Santi - Classic

Speaker 1 In the master's chambers, they gather for the feast.

Speaker 1 They stab it with their steely knives, but they still can't kill the beast.

Speaker 1 You're listening to Spooked.

Speaker 1 Stay

Speaker 1 tuned.

Speaker 1 It's easy to say.

Speaker 1 I've said it myself. It's all in your head.
It's just a projection.

Speaker 1 Born of grief.

Speaker 1 Born of terror. That's all it is.
Sure.

Speaker 1 Don't you get it?

Speaker 1 But then

Speaker 1 projections.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Projections.

Speaker 1 They don't talk back.

Speaker 1 Get ready, dear listeners.

Speaker 1 Spook starts

Speaker 1 now

Speaker 1 Today, we traveled to Mexico for a very special story,

Speaker 1 one that's dear to our hearts here at the Spoot. I'm honored to introduce you all to Maribao Placencia

Speaker 1 Spoot.

Speaker 2 My brother Santiago and I, we played a lot.

Speaker 2 We called Santiago Santi for short.

Speaker 2 And sometimes I like to mess with Santi.

Speaker 2 One time we played hide-and-seek, and my mom had this old refrigerator.

Speaker 2 And it occurred to me to stick him in the fridge.

Speaker 2 And boom, I closed the door.

Speaker 2 And that's when I start to hear my brother's cries and screams.

Speaker 2 When I open the door, he throws himself into my arms.

Speaker 2 And I said, But why are you crying?

Speaker 2 I couldn't see you. I couldn't see you.

Speaker 2 I mean, it was dark in there for my little brother.

Speaker 2 And that's the thing. He hated being alone.
When I'd leave for school, he'd also cry because he didn't follow anyone else the way he followed me.

Speaker 2 I took care of him, I gave him his bottle, I changed his diapers, we slept together.

Speaker 2 And we grew up like that.

Speaker 2 That day, my mom was in her room

Speaker 2 and I was in the kitchen with my sisters. We were playing.

Speaker 2 I was eight years old and my little brother was going to turn three.

Speaker 2 And a boy from the neighborhood comes by and asks my mom if he could borrow a wheelbarrow.

Speaker 2 My mom says I can't come out but come inside and take it.

Speaker 2 So my little brother, when he hears a boy's voice,

Speaker 2 he runs to see him because that boy was always playful with him.

Speaker 2 And that boy

Speaker 2 picks up the wheelbarrow that's in the back patio and it slips.

Speaker 2 The wheelbarrow hits a brick wall and some of the bricks fall.

Speaker 2 And one of those bricks hits my little brother.

Speaker 2 It hits him on the back of the head

Speaker 2 and he falls.

Speaker 2 We all run over to see.

Speaker 2 My mom takes him in her arms. She picks him up and tries to wake him,

Speaker 2 but he doesn't respond.

Speaker 2 I start screaming.

Speaker 2 What's wrong with my little brother?

Speaker 2 My mom runs out with my little brother. She's barefoot even.
And she gets in a taxi.

Speaker 2 They left.

Speaker 2 I remember my sister Rossi and I went outside. There was a big rock in the street, and we sat on the rock.

Speaker 2 And I go, but what happened to him? Did you see?

Speaker 2 We didn't know what had happened to my little brother.

Speaker 2 We see the taxi pull up to the house, and my mom looked like a

Speaker 2 zombie.

Speaker 2 My mom had my little brother in her arms.

Speaker 2 And I asked someone, what happened? And they said, well, your little brother died.

Speaker 2 Back then, I didn't understand what death was. I mean, I didn't know what it meant to die.

Speaker 2 Relatives started arriving

Speaker 2 and people from the funeral home came.

Speaker 2 They said they were going to prepare the boy.

Speaker 2 And someone said, take the girls.

Speaker 2 So they take us to the neighbor's house.

Speaker 2 We were at the neighbor's house for a long time.

Speaker 2 When they finally said we could go back,

Speaker 2 I run out towards my house.

Speaker 2 The door to my mom's room was open.

Speaker 2 And so that's when I see the coffin for the first time.

Speaker 2 A little white coffin.

Speaker 2 And in the middle of her room, they made a cross out of sand. And on top of the cross, they placed my little brother's coffin.

Speaker 2 It had velvet trimming all around it,

Speaker 2 white velvet.

Speaker 2 I got close.

Speaker 2 I couldn't see him entirely, but standing on my tippy toes,

Speaker 2 I was able to see him.

Speaker 2 He was dressed in white

Speaker 2 with a little white button-up shirt

Speaker 2 and white pants with suspenders.

Speaker 2 His little hands were crossed over his chest.

Speaker 2 I start crying right there

Speaker 2 and I hug the coffin.

Speaker 2 Santi, you're not dead.

Speaker 2 You're just asleep. Get up, let's play.

Speaker 2 And the neighbors, one of them grabs me by the waist. Another one grabs me by my feet.

Speaker 2 I'm kicking, I'm screaming.

Speaker 2 I nearly topple the coffin.

Speaker 2 It took three people to carry me out to the patio. They didn't let me back in.

Speaker 2 And then night came

Speaker 2 and everyone fell asleep.

Speaker 2 That's when I decide to go inside.

Speaker 2 I went and sat next to him.

Speaker 2 And with my hands, I would try to open his eyes and I would say,

Speaker 2 wake up.

Speaker 2 You can't go. You have to be here because we have so many things to do.

Speaker 2 I kept waiting for him to get up.

Speaker 2 I was so tired, I fell asleep in the chair.

Speaker 2 The next day, my dad put us all in white dresses with little pockets in the front.

Speaker 2 And then my dad gives me a small bouquet of white roses.

Speaker 2 People start grabbing flowers. flowers

Speaker 2 and my dad tells me, honey, it's time to take your brother to the cemetery.

Speaker 2 We walked to the cemetery

Speaker 2 and he was in the middle.

Speaker 2 And behind the coffin,

Speaker 2 my mom, my dad, and us kids.

Speaker 2 We walked to where there was a hole in the ground.

Speaker 2 We walked on top of these mounds of dirt

Speaker 2 and the dirt fell and would go into the hole.

Speaker 2 The shoes we had on were now black from all the dirt.

Speaker 2 That's when I start to scream.

Speaker 2 Dad, no, you can't put him in there

Speaker 2 because he'll suffocate. He's gonna die.

Speaker 2 I still remember leaning over and seeing everything black, humid.

Speaker 2 And my dad said, Your brother's already dead.

Speaker 2 The priest did the sermon.

Speaker 2 I could only see his mouth moving.

Speaker 2 But I couldn't hear anything, like nothing, nothing. I couldn't hear what he was saying.

Speaker 2 I mean, I just wanted to throw myself into the hole with my little brother.

Speaker 2 They filled his grave with flowers and they started to throw dirt on him.

Speaker 2 And my mom was screaming at God.

Speaker 2 You don't exist.

Speaker 2 If you existed, my son wouldn't be dead.

Speaker 2 It was getting dark by the time we left.

Speaker 2 That night I I said to my sister,

Speaker 2 what if we go to the cemetery to keep him company?

Speaker 2 And she said, no, he's dead.

Speaker 2 All eyes were on my mom because she was in very bad shape.

Speaker 2 And us kids, they sent us to school like nothing happened.

Speaker 2 But I kept wondering, where's my brother?

Speaker 2 In fact, I wouldn't let anyone else sleep in my bed because I believed my brother was going to come back.

Speaker 2 And one night I was asleep.

Speaker 2 And when I move my body,

Speaker 2 I feel something next to me.

Speaker 2 I feel my arms around someone.

Speaker 2 I thought, oh, one of my sisters came into bed with me.

Speaker 2 Their back side was up against my chest.

Speaker 2 But when I opened my eyes,

Speaker 2 it wasn't my sister. It was my little brother.

Speaker 2 So I lean over, but real quick, like a spring.

Speaker 2 And I go, Santi, you're here?

Speaker 2 He was warm,

Speaker 2 soft.

Speaker 2 He was a person like any other person.

Speaker 2 I mean, he wasn't a ghost or a corpse that was cold and stiff.

Speaker 2 I mean, it was him. It was him with his white clothes.

Speaker 2 He was right there.

Speaker 2 And he turns his head and looks at me and he laughs.

Speaker 2 I got scared.

Speaker 2 We sit on the bed and talk.

Speaker 2 And I said, what are you doing here?

Speaker 2 And he said, I haven't left. I'm here.
I go, but we took you in a coffin. And he said, no, I'm here.

Speaker 2 And I said, but you're here all the time.

Speaker 2 In the morning, at night, you're you're always here. And he said, yes.

Speaker 2 I go, well, let's go tell my mom you're here.

Speaker 2 And he said, no, my mom can't see me. No one sees me.
Only you can see me.

Speaker 2 But then my brother hugged me and said he was really scared.

Speaker 2 I go, why? And he says, because where I am, it's very cold.

Speaker 2 Then it's dark and I'm all alone.

Speaker 2 In that moment, I was happy because I was looking at my little brother, I was hugging him, I could feel him.

Speaker 2 I was so happy he was there with me.

Speaker 2 And I said, I'm going to put a sweater on you. And he said, No, I'm always going to be cold.

Speaker 2 And I go, But why are you cold?

Speaker 2 And he said, My mom cries too much.

Speaker 2 He said that my mom wasn't letting him go because she cried so much.

Speaker 2 And I said, But where are you then?

Speaker 2 And he said that he was always next to my mom.

Speaker 2 It was the next day.

Speaker 2 I didn't go to school because I wanted to see if my brother was here.

Speaker 2 All my siblings left.

Speaker 2 My mom, I could see her from my room.

Speaker 2 I focused on her movements.

Speaker 2 With my eyes, I scanned her bed to try to see where my little brother could be.

Speaker 2 I get out of bed.

Speaker 2 I go to her back and her head. And I start touching her with my hands.
And I go to her feet. I sit on the bed and I stare at her.

Speaker 2 And she says, well, honey, are you crazy? What are you doing? Nothing. What are you looking for? Nothing, nothing.

Speaker 2 And I stand up and I say, oh, I think I left something under your bed.

Speaker 2 I thought maybe because it was dark underneath the bed, he might be there.

Speaker 2 I go under the bed to look.

Speaker 2 I couldn't find him. I couldn't feel him.

Speaker 2 I didn't see him.

Speaker 2 During the day, I was always sad.

Speaker 2 At school, I stopped doing homework.

Speaker 2 I would fall asleep on my desk. I stopped playing with other kids.

Speaker 2 I didn't want to play with anybody, not even with my sisters, with nobody. I became quiet.

Speaker 2 But when night came, it's like I came to life again because I knew that at night my brother would come.

Speaker 2 My little brother would come and he would say,

Speaker 2 I'm here.

Speaker 2 Oh, when I would hear those words, I would get up so fast and I would say, Let's play. What do you want to play?

Speaker 2 Patty cake, patty cake.

Speaker 2 And we would play with this toys.

Speaker 2 And one time,

Speaker 2 we started playing in my mom's room.

Speaker 2 And then my mom woke up.

Speaker 2 My brother runs behind me.

Speaker 2 I immediately put my arms up, like trying to cover my brother up, so my mom wouldn't see him.

Speaker 2 What are you doing, honey? Are you okay? What's wrong? Why are you playing? And I go, no, no, no, no, no. I'm fine.
I'm fine. But what are you doing?

Speaker 2 Nothing, nothing. Just go to sleep.

Speaker 2 When I see my mom close her eyes, I say, she's asleep.

Speaker 2 But when I turn around, my brother isn't there anymore.

Speaker 2 So then I wouldn't see him anymore. I never saw him walk away or anything.

Speaker 2 He'd just disappear.

Speaker 2 But I didn't tell anyone.

Speaker 2 I was scared that if anyone else found out, I wouldn't be able to see him anymore.

Speaker 2 And then one day, my family started to wonder why some of Santiago's toys kept popping up on the floor every morning.

Speaker 2 His little cars, his favorite three-legged giraffe, or this little ball.

Speaker 2 My sister Rossi said,

Speaker 2 I know who plays with the toys.

Speaker 2 And my mom said, who?

Speaker 2 Kiti gets up in the middle of the night.

Speaker 2 She plays with someone. She talks with them and she laughs.

Speaker 2 Liar, liar, that's not true. I don't play with anyone.
I don't get up. I mean, I denied it.

Speaker 2 My mom said, honey, maybe you're dreaming or something. No, it's not true.
It's not true.

Speaker 2 And my sister goes, yes, she does get up.

Speaker 2 They even had my sister keep an eye on me during the night to see who I played with,

Speaker 2 but she never did because she was so scared.

Speaker 2 And so I kept seeing my brother. I kept playing with him.

Speaker 2 And one night he came and he said that soon we were going to be together.

Speaker 2 I stopped eating.

Speaker 2 I would only take a couple of bites of food

Speaker 2 and later I would stick my finger down my throat to get the food out.

Speaker 2 I had a dog and the dog would go under the table and sometimes I would give my food to him

Speaker 2 and no one noticed.

Speaker 2 I was getting thinner and thinner.

Speaker 2 I had big bags under my eyes.

Speaker 2 I was letting myself die so I could be with him.

Speaker 2 And so here comes my grandma and she says, you know what? Something's happening here that's not normal. This girl isn't well.

Speaker 2 And so she says, we're going to take her to to a temple.

Speaker 2 And I go, What's that? It's a place where they're going to cure you.

Speaker 2 I'm not sick.

Speaker 2 So that night I see my brother

Speaker 2 and I cry and I tell him,

Speaker 2 My grandma says she's going to take me to a temple.

Speaker 2 And he said, Don't go.

Speaker 2 You have to be with me.

Speaker 2 So when the day came to go to the temple,

Speaker 2 I made it so hard for them to get me out of the house.

Speaker 2 I threw myself on the ground and I said, I'm not going, I'm not going, I'm not sick.

Speaker 2 They dragged me out of the house and they took me.

Speaker 2 When we got there, I saw a room with candles.

Speaker 2 And I said, I don't want to. I don't want to see the witch.
And they said, she's not a witch.

Speaker 2 I don't want to, I screamed.

Speaker 2 They pushed me in.

Speaker 2 And when I see this woman, she scared me. The woman was big, her hair was long, she was dressed in white.
She was sitting in a chair and her eyes were closed.

Speaker 2 She looked ugly. I'm standing in front of her and she starts

Speaker 2 and like her whole body was shaking and her hands were shaking.

Speaker 2 And then my mom says, ma'am, I'm here with my daughter. And the woman says, quiet, sister, quiet.
I know why you're here.

Speaker 2 The woman says to my mom, you have a son that just died who was very close to this girl. My mom starts crying and says yes.

Speaker 2 Your son, she says, he's going to take your daughter.

Speaker 2 Your son can't find the light. Your son is in the darkness,

Speaker 2 but because you won't let him go, you cry for him too much.

Speaker 2 And she said,

Speaker 2 Your son's frightened.

Speaker 2 He feels alone, and that's why he wants to take his sister. And he's going to take your daughter if you don't do something.

Speaker 2 I wasn't sure if the woman was telling the truth, but what she said was very similar to what my brother had told me.

Speaker 2 I didn't know what to feel.

Speaker 2 The woman said,

Speaker 2 You're going to do a novenaria.

Speaker 2 Every day we were going to pray in my mom's room

Speaker 2 where the vigil for my brother had been held.

Speaker 2 I would have to get on my knees and pray for nine days.

Speaker 2 And with that, my brother would find the light.

Speaker 2 The first days were hard.

Speaker 2 My mom, my dad, and my grandma,

Speaker 2 they would have to drag me into my mom's room to pray.

Speaker 2 And when they would start to pray, I would cover my ears and lie down on the floor.

Speaker 2 I remember how they would force me. They would have to grab me by the shoulders and the knees to get me to kneel.

Speaker 2 I felt that if I prayed, I was going to harm my brother,

Speaker 2 that my brother was going to be alone and trapped forever in that cold and dark place.

Speaker 2 So I would cover my ears and go, No, no, no, I'm not going to pray. I'm not going to pray.

Speaker 2 And then my parents would start the prayer all over again.

Speaker 2 And then one night, my mom started crying and screaming,

Speaker 2 God, I give you my son. And to my little brother, she'd say, Baby, follow the light.

Speaker 2 That's when things started to change.

Speaker 2 We were halfway through the novenaria, and in the night, my brother comes and says, I'm here. So I get up.

Speaker 2 Guess what? It's not dark anymore. There's light.

Speaker 2 And I go, what do you mean?

Speaker 2 He says, I can see light.

Speaker 2 And I said, like, from a light bulb?

Speaker 2 Or from a lamp. Or like a match.
He tried pointing to where the light was coming from, but I couldn't see anything.

Speaker 2 And he said, there's so much light. There's so many kids.
And there's a man who's very good.

Speaker 2 He said, Look, this man is waiting for me.

Speaker 2 And I go, But how are you going to go with that man if you don't even know him? And he goes, He's good. He's good.
And I said, But how do you know there are kids? You already went?

Speaker 2 And he said, Yes, I'm already with them.

Speaker 2 And I go, But how, Santi, if you're here?

Speaker 2 And he goes, Because there's light and now I can see the path.

Speaker 2 But this man said, I had to come and say bye to you.

Speaker 2 I started crying and I said, No.

Speaker 2 He goes, Yes, my mom doesn't cry anymore.

Speaker 2 She doesn't cry anymore and she's better.

Speaker 2 I go, well, tell the man to take me with you.

Speaker 2 And my little brother said, you can't come with me. You're going to live a very long time.

Speaker 2 And I said, aren't you scared? He said, no.

Speaker 2 Aren't you cold? And I said, you're not cold at all? No.

Speaker 2 Are you happy? And he said, yes. You like to play with the kids?

Speaker 2 I mean, I interrogated him, and he said, yes.

Speaker 2 We hugged and we cried.

Speaker 2 I started to feel calm.

Speaker 2 It's like I was no longer afraid to let go of my brother. He smiled now.
His face was so different.

Speaker 2 He looked happy.

Speaker 2 He got up and said, I have to go.

Speaker 2 He turned.

Speaker 2 He walked across the dining room

Speaker 2 and went up the patio.

Speaker 2 And this is something I never saw, right? How my brother left.

Speaker 2 But this time I did see.

Speaker 2 And from that moment,

Speaker 2 I never saw him again.

Speaker 2 When I woke up the next day,

Speaker 2 I looked around me. Everyone was sleeping.

Speaker 2 I see my mom in her bed. So I get out of bed.
I go to her. I start moving her, and I said, Mom, mom, and she wakes up, surprised, honey, what's wrong? And I said, I'm hungry.
I want to eat.

Speaker 2 I was sitting at the table, and my mom gave me a glass of milk with bread.

Speaker 2 And I go, Mom, Santiago's gone. Honey, what do you mean?

Speaker 2 You saw him?

Speaker 2 And I go, Yes, he came for the last time. He said goodbye to me.

Speaker 2 My mom falls to her knees and she cries and cries.

Speaker 2 And my mom said, yes, baby.

Speaker 2 Follow the light, my love. Follow the light.

Speaker 2 Little by little, I told my mom everything.

Speaker 2 I started to get better.

Speaker 2 I started playing with everyone, and I would tell my sisters, let's play patty cake. And every time we played patty cake, I thought of my little brother, but now it felt nice.

Speaker 2 And there is one thing,

Speaker 2 I was always looking up at the sky,

Speaker 2 and my mom would catch me and say, What are you looking for?

Speaker 2 And I would tell her,

Speaker 2 It's just, I want to see the light.

Speaker 1 Thank you, Marivera. From the bottom of our hearts for sharing your extraordinary story, love to you and your family.

Speaker 1 That piece comes to us from the spook correspondent Eric Yanez, original score by Renzel Gorio, produced by our very own Nancy Lopez.

Speaker 1 And we're going to have a Spanish-language version of this story available.

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 just because we've reached the end doesn't mean it's over, Spooks. It is never over.

Speaker 1 Never over.

Speaker 1 And if you want stories... Free of those things that bump in the night.
Check out our sister podcast, Snap Judgment, Real People.

Speaker 1 Real Stories That Might Just Blow Your Mind. Cinema of Sound, Snapjudgment.org.

Speaker 1 Spooked is brought to you by the team that steadfastly ignores any and all voices heard in the middle of the night. Please run away.

Speaker 1 From Mark Ristich, from Anna Sussman, our chief spooksters: Eliza Smith, Marissa Dodge, Renzo Gorio, Leon Morimoto,

Speaker 1 Jacob Winnick, Tiffany DeLiza, Ann Ford, Eric Yanez,

Speaker 1 Seneca Khan.

Speaker 1 Original score is by Lauren Newsom.

Speaker 1 My name is Glenn Washington now.

Speaker 1 If you find a nickel in the forest,

Speaker 1 ask yourself some serious questions. Have you prepared to be in this forest?

Speaker 1 And for what reason Are you searching for nickels when you know full well

Speaker 1 that your attention needs to be on remembering with laser-like focus to never,

Speaker 1 ever,

Speaker 1 no matter what, never, ever, never, never, never, never, ever, never

Speaker 1 turn out

Speaker 1 the light.