Rougarou - The Crossroads

Speaker 1 I turned the curse into a spell.

Speaker 1 But what I spoke bound me as well.

Speaker 1 We've almost reached the crossroads from Spooked.

Speaker 1 Stay.

Speaker 3 Support for Spooked comes from Oakland's San Francisco Bay Airport.

Speaker 6 OAK offers non-stop flights to your favorite destinations across the U.S.

Speaker 7 and Mexico with new non-stop flights to Los Cabos and Zacatecas.

Speaker 9 OAK makes travel easy with Park OAK's convenient parking options.

Speaker 12 Reserve a spot in the daily lot or economy lot and save on your next trip.

Speaker 15 Book today at iflyoak.com, the best way to San Francisco Bay.

Speaker 16 Let me tell you about the online cannabis company that's revolutionizing how we deal with life's challenges.

Speaker 16 From sleepless nights to stress-filled days, Mood.com has created an entire line of functional gummies that target specific concerns with 100% federally legal THC blends delivered discreetly right to your doorstep.

Speaker 16 You can get 20% off your first order at mood.com with promo code SPOOOOOOT for me. The epic euphoria gummies are perfect for those days when you want to chill and hit the reset button.

Speaker 16 What makes these different is how they've paired THC and other cannabinoids with herbs and adaptogens. You're just not going to find gummies like this anywhere else.

Speaker 16 No pesticides, no BS, and they can ship to most states in the US.

Speaker 16 Best of all, not only does mood stand behind everything with the industry-leading 100-day satisfaction guarantee, but as I mentioned, listeners get 20% off their first order with code Spoot.

Speaker 16 So head to mood.com. Browse their amazing selection of functional gummies and find the perfect gummy for whatever you're dealing with.

Speaker 16 And remember to use promo code spooked at checkout to save 20% on your first order.

Speaker 17 If you're a smoker or dipper ready to make a change, you really only need one good reason.

Speaker 20 But with Zen nicotine pouches, you'll discover many good reasons.

Speaker 21 Zinn is America's number one nicotine pouch brand.

Speaker 23 Plus, Zen offers a robust rewards program.

Speaker 24 There are lots of options when it comes to nicotine satisfaction, but there's only one Zen.

Speaker 18 Check out zinn.com slash find to find Zen at a store near you.

Speaker 25 Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

Speaker 26 Here for the Lowe's early Black Friday deals?

Speaker 19 You're right on time for some of our biggest savings. We're talking up to 50% off select major appliances, plus up to an extra 25% off when you bundle select major appliances.

Speaker 19 Holiday lights going up soon? Select ladders are up to 50% off right now. Get Black Friday prices without the Black Friday crowds.
Lowe's, we help. You save.
Valent through 1119.

Speaker 19 Selection varies by location. Select locations only.
While supplies last. See Lowe's.com for more details.

Speaker 27 This podcast is supported by The Real Real.

Speaker 28 You know what I love most about the holidays?

Speaker 29 Giving gifts.

Speaker 30 But not just any gifts. Real gifts.
Thoughtful gifts.

Speaker 31 Oh my God, how did you know gifts?

Speaker 28 That's why I love gift shopping with The Real Real. The Real Real is the most trusted name in authenticated luxury resale, and it's a holiday shopping secret I'm going to let you in on.

Speaker 34 Whether it's a surprisingly affordable, pristine conditioned bag for your VFF, a vintage find that's cool enough for the Gen Zer in your life, or even something you're impossible to shop for, dad will love.

Speaker 33 Get used to saying I found it on the Real Real.

Speaker 33 Seriously, with over 10,000 new arrivals dropping every day from brands like Gucci, Fendi, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany ⁇ Co., and Cartier, there's guaranteed to be something for everyone everyone on your list.

Speaker 31 Oh, and did I mention everything's up to 90% off retail?

Speaker 39 Get $25 off your first purchase at TheRealReal.com.

Speaker 40 That's thereelreal.com to get your $25 off. The RealReal.com.

Speaker 1 Every 30 years, they rebuilt their altar, the temple they called the Round.

Speaker 1 And there they dance and sanctify a child as their new messiah. I knew nothing of their scripture.

Speaker 1 Except that they were witches that dealt in magic and blood and spirits, but witches that paid good coin.

Speaker 1 Still,

Speaker 1 I refused their entreaty to build the round.

Speaker 1 Choose another,

Speaker 1 I told the elder, my head bowed low. When they came to ask again,

Speaker 1 it was not the crone who knocked,

Speaker 1 nor her soldiers,

Speaker 1 but a woman torn from dream.

Speaker 1 A beauty made of song, I felt every eye in the village burn with envy and fear as I invited her inside.

Speaker 1 Her smell was like moonflower,

Speaker 1 her smile, happy memories. I bade her sit and pretended I would not instantly do anything she asked of me.

Speaker 1 She accepted tea

Speaker 1 and said simply that it was foretold

Speaker 1 that I was the one, the one,

Speaker 1 and that anything I desired was mine to ask, anything,

Speaker 1 but I must build the temple.

Speaker 1 Anything,

Speaker 1 anything,

Speaker 1 she said meaningfully.

Speaker 1 I am no innocent, but I swear to you now, I did not touch her. I did not.
I simply agreed.

Speaker 1 I knew of their ways.

Speaker 1 That he who builds the temple participates in their rites. I understand

Speaker 1 that the temple plans had come from an unholy hand. I appreciate that messiahs are born from sacrifice, but none of this was my affair.

Speaker 1 I worked like a fever with stone and chisel, hammer and claw, to inscribe the lines of power from the scroll into the altar.

Speaker 1 Before the final inscription, I asked what the charred symbols meant, the crossed line.

Speaker 1 She said it, like describing the weather.

Speaker 1 The altar, of course,

Speaker 1 requires the builder's blood.

Speaker 1 My blood.

Speaker 1 You asked too much.

Speaker 1 Far too much.

Speaker 1 And as if waking from a dream, I put down my tools and walked away. She followed me.
No, witch.

Speaker 1 No, I will not bind myself to this coven, not even for such as you.

Speaker 1 But you are the one,

Speaker 1 she whispered.

Speaker 1 I will dance.

Speaker 1 That night, I thought it a dream when she came to me.

Speaker 1 Her hot breath on my neck, the delicious pain when she bit into my throat, I pushed her away that, no, witch, my blood is my own.

Speaker 1 She pulled away then.

Speaker 1 Hurt splashed across her face, and like smoke, she vanished.

Speaker 1 My mother's echo,

Speaker 1 be careful who you love.

Speaker 1 Don't break young girls' hearts. The next day, she did not come to the temple, nor the next.
For 40 days and 40 nights, I searched, but who could stand when when she's in demand?

Speaker 1 I saw her then

Speaker 1 in our family's courtyard with my own mother, whose face shone with joy and surprise. Why did you not tell me? She said, laughing.

Speaker 1 I looked first at the woman's flashing eyes, then

Speaker 1 At the bundle clutched in my mother's arms. My first grandchild.

Speaker 1 I fell back,

Speaker 1 confused,

Speaker 1 lifted the blanket from the baby's face, and my own eyes blinked back at me. No, no, no, no, no, no.
Mother,

Speaker 1 this child

Speaker 1 is not my son.

Speaker 1 What?

Speaker 1 Look at him. Would you deny your own child?

Speaker 1 The gleam of triumph in the woman's eyes. What magic is this? She is not my lover.
She is a witch from the forest who chanced that I am the one. But this child is not my son.

Speaker 1 My mother

Speaker 1 spat in my face then.

Speaker 1 I warned you about young girls' hearts, she hissed. Be careful what you do, lest your lies become the truth.

Speaker 1 Then she turned and walked with the baby and the mother inside the courtyard, leaving me locked outside.

Speaker 1 For 40 days, the village treated the child as sacred, fed him, blessed him, prepared him. On the 40th night, they brought him to the round.

Speaker 1 The witch waited at the altar, my mother beside her, weeping, knowing

Speaker 1 the whole village watching.

Speaker 1 Your blood,

Speaker 1 the witch said simply

Speaker 1 she held out a blade the child

Speaker 1 for you

Speaker 1 i knew he was not mine

Speaker 1 i also knew

Speaker 1 she made no idle threats

Speaker 1 i took the knife then

Speaker 1 slashed the flesh of my palm and let my blood feed the hungry altar my own hands had built. The stone drank.

Speaker 1 The lines of the round began to glow. The witch smiled.

Speaker 1 The child's eyes opened, my eyes. I understood then.

Speaker 1 This was always the bargain.

Speaker 1 The witch turned to the crowd. I felt my strength fail.

Speaker 1 My life soaking into the stone. Rain began to fall.
my mother wailed, I swayed hollow, and as I staggered, the floor started to pulse, a heartbeat of stone and blood.

Speaker 1 Then

Speaker 1 she stepped into the rhythm.

Speaker 1 Bare feet shining red, the villagers stamped with her, keeping time, faces blank, eyes shining. She pressed close to me then.

Speaker 1 Her breath hot against my ear.

Speaker 1 You are the one,

Speaker 1 she whispered.

Speaker 1 And laughing,

Speaker 1 she danced

Speaker 1 on the floor

Speaker 1 in the round

Speaker 1 Spooked,

Speaker 1 the final episode of The Crossroads starts

Speaker 1 now

Speaker 1 You see,

Speaker 1 some people carry marks,

Speaker 1 whether they know it or not.

Speaker 1 We're headed for the bayous of South Louisiana, the place where stories get passed down from one generation to the next about good and evil, about life and death, and the beings who walk between both worlds.

Speaker 1 Our story begins in 1979

Speaker 1 in the fall.

Speaker 1 The days are getting shorter, the air a bit cooler, and the veil a little thinner.

Speaker 1 Spooked.

Speaker 2 Support for Spooked comes from Oakland's San Francisco Bay Airport.

Speaker 6 OAK offers non-stop flights to your favorite destinations destinations across the US and Mexico with new non-stop flights to Los Cabos and Zacatecas.

Speaker 9 OAK makes travel easy with Park OAK's convenient parking options.

Speaker 12 Reserve a spot in the daily lot or economy lot and save on your next trip.

Speaker 14 Book today at iflyoak.com.

Speaker 15 The best way to San Francisco Bay.

Speaker 16 Cold mornings, holidays. This is when I want my wardrobe to be simple, to be classic, but it's got to look good, right?

Speaker 16 for me that's quince and the bonus is with quince your holiday shopping is handled because quince pieces make great gifts too like quince's 50 mongolian cashmere sweaters feel like everyday luxury wool coats that are equal parts stylish and durable and here is a simple unscripted quote from one marissa dodge when she saw my quince motorcycle jacket she said awesome looks like you stepped out of the matrix.

Speaker 13 What?

Speaker 16 Wow.

Speaker 16 Give and get.

Speaker 16 Timeless holiday staples that last this season with Quince. Go to quince.com/slash spooked for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.
Now available in Canada, too.

Speaker 16 That's q-u-i-n-ce-e.com/slash spooked. Free shipping and 365-day returns, quince.com slash spooked.

Speaker 41 Support for spooked comes from Rainbow Grocery, your local worker-owned cooperative celebrating Native American history this month with an installation honoring Native communities.

Speaker 41 Come and do your holiday shopping at 1745 Folsom Street. Open daily 9 to 9.

Speaker 17 If you're a smoker or dipper ready to make a change, you really only need one good reason.

Speaker 20 But with Zen nicotine pouches, you'll discover many good reasons.

Speaker 21 Zen is America's number one nicotine pouch brand.

Speaker 23 Plus, Zen offers a robust rewards program.

Speaker 21 There are lots of options when it comes to nicotine satisfaction, but there's only one Zen.

Speaker 18 Check out Zen.com slash find to find Zen at a store near you.

Speaker 25 Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

Speaker 27 This podcast is supported by The Real Real.

Speaker 28 You know what I love most about the holidays?

Speaker 29 Giving gifts.

Speaker 30 But not just any gifts. Real gifts.
Thoughtful gifts.

Speaker 31 Oh my God, how did you know gifts?

Speaker 28 That's why I love gift shopping with The Real Real. The Real Real is the most trusted name in authenticated luxury resale, and it's a holiday shopping secret I'm going to let you in on.

Speaker 34 Whether it's a surprisingly affordable, pristine conditioned bag for your BFF, a vintage find that's cool enough for the Gen Zer in your life, or even something you're impossible to shop for dad will love.

Speaker 33 Get used to saying I found it on the Real Real.

Speaker 33 Seriously, with over 10,000 new arrivals dropping every day from brands like Gucci, Fendi, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany ⁇ Co., and Cartier, there's guaranteed to be something for everyone on your list.

Speaker 31 Oh, and did I mention everything's up to 90% off retail?

Speaker 39 Get $25 off your first purchase at TheRealReal.com.

Speaker 40 That's therealreal.com to get your $25 off thereal.com.

Speaker 1 My name is Beldron Forrest.

Speaker 1 I was born in Chauvin, Louisiana.

Speaker 1 We're surrounded by swamplands and marsh.

Speaker 1 Any further south than us, you would be in the water.

Speaker 1 We lived in, I guess I'm going to call them some shacks.

Speaker 1 But to us, that was really nice houses because that's all we had. We didn't know anything different.

Speaker 1 So we was satisfied with what we had.

Speaker 1 And to us, our way of living was: you go catch fish, you go hunt animals, you grew your vegetables.

Speaker 1 You didn't mingle with a whole lot of outside people because we wouldn't go to town.

Speaker 1 To us, if you went to town, that was like taking a vacation.

Speaker 1 I think I was eight or nine years old. For Christmas, I got a pellet rifle.

Speaker 1 I was so excited because now I could actually do hunting myself because all my older siblings could hunt, and I was the only one that couldn't hunt.

Speaker 1 I used to take a slingshot and try to shoot stuff, but it was hard to kill things with slingshots because you had to be really close.

Speaker 1 And once I got my pellet rifle, well, then I was able to go out and I could actually get food for the family.

Speaker 1 So I would hunt rabbits, I would hunt neutral, stuff that wouldn't move very fast, raccoons, small birds.

Speaker 1 When I made 13, then I got my shotgun.

Speaker 1 It was nothing for me to go and hunt by myself.

Speaker 1 I felt like I belonged in the woods.

Speaker 1 I would go in the woods by myself and I'd climb the trees and I'd listen to the birds.

Speaker 1 That was my sanctuary. That was my place to go and relax.

Speaker 1 One day I came home from school and a cold front had hit, so it was pretty nippy.

Speaker 1 And my dog, she was a red bone, but we called her Misty. She was ready to hunt as soon as the cold front would hit.

Speaker 1 So when I got home, as soon as I came into the yard, my dog jumped the fence and got out of her pen and came running to me

Speaker 1 in the excitement. I just went inside, dropped my school bag down, grabbed my shotgun, changed my clothes, headed out the door.
Me and the dog took off.

Speaker 1 We're going into the woods,

Speaker 1 not realizing that the day before was Halloween.

Speaker 1 I was raised Catholic,

Speaker 1 and in a Catholic society, there's two days out of the year

Speaker 1 that is held sacred. That's all souls and all saints' day.

Speaker 1 That's the two days that follow Halloween.

Speaker 1 Halloween,

Speaker 1 everybody thinks it's the time to go party and have bonfires and stuff. But back in the day,

Speaker 1 people would prepare

Speaker 1 for the coming of the spirits.

Speaker 1 The next two days is when the spirits could come back and walk the earth.

Speaker 1 And my mom had told me to never kill any animals on those two days.

Speaker 1 Because when the spirits were on the earth, you wouldn't draw blood and take a spirit.

Speaker 1 But when you're growing up,

Speaker 1 a lot of times

Speaker 1 what your parents say, you hear it, you take it in, but you don't live by it

Speaker 1 until something happens that causes you to remember what your parents said.

Speaker 1 Me and the dog was walking

Speaker 1 and she she is full of energy. And I was excited myself,

Speaker 1 and the coolness was in the air. And there's a lot of underbrush, like thorns, blackberry vines.

Speaker 1 And in the wintertime, the sun sets a little bit early. So the sun started going down.

Speaker 1 I must have walked at least three miles.

Speaker 1 We hadn't even seen a squirrel to shoot, not even a bird. It's like, my God, I said, everything's gone.

Speaker 1 It seemed very odd.

Speaker 1 Usually, the beginning of the hunting season, that's when you get most of your animals.

Speaker 1 And there's always frogs, lizards, a mouse. It's going to run from your feet as you're walking in the grass.
So when you're walking, there's always something that's going to rustle in the leaves.

Speaker 1 But it was dead quiet.

Speaker 1 It kind of threw me off.

Speaker 1 It made it felt weird, like I was not where I was supposed to be.

Speaker 1 My dog started to notice too, I guess, because normally she was out running ahead of me, running all over the place. But here, she stayed at my feet.
She followed me step for step.

Speaker 1 So I told the dog, I said, well, we're going to walk back on the headlands to go back home because it was prime feeding grounds for the rabbits, especially in the late evenings.

Speaker 1 The rabbits always came out on that headland.

Speaker 1 Now, the headlands, they had this grass, it kind of looks like an okra plant, but we call them blood reeds.

Speaker 1 I'm not sure what the real name of them is, but when you cut them with a knife, their sap is red. So we call them blood reeds.

Speaker 1 And these things grow real tall all summer. So about this time, they're about 15 feet tall.
And we're walking along, and it makes a wall right along where the grass was cut.

Speaker 1 So I was following along the edge of that grass, and up ahead, I could see a rabbit.

Speaker 1 So I told the dog, I said, stick down. I said, that rabbit's going to see you.
It's going to run.

Speaker 1 So we kept sneaking up, sneaking up, sneaking up, sneaking up. I'd stay real close to those blood reeds so that way the rabbit rabbit wouldn't see me.

Speaker 1 And when I picked up the gun and I started eyeing the rabbit to shoot,

Speaker 1 as I was pulling the aim,

Speaker 1 these blood reeds started vibrating

Speaker 1 like they were trembling.

Speaker 1 It was loud, very loud.

Speaker 1 So I looked at the grass and the whole levee, the whole side was shaking like something was shaking each one of these grass.

Speaker 1 But the wind was not moving.

Speaker 1 This was a calm, quiet, not even a bird making a sound day.

Speaker 1 So I looked up a little bit.

Speaker 1 The rabbit was probably about

Speaker 1 maybe 60 feet from me.

Speaker 1 And in between me and the rabbit, the blood reeds opened up.

Speaker 1 And there was a hand, like a human hand,

Speaker 1 but it had like big claws sticking out of its fingers. And it wrapped the blood reeds and pulled them back.

Speaker 1 This foot stepped out.

Speaker 1 But it was a dog foot.

Speaker 1 When that thing stepped out of the grass and I could see its entire body,

Speaker 1 Immediately my heart just, it like stopped.

Speaker 1 I could feel the blood just drop out of my face.

Speaker 1 This thing was at least nine to ten feet tall.

Speaker 1 It had human form,

Speaker 1 but his body was covered in fur.

Speaker 1 And it was dark.

Speaker 1 Couldn't tell if it was brown or black, but it was a dark colored shade.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 its face,

Speaker 1 it was like a long dog face.

Speaker 1 The eyes were red, and it had long fangs, like a wolf fangs.

Speaker 1 The size of his hands

Speaker 1 and his teeth

Speaker 1 could shred me like a popsicle

Speaker 1 and it wasn't wearing a shirt, but it had a pants pants that was shredded like to pieces.

Speaker 1 And I'm just looking at this thing.

Speaker 1 I'm frozen.

Speaker 1 I could hear my heart in my ears.

Speaker 1 And my brain is saying, run.

Speaker 1 But my feet is like, uh-uh, we ain't going there.

Speaker 1 I can't move.

Speaker 1 And then it just turned its head towards me real slow.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 it looked at me

Speaker 1 it was drooling

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 it gave me a low growl like from way down deep

Speaker 1 kind of like thunder that's off in a distance and it just carried

Speaker 1 When it did that, I knew that this thing was not going to be playing.

Speaker 1 That's when my feet said, okay, time to go.

Speaker 1 And I bolted.

Speaker 1 I cleared that ditch with one jump and was running through the briars.

Speaker 1 I could feel the vines and the thorns catching me as I was running.

Speaker 1 It was ripping my flesh away, but I could hear this thing right behind me.

Speaker 1 Each footstep sounded like it would get closer and closer to me.

Speaker 1 When his foot would hit the ground, you'd hear that low rumble, that growling.

Speaker 1 And it sounded like he was right behind me.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 I never,

Speaker 1 never looked back behind me. I just knew if I stopped or if I hesitated to look behind me, this thing was going to have me.

Speaker 1 i'm running as fast as i can and i kept looking ahead to try and find a way to lose this thing to make it lose its footing or find a small hole to crawl through where he can't fit

Speaker 1 but it's like this thing just was right on me the whole time and i couldn't do nothing about it

Speaker 1 i could feel his hot breath on the back of my neck And I could feel this just rumble, this growl just

Speaker 1 in my bones.

Speaker 1 In my mind, I kept playing it over and over again. This thing's gonna get me.
This thing's gonna get me

Speaker 1 at some point. I got near the edge of the woods, and when I saw the briar started to thin out a little bit, I ran even faster because then I could step quicker.

Speaker 1 And as I broke through the clearing

Speaker 1 to get by my house,

Speaker 1 it stopped.

Speaker 1 It stayed in the woods, but I kept running.

Speaker 1 And as I got to the house, I slowed down a little bit, but I was panting. I was out of breath.

Speaker 1 And when I looked down at my arms and my clothes was all scratched up, like all torn, my arms were bleeding.

Speaker 1 And when I got to the porch, my dog was already on the porch.

Speaker 1 Evidently, she got out of the wood before me.

Speaker 1 I'm shaking, and I realized I ran so fast, I ran clean out of one of my boots.

Speaker 1 I took my other boot off, and I went inside.

Speaker 1 My mama was sitting in her chair. And when I went through that door, she looked at me and she said, you saw it, huh?

Speaker 1 She just knew because of the condition I was in.

Speaker 1 I just shook my head and said, yes, ma'am.

Speaker 1 It was understood that it was the Rougaroo.

Speaker 1 As a child, I was told that the Rougarou was watching you and that when you do something wrong, the Rougaru is going to get you.

Speaker 1 I've heard of people dying in a deer stand or in the marsh.

Speaker 1 Their eyes and their mouth was wide open.

Speaker 1 That's how they found them.

Speaker 1 Like they were scared to death.

Speaker 3 Support for Spooked comes from Oakland's San Francisco Bay Airport.

Speaker 6 OAK offers non-stop flights to your favorite destinations across the U.S.

Speaker 8 and Mexico with new non-stop flights to Los Cabos and Zacatecas.

Speaker 9 OAK makes travel easy with Park OAK's convenient parking options.

Speaker 12 Reserve a spot in the daily lot or economy lot and save on your next trip.

Speaker 15 Book today at iflyoak.com, the best way to San Francisco Bay.

Speaker 16 Let me tell you about the online cannabis company that's revolutionizing how we deal with life's challenges.

Speaker 16 From sleepless nights to stress-filled days, Mood.com has created an entire line of functional gummies that target specific concerns with 100% 100% federally legal THC blends delivered discreetly right to your doorstep.

Speaker 16 You can get 20% off your first order at mood.com with promo code SPOOKED for me. The epic euphoria gummies are perfect for those days when you want to chill and hit the reset button.

Speaker 16 What makes these different is how they've paired THC and other cannabinoids with herbs and adaptogens. You're just not going to find gummies like this anywhere else.

Speaker 16 No pesticides, no BS, and they can ship to most states in the U.S.

Speaker 16 Best of all, not only does Mood stand behind everything with the industry-leading 100-day satisfaction guarantee, but as I mentioned, listeners get 20% off their first order with code SPOOOOOOT.

Speaker 16 So head to mood.com, browse their amazing selection of functional gummies, and find the perfect gummy for whatever you're dealing with.

Speaker 16 And remember to use promo code SPOOKET at checkout to save 20% on your first order.

Speaker 26 The Who's Down and Who Newville were making their list, but some didn't know Walmart has the best brands for their gifts.

Speaker 42 What about toys?

Speaker 20 Do they have brands kids have been wanting all year?

Speaker 43 Yep, Barbie, Tony's, and Lego. Gifts that will make them all cheer.

Speaker 26 Do you mean they have all the brands I adore? They have Nintendo, Espresso, Apple, and more. What about so? The Who answered questions from friends till they were blue.

Speaker 26 Each one listened and shouted, From Walmart? Who knew? Shop gifts from top brands for everyone on your list in the Walmart app.

Speaker 19 Here for the Lowe's early Black Friday deals? You're right on time for some of our biggest savings.

Speaker 19 We're talking up to 50% off select major appliances, plus up to an extra 25% off when you bundle select major appliances. Holiday lights going up soon? Select ladders are up to 50% off right now.

Speaker 19 Get Black Friday prices without the Black Friday crowds. Lowe's, we help.
You save. Valid through 1119.
Selection varies by location. Select locations only.
While supplies last.

Speaker 19 See Lowe's.com for more details.

Speaker 27 This podcast is supported by The Real Real.

Speaker 28 You know what I love most about the holidays?

Speaker 29 Giving gifts.

Speaker 31 But not just any gifts.

Speaker 30 Real gifts. Thoughtful gifts.

Speaker 31 Oh my God, how did you know gifts?

Speaker 28 That's why I love gift shopping with The Real Real. The Real Real is the most trusted name in authenticated luxury resale, and it's a holiday shopping secret I'm going to let you in on.

Speaker 34 Whether it's a surprisingly affordable, pristine condition bag for your BFF, a vintage find that's cool enough for the Gen Zer in your life, or even something you're impossible to shop for dad will love.

Speaker 33 Get used to saying I found it on The Real Real.

Speaker 33 Seriously, with over 10,000 new arrivals dropping every day from brands like Gucci, Fendi, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany Co., and Cartier, there's guaranteed to be something for everyone on your list.

Speaker 38 Oh, and did I mention everything's up to 90% off retail?

Speaker 39 Get $25 off your first purchase at thereal.com.

Speaker 40 That's thereelreal.com to get your $25 off thereelreal.com.

Speaker 1 The way that it was handed down in legend, the Rugaroot was this guy that had a curse put on him.

Speaker 1 A lady near New Orleans in the 1800s,

Speaker 1 she used to practice witchcraft.

Speaker 1 She had summoned a demon to possess somebody.

Speaker 1 When the demon took over the person's body, he could go back and forth and shape-shift whenever

Speaker 1 it felt that it was needed.

Speaker 1 My mom, she just said,

Speaker 1 You saw it, didn't you?

Speaker 1 But she didn't ask me what I saw.

Speaker 1 And then she asked me, did you draw his blood?

Speaker 1 Because legend had it that if you saw a Rugaru

Speaker 1 and you drew his blood,

Speaker 1 his spirit was released from the curse.

Speaker 1 But if you spoke of it,

Speaker 1 what you saw

Speaker 1 before a year and a day

Speaker 1 your spirit then accepted the curse and you became the Rugaru.

Speaker 1 So my mom asked me, did I draw his blood? And I shook my head, no.

Speaker 1 But my mama didn't want to take a chance. She told me, do not speak of it for a year and a day.

Speaker 1 Because she didn't want me to turn into the Rugaru.

Speaker 1 She said, get cleaned up. So I went, took my shower,

Speaker 1 got out, we ate supper. But the whole time,

Speaker 1 I could visualize that thing was just going to rip me to shreds.

Speaker 1 I was trying to eat, but my hand was shaking still.

Speaker 1 My mama, she could tell that I was still shook up. She made us a cup of coffee.
She says, sit down, we're going to talk.

Speaker 1 She starts telling me this story of when she was younger that they had a snowstorm and it don't normally snow down here in South Louisiana, but they had a snowstorm that came in.

Speaker 1 It was in the evening and a little girl was playing near the woodlawn.

Speaker 1 She got turned around when the snow hit. So she wandered into the woods instead of out of the woods because she couldn't tell with the snow.

Speaker 1 So everybody else started looking for her.

Speaker 1 As they were looking, the lanterns kept blowing out, and it was getting dark, and the storm wasn't letting up.

Speaker 1 So, they just knew that they had to come in because they were going to die in the cold.

Speaker 1 They said that they were just going to go back and look for the little girl the next day.

Speaker 1 They were searching for a body.

Speaker 1 They crossed a clearing, and in the middle of the clearing they had a big oak tree and one of the men went by the oak tree and when he got there he hollered for everybody to come.

Speaker 1 The little girl was laying underneath the oak tree in a circle with no snow.

Speaker 1 The little girl was still alive.

Speaker 1 She told him When the storm hit, a big bear caught her

Speaker 1 and he curled up with her

Speaker 1 And the whole time the snow was gone,

Speaker 1 he stayed with her.

Speaker 1 I get emotional every time I tell her, listen, because that little girl was my aunt,

Speaker 1 my mama's sister.

Speaker 1 My mom said, it's okay, it didn't hurt you,

Speaker 1 but she said, it's trying to teach you a lesson.

Speaker 1 It's like a light switch went off inside me

Speaker 1 because

Speaker 1 hearing the story, I knew that the Rugaru wasn't just a bad spirit.

Speaker 1 Sometimes it did things to help people

Speaker 1 when it was in trouble.

Speaker 1 That it wasn't just out to hurt people, that sometimes it did good things.

Speaker 1 Because why else would the Rugaru help a little girl? She wasn't really doing anything bad. She was just playing by the woods and got lost.

Speaker 1 And looking back, my little short legs could never have outrun that thing.

Speaker 1 He could have caught me before I got off the levee, plucked me off the ground, because I'm just a little bitty squirt, could have shredded me up and spit out the bones.

Speaker 1 But it didn't.

Speaker 1 It just chased me and it scared the living hell out of me.

Speaker 1 Why would it have done that?

Speaker 1 To me, this thing was stopping me from doing something wrong.

Speaker 1 That's the only thing I could see.

Speaker 1 But what would have happened if I'd have shot that rabbit? I don't know.

Speaker 1 My mama said, say your prayers and go to bed. So I said my prayers.
And I asked God to forgive me. I was scratched up and shook up, but I was alive.

Speaker 1 And when I laid down,

Speaker 1 I felt peace.

Speaker 1 I did not go back hunting for the rest of that year in them woods.

Speaker 1 I live in the same house. I'm still in the same place.
I didn't go anywhere.

Speaker 1 Today, when I go in them woods,

Speaker 1 I feel this thing.

Speaker 1 I can still feel that groan, that growl, the vibrations that I felt that day when I walked in the woods.

Speaker 1 And since then,

Speaker 1 I do my best

Speaker 1 to treat others correctly

Speaker 1 because I know at any given time this thing can come back.

Speaker 1 It might not be as happy an ending if it comes back.

Speaker 1 Thank you, thank you, Beldrin, for sharing your story with the spooked spooksters.

Speaker 1 We know you want to know more even though Beldrin survived his run-in with the Rougaroo.

Speaker 1 Not everyone is so lucky. So if you find yourself in southeast Louisiana around this time of year, please

Speaker 1 do not go alone into the marsh. Instead, head over to the Rugaroo Fest.
It's an event that our friend Beldren helped get started and takes place in Homer, Louisiana, every October.

Speaker 1 More information in our show notes.

Speaker 1 This story was scouted by Evan Stern. The original scores by Doug Stewart.
It was produced by Zoe Frigno.

Speaker 1 This is the end of the crossroads.

Speaker 1 We've chased monsters, seen demons, face madness, but do not mourn.

Speaker 1 Do not despair, spooksters. Our quest continues.

Speaker 1 If you yourself face the dark shadow, let me know.

Speaker 1 Spooked at snapjudgment.org because there's nothing better than a spook story from a spooked listener. Spooked at snapjudgment.org.

Speaker 1 And yes, Snap Judgment, the podcast, our good twin podcast, has amazing stories from the bright light of day.

Speaker 1 Spook lives at the intersection of hope and of fear. The spooked underground catacombs lie deep beneath KQED in San Francisco.

Speaker 1 Do not seek to find this place.

Speaker 1 Does this place

Speaker 1 seek to find you?

Speaker 1 As the oligarchy creates machinery to steal your very thoughts, we make this declaration to the wind and to the lawyers that absolutely know Snap Studios content may be used for training, testing, or developing machine learning or AI systems without prior written permission.

Speaker 1 The crossroads is brought to you by the spook team

Speaker 1 who all know that fire is hot.

Speaker 1 Except for Mr. Mark Ristich,

Speaker 1 who insists on testing it each and every time on Team Spook,

Speaker 1 the union represented producers, artists, editors, and engineers are members of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, Communications Workers of America, AFL, CIL, Local51, and

Speaker 1 there's David Kim,

Speaker 1 Louis Ferrigno, Eric Yanez, Teo Decat,

Speaker 1 Marissa Dodge, Miles Lassie, Elliot Lightfoot, Sui Chu,

Speaker 1 Evan Stern, Eves Jeffcote, Isha Lopez, Jack Darrell, Doug Stewart. The The Spook Beam song is by Pat Mashidi Miller.
So is this open.

Speaker 1 But my name is Clint Washington.

Speaker 1 And what scares me is monsters, yes, but a particular type of monster.

Speaker 1 Zombies, vampires, wear creatures, not because of who they are.

Speaker 1 I can fight monsters

Speaker 1 because of what they do.

Speaker 1 They infect

Speaker 1 one bite, one scratch, and now you

Speaker 1 are them.

Speaker 1 Communities, families turn on each other, abandon who they were, what they believed, and yes.

Speaker 1 Yes, I've seen that

Speaker 1 in my own family, my own communities, people.

Speaker 1 turning people.

Speaker 1 I've known my whole life,

Speaker 1 people I've known to be wholesome to be caring people whom I love turn

Speaker 1 and casually insist to me why

Speaker 1 it is good to lock children in cages how

Speaker 1 it is okay to hunt our neighbors they shout that hunger and sickness is the fault of the hungry and the sick

Speaker 1 and that they are them

Speaker 1 And we

Speaker 1 are us

Speaker 1 and I wonder where was the bite that made the change, the transformation and horror of horrors. Are they still there?

Speaker 1 Inside.

Speaker 1 Trapped, afraid, waiting for the song to call them back out from the darkness. What can save them? What can save us?

Speaker 1 I don't know.

Speaker 1 I don't, but even in despair,

Speaker 1 even in sorrow, I am certain that the only thing we can do

Speaker 1 is to never,

Speaker 1 ever, never, never, ever, never, ever, both for them and for us, never, ever, ever,

Speaker 1 turn out

Speaker 1 the lights.

Speaker 3 Support for Spooked comes from Oakland's San Francisco Bay Airport.

Speaker 6 OAK offers non-stop flights to your favorite destinations across the U.S.

Speaker 8 and Mexico with new non-stop flights to Los Cabos and Zacatecas.

Speaker 9 OAK makes travel easy with Park OAK's convenient parking options.

Speaker 12 Reserve a spot in the daily lot or economy lot and save on your next trip.

Speaker 15 Book today at iflyoak.com, the best way to San Francisco Bay.

Speaker 17 If you're a smoker or dipper ready to make a change, you really only need one good reason.

Speaker 20 But with Zen nicotine pouches, you'll discover many good reasons.

Speaker 17 Zen is America's number one nicotine pouch brand.

Speaker 23 Plus, Zen offers a robust rewards program.

Speaker 24 There are lots of options when it comes to nicotine satisfaction, but there's only one Zen.

Speaker 18 Check out Zen.com/slash find to find Zen at a store near you.

Speaker 25 Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

Speaker 26 The Who's Down and Who Newville were making their list, but some didn't know. Walmart has the best brands for their gifts.

Speaker 42 What about toys?

Speaker 20 Do they have brands kids have been wanting all year?

Speaker 43 Yep, Barbie, Tony's, and Lego. Gifts that will make them all cheer.

Speaker 26 Do you mean they have all the brands I adore? They have Nintendo, Espresso, Apple, and more. What about?

Speaker 26 Solar who answered questions from friends till they were blue. Each one listened and shouted, from Walmart? Who knew? Shop kissed from top brands for everyone on your list in the Walmart app.

Speaker 44 Oregovatazona? Is that a word? In the new 2026 Kia Sportage turbohybrid, it might as well be, because it can be one road trip. It's all about turbocharged power and hybrid efficiency working together.

Speaker 44 So you get the thrill of quick acceleration and the satisfaction of fuel efficiency. Book a test drive and keep the adventure going.
Kia, movement that inspires.

Speaker 38 Call 800-3334-Kia for details. Always drive safely.

Speaker 12 Hey, welcome into Walgreens.

Speaker 1 Hi there. Hey.

Speaker 45 All right, hon, I'll grab the gift wrap,

Speaker 45 cards, and oh, those stuffed animals the girls want.

Speaker 1 Great, and I'll grab the string lights and some.

Speaker 1 How about I grab some cough drops?

Speaker 19 This is not just a quick trip to Walgreens.

Speaker 11 I'm fine, honey.

Speaker 1 Well, just in case, you know what they say: tis the season.

Speaker 16 This is Help Staying Healthy Through the Holidays. Walgreens.