Episode 45

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My name is Ed.

Everyone say hello, Ed.

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.

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.

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

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

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

And then...

He came to my house.

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.

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

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.

Hello!

Hello!

Welcome in.

Oh, you've come at a good time.

We're getting ready for Halloween.

Can you believe it?

It's the most wonderful time of the year, isn't it?

It sneaks up on me every time.

I just love all the joy and happiness this time of year brings.

Susie, I don't know if you've noticed through all the subtlety, but one of us here is being a little grump today.

Right, Susie?

My niece Susie is mad because I...

Apparently, bought her the wrong costume.

I got her Elsa, who is obviously the best character from Frozen.

I mean, am I right?

All those ice powers and the cool blonde hair.

I mean, you know, from what I remember from that one time I saw it.

Accidentally.

But anyway, I got her the Elsa costume, and now she's mad because apparently she wanted to be the moose or whatever it is.

So she's a really...

She's really an odd child.

Susie, Uncle Terry said he was wrong.

I'll make you a moose costume, okay?

That child is going to be wearing wearing an old shag rug with a couple of paper towel rolls stapled to it.

What can I say?

I didn't sign up for this.

I never wanted children.

I didn't even want pets.

Sorry, Malachi.

I could use a little break.

Let me pop in another scary tale for you, shall I?

Here we go.

I was about 12 years old.

I hung out with my best friend named Laura.

We lived in the small town of Eaton, Colorado.

We would spend pretty much every day together running around outside.

We would ride our bikes outside.

We typically just ran around town by ourselves until the lights came on and then we knew it was time to go home.

One day we were playing in my backyard.

We had a loft.

There's a big window out the back of the loft and it backs up to an alleyway.

We're just looking outside and we noticed that there's this cat dog looking creature

staring directly at us.

We couldn't figure out what it was so we were both just kind of joking about it arguing about this is a cat, no it's a dog.

It didn't move.

It didn't do anything.

It just sat there and stared at us.

We started calling it it cat.

We initially thought it was pretty creepy, but we didn't really think about it too much.

We've just never seen anything like that, so we thought it was strange.

Just kind of moved on to continuing to play and just kind of forgot about the thing.

It had been only a couple of days after we saw the cat for the first time that we saw it again.

We're riding our bikes down the street and we noticed this cat dog thing sitting on the side of the road.

He was again just staring at us.

That's when we started to get a little bit creeped out about what this animal was.

We started seeing it everywhere we went.

It would be sitting there watching us.

We would be walking around downtown or we'd be riding our bikes around.

We would just be sitting there staring.

It was to a point where we saw it so much, we were just used to seeing it.

The more comfortable we got with it, the more comfortable it got with us.

We saw it crossing the street and it looked like its legs were on backward.

And it looked like it was walking through a strobe light.

It was like a glitching effect.

You would see it and then it was like it would blink and go away and then you'd see it again.

It would disappear again and then it would show up again, but it was really fast.

So it looked like a computer glitch.

But you're seeing it in real life, so it makes no sense.

Initially, just look over at my friend to see what her reaction was because I wanted to make sure.

My eyes weren't playing tricks on me.

I remember looking at her and it it was like her jaw was just dropped.

She looked pale and terrified.

Did you see that?

She explained it the exact way my brain saw it.

She said, it looks like its legs are backward and it looks like it's walking through a strobe light.

Okay, that's validation.

We both just saw the same thing.

Because we were so young, we didn't feel like we could tell our parents about this because they're gonna be like, oh, they're just making up scary stories.

But we both saw the same thing.

I wasn't crazy, and I was seeing this too.

One day we were over at Laura's house.

Her older sister, who was in high school, came home, and it was later at night.

She was just pale and looked like she had just seen a ghost.

Her mom was like, What's wrong?

Are you okay?

I just saw the creepiest thing ever.

I have no idea what it was.

It looked like it was either a cat or a dog.

I couldn't tell the difference.

Its legs were on backward,

and when it crossed in front of my car,

it looked like it was walking through a strobe light.

My friend and I were completely silent and just stared at each other.

We knew she actually saw the same thing that we've been seeing.

Once she mentioned it, we felt like we could talk openly to everyone about it.

We've been seeing that thing around town the last few days.

We initially saw it in my alleyway.

Then we saw it on the side of the road.

Then it started crossing the road.

It doesn't make sense.

It's following us around.

That was the first time we really talked about it.

I think when you see something like that and you can't explain what it is, you just kind of ignore it.

We're just gonna move on and not talk about it.

The next night my friend and I are hanging out in her basement.

We're playing on the computer.

We're doing AOL chat.

We're playing the Sims.

We start talking about the cat again.

We're trying to just rationalize it.

What could this thing be?

Your sister saw it, it has to be real.

What is it?

All of a sudden,

the computer screen went black,

and a digital cat starts walking across the screen through a strobe light.

Blink, blink, blink, blink.

And then it was gone.

My jaw was literally on the floor.

I had chills up and down my body.

I felt sick to my stomach.

It felt like we were stuck staring at that screen.

Felt like time slowed down, and we were just watching this thing.

We were just beyond freaked out.

I don't think I've been that scared in my life.

This thing was always with us and it was listening to us and it was watching us.

We screamed, got up.

We both got to the top of those stairs within about two seconds.

All I wanted was to get out of there and be home with my mom.

I remember leaving the house immediately and I actually walked home.

I can't believe I actually was able to do that without being completely terrified, but I think my adrenaline was running.

I just wanted to get home.

We never talked about the cat again.

We never talked about that experience again.

That was the last time we ever saw it.

We just couldn't explain it.

We couldn't explain it as a virus.

I mean, I guess it could be a virus, but that's just a crazy coincidence.

It felt like this thing was mocking us.

It just didn't make any sense and I could never explain it.

I didn't know what it was.

It just seemed like something paranormal that happened that was really creepy.

It wasn't until I was older and I just happened to flip the channel to some random documentary and it was people talking about their experiences with skinwalkers.

I had never heard of a skinwalker until I watched this.

Someone was being interviewed and they said

one of the traits of a skinwalker is that their limbs don't look like they're put on correctly.

They look like they're backward.

When they're walking, the best way to describe it is like watching them walk through a strobe light.

It was like a light went off in my head.

That's what that was.

I started researching skinwalkers a little bit more and finding out what they are, where they come from.

It started out as a ancient Navajo folklore.

They're supposedly witches that take form in animals or people.

They will stare at you and if you allow them, they'll attempt to take form in your body.

That was the only way I was able to explain it.

I'm not really sure where it went, why it left,

and I hope to God it never comes back.

A few years ago, my friend moved into a new house.

She started having some weird experiences when her sister was staying over.

She ended up calling a psychic who does cleanses on the house.

When the psychic came in, the first thing she said was, stop to her sister.

There's something attached to you.

Her sister got freaked out and didn't want to know anything else.

Didn't want anything to do with it anymore.

That was kind of the end of it.

Sometimes I wonder if that thing was attached to her sister.

Ooh, that'll get you you in the Halloween spirit.

Now trick or treat?

Treat?

Okay, here's a treat.

No ads.

Just kidding.

I did trick.

Here's your ads.

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And we're back.

What a sickening and yet enjoyable ride that last tape was.

I was just thinking how.

Susie, stop that.

So I have some basic Halloween decorations up, and Susie learned how to trigger all their sound effects.

So she's doing it incessantly just to torture me.

Like any time I'm mid-

Okay,

okay, Susie.

Got it.

You're being very rude.

Now I gave you your way when you wanted to burn all the pages of my phone book one by one.

So now just do me a favor and.

Are you done?

thank you susie that's very mature

okay next tape

i was 16

i had been going to this camp for five years or so

I had graduated from summer camp and that meant I would get to be a camp counselor in training.

We got to supervise the younger campers who were only a year or two below us.

My least favorite part of the whole thing was our camping trips where you would leave the campgrounds and we would go on a hike

and set up tents.

I was actually kind of looking forward to the camping trip because I was a teenager and very desperate to have my first kiss and to do all those teenager things like getting drunk or smoking weed, having that kind of experience.

The camping trip, it was rumored to be the time where all of that went down.

The day of the camping, you have to get up at literally like 4.30 in the morning.

It's pitch black outside.

You spent the whole day prior packing these big heavy bags.

Everyone's groggy.

And then you start the trek.

There's always a point where the different gradations of people will kind of sort out.

You'll have the really fast athletic kids that love hiking and camping at the front.

Then you'll have a big group of people in the middle.

And then usually a smaller group trailing pretty far behind.

I found myself in the back.

It wasn't a problem for me because I had a crush on this kid.

He was also a counselor in training, Jordan.

He was also struggling.

We're about a couple hours in.

I'm really trailing at the back with Jordan and these two other campers.

We, for the longest time, could see the backs of the stragglers who were in the middle of the group.

At a certain point, it was this rocky incline.

We saw the last of the people kind of disappear ahead of us.

You assume that when you get to the point where the trail levels off, you're going to see everyone again.

When we made it up this hill and we had reached the peak of it, we couldn't see any of the other campers.

It was just this open plain.

There are all these burned out trees,

ones that had clearly been on fire, and this weird cabin in the center.

There's this eerie silence.

Before, you could hear people laughing, everyone was talking.

All of a sudden, it was like we were alone in the middle of the forest.

No one was around, we couldn't hear any of the other campers.

We're standing there, kind of taking in this really weird scene of all these burned out trees and this weird derelict cabin.

A twig snapped behind us.

It was a loud snap.

One of the campers behind me let out like a little

like a cholt.

When we turned around to look at the camper that had made the noise,

we saw that there was a man behind her.

He came out of nowhere.

We didn't hear him, we didn't see him, we don't know how.

He was just suddenly so close to us.

He had a really overgrown beard and just these creepy ass eyes.

It was just so out of place that he was there.

He was not at all associated with our camp.

We would have known.

He mumbles something.

We didn't hear what he said, but Jordan, being this kind of brash teenage boy, is like, what'd you say, buddy?

The guy's like going camping.

Yeah, dude, we're going camping.

After a pause, he said, well,

better be careful.

Immediately, we knew we needed to catch up to the rest of the group.

We kind of did a sheepish little wave at the guy and really sped walked a while.

It was about 25 minutes before we caught up with the rest of the group, and they had been waiting for us.

We tried to excuse, you know, we were like, there's this weird guy.

The head counselor just completely dismissed it.

Yeah, he probably lives in that house.

I mean, I don't know what to tell you.

Kept hiking for about a couple hours.

The whole time, we're all checking behind us.

It was unnerving.

Eventually, that feeling went away.

We had set up camp, had dinner.

I kind of forgot about the whole experience.

We're sitting around the campfire telling stories and making a really bad meal.

Eventually, we put all the campers to sleep.

Now it's time to hang out with everyone.

I had brought a joint that I had rolled from home and kind of packed away for this exact occasion.

The counselors were kind of partying themselves.

We had broken away.

Me and the other girl in the cabin, we both had crushes on the two other boys that were with us on the trip.

We went down to the river where we had washed our pots and pans earlier.

It was kind of the spot to go smoke the joint and hang out.

Jordan thought I was cold and I was all too happy to play that up.

So he gave me a sweater.

He had been wearing this blue hoodie like every day of the trip.

Sally, she had a crush on.

The other camp counselor in training, the boy, she wanted to sleep in his tent.

So when Jordan gave me his hoodie and it was kind of clear that he liked me, she was like, oh, we should switch tents, like so you guys can be in the same tent.

I was completely fine with that.

As you're wont to do, 16 years old in a tent with a boy that you have a crush on.

It's kind of that awkward, really bad making out for what feels like too long and then just kind of pretending to go to sleep.

Drifted off at some point.

I was woken up.

I heard someone walking around the outside.

You could see the shadow of someone.

I'm laying there, just as still as I can.

Completely paralyzed.

There's no reason why anyone would be hovering around our tent.

I turn around to kind of shake Jordan awake.

He wasn't next to me.

I didn't know what he was doing, but I was very tired.

I went back to sleep.

I'm woken up by the sound of the zipper coming down.

I hear Jordan getting back in the tent.

He lays down next to me.

He puts his arms around me.

But immediately I'm frustrated because I realize I have to go pee really badly.

I walk out of the tent.

We had this kind of designated P-zone, which was far enough away from everyone where you were supposed to go.

I finally get over there.

I see

someone walking around.

It's a shadow.

Just a black figure.

It was a grown man.

He was clearly looking through people's bags that we had left around the campfire.

I am trying to be really quiet and get small.

Trying to pull my pants up.

As I'm doing that,

I fell over and I landed on something.

It made a loud snapping noise.

When I got my bearings back and managed to pull myself up,

the figure was walking toward me.

Before I knew it, there was a bright light just being shined directly into my eyes.

I couldn't see anything.

I knew the person was getting closer to me because the light was getting bigger.

Basically just waiting to die.

Then I hear Jordan's voice.

Hey,

it's just me.

Immediately I'm calm.

He asked me if I had seen his blue hoodie because I was wearing it earlier.

I had taken it off.

I gave it back to him around the campfire.

You were literally just wearing it when you got back into the tent 15 minutes ago.

What are you talking about?

I haven't gone back into the tent with you.

I've been out here for the last 30 minutes looking for my hoodie.

I went down to the water because I thought you left it there.

It wasn't there, so then I was going through the boys' bags to see if they stole it.

Immediately, my relief was gone.

If Jordan didn't just get back into the tent with me,

then who did?

He saw that I was looking scared and freaked out, and he asked me what was going on.

I told him, whoever stole his hoodie is sleeping in our tent.

What are you talking about?

Let's go check it out.

He has his flashlight on and we're sneaking back around.

When he puts the flashlight on the side of our tent,

we could see the clear outline of a man

sleeping in the tent.

Both of us flew into a panic.

We both just started running towards the older counselor's tent.

Get up, get up, there's a guy in our tent.

They were super groggy, didn't understand what was going on at all.

Chaos erupted on the other side of camp near our tent.

Then the camp counselors got up.

Ran over.

They're like, what's going on?

When I walked over to the tent, the zipper had been broken.

He had just ripped straight through the front of the tent.

All of our stuff, our sleeping bags, our sleeping mats, all the pots and pants were all over the place.

He was gone.

We had no idea where he was.

We had to stay up.

It wasn't safe because we didn't know where the guy was.

No one could could go back to sleep.

We didn't know if he was still there.

We didn't know if he was armed or anything.

We didn't know what he wanted.

We all just sat around the campfire until the sun rose.

We heard them radioing down to have another group of counselors come up.

We waited about an hour and a half and a group of counselors came.

Some of them were armed.

One of them had a shotgun, the other one had a sidearm.

And they escorted us back down.

About an hour on our way back down,

we found Jordan's hoodie.

It was tied

about 15 feet up on a tree trunk, just on the trail, like some kind of marker.

We all just stopped and looked at it

and then just kept walking.

I believe it was the man that we saw earlier on the trail.

The guy that we'd encountered earlier had been following us, that he had followed us since we had run into him.

He'd observed me and Jordan interacting and was basically impersonating him to

do something.

It was freaky because, you know, it's not like we caught him.

He's just out there.

I was really close to something worse happening.

Trick or treat, smell my feet.

Give me something good to eat.

If you don't, I don't care.

I'll still play an ad right there.

Well done, Terry.

Well done.

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Well, welcome back.

I'm just finishing up stapling these paper towel antlers to this old scrap of carpet.

There we go.

Susie,

your moose costume is done.

Here, put it on, Susie.

Are you happy?

Oh,

look good.

I'm glad she's happy.

I'm glad you're happy.

She looks like one of the three wise men.

She looks like Bigfoot.

Looking good, Susie.

All the kids will be jealous.

Well, thank you for getting ready for Halloween with us.

We're so excited that you joined us.

And just because we love this time of year so much, I'm happy to announce that we'll be dropping a bonus episode for Halloween on Tenderfoot Plus.

Now, that's not actually a trick, just a treat.

Enjoy, my beloved fans.

Until next...

Damn it, Susie!

She looks like something Malachi coughed up.

She looks like a rejected Muppet.

She looks like a low-budget chewbacca.

She looks like Burt Reynolds' chest.

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

Lead producer is Eric Quintana.

Executive producers are Payne Lindsay and Donald Albright.

Posted by Rain Wilson as his character, Terry Carnation.

Written and produced by Meredith Stephen.

Supervising producer is Tracy Kaplan.

Associate producer is Jajah Muhammad.

Editing by Eric Quintana, Mike Rooney, Sean Nerny, and Sidney Evans.

Additional writing by Mark Lachlan.

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, Station 16, Beck Media and Marketing, and the team at Cadence 13.

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.

Hey, this is embarrassing, but they're making me read it.

My favorite murder is the podcast that defined a genre.

This is tough.

In 2016, we decided to combine true crime and comedy, and we thought, this will be great.

There will be no problems.

All the brave podcasters before us.

Yep.

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

I want things to 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.

New episodes every Thursday on Exactly Right.

Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Goodbye.