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Generation In-Between: A Xennial Podcast
Xennial co-hosts Dani and Katie talk about their analog childhoods, digital adulthoods and everything in between. If you love 1980's and 1990's pop culture content, this is the podcast for you!
Generation In-Between: A Xennial Podcast
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Well, hello patrons, welcome to our after show from our scary stories to tell in the dark episode. Hopefully you've listened to that. If not, you know, listen after this. We're not going to give too many spoilers on on this episode, but while Danny was reading me literally reading me these scary stories I thought of a few scary situations that have happened to me. I'll call them situations because they may be open for interpretation. Okay, I've got a few, but I referenced one in the episode today that I think I'll tell today and then maybe I'll save some. Okay, because we're going to have a lot of spooky content coming up for later, after shows.
Speaker 1:All right, so Dani, read the story. What was it called? High Beams, high Beams, high Beams, right? So the story where the young woman's driving home and some truck is like following her and turning on their like, high beams, their bright lights, and then back off, and then back on and it follows her to her driveway and she jumps out of the car and thinks the person in the truck is trying to attack her and it turns out he's trying to warn her about a guy in the backseat with a knife who was obviously going to try to hurt her. So that's the story. Sorry if I spoiled it, but you've probably heard it other places too. It's an urban legend and, deanna, you read it way better than I just summarized, but okay.
Speaker 1:So when I was a teenager I worked down at the beach. I grew up near Lake Michigan, so not like the beach we have now, but where I grew up in Indiana and in the summer our particular beach was highly visited. People came from Chicago I lived on Indiana side but people came from Chicago and nearby, and in Indiana there's not a lot of beach to go to. In Indiana there's not a lot of beach to go to. So we had staff that would kind of just work at the park, right, like work at the beach, and I was one of those people. Now why they had. So I was 16, because I was driving. I would open by myself at like 6 in the morning, what, and by open that would mean like unlock the gate to the park, hang out in this little by myself and 16, I did not have a cell phone. Yeah right, we had. I don't even think we had a phone in the like little building, little booth, but we had like walkie talkies and I think when other people were there working. We could communicate with them. I don't know who I could communicate with that early. Honestly, I probably had no way to like anyone if there was an emergency, but I would go in. So I'd leave my house like 5.30, maybe a 10-minute drive. You were getting up at 5.30 to work, even at 16. I want you just to let that sit in for a second. I need to sit with that for a moment.
Speaker 1:I have always been an early riser and I thought maybe it dates back to having that job, because that was my first job. I started working there when I was like 14. My parents would take me to work and I wouldn't open by myself at age 14. But by the time I was 16, I'd been there a few years and I mean we had cash, like it was like people would pay to park and yeah. So most days it really really was.
Speaker 1:I would barely see anybody that early and then by like eight or nine it would start to get busy. But if I did see people, it was usually someone coming to get on their boat it was regulars basically or someone coming to take a walk and they'd walk by and be like, hey, how you doing, you know. So I never really felt scared until I was like an adult looking back and I was like, okay, that was kind of scary because I'm not a very big person. So anyway, there's that, and I had no like communication or weapons or anything on me. I'm gonna snatch you up, and I don't think we had surveillance, like yeah, it's just been gone, gone, still gone in lake michigan somewhere, who knows so. But most of the time everything was just fine and no issues whatsoever.
Speaker 1:So I get up and I'm running kind of late and there was a bridge being fixed by the lake that summer so it wasn't open. So normally that would have been the shorter way to get to work, but it was closed for the summer. But I knew, because we had had an event over the weekend, that they had opened it for the event and that it wasn't closed back up yet and I was running late, running late to the job, where literally no one would know if I was late, although I do think we clocked in, so maybe. Oh, yeah, I think there was a time clock in the booth. So I'm like, oh, my god, I can't be late, whatever, whatever, so jump in my car.
Speaker 1:My first car was a Dodge Shadow Like my little sedan. It was my mom's car, so she got a new one, I got her old one. So I'm driving along I'm pretty sure like I had a CD player with the detachable face at this point, jamming to whatever, and I notice a car following me and it's early. So it's like unusual. It's not a big town, like it's not typical, but there are people who go to work at that time and stuff. And I just remember noticing that it was an older car. Like you know, this was the late 90s, so it was probably like a 1970s car, but not like well kept up, like old, loud, yeah, all the things. And I had like a moment where I felt like I recognized it. And so, of course, you know how we are.
Speaker 1:I'm like, oh, I must know them from the beach or something Like they must drive through, because I literally looked at cars all day. But I'm driving and I'm a good seven or eight miles from my job, so it's not like I live right next to it. So I'm driving Every turn, I make car turns To the point that I'm like should I just drive to the police station? So I'm finally getting a little worked up about it. I'm trying to see who it is. I can see I think it's a man, but I can't get a good look at him. He's got the sun visor down, but it's 530 in the morning or whatever. So I keep driving, he keeps following me.
Speaker 1:I'm debating going to the police station and then I had a thought People think the bridge is closed. So I'm going to go that way because there's signs that say it's closed, but I know it's open, which, looking back now, is kind of risky. What if it wasn't? I know what if they had, like, gotten to work? But I'm like, yay, I'm so smart.
Speaker 1:So I drive right by the police station, keep on going, keep on trucking, and right where, like, the signs are saying it's closed, the car follows me. Oh no. So now I'm starting to freak out. Yeah, because I'm like I'm almost to work, nobody's there. I just drove by the police station. So I'm like I guess I could circle back, having all these thoughts and it's like getting closer. I mean literally I spotted it when I turned out of my driveway at home and this car is still behind me. Oh, reepy. So I'm like now I'm just totally freaked out. Obviously, no cell phone, no, nothing, all by myself.
Speaker 1:So I pull into, like the work parking lot and just sit there for a second. I just sit in my car and I'm like, okay, like in the car, like I sit and just look down. And then I'm like, okay, did he pull in after me? And I look and I don't see him. So of course I'm like looking around the parking lot, I don't see him. So that freaks me out more. Yeah, cause I'm like where did he go? Only a couple seconds passed when I didn't have eyes on him. I'm looking, I'm looking, I sit in my car for like 20 minutes, not sure what to do, totally freaked out.
Speaker 1:Finally I see a police car enter the, enter the park and he kind of pulls up, like hey, how you doing? And and I rolled down literal roll down my window and I was like, hey, I was like there was just like kind of like a creepy car. It's like, oh, did you see where it went, or whatever. I was like no, like I was, it hasn't been here for like 20 minutes. He's like, okay, well, you know, I'm gonna stay in the park for a while, let me know if you need anything. Blah, blah, blah. So I get out of the car start working. Don't see the guy again. Don't see the car start working. Don't think anything of it, like I do. I was like freaked out.
Speaker 1:But then people start showing up for work and then the sun comes out and you know, yeah, day goes on and I'm just like you know, it could have just been a drunk person, like not knowing where they're going, which is scary. But I'm like, obviously, whoever it was left, but now they know where I work. I think they might know where I live. Like I just like freaked out. So I mentioned I had worked there for a few years and I only worked there in the summer, because it only opened during the summer. It's freaking cold in the winter and the beach is not open.
Speaker 1:So some, some other people I work with come in and they're and I was still freaked out but hadn't said much and they're like, oh, hey, it was like July. And I'm like, oh, yeah, someone's joking around about the date. They're like, oh, it's, you know, today's July 8th or whatever. And someone's like, oh, no, isn't it the 7th? They're like, no, no, it's the 8th, you know, I remember, because this is the day last year where that old man ran into that wall and died, stop. And I immediately remembered who he was and I swear to God, that was who was following me that morning. I said he looked familiar.
Speaker 1:It was this old guy who would drive through, no, and he was in a car that I think looked like the one that was following me. He was probably I don't know in his 70s, but he was always drunk. We kind of thought he was funny because we were like, oh, there's the drunk guy. He would drive really slow, he would inappropriately like hit on the girls that were working and we'd be like, oh God, that guy you know, and it was almost like he had nothing better to do. So he would just drive through and be like, hey, hey, beautifuls, da, da, da, da, da, and keep driving. Well, that day the year before, he was going faster than normal or whatever, and there was a curve you could take out that was lined with like a rock wall. He slammed into it and died Like drunk, and it had been a year ago that day.
Speaker 1:That's so scary, isn't that scary? I don't like that. I don't like that. So like. There's so many different ways you can go with it, like you were saying, with the scary stories to tell in the dark Is. There's so many different ways you can go with it.
Speaker 1:Like you were saying, with the scary stories to tell in the dark, is it totally unrelated, is it? Was it just some creepy person following me who then was like, oh, this is a public place, I'm not going to kidnap and murder her after all. Or was it a ghost? Or did my subconscious brain make it up Because somewhere I knew it was the day he had passed away? Did I dream about it? And it just carried over into my day when I was awake, heading to work? Yeah, but it was like. As soon as they said that, I was like that is who I saw. That's who I saw this morning. That'd be a good scary story to tell in the dark, I know, but I'm telling you in the daylight. So I know and I'm going to think about it, you're going to think about it. And there's more. That's just one. I know I have a few creepy, creepy ones. My mom has tons, because my mom listen, we're a weird family, all of us.
Speaker 1:I, just before I say this, I just y'all need to know that my mom, very matter of fact one time when the sixth sense came out. Oh yeah, she was like, oh yeah, I mean, I've always seen dead people and I'm like, huh, like I'm sorry, what are you talking about? Like I knew she believed in ghosts and alien. She believes in all the supernatural things. Okay, I knew that and I've heard ghosts. She's like, oh yeah, she's like even when I was a kid. She's like we'd go past the stop sign and I'd be like, oh, why is that man standing there? And people would be like what are you talking about? Wow, wow, yeah, wow. So she said she just kind of learned to ignore it, which is interesting. I never asked her about this and now she's probably at the point where she can't talk about it much like logically.
Speaker 1:But you know, she was an ER nurse for like a bunch of decades and I'm just in her office. Why I hated going to her office? It was right next to the door where the morgue was Really. So I never did. And, like I said, I was a scaredy cat kid. So like I didn't want to know and I also got squeamish. So like going to an emergency room, oh yeah, but like I never did ask her if that was a job hazard, right, or if she had always did she then see like people walking through the halls that were, yeah, I bet she did, I'm not going to ask her. I, yeah, you don't have to. I mean, maybe I will, I don't know.
Speaker 1:It's weird, you know, I feel like as a brain ages and the things people like, the things, even us, right now in our forties which is still young the things we distinctly remember and the things we just forget, is bizarre, because sometimes it doesn't make sense. It's like how do I to my core remember this specific thing but not this other thing that arguably is a bigger deal or was not as long ago or whatever? Like I can remember in detail what happened each day. I went into labor with my girls, you know, like every single thing, but then there's like other things. But also I wonder too how much it relates to how much you've retold stories. I was thinking that Because I've told them the stories of their birth X number of times that they could probably tell it themselves. So how much of that is me saying it out loud in repetition, yeah, and how much is like I actually am remembering those days. Yeah, you know, it's interesting.
Speaker 1:I remember hearing Malcolm Gladwell speak about this, either in a book or in a podcast episode, or like a TED talk or something. He's talking about how memories work and like how is your memory reliable? Because it's your interpretation of events that sometimes changes. So that happens in marriage. A lot like where you tell a story and then your husband would be like, no, that's not, that's not what happened. And it's like you could swear on the blood of your life that, yes, it did, and he could swear on the blood of his life. But it's because your memory is not exactly right. Like, nobody's memory is exactly perfect. It keepsakes it in a different way. Yeah, and I don't remember all the science and all the blah, blah, blah. He should. I love Malcolm Gladwell.
Speaker 1:Well, that's why they say, like eyewitness accounts of things aren't always reliable, because you'll have five people who saw the same thing and they'll have a different version of it. So, like, even in court, sometimes it doesn't hold up. And it's not that people are lying, sometimes people are lying Right, but like it's that they are. Their interpretation in their brain is this way. Yeah, it's so wild. It's wild. We're wild humans, well, anyway. Well, that was creepy. Don't worry, there's more where that came from. Listeners, thank you for being our patrons. We love you guys. We hope you love the scary stories and we hope you're looking forward to our spooky month ish, six weeks-ish, whatever we're going to end up making, Not all in a row, not all in a row, all in a row. I think we've got a few to break them up, yeah, so either way. Well, thank you guys so much. We love you so much, patrons, and we'll see you next time. Bye, bye.
