Latest / Podcast Extra Anormal / Boys night turned horror show

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Boys night turned horror show · Podcast Extra Anormal

0:00
Speaker 1: Today we have two stories about some friends that just
0:03
Speaker 1: want to have a fun night out. But at some
0:05
Speaker 1: point during their fun night out, things take a disastrous
0:09
Speaker 1: turn for the worse. But before we get into today's stories,
0:12
Speaker 1: if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious
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0:40
Speaker 1: today's stories. Around 7pm on Saturday, August 13th, 2011, 19-year-old
1:05
Speaker 1: Wang Weijie was with his friends Ma Jun and Zhou
1:09
Speaker 1: Guo at an internet cafe in the city of Taiping, China,
1:12
Speaker 1: watching Jun play a computer game. Now, Weijie and his
1:15
Speaker 1: friends went to this cafe a lot, and today they
1:18
Speaker 1: had literally been there for hours by this point. But now,
1:22
Speaker 1: as Jun finished up the game he was playing... Guo
1:24
Speaker 1: announced that he was actually ready to go do something
1:27
Speaker 1: else now. So the three of these guys spent a
1:29
Speaker 1: lot of time together, whether it was at an internet
1:31
Speaker 1: cafe or elsewhere. They were like really close friends. And
1:35
Speaker 1: generally speaking, Weijia usually just did whatever Jun and Guo
1:39
Speaker 1: wanted to do, since they both had strong opinions, and
1:42
Speaker 1: Weijia was more of a go-with-the-flow type of guy. And
1:45
Speaker 1: so now, as Guo decided they were done with games...
1:49
Speaker 1: Weijia was just like, all right, cool. Well, why don't
1:51
Speaker 1: we just head back to one of our places just
1:53
Speaker 1: to hang out? But Guo, he shook his head and said,
1:55
Speaker 1: no way. Like, it's Saturday. They didn't have to be
1:58
Speaker 1: up for school the next day. And so they could
2:00
Speaker 1: stay out all night if they wanted to. And so
2:02
Speaker 1: he said, like, we got to find something really exciting
2:05
Speaker 1: to do. Like, we got to make the most of
2:06
Speaker 1: this night. Now, nobody had like a great idea of
2:09
Speaker 1: what was going to be super exciting. And so Guo
2:12
Speaker 1: was like, all right, well, for now, like, let's just
2:13
Speaker 1: go outside and we can smoke first and then we
2:16
Speaker 1: can go from there. And at this, both Jun and
2:19
Speaker 1: Weijia just nodded in agreement, like, OK, that's the plan.
2:22
Speaker 1: But in reality, Weijia wasn't really sure if he felt
2:26
Speaker 1: comfortable staying out all night tonight. because tonight was not
2:30
Speaker 1: just a normal night. Like, this was an iffy night
2:34
Speaker 1: to stay out all night. So this particular weekend was
2:38
Speaker 1: not just an ordinary weekend. It was actually the area's
2:41
Speaker 1: annual ghost festival, a time on the lunar calendar when
2:45
Speaker 1: ghosts apparently would wander the streets after dark. And Wage's family,
2:49
Speaker 1: along with his friends' families, and frankly, a lot of
2:52
Speaker 1: other people in this area, they took this festival really seriously.
2:57
Speaker 1: They believed the ghosts really were out wandering the streets
3:01
Speaker 1: after dark because they were just very superstitious. In fact,
3:04
Speaker 1: in this area, this festival was taken so seriously that
3:07
Speaker 1: businesses would often close early so people could safely make
3:11
Speaker 1: their way home before nightfall. Now, Weija himself didn't really
3:15
Speaker 1: necessarily believe in ghosts, you know, despite his family appearing
3:19
Speaker 1: to very much believe in them. But the reality was
3:22
Speaker 1: is Weija was just not a guy who ruffled feathers.
3:25
Speaker 1: He went with the flow. He was a rule follower.
3:28
Speaker 1: So in his mind, he was thinking, eh, it's the
3:30
Speaker 1: Ghost Festival. Kind of don't want to stay out late tonight.
3:33
Speaker 1: But now, Guo was already making his way towards the
3:36
Speaker 1: exit with Jun, and so Weijia didn't bother to argue. Instead,
3:39
Speaker 1: he just followed right along, and they went outside to smoke.
3:44
Speaker 1: About an hour later, Weijia was sitting in the passenger
3:46
Speaker 1: seat of his own car with Jun behind the wheel
3:49
Speaker 1: and Guo in the back, and they were driving down
3:51
Speaker 1: a road in the outskirts of town. And by this point,
3:54
Speaker 1: the sun had set, And so now they were officially
3:58
Speaker 1: in ghost festival territory, like presumably there are ghosts out
4:01
Speaker 1: now out on the roads. So after leaving the internet cafe,
4:05
Speaker 1: the three of them, they had a smoke, but then
4:07
Speaker 1: as they're out there, they couldn't come up with a
4:10
Speaker 1: compelling idea for how to spend the rest of their
4:13
Speaker 1: big night out. All they came up with is, oh,
4:15
Speaker 1: let's just like get in the car and drive around
4:18
Speaker 1: and maybe we'll figure out something to do. Now, initially
4:20
Speaker 1: when they hopped in the car, they're thinking, okay, like
4:22
Speaker 1: it's getting dark out, like We're going to be driving
4:25
Speaker 1: around during the Ghost Festival. We're bound to find something
4:27
Speaker 1: exciting to do. And so all of them are like,
4:30
Speaker 1: they're amped up. They're in the car. They're pumped. We're
4:32
Speaker 1: going to find something fun. But after a while, they
4:35
Speaker 1: were just randomly driving around. No one's really out because, again,
4:38
Speaker 1: it's this Ghost Festival. Everybody's, you know, in their homes.
4:41
Speaker 1: There's nothing going on. And it just became really, really boring.
4:45
Speaker 1: They're just like driving around and nothing's going on. And
4:48
Speaker 1: so at a certain point, Weija is just feeling so
4:50
Speaker 1: frustrated because it's like he didn't want to be out
4:52
Speaker 1: here in the first place. He didn't voice that to
4:55
Speaker 1: his friends, but like he didn't want to be out here.
4:56
Speaker 1: He just wanted to be home. And so he just
4:58
Speaker 1: was like, man, like, this is so boring. And he
5:01
Speaker 1: just leaned his head up against the window and just
5:04
Speaker 1: decided to drift off to sleep. And so he's like
5:06
Speaker 1: closing his eyes. He's just laying there. And June, who's driving,
5:10
Speaker 1: is just, you know, driving along. They're not really talking.
5:12
Speaker 1: And so Weija, as he's laying there, he suddenly feels
5:15
Speaker 1: the car come to a screeching stop. And Guo, in
5:19
Speaker 1: the backseat, immediately, reflexively, screams at Jun, the driver, like, hey,
5:23
Speaker 1: what are you doing? Drive more carefully! And Weijia, he's
5:26
Speaker 1: like looking around, like, what just happened? And he looks
5:29
Speaker 1: over at Jun, who's driving, and Jun is not paying
5:32
Speaker 1: any attention to Guo or to Weijia. He's just pointing
5:36
Speaker 1: out the windshield at something on the road, and he's like, look!
5:40
Speaker 1: And so Weijia, who's just sort of confused, because a
5:42
Speaker 1: moment ago he was half asleep, he looks from Jun...
5:46
Speaker 1: out the front windshield to see what he's pointing at.
5:49
Speaker 1: And there's this woman who's just sitting in the middle
5:52
Speaker 1: of the road. They're out on the outskirts of town.
5:54
Speaker 1: Like there's no really any buildings around or anything like
5:57
Speaker 1: they're out in the sticks and it's dark out and
5:59
Speaker 1: everyone's home for the ghost festival. And there's just this
6:02
Speaker 1: woman sitting on the ground. She's wearing this floral dress
6:06
Speaker 1: and there's a bike that she has that's next to
6:08
Speaker 1: her just propped up. And she's almost been hit by
6:11
Speaker 1: a car. Like they stopped very close to her. She's
6:13
Speaker 1: almost been hit by a car. And she's just sitting
6:16
Speaker 1: there staring blankly at the car. And so June, he's
6:20
Speaker 1: pointing at her like he can't believe it. He almost
6:22
Speaker 1: hit her. And we just, what's going on? And whoa,
6:25
Speaker 1: like he doesn't even know what to make of it.
6:27
Speaker 1: And at some point, June sort of snaps out of it.
6:30
Speaker 1: And he leans out the window and he yells at
6:31
Speaker 1: the woman to like, get out of the way. Like,
6:33
Speaker 1: what are you doing? Like, get out of the road.
6:36
Speaker 1: But the woman didn't budge. She just sat there staring
6:39
Speaker 1: at them, just on the ground, not a care in
6:41
Speaker 1: the world, just looking right at all three of them.
6:44
Speaker 1: And so eventually, after sort of the tension in the
6:46
Speaker 1: car went down a little bit, June just pulled his
6:49
Speaker 1: head back in the window and he looked at his
6:50
Speaker 1: friends and he's like, I don't know. And he just
6:53
Speaker 1: drove around this woman, you know, just avoided her. And
6:56
Speaker 1: they continued driving along. For the next few hours, the
7:00
Speaker 1: three boys just continued driving around town looking for something
7:03
Speaker 1: to do. But there still was nothing to do. You know,
7:06
Speaker 1: everything's basically abandoned because it's this ghost festival night. Nobody's out.
7:10
Speaker 1: No businesses are open. There's nothing to do. And what
7:13
Speaker 1: really had not left any of their minds, even though
7:16
Speaker 1: they really didn't talk about it, was that woman. Like,
7:19
Speaker 1: that was so unusual to just see her sitting there,
7:22
Speaker 1: not reacting to nearly being hit. Like, the whole thing
7:25
Speaker 1: was just so creepy, made more so because it's the
7:29
Speaker 1: night of this ghost festival. Like, talk about the creepiest
7:32
Speaker 1: night to see something like that. And so eventually, around
7:34
Speaker 1: like 1 a.m., when the boys are still just driving around,
7:38
Speaker 1: someone in the car suggests, like, hey, Let's go back
7:41
Speaker 1: to that intersection and see if she's still there. Like,
7:43
Speaker 1: let's just see what she's doing. Now, keep in mind,
7:46
Speaker 1: it's been hours since they've seen this woman, like hours.
7:50
Speaker 1: And so they drive back around, not really expecting to
7:53
Speaker 1: see her there. They think that like, no matter how
7:55
Speaker 1: weird that was, she has to have gotten up and
7:57
Speaker 1: left by now. But no, they turn onto that road,
8:00
Speaker 1: which again is outside of the town. It's like, there's
8:02
Speaker 1: no buildings around. It's dark minus their headlights. And they
8:05
Speaker 1: drive down this road and sure enough, off in the distance,
8:08
Speaker 1: still sitting in this intersection is this woman. She's unmoved.
8:13
Speaker 1: She's just sitting there in her dress with a bike
8:16
Speaker 1: next to her just hours later, no change. And so
8:21
Speaker 1: now it's like the boys can't help but feel really
8:24
Speaker 1: uneasy here. Like this isn't right. Something's wrong with this woman.
8:28
Speaker 1: I mean, also they can't help but think like it's
8:31
Speaker 1: the night of the ghost festival. Are we seeing a ghost? Like,
8:34
Speaker 1: They're terrified. I mean, that's the reality is they were scared.
8:37
Speaker 1: But really, more than anything, what all three of them
8:40
Speaker 1: are thinking and discussing in the car is we got
8:43
Speaker 1: to tell someone about her. Like, there's something wrong with
8:46
Speaker 1: this woman. What is she doing? Is she mentally unwell?
8:49
Speaker 1: Is she on drugs? We don't know. But like, this
8:51
Speaker 1: isn't okay. We got to tell someone. But for now,
8:55
Speaker 1: the three boys decided that they had had enough fun
8:57
Speaker 1: for one night and they drove to June's house and
9:00
Speaker 1: they just all crashed there, determined to figure out what
9:03
Speaker 1: to do with this woman and what they saw the
9:05
Speaker 1: next day. And so several hours later, the boys wake up.
9:08
Speaker 1: They make their way into the kitchen because they can
9:10
Speaker 1: hear Jun's mom is in there making breakfast. And right away,
9:14
Speaker 1: Jun tells his mom what happened the night before. And
9:17
Speaker 1: as he's regaling her in the details of the story,
9:20
Speaker 1: Jun and Guo also chimed in with their perspective. And
9:23
Speaker 1: then after they were done telling Jun's mom, they all
9:26
Speaker 1: sort of expected her, you know, being an authority figure.
9:30
Speaker 1: to know what to do. That she would very likely say, okay,
9:32
Speaker 1: we need to call the police, or we need to
9:34
Speaker 1: call a hospital, or we need to call some other
9:36
Speaker 1: authority figure and handle this professionally. But she didn't do
9:40
Speaker 1: any of that. Instead, she just kind of looked at
9:42
Speaker 1: the boys and she said, you saw a ghost. You
9:52
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Speaker 1: dash offer dash terms. Now, at first, all three boys
10:57
Speaker 1: were just shocked at how confidently and calmly she said this.
11:01
Speaker 1: I mean, of course they knew about the annual Ghost Festival.
11:04
Speaker 1: And of course, people in this town were very superstitious,
11:07
Speaker 1: including their own families. They knew this meant a lot,
11:09
Speaker 1: this festival. But the idea that we're going to sit
11:12
Speaker 1: here and literally say that the woman we saw sitting
11:15
Speaker 1: on the ground last night was a literal ghost, that
11:18
Speaker 1: seemed crazy. And the boys began saying as much to
11:21
Speaker 1: June's mom. But June's mom was just really annoyed with
11:24
Speaker 1: them and just basically shot them down and said, look.
11:27
Speaker 1: You saw a ghost, but like, that's the reason you're
11:29
Speaker 1: not supposed to be out on the night of the
11:31
Speaker 1: annual ghost festival. It's why the business is shut down.
11:34
Speaker 1: It's why we all go home before nightfall. You knew
11:38
Speaker 1: you weren't supposed to be out at night. You were.
11:40
Speaker 1: That's why this happened. Not to mention, these ghosts, they
11:43
Speaker 1: don't just wander around. They target people. You were targeted. Now,
11:49
Speaker 1: June's mother was not just throwing that out there. She
11:52
Speaker 1: was referencing one other aspect of of this annual ghost
11:55
Speaker 1: festival that lots of people in this area believed, which
11:58
Speaker 1: was these ghosts that wandered around after dark on this
12:02
Speaker 1: one night of the year, they weren't just wandering around.
12:05
Speaker 1: They were looking for people to effectively latch onto. And
12:09
Speaker 1: so part of the reason people believed you need to
12:11
Speaker 1: stay in at night and avoid being out after dark
12:14
Speaker 1: is because if you basically interact with one of these ghosts,
12:18
Speaker 1: they could latch onto you and then you become its target.
12:22
Speaker 1: In some cases, people believe it just produces really bad
12:24
Speaker 1: luck for you for potentially months at a stretch. Some
12:28
Speaker 1: other people say that once you've been targeted by one
12:31
Speaker 1: of these ghosts, they may try to kill you. Specifically,
12:34
Speaker 1: they may try to drown you. And so no one
12:36
Speaker 1: really knew, but it was like this belief that you
12:39
Speaker 1: just never want to interact with a ghost because it
12:42
Speaker 1: could be very bad for you. And so June and Guo,
12:44
Speaker 1: they still tried to argue a little with June's mother,
12:46
Speaker 1: trying to tell her that, no, this could not possibly
12:49
Speaker 1: be a ghost, but Their voices seemed less forceful now,
12:52
Speaker 1: and Weijia, like, he was sitting there thinking, like, actually,
12:56
Speaker 1: if that was a ghost, this kind of makes sense.
12:59
Speaker 1: It explains why she didn't react at all to nearly
13:02
Speaker 1: being hit by a car. She just sat there. Also,
13:05
Speaker 1: why is she just sitting there? Strange activity for anybody
13:08
Speaker 1: to be doing. Maybe a ghost would do that. It
13:10
Speaker 1: also kind of explains why she was still there, hours
13:12
Speaker 1: and hours later, just sitting in the middle of the road. Like,
13:15
Speaker 1: other cars must have gone by, like, This is not
13:18
Speaker 1: normal behavior, and so Weijia's thinking, wait a minute, maybe
13:22
Speaker 1: this was a ghost. However, just as Weijia really started
13:26
Speaker 1: to feel almost sick with worry about, you know, the
13:28
Speaker 1: seriousness of what had happened, he heard Jun's mom tell them,
13:32
Speaker 1: don't be afraid. She said, look, I know exactly what
13:35
Speaker 1: you need to do to stay safe. Later that same day,
13:39
Speaker 1: Weijia parked his car at a cemetery that was near
13:41
Speaker 1: Jun's house, and after he parked, he and Jun got
13:45
Speaker 1: out while Guo stayed behind in the car. All three
13:48
Speaker 1: of them were very tense. They were very anxious. And
13:51
Speaker 1: as Weija scanned the headstones and looked over at a
13:54
Speaker 1: cornfield that was next to the cemetery, all he was
13:56
Speaker 1: thinking is this ghost, this ghost woman is going to
13:59
Speaker 1: appear at any moment and she's going to do something
14:02
Speaker 1: to us. But she didn't. And so eventually, Weija and
14:06
Speaker 1: Jun began walking down the path that would lead them
14:09
Speaker 1: through all the gravestones, basically deeper into the cemetery. So
14:13
Speaker 1: the reason these two were here and now walking into
14:15
Speaker 1: the cemetery is is because they were following Jun's mother's
14:18
Speaker 1: advice for how to stay safe now that they had
14:21
Speaker 1: potentially come in contact with this ghost. And so they
14:24
Speaker 1: had gone out and acquired a stack of ghost money
14:28
Speaker 1: and now they were going to go spend it. So
14:30
Speaker 1: ghost money is a kind of paper sheet in China
14:33
Speaker 1: that typically is burned when a loved one dies. The
14:37
Speaker 1: idea is when you burn this money, it sort of
14:40
Speaker 1: goes to the deceased loved one and then they have
14:43
Speaker 1: money for the afterlife. You're basically giving your deceased loved
14:47
Speaker 1: one currency for the afterlife. But it can also be
14:51
Speaker 1: a way to buy protection from angry spirits. So Weijia
14:55
Speaker 1: and his friends have been told to burn ghost money
14:58
Speaker 1: over their family grave plots so that their dead ancestors
15:02
Speaker 1: could essentially pay the ghost, the evil ghost, to leave
15:06
Speaker 1: them alone. Now, they'd already done this at Guo's family
15:10
Speaker 1: plot in a separate cemetery, so that's why Guo was
15:12
Speaker 1: staying back in the car. And now they were going
15:15
Speaker 1: to do June's family plot in this cemetery. And so
15:18
Speaker 1: Weija and June, they continue walking through the cemetery until
15:21
Speaker 1: finally they reach some of June's ancestors' graves. There, they
15:25
Speaker 1: knelt down, they pulled out their ghost money, and they
15:27
Speaker 1: began to burn the bills. And they're both just kneeling there,
15:30
Speaker 1: burning this money. And with each, you know, bill that
15:33
Speaker 1: crumpled up and smoldered, both of them were feeling like
15:36
Speaker 1: this enormous wave of relief coming over them. And so
15:39
Speaker 1: for a little while, they're just burning their money, and
15:41
Speaker 1: they're both looking down at the money on the ground.
15:43
Speaker 1: They're just kneeling there. But then at some point, Weija
15:47
Speaker 1: just looked up. And as soon as he did, he froze.
15:52
Speaker 1: Because standing right behind June, June can't see this, right
15:57
Speaker 1: behind June is that woman in a dress. And she's
16:00
Speaker 1: looking at both of them. And Weijia was so scared,
16:05
Speaker 1: he shrieked, he jumped up, turned, and started running in
16:09
Speaker 1: the opposite direction. Now, Jun is so startled by Weijia
16:12
Speaker 1: screaming that he jumped up, ready to run away himself.
16:16
Speaker 1: But he's watching Weijia take off, and he turns around
16:19
Speaker 1: because he could tell Weijia saw something behind him. But
16:22
Speaker 1: there's nothing behind him. And he's thinking he must have
16:24
Speaker 1: seen the ghost because why else would he react this way?
16:27
Speaker 1: But there's nobody here. And so June sort of put
16:30
Speaker 1: together like what's going on here. Like Weija clearly spooked himself.
16:33
Speaker 1: We're in a cemetery after all. And he sees Weija
16:37
Speaker 1: and he's running and he's running and he disappears into
16:40
Speaker 1: the cornfield that was next to the cemetery. He's just gone,
16:43
Speaker 1: just running. He's gone. Now, this cornfield was pretty massive.
16:47
Speaker 1: It had not been harvested. So the stocks were really tall.
16:50
Speaker 1: And clearly, like, Weijia was on a mission, and so
16:52
Speaker 1: Jun was not about to just chase after him. Instead,
16:56
Speaker 1: he ran back to the car and he grabbed Guo first,
16:59
Speaker 1: and the two of them went after Weijia. However, when
17:02
Speaker 1: they got to the cornfield and actually went inside of it,
17:05
Speaker 1: they quickly realized it was going to be really hard
17:08
Speaker 1: to find anything in this cornfield. I mean, the stalks
17:11
Speaker 1: are so thick and tall. It's so dense. I mean,
17:14
Speaker 1: every step was so slow and difficult. And they're calling
17:17
Speaker 1: out for Weijia, but there's no response. And so after
17:20
Speaker 1: several minutes of only moving, you know, like 10, 15
17:23
Speaker 1: feet or so into this cornfield, making no progress, the
17:26
Speaker 1: two of them are like, what happened to him? Like
17:29
Speaker 1: either the ghost got him or like maybe he's in
17:33
Speaker 1: hiding somewhere. Maybe he's convinced that the ghost is nearby
17:36
Speaker 1: and he's just being quiet and he's in hiding and
17:38
Speaker 1: he's somewhere in this cornfield, but we got to find him.
17:41
Speaker 1: And so the two friends, they back out of the
17:43
Speaker 1: cornfield and they end up calling a bunch of their
17:46
Speaker 1: friends to meet them at this cornfield. and help them
17:49
Speaker 1: look for Weija. So all these friends, they eventually arrived,
17:53
Speaker 1: and all day and into the night, these friends searched
17:56
Speaker 1: this cornfield. They're looking everywhere for Weija. Everyone's screaming his name.
18:01
Speaker 1: There's no sign of him. Three days later, and Weija
18:05
Speaker 1: still had not been found. Now, by this point, the parents,
18:08
Speaker 1: Weija's parents, had been told. They had told police. Police
18:12
Speaker 1: had looked for Weija, but there was no sign of him.
18:15
Speaker 1: I mean, they were still out looking for him, but
18:17
Speaker 1: right now, Like the talk of the town was, where
18:20
Speaker 1: is Weija? Nobody knew. And so on this day, three
18:24
Speaker 1: days after the day that Weija went missing, Jun was
18:27
Speaker 1: sitting in his room, just feeling miserable. All he can
18:30
Speaker 1: think about is his friend and what happened to him. Like,
18:33
Speaker 1: you know, he ran off after presumably seeing this ghost. Like,
18:37
Speaker 1: did the ghost get him? Like all these horrible thoughts
18:40
Speaker 1: are going through his head. And Jun, as he's sitting
18:43
Speaker 1: in his room, he hears his mom call out to him,
18:45
Speaker 1: telling him there's a visitor. And so Jun, he gets up,
18:48
Speaker 1: he leaves his room, he goes to the front of
18:50
Speaker 1: the house, and he sees a police officer standing in
18:53
Speaker 1: the doorway. And this officer would tell Jun and his
18:56
Speaker 1: mother that they had found Weija, and he was dead.
18:59
Speaker 1: His body was found in a lake that was not
19:02
Speaker 1: far from the cemetery, and that he had drowned. Jun
19:05
Speaker 1: is completely shocked. I mean, on the one hand, he
19:08
Speaker 1: sort of was expecting bad news at this point. I mean,
19:11
Speaker 1: basically everybody was. But to hear that his friend was
19:14
Speaker 1: dead was just horrific, and he you know, really struggled
19:17
Speaker 1: to keep back tears. But, you know, before he could
19:20
Speaker 1: really even react to this, the officer went on to
19:23
Speaker 1: say that, you know, June, we spoke to Wage's parents
19:27
Speaker 1: and they told us that you and Guo were with
19:30
Speaker 1: their son last, that you were with him before he vanished.
19:33
Speaker 1: And so we just want you to tell us, you know,
19:36
Speaker 1: now that we know he passed away, that he drowned,
19:39
Speaker 1: we want to know what happened. What did you see?
19:41
Speaker 1: Like what led to him drowning? And June, he just
19:44
Speaker 1: launched into the most detailed version of the story he
19:47
Speaker 1: could possibly think of. He took the officer all the
19:50
Speaker 1: way back to them at the internet cafe you know
19:53
Speaker 1: playing computer games they decide they're gonna stay out all
19:56
Speaker 1: night they they go outside they're having a smoke they're
19:59
Speaker 1: talking about what they're gonna do they decide they're gonna
20:01
Speaker 1: get in the car and just drive around they're driving
20:03
Speaker 1: around on the night of this this ghost festival they
20:06
Speaker 1: see this woman they think it's a ghost Like, he
20:08
Speaker 1: went through this whole rendition of the ghost being really
20:11
Speaker 1: central to the story and how the next day, June's
20:14
Speaker 1: mom had, like, said, oh, go burn ghost money in
20:17
Speaker 1: the cemetery to protect yourself from the spirits. They go
20:21
Speaker 1: to the cemetery, and they're burning the ghost money, but then, wager,
20:24
Speaker 1: he gets so scared. June's convinced it's because he sees
20:27
Speaker 1: the ghost again, this woman, and he takes off running.
20:30
Speaker 1: into the cornfield. So he tells the officer like every
20:33
Speaker 1: little detail. And he knew that even in a place
20:36
Speaker 1: like this, where people did, for the most part, believe
20:38
Speaker 1: in ghosts, he knew his story like really hinged on
20:43
Speaker 1: a ghost made Weija do this. And he knew that
20:46
Speaker 1: it was like totally preposterous in some ways, but he
20:49
Speaker 1: thinks he's telling him the truth. And so he tells
20:51
Speaker 1: the officer all this stuff. And the officer's just staring
20:55
Speaker 1: at him. And he's clearly very skeptical. And then at
20:58
Speaker 1: some point after Jun is done and he's just waiting
21:01
Speaker 1: for the officer, the officer looks at him and he
21:04
Speaker 1: asks him one question that once Jun answers, once he
21:09
Speaker 1: answers honestly, it completely explains everything that happened. It would
21:14
Speaker 1: turn out that woman who was sitting in the middle
21:16
Speaker 1: of the road that sort of became the centerpiece of
21:18
Speaker 1: this whole ordeal was not a ghost. In fact, she
21:22
Speaker 1: wasn't even real. Because the three friends, Jun, Guo, and Weijia,
21:28
Speaker 1: On the night, they decide to have their big night.
21:30
Speaker 1: They're going to stay out all night. When they went
21:32
Speaker 1: out for a smoke, they didn't smoke cigarettes. They smoked methamphetamine,
21:37
Speaker 1: which can cause you to hallucinate. And so they were
21:40
Speaker 1: high on meth driving around and hallucinated that woman. But
21:43
Speaker 1: they all, you know, believed they saw it. And it
21:46
Speaker 1: felt so real. And it was on the same night
21:48
Speaker 1: as this annual ghost festival that it felt so real
21:51
Speaker 1: that even the next day when they were no longer high...
21:54
Speaker 1: They still believed they had seen it. And then June's
21:57
Speaker 1: mom confirmed, yep, that was a ghost because she believes
22:00
Speaker 1: in ghosts. And so they set out to the cemetery
22:02
Speaker 1: and they're going to, you know, burn this ghost money
22:05
Speaker 1: to save themselves from these evil spirits. And what do
22:08
Speaker 1: they do before they head out to the cemetery? They
22:11
Speaker 1: smoke more meth. And Weija, he has another hallucination. He
22:15
Speaker 1: thinks he sees the ghost, ran into the cornfield, not
22:18
Speaker 1: realizing that deep in the cornfield was a lake. He
22:22
Speaker 1: fell into it. and he was high on meth and
22:24
Speaker 1: didn't know how to swim, and so he drowned. On
22:44
Speaker 1: the night of August 28, 2004, a 21-year-old named John
22:49
Speaker 1: Hutcherson leaned over a bar in Marietta, Georgia, and asked
22:52
Speaker 1: the bartender for another beer. John, by this point, had
22:55
Speaker 1: completely lost track of how many drinks he had had
22:58
Speaker 1: in the past few hours, but he was sure it
23:01
Speaker 1: had been a lot, because by this point, the room
23:03
Speaker 1: was starting to spin. However, he had no plans to
23:06
Speaker 1: stop drinking anytime soon. After all, it was only midnight,
23:10
Speaker 1: which was very early for John, and he was having
23:12
Speaker 1: a great time, and the bar was packed, and there
23:15
Speaker 1: was loud music playing, and John was also on a
23:18
Speaker 1: winning streak, playing pool. And so while he waited for
23:20
Speaker 1: his beer, John looked over at the pool table. He
23:23
Speaker 1: had left his best friend Frankie there a few minutes ago,
23:26
Speaker 1: but now as he was looking over there, he didn't
23:29
Speaker 1: see Frankie anymore. So John and Frankie had been very
23:32
Speaker 1: close ever since high school. And this night out they
23:35
Speaker 1: were having was sort of like a typical Saturday for them.
23:39
Speaker 1: Every week they would meet at this bar, they would
23:41
Speaker 1: get exceptionally drunk, and they would basically stay out all night.
23:45
Speaker 1: But on this night, they were both a lot drunker
23:49
Speaker 1: than usual. And now Frankie was gone. And so as
23:52
Speaker 1: John very drunkenly looked around the bar to see if
23:55
Speaker 1: he could find Frankie, he noticed a girl he didn't
23:58
Speaker 1: recognize at the end of the bar. She was very
24:00
Speaker 1: cute and she appeared to be smiling at him. And so,
24:03
Speaker 1: you know, John sees her and forgets all about his
24:06
Speaker 1: friend Frankie being gone and just smiles back at this girl.
24:09
Speaker 1: And then a moment later, the bartender hands him his
24:11
Speaker 1: beer and, you know, John's feeling really confident. He takes
24:14
Speaker 1: his beer and, He begins walking towards this girl. However,
24:18
Speaker 1: before he actually reached her, he felt a hand on
24:21
Speaker 1: his arm and he turned to see Frankie, who looked
24:26
Speaker 1: just awful. He looked so pale. He smelled like vomit.
24:31
Speaker 1: And Frankie told John, you know, as well as he
24:33
Speaker 1: could because he's so drunk. He's mumbling everything. He just
24:36
Speaker 1: said he felt horrible and it was time to go. Now,
24:39
Speaker 1: John was really disappointed because even though he was really,
24:42
Speaker 1: really drunk too... He wasn't as bad as Frankie. Like,
24:46
Speaker 1: John had not reached the nauseous and vomiting phase of
24:49
Speaker 1: extreme intoxication. And so he's thinking, man, like, there are
24:52
Speaker 1: a couple more hours till closing, and I really want
24:54
Speaker 1: to talk to this girl. But he was Frankie's ride,
24:58
Speaker 1: and Frankie had to go home, clearly. And so if
25:01
Speaker 1: he was going home, John had to go home too.
25:04
Speaker 1: So John just chugged his beer, put it back on
25:06
Speaker 1: the bar, and then he turned and kind of waved
25:09
Speaker 1: at the girl, being like, sorry, I gotta go. And
25:11
Speaker 1: then John... pulled his car keys out of his pocket.
25:15
Speaker 1: And so John and Frankie, they head outside to the
25:17
Speaker 1: parking lot and John goes to his truck and he
25:20
Speaker 1: climbs into the driver's seat. And as he's fumbling with
25:23
Speaker 1: the keys to start the car, Frankie had gone around
25:27
Speaker 1: to the other side and stumbled his way into the
25:29
Speaker 1: passenger seat. And even though he's like wrecked drunk, he's
25:32
Speaker 1: like totally out of it. Frankie looks over at John
25:35
Speaker 1: and sees him unable to even start the car. And
25:37
Speaker 1: he's like, hey, are you sure you're good to drive?
25:40
Speaker 1: And John looks over at Frankie and he's like, of course,
25:42
Speaker 1: I'm just fine. I do this every single week. We
25:44
Speaker 1: always get home safe. And so at this point, Frankie's like,
25:47
Speaker 1: all right, you know, whatever, let's just go. And so John,
25:50
Speaker 1: he eventually manages to turn the car on. He throws
25:53
Speaker 1: it in gear and he began to pull out of
25:56
Speaker 1: the parking lot onto the road. But as he did,
25:58
Speaker 1: I mean, he really had to squint his eyes just
26:01
Speaker 1: to see the road clearly. I mean, his whole world
26:03
Speaker 1: is totally spinning because of how intoxicated he was. And
26:07
Speaker 1: then as soon as he actually began driving down the
26:09
Speaker 1: main road on the way home, the first thing he
26:11
Speaker 1: did is he's like hitting the curb and swerving back
26:14
Speaker 1: onto the road. But he was, you know, basically steady.
26:16
Speaker 1: You know, he's totally wasted, but he's basically hanging on.
26:19
Speaker 1: And then the rest of the drive was just a blur.
26:22
Speaker 1: John was white knuckling it the rest of the way.
26:24
Speaker 1: You know, he's driving along. He sees the gas station
26:27
Speaker 1: that he always passed on the way home. So that's
26:29
Speaker 1: a familiar landmark. He's going the right way. He eventually
26:32
Speaker 1: passes a familiar billboard, but then at some point his
26:35
Speaker 1: eyes like snap back into focus because he realizes he's
26:38
Speaker 1: swerving off the road onto the shoulder, but he swerves
26:41
Speaker 1: back just in time to avoid hitting a telephone pole.
26:44
Speaker 1: And he's like, oh man, like I got this, like
26:46
Speaker 1: stay focused. And then somehow, some way, eventually he winds
26:50
Speaker 1: up in front of Frankie's house. And so he drops
26:53
Speaker 1: his friend off and then back on the road he goes,
26:56
Speaker 1: you know, navigating now at this point, like with one
26:58
Speaker 1: eye shut. and he eventually finds his way to his
27:01
Speaker 1: parents' house where he was staying. And from there, he
27:04
Speaker 1: climbed out of his car, he walked up the driveway,
27:07
Speaker 1: he unlocked the front door, and then stumbled up to
27:09
Speaker 1: his room where he immediately just fell into his bed
27:13
Speaker 1: and passed out. The next thing John knew, he heard voices,
27:16
Speaker 1: and then he felt somebody grab his arm and shake him.
27:19
Speaker 1: And then when he opened his eyes, his vision was
27:21
Speaker 1: very blurry, but eventually it came into focus, and he
27:24
Speaker 1: saw that he was Clearly in his bedroom, in his bed,
27:27
Speaker 1: on top of his blankets, but he had no idea
27:29
Speaker 1: how he got there. He looked down and noticed he
27:32
Speaker 1: was still wearing the same clothes he had worn the
27:34
Speaker 1: night before, but they were sticky and they were dirty.
27:38
Speaker 1: And then there were also these two figures who were
27:39
Speaker 1: standing over him, repeating his name over and over again,
27:43
Speaker 1: almost angrily. John looked at these two and didn't really
27:46
Speaker 1: know who they were, but then he noticed... they were
27:48
Speaker 1: both wearing matching uniforms. They were police officers. And these
27:53
Speaker 1: officers were very angrily asking John, what happened last night?
27:58
Speaker 1: What did you do? What happened the night before? But John,
28:03
Speaker 1: he still is trying to figure out what's even going on.
28:07
Speaker 1: He really doesn't have a good memory of anything that
28:09
Speaker 1: happened the night before. All he can just quickly remember
28:12
Speaker 1: is Like he was at that bar. He saw that girl.
28:15
Speaker 1: He drove Frankie home. Like he knew he was drunk
28:17
Speaker 1: on the ride home, but he got home. Like he
28:20
Speaker 1: didn't know what else they were trying to figure out
28:23
Speaker 1: about what happened the night before. And so when he
28:26
Speaker 1: finally opened his mouth to be like, what is going on?
28:29
Speaker 1: Because he was still basically drunk. It just came out
28:32
Speaker 1: of his mouth like this incoherent babbling. He was like,
28:35
Speaker 1: what's going on here? And the two officers, they were
28:38
Speaker 1: just over it. And they just grabbed John and literally
28:41
Speaker 1: pulled him out of the bed. They whipped his hands
28:43
Speaker 1: behind his back. They handcuffed him. And John, who's like,
28:46
Speaker 1: What is happening? They lead him out of his bedroom, downstairs,
28:50
Speaker 1: past his mom and dad who are staring at him like,
28:53
Speaker 1: what is going on? And even though John, again, is
28:55
Speaker 1: basically like borderline incoherent, you know, in passing by his parents,
28:59
Speaker 1: he's hoping they're going to be like, hey, officers, why
29:02
Speaker 1: are you arresting my son? But instead, as he's led
29:05
Speaker 1: past them, he looks at his mom and dad and
29:07
Speaker 1: they're not about to put up some fight. They're crying.
29:10
Speaker 1: They're holding each other and crying like they clearly know
29:13
Speaker 1: something bad has happened. And they can't stop what's happening
29:16
Speaker 1: to their son. And so the officers, they walk John
29:18
Speaker 1: in handcuffs out the front door and they walk him
29:21
Speaker 1: over to his truck in the driveway. And when they
29:24
Speaker 1: got there, the officers just stopped and gestured for John
29:27
Speaker 1: to have a look inside. And so John, he's sort
29:31
Speaker 1: of looking at the officers like, okay, what's, what's going
29:33
Speaker 1: on with my truck? And he turned and he just
29:35
Speaker 1: sort of squinted and looked through the window into the car.
29:39
Speaker 1: And there was this large object in the passenger seat
29:42
Speaker 1: that he didn't remember being there the night before. Then
29:46
Speaker 1: as he looked more closely... he realized with horror what
29:49
Speaker 1: it was. So the night before, John did drive when
29:54
Speaker 1: he absolutely should not have. He was clearly way past
29:58
Speaker 1: the legal limit for driving. He should never have been driving,
30:01
Speaker 1: totally unsafe for others, for him. Shouldn't have happened, but
30:04
Speaker 1: he did. He drove. And so he and Frankie, they're
30:08
Speaker 1: driving home, and John, in his limited memory, recalled this
30:11
Speaker 1: sort of blurry ride home where basically, as dangerous as
30:16
Speaker 1: it was, he got them home But at one point,
30:20
Speaker 1: he remembered almost hitting a telephone pole, and he swerved
30:23
Speaker 1: just in time, and he narrowly avoided it. And in
30:26
Speaker 1: some ways, that was true. He did avoid smashing into
30:29
Speaker 1: the telephone pole, but he didn't avoid an incident. So Frankie,
30:35
Speaker 1: because he was so nauseous from having drank too much,
30:39
Speaker 1: he had his head out the window as they were
30:41
Speaker 1: driving along trying to get some fresh air. And when
30:45
Speaker 1: John drove too close to that telephone pole and swerved
30:47
Speaker 1: at the last second, Frankie's head was still out the window,
30:51
Speaker 1: and his head was decapitated by one of the tension
30:55
Speaker 1: wires coming off the pole. The tight wire that holds
30:58
Speaker 1: that pole into the ground, one of them. It's like
31:00
Speaker 1: a guillotine, and they're speeding past it, and Frankie's neck
31:04
Speaker 1: hit the wire off on his head. But his body
31:08
Speaker 1: remained intact. in the passenger seat of the car, and
31:10
Speaker 1: John was so belligerently drunk that he didn't see he
31:13
Speaker 1: had just killed his friend, nor did he see his
31:16
Speaker 1: friend's body, or a part of his body, still in
31:18
Speaker 1: his car. And so when John drunkenly arrived at Frankie's house,
31:22
Speaker 1: he was like, alright, bye! He thought maybe Frankie got
31:25
Speaker 1: out of the car, but Clearly he didn't. He was
31:28
Speaker 1: just there, dead, in his passenger seat. And then John
31:31
Speaker 1: just drove back to his parents' house and just left
31:34
Speaker 1: the car in the driveway with his friend's body inside.
31:36
Speaker 1: And up to his bedroom he went and passed out,
31:39
Speaker 1: having no idea what he had just done. A few
31:42
Speaker 1: months later, John would plead guilty to vehicular homicide, and
31:45
Speaker 1: he was sentenced to five years in prison. Thank you
31:55
Speaker 1: so much for watching today's episode. Let me know what
31:57
Speaker 1: you thought of it in the comments below. And remember,
32:00
Speaker 1: we have a whole playlist of Places You Can't Go
32:02
Speaker 1: episodes ready for you to binge right now. So go
32:06
Speaker 1: ahead and click here and give them a watch. All right,
32:09
Speaker 1: until next time, see ya.