a while.

Speaker 2 Au voir!

Speaker 2 Tootale!

Speaker 2 Au freitesin!

Speaker 2 Later, skater.

Speaker 9 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.

Speaker 9 Our main host is Rain Wilson as his character Terry Carnation.

Speaker 9 Written by Meredith Stedman. Additional writing by Mark Lachlan.
Original score by Makeup and Vanity Set with additional score by Jay Ragsdale.

Speaker 9 Editing by Eric Quintana, Steven Perez, Meredith Stedman, Tristan Bankston, and Sean Nerny. Sound design mix and master by Steven Perez and Cooper Skinner.

Speaker 9 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.

Speaker 9 Cover artwork by Trevor Eiler and Rob Sheridan. Radio Rental Merchandise by Byron McCoy.
To shop Radio Rental Merch, visit shop.tenderfoot.tv.

Speaker 9 Special thanks to Oren Rosenbaum and the team at UTA, as well as the Nord Group and the team at Odyssey.

Speaker 9 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 radio rentalusa.com.

Speaker 9 Follow us on Instagram at Radio Rental.

Speaker 9 On behalf of the Radio Rental store, we'd love it if you'd subscribe, rate, and review. As always, thanks for listening.

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Speaker 22 We thought, this will be great. There will be no problems.
All the brave podcasters before us.

Speaker 17 Yep. I don't want people to go like, they're amazing.

Speaker 2 I want things and they go, they're brave. Yes.
That's so brave that you went on to video with that face. What a brave choice.
You're really changing lives and minds.

Speaker 22 New episodes every Thursday on Exactly Right. Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 2 Goodbye.