Latest / Crime and Horror / They didn't believe him, until they saw the photo - MrBallen

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They didn't believe him, until they saw the photo - MrBallen · Crime and Horror

0:00
Speaker 1: Today, I'm going to tell you four stories about people
0:03
Speaker 1: who saw things that were seemingly impossible. But there is
0:08
Speaker 1: literal proof in all four cases that what they saw
0:12
Speaker 1: was real. But before we get into today's stories, if
0:16
Speaker 1: you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious delivered
0:18
Speaker 1: in story format, then you've come to the right place
0:21
Speaker 1: because that's all we do, and we upload two, three,
0:23
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Speaker 1: so you don't miss any of our weekly uploads. Okay,
0:41
Speaker 1: let's get into today's stories. One morning in 1959, a
1:00
Speaker 1: man named Roger Luna Jr. was waiting for a bus
1:03
Speaker 1: inside of this crowded terminal in Linares, which is a
1:06
Speaker 1: small city in Mexico. Roger was going to be heading
1:08
Speaker 1: out of town on a work trip, but he had
1:11
Speaker 1: some time to kill before his bus was going to leave.
1:13
Speaker 1: So he walked over to a newspaper stand and he
1:16
Speaker 1: was picking out something to read when he heard somebody
1:19
Speaker 1: shout his name. And so he turned around and he
1:22
Speaker 1: saw there was a man who was running toward him,
1:25
Speaker 1: And when Roger saw who this man was, immediately he
1:28
Speaker 1: broke out into a smile. Because this man was actually
1:32
Speaker 1: Roger's best friend from high school, a guy named John Fios.
1:36
Speaker 1: And in many ways, Roger and John had actually been
1:39
Speaker 1: more like brothers than just friends. Because during their freshman year,
1:44
Speaker 1: Roger had actually saved John's life when he nearly drowned
1:48
Speaker 1: in a boating accident. And so that moment, that near tragedy,
1:53
Speaker 1: had given these two an unshakable bond. And even though
1:56
Speaker 1: life since high school had taken them both in different directions,
2:01
Speaker 1: Roger still thought a lot about John and John thought
2:04
Speaker 1: a lot about Roger. They still stayed in touch even.
2:06
Speaker 1: And so now Roger was like totally overjoyed to see
2:09
Speaker 1: his friend John who he hadn't seen in a while.
2:12
Speaker 1: And so as John got close, you know, Roger dropped
2:15
Speaker 1: his bags and the two men embraced into a big hug.
2:17
Speaker 1: And then after they hugged, they both just started talking
2:20
Speaker 1: back and forth all at once. in part because it
2:22
Speaker 1: was really loud on the platform with all the buses
2:25
Speaker 1: coming and going and all the people. And so they
2:26
Speaker 1: were kind of trying to talk over it, but also
2:29
Speaker 1: they both just had so much they wanted to say
2:31
Speaker 1: to the other, like this chance encounter was so awesome.
2:34
Speaker 1: It's like they just wanted to say everything all at once.
2:38
Speaker 1: And so as they're like struggling to communicate with the
2:40
Speaker 1: noise and the chaos, John suggested they just go catch
2:44
Speaker 1: up over coffee. And so Roger, he looked at his
2:47
Speaker 1: watch and he saw that he really didn't have much
2:49
Speaker 1: time before his boss was gonna leave. But at the
2:52
Speaker 1: same time, like, he really wanted to hear what John
2:55
Speaker 1: had been up to. And so he felt like, you
2:57
Speaker 1: know what, I'll step aside and grab some coffee and
3:00
Speaker 1: I'll still be able to make my bus. And so
3:02
Speaker 1: he's like, sure, let's go. So the two grabbed their
3:04
Speaker 1: stuff off the ground and they head out of the
3:06
Speaker 1: terminal to go find a coffee shop. A few minutes later,
3:09
Speaker 1: Roger and John were sitting down inside this cafe right
3:12
Speaker 1: outside the bus terminal. And they were going back and
3:14
Speaker 1: forth about their jobs and their families and just about
3:17
Speaker 1: life in general. And even though Roger and John had
3:21
Speaker 1: been in touch, you know, periodically over the years, Roger
3:24
Speaker 1: still felt himself feeling kind of amazed at how quickly
3:27
Speaker 1: they just fell into their old rhythm. It was like
3:29
Speaker 1: no time had passed. They were just like two kids
3:32
Speaker 1: back in high school all over again. But even though
3:35
Speaker 1: he sounded like his old self, John looked different. He
3:41
Speaker 1: was definitely paler and much thinner than Roger remembered the
3:44
Speaker 1: last time he saw him. And he also had these
3:46
Speaker 1: dark shadows under his eyes, like he hadn't been sleeping
3:49
Speaker 1: or just was not well. And so Roger eventually asked John, like, hey,
3:54
Speaker 1: are you really okay? Like, is everything good? And John
3:57
Speaker 1: would say, actually, you know, I've been sick recently. But,
4:01
Speaker 1: you know, he said he had turned a corner and
4:03
Speaker 1: he was fine now. But Roger just, he couldn't really
4:07
Speaker 1: let it go that John just didn't seem well. He
4:10
Speaker 1: didn't look good. And so he kind of kept coming
4:12
Speaker 1: back to the subject, just like, hey, you You sure
4:14
Speaker 1: you're okay? Like, hey, come on, we're old buddies. Like,
4:16
Speaker 1: you sure you're good? And eventually John's like, look, I'm fine.
4:21
Speaker 1: You know, whatever I have, you don't got to worry
4:24
Speaker 1: about it. You're not going to catch it. So that
4:26
Speaker 1: was enough. They stopped talking about, you know, John's well-being.
4:29
Speaker 1: And so the two of them just like kept on
4:30
Speaker 1: swapping stories. And Roger was just so wrapped up in
4:34
Speaker 1: the conversation and just so happy, you know, to see
4:37
Speaker 1: John that the next time he stopped and just checked
4:40
Speaker 1: his watch because he kind of let time slip, He
4:43
Speaker 1: realized he was late, like at least 15 minutes late
4:46
Speaker 1: to his bus. So the only hope at this point
4:48
Speaker 1: is that somehow, miraculously, his bus is delayed. And so
4:52
Speaker 1: he jumps to his feet and he's like, John, I'm
4:54
Speaker 1: so sorry. It's been great to see you, but I
4:56
Speaker 1: got to try to catch this bus. Like, I'll see
4:57
Speaker 1: you later. And he pulls out his wallet to pay
5:00
Speaker 1: his portion of the bill. And John's like, please, like,
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Speaker 1: I owe you this one. Like, please, I got the bill.
5:07
Speaker 1: And so Roger's like, thank you so much. He grabs
5:09
Speaker 1: his stuff and he bolts out of the cafe. And
5:11
Speaker 1: so he goes back in the terminal. And he looks
5:13
Speaker 1: over to where his bus had been and, you know,
5:16
Speaker 1: the bus is not there. Clearly the bus has taken off.
5:19
Speaker 1: And so, you know, it's a bummer for Roger. But
5:22
Speaker 1: he also noticed there was a crowd of people sort
5:26
Speaker 1: of formed up around that specific spot where the bus
5:29
Speaker 1: had been. Almost like there was an audience, you know,
5:32
Speaker 1: listening to something or looking at something around where the
5:36
Speaker 1: bus should have been. And so Roger, you know, he
5:38
Speaker 1: wants to go see what's going on. He makes his
5:40
Speaker 1: way over to the group and he realizes In the
5:43
Speaker 1: middle of the semicircle of patrons sort of making up
5:47
Speaker 1: this group, there was a bus terminal employee who was
5:50
Speaker 1: addressing the group. And he was actually talking about the
5:54
Speaker 1: bus that Roger would have been on. He was talking
5:58
Speaker 1: about that bus, which just took off 15 minutes earlier.
6:02
Speaker 1: And he was telling the crowd something that Roger just
6:05
Speaker 1: couldn't even begin to comprehend. It actually sent him into shock.
6:10
Speaker 1: It would turn out Shortly after the bus Roger was
6:13
Speaker 1: supposed to be on, the one he missed, shortly after
6:16
Speaker 1: it took off, the driver of that bus had lost
6:19
Speaker 1: control while going through this particularly rocky area, and the
6:23
Speaker 1: bus had swerved and fallen off a cliff, and everybody
6:27
Speaker 1: in that bus had died. That terminal employee who was
6:31
Speaker 1: talking to the crowd was telling them that the bus
6:34
Speaker 1: had crashed and that everybody was dead. And Roger, I mean,
6:38
Speaker 1: he's as shocked as everybody else just hearing this news.
6:41
Speaker 1: Forget his connection to it. But then also it's like,
6:44
Speaker 1: I was going to be on that bus. Had it
6:46
Speaker 1: not been for John out of nowhere, you know, seeing
6:50
Speaker 1: him and going and getting coffee with him, there is
6:53
Speaker 1: a 100% chance he would have been on that bus.
6:56
Speaker 1: And so Roger's like, oh my goodness, after all these years,
7:01
Speaker 1: John saved my life. It's like he finally returned the
7:04
Speaker 1: favor or something. But it's also just like so shocking
7:06
Speaker 1: and and just traumatizing to imagine that that could have
7:09
Speaker 1: been him. And so all Roger is thinking is, I
7:13
Speaker 1: got to go tell John. And so he just turns
7:16
Speaker 1: and he runs out of the terminal and goes right
7:18
Speaker 1: back to that cafe where he had been having coffee
7:21
Speaker 1: with John thinking maybe he can catch John. But by
7:24
Speaker 1: the time he got there, John was gone. And so
7:26
Speaker 1: Roger's like, shoot, like he had rushed out of there,
7:29
Speaker 1: his meeting with his friend, like so quickly that they
7:32
Speaker 1: hadn't had a chance to exchange contact info. This is
7:35
Speaker 1: Back in the 1950s, there was no cell phones or anything.
7:38
Speaker 1: And so Roger didn't really know how to get in
7:41
Speaker 1: touch with John, but he just felt really strongly that
7:43
Speaker 1: he needed to go find John and just tell him
7:46
Speaker 1: about this. I mean, if there's anybody in the world
7:48
Speaker 1: that could relate here, it'd be him. And so Roger,
7:52
Speaker 1: he's like, the only place I know that I can
7:54
Speaker 1: go that might still be connected to John is his
7:57
Speaker 1: family home, like where he grew up, where we used
7:59
Speaker 1: to play together when we were kids. And so he
8:02
Speaker 1: eventually makes his way to his hometown, And he goes
8:06
Speaker 1: to where John used to live, having no idea if
8:08
Speaker 1: John still lived there. He sort of believed maybe some
8:11
Speaker 1: family was still there, but he didn't know. But he
8:13
Speaker 1: was hopeful they could at least direct him. He goes
8:15
Speaker 1: up to the door. He knocks. And the door opens.
8:19
Speaker 1: And it's John's mom. And she immediately recognizes Roger. And
8:22
Speaker 1: she's like, oh, it's so good to see you. And,
8:24
Speaker 1: you know, Roger, he's sort of still pretty shocked from
8:26
Speaker 1: what's happened. But for a second, there's a little bit
8:28
Speaker 1: of small talk. And then eventually, you know, Roger's like, hey,
8:31
Speaker 1: so I'm actually here, you know, because I want to
8:33
Speaker 1: talk to John. Is John here? Is there any way
8:36
Speaker 1: you can put me in touch with him? Like, I just,
8:38
Speaker 1: I really need to talk to him. And John's mom,
8:41
Speaker 1: she just had this immediate look of confusion come over
8:43
Speaker 1: her face. And she looked at Roger and she was like, oh,
8:47
Speaker 1: you haven't heard? My son, he died a week ago.
8:52
Speaker 1: And Roger, when he hears this, like, this doesn't make
8:56
Speaker 1: any sense. I mean, for so many reasons, this does
8:59
Speaker 1: not compute. He literally hours ago was with John at
9:04
Speaker 1: the cafe. It was meeting with John that physically kept
9:08
Speaker 1: Roger from boarding that bus. Like there are real world
9:11
Speaker 1: implications to his interactions with John in real life. He
9:16
Speaker 1: can't have already been dead. That's not possible. He didn't
9:19
Speaker 1: die a week ago. That's not possible. And so Roger,
9:23
Speaker 1: like he can't even begin to try to even talk
9:26
Speaker 1: to the mom about this. It's like he can't even
9:28
Speaker 1: process it. But then he thinks the only thing he
9:31
Speaker 1: can do here to affirm his belief that he really
9:34
Speaker 1: saw John, and then this is a huge misunderstanding, is
9:38
Speaker 1: he will go back to that cafe and he'll find
9:41
Speaker 1: the waiter that got the coffees for them. And he'll
9:44
Speaker 1: ask the waiter, like, hey, you remember that guy? Like,
9:47
Speaker 1: he wants the waiter to confirm for him that he
9:49
Speaker 1: really was with this guy, John. And so Roger, he
9:53
Speaker 1: makes his way all the way back to that cafe
9:55
Speaker 1: outside the terminal. He finds the waiter... who had served
9:59
Speaker 1: the cause to the two men. And Roger, as coherently
10:02
Speaker 1: as he could, asked the waiter, like, hey, earlier today
10:06
Speaker 1: when I sat here and I was having coffee with
10:08
Speaker 1: my friend, do you remember that? Like, do you remember
10:12
Speaker 1: that I was sitting with that guy and you described
10:14
Speaker 1: the way John looked? And the waiter, you know, he's like,
10:17
Speaker 1: I do remember you, but not because of who you
10:21
Speaker 1: were sitting with. I remember you because you were having
10:25
Speaker 1: a very animated discussion with yourself. You were all alone
10:31
Speaker 1: the entire time you were here. BetterHelp is the paid
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Speaker 1: month of therapy. On a summer night in 2011, a
11:58
Speaker 1: 50-year-old taxi driver named Takashi was cruising around the streets
12:01
Speaker 1: of Ishinomaki City, Japan, looking for customers. It used to
12:05
Speaker 1: be that on a warm night like this, the streets
12:08
Speaker 1: would be packed with people who'd been out at restaurants
12:11
Speaker 1: and bars. But these days, the city was pretty much
12:14
Speaker 1: a ghost town, because a few months earlier, a huge
12:18
Speaker 1: earthquake and tsunami had hit Japan, killing around 20,000 people
12:23
Speaker 1: along the coast and destroying entire towns. And so now,
12:27
Speaker 1: as Takashi drove around, it was like all he saw
12:30
Speaker 1: on either side of the road and everywhere were just
12:33
Speaker 1: mostly abandoned buildings with windows all boarded up. I mean,
12:36
Speaker 1: there was nobody out here. And so for Takashi, I mean,
12:39
Speaker 1: this is obviously tragic on many levels. I mean, this
12:42
Speaker 1: is a tragedy on a scale that's sort of unprecedented.
12:46
Speaker 1: And so as a fellow countryman of the people who died,
12:49
Speaker 1: this is devastating. But more than that, on like a
12:52
Speaker 1: practical level, being a taxi driver, the fact that nobody
12:57
Speaker 1: was out getting cabs was really hurting him financially. I mean,
13:02
Speaker 1: he could barely pay his bills. And in fact, lately,
13:05
Speaker 1: he hadn't even picked up enough riders to to cover
13:07
Speaker 1: the cost of gas for the time he was out.
13:09
Speaker 1: I mean, so he's really in a bad situation here.
13:13
Speaker 1: And so now, with all these sort of anxieties in
13:15
Speaker 1: his head, he turned a corner near the train station
13:19
Speaker 1: and decided to make one more loop around town before
13:22
Speaker 1: just abandoning the night and going home. And just then,
13:25
Speaker 1: as he passed by the station, he was thrilled to
13:28
Speaker 1: see this young woman standing out on the curb, obviously
13:31
Speaker 1: waving him down, and immediately he pulled over to let
13:34
Speaker 1: her in. However, As this young woman climbed into the backseat,
13:40
Speaker 1: Takashi took note right away that she just seemed kind
13:43
Speaker 1: of off, kind of weird. Even though it was a warm,
13:47
Speaker 1: you know, clear summer night, she was wearing a very
13:50
Speaker 1: heavy winter coat. And also, from the looks of it,
13:53
Speaker 1: her hair and her coat were wet, as if she'd
13:57
Speaker 1: gotten caught in the rain. And so Takashi instinctively began
14:00
Speaker 1: wondering where she had just gotten off the train from,
14:03
Speaker 1: because clearly, wherever she was coming from, must have had
14:06
Speaker 1: totally different weather, which is just an odd thing to
14:08
Speaker 1: be thinking about. Like what? Like how fast was the
14:11
Speaker 1: train going? Was there rain like just in a neighboring town?
14:14
Speaker 1: Like it's just odd that she's wearing these clothes and
14:17
Speaker 1: is soaking wet. But Takashi obviously didn't comment on this.
14:21
Speaker 1: He was just very thankful to have any fare at all.
14:25
Speaker 1: So he turned on his meter and he asked the
14:27
Speaker 1: woman where she wanted to go. But when she answered him,
14:31
Speaker 1: he was so surprised by what she said that for
14:34
Speaker 1: a second, He didn't even know what to say back.
14:36
Speaker 1: He just sort of sat there wondering what should he
14:39
Speaker 1: even do. Because the woman asked to be taken to
14:42
Speaker 1: the Minamihama district, which had been basically completely wiped out
14:48
Speaker 1: by that tsunami. Not only was there nothing there to
14:51
Speaker 1: take this woman to, like there were no buildings, basically,
14:55
Speaker 1: there also weren't even roads that would bring them there.
14:58
Speaker 1: I mean, really, this place had been wiped off the map.
15:01
Speaker 1: In fact, I mean, the damage was so complete and
15:04
Speaker 1: severe in that district that officials had decided they couldn't
15:09
Speaker 1: even rebuild it. And so truly, this place was just gone.
15:13
Speaker 1: And so Takashi, after hearing that that was where she
15:16
Speaker 1: wanted to go, again, for a moment, he just sat
15:18
Speaker 1: there in silence, not sure what to do. And then
15:21
Speaker 1: he just said, you know, eyes straight ahead here, he
15:24
Speaker 1: just goes, why do you want to go there? And
15:28
Speaker 1: then when she responded, when she spoke again, This time,
15:32
Speaker 1: she sounded different. Her voice was trembling and sort of strange.
15:37
Speaker 1: And from the back seat, Takashi heard her say, Am
15:41
Speaker 1: I dead? And when she said that, Takashi whipped around. Like,
15:45
Speaker 1: how creepy that would be to hear someone say that.
15:46
Speaker 1: He whips around, and she's gone. The back seat was
15:51
Speaker 1: completely empty, and he certainly didn't hear any doors open
15:54
Speaker 1: and shut. She just vanished. Now, I know this sounds
15:58
Speaker 1: pretty far-fetched, but... What happened with Takashi and this vanishing
16:03
Speaker 1: woman was not an isolated incident. In the months after
16:08
Speaker 1: the tsunami, this same exact scenario played out at least
16:13
Speaker 1: seven different times with seven different taxi drivers across northern Japan.
16:18
Speaker 1: And all of these cab drivers were ultimately interviewed about
16:21
Speaker 1: these vanishing passengers, and they all independently described their fares
16:26
Speaker 1: as being these young people who were dressed for winter,
16:30
Speaker 1: even though the weather didn't call for heavy clothing, and
16:33
Speaker 1: they all described them as being wet, even if it
16:36
Speaker 1: wasn't raining outside. But even though that in and of
16:40
Speaker 1: itself is sort of fascinating, what's more fascinating is the
16:44
Speaker 1: person who did the interviewing was this Japanese grad student
16:47
Speaker 1: who spoke to each of these cab drivers. And in
16:50
Speaker 1: addition to getting each of the driver's testimony, they also
16:54
Speaker 1: asked the driver to provide the GPS data and the
16:57
Speaker 1: fare data for each of these vanishing people. And they
17:01
Speaker 1: all gave it to them, showing that at some point,
17:04
Speaker 1: they clearly took a fare at a specific point in time,
17:08
Speaker 1: they logged it in their system, and then at some
17:10
Speaker 1: point during that ride that was saved, they have data
17:13
Speaker 1: showing it happened, the fare just vanished seven different times.
17:19
Speaker 1: How do you explain that? Well, that same researcher, the
17:22
Speaker 1: Japanese grad student, believed that these ghost passengers were actually
17:27
Speaker 1: the spirits of young people who died in that tsunami.
17:30
Speaker 1: And according to this researcher, these young people were so
17:34
Speaker 1: full of regret about all the things they never got
17:36
Speaker 1: to do that they had called these taxis to take
17:39
Speaker 1: them out around the city one last time. On the
17:57
Speaker 1: afternoon of September 7th, 2020, a father named Christopher Levasseur
18:02
Speaker 1: sat on a bench next to his young daughter on
18:04
Speaker 1: the shore of a small body of water called Lake Auburn,
18:07
Speaker 1: which is located in Maine. Christopher could hear his fiance, Stephanie,
18:11
Speaker 1: right behind him digging around in the cooler they'd brought along.
18:14
Speaker 1: So Christopher and Stephanie had decided to bring their daughter
18:17
Speaker 1: out here for a picnic at the lake, both because
18:20
Speaker 1: the weather was really nice that day and because they
18:23
Speaker 1: all really wanted to just get out of the house.
18:26
Speaker 1: because this was September of 2020. So this is during
18:30
Speaker 1: the height of the COVID-19 shutdowns, where basically everybody stayed
18:34
Speaker 1: inside 24-7. And so the family had been so cooped up,
18:38
Speaker 1: it was like, we just got to get out there
18:40
Speaker 1: and get some fresh air. And so now, Christopher opened
18:43
Speaker 1: up a bag of snacks they'd brought along, and he
18:45
Speaker 1: held some out to his daughter. And as he did this, Stephanie,
18:49
Speaker 1: who was still right behind him, began telling him and
18:52
Speaker 1: their daughter to turn around for a picture. And Christopher
18:55
Speaker 1: was was not a big fan of pictures. And so
18:57
Speaker 1: he really didn't want to do this. He'd much rather
19:00
Speaker 1: just be in the moment and enjoy his family. He
19:03
Speaker 1: understood she wanted a picture. And so he sort of
19:05
Speaker 1: half turned and gave a very like lame smile, like,
19:09
Speaker 1: I don't want to do this, but here you go.
19:11
Speaker 1: And you could just hear, you know, Stephanie sort of
19:13
Speaker 1: half groaning as she takes this picture. But, you know,
19:16
Speaker 1: Christopher was happy that after she took the picture that
19:19
Speaker 1: she didn't protest. She just put the camera away and
19:22
Speaker 1: they got to continue just enjoying their day as a family.
19:25
Speaker 1: And so for the next couple of hours, the three
19:26
Speaker 1: of them just ate and hung out. They didn't take
19:29
Speaker 1: any more pictures. And eventually, when it started to get
19:32
Speaker 1: a little bit cold outside, Christopher told his daughter that
19:35
Speaker 1: it was time to pack up and head back home.
19:37
Speaker 1: Later that night, Christopher and Stephanie and their daughter were
19:40
Speaker 1: back home. Their daughter was upstairs in her bedroom and
19:43
Speaker 1: Christopher was watching TV and Stephanie was sitting on the
19:45
Speaker 1: couch scrolling on her phone. And they were just having
19:48
Speaker 1: a low-key night. and periodically Christopher would just look over
19:52
Speaker 1: at Stephanie to just make sure she was okay, and
19:54
Speaker 1: then he'd go back to the TV. And at some point,
19:56
Speaker 1: Christopher looked over at Stephanie, and she was looking really
19:59
Speaker 1: intently at something on her phone. Like, this was not
20:02
Speaker 1: passive scrolling anymore. This was like something really stood out
20:05
Speaker 1: to her. And so Christopher continued to look at Stephanie...
20:09
Speaker 1: And Stephanie, she went from being sort of perplexed to
20:11
Speaker 1: looking almost frightened. And then she sat up and she
20:14
Speaker 1: looked like really closely at the screen, like she was
20:16
Speaker 1: putting it right in front of her eyes. And Christopher's like, what?
20:20
Speaker 1: What are you looking at? What's going on? And she goes,
20:23
Speaker 1: come here. Look at this. Look at this. So Christopher,
20:25
Speaker 1: he pauses the TV. He goes over to Stephanie and
20:27
Speaker 1: he looks at her phone and he sees she's looking
20:30
Speaker 1: at that one picture that she took of Christopher and
20:34
Speaker 1: their daughter during the picnic, the one that Christopher really
20:36
Speaker 1: did not want to pose for, that picture. And she's
20:39
Speaker 1: staring at it like there's something wrong with it. And
20:42
Speaker 1: Christopher's thinking at first that she's just going to give
20:44
Speaker 1: him a hard time about how unenthusiastic he was about
20:47
Speaker 1: taking this picture. But he's looking at it and he's like, wow,
20:50
Speaker 1: what's going on with it? And Stephanie's like, look. And
20:53
Speaker 1: she points to the top left corner of this picture.
20:57
Speaker 1: And at first, Christopher's looking, doesn't see anything. But then
21:01
Speaker 1: he sees what got her attention. And it's so creepy.
21:05
Speaker 1: He had no idea what to make of it. About
21:08
Speaker 1: a week later, on September 15th, Christopher was at home,
21:11
Speaker 1: and he was still thinking about that picture. I mean, really,
21:15
Speaker 1: he and Stephanie had not stopped thinking about that picture.
21:18
Speaker 1: When they were together, it was like all they talked about.
21:21
Speaker 1: But they just couldn't explain it. Like, they didn't understand
21:25
Speaker 1: how that thing could be in frame. It really made
21:29
Speaker 1: no sense at all. And so Christopher is like obsessing
21:33
Speaker 1: over it. So is Stephanie. And they've got no answers.
21:36
Speaker 1: None of their friends have any idea what it is.
21:38
Speaker 1: And so at some point on this day, Christopher's like,
21:41
Speaker 1: maybe I'll just post it to Facebook and ask people like, hey,
21:45
Speaker 1: what is this? Explain this thing in the top left corner.
21:49
Speaker 1: And so he does that. He posts it to Facebook.
21:52
Speaker 1: And pretty much right away, this image went semi-viral on
21:56
Speaker 1: Facebook because instantly everyone's like, oh my goodness, like what
22:00
Speaker 1: in the world? And there's all these theories about what
22:03
Speaker 1: it is. People are totally creeped out. one user left
22:07
Speaker 1: a comment that just said, it's my daughter. This is
22:11
Speaker 1: the photo that Stephanie took. And as you can see,
22:14
Speaker 1: there is Christopher, the daughter. Stephanie is not in the
22:17
Speaker 1: picture because she's taking the picture. And there is a
22:20
Speaker 1: woman in the top left-hand corner, apparently looking down at them.
22:24
Speaker 1: Her face is clearly in frame. When they took that picture,
22:29
Speaker 1: there was no one else around. They were completely alone.
22:34
Speaker 1: Stephanie and Christopher have no idea who that woman is. However,
22:40
Speaker 1: out of all the comments that flooded in on that
22:42
Speaker 1: Facebook post of this picture, the one that stood out
22:46
Speaker 1: was the, it's my daughter comment by a woman named
22:49
Speaker 1: Jennifer Gallant. It would turn out Jennifer's adult daughter, whose
22:53
Speaker 1: name was Jessica, had drowned in that lake, Lake Auburn,
22:57
Speaker 1: about two years earlier. And her case was still open
23:00
Speaker 1: because police weren't sure if it was an accident or
23:03
Speaker 1: a homicide. And so Jennifer, when she saw that picture,
23:07
Speaker 1: she immediately recognized the face in the corner. It was
23:10
Speaker 1: her daughter's face, undeniably so, at least to Jennifer. And
23:13
Speaker 1: she's thinking, you know, the picture was taken right near
23:17
Speaker 1: Lake Auburn. That's my daughter's ghost. And so she believes
23:21
Speaker 1: her daughter's spirit is effectively haunting Lake Auburn and will
23:25
Speaker 1: continue to do that until her case is closed. But unfortunately,
23:29
Speaker 1: as of today, Jessica Gallant's case is still unsolved. One
23:45
Speaker 1: afternoon in 1891, a 32-year-old professor named Norman Colley hiked
23:51
Speaker 1: along the edge of a steep cliff on a mountain
23:53
Speaker 1: in the Scottish Highlands. Norman was alone, just listening to
23:57
Speaker 1: the sounds of nature and trying to find some good views.
24:01
Speaker 1: But he just couldn't see very well because it was
24:03
Speaker 1: unusually foggy that day, which was quite disappointing since Norman
24:08
Speaker 1: had traveled a great distance just to be here. So Norman,
24:11
Speaker 1: by day, was a chemistry professor at University College London
24:15
Speaker 1: in England And by night, he was an avid outdoorsman
24:18
Speaker 1: and member of a mountaineering club, which is why he
24:21
Speaker 1: was so enthusiastic about traveling all the way to the
24:24
Speaker 1: Scottish Highlands for this hike. He was desperate to see
24:27
Speaker 1: the landscape. Specifically, his plan for while he was here
24:31
Speaker 1: was to make his way up a mountain that was
24:32
Speaker 1: called Ben Macdui, which was the tallest peak in the
24:35
Speaker 1: Cairngorm mountain range. Although now he couldn't even see the top.
24:40
Speaker 1: But despite the weather, Norman was determined to make the
24:43
Speaker 1: best out of this experience. and to reach the summit
24:46
Speaker 1: of Ben McDooey, even if he couldn't see anything. So
24:49
Speaker 1: he just continued hiking sort of blindly into the fog.
24:52
Speaker 1: And eventually, the trail he was on led him away
24:55
Speaker 1: from the cliffside and into this very thick forest. And
24:58
Speaker 1: in the forest, his visibility continued to be terrible because
25:03
Speaker 1: of this fog, this mist. But more than that, the
25:06
Speaker 1: deeper he got into the forest, the harder it was
25:09
Speaker 1: just to maneuver. There's big rocks and tree roots and
25:12
Speaker 1: just a density of trees that seemed to get worse
25:14
Speaker 1: and worse as he went along. And again, his visibility
25:18
Speaker 1: was poor to begin with. So this is like a
25:20
Speaker 1: difficult area to be moving around in. But again, Norman
25:24
Speaker 1: is determined to keep on going and make his way
25:26
Speaker 1: to the top of this mountain. So help him. And
25:29
Speaker 1: so he's making his way and he eventually gets to
25:31
Speaker 1: this huge boulder that's right in his path that he
25:34
Speaker 1: sort of suddenly came up on because he can't see
25:36
Speaker 1: far ahead of him because of the lack of visibility.
25:39
Speaker 1: But he reaches this boulder and And he's getting ready
25:42
Speaker 1: to pass the boulder when he hears a very noticeable
25:46
Speaker 1: twig snap right behind him. And even though as he
25:50
Speaker 1: was walking, there was lots of nature sounds, he didn't
25:53
Speaker 1: hear anything that sounded like other living things near him. People, animals, nothing.
25:58
Speaker 1: There was no indication that there was anyone or anything
26:02
Speaker 1: near him. And there was just something about the sound
26:04
Speaker 1: of that twig snapping behind him that instantly made him
26:08
Speaker 1: think there's someone or something behind him. Not scary, but
26:12
Speaker 1: like intuitively, he's like, there's a living thing near me.
26:16
Speaker 1: And so instead of continuing around the boulder and just
26:19
Speaker 1: making his way up this trail, Norman turned around to
26:23
Speaker 1: see who was there or what was there. But the
26:26
Speaker 1: fog is so thick still, he has terrible visibility. He's
26:29
Speaker 1: just sort of looking off into the equivalent of a cloud.
26:33
Speaker 1: He's looking into just mist, like he can't see anything.
26:35
Speaker 1: There's nothing there. And so Norman turns back around. He
26:39
Speaker 1: makes his way around this boulder. He gets back on
26:42
Speaker 1: the trail as best as he could see it. And
26:44
Speaker 1: he continues making his way up in the direction towards
26:47
Speaker 1: the summit of this mountain. But only a few minutes later,
26:51
Speaker 1: as he's walking along, his ears are sort of clued
26:53
Speaker 1: in right now. He's listening for signs that there is
26:56
Speaker 1: someone or something behind him. And he's walking along and
26:59
Speaker 1: he hears another distinctive crunch sound, like a crunch and
27:02
Speaker 1: a twig breaking or a stick breaking, like a heavy
27:05
Speaker 1: foot has landed somewhere right behind him. And he stops.
27:09
Speaker 1: Whips around, fog still there, can't see anything. And now
27:13
Speaker 1: Norman yells out like, hey, who's there? Is there someone
27:16
Speaker 1: out there? I can't see you. Who's out there? And
27:19
Speaker 1: it's just eerily quiet. He can't hear anything. It's like
27:22
Speaker 1: the whole forest has gone quiet. And so for a moment,
27:25
Speaker 1: Norman couldn't help but feel sort of scared. I mean,
27:28
Speaker 1: he's alone in this eerie forest here. He can't see anything.
27:32
Speaker 1: It feels like there's someone right behind him. And so
27:35
Speaker 1: he's starting to feel pretty scared, but then he tells
27:37
Speaker 1: himself like, come on, It's just an animal or something. Like,
27:40
Speaker 1: this is not a big deal. You're in a forest.
27:42
Speaker 1: There are animals here. Like, leave it alone. And so Norman, after,
27:46
Speaker 1: you know, looking a few more times, seeing nothing, he
27:48
Speaker 1: turns around and just keeps on walking. And sure enough,
27:52
Speaker 1: as soon as he began his journey back up the mountainside,
27:56
Speaker 1: he hears another snapping sound. And now it just feels
27:59
Speaker 1: sort of undeniable that there's something lingering outside of his view.
28:04
Speaker 1: And it knows that that every time he moves, it
28:07
Speaker 1: gets to move and it stops every time he stops.
28:09
Speaker 1: Like this is something or someone that's following him. And
28:13
Speaker 1: for some reason, this third iteration of hearing these sounds,
28:18
Speaker 1: it triggered something in Norman's mind. Like he had this
28:21
Speaker 1: sudden mental image of what was behind him. He couldn't
28:26
Speaker 1: explain it, but he just thought to himself, what if
28:29
Speaker 1: it's like a really tall person who has these really
28:33
Speaker 1: long legs And basically, as soon as I start moving,
28:38
Speaker 1: enough time passes where this thing, this giant, can step
28:42
Speaker 1: forward and plant its next step. And it's like each
28:45
Speaker 1: step represents, you know, five or six steps by Norman.
28:48
Speaker 1: It's like that was the image he had in his mind,
28:50
Speaker 1: probably because he was frightening himself. He's imagining like this
28:53
Speaker 1: terrifying giant right behind him that's, you know, lumbering after
28:57
Speaker 1: him in the cover of the mist. And so Norman...
29:01
Speaker 1: just panics like full panic and just starts running, believing again,
29:06
Speaker 1: there's going to be this, this giant after him. So
29:09
Speaker 1: he's running up the trail and as he's running, he
29:12
Speaker 1: can hear the periodic thump or whatever you want to
29:15
Speaker 1: call it. That like impact followed by a stick or
29:19
Speaker 1: a twig breaking, like there's steps landing right behind him.
29:22
Speaker 1: He periodically looked back, but there's nothing there. He's bolting
29:25
Speaker 1: his way. And not long after he eventually runs clear
29:28
Speaker 1: out of the forest and back onto the trail that's
29:31
Speaker 1: out in the open. So he runs, you know, out
29:33
Speaker 1: of the trees. He takes a few steps forward and
29:35
Speaker 1: he stops and he turns around and looks back in
29:39
Speaker 1: the direction he had come. And what he sees makes
29:42
Speaker 1: his blood run cold. Because right there at the edge
29:46
Speaker 1: of the woods where he had just been just barely
29:49
Speaker 1: visible in the fog was clearly this shadowy figure. It
29:55
Speaker 1: was vaguely human shaped, but it was impossibly tall. And
30:00
Speaker 1: its arms and its legs appeared to have been stretched
30:03
Speaker 1: out so long that they were totally out of proportion
30:06
Speaker 1: with its body. And at that moment, Norman had one thought.
30:10
Speaker 1: It really is a giant. And so after being frozen
30:13
Speaker 1: with fear for a second, Norman breaks out of it
30:17
Speaker 1: and then whips around, abandons the summit, and just runs
30:20
Speaker 1: sort of perpendicular to the summit, finds another trail, bolts
30:24
Speaker 1: down the mountain, and gets out of there as fast
30:26
Speaker 1: as he can. Norman made it safely off the mountain
30:29
Speaker 1: and soon returned to England. But he didn't speak to
30:32
Speaker 1: anyone about what he'd experienced. I mean, he was a
30:35
Speaker 1: professor with a reputation to uphold, and he knew that
30:38
Speaker 1: if he told people like his colleagues that while he
30:41
Speaker 1: was out hiking in Scotland, he saw some kind of
30:44
Speaker 1: impossibly tall shadowy monster, they would likely not think he
30:48
Speaker 1: was telling the truth. They would think he was crazy.
30:50
Speaker 1: But for Norman, the memories of what happened and what
30:53
Speaker 1: he saw, they continued to haunt him. And so eventually,
30:58
Speaker 1: in 1903, so 12 years after he had come back
31:01
Speaker 1: from Scotland, Norman confided in another member of that mountaineering
31:06
Speaker 1: club he was a part of. And to Norman's shock,
31:08
Speaker 1: this man, who he believed was of sound mind, you know,
31:12
Speaker 1: he was a logical guy, he didn't look at Norman
31:15
Speaker 1: like he was crazy. Instead, he just, he nodded and said, oh,
31:20
Speaker 1: you met the big gray man. So according to legend,
31:24
Speaker 1: the Big Gray Man was this tall, shadowy entity that
31:27
Speaker 1: lived in the Cairngurn Mountains, and it was known to
31:31
Speaker 1: stalk lone hikers. And there were dozens of reports of
31:35
Speaker 1: people seeing the Big Gray Man out there, going back
31:37
Speaker 1: over a hundred years. And so once Norman learned this,
31:40
Speaker 1: he felt kind of vindicated, and he shared his story publicly.
31:44
Speaker 1: And it quickly became one of the more famous accounts
31:47
Speaker 1: of the Big Gray Man ever. It was like, wow,
31:50
Speaker 1: a A professor, someone with a lot of credibility, is
31:53
Speaker 1: saying they saw this thing too. It sort of became
31:55
Speaker 1: a big deal. But still, there were a lot of
31:58
Speaker 1: people that thought the story was just folklore and that
32:01
Speaker 1: Norman was trying to pull off some sort of weird hoax.
32:05
Speaker 1: And so Norman died in 1942 with people still calling
32:08
Speaker 1: him a liar. It would not be until the early 2000s,
32:13
Speaker 1: over 50 years after his death, that Norman would actually
32:17
Speaker 1: be proven right. Because in the early 2000s is when
32:22
Speaker 1: digital cameras became more popular. It was like everybody had one.
32:26
Speaker 1: So when people were out hiking, let's say, in the
32:28
Speaker 1: Cairngurn Mountains and they found themselves being stalked by the
32:32
Speaker 1: Big Gray Man, well, they no longer had to convince others,
32:36
Speaker 1: you know, in word that this really happened. They could
32:39
Speaker 1: simply pull out their digital camera and basically instantly take
32:42
Speaker 1: a picture. Here are several pictures of the Big Gray
32:46
Speaker 1: Man taken by various hikers in Scotland. it would turn
32:49
Speaker 1: out that the legendary monster was totally real. But it
32:53
Speaker 1: was not dangerous. It was actually the result of a
32:56
Speaker 1: very rare and quite creepy weather phenomenon called a Brocken Specter.
33:01
Speaker 1: It happens when someone is standing on a hill that's
33:04
Speaker 1: just the right angle with the sun directly behind them,
33:07
Speaker 1: looking into fog. This creates an illusion where the person's
33:11
Speaker 1: shadow is both distorted and reflected back to them in
33:15
Speaker 1: the fog, appearing like an impossibly tall gray figure. And
33:20
Speaker 1: so the shadow monster that terrified Norman and many other
33:24
Speaker 1: people for centuries was real, but was literally just a shadow.
33:39
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for watching. Let me know what
33:41
Speaker 1: you thought of today's episode in the comments. And remember,
33:45
Speaker 1: we have hundreds of videos for you to binge right now.
33:48
Speaker 1: But if you're looking for a recommendation from me of
33:50
Speaker 1: that one video that's worth your time, well, it's this
33:54
Speaker 1: one right here. So give it a watch. All right,
33:57
Speaker 1: until next time, see ya.