(A) Hat Man, An Aunt’s Spirit, Mischievous Entities & a Possessed Boombox | Archive Ep198

[00:00:00] Thank you all for joining me and welcome to Paranormal Mysteries. I'm your host, Nic Ryan. On today's episode we'll be covering mischievous entities, past loved ones, a bizarre painting, and the Hat Man.

[00:00:25] But before we start, I'd like to thank Mark, Rachel, and Maria for their support and generosity. And for anyone else who would like to support the show, you can do so by sharing and reviewing

[00:00:37] the podcast, as well as visiting us at patreon.com slash paranormal mysteries, or at buymeacoffee.com slash paranormal. All of these methods help make the show possible, and we truly appreciate your support.

[00:00:52] And if you have a paranormal story to tell, you can contact me by email at paranormalmysteriespodcast at gmail.com, through voice message at speakpipe.com slash paranormal mysteries, or of course on our website at paranormalmysteriespodcast.com.

[00:01:10] And remember that all of our links can be found in the show notes. And now, let's start the show with our first listener's story of the night, which comes to us from Savannah. And Savannah's story is called Ice. Savannah says, Hi Nick!

[00:01:29] I found your podcast about two weeks ago and I've been binging it at work ever since. I love hearing about other people's experiences and it helps me understand that my own encounters weren't just my imagination. I've always had an interest in the paranormal.

[00:01:45] I've even been able to see many different types of entities since I was a kid. And here's just one of many stories. I was around seven years old at the time. My brother, my mom, and I spent a lot of time at my aunt's and uncle's house.

[00:01:59] They weren't really my biological aunt and uncle, but since they had known my mom for over 20 years, they were basically family. My aunt, I'll call her Aunt Elle, was obsessed with eating ice.

[00:02:12] She'd buy big bags of ice from Sonic and would just be munching away every time I saw her, which was basically every single day. She passed away quite suddenly one day, and this was the first time I had experienced death. I was heartbroken. My whole family was.

[00:02:29] A few weeks after her death, my mom and I were hanging out in the dining room. Our dining room was in between the kitchen and the laundry room, and we had a fridge in both the kitchen and laundry room.

[00:02:40] I don't remember what we were talking about, but then there was a pause in the conversation, and ice spat out of both of the fridges at the same time, as if someone had held up a cup to the ice dispenser to get some ice.

[00:02:54] My mom and I just sat there, staring at the ice that was now all over the floor. We brushed it off since the house we lived in at the time was very haunted, and lots of strange things would happen all the time.

[00:03:06] But this didn't feel evil, so we just continued what we were doing. This started happening a lot. Ice would just shoot out of the fridge when we were around one of them. My mom remembered something that my aunt had joked about when she was alive, and she'd say,

[00:03:21] When I die I'm coming back to haunt every single one of you. And my mom connected the dots one day. It was my Aunt Elle carrying out her promise, letting us know that she was still around. It was kind of comforting, honestly.

[00:03:36] Even after we moved into a different house with a different fridge, it still happened. It became an inside joke with our family, and every time that ice would come out of the fridge on its own, we'd all just laugh and say,

[00:03:47] It's just Aunt Elle being a pain in the butt. Or something along those lines. It's especially funny when guests are over, and they're like, WTF. I know this wasn't exactly scary, like I'm sure most listeners are here for, but this experience just means a lot to me.

[00:04:05] But I hope that this makes someone smile. Our loved ones are still around. Energy cannot be destroyed. I don't believe that we just dissipate when we die. Our souls live on. I hope you enjoyed reading my experience, and if this makes it on the podcast, thank

[00:04:22] you so so much. I hope that everyone has a wonderful day. Our next story comes to us from Monica. And Monica says, Hello! I have an experience I'd like to share. I've been living in this home for about 20 years now.

[00:04:41] When I first moved in, I was 15 years old and had a room upstairs. I had just got home late after a high school football game. Everyone was asleep, and I walked into my room and I laid on my bed.

[00:04:52] And then I heard a knocking on my bedroom door. So I got up and opened it, but no one was there. So I ran into my bed and slept it off. The next morning I asked my parents and my siblings if they had knocked, and they said no.

[00:05:07] In the following months, my CD player would fast forward or change tracks. In my hallway it sounded like people walking up and down the stairs, and once it seemed like I could hear a couple arguing through the walls.

[00:05:19] The fire detector would go off at random times of the day. And at this point, I knew something was in my house. I was really scared of the upstairs room, so I decided to move into the room downstairs.

[00:05:31] A few years go by, and I had a friend and her daughter over. We sat in the living room which faced the upstairs area. The daughter was about three years old, and she stopped and stared off into the upstairs area and just started crying and sobbing.

[00:05:45] She didn't speak much, but you could see the fear in her face. And she wouldn't stop crying until they left my home. My parents at this point still did not believe. Then one morning, my mom said that something pushed her off the bed.

[00:06:00] She got up and ignored it, but then her and my father had an experience in the kitchen, where the blender turned on by itself. Then one day, a frame that we had hanging of Pancho Villa, a Mexican revolutionist, suddenly fell.

[00:06:14] Behind the frame was a painting of a woman like a self-portrait. We had no idea who it was, but it creeped me out. I took it outside with the idea of burning it. My dogs then started barking and growling at the picture very aggressively.

[00:06:27] They started chasing me and trying to attack the picture. So I ended up burning the picture. Things have since calmed down a bit. If I was to guess, I'd say that we had two spirits. The woman from the painting and another one who is just mischievous.

[00:06:43] I think the mischievous one is still around, but we have learned to live with the random things that it does. My son has mentioned to me a few times that it will tap him on his shoulders or it will throw candy towards him.

[00:06:59] Our next story of the night comes to us from Eddie. And Eddie's story is called Possessed Boombox. And Eddie says, Hello Nick. It has been a while since I made a submission, so I thought I would send you this story.

[00:07:13] This is a true story and when it happened it shocked me so bad that I promise you I don't think that I will ever forget what happened anytime soon. I had a really good friend in junior high and I used to go over to his house pretty

[00:07:26] much every day after school. Well one day he was really excited about showing me something after school and he asked me to come over to his house so that he could show me what it was. When I got to his house he said,

[00:07:38] Come up to my room and look. He then showed me a boombox which looked like a standard radio with two cassette tape decks and the standard radio dials, but it also had knobs on it for volume, treble, balance, etc.

[00:07:52] He then proceeded to tell me that he had accidentally dropped the boombox down the stairs and ever since that happened, if you turned the balance knob all the way to the left and played a cassette, that the radio would play a cassette backward.

[00:08:06] Of course I did not believe him and I told him to prove it. He then proceeded to grab a Kiss cassette that his dad had given him. He stuck the cassette in and pushed play and it sounded like normal Kiss music until he

[00:08:18] turned the balance knob to the left and the cassette started playing in reverse and it said, Why are you looking for the devil when you ought to be looking for the Lord?

[00:08:29] Of course I was dumbfounded and shocked and I told him to do it again because I wanted to make sure that I had heard what I thought I had actually heard. And of course, it said it again.

[00:08:39] I then proceeded to ask him to turn the balance knob back the other way again and it played the music again. Again I was shocked and couldn't believe what I was hearing.

[00:08:49] To this day we are still friends and I ask him from time to time if he still has the boombox and he always says yes and that he will never get rid of it.

[00:09:00] I love this podcast and I have been an avid listener for a long time and I love to hear the stories that get told on here because they never get old, even the stories that are about the same paranormal events that other people experience.

[00:09:13] Keep doing what you always do and keep up the great work. Our next story of the night comes to us from Allison and Allison's story is called, A Frightening Experience with Hat Man. Allison says,

[00:09:30] Hi Nick, I've been listening to your podcast for a while now and up until recently, after hearing others' experiences with the Hat Man, I thought my experience was just my overactive imagination. I was 15 or 16 at the time when it happened.

[00:09:45] I was up late at my father's house on the computer in the dining room just listening to music on my headphones and surfing the internet while chatting with friends. My father had already gone to bed so it was just me in the dark with nothing but the

[00:09:58] light on from the computer screen. Just a normal night like many others, but as the night went on, it began to feel different and I began to feel like I wasn't alone.

[00:10:10] I was so focused on the computer that I just figured that my father was behind me sitting at the table. A few minutes passed before I realized that it couldn't have been him since he had already gone to bed hours ago.

[00:10:21] So I turned my music off and I sat in silence for a minute trying to listen to anything around me as I was too afraid to turn around. The feeling became more intense like whatever or whoever was behind me was slowly coming closer to me.

[00:10:36] At this point, I was frozen in fear. I could not move. The feeling got stronger and stronger and it felt as if someone was coming closer and I felt like I was in danger, like whatever this thing was was about to grab me by my

[00:10:50] neck and choke me, and I could barely breathe. It took everything in me at that point to move from my chair and flip on the light which was right next to me in the kitchen, and as soon as the light came on, that thing went

[00:11:03] away and the feeling was gone. Now I didn't see what it was, I was too afraid to look, but I saw an image in my head of a tall man with a top hat. That's the feeling I got from it.

[00:11:15] I'm not a full blown psychic or sensitive, but I can feel things and I've been able to see images in my head of things on occasion. I always thought that maybe the whole idea of the man in the hat was just my teenage

[00:11:27] mind trying to put a picture to what I felt and make sense of it. But then I discovered your podcast and heard all the other stories about this strange being and I decided to send my story in as well.

[00:11:39] I would really like to learn more about what this thing is and its purpose. I'm sorry if this is long, but I'm glad I was able to tell my story. I've had other strange experiences with other things as well, so maybe I'll send more stories in sometime.

[00:11:55] Thanks for reading. Our next story comes to us from Stella, and Stella's story is called Burial Ground and Feeling a Presence. Stella says, I once went on a school summer trip to Sydney, Australia. While there we went on a walking tour of the city.

[00:12:17] The whole day I was in a great mood, messing around with my friends and mainly staying to the back of the tour, not really caring about what the tour guide was discussing.

[00:12:25] All of a sudden in the middle of the city was this large grass patch and beside it were two big gates. The tour group was walking through the gates and I sort of stopped mid-sentence as I walked through the gates and onto the grass.

[00:12:38] There was a big cathedral and town hall across the street, and there were people on the streets all around. As soon as I was on the grass I turned to my friends and felt panicked. I kept asking them why we were in a cemetery.

[00:12:50] They did not understand what I was talking about and all I could say was, Why are we in a cemetery? In a nervous voice because I just couldn't understand why we were there.

[00:13:00] My friends were a little bit nervous too, but they thought it was kind of funny, like I was pulling a prank, but I was clearly becoming more upset. I then turned back to the tour guide to hear what she had to say about the cathedral and

[00:13:13] she began discussing its history. I was too far back for her to have heard what I had said to my friends and she begins to say that this ground was where over a thousand people in the late 1800s were buried.

[00:13:26] While the remains were moved and put into a new cemetery during construction, they could not retrieve all the bodies and based off of records, many are still beneath the ground. None of my friends could believe what she had just said, just minutes after me.

[00:13:43] I don't think I have ever felt so much sadness in a place, but it was strange because I was not upset, I was just overwhelmed by the sadness and fear around me, like a feeling of death.

[00:13:54] This story happened three years ago now, but I still often think of it whenever there is a discussion on the paranormal. In case you are interested in this, it's named St. Andrew's Cathedral and it's located directly across from Sydney's Town Hall.

[00:14:10] Thanks for giving me a place to express this story. Our next listener account comes to us from Echo, and Echo's story is called Just the Beginning. Echo says, Hello, I have never been one for podcasts, but I found you on Spotify and have been listening every day since.

[00:14:33] I'm sorry if this is long. I always had an overactive imagination as a kid that now looking back on, I think it was something more. The beginning was when I was 11 years old. I was asked to babysit for a friend of the family.

[00:14:48] He had a three-year-old and a one-year-old daughters. The plan was for me to come over and meet the girls and spend the day with the family before I started babysitting so I could get to know them. However, I received a call from them before that could happen.

[00:15:01] The one-year-old had cracked her head on the coffee table and needed stitches, and they wanted to know if I could come over and watch the three-year-old. It was around 9pm, and they told me that the three-year-old was in bed.

[00:15:12] I didn't need to do much but watch TV and be there in case she woke up. Easy right? About half an hour after they left, I thought I heard someone walking up the basement stairs. I could hear the sound of work boots. Thump, thump, thump up the stairs.

[00:15:30] I wasn't sure if they had forgot to mention that someone else was there or would be stopping by. The sounds got to the top of the stairs and then… Nothing. Not a peep. Okay, it was weird but I made excuses. Maybe I could hear the house next door.

[00:15:46] Shortly after that, I heard the three-year-old speaking to someone through the baby monitor and I swear I heard someone speak back. So now I was thinking that they maybe had another child over, a cousin or something,

[00:15:58] and in their rush to get to the hospital, they forgot to tell me. But before I could go up there to check, she was standing on the stairs. She told me that the boy scared her, and right then I heard something running around over

[00:16:10] her head, and then the bathroom door slammed. All I could think was that some child was now locked in the bathroom. So I ran upstairs and the bathroom door was locked.

[00:16:21] I banged on the door saying to turn the knob and unlock the door, but was met with silence. I then turned to go find a hanger or something to pick the lock, and I heard a click.

[00:16:32] I tried the handle and the door opened, but no one was there. I then turned and looked at the three-year-old, and she just turned and walked away. I followed her downstairs where she curled up on the couch, and I sat next to her, and

[00:16:46] for the next two hours we didn't leave that couch, even though there were now sounds of people moving around above us. When the parents came home they asked me how it went, and if I was okay. I told them it was great, no issues.

[00:17:00] I didn't want to look crazy. I babysat for them for years, and when the girls were older we spoke about all the activity that we had experienced over the years. They had all felt, heard, and seen the same thing as me.

[00:17:14] I've had numerous experiences since, but none that stick in my mind as the first time I ever had to babysit. Thanks for reading. Echo Our next story comes to us from Taylor, and Taylor's story is called... Similar Story Taylor says,

[00:17:35] Hey Nick, I just heard episode 136, and one of the stories about someone losing their keys sounds just like an experience I once had. It was back in 2014 I think. I was living with some friends and my then wife.

[00:17:50] She had to be up early for work, and one morning she was looking for our keys. It was probably 5am when she got up, and it wasn't long before she woke me to help look. She usually put them in a couple of places, and they weren't there.

[00:18:03] So we start really looking deeply. My friend also woke up and asked what was going on, and then started to search too. Nick, when I say we looked, we really looked. We checked the bathroom. In clothes. We flipped couches and end tables. They were nowhere.

[00:18:20] My next thought was the car. We had a hybrid with a button start, and those cars don't usually let you lock your keys in, but I still wanted to be sure. We ended up calling a locksmith at around 7. They got the car open, but the keys weren't there.

[00:18:36] My wife ended up calling her work and said that she couldn't make it in that day. So we went back in the house, and lo and behold her keys showed up on an end table that we had moved several times.

[00:18:48] They looked as if someone had deliberately laid them down neatly. We all looked at each other and chalked it up to my mom's playful spirit, and figured there was a good reason that she didn't want anyone to leave.

[00:19:01] So yeah, hopefully the girl from the other episode has some relief knowing that she's not the only one to experience that. If she has questions or wants to reach out, I'm open to it. Hopefully she hears this, and I hope you enjoyed the story. Thanks Nick.

[00:19:18] Have a good day. Our next listener story comes to us from Carolina, and Carolina's story is called Haunted House in DC. Carolina says, Hi Nick. I live in Maryland. I've recently discovered your podcast and have been listening to it every morning on my drive to work.

[00:19:39] Before going into my story, I want to share some of my background with you. I'm originally from South America. I was raised in a Catholic-slash-African religion household, since my mom is a Catholic and my father is a spiritualist.

[00:19:53] As a child, I was called very sensitive by my relatives and family members, being able to see, sense, and feel things that no one else could be aware of. I will share other experiences in the future for the podcast, but let's jump back to the

[00:20:09] subject of this message. This happened in the year 2010 in Washington, DC. At the time, I was juggling two different jobs and trying to adapt to the American culture. Also during that time, I was having a hard time keeping up with my religion, since the

[00:20:23] church has always been a big part of my life, but since moving to America two years prior to the events that follow, I have not been very active in church. So in 2010, I lived in Northwest DC, close to the border with Maryland and Virginia.

[00:20:38] I lived in a three-story home that was built in the early 1920s in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in America. I rented the basement, with a large bedroom and living area, bathroom, and kitchen.

[00:20:51] When I first moved to the house, I did not feel anything or felt in any way uncomfortable while at home, but as the days went by, I started hearing people walking constantly upstairs. Right above my bedroom was the main level living room, and there was a family living

[00:21:07] upstairs, a father, a mother, and a three-year-old boy. They were very easygoing and usually would settle down for the day at around 8pm every evening, meaning that I shouldn't hear much noise after that time. It started as light steps, and with time, heavier, slow-paced steps.

[00:21:24] I started sleeping with my TV on so as not to focus on it, and I almost got used to hearing the strolls through the night. Until one Saturday night. That day I had worked in the morning and I got home at around 1pm to start my weekly cleaning.

[00:21:39] At the time, I had an iPod Touch that I used to connect to a speaker and listen to music while I cleaned the apartment. It was an uneventful afternoon and evening. I cleaned, I showered, had dinner, and prepared to go to bed early.

[00:21:53] I drifted away and was in a deep sleep when all of a sudden I was awakened by my speakers on full blast. At first I was trying to understand what was going on.

[00:22:02] I reached out beside my bed lamp, turned it on, and could see where the sound was coming from. The speaker, which was an older version with no Bluetooth capacity, was playing songs, unplugged from the power outlet, and not connected to the iPod.

[00:22:17] At that moment I got both scared and angry. That's when I got all my courage and said, Stop this madness now. I am tired and need to sleep. I don't allow you to play tricks on me anymore.

[00:22:30] And immediately after I said that, everything went silent and I could rest for the night. After that incident I had my TV turning on at night a few times too, and the lights flickering in a Christmas song pattern.

[00:22:44] I always felt that it was a woman's spirit and that she meant no harm at all to me or to the landlord's family. Later I asked questions to the homeowner and I found out that the home had belonged to

[00:22:55] one lady since it was built and that she had passed away in the bedroom upstairs. I believed that this was her way of celebrating her home, since there was never any negative event. Thank you for reading and sharing my story. I hope you enjoyed it. Carolina

[00:23:16] As we bring tonight's episode to an end, I appreciate all of you for tuning in. And a special thank you goes out to Savannah, Monica, Eddie, Allison, Stella, Echo, Taylor, and Carolina for sharing their experiences. And remember, if you've witnessed something paranormal, I'd like to hear your story.

[00:23:38] You can contact me through email, voice message, or of course on our website, and these links can be found in the show notes. Until next time, I hope you all have a safe and healthy rest of the week, as we uncover even more experiences involving paranormal mysteries.