Latest / Martin Animations / 4 HOSPITAL Horror Stories Animated

Transcript

4 HOSPITAL Horror Stories Animated · Martin Animations

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: A while ago I got a job at a small
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: hospital just out of town. I was excited as it
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: was my first job I had been offered since my graduation.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: It was just casual work but I was still ecstatic
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: at the chance to work there as the money was
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: great and it was the place I did my training at.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Most of the.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Time I would do 12 hour shifts from 7am to 7pm.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Sometimes I would work the late shift from 3 to 11.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: I never cared much for those. I was used to
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: working late for my previous jobs, but I had to
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: drive a lot further to get home. There was usually
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: four nurses, one administrator, me, and the emergency doctor.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: That's it.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Now being in a small hospital like this one, you
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: see some pretty strange things come in. Some people can't
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: make it into the city, so we've had the emergency
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: helicopter have to drop in every now and again. I've
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: seen some pretty horrific things. like whole families dying from
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: accidents on curved country roads. I've even had people bring
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: in animals in desperation, as there was no veterinarian nearby
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: that was open. This one particular night, around 10pm, I
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: was sitting and talking with one of my nurses about
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: a patient's chart, but I was mostly just wasting time
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: until I got off at 11. The hospital was very quiet.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: I had only checked in six patients up to that point.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: I then heard a strange noise by the entrance. I
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: then saw a man making his way toward us. He
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: looked pretty normal, but he had on a long coat,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: which was strange as it was the middle of the summer,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: and even though it was dark, it was still very
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: warm out. The nurse beside me let out a long
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: sigh and got up to use the restroom, leaving me
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: to deal with our new arrival. As he drew closer,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: the strange sound got louder, and something caught the light.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: He was dragging something behind him, but I couldn't make
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: out what it was, although I assumed it was metal
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: from the scraping sound it was making. It sent a
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: shiver up my spine. He stopped at the desk, and
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: I could see his eyes were wide, his pupils big,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: his face was pale. and it looked like he hadn't
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: slept in a while. I had seen this look many
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: times before, and immediately associated it with someone who was
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: under the influence of.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: something.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: He leaned on the desk, and ran his fingers through
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: his hair, pulling at it, and grinding his teeth. When
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: people like this come in, they are usually looking for drugs.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: Most of the.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Time they will complain about migraines, or fibromyalgia. anything we
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: can't prove to the contrary. I processed him as usual,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: and noticed he was becoming more and more irritable as
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: time passed. Eventually, when I finished up, I pointed him
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: toward the waiting area. He then asked how long it
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: was going to be. Knowing that the on-call doctor had
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: gone on a quick break, I estimated about half an hour.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: That's when his whole demeanor changed. The anger on his
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: face was obvious. as he stormed over to the waiting area,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: which is a room between the ER and the front desk.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: As he walked away, I caught a glimpse of what
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: he was dragging behind him, and quickly came to the
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: realization it was an axe. I panicked, and almost called
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: the code over the PA system, but I didn't want
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: him to realize. I promptly called the police on my
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: cell phone and ran down the hall to signal to
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: the nurses we had an issue. The police would have
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: to come from two towns over, which takes on average
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: 20 minutes. Of course, as we were all pretty small girls,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: we didn't want to go near him. This man was
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: tall and muscular. Even all of our forces combined, we
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: wouldn't stand a chance. I calmly walked back to the
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: front desk and paged the doctor, asking him to call me.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: I waited and.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Waited, but I never got a response. I watched the
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: man getting more agitated, and soon, he began yelling and
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: asking for help. I quickly hid from him. The other
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: nurses and I devised a plan to lock him in
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: the waiting area. The glass is reinforced, and the doors
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: are heavy, so it should have been able to hold
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: him there until the police arrived. The plan went down
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: without a hitch. until the man realized what we had done.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: He started screaming and throwing chairs around the room. He
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: then began using his axe on the door. We were
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: all standing near the front desk and watching. I have
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: never been so terrified in my life, and what made
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: it even worse was the fact that he was making
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: some headway on the door. It was around this time
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: that the emergency doctor comes back from his break He
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: strolled through the front entrance, still sipping on a drink.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: When he saw all of us huddled by the front desk,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: he immediately took charge of the situation. After getting all
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: the necessary information, he disappeared toward the back entrance, where
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: the EMTs usually enter from. He then unlocked one of
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: the waiting room doors, and then tackled the man when
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: he wasn't looking. He bound the man's wrists together with
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: cable ties. and sat on his back until the police arrived.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: I was so grateful for having a young, physically fit
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: doctor with us on that night. I bought him coffee
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: every time our schedules crossed as a thank you, but
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: I don't think that'll ever be enough. As this was
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: the second incident I experienced while working the 3 to 11,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: I decided to never work late shifts again. I'm now
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: on a Monday to Friday 9 to 5 schedule, and
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: I feel much safer now, Last August I was hospitalized
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: in the voluntary psychiatric ward at the local hospital due
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: to some major anxiety and depression issues I was having.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: It was unfortunately my second hospitalization and this time I
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: would have to have a roommate. No one knows why
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: but for some reason when the psychiatric unit was built
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: they decided to put in double rooms. Because of this
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: they would often have high functioning patients share rooms. Since
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: I was here about a month ago, when I showed up,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: the nurses all remembered me. Stays in the psychiatric unit
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: average about one to two weeks. Because it's the voluntary unit,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: there's no actively psychotic or violent people here.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Usually.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: My roommate, Jane, seemed nice enough. She was an unassuming,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: petite woman. One thing she really enjoyed doing was sitting
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: at her desk and work on crossword puzzles. In fact,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: That was the only thing she ever seemed to be doing.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: In the rooms, each patient gets a desk and a dresser,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: which are right next to each other. I was admitted
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: to the hospital around 6pm. By 9.30, I had taken
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: my medication and was doing some meditation before going to sleep.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: I was looking at this beautiful picture of a tree
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: and fence that was mounted to the wall and focusing
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: on it while slowing my breathing. That's when I saw
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: that there was writing on it I hadn't noticed it earlier.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: It was in pencil, and was put into the picture
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: with enough force to indent it. The writing said, They
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: are all liars.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: Liars.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: There were some other things I couldn't quite decipher. It
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: creeped me out a bit, but I figured it had
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: to have been the previous patient, so I went to
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: the nurse's station to let them know. If you've ever
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: been to a psychiatric ward, you'll know that most of
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: the time, It's terribly boring. I spent most days walking
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: around the unit. Some patients would actually count their laps.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Apparently 30 laps equaled a mile. I also spent some
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: time in the art room painting with a group. I
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: began to notice that Jane never went to any of
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: the groups. In fact, she never left the room. Then
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: I realized that I had never seen her leaving the desk.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Each time I came into her room, She would be
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: sitting there, working on a crossword. I figured that's how
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: she dealt with the boredom of this place. I tried
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: to make small talk with her when I came in
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: and out. I then realized something odd. The crossword puzzle
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: she was working on never changed. It was the same
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: exact one, with no progress being made. I would compare
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: it to that scene from The Shining.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Where Mrs.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Torrance discovers that all Jack had been writing for his
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: screenplay was, All work and no play makes Jack a
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: dull boy. It's quite a chilling way to discover that
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: someone has gone off the deep end. The second night
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: I came back in around 10.30 to go to sleep,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: she was still sitting at the desk, working on that
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: same crossword puzzle with the lights on. I shrugged at it,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: because by this point she was no longer responding to
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: me saying hello. or asking if she was going to
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: join the group. It was possible that she could have
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: been having a reaction to some medication or just didn't
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: feel like talking. So I turned off all my lights
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: and pulled my privacy curtain closed. The medication I was
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: on at the time basically knocked me out. So I
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: was able to fall asleep pretty quickly. Around 2 a.m.,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: I woke up to one of the medical assistants asking
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: my roommate if she thought it was time to go
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: to bed or turn off her light. so that her roommate,
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: referring to me, could sleep. She didn't really respond to
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: the person and didn't turn off the light. I ended
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: up just rolling back over and going to sleep. At
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: some point she had turned off the light and gone
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: to bed because I woke up some time later in
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: complete darkness.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: I was confused.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: The medications I was taking would usually make me sleep
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: for 12 hours straight I then realized I could hear
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: someone talking.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: It was Jane. She kept repeating, Jesse, help me. Jesse,
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: help me.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: I responded with, Jane, are you okay? She didn't reply
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: to me, but she kept saying it over and over again,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: so I thought she may have been talking in her sleep. Eventually,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: I dozed off again, only to wake up again at
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: some point later. She was saying the same thing, only
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: louder this time. I knew that she wasn't talking in
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: her sleep this time. I tried to get her to
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: respond to me, but she never acknowledged that I was
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: even there. She just kept raising her voice.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: Jesse, help me. I need help, Jesse.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: I got up and went to go get the night nurse,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: whose name was Jesse. I told her that my roommate
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: was calling for her. By the time we got back
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: into the room, Jane was hysterical. She was crying out
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: for Jesse and trying to get out of bed. Jesse
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: did her best to calm her down, and I was rattled.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: But I was given another sedation, and I ended up
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: going back to sleep. When I woke up the next morning,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Jane wasn't in the room, and a table that had
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: once been near her bed was now in front of
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: the bathroom curtain. There were no doors because of self-harm risks.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: I went to use the bathroom and there was an
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: entire roll of toilet paper in the toilet bowl. Again,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: I went to go get a nurse because I didn't
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: want to be the one responsible for flooding the bathroom.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: I had already flooded a private bathroom by accident during
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: my first day. When I went out onto the floor,
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: I realized two things. First, There was a medical assistant
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: standing by the door near the front desk. Second, Jane
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: was also standing at the door. The door only opens
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: when someone phones in, so I was confused as to
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: why there had to be someone essentially guarding the door.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: I found out from another patient who had insomnia that
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: my roommate had spent the night running around the ward
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: and throwing furniture around. They had finally gotten security down
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: to talk to her and she calmed down, but then
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: stood in front of the door and was still standing
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: there like a statue for hours. I went about my
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: usual routine of eating breakfast and painting. I asked some
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: of the assistants about my roommate, and they tell me
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: that she's been standing there since their shift started, 6 a.m.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: It's now 10.30 a.m. That made me a bit uneasy,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: but I just kept painting. I notice something out of
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: the corner of my eye. I look up and I
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: see Jane outside of the room staring in at me.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: She sees me look up and quickly looks away but
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: she doesn't move for a good 20 minutes. I get
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: weirded out and decide to go back to my room
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: for the first time that morning. She follows me into
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: the room. I acted like I was just picking something
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: up and leave again. and go to the assistant sitting
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: at the front desk. I tell her politely that I
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: might sound a bit paranoid, but that I think my
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: roommate is following me around. So she lets me sit
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: with her at the front desk. Because I'm sitting there
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: with nothing to do, I decide to call my insurance
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: company with a question. As I'm on the phone, Jane
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: comes walking up with two plastic bins full of stuff.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: When they first let you into the unit, they gave
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: you a plastic bin full of various supplies. The bins
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: were full of her stuff and my stuff. She also
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: had the pillowcase off my bed that was full of
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: my clothing.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: I lost it.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Why does she have my stuff? That's my iPad. I
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: kind of start freaking out. I do have anxiety issues myself.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: There were three nurses standing by, and they were flabbergasted.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: They had never seen anything like this. I'm now on
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: the floor crying my eyes out and someone kneels down
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: and put their arm around me. It's going to be okay.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: You're going to be fine. I had my eyes closed
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: and I assumed it was a nurse but in a
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: bizarre twist it was actually Jane. I tell her to
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: stop touching me and then tell the nurses I want
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: her away from me. The nurses ended up bringing me
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: into a private meeting room. to go through my stuff.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: They then tell me that Jane is going to be
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: transferred to the involuntary ward at some point during the day. Unfortunately,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: due to Jane's behavior, I can't return to my room
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: until the transfer is complete. While this was all going on,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: Jane has now moved to the back door, which opens
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: up into a stairwell that goes down to the garden outside.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: There's no way for her to open it, obviously, and
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: she just stands there, for hours. After a while, I
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: just start ignoring her, though she stares at me whenever
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: I'm in her line of vision. It was around 6
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: or 7pm. My husband had come to visit me, and
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: we were playing cards with another patient who had just
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: moved into our unit. We were sitting in the cafeteria,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: which was right next to where Jane was waiting, separated
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: by a wall of windows. I believe that she had
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: stood there on purpose so that she could keep an
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: eye on me. As we were playing rummy, we see
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: the psychiatrist come up with two security guards. She starts
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: explaining to Jane that she has to go upstairs now.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: Jane gets agitated and refuses to move. A security guard
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: goes to take her arm and then she goes berserk,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: turning to one of the windows and starts banging on it.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: looking straight at me and screaming for me to come
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: and help. They literally dragged her kicking and screaming upstairs.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: I was a bit shaken up, but at least she
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: was gone now. I end up with another roommate, also
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: named Jane, but this new Jane was super sweet, and
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: she was in the unit because she was detoxing from
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: a medication. My attending psychiatrist assured me that my reaction
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: was completely normal. and so I start to feel a
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: lot better. The next day after lunch, it was time
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: to visit the garden. I actually really enjoyed going outside.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: It's refreshing after spending so many hours cooped up.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: In the ward.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: At the time, we were only allowed 30 minutes. I
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: became anxious when I saw that Jane, my former roommate,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: was one of the people in the garden from the
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: upstairs unit. so I ask one of the supervisors if
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: I can sit near them during garden time. They say
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: that's fine, and everything goes okay. Jane doesn't approach me
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: at all. Now you might think that I'm being a
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: bit dramatic, but Jane is one of those people who
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: only appears to not be paying attention. However, it only
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: appears that way. When we came back inside, since I
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: didn't need an escort back to my unit... I made
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: sure to break off from the group and get away
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: from Jane as soon as possible, but then Jane makes
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: a beeline right for me and she had to be
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: restrained again. I didn't see her again after that. I
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: think maybe the hospital staff realized that having her around
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: me in any capacity was a bad idea. Something about
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: me triggered her and I don't like to think about
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: what would have happened to me if she continued to
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: be my roommate. This is a story that was told
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: to me by my mother when I was old enough
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: to understand what had almost happened to me. I was
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: only a few weeks old at the time, and those
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: days when a mother had given birth and had taken
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: their newborns home, midwives were sent from the hospital to
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: check in on the baby and the mother once or
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: twice a week. My dad was working so he wasn't home,
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: and my mother had put me to sleep and was
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: going about her business in the house. Two midwives had
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: stopped by earlier that week, so she was confused when
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: she heard a knock at the door. We lived in
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: a very close-knit community, where there was rarely any crime,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: but most people who lived there worked for most of
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: the day, so it was basically deserted around this time.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: My mother was greeted by a male and a female
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: who were both dressed in hospital uniforms with security badges.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: They politely asked if they could come in. They explained
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: that they had been sent by the hospital. My mom
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: let them in because they looked like professionals with the
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: badges and uniforms. They even knew that she had a
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: little girl and my mother's name. It was very convincing
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: at the time, but that information was easy to access.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: The man said that he was going to take me
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: upstairs to check on me, and the woman would look
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: at my mom downstairs. However, my mother didn't feel okay
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: about them wanting to separate us, and she explained that
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: a pair of midwives had already been there that week
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: and said that she was going to call the hospital.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: as nobody had notified her that someone was coming just
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: a day after. She also warned them that her husband,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: my father, was on his way home from work and
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: wouldn't be happy about this unscheduled visit. At this point,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: the two got very defensive and said that they would
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: leave after being really pushy with my mother to separate
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: the two of us. After the back and forth, she
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: finally got them to leave. They quickly changed their behavior
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: to a more calm demeanor. and said not to worry
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: and that it must have been a mistake. What was
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: even stranger, though, was that when my mom opened the
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: door for them to leave, there was another person waiting
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: in a car outside who still had the engine running.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: She called the.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: Hospital and they told her they didn't have any midwives
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: scheduled to visit her that day and that they would
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: always alert the mother if they were going to send one.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: They also mentioned that they would never ask to separate
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: the mother and the baby. My mother gave them a
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: description of the visitors, and they told her they didn't
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: have any male midwives at that hospital, and that she
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: should contact the police right away. Terrified, my mother called
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: my dad, who came straight home from work, and they
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: reported the incident to the police, but it never amounted
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: to anything that we know of. Who knows what those
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: two were planning to do. If they had gained access
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: to all the information about my mother... They must have
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: had someone watching the house and knew that my father
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: wouldn't be home. And they had even gone through the
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: effort of obtaining the uniforms and badges. Thank God my
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: mom acted on her instincts and got them the hell
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: out of the house. It's even more creepy to imagine
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: what my life would be like now if they had
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: gotten to carry out what they were planning to do
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: that day. I don't believe this could have been a
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: genuine mix-up. They had not followed the standard protocol. and
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: no one told my mother they were visiting. And they
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: were very rude and defensive when my mother challenged them,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: which is not acceptable behavior from a health professional. I
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: believe we were very lucky they decided to leave. My
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: mother couldn't have done anything if they decided to use force.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: I just hope they didn't do this to anyone else.
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: In autumn of 1995, when I was five years old,
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: my parents moved us from suburban Dublin to a small
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: town in a neighbouring county. Nowadays, that area would almost
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: be considered suburban, but back then, it was the middle
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: of nowhere, right before Ireland's economy started to really boom too.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: They bought a house that was about two kilometres from
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: the village in a field surrounded on all sides by farmland,
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: with a little cowshed directly touching the edge of our land.
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: It had a long driveway up to the house, a
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: three-bedroom 1900s dormer bungalow. And as a suburban kid, I
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: hated the place as soon as we moved there. My
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: parents were into their late 20s, early 30s at that time.
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: They both had grown up in the city and wanted
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: to experience country life, so it was an opportunity to
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: do a renovation. And when we moved into the place,
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: it was rancid. Nobody had lived in this house for
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: decades and I remember the water running yellow from the
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: taps and the kitchen being non-existent when we moved in
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: and the heating wasn't installed yet. On our first Saturday there,
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: I remember we watched what I think was Goldeneye. Could
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: have been a trailer for it that I remember. I
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: was only like five, so it's a little bit fuzzy.
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: We watched it though beside an electric heater with duvets
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: around a tiny TV. What I'm trying to say is
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: that it was bleak at first. As it moved into
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: winter though my parents were renovating room by room and
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: I experienced my first memorable snowstorm. Our electricity went out
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: at one point and I do remember my mum trying
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: to keep me chill while she lit candles and stuff
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: and over time things did eventually get better and they
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: renovated the upstairs room first but when you walked up
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: the stairs there was one big room that We all
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: put our beds into that connected to an attic space
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: which I remember helping my dad put rat traps in
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: and that sticky bug tape onto. Anyway, over time they
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: renovated all the rooms in the house and it turned
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: out really nice in the end. It was very 90s
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: with loads of bright colors and a country kitchen and
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: all that but my mother was really depressed there and
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: this was the time before the internet took off and
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: in Ireland at that time once you left the cities
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: you only had like three channels and they're all Irish.
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: which in 1995 was not a good thing. She just
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: felt isolated, I guess, and I remember a few times
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: she let me take the day off school and stay
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: home even. I think that she did this because she
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: was lonely, though. Anyway, in August of 1996, they gave
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: up and moved us back to the city. They bought
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: a really nice brand new home right before house prices skyrocketed,
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: and I even got to rejoin the class that I
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: had spent a couple of months with in 1995. In 2011,
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: when I was 21, my dad and I went for
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: a drive together and decided to drive back to that town.
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: And he started telling me stories about that house, and
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: suddenly a bunch of experience that I'd had suddenly made
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: a lot of sense. So, remember that big room upstairs?
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: My whole life, I've had this sort of reoccurring dream
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: where I'm lying in bed, my parents are downstairs with
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: my family over, And as I close my eyes I
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: can see shadows moving in front of me between the
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: hanging lights and the bed. As if someone is sort
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: of walking back and forth in front of me. And
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: I've had that dream maybe 20 times I would guess.
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: My dad told me that one of the major reasons
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: they left was because they felt the place was actually
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: haunted apparently. This was obviously news to me but my
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: mum was already depressed being alone there while he commuted
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: into the city every day. But that she also had
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: experiences that made it very difficult for her to be
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: alone by herself. But both of them had also experienced
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: the shadows and the lights, apparently, and he told me
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: that once she was brushing her teeth in the downstairs bathroom,
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: and sort of felt a cold sensation, and then the
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: back of her robe was pulled so hard that she
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: dropped a toothbrush. But the bit that really freaked her out, apparently,
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: was me talking to myself. My sister had been freaked
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: out by this, too. One night, and I remember this
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: clear as day as well, my parents had friends over
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: and I was playing in my bedroom, now downstairs, and
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: I had an 80s arcade machine in my room that
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: my dad had gotten somewhere. You didn't need to put
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: change into it to make it work, but I remember
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: very clearly that I was with a girl who wanted
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: to know how it worked and stuff. And something happened
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: and she convinced me to get some change and try
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: to force it in. I went to my mom and
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: lied and told her that I needed one pound for
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: the charity box school. that they'd given me she gave
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: it to me and me and the girl tried to
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: slot it in my mom came in at one point
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: and she was really mad at me because obviously i'd
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: lied to her i told her that the girl told
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: me to and my memory gets a bit foggy after
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: that but my dad in the car that night told
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: me that there never was any girl apparently and that
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: that wasn't the first time that i'd seen her the
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: other time i was playing in the front garden at
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: the gate and my dad noticed me talking to myself
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: He came over and told him. He came over and
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: apparently I told him I'm just talking to the girl.
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: And I do remember him being like, okay, that's nice
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: and not making a sort of big deal about it
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: again that there was no girl. One time when they
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: weren't looking and I was with her, she actually touched
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: me for the first time. And this is the only
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: time that I remember that I really thought as a
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: kid that something was strange. She sort of touched my
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: hand and then just immediately disappeared. I mean, I was
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: five and I didn't know what had happened, but one
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: minute she was there and the next she was gone
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: and I had this incredible need to take off the
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: t-shirt that I was wearing. It felt like that feeling
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: when you know that there's a spider on you or something.
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: I run up to the house, I went into my
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: room and pulled my clothes off, stomping on them. My
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: mum noticed this too, but I really don't remember anything
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: after that. anyway the old house the smells of rotten
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: eggs and the birds constantly flying into the windows were
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: creepy enough without all of that too but it apparently
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: really sunk in with my dad when he was at
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: the mechanics in town one day making small talk and
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: one of the lads said you're brave living in that
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: place because apparently it had been abandoned for years and
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: had been known locally as a very creepy spot that
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: people would stop and look into on the country walks
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: and stuff wondering about it. When we eventually got back
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: to it on our drive the place was once again
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: abandoned and being used solely for storage by whoever bought
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: it I think. It still looks creepy to today and
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: the travelers or gypsies who bought it have put a
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: big religious shrine in front of the But there were
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: also big sort of beech trees surrounding it, and it
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: had a proper gate and all that, but 25 years
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: haven't been kind to it, that's for sure.