Episode 52

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

Listener discretion is advised.

Hello, hello.

Welcome to Radio Rental.

The video rental shop of your worst nightmares.

We have a collection of the scariest true stories you've ever heard.

Uh, hold on.

Sorry about that.

I'm your...

I'm your host and shop owner, Terry Carnation, and...

Well, today I'm a little under the weather, so...

Actually, um...

Everyone here is a little bit sick.

So, um...

Bless you, Susie.

Kazoom tight, Susie.

For example, my niece Susie.

Susie, wash your hands, please.

No, no, don't touch Uncle Terry's sandwich.

No,

okay.

Oh, she touched it.

She touched it.

I think it's just a time of the year, the weather turns, and one person gets sick, and all the dominoes start to fall.

With a full house like we have here, we...

we really didn't stand a chance.

Okay, Malachi?

My cat has the worst of it all.

No, no, no, back up, please.

Socially distance yourself.

He's so bad at personal boundaries.

Actually, at all boundaries.

We're working on it in therapy.

Yes, believe it or not, we go to couples therapy, Malachi and I.

No.

Oh.

Look, he's...

Rubbing his snotty, furry little snout all over my leg.

Yeah, that's that's cute, Malachi.

Real cute.

Thank you.

But it's not gonna get you any brownie points in therapy.

Sorry, let's pop in a tape, shall we?

I heard about an island.

That's hard to get to in Wisconsin.

It's called Rock Island.

Anyone who's lived in Wisconsin knows about Dork County.

Kind of known for wine.

It's kind of like this getaway.

But if you kind of keep going up this peninsula of Dork County, you can take a ferry to Washington Island.

But then even past Washington Island, you can take a people-only ferry.

And you can go to Rock Island.

I like to go out into interesting remote places to go camping.

I thought that'd be fun to go out to this island, spend a couple days.

That was my plan.

Do a little hiking and just camp, relax for a bit.

It's super remote.

You're kind of on your own once you get there.

No one's there to like greet you or tell you where to go or anything.

I reserved a campsite at Campsite E, which is the furthest campsite.

It's a remote backpacking site, furthest from the dock.

It was about a mile hike,

set up there, put my tent up, built a fire.

It was getting a little later in the day.

I was gonna make some dinner, have a couple drinks and a cigar.

As I was kind of setting up my fire,

there was this loud squeal in the woods.

Sound like an animal in pain or fighting.

There's not supposed to be large animals on the island as far as I knew.

It was just startling.

Looked through the woods, see what could have made that noise.

There was really nothing there.

So, you know, okay.

I'll go back to making my fire.

Where I was, campsite E, there's these three remote campsites, C, D, and E.

They're about 100 yards or so separating each other.

There's no real path connecting them, but people walk along the edge of the, kind of like a cliff.

Something kind of caught my eye.

I was making the fire.

So I looked up and there was this female

just kind of running in my direction from campsite C

And I didn't really think much of it.

Went back to making my fire, and she got closer.

I wasn't sure what she was doing.

It wasn't really a trail you would run on.

It would kind of be dangerous to run on that trail.

So I thought, is there something wrong?

Is she coming to tell me something?

She got a little closer.

Then I heard the squeal again.

I looked away away from the woman running.

I looked back.

There's no one there.

She was just gone.

I'm just convincing myself, okay, well, she ran up a different trail or something I wasn't aware of.

At one point, I kind of walked down the trail to see if I had any neighbors camping with me.

I walked past site D.

There's nothing there at site D, so I kept walking.

And there was this couple on site C.

So I just talked to them a little bit.

I was thinking about asking them, you know, if they knew who that woman was.

So I didn't really get into that or the noises.

I just kind of felt weird about asking them that.

I went back to my campsite and

had a meal and a couple drinks and a cigar and eventually went to bed.

I was sleeping pretty good

2:30 in the morning or something.

This really big thunder and lightning storm came through.

The wind is just whipping through, whipping my tent.

It's just a downpour.

And then I heard that squeal again.

A nasty noise.

There's something not normal about the noise.

Then I eventually start hearing some footsteps

right outside my tent.

Heavy footsteps crunching down on dry twigs.

I was getting very scared.

Kind of work up, but get out of here.

The noise kind of went away for a while.

Just kind of sat there.

I had a knife with me.

And eventually just said, okay, you know, it's just an animal.

Just me being stupid.

I get scared camping alone in the woods.

It was weird.

That's all it was.

I don't know if I really got fully to sleep that night, but I was laying until in the morning when I had to get up.

As I unzip my tent and get out,

I noticed that the picnic table that's provided by this site was upside down.

They're big, heavy picnic tables.

I just kind of reasoned with myself that there was a storm, it was very windy,

maybe it could have been blown over.

At the same time, you're just thinking, you know, that

doesn't really make sense.

You would think I would have heard a picnic table rolling over.

I was out there and had to move on with my day.

So I started off on my hike,

walking for half an hour or so.

I just kind of hear weird noises.

It wasn't a squeal.

Sounds like a voice.

Two voices like talking.

They were a little far off.

They were low voices.

And it wasn't English.

I couldn't really make out what it was.

And I'm getting closer to these voices.

And then out in the woods, I hear

very low and guttural

I heard from those voices in that area

it sounded like they were responding back

so I keep walking I expected to come across these guys

It seemed like they were getting closer.

I could hear them.

I never came across them.

There's only the one trail, so they couldn't have cut off in a different direction or anything.

It just seemed weird.

Long day.

Eventually, I got back to my campsite, went back into my tent to get some sleep.

At some point during the night,

I just woke up

just suddenly

and just being fully alert

just had this feeling

something

was wrong.

So I sit up.

A wave of dread

consumed me

and then I felt

a presence

there was something in the tent with me.

There was no noises,

nothing in the tent that I could see.

Whatever was in the tent was

seething with anger.

I just felt something bad was going to happen to me.

Remember, it smelled like garbage,

like rotten meat.

I was just frozen.

Could not move.

I couldn't do anything.

My mind was paralyzed.

It also felt controlled.

It was just the weirdest feeling of just accepting whatever happens next.

is going to be a relief from this feeling that I have right now.

I must have passed out.

I don't remember anything until I woke up the next morning.

Nothing in the tent.

I'm leaving on the next boat off the island.

Packed up everything as quickly as I could.

There was still some time I had to kill before the boat would arrive.

Started smoking a cigar and sat on a bench.

I'm trying to reason through everything I had experienced in the last couple days.

Some of the things are easier to rationalize and other things.

What happened the night before, I just could not shrug off.

It was nothing I'd ever experienced before.

As I was just kind of sitting there,

I hear this voice from behind me.

This guy saying, Hey!

And it just shook me out of the zone I was in.

This guy came around and saying, sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.

I just saw you smoking a cigar and

wondering if I could borrow your lighter.

Took my lighter, lit a cigarette, and handed it back to me.

And we just kind of started talking.

I hadn't talked to many people since I got there on the island, so for two days, it was kind of nice to talk to someone for a little bit and just kind of get out of my head thinking about what had happened, especially the night before.

So I asked him where he was camping, and he said,

I reserved campsite D, which would have been right next to me.

I hadn't seen anyone there.

And I told him that, and he said,

yeah, I usually book the site because you need to book a site site to get on the island but he usually camps either at the East Cemetery or in the woods

I thought that was kind of weird just camping outside of those designated spaces

he just kind of saw that I was shaken

he asked me if I'd heard the noises in the woods

And I told him I'd heard the squealing noises and asked him what those noises were.

He just said, if you're shaken up by the noises that you were hearing in the woods, you definitely don't want to hear about what's going on in the cemetery.

He said,

there's demons on the island.

He seemed happy about telling me.

From there, I just

kind of didn't want to talk to him anymore.

I felt done with the conversation.

It was like a validation or confirmation of what I knew was true that night in the tent.

I didn't want to press him on anything because everything I'd experienced, it was like enough.

I didn't want to talk about it.

I didn't want any more information.

I just wanted to get off the island.

As I'm getting up and leaving,

again he goes, hey,

don't come back to this island.

I was scared.

That feeling of dread came over me.

I don't want to think that There was a demon in my tent or that there was any experience with a demon anywhere on my

I won't try to think of it that way.

The only way to feel not afraid about it is to saying, I don't know.

Definitely never going back there.

Then do not go to Rock Island.

Creepy.

Or at least I think it was creepy.

I can't- I can't really hear anything over all the post-nasal dripping going on in here.

Use a tissue, Malachi.

God.

Good.

Now throw it into the void.

I don't want your germs in here.

Oh, thanks, Voidy.

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Okay, and we're back.

Better than ever.

Actually,

that's a lie.

I have phlegm coming out of every orifice.

It's not something you want to experience or witness.

Okay,

you know what?

Let's give you a new tape, shall we?

I was 16 years old.

My mom had just gone to federal prison for drug smuggling.

I was living on the street, part of a group of homeless kids that were all living on the street.

I was living in garages and friends' cars and stuff.

I had a duffel bag and a backpack.

Usually the way I would get around was hitchhike.

I was trying to get from downtown Long Beach, California to Belmont Shores,

two miles away, in the good side of town.

Back in the 70s, we used to hitchhike to the beach all the time.

That's how we got around.

Just stand on the corner and put your thumb out, wait for somebody to give you a ride.

I got a ride, this guy in a big white car.

He's kind of creepy looking dude.

They just pulled up, said, where are you going?

I'm going to Belmont Shores.

They're like, okay, get in.

So I grabbed my backpack and my duffel bag and threw it in the car and jumped in.

We were driving along and he said, hey, I need to stop over here at my cousin's house to pick up some Valiums.

Is that okay?

I said, sure, no problem.

Made a left-hand turn, drove about five blocks up.

He pulls up in front of the apartment.

He said, okay, I'll be back.

He went upstairs.

I was sitting out in the car.

He came back down and he said, hey, my cousin works at the hospital.

He locked the volumes in a safe.

I paged him and I'm waiting for him to call me back and give me the combination.

Would you like to come up and smoke a joint?

okay

sure

following him upstairs

i went inside and i sat down on the couch

kind of got a weird feeling

i was in a strange surroundings

so i immediately scanned the room for weapons anything that i can use to protect myself just in case

I looked around, I saw some scissors, I saw saw like a crochet needle or something.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him reach down under the couch, thinking that he was getting a weed tray.

I looked away again and I looked back at him.

He had a pair of flex cuffs in his hand.

He said, hey, you ever see these before?

I thought, what?

And he goes, Terry, try them on.

Jumped on top of me.

I i wrestled with him

and then he pulled out a can of mace and he sprayed me with mace

he got the cuff around both my wrists

just as he took his hand off to pull the zip tie i pulled my hand out so we only zip tied around one hand and then i got around him

and got to the scissors

Just as I grabbed the scissors, he grabbed me.

So I started stabbing him in the face and the head.

He had blood running down his face.

I thought I was going to die.

One minute, everything was cool, and the next minute, I was fighting for my life.

I stabbed him a couple times, and then his arm came around my neck, and I couldn't breathe.

And so he kicked me up.

I was dangling, couldn't stab him anymore.

I decided, well, what I'm going to do, I'm just going to play dead.

I dropped the scissors and I just went limp.

I'm not religious, but I actually was praying.

Oh, please, God, I don't want to die.

He dropped me.

He grabbed me by the arm and he dragged me towards the back of the apartment.

And there was a bathroom right there.

He walked in the bathroom.

He turned on the sink.

He walked out and he said, wash your face off.

So I immediately popped up, jumped onto the rim of the bathtub because there was a little window two feet wide by one foot deep.

So I looked out and I saw concrete below.

Looked down and thought, well, it's a long drop, but I'm doing it.

Just about to hoist myself up to do a somersault out the window.

Then I look back.

And then he said, here, dry your face off.

And he had his arm through the bathroom door holding a towel.

I sprang at the door and body blocked it and smashed his arm into the door.

So he went, oh God, he backed up.

That's when I threw the door open and I saw that he was on his butt in the hallway and I jumped over his legs and ran to the door.

As soon as I got to the door, It had a key lock on the inside and I thought, oh my god, no, I made it this far.

I'm not going to make it.

But the door was open.

Opened the door and I ran outside, started banging on the doors in the hallway.

Was yelling, police, police, call the police.

Ran down the stairs and I ran out and I said, oh my god, oh my God.

There were two guys out throwing a football in the street.

I must have looked crazy because I was wearing a bathing suit.

had a handcuff around one arm.

Help me, help me.

And they were like, what happened?

Some guy just tried to kidnap me.

And they were like, where, where?

They were standing outside and they had cut the thing off my wrist and got my stuff out of his car.

The guy tried to come out and leave.

And I said, there's a dude right there.

One of the guys got in front of his car door and said, you ain't going nowhere.

He turned around and went back upstairs.

They had called the police.

The police police came, sirens and everything, three cars deep.

They said, what happened?

Well, the guy upstairs just tried to kidnap me.

You know, I've got mace all over me and everything.

They said, okay, well, we're going to go up there and talk to him.

He was trying to say that I had tried to rob him.

I was the culprit.

I refuted the whole thing.

I told them what happened.

They didn't believe him.

But they said, well, for us to arrest him, because you're a juvenile, we have to take you also.

And then your parents have to come down to the station to press charges.

My parents would have to come because I was underage.

I was living on the street.

I was 16.

Too young to be homeless.

Would have gone to juvenile hall or whatever.

And I told them, that's all right, just forget it.

I always scared to death to hitchhike after that.

I still continue to hitchhike.

Just a lot more careful about going into any dwelling with whoever I'm with.

If I wouldn't have fought so hard, he may have killed me, you know.

I feel like I escaped with my life.

Four or five years later, I came back into Long Beach from Texas and went to my sister's house.

My sister and my mom had bought a house across the street from the apartment complex, maybe two houses over.

She said, hey, I want you to introduce you to my husband.

So he came in and he was like, dude,

I know you.

And I was like, yeah, I remember.

I know you too.

It was the guy that was out in the street that day that helped me.

He married my sister.

It's kind of embarrassing to meet somebody after somebody tried to kidnap you.

Don't want to seem like a victim.

I didn't really want to be seen in that light.

He didn't know that the woman he was marrying would be the brother of the guy that he had helped so many years before.

Well, I hope you enjoyed that last tape, you...

you sicko.

I guess we're all sickos here.

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Okay, and we're back.

And the verdict is

we all have the flu.

I don't know how that's possible.

I mean, I got a flu shot this year.

No, it was legit.

People administer shots out of the back of a van all the time.

So what if it was in the alley behind the Safeway?

The man was very nice.

He was also selling tacos.

Same van, if you can believe it.

The shot was incredibly effective.

I passed out for hours.

And it felt so...

just yummy.

Like my brain was having an orgasm.

That's how you know it's good.

Anyway, we're all gonna be fine.

Everyone's gonna be fine.

Bless you.

Bless you.

Bless you, Voidy.

Yeah, we'll be fine.

In the meantime,

I think I'm hungry for a taco, and

maybe maybe I'll have another one of those delightful flu inoculation shots.

Yes, yes.

Just one more.

Just one more.

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

Lead producer is Eric Quintana.

Executive producers are Payne Lindsay and Donald Albright.

Hosted by Rain Wilson as his character, Terry Carnation.

Written and produced by Meredith Steadman.

Additional writing by Mark Lachlan.

Supervising producer is Tracy Kaplan.

Associate producer is Jaja Muhammad.

Editing by Eric Quintana, Mike Rooney, and Meredith Steadman.

Sound design, mix, and master by Cooper Skinner.

Additional sound design and mixing by Devin Johnson.

Original score by Makeup and Vanity Set.

Video editing by Dylan Harrington.

Cover artwork by Trevor Eiler and Rob Sheridan.

Special thanks to Oren Rosenbaum and the team at UTA, the Nord Group, Station16, Beck Media and Marketing, 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 and Twitter at Radio Rental.

You can also follow the illustrious Terry Carnation on social media.

Just search at Terry Carnation.

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

Thanks for listening.

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