Catherine
Appearances
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Yeah, he's doing well. And also the good thing... No, we can do our own. I want strong women. You know what? Of course. I do love that. Does he have kids? We're going to do our own. No. He's only 25.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Do your own thing. If someone comes and they can add to your relationship and add to your life, wonderful. But you have to know them for a long time. And I don't know. I feel like in addition... I have very good instincts of people. I'll be able to tell right away. Yes, 100%.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Yes. So I guess the big picture is, yes, she is available. But right now we are very busy and it would be a package deal. The dating would be a package deal.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Sisters don't care. They don't care?
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Okay. But, you know, I mean, I want to be a part of everything. Of course you will. Yeah.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Well, I can't help it. I do a lot of pet adoptions. We work with the rescue. So, I mean, I just want to give all the dogs, all the animals a home. There should be. Again, I, like... I'd like to build a rescue one day. But I do work with a wonderful woman that, you know, we do a lot of events together. Actually, we have one coming up on Saturday. That's really exciting.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Not on – not yet. But we –
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Oh, yeah. A lot of things. Yeah. We do one or two pet adoption events a month. And, you know, hundreds of dogs get adopted out. And it's really nice. I mean... You know, when you hear the stories of these poor, innocent animals that are just basically thrown to the wolves and, you know, the brave people rescue them and we try to give them wonderful, loving homes. It's wonderful.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
She has the final say. People think that I'm the one that's smothered. She smothers me, too. She wants to.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Yeah. So we started filming last year and then it debuted on the 12th of December. December.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
yeah we usually compromise very well if i feel not comfortable in something then she'll be like oh okay if sometimes if material is a little too thin but normally we're pretty good we have the same style we have the same size yeah and the nice thing is the brands will send us like matchings and so i just make content for the brands and then they send us whatever we want which is very nice and
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
See how it looks on the mom and see how it looks on the daughter. And usually the moms are the ones that have more, you know, the money to spend for the daughters. So brands should target two generations. No, because that's a genius marketing plan.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Matchings by Catherine Gabriela.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Absolutely. Of course you want to buy Matchings. No, I literally do. I'm telling you, it's really... There's something so psychological about it, too. It's sharing. It's love. It's like you go to the store and... And again, I always bought three or four, you know, with me. But like for the girls, from the time that they were born, the first one would match with me.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
When she came along, the two would always match. It was easier because I never wanted her to feel like left out. And I'm not like spending it.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
No, and she loved them. And I wasn't 100% because it was all like a little bit short and the top's going to have to be altered. I mean, the skirt's short. She loved them so much. I was like, okay, that's fine. So, but there's something so nice about if I'm in the store by myself and taking a picture and saying, do you like this? And then buying two. And again, it's not...
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
you can do it very frugally. Yeah.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
They'll get on board with that. They'll do that. Yes, or for Christmas pictures. Always Christmas pictures with, you know, like a pretty dress or whatever. Or maybe we'll force them to do something. We'll work on it.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Oh, yeah, he'll do it. But sisters, yes. But, you know, again, they did match for years. I mean, and again, I never want them to feel uncomfortable. Right. Oh, of course. And even when they would go to school, sometimes they didn't want to be matching if they were, you know, on the bus and when they got a little bit older. So I always want them to feel comfortable.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Could you imagine if you had twins? Oh, my gosh. The matchings that you would do? Oh, my gosh. Wow. I know. I'm obsessed. That would be incredible. And I don't know. I just feel like it brings us closer. It brings us closer.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Yeah, you can give them a little tie or a little, yeah, same color combination. That's so funny. But yeah, it's so much fun. And you'll see, like, she'll love it.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Do you also have a pink car? Well, no, because then I wouldn't be in with her.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
that's that's a big project yeah but maybe for we just have a lot of pink accessories tlc will give you your own show if y'all just live in a big pink house pink pillars we got to make the pillars pink well i did say here's a little tip i did say we do have the land that's right next to our house it's all paid i said that i've been telling her that constantly we can make a whole pink barbie house right there and that's where we can film
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
yeah just to film not to live we can live there too sure whichever i've been telling her i know we need better natural lighting in the house it's like all my about is like natural lighting so our house does need better natural lighting but we'll see you're never gonna hear a no from me i mean there's always a way this next question you might you might tell me no okay okay can you define philanthropy
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Actually, we're working on Toys for Tots. We're going to do next month. I have so many. I work with the Marines, and we have so many Toys for Tots events that we're going to be doing.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Why go for life events? Oh, she doesn't know big words. That's all right. No problem. That's what you got the llama for. And if I don't know it, so what? Dumb and dumber. Whatever. Whatever. But you know what? Everybody has gifts. You know, I'm not the best speller. So what? Can you spell philanthropy? No. P-H. Oh, my God. It's not an F? No. P-H. Philanthropy. No, I think it's an F. I don't know.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Yeah, that's how it should be. Like, the safe space.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
I mean, I saw the casting over five years ago when it was called Mini Me. And I always dressed the girls alike. We were always so close. We always all looked alike, going, you know, wherever, the four of us. I was one of the sisters. So I sent in pictures. That's what she does. I sent in pictures of us, you know, all matching. Yeah.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Just say good works. Just say charity events. Charity. Just say charity events.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
I feel so blessed that we're able to do it because we're doing it together. And just sitting on that couch, you know, Gabrielle and I with our little matching and then sisters. Yes. It was, like, so beautiful.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
And it's like home movies that we're going to have forever. Exactly.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Yes. They do. And they don't care. We always did. Always. Yes. They're the sisters. I would be one of the sisters, too. Yeah, my mom wants to be one of the sisters. Like, we have friends from dance competitions, and they'd be like, oh, Catherine, yeah, you're one of the sisters. But you're also one of the sisters? We're all the sisters. Yeah, we're all the sisters. We're all the sisters.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
But if I'm with Gabriella, then there's the sisters. Yeah. If I'm with Sophia, the little one, I'd be like, there's the sisters. Wow.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Yeah, if I'm shopping with Sophia, for example... I'll say, oh, maybe sister would like this. Or maybe, you know, the sisters would like this. Referring to Lauren. Yeah, we use a lot of plurals. The sisters, the matchings. I don't know. It's so funny. But it's been wonderful. We definitely want to continue on reality TV.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
That's right. I mean, that's right.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Yeah. Double for any trouble. That's true. It says that in the Bible. Yeah. Like if you've been through a setback, you're not only going to get one blessing, you're going to get two. It says it. Double for your trouble. Double for your trouble. So you're going to get double. Like if something bad happens to you, just keep going forward. Be good. Be good to people.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
And I didn't realize until after that the show was named Smothered. And then I kept in contact with the casting agent, Paul, who we love. And we did get the opportunity to audition three years ago. But it wasn't the right time. You know, we did do the Zoom. We did send in our, you know, homemade tape. But I just kept on keeping contact with him. And, yeah. And then...
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Keep doing your thing and you will be blessed double.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Isn't that disgusting? I will take, I will carry your children.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
If she wanted to.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
No. I could ask them. I don't think they would do it. This would be iconic, though. I would do it. But we got plenty of time for that. Yeah. No, 100%. I'm not pushing kids on anyone. If she asks, no. I've had enough for all of us in this room. There's so many. Yeah, there's some. You have seven? So we have ten between us.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Exactly. That's how it has to be. Yeah. I would never let... Yeah.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
We could. But like...
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
seven you're not gonna have seven is you won't even make it with one do you have hobbies that you don't do together so i know you're a hairstylist you're a radio like a personality in connecticut um i work in advertising oh got it okay so do you have hobbies that you don't do together i don't think so i mean we do most everything together we like everything you know we go for our walks together we go to the gym together we take dancing lessons together so do you do anything with dewey
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
No. I only do it with the kids.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
No, not a little bit. But now it's all Dewey. I always cooked. Always cooked, chopped, cleaned. But now, you know, we're traveling so much. Do the sisters do things with Dewey?
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
I don't know. Cindy Crawford has a daughter that's kind of a lookalike, too. Her daughter is modeling now. I don't know their names.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
I learned how to do Instagram and social media.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
I just I wonder what that's like. It's fun. I mean, we've walked in New York Fashion Week now. We walked in Miami Swim Week last. When was that? June and July. We went to Miami. How was that? It was nice. Yeah. Yeah. It was fun. That's really cool. We had a really good time. So it was great.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Yeah, no, it was good. I just like a little cover up or a little something or a little skirt.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
When we first started doing the TikToks together and I would show up and they would all go viral, they were wonderful comments. Lovely. Oh, my gosh. She looks like your sister. You two are great together. Yeah. So lovely. There was hardly any bad ones. But as soon as we started on the show, then the bad ones come. It bothers me because I'm a mama bear and I don't want her to be hurt.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
But she's very strong, and it doesn't bother her, I think, because she grew up more with social media.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
I see what you're saying. Right.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Sometimes. In the beginning, I will tell you. Don't even say it. I'm going to tell her. When the first show came out, I mean, I got so many bad comments. I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I mean, I do drink celery. It is very healthy. It's great for your skin. Yes. I've drank celery juice every morning for the past five years. I follow the medical medium protocols.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
What is wrong with that, though? What is the backlash? Exactly. What is the problem? But there were so many terrible things. Like they talk about my looks. They'd say that I got plastic surgery to look like her. To look like me. There's nothing wrong if you want plastic surgery. She's never had plastic surgery. I haven't had anything done. There's nothing wrong if you do want to do anything, but...
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
terrible things about me. I shouldn't wear the same outfits because I don't look good in them. I think you look great. What's the problem? Even if you weren't here and wearing the same outfit, you look fantastic. I would wear these outfits or the dresses no matter if we were matching or not. I'm comfortable with it. There were so many bad negative comments.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
I literally went in my closet and kind of cried a little bit. I did. I did. I admit it. I have feelings. I'm emotional. But since then, it's been – it's fine. I don't really look at it anymore. You know, there's a handful of things that will be like, you know, I'm stealing her spotlight. I'm not stealing her spotlight. We're going through life together. We like it together. I ask her –
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Not often, but, you know, are you happy? Even last night, are you happy? I want to make sure she's happy. Are you comfortable? If she wanted to stop matching and not do shows and not model with me tomorrow, I'd be like, okay, I would still be there with her because, I mean, she can't even rent a car. I mean, she can't really. When we went to L.A., we had a wonderful time. We were there for a week.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Going to that reality show, Star of the Year for Us Weekly, was incredible. But I would still have to go with her even if I wasn't part of it. But what's wrong with the mom?
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
I mean, I always think of her first and her happiness. I think that it adds to her life and her career. But if she really in her heart just woke up one day and was just like, I'm going to wear Crocs. I'm going to, you know, whatever. Are we slandering Crocs?
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
There's nothing wrong with the Crocs, but it's like a family joke where they won't wear shoes. The oldest one will only wear Crocs, so it's a little bit... There's nothing wrong with Crocs. So get matchings. Yeah, exactly. But if she woke up one day and she did not want to...
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
do our career anymore or whatever i'd be like okay trust me that's not gonna happen i i've always felt like i was destined for more and it's not gonna happen with me this is this is where i belong and i feel like it's an inspiration to women no matter what your lot in life what challenges your age your demographic whatever i think it's an inspiration that you can still follow your dreams regardless of what's going on in your life yeah i mean you know
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
For 20 years, I was home raising my girls. She did the whole thing. And now we're like. A big thing. Now you're best friends. Yeah.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
And it's been. Yeah. I mean, it's wonderful. I mean, I couldn't think of anyone else I would want to do it with. And if I was just doing it on my own, it wouldn't be as much fun.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
No sleepover. I mean, we can talk about it after.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
It was incredible.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
We would have to go together.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Johnny. Yes. Yes. I think we would love to be on Dancing with the Stars. We could dance. You could dance.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
It was always with Gabriella. Oh, period. Because, you know, I mean, I feel like because... When you looked at past episodes, and I didn't watch Smothered that much prior, it was always with one daughter. And I think with Gabriella, because we are so close, we are so much alike, where the sisters were close, were a close family, but they don't like to do the pageants.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
For Dancing with the Stars.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
They danced. You girls always danced. Competitive. I mean, that's what people don't see. Like, the girls dance. We go to dance competitions.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Johnny. As long as we can get on the show, it doesn't matter. Whichever. But I think it would be really fun together. No, that would be really.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
No, I don't want to do that. Immediately no. What's that show with the bad cooking?
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Nailed It. That would be funny.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Yeah. Scented candles. It's just, again, I follow the medical media protocols and everything he says is true. I wish I had more time to read his books and to even implement more of his protocols. But the scents are not good. You know, gets in your brain. Whatever mom says. So I don't like a lot of scents.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
So perfume. Fair. No.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
I don't know. I didn't do any research on that as long as it's pure and natural because we breathe in toxins all the time now. So that's why it's very important, you know, the celery juice, you know, that wild blueberry juice, you know, trying to get as much fruit and vegetables in your body as possible to get rid of the toxins that we have to breathe in and that we're, you know,
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
So after I lost my mom, you know, I didn't even want to live. I mean, I had no experience in writing. I had nothing. no degree in journalism, but I did have a heart that wanted to help people. So I started writing a newspaper column. And it's still been in the paper after all these years. It's been in like literally half my life.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
It's in the paper in Connecticut, the New Haven Register, and it's in other papers around the country that that group owns. So it's a newspaper column. And then from that, I wrote three books with real publishers. I self-published my first one and then did three others with real publishers. I think if you go online and you go on Amazon, the books are on Amazon.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
They don't like the modeling and the glitz and the glamour. So it was more with Gabriella. And then When we started doing the social media together with her TikToks, when initially when I would show up, the numbers would go crazy. And everyone would go viral.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
So, yeah, I mean, through the years, it's crazy because I've gotten so many beautiful letters through the years from people that have read the column and the books to just help them overcome if they've been through a tragedy or loss. But they're inspirational books.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Yes, she's a sister. She's a matching. She's got her matching. Matching. Oh, my gosh. I love this. So we have the rose gold, and this one is gold if you prefer the gold. Whichever one you want. Oh, I do wear gold. Okay, then take the gold. Okay. We also have silver. And we also have silver.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Because when we found out that we were getting the show, I was like, oh, you know, we should have something that people could, like, feel that they're a part of us. I love that. So, yeah. They get the matching. And then we're all matching.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Where do you want our hair gab? Uh...
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Yes. And she designed the whole thing. I mean, I have sold products on QVC for many years, inspirational of nature. So I had a manufacturer. So Gabriella literally drew it. The emblem that you'll see, the crown. Yes. And from that, he made the sample.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
I'm on Instagram. CatherineGalassoVigorito on Instagram.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
And people went crazy on it. So, you know, my saying is when mama shows up. The numbers go up. Yep, that's true. It's true. Hey, the proof is in the pudding. Look at the numbers. No, I believe you. You don't have to convince me.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
And we do ask them all the time. I mean, they're in school, so, you know, we do ask them all the time. Yeah, I mean, they're a good sidekick. They are the fan favorites. Correct. They are authentic just as you see them. The little one, Sophia, I mean, she's funny as could be. And, you know, yeah, I get the hate. You do? But, you know, I say, why hate? Appreciate it. Right?
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
So you want my hair on this side? Sure. She's the boss.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Do they really call you Kath? Well, I don't like that. Oh, you don't like it? No. The oldest one, she is. I don't like it. No, that's not. You're the youngest? That's disrespectful.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
That's disrespectful to call me that. But no, the little one doesn't. No, Sophia does not call me that.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
But I'm obsessed with all of them. The sisters, they secretly like the show. They secretly had fun filming. Oh, sure. So they secretly like it, but... Yeah. They don't want to do all the fun things that we do. They just don't want to. We invite them. We invite them to everything.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
No. No. They didn't want to learn. I really tried to get Sophia to do the teen pageant. I was like, this would be wonderful. She can try for Miss Connecticut. You can be for Miss Connecticut teen. I'll train you both. And she said no. No.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Is that right? Okay.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
So I was a dancer growing up, and I just thought that pageants would be a good stepping stone from dance. Okay. I was in the Miss America system because dance was 50% of the score at that time. The two different pageant systems. I didn't know that. Miss USA, Miss America. that goes to Miss Universe, and Miss America. So Miss America is the talent. That's the difference between the two.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
She is the boss.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
So I was always in the Miss America system, and I just couldn't win.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Yeah, I mean, I got tired of being first runner-up, second runner-up. So then I was like, okay, it's pretty clear maybe they don't want me. Hey, that's kind of familiar what happened. Anyway, maybe they don't want me. So I went to the Miss USA system. Okay. And the first year I was first runner-up. The second year I was second runner-up. And then the third year I won. And I don't know.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
I just thought the world was here. The world was right at my doorstep. Right. After trying so hard and dancing since I was a little girl. And then six weeks after I won Miss Connecticut preparing for Miss USA, my mother died suddenly. So which you'll see on the show. I never really told anybody. I mean, what you saw on the show was very authentic.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
It was the first time that I really opened up and told what really happened. I don't know if I was just like embarrassed. So when I went to Miss USA, I was certainly not in my right headspace. I found my mother dead. And it was really a tragic time for me. And I just, you know, had a hard time coping through that. such loss. Was she a huge support for you in your pageants?
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
She was a huge support for me. She was my, you know, she was my mom. I mean, you know, we were together all the time.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
I was very close to my mom, yes. But it was a little bit of a different time. She never drove. She had her license, but she never drove. But yeah, I mean, my mother was my playmate. My mother was who I went to the store with. We even had a little part-time job together. Oh, you did? Yeah. I didn't even know this. Yeah. Yeah.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
When I was in high school, I worked at a little clothing store when I was 16 and she worked there at night. Yeah. So, you know, we would walk to work together because neither one of us drove. And it was a long way. I mean, it was at least like two miles. I mean, we did. That's a long walk to go to work. I'm just saying, I don't know, maybe it was a mile.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
But no, it was like, it was a while that we would walk to like the plaza and we'd have our little job together. So... Yeah, I mean, it was very tragic. I was very sheltered as a child. I never, like, I didn't even know how to do the laundry. I never knew.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
No, I do it all.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Not that I like it, but...
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
So, yeah, I was very close to my mom. And I think that gives me a real heart of compassion for people that have been through any kind of loss or any kind of struggle, because I know how it is. And I know how difficult it is to stand up again after you've really been hurt. you know, everything's been taken away.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
And then we'll make. Wait until.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Well, number one, I had no idea what to expect because if you don't have a mother or, you know, a very good mentor, I mean, I had my friends, but to kind of guide you through, I was scared. I Is my career – I've always been very career-oriented. Is my career going to fail now? What am I going to do? How does it look like? And then you read those books that are horrendous.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
Wait until. You gotta do your other. Okay. Wait until you see her when she takes out her camera.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
What to expect when you're expecting it. I'm like, oh my God, I'm going to go through this and this is terrible. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, it did impact because I didn't have that guiding force to help me and to call and to say, what do I do with this? And many women write to me and say the same thing when they have lost their mom or, you know, a key figure in their lives.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
So when I had the first daughter, yeah, I'm very protective. I mean, I'm very close to all three girls, very protective, never wanted to have sleepovers, very careful.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
You know, if they were in the car with someone, you know, if I didn't know, I would always be the one to, again, have the kids over to my house, always have the safe place at my house, always be the ones that would drive the kids to wherever they needed to go. Right. So, yeah, all our experiences impact us. How do you feel now that you know that?
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
It's just the camera.
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
What's the problem? I love that. Maybe we should look into more land. Just build a compound. Right. I like that. We do have land right next to us that we own. I mean, it's not 20 acres. You don't need 20 acres. Just one. Right. I mean, I like that idea. And even if you're not necessarily in the same house, you can be right next door. I don't know. It's hard to find people that you trust in...
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
in life sometimes. And if you're so very close to your family, why not?
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
We went to the Yankees. We did go to the Yankees and we did see him in person. We walked in a fashion show at Yankee Stadium. In the same outfit? Did he see you?
Barely Famous
Why Dating is a Package Deal with Catherine & Gabriella from sMothered
how could he miss her hello this is true so like we're working on that so are you talking to him um maybe we'll see you never know we're working on him but but he has to but one baby he has to like accept both of us like because in other words He's got to come to the compound.
Brooke and Jeffrey: Second Date Update
Second Date Update UPDATE: Carjitsu Crazy
Fine. I'll do one more date.
Brooke and Jeffrey: Second Date Update
Second Date Update UPDATE: Carjitsu Crazy
I have. I really have.
Brooke and Jeffrey: Second Date Update
Second Date Update UPDATE: Carjitsu Crazy
Yeah. I did. I did do that.
Brooke and Jeffrey: Second Date Update
Second Date Update UPDATE: Carjitsu Crazy
Yeah. Okay. So here's what happened. I was embarrassed. I told my roommate about the situation. She didn't know what Karjitsu was, so I showed her a few videos. She told me that I absolutely cannot date this guy. Your roommate said that?
Brooke and Jeffrey: Second Date Update
Second Date Update UPDATE: Carjitsu Crazy
No, I mean, she made some valid points. You know, he's a professional fighter. And so he's going to get hurt. And if this turns into something more serious. I'm going to have to take care of him while he's hurt.
Brooke and Jeffrey: Second Date Update
Second Date Update UPDATE: Carjitsu Crazy
I'm 100% jumping the gun, but I'm looking for something more long-term. And so I fully admit, I'm like, all right, if we have kids, like I did that a whole bit, if we have kids, how long is he going to be doing car jitsu for? Like, he can't possibly sustain that.
Brooke and Jeffrey: Second Date Update
Second Date Update UPDATE: Carjitsu Crazy
I understand that. You're doing fine right now, but maybe in the future, I don't know, someone wraps the seatbelt around your neck and pulls too hard. I don't know what's going to happen.
Brooke and Jeffrey: Second Date Update
Second Date Update UPDATE: Carjitsu Crazy
Listen, both jitsu versus car jitsu. I don't see how that's better.
Distractible
Knives, Fire, and Pickup Trucks
Und dann sind sie so schnell gefahren, dass sie immer noch so... Was? Es ist ein Gaming Controller?
Distractible
Knives, Fire, and Pickup Trucks
Hang on, editors, you might need to... You're gonna wanna blur...
Distractible
Knives, Fire, and Pickup Trucks
This truck has more power than all of my backup batteries that I put in my render farm by three times.
Distractible
Knives, Fire, and Pickup Trucks
Es sollte es nicht sein! Es sollte es nicht sein! Es sollte es nicht sein! Habt ihr Solar-Power gesehen? Ich habe nur eine Menge Solar-Power! Es ist so viel günstiger als... Woah, woah, woah, Alter! Oh mein Gott!
Distractible
Knives, Fire, and Pickup Trucks
Let me give him a call. Guys, I need to sell my pacemaker.
Distractible
Knives, Fire, and Pickup Trucks
I can't believe you'd buy anything made of D2 Steel. Literally, that is probably going to happen. People are going to be like, D2, this son of a bitch hates... every minority or something like this.
I've Had It
The Stupid Era
Okay. Lesbians. Okay. Yeah. We're holding strong. All right. Okay, this one is five stars and they write, they put the D-E-I in dementia.
I've Had It
The Stupid Era
Oh my God, that was great. Okay, this one is five stars. This show has all the petty laughs you need with just a touch of doom and gloom. It's where irate observation and pure dipsticks intersect to create the mental oasis we all need in Trump's America. Thanks, lovely ladies. I love it.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
the attic panel was nailed shut from the inside the furniture had been pushed against the walls the flare gun was on the floor by the window unused and the shortwave still on still humming later at the station in kanab the sheriff asked me questions I told them someone came to the door, that I let him in, that he left, that I felt threatened, that I fired two shots through the door.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
It wasn't a lie, it just wasn't the truth either. They found no sign of another person, no tire tracks. No boot prints. No second mug. No name in the logbook. Nothing. Just me. They kept me for two nights in the clinic. Gave me fluids. Told me I'd had a stress-induced dissociative event. That being alone out there for too long sometimes does that to people.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
When I finally spoke to Clint, I asked him one thing. You ever see anything up there? He looked at me for a long time before answering. There's a reason we stopped using that post, he said. It wasn't the lightning strike. That's all he gave me. A month later I left Utah, moved north, changed my number, no contact with the agency, no more solo gigs. I tried to forget.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
But sometimes, when I'm driving through empty country and the light hits just right, I'll look out toward the horizon, and I'll see someone standing out there, back turned, head tilted slightly, waiting. And in those moments, the desert smell hits me again. That strange mix of dust, copper, and something older. Something that doesn't belong in this world.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I don't know what I saw up on Horsehead Ridge. I don't know if it was ever human. But I know this much. Whatever it was, it walked too far, and it brought something back with it. The camping trip was Mikey's idea. We deserved a little vacation, he had said. An opportunity to escape our cramped, cluttered college house and commune with the great outdoors.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
He had leaned into the center of our clump one night, the same devious glint in his eyes that he always got whenever he was about to drag us into trouble and said, How about a trip up the mountain? I don't know, Cynthia had replied, a bottle of grenadine in one hand and a bottle of Tito's in the other. I'm not very outdoorsy. None of us are. My boyfriend, Josh, agreed.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
Oh, come on, Mikey urged, slinging an arm around my shoulder. Catherine thinks it's a great idea, right, Kath? I looked around the room at my friends, at our messy, half-hearted attempt at a pregame. Autumn cuddled up against her girlfriend, Sylvia, Josh, and Mikey, bookending me on the lumpy couch.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I loved every part of that small, crappy house I shared with my friends, the wall full of Polaroid pictures, the TV we never got around to mounting, the cat we adopted off the street curled up by my feet. I was going to miss it all. We would all be graduating from college in just a couple weeks, and then our little gang would be disbanding for the summer.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
It would be nice to spend some quality time with friends before we all had to grow up and enter the real world." sure i agreed why not let's go mikey fist pumped a little too forcefully and sloshed his drink onto my jeans autumn giggled and raised her cup what the hell i'm in too so even though we all preferred the sanctuary of our dilapidated college house to the great outdoors
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
Clint helped me haul in my gear, gave me a key to the gun locker, just a flare gun and a rusted hunting rifle, and warned me about scorpions nesting in the corners. Then he clapped me on the shoulder and said something I haven't been able to forget. You hear knocks at night, don't answer right away. Wait, listen first.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
We had moshed our half-empty solo cups together and agreed to a trip up the mountain. After Friday classes surrendered their hold on us, our group of five piled into Mikey's old van and took off into the mess of patchy forest that surrounded campus. The balmy April air and the gentle jostling of country roads quickly put me to sleep as I rested my head on Josh's steady shoulder.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
It was the kind of sleep that never fully took hold, making me aware that I was going somewhere but completely unaware of where that somewhere might be. When the jolting dip of a pothole shoved me back into consciousness, we were on the third hour of our journey.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
The old van shook as we climbed the steep mountain toward the campsite, and the overgrown gravel road we were following looked as if it hadn't been driven on in years. In the seats in front of me, Autumn and Sylvia were looking out their respective windows, admiring the deep ocean of trees that flew past us as we drove.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
Eventually, our gravel path disappeared under a suffocating layer of encroaching vines, and Mikey pulled the van to the side of the road. "'Rise and shine, campers,' he called back to us. "'We're hiking the rest of the way up.' After an hour of trudging over rocks, weighed down by our heavy backpacks, we crested the summit."
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
the top of the mountain was idyllic a flat expanse of untrampled grass that felt like it had been tucked away just for us the rocky ground plateaued out into a perfect clearing curtained off by a dense border of tall tangled trees It felt like our own secluded paradise high above the rest of the world. I shrugged off my bag and breathed in the clean forest air. We had made it.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
We wasted no time setting up camp. By the time the three tents were pitched and the fire was built, we were all exhausted, but none of us wanted to be the loser who went to sleep first. So we sat around the campfire for hours telling ghost stories and cracking jokes. Somewhere in the middle of Mikey's third story about Mothman, I turned to Autumn. "'How did you find this campsite, Autumn?
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
Have you been here before?' "'No, I haven't. I just asked for campsite suggestions on Reddit, and someone suggested this place.' She shrugged, her blonde curls bouncing over her flannel-clad shoulders. "'Because that's not sketchy at all,' Josh laughed."
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
autumn gave josh a defensive shove and he snatched her up into a playful headlock their embrace collapsing into a mess of giggles as sylvia jabbed at them both with a pointy stick she had claimed off the ground you've heard the stories about this place though haven't you sylvia asked us arching an eyebrow
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
You know, I grew up around here, and my parents were always telling us stories about the mountain. They didn't want us coming up here. They said there were always stories about hikers getting lost in the forest and never being found. That's it? Mikey asked. The stories I heard were way more interesting.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
He must have seen my face because he grinned, all crooked teeth and sunburnt lips. Kidding, probably. Anyway, the last guy bailed halfway through his first weekend, claimed he saw shadows moving in the rocks, but who knows, meth's a hell of a drug. With that, he tipped his hat, got back in the truck, and disappeared in a storm of dust down the winding trail. I didn't think much of it at the time.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I heard people used to live on this mountain, but they had to evacuate the whole place because of some Chernobyl-type situation. Either that or a huge forest fire wiped them all out. I can't remember. I rolled my eyes. Mikey was never one for the specifics. "'Where did you hear all that nonsense? On one of your weird conspiracy blogs?' Josh laughed.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
"'I actually don't think Mikey is completely wrong this time. Look. I pointed across the perfectly empty clearing to a lump in the overgrown darkness that I had noticed while we were setting up camp. It was a small pile of bricks, the collapsed remnants of a wall that hadn't stood for a very long time. Whatever building used to be here, it was long gone.'
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
sylvia shook her head i don't know anything about all that but there was a small commune that tried to live up here a while ago i don't remember exactly what happened but they kind of just fell off the radar i think the police were looking into it josh looked around the silent clearing well i don't know what happened to them but they're definitely not here anymore
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
Maybe one day they all just vanished. Autumn leaned in close, wiggling her fingers at us, letting the flames of the fire light up her face dramatically before she erupted into a drowsy fit of giggles. Okay, I chuckled. That's enough conspiracy theory talk for tonight. Let's head to bed.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I woke to the crackling sound of sausages cooking over the fire and the pink light of morning piercing its way through the mesh of my tent. I emerged from the tent to see Josh, Autumn, and Sylvia sitting around the fire laughing and poking each other with the skewered hot dogs they were broiling. My stomach growled hungrily at the sight of breakfast. "'Hey guys,' I greeted.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
"'Is Mikey still asleep? He's gonna be mad y'all are eating without him.'" Josh turned to me, the fresh light of the morning haloing his handsome face. I expected him to make a joke about Mikey oversleeping. I expected him to pull me into a tight embrace and to cook me some breakfast over the campfire. I expected a smile, his eyes crinkling in amusement.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
Instead, his eyes were completely dead, void of any semblance of recognition. I'll never forget that look he gave me. That was the look that started it all, and all these years later, I can still see his blank eyes when I close my own. He quirked his head to one side and asked, "'Who's Mikey?' I stopped dead in my tracks, the wet grass scratching at my halted legs. "'Mikey,' I repeated.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
"'Where is he? Is he still sleeping?' What are you talking about, Catherine? Sylvia asked, her sharp brow cutting across her forehead. Who is Mikey? They were just messing with me. They had to be messing with me. I tried to wipe the dumb expression off my face and take a breath. I felt a little stupid for falling for their little charade.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
It was so typical of Mikey to want to pull a prank on the friend who slept in the longest. He was always the jester, and I was always the fool who worried and fretted over his stupid antics. The only thing that surprised me was how committed the rest of the gang was to acting out Mikey's dumb idea of a prank. Usually one of them would have cracked by now. I turned and stomped away from my friends.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I was tired, and I wasn't in the mood for whatever stupid prank they were trying to pull.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
i unzipped the door to mikey's tent and was met by an empty interior a mess of clothing books and snacks littered the floor but there was no mikey inside the lumpy sleeping bag when i turned to rejoin my friends i expected to see stolen glances and stifled laughter but i was met with the same hauntingly blank confusion What are you doing? Autumn asked. I threw my hands up in exasperation.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
Well, he's not in his tent, so where is he hiding? That's my tent, Josh said. We agreed to bring two tents for the two of us because I'm such a slob, and you like your personal space. Do you not remember? He was looking at me with such confusion and concern that I had to look away, unable to meet his falsely sincere eyes. This was so stupid.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
Guys like Clint say creepy stuff all the time, especially if you're green or new to the job. It's part of the culture, like hazing, but with more coyotes and less beer. The first day was nothing. I logged the generator hours, made some instant ramen, and walked the perimeter with my flashlight. The sun sets early this time of year, and by 7pm the ridge was cloaked in purple shadows.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I was always the gullible friend the others loved to mess with, always the butt of one of their stupid jokes. No matter how stupid this prank was, their commitment had me almost doubting my own memory. It was a nauseating sensation I wanted to be rid of as soon as possible. This would all be over faster if I just went along with the joke. Okay, very funny.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I laughed, coming to sit next to Josh on one of the logs that surrounded the fire. If he wants to hide in the woods and try to scare me instead of eating breakfast, that's his choice. I turned to give Josh a kiss, but his face was still twisted into a look of total bewilderment. He looked so convincingly dumbfounded by my words that it gave me the creeps.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
There was no hint of amusement or playfulness behind his eyes, only emptiness. Whatever weird joke was being played on me, he didn't show any sign of being in on it. I averted my gaze toward the flames, breathing in its smoke and letting the awkward silence wash over our circle. Everything was so quiet. Then we heard the screaming.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
It was faint, but all four of us snapped our heads toward the forest where we could hear the cries echoing through the trees. They sounded like they were coming from a short distance away, just past our clearing, down the other side of the mountain. "'What the hell is that?' Autumn asked, jumping to her feet. "'It sounds like someone is crying for help,' Sylvia added, a little nervously.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
My first instinct was to call my friends out on their increasingly dumb and elaborate prank, but the cries coming from within the dense forest sounded too high-pitched and pitiful to belong to Mikey. It almost sounded like a wounded animal or a baby was wailing out calls of complete and utter desperation.'
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I could just barely make out the word help, but everything else about the cries rang out with an eerie pitch that seemed entirely inhuman, like some creature trying to mimic the cries of a child. Whatever that thing was, it wasn't Mikey. Okay guys, this seriously isn't funny anymore. Please just tell me if this is a joke or not. I pleaded. Catherine. Josh gave my shoulder a comforting squeeze.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
We're just as confused as you are, I promise. I'm gonna check it out, Autumn announced, confidently stepping toward the tree line. It's probably nothing, but I would feel horrible if someone actually needed our help. Sylvia looked almost as nervous as I felt, but she hesitantly let go of her girlfriend's hand and let her continue on toward the woods.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I didn't want to let Autumn go, but I selfishly didn't want to be the one to step foot into the woods. The noise stabbed at my ear with an incessant drone that I wanted more than anything to end. I just wanted the noise to stop. I was naive enough to believe Autumn might be able to make that happen.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
A sharp chill crawled its way up my spine as I watched Autumn's body disappear between the twisted branches of the thick forest. I looked down at the three forgotten hot dogs broiling over the fire, and my stomach twisted. I had lost my appetite. Sylvia and Josh wanted to play cards while they waited for Autumn to return, but I wasn't in the mood.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I faked a headache and retreated from the group, stepping over the forgotten hot dogs and slipping inside Mikey's tent. The crying from the woods had faded to a dull weeping, but whispers could still be heard cresting over the dense expanse of treetops.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
i zipped mikey's tent shut behind me drowning out the last of the wilting whimpers i tried to distract myself by flipping through some books that mikey had brought part of me was looking for some belongings of mikey's to show to the group something that would remind them of his existence The other part of me was still in complete denial about what was happening to us.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
The messy collection contained mostly sci-fi novels, but the largest book was different. It was large and leather-bound, the worn edges of its pages spilling out the sides. I flipped through a few pages and was faced with scratchy scrawl and disturbing depictions of creatures I could have never imagined. I knew Mikey was into some weird stuff.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
It's the kind of darkness that feels heavy, like it's pressing in. I read until my eyes burned, cracked a lukewarm beer from my cooler, and eventually decided to turn in early. I wasn't scared, just tired. It was around 9.30 when I noticed it. I'd stepped outside to take a leak and cool off. The wind was dead still. No rustling, no coyotes yipping in the distance. Nothing.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I was fairly certain he believed in Bigfoot, but this was a whole different level of weird. I wanted to believe it was another prank, something he had brought to show off around the campfire to scare us all, but some of the pages had bookmarks and notes in Mikey's handwriting scribbled in the margins. It was pretty clear he was taking what was written in this book seriously.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I turned through pages depicting woodland yetis and wendigos of increasing horror until my eyes felt itchy and my brain pulsed with even more paranoia. When I reached the middle of the book, a small stack of papers fell out. They were printed out website pages of research Mikey had done on our campsite.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
It was all there, information on the missing hikers, the commune, and even some research on settlers who had lived in this area. I skimmed all the printouts, and nothing seemed overtly strange about the stories. It just seemed like a string of bad luck to me. The thing I found the most odd was Mikey's obsessive fascination with this place.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I pushed the papers away, curling up on Mikey's sleeping bag and shutting my eyes. I didn't feel panicked, just exhausted. What was happening around me was so wrong that my brain had no choice but to reject it entirely. Sleep found its way to me, muffling my awareness for moments of fitful dreaming before I would once again come back to myself and hear the sounds of crickets and birds.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
in my dreams i had no choice but to replay the sound we had heard in the forest until even that found its way into my waking moments mingling discordantly with the chirping crickets it took me far too many dizzy half-conscious moments to realize that the sound was no longer merely a remnant of my dreams It was real. The screaming had returned.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I've done seasonal work before, fire watch gigs, backcountry surveying, property sits. I like the quiet. The isolation never bothered me, and I've always found the desert to be kind of peaceful in a way most people don't understand. You either feel alive out here, or you feel like the place is trying to erase you. There's not a lot of in-between.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
Josh and Sylvia were sitting on logs playing a ferocious game of Go Fish when I rejoined them. I had no idea how long I had been asleep for, but the sky had already begun to soften into a dusty orange, and my heart sank when I noticed that Autumn was nowhere to be seen. Do you guys hear that? I asked.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
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The sound was still faint, but I was certain I could hear it cresting over the mountain once again. The same quiet but desperate calls for help echoing off the abundant sea of trees that surrounded us. The incessant, wailing drone continued to roll over me, sending a new bout of nausea through my body. Yeah, I hear it too, Sylvia confirmed. Should one of us go check it out?
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Someone might be in trouble out there. Yeah, Josh nodded in agreement. I can go see what the problem is. No, I shouted a bit too frantically. I don't think anyone else should go out there until Autumn comes back. Sylvia looked me dead in the eye and asked- Who is Autumn? Chills prickled at every inch of my clammy skin. Autumn! I yelled. Your girlfriend!
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She went into the forest hours ago and she still isn't back. What the hell, Catherine? Sylvia spat at me. Having to be the third wheel on you and Josh's camping trip is bad enough without you making jokes about me having some imaginary disappearing girlfriend. Whatever joke you're trying to make seriously isn't funny.
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I turned to Josh, hoping he might back me up, but his usually supportive gaze conveyed only disappointment, as if I was truly making a joke at Sylvia's expense. It's not a joke, I insisted, and you aren't a third wheel. The five of us all agreed to come on this trip together.
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I pulled out my phone and frantically tapped at the screen, attempting to produce some kind of evidence to support my claims. Our group chat or a picture of all five of us together. Anything. Anything that could prove to my friends and to myself that I wasn't completely losing my grip on reality. It was dead. Of course it was. All our phones were probably dead by now.
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The gravity of the situation I had been denying all morning finally hit me. We were miles and miles away from civilization. All our phones were dead. There was something out there drawing us into the forest, and anyone who crossed the tree line was being forgotten. Autumn was gone, Mikey was gone, and Mikey had the car keys.
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And that's when I saw the stones. Stacked about twenty feet from the porch steps was a small cairn. Five flat river stones balanced perfectly on top of one another. It hadn't been there earlier. I'm not some city kid. I always scan my surroundings. and there sure as hell wasn't a pile of rocks sitting right there when I'd done my walkabout before dinner. I walked over to it.
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The insurmountable circle of trees that surrounded us felt like it was closing in on me. flooding our once idealistic campsite with a wave of dense, sticky dread that crept up my spine and tightly wound around my throat. I couldn't breathe. Whatever. Sylvia rolled her eyes. I'll let you guys spend some quality time together. I'm gonna go on a long walk, alone.
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I wanted to reach out and stop her, but my feet felt like they were rooted to the ground. The sounds from the forest had faded once again, but the fear they had awoken in me still pulsed through my arteries. As I watched Sylvia's back sink into the treeline, I prayed once again that this was all just some horrible prank. Josh and I passed the remaining hours until sunset in silence.
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We sat side by side on a log, watching the treeline that Sylvia's body had sunk into. i could tell from josh's pursed lips and furrowed brow that he was upset and confused by my crazed outburst and he was worried about sylvia he wouldn't look at me he would only look straight forward at the forest i couldn't think of a single thing to say my body was paralyzed and my brain was foggy
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This all still felt to me like some odd dream, nothing that could exist in our realm of reality. I felt a tug toward the now too silent forest. My friends were in there, and I was the only person left to save them. Could I really just sit here and let them disappear? Could I walk away from Josh and leave him to come in after me?
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We sat there in silence watching the forest as the sun began to set and the orange sky began to burn into black. The tension in Josh's face began to ease. The worried creases on his forehead flattened out, and a thoughtless smile lifted the corners of his lips. He had forgotten. He had forgotten everything. The forest is so beautiful, isn't it? He asked me.
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I'm so glad we decided to take this trip together, just the two of us. I told Josh I wanted to head to bed early, and he agreed. As soon as I heard his breathing become slow and even, I crept from our tent as silently as I could. I tiptoed around our mostly abandoned campsite and tried to ignore how creepy our once lively circle of tents now felt.
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As I rummaged through each of my friend's belongings, looking for anything that could help Josh and I get out of here, I felt like I was traipsing through a ghost town. In the end, I found nothing. The car keys were nowhere to be found, and the food and water we had left would only last us another day or two at most.
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I made my way back down the mountain, constantly tripping and scuffing up my hands and knees as I tried to traverse the massive boulders in the dark. After what felt like hours, I reached the van. I pulled desperately at each of the locked handles, but none of the doors budged. I collapsed against the cool metal of the van and let myself exhale a loud, frustrated sob.
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I felt completely and utterly defeated. Whatever was going on, within my own broken, twisted mind, or out in the dense shadows of the forest was completely out of my control, and there seemed to be no escape. I was so tired and confused. I just wanted to sleep. But the fear of Josh wandering into the forest while I slept kept me from closing my weary, drooping eyelids.
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If he was all I had left, if the rest of my friends were truly gone, the only thing I could do was get him out of this forest alive. I steeled myself and forced my shaking hands to pick up a rock off the ground. I was readying myself to smash through one of the van's windows when a faint wail made me stutter.
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The sound was faint from where I now stood, but it was undeniably present in the otherwise silent forest. The screams had returned. As I scrambled my way back up the mountain, getting lost, tripping, and falling over my feet in the darkness, I realized the sound was growing louder than ever, and even more high-pitched and pitiful sounding than I remembered.
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I tried to follow the sound back to our campsite, but it seemed to pulsate from every direction, bleeding through every inch of the forest, making me completely unsure of where I was going.
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Nothing strange about the rocks themselves. Normal river stones. But the balance was too perfect. Not like something you'd stumble into by accident. Could have been a leftover marker. Maybe from Clint. Maybe from the last guy. Or maybe it had been knocked down in the wind. Rebuilt it? No, that's not how wind works. I should have knocked it over. I almost did.
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help it cried over and over again until the word tangled in on itself and lost all meaning when i finally reached camp it was just in time to see josh's silhouette disappear into the tree line i screamed after him but it was too late he was gone i had only one choice left i had to go in after him i sprinted past our deserted tents and into the dense tree line
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Twisted branches seemed to come at me from every direction, scratching my face and arms as I sprinted deeper and deeper into the dark forest. ''Josh! Josh!'' I called again and again until my voice turned hoarse and unrecognizable. I could feel my breath becoming more and more desperate and erratic, but I had no time to rest or slow down.
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I had to find Josh before it was too late, before he disappeared into the forest forever. The mountain was steeper on this side descending into a cliff that jutted out in odd uncontrollable angles. I hung onto the trees to keep myself upright scanning the impenetrable darkness for any signs of movement. At one point
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I thought I saw something move out of the corner of my eye, but when I scrambled my way over to the shape, it was just another pile of fallen bricks, more remnants of what had been lost on this mountain. My legs felt numb and uncontrollable, and I was too disoriented to catch myself as one of my ankles twisted and I fell blindly.
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i could feel the impact of sharp rocks and branches as my body flipped and rolled down the side of the mountain stopping only when my leg snagged under a boulder and pulled my limp body to a halt with a jolt of excruciating pain i felt myself cry out with uncontrollable pain and rage i couldn't stop the pitiful sobs that racked my broken mangled body as i lay helpless in the dark deserted forest
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I stared up at the beautiful starry sky, and I blindly felt my way down to my wound. I was met with hot, wet blood, torn fabric, and something sharp. I know now that I was feeling my protruding bone, but back then, my brain refused to even consider this. I couldn't fathom it. I couldn't fathom any of it. Tears stung my eyes. I was stuck.
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There was no way I could make it to safety, and everyone I had brought with me onto this cursed mountain was now gone. I cried and begged for help for what felt like eternity. I screamed with pitiful, high-pitched desperation until my words tangled in on each other and lost all meaning. I don't know how long I was there, alone on the side of the mountain.
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It was probably only an hour, but it felt like days. My wailing became subconscious, just something that happened with every haggard breath I took. I winced every time I heard the pitiful, inhuman cries for help, but I could not seem to bring myself to stop. All I could seem to do was listen as the strange, broken creature continued to cry.
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I didn't hear the sound of approaching feet until it was almost on top of me. Then, finally, a figure emerged from between the trees. I thought my broken mind might be playing tricks on me until the figure came closer and I could make out a face. It was Mikey. It was so odd, I barely even recognized him at first. He looked like a complete stranger or someone I had not set eyes on in several years.
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He just stood there for a moment, staring at me, and I wasn't even sure if he could see my face in the darkness. I heard screaming. He muttered so softly I could barely hear the words. Mikey. I finally managed to croak out into the empty air between us. It's me, Catherine.
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He looked at me so strangely, none of his usual mirth brightening his features, and for one horrible moment, I was certain he was going to open his mouth and ask, Who's Catherine?
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But something in my gut said leave it, so I did. I went back inside, made sure the doors were locked, front and back, and settled into the cot. My pocket knife under my pillow like always. I didn't sleep well. The wind picked up just after midnight, whistling through that crack in the back door frame. It almost sounded like breathing.
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instead he scooped me up in his long arms and carried me back up the mountain we made it back to the campsite and i was certain i was imagining things when i saw autumn sylvia and josh emerge from their tents bleary-eyed and confused at the sounds of mikey's cries for help they had crowded around us asking a million questions
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I was somewhat aware of Josh's hands on my face, Sylvia's shrill voice, but everything was muted behind the searing pain in my leg and the ringing in my ears. Everything was happening very fast. I was jostled into Josh's arms and taken back down to the van. We rode back to civilization, bringing only the bare essentials with us.
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My friends were shouting and crying in confusion, trying to talk to me, but I couldn't hear anything they said. In my mind, all I could hear were the screams. I'm sure you can infer what happened after that. Hospital, home, concerned parents, concerned friends, psych evaluations, a college graduation that I barely remember.
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I existed in a dense smog for a while, sleepwalking my way through a reality that never felt all that real to me. I'll let you make your own theories about what really happened on that mountain, because your guess is as good as mine. My friends all tell the story the exact same way. We all went to sleep after telling ghost stories around the fire.
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Mikey woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of my screams. He found me collapsed with a broken leg and carried me back to safety. I was in shock and wasn't making much sense, but they all figured I had sleepwalked into the forest, tripped, and fell. The story makes sense, a lot more sense than my version anyway, but I've never really been able to accept it.
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The dissonance between our two distinct versions of what happened caused a rift. I lost touch with my friends not too long after we all graduated, and Josh and I broke up not long after that. I know what happened to me isn't their fault, but I couldn't separate them from it. After that trip, we all looked at each other a little differently.
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I know it's crazy, but some small part of me still wonders if it was all some stupid prank gone terribly wrong. Maybe Mikey wanted us to become a part of the mountain's lore. Maybe they were just trying to mess with me, and they took it way too far, to a point they could never be honest with me about." There's one part of that theory that doesn't fit, though. The screams. My screams.
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Either way, I wanted to write all this out, maybe get a few of your opinions on what you think could have caused all this. Sleepwalking? A stress-induced psychotic break? Like I said, your guess is as good as mine. The only thing I do know is that it's been ten long years since that camping trip. and I've never been the same since.
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Still, my memory of that night is eroding with time, and I wanted to jot it down before I forget everything. I hadn't seen Danny in over five years when he called me out of the blue that January. Said he was heading up to northern Wisconsin for a solo trip and asked if I wanted to tag along.
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His voice was the same, too confident for someone with a long history of half-baked ideas, but I said yes anyway. I needed a break, and something about the cold had always cleared my head better than any vacation ever could. We met up in Bayfield, a tiny town off Lake Superior's southern shore. The plan was to hike across the frozen lake and check out the ice caves along the Apostle Islands.
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That kind of ragged nasal inhale you hear when someone's standing too close. I got up around 1am and put a towel in the gap to muffle the sound. That helped, for a while. The rest of the night was uneventful. But I swear, when I woke up just before dawn I could still smell dust in the air. Not normal dust. It had this metallic edge to it, like wet pennies and dried blood. I brushed it off.
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The park service officially only opens them when the lake ice is thick enough, but Danny wanted to go deeper, beyond the marked caves and into spots that didn't show up on the tourist maps. You know the real ones, he said grinning, the stuff nobody sees. The locals weren't thrilled about that idea.
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One old guy at the gas station near our drop-off said it had been a weird winter, warmer than usual, unstable ice. He told us to stick to the main routes, and if we heard anything strange, especially after dark, to stay in our tent and don't follow it. I figured he meant wolves. Or maybe he was just trying to spook the out-of-towners.
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We started from Myers Beach and trekked out across the frozen surface of Lake Superior, dragging two sleds behind us loaded with cold weather gear, food, a small camp stove, and a portable ice drill Danny insisted we bring. The wind cut like broken glass, and the sky was that grayish white that makes it impossible to tell what time it is. Still, it was beautiful in its own dead way.
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After a few miles, the shoreline transformed. The caves started as small crevices, then yawning mouths of crystal blue ice, like nature had carved out cathedral vaults in frozen time. Some of the caves glittered with icicles the length of streetlights. Others had spiraling formations along the ceilings that looked like they were melting mid-scream.
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We made camp in a narrow inlet near Swallow Point. No one else was out there. It was too far from the main areas, and the ice had a habit of cracking unpredictably this time of year. Danny, of course, thought that made it perfect. "'No crowds, no rules,' he said. That night, just after we'd crawled into our sleeping bags and zipped the tent, we heard something.'
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It wasn't the wind, it was deeper, more drawn out. A low wail, like a scream that had been drowned under fifty feet of water. It echoed across the lake, bounced off the caves, and then faded like it had never been there at all. Danny laughed it off. Ice shifts. Caves make noise. That's science, man. I nodded, but my stomach didn't buy it.
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I'd been in enough backcountry spots to know what natural sounds felt like. That didn't feel natural. It felt aware. The next morning, the sun never really came out, just a dim glow behind clouds. We unzipped the tent and Danny cursed under his breath. I stepped out after him and froze. There were tracks in the snow, leading straight to our tent. They weren't boot prints.
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They were off, long, narrow, like something walking upright but dragging weight behind it. Claw marks at the front of each print, digging deep into the crusted snow. No animal I'd ever seen moved like that. The prince circled the tent once, then disappeared toward the caves. Danny stared at them, then shrugged. Wolf dragging a deer, maybe. Ice plays tricks.
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They probably look weird because of the snow melt. But the snow hadn't melted. It was below zero all night. Still, he convinced me to push on. We packed light and went deeper into a cave network on the far side of the point. There was no trail, no signs, just a narrow opening barely tall enough to duck into.
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Inside, it widened into a winding corridor of ice that looked like it had been carved by fire, not water. Smooth and black in places, rippling and jagged in others. The deeper we went, the more I noticed the smell. A thick, wet stink, like rotting meat left too long in the sun. Danny lit a headlamp and aimed it at the walls. That's when we saw them. Symbols.
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Carved into the ice, like someone had taken a hot blade to it. Circles. Lines. Rough shapes like stick figures with deer antlers and hollow bellies. One figure had its mouth open wide, almost cartoonish, but something about it made my spine go rigid. Danny found what looked like a shaft in the back, just a hole that disappeared down into blackness.
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First night nerves, sleep deprivation. Maybe even Clint's stupid don't answer the knocks joke rolling around in my head. I got dressed, made some instant coffee, and stepped outside to greet the sunrise. The rock pile was gone. No stones. No tracks. No sign it had ever been there. Just empty dirt and wind. I told myself I wasn't going to let the rock thing get to me.
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He dropped a rock into it, but we never heard it hit bottom. He laughed, called it badass, and said we'd come back tomorrow with rope. I didn't respond. I just wanted out of there. By the time we got back to camp, it was already dusk. The sun bled out behind the horizon like it was trying to escape, and the temperature plunged.
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We cooked a fast dinner and zipped into the tent before the wind kicked up. I lay there for a long time, listening to it whistle and moan across the lake. I thought I'd imagined it at first, but then I heard it again. Footsteps. Crunching snow. Slow. Heavy. They circled the tent once, then stopped, and right outside the nylon wall, barely a foot from my head, I heard breathing. Shallow. Wet.
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Guttural. I held my breath and didn't move a muscle. Danny was already asleep. Whatever it was, it stayed there for what felt like hours. Then it left. When I finally slept, I dreamed I was under the ice, and something was tapping from the other side, waiting to be let in. I woke up to silence. Not the kind you get in nature, the peaceful kind filled with birdsong or wind through trees.
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This was wrong. It was too quiet. Even the ice wasn't groaning like it had the day before. It felt like the lake was holding its breath. Danny wasn't in the tent. I scrambled out, boots half-laced and adrenaline already pounding through my chest.
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I expected to see his orange parka near the gear pile, or maybe him off relieving himself behind a snowbank, but instead I found a trail of disturbed snow leading away from our sight. Not prints, just a long erratic path like something heavy had been dragged. One of our sleds was gone, the one with most of the meat packs.
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When Danny finally came back, 20 minutes later and totally unaware of my near heart attack, he was grinning like nothing was wrong. Found some cool stuff up by that ridge past the caves, he said, like he hadn't just vanished before sunrise. Tracks going toward the cliffs. Could be wolves. He noticed the missing sled the same time I pointed it out, then shrugged.
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Maybe wind caught it, or coyotes got bold. I didn't believe that for a second. We'd staked everything down, and there were no prints, no claw marks, no blood, nothing.
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just that drag line veering toward the caves like something had calmly taken what it wanted we argued i told him we needed to head back but he reminded me the path to myers beach was iced over and cracking when we came in even if we tried now it could buckle under us we were trapped So instead, we did something colossally stupid. We went back to the caves.
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Danny was obsessed with the shaft we'd found. He said there might be a collapsed lava tube under the lake, or some secret glacial cavern. I didn't want to go back, but the alternative was sitting alone at camp while something circled our tent at night. We brought ropes, headlamps, a handheld flare gun, and what was left of our food in case we didn't make it back by dark.
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Inside, it was even worse than I remembered. The smell had intensified. It was no longer just rot. It was sick. Like a freezer full of spoiled meat mixed with mold and sulfur. I had to breathe through my scarf to keep from gagging. When we reached the back chamber, something had changed. There were bones now. Dozens of them, stacked in a loose pile near the shaft. Long bones. Deer, maybe.
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There had to be some explanation. Maybe Clint came back and moved it as a joke. Maybe some old cairn had collapsed and I just didn't remember where it was. I logged the missing stones in the ranger notebook anyway. Not because I thought it mattered, but because something about seeing it in writing made it easier to believe it actually happened.
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But some were unmistakably human. One femur had what looked like bite marks on it. another still had a tattered pant leg frozen to it danny finally hesitated maybe maybe we shouldn't be down here he said his voice lower than usual no crap i whispered still he pulled out a flare lit it and dropped it into the shaft
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The red glow fell for what seemed like forever, finally casting light on something below. It moved. Just for a second, I saw it. Something long and pale, crawling across the floor like a spider, with limbs that bent the wrong way. I didn't get a clear look, but it was enough to make every part of my brain scream, run. Danny started muttering, no way, that's gotta be a person, or a bear.
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Maybe it's just shadow tricks. no no man that's not shadow tricks we backed out slowly i refused to turn my back on the shaft convinced that thing could launch up at any moment back at camp things got worse fast danny went quiet didn't eat curled up in his sleeping bag and wouldn't respond when i talked to him his skin looked gray under the lamplight Not frostbite, just... wrong.
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His lips were cracked, his breathing was shallow. But when I checked our thermometer, it read 42 degrees Fahrenheit inside the tent. Not hypothermic territory. I offered him food. He pushed it away. Then, a few minutes later, I caught him gnawing on a frozen strip of meat like an animal. Mouth open, tearing with his front teeth, barely chewing.
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When I said his name, he stopped, looked at me like he didn't recognize me, then went back to chewing. Around 2 a.m., I heard something outside again. Footsteps. Crunch. Pause. Crunch. Pause. I reached for the flare gun. The footsteps circled the tent. Then I heard a voice. It was mine. It said my name in my exact tone. Whispered. right outside the nylon wall.
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Then again, louder, more strained, like it was learning. Then silence. When I finally worked up the nerve to peek outside, there was nothing but fresh snow and a trail of bare human footprints. No boots, no animal tracks, circling the tent again and disappearing into the dark. I dragged Danny out the next morning, convinced we couldn't spend another night out there.
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I needed walls, a radio, a signal. The caves, I realized, were at least shelter from the thing stalking us. Whatever it was. So we went back. I set us up inside the wider chamber, away from the shaft, used the sled to block the entry, built a small fire, even though I knew the smoke might draw attention. Danny didn't speak for hours.
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When he finally did, it was a whisper, soft, like he was remembering something. I can hear it under the ice, he said. I asked him what it sounded like. He smiled, too wide, and said, My voice. When I woke up that evening, Danny was gone. The cave was quiet. Too quiet. Near the back wall, drawn in something that looked like blood mixed with ash, were words I'll never forget. It wants the warm one.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
If I was already starting to imagine things, I wanted a paper trail to prove otherwise. The day was quiet. I hiked about a half mile down the ridge around noon, just to get my legs moving and shake the weird vibes from the night before. I didn't see a soul. No fresh tire tracks on the fire road. No distant hikers. Just a couple jackrabbits and a snake sunning itself near the edge of the wash.
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I was alone. And I think whatever was down there had decided I was next. I didn't move at first. I just stared at the wall. It wants the warm one. The fire had burned out. The cave floor beneath me was so cold it hurt to breathe. My hands shook. Not from the cold, but from something deeper. Primal.
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like my body already knew i wasn't alone anymore danny was gone that part had sunk in but i wasn't sure if he'd walked out on his own or if something had taken him i grabbed what gear i had left my pack the flare gun three actual flares my flashlight and unblocked the entrance
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
i stepped out into the pale morning light it had snowed lightly while i slept just enough to blur tracks the wind was dead the lake stretched out gray and flat like a frozen sheet of steel no movement no sound no birds just behind me the cave let out a low groan not from shifting ice it sounded like a breath i turned and ran i followed what i thought were danny's prints but they twisted doubled back
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4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
veered into places that made no sense tight gaps in rocks cracks in the lake ice that no human could squeeze through whatever i was following it wasn't danny any more the sun barely broke the clouds casting long distorted shadows across the ice I kept looking over my shoulder, expecting to see him there, or it. Hours passed.
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4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
Then, near a collapsed section of shoreline ice, I found the first real sign. A parka. Danny's. Half frozen. Stuck in the snow. His boots were still in it. No blood, just empty. And beside it, a print, one, just one. It looked human, but stretched, toes like claws, longer than my forearm. The ice under it had begun to melt, even in sub-zero weather.
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4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I backed away slowly and nearly fell through a soft patch. When I looked back, the parka was gone. I knew I couldn't stay out in the open. I needed higher ground, or at least a spot where I could see what was coming. I climbed up a frozen ridge near the edge of a broken cave, flares in my chest pocket. As I crested the top, I finally saw it.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
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Down below, slithering between shards of ice and drifted snow, was a thing. Seven, maybe eight feet tall when upright, but it moved mostly on all fours, emaciated, pale, limbs too long and bent the wrong way, like an insect mimicking a person.
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its head looked human almost but its mouth hung slack and split too far back on both sides its eyes were gone just black sockets and on its head a crown of twisted antlers like dead branches strung with bits of fur and tendon it stopped moving and turned its head toward me. Even without eyes, I knew it saw me. It let out this sound, like a person inhaling and screaming at the same time.
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Then it charged. I panicked and fired a flare, mist wide. The thing ducked and twisted under the arc, impossibly fast. I ran, not back to the tent, not back to the cave. I just ran across the lake, praying the ice held. The sun was higher now, which helped. In the distance, miles away, I saw a snowmobile. Bright orange. A Coast Guard rescue unit.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
My beacon must have finally transmitted through a gap in the clouds. I waved my arms, screamed, fired a second flare. The rider turned toward me, and that's when I heard it behind me, bare footsteps slapping across the ice. Close. I turned. The Wendigo.
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4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
Danny, whatever it was now, was sprinting after me, its mouth opening wider than I thought possible, tongue dragging against its chest, leaving a trail of ice that hissed and melted. I fired the last flare directly into its face. The creature reared back and shrieked, so loud I felt it in my teeth. Its skin bubbled where the flare hit, steaming like dry ice on fire.
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When I got back, I fired up the generator to charge the lanterns. The fuel read low even though I'd only run it twice. Chalked it up to age or a leak I hadn't found yet.
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It clawed at its head, and in that moment of weakness, the sun crested fully over the ridge behind me. The creature let out a final hiss and collapsed into the snow, limbs twitching, steaming. Then, as I watched in horror, it sank through the ice, not cracking it, not breaking it, just slowly melting into it like it belonged there, like it was returning. The rescue team got to me minutes later.
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They thought I was suffering from exposure. I told them what I saw. They didn't believe me, but they didn't argue either. They just nodded. And one of them, a bearded older guy who looked like he'd worked this area for decades, leaned in and whispered, You weren't the first, and you won't be the last. They never found Danny's body, not even his prints.
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4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
The park closed the entire section near Swallow Point indefinitely due to ice instability. That's what they told the news. I haven't gone camping since. Sometimes late at night, I'll hear wind outside my apartment window. A low, hollow howl. And sometimes, just barely, I swear I hear my own voice whispering from across the dark.
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By the time we reached Baxter State Park, it didn't feel like the end. It felt like the beginning of something we weren't supposed to see. Sarah and I had been hiking the Appalachian Trail for six months straight. Nobo, northbound, the long way. We'd been through heat waves in Georgia.
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around six p m i ate another ramen cup and boiled some instant coffee the sun dipped low behind the crags casting those long finger-like shadows that crawl over the hills until everything turns purple and blue and eventually black that's when the feeling came back Not fear exactly, but something else. That prickling sensation you get when someone's watching you from behind.
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storms in virginia black flies in vermont and now here we were late september two days from finishing the leaves in northern maine were already half-way to red and the air had that early bite to it cold clean and too quiet Most thru-hikers finish earlier in the season. By then the trail was nearly abandoned. We didn't see another soul for two days leading into Baxter.
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Just gray skies, empty trees, and silence. Mount Katahdin loomed ahead. 5,000 feet of bare rock and sharp ridges. I'd dreamed about that summit since Springer Mountain, but when we finally stood beneath it, something in my gut twisted. The mountain didn't look majestic. It looked ancient, like it had been waiting for us.
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We checked in with a ranger at Katadine Stream Campground to confirm our rote. He was in his sixties, thick beard, looked like the kind of guy who'd seen things but never talked about them. When we told him we were planning to summit via Knife Edge and descend through Dudley Trail, he squinted through the fog behind us and said, Knife Edge is open, but fog's been thick lately. Be careful up there.
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It's easy to lose the trail when the clouds roll in. Some folks have gone missing this season. Three, I think. Missing how? I asked. He shrugged. Gear left behind. Campsite's still warm. No bodies. No radio contact. Makes you hear things that aren't real. Sarah raised an eyebrow at me like, okay, horror movie vibes. But we thanked him and moved on. We camped at Chimney Pond that night.
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The spot was perfect. Nestled against the east face of Katadin, with a narrow alpine lake reflecting the sheer stone cliffs above us. The silence was total. No wind, no insects, no birds. Just cold and the distant sound of dripping water echoing off the cliffs. I woke up sometime around 2am to the sound of branches snapping. Not twigs, thick branches, crunch, crack, pause.
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4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
Then again, I thought maybe it was a moose or a bear, so I reached over to shake Sarah awake, but her eyes were already open. She whispered, something's pacing out there. We waited in silence. Nothing else came. When we checked in the morning, there were no prints. Just that eerie feeling in your chest when you know something was close. Still, we geared up and started our ascent.
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Knife Edge Trail is exactly what it sounds like. A long, narrow ridge connecting several peaks, with sheer drop-offs on either side. One misstep, and you're gone. It's not a trail you want to rush. The fog started rolling in as we reached Pomola Peak. At first it was just mist, but within minutes the trail disappeared behind us in a wall of white and visibility dropped to maybe 10 feet.
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Wind gusted over the ridge howling through rock crevices like something screaming far off in the distance. We kept moving, careful and deliberate. Sarah was ahead, her orange pack barely visible. Then she disappeared. Just like that. I called out her name. No answer. I waited. Called again. Still nothing. Then from the fog ahead I heard her voice. Hey. Back here. Flat. Quiet. Wrong.
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4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I started walking toward the sound. She called again. Hey, this way. Except her voice was coming from the left, not the trail. Toward the cliff. I stopped and looked down. Bare rock. A hundred foot drop. And then I saw a figure, just for a second, in the mist. My height. My build. Back turned. Slowly walking away from the trail. But the backpack was black, not orange.
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Then Sarah's hand grabbed my shoulder from behind. Where the hell are you going? She snapped. I turned. She was panting, pale, eyes wide. I heard you, I said. You called me. She shook her head. No. I lost sight of you. I've been calling for five minutes. You didn't respond. We stood there in silence, surrounded by white, both trying not to panic.
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Like your body knows before your brain does. Like your spine remembers something you don't. I tried to shake it. Sat by the window with a paperback and let the coffee warm my hands. Told myself I was just wired from being alone. I almost convinced myself. Until 8.43pm. Three knocks. Slow. Steady. Not loud, but not timid either. I froze. My first thought, honest to God, was, Clint.
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Eventually, we made it across Knife Edge, slowly and without talking. We bivvied just below the summit, on a narrow, flat patch of rock. It wasn't ideal, but it was flat and protected from wind. We didn't eat much. We just stared out into the fog, waiting for it to lift.
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it never did that night i woke again but it wasn't noise this time it was the sound of my own voice faint just outside the tent hey back here i froze then it said again closer hey this way i slowly unzipped the tent and stuck my head out into the dark nothing Then, just at the edge of the fog, I saw bare footprints in the gravel. Not boot prints. Not animal tracks. Bare feet. Human. Long. Narrow.
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They circled the tent. Once. Twice. Then disappeared into the stone. I woke Sarah. We sat up until sunrise, staring at the wall of fog, flares in hand. She didn't say a word, just stared at her bare feet. One heel had a fresh cut. She didn't remember leaving the tent. When the fog started to clear that morning, I finally stepped outside fully to look around.
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4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
That's when I noticed something wrong with the footprints. There were two sets. One set came from the trail behind us. Boot prints. Mine. The other set came from the woods. From nowhere. Bare. Humanish. They circled our tent and only one set left. Sarah looked at me and asked quietly, Did you come back inside last night? I didn't answer, because I wasn't sure. The fog didn't lift.
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Last October, I took a temp job watching over an old ranger outpost in southern Utah. Just a week, maybe two. Easy money.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
It retreated, like it had just been waiting for us to move on. We started our descent down the Dudley Trail late that morning. It was a steep, winding scramble over boulders slick with moss and patches of snow that hadn't yet melted. The knife edge was still behind us, partially veiled in a cloud that clung unnaturally to the ridge.
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A ragged piece of sky broke through over our heads, but the trail below was shaded and cold. Sarah didn't talk much. She'd barely touched her food. Her face looked gaunt, like she'd aged five years overnight. Her lips were dry, eyes bloodshot. Every time I checked on her, she was staring back up toward the summit.
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We made it a few miles before she stopped and sat on a boulder near a bend in the trail. She pulled off her gloves and started rubbing her arms. I feel like I'm freezing, she said. Even with the layers, my chest, it's like it's hollow. I checked her temperature. Her skin felt cold, ice cold, even though she was bundled up tighter than me.
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No visible frostbite, no fever, but she was shivering and sweating at the same time. Something was wrong, but we were still hours from shelter. We pushed on. The farther we got, the more I noticed how wrong the woods felt. There was no wind, not a single bird. Even the snowmelt streams were silent.
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The trail twisted through a gully lined with black spruce, and I couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching us from the trees, always just out of sight. Then Sarah started talking to herself. At first it was just mumbling. then whole conversations. Her voice would change mid-sentence, cadence, pitch, even accent.
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I heard her repeat a full conversation we'd had two weeks ago in Vermont, word for word. Then she said something I hadn't said out loud, something I'd only thought, in the tent back on the summit. I didn't mention it, not yet. We reached the Russell Pond shelter by late afternoon. It was a lean-to. Three wooden walls, open front, and a raised platform barely big enough for two sleeping pads.
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No one else around. No sign anyone had been there in weeks. We unpacked, built a fire, and boiled what little water we had left. That's when I noticed her shirt, lifted as she knelt by the fire. Scratches, not surface level. Deep ones. Three, maybe four long gouges across her ribs, angling down toward her stomach, still raw. "'What the hell is that?' I asked.
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She looked down like she hadn't noticed, touched them lightly, didn't flinch. "'I... I think I scratched myself on a rock,' she said. "'Or branches. I don't know. It doesn't hurt.' but the skin around them was pale and shiny, like it was healing wrong. She didn't want to talk after that. Just crawled into her bag, rolled away from the fire, and passed out. I stayed up for a while.
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It sounded like the kind of prank a guy like him would pull. Maybe he'd driven back up just to see if he could rattle me. But then I remembered the road. No sound of tires crunching gravel. No headlights. No engine. Nothing. I'd been sitting right by the window all evening. If a truck had come up, I'd have seen it. The knocks came again. I walked to the door and pressed my ear to the wood.
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The fire crackled. The sky above was perfectly clear, stars sharp and bright, and that dead silence still pressed in around the trees. Then I heard it again. Footsteps. Slow, dragging, coming from the woods behind the shelter. Not boots, not hooves, bare feet on frozen earth. I grabbed the flare gun and held my breath. The steps circled the shelter once, then again, then a voice, Sarah's voice.
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Come on, it's okay, we can go now. But she was asleep, right next to me. I turned to look at her, still bundled, still facing the wall. The voice came again, from the woods this time. Come on, it's okay. This time it wasn't just Sarah's voice. It was mine too. Layered. Speaking at the same time. Like it was practicing. I stayed still, trying to breathe silently. The fire crackled louder.
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4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
The footsteps stopped. Then something sniffed, long and wet, just behind the back wall of the shelter. And then, silence. I must have passed out at some point. When I woke up, Sarah was gone. The fire had gone out. Ashes cold. Her pack was still there. Boots too. I found her footprints in the snow leading away from the shelter, and another set next to them. Identical, but spaced wider. Heavier.
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I followed them. Maybe a quarter mile into the trees I found her, standing barefoot in the snow, staring up at the canopy. Her eyes were rolled back, lips cracked and purple. She was whispering something. At first I thought it was just gibberish. Then I heard it, my name, over and over, in my voice. I called out to her. She turned her head slowly like it took effort, and smiled.
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Something was off. Her jaw hung too low, like it was dislocated. Her skin was so pale I could see the blue veins spidering beneath it. Her fingernails were black at the tips. Then she lunged. I didn't think. I just fired the flare gun. It hit her shoulder and exploded in a burst of orange and red. She screamed, not in pain, but like something had been burned awake inside her.
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Her voice split, literally. The scream became two screams layered over each other, one hers, one deeper, lower, older. She dropped, convulsing in the snow. I dragged her back to the shelter, heart hammering, every nerve in my body screaming at me to run and not come back. She was quiet for hours. When she finally came to, her voice was hoarse. Her eyes were normal again.
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She didn't remember attacking me. She didn't remember leaving the shelter. But she said one thing I can't forget. It's not me anymore. I sat in that shelter until sunrise with the flare gun gripped in both hands and Sarah curled up under two emergency blankets, silent. She didn't sleep. Neither did I.
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4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
She never said another word, just stared off into the trees like she was waiting for something to step out and finish what it started. By morning, her skin looked paper thin. You could see the bones in her hands. Her breathing was shallow but not weak, controlled, like someone pretending to breathe like a person. That was the moment I knew.
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4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
Whatever had come down from that fog-wrapped mountain, it was inside her, watching through her eyes, learning. I made a decision. I packed my gear, gave her the last flare, and told her I was heading south to try and find help. She didn't protest, just nodded, once, and whispered, don't let it take your voice. I didn't ask what that meant. The trail out was no trail at all.
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4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I was heading for the edge of Baxter State Park, maybe 20 to 25 miles away. No blazes, no markers, just compass, GPS, which barely worked, and instinct. By mid-morning, the trees changed. Birch gave way to fir, denser and twisted. The forest floor coated with frozen moss and icy mud. The temperature dropped, hard. My breath came out like smoke. The quiet deepened.
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Whoever it was didn't say a word. I thought about Clint's warning. Wait, listen first. My gut twisted, but I pushed it aside and peeked out the slit between the curtain and the glass. There was a man standing at the bottom of the porch steps. Early twenties, maybe. Long, dark hair stuck to the side of his face with sweat. Thin build, looked like he hadn't slept in days.
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But now, I could hear something under it, a second silence, like the forest was waiting. Around noon I found the first sign, a rabbit, frozen upright, mid-hop, no wounds, eyes gone, skin frost-bitten black, steam still rising off it in the cold. A hundred feet further, deer bones, clean, white, stacked neatly against a tree like a shrine.
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The antlers were tied to the branches above it with strips of flesh, hanging like wind chimes. I started to run. That night I found a structure, not a ranger station exactly, more like a field cabin, log built, maybe ten by ten, with a sloped tin roof and a rusted chimney. No power, no radio, but it had a door that locked. Inside I found a journal.
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The pages were damp, curled with age, but the ink was still legible. A ranger named Don Farrell had kept notes from the late 90s to early 2000s. Most of it was trail conditions, wildlife sightings, snowpack levels.
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then starting in october of two thousand three the entries changed october eleventh girl came off knife-edge mumbling in french said the mountain was whispering to her we flew her out frostbite on her tongue october sixteenth found hiker boots frozen to stone no body no prints leaving October 20th. Saw someone in the woods last night. Looked like me. Didn't move right.
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Closed station early this season. The final page was torn halfway through. They let the cold thing in. It wears the voice. Remembers the shape. It's waiting to feel warm again. Don't let it near you. Don't let it s- That was it. That night I locked the door. Piled furniture against it. Built a fire in the rusted stove. I didn't sleep. Around 2 a.m., I heard the crunch of snow outside.
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4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
Slow, deliberate. Then a knock. Knuckle against wood. Knock, knock. Then my voice, through the door, soft, almost kind. Hey, open up, it's me. I didn't move. The knock came again. Then, scraping like nails or claws, dragging in slow arcs across the wood. Then silence.
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4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
i waited an hour before checking nothing was outside but the snow in front of the cabin had melted in a perfect human-shaped outline bare feet long fingers a head crowned with antlers by morning i knew i couldn't outrun it forever i left the cabin before sunrise and headed toward the south branch pond area i'd heard there was a ranger outpost further south
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as i crossed a frozen stream i felt it not wind breath on the back of my neck i turned it was there not sara not anything human any more seven feet tall gaunt like famine incarnate gray skin stretched over bone like wax over a skeleton
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its head looked carved from frost-bitten wood antlers tangled with moss and bits of clothing its mouth open sideways splitting along the jaw revealing a second set of black teeth beneath and from its mouth my voice so warm so loud it lunged i ran i dropped the compass lost the trail
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i sprinted through brush fell scrambled over rocks it didn't chase like an animal it stalked never touching the ground with more than two limbs at once gliding through the trees like a puppet in the wind i made it back to the frozen stream the same one from before thin ice frigid water underneath I stopped in the center and turned. It followed slowly.
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He wore a tattered denim jacket, dirty jeans, and boots so beat up they looked like they were held together by willpower alone. He was staring straight at the door, not moving, not blinking, just standing there. I opened the door halfway and leaned out. You alright, man? He looked at me, eyes glassy and sunken like he'd been walking through hell. He licked his cracked lips and finally spoke.
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4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I pulled the last flare from my pocket, struck it, held it high. Come on, I said in my voice. Come on. It stepped onto the ice. Crack. Another step. Crack. I threw the flare at my own feet. The fire hit the ice and exploded in light and heat. The ice beneath me shattered. My boots slammed into water, the stream swallowing me to my thighs. The creature screamed.
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4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
It hit the water chest first, and steam erupted around it. It flailed, skin sloughing off in the current, that awful mimicry breaking apart as it screeched in voices not its own. Sarah's. Mine. The ranger's. It tried to climb out, but the current dragged it down, and it sank, eyes still locked on me, mouth still grinning. Then it was gone.
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I crawled out of the stream, half frozen, half dead, but alive. They found me two days later. A ranger patrol spotted me wandering near the south trailhead. I don't remember most of it, just heat packs, IV fluids, a hospital in Millinocket, I told them what happened. They didn't believe me, not really. But they closed Knife Edge two days later, said it was due to erosion. That was a lie.
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Sarah was never found. Three months later, I got a voicemail from a 207 number I didn't recognize. Static. Then a voice. My voice. It whispered, still not warm, and laughed.
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4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
my handler clint told me the place used to be an active fire lookout post until a lightning strike took out half the tower frame and buckled the concrete footings they rebuilt part of it lower down the ridge and used it now and then for off-season monitoring clint was this gruff ex jumper with a limp and a voice like gravel in a blender he picked me up in a dust-cake silverado and drove me three hours east of kanab off pavement the last twenty miles
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4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
My truck broke down. I walked from the wash. His voice was low, dry, barely audible over the breeze. The wash, I asked. ''That's five miles easy. You didn't pass anyone.'' He just shook his head. Something about him unsettled me, but I stepped aside and gestured in. ''Come in. I've got water. Landline's down, but I've got a short wave.'' He nodded once, almost robotically, and walked inside.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
He didn't ask to sit, didn't look around. He just stood by the fireplace, arms stiff at his sides. I handed him a glass of water and watched as he drank the entire thing in one long gulp, like he hadn't had a sip in days. "'You want food? Coffee?' I asked. He didn't answer, just turned and stared at the window. I tried again. "'You didn't see any cars out there? No hikers?' "'Nothing.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
Just silence. He wasn't twitchy or wild-eyed. He didn't seem high, but he also didn't seem right. There was something vacant behind his eyes.' Something wrong with how he held himself. Like his body remembered being a person, but the mind inside had forgotten how. Where exactly did your truck break down? I asked. He raised one hand slowly and pointed east, toward the canyon rim.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
Past the wash, about five miles. Five miles, in those boots, in this heat. He should have been dead on his feet, but he didn't even look winded. Well, sit tight, I said. I'll try the shortwave.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I left him staring at the glass and went to the corner table where the radio sat, twisted the dial, got nothing but static, reached for the clipboard to note the attempt, and when I turned around, he was gone. I hadn't heard him move, no footsteps, no door creak, just gone. I rushed to the front door, still locked, kitchen, empty, bathroom, empty.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
the back door was still bolted shut and the windows were too narrow for anyone to squeeze through i even checked the closet half expecting to find him crouched there like some sick joke nothing just me and the wind i stood in the middle of the room for a long time waiting listening Eventually I sat down. I didn't turn off the lamp. I didn't touch my book.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I just stared at the fireplace for what felt like an hour, heart still thudding like I'd run a mile. Then the floorboards creaked behind me. Slow, measured, deliberate. I turned. He was back, sitting in the chair by the window. Exactly where he'd been before. Same posture, same expressionless stare. "'Hey, where did you go?' I asked." He didn't look at me. I took a step forward.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
Did you find your truck? Did someone come get you? Still nothing. Then he spoke. Just three words. Quiet. Measured. Like he'd rehearsed them. There are others. What others? I asked. But he didn't respond. The room felt colder. The shadows heavier. My skin prickled like a cold sweat was building under my clothes. "'Are you hurt?' I asked, keeping my distance.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
He blinked slowly, then turned to look at me for the first time since reappearing. His lips barely moved. They walked too. That's when the generator cut out. The light flickered once, then everything went black." I fumbled for my flashlight and snapped it on. When the beam hit the chair, it was empty. He was gone. Again. No sound. No footsteps. No door.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
Just vanished into thin air like the air swallowed him. That was the first time I felt something close to real fear. I checked the back door again, still bolted. Walked around the outpost with the flashlight. Every corner. Every creek. Every room. Empty. But when I stepped outside with the light and scanned the dirt, I found them. Footprints. Bare. Human. Deep in the dust.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
Circling the entire outpost in wide loops. Long, narrow feet. No tread. Toes spread like hands. There were dozens of them. And they weren't mine. I didn't sleep that night. Not even a little. After seeing the footprints, dozens of them, circling the outpost like coyotes around a dying thing, I sat with my back to the closet door and the hunting rifle in my lap.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
It felt stupid, holding that old rifle like it would matter if whatever this was came inside, but it gave me something to grip, something real in a place that was rapidly slipping away from reason. I didn't call for help. I didn't even try the radio again. I don't think I really believed help would come anymore. Not from Clint. Not from the sheriff. Not from anyone.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
No cell service, just miles of sagebrush, wind-shaped rock, and that dead silence that sets in the further you get from anything human. The outpost sat atop Horsehead Ridge. No joke, it looked like a spine of rock ending in a crooked horse-like crag. From the front porch, you could see everything.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
Whatever was out there, it felt old. Older than roads. Older than the people who mapped them. It was quiet until just after 4am. That's when the shortwave crackled to life on its own. Not with static, with a voice. It came through faint, warped, like it was buried beneath ten layers of sand in time. It walked too far. I stared at the receiver, frozen. The voice came again.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
The same words, but this time lower. More distorted. Doesn't remember what it was. And then silence. No click. No fade out. Just gone. I stepped away from the receiver like it might bite me, gripping the rifle tighter. That's when I heard it. The front door creaking open. Not slamming, not crashing. Just that slow, deliberate sound of old hinges turning. I hadn't locked it.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
After everything that happened, I never even thought to lock the damn door. The air turned cold, not desert at night cold, dead of winter inside your bones cold. I crept into the main room, and he was back, the stranger. Standing in the open doorway, same torn denim jacket, same boots, same dark hair, though now it looked damp. His back was to me, arms slack at his sides, he wasn't moving.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
The porch light behind him was flickering. casting his shadow long and distorted across the floor like it didn't quite belong to him. I raised the rifle slowly, arms trembling. And then he spoke. But his voice wasn't his. It came out layered. Two voices at once. One low and rasping, like a dying animal trying to speak. The other was high, almost childlike. Too high. I need help.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I lowered the rifle. Not because I wasn't afraid. Because my arms just gave out. He turned around slowly. His eyes were pitch black. Not dark. Black. No whites. No iris. Just void. And his mouth. It didn't open the way mouths are supposed to. It stretched, wide and long, cracking at the corners, until it split his face almost in half. He didn't scream. He didn't lunge.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
He just stood there, mouth open, staring at me. And that's when everything went black. i woke up to the sun on my face the first thing i noticed was the silence not eerie silence just the normal kind birds chirping wind in the brush the kind of morning peace i used to like the second thing i noticed was where i was I wasn't in the station.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
I was standing barefoot 300 yards from the ridge in the middle of the open desert, arms at my sides, back perfectly straight, staring directly at the horizon. My lips were dry, my tongue swollen, my eyes burned like they hadn't blinked all night. I heard a voice behind me. Jesus, Eric. Clint. He jogged up out of breath, grabbing my shoulder hard like he wasn't sure I was real. Are you hurt?
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
What the hell happened? I couldn't answer. I didn't even know where to begin. He brought me back to the outpost. I walked, but I don't remember moving. My feet were shredded from the rocks, blood smeared across my heels and calves.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
The wash below, the red rock bluffs to the west, and on a clear day, maybe even the edge of the Arizona Strip. The building itself? Two rooms, one barely more than a closet, with a busted antenna, dented generator, and a cot that smelled like a high school locker room. The back door had a crack wide enough for wind to sing through.
Just Creepy: Scary Stories
4 Truly Horrific WENDIGO Encounters | Native American Horror Stories
when we reached the station clint got even more tense two perfect holes in the front door hunting rifle rounds fired from inside did you shoot at someone he asked i shook my head slowly or maybe i nodded i don't know i was barely hanging on inside the place was in chaos
The Dr. John Delony Show
My Husband Says He Needs Sex Everyday (I’m Exhausted)
Hey, John. How's it going?
The Dr. John Delony Show
My Husband Says He Needs Sex Everyday (I’m Exhausted)
So I, to preface, I'm 30. I'm married. I own a business and my husband also owns a business with me. And I am struggling to make friends with women who are in a similar situation as me.
The Dr. John Delony Show
My Husband Says He Needs Sex Everyday (I’m Exhausted)
I really am into fitness and have been since I was 16. I got into lifting and I just, I love it. It's a huge part of my life. Tell me about it. Um, I just, I guess one of the businesses we own is fitness related and I built up a lot of confidence from lifting at an early age. So it's kind of like been, I guess a huge part of my identity.
The Dr. John Delony Show
My Husband Says He Needs Sex Everyday (I’m Exhausted)
Um, he is also really into fitness, which is awesome. You know, that was kind of one of the things actually that we connected on when we first met. And, um, he's very ambitious, hard worker. He motivates me every day and takes really good care of me. I'm just really, really blessed to have him as a husband.
The Dr. John Delony Show
My Husband Says He Needs Sex Everyday (I’m Exhausted)
Oh, my gosh. It's impossible. I don't drink, so it's not like I'm going to meet, you know, Stacy at a bar and be best friends with her.
The Dr. John Delony Show
My Husband Says He Needs Sex Everyday (I’m Exhausted)
All right, so what else? She does. I don't know. I guess I just... I'm looking... I have girlfriends. I mean, they're great, but... there's not that like deep introspective conversation that I'm just dying for, you know?
The Dr. John Delony Show
My Husband Says He Needs Sex Everyday (I’m Exhausted)
Um, I guess, I don't know. What do you mean?
The Dr. John Delony Show
My Husband Says He Needs Sex Everyday (I’m Exhausted)
Yeah. I think you nailed it.
The Dr. John Delony Show
My Husband Says He Needs Sex Everyday (I’m Exhausted)
I mean, probably both. I guess I've always been very goal-oriented. So it's really funny. I never thought I was looking at getting a friend as like a checklist, but I do feel like, oh, this girl, I like her, but she only has this, this, and this. She does not have like, you know, this. And maybe I can't really be friends with her because of that. I guess that makes sense.
The Dr. John Delony Show
My Husband Says He Needs Sex Everyday (I’m Exhausted)
Yeah, I guess. And I do do that. I, I do have fun with, you know, those friends and I do have those friends. I guess I just also would like to be friends with somebody who, does have, you know, big goals and aspirations, but also that can be a goofball with.
The Dr. John Delony Show
My Husband Says He Needs Sex Everyday (I’m Exhausted)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're right.
The Dr. John Delony Show
My Husband Says He Needs Sex Everyday (I’m Exhausted)
Yep. I feel super humbled. I never thought that I was thinking about being better than people. But now that you say that, I just feel, I feel so horrible about it.
The Dr. John Delony Show
My Husband Says He Needs Sex Everyday (I’m Exhausted)
Why? Well, you know, you never want to be thought of as like, oh, I'm actually kind of arrogant looking at this. That's kind of what it is. It's like I knew I could always learn something from them and differ outside of what I value and my goals, but like you said, they're more than just a checklist.
The Dr. John Delony Show
My Husband Says He Needs Sex Everyday (I’m Exhausted)
Maybe. I don't. I mean, I don't know. I've done a lot of work, but I do find it hard to, I guess, yeah, be truly authentic with people.
The Dr. John Delony Show
My Husband Says He Needs Sex Everyday (I’m Exhausted)
I feel like I, I don't know. I feel like I have to have a mask for some reason.
The Dr. John Delony Show
My Husband Says He Needs Sex Everyday (I’m Exhausted)
So I guess where would you start if you're, I guess, working on quote-unquote unmasking?
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Hi. So I have a kind of indirect financial question. If you will, not necessarily about my finances, but a conversation I would like to have about finances and my family. Okay. So just a little bit about my situation. I am 22 years old. I'll be turning 23 on Sunday this upcoming week. Oh, happy early birthday. Thank you. From 2021 to 2024 is when I accrued all of my debt to around $30,000. Okay.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
And so my question is, I would like to, I've been taking care of it since, September of last year to now, which originally was $37,000 plus. But since then, I've taken care of about $7,000 to $8,000 of it so far.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Thank you. My concern, though, is that while I secured this debt, neither of my parents know anything about it or about my financial situation.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
So, yes and no. My father, he doesn't live with us, but he is supportive of me. If I were to need some financial situation or some financial help, he would. And I live with my mother and my grandmother. But considering how much I make, I make enough where I think I'm okay enough without asking for help.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Um, I guess. Before, if you were to ask me that question, I would have made up a lot of excuses. But I've worked on it enough and made enough accountability to say myself, come 2021, I had kind of moved out from my mother's house and lived with my ex. And so it was through some immature purchases on my end and his end. I had set up a joint account for the both of us.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
And so he was taking out most of the money between how much we were both earning and I was the more so the breadwinner compared to what he was making. And I was I was OK with it. I would have just liked a heads up because I was working about maybe 60 plus hours a week.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Yeah. Um, I was, I was really stupid. Essentially.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Well, the reason why is because my mom and I have been talking a lot more. And one of my biggest goals for this year is to be more open and honest with the people in my life, my loved ones, my parents, my And I want more instead of like a child-mother relationship. Since I am getting older, I want more of an adult relationship with my mom.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
The other two really big concerns are since I work these two jobs, my mom has been open about like what she sees in me and how they're both physical labor jobs. And so she says how exhausted I look and how tired I look. And... The other part is our grandmother lives with us, but she has Alzheimer's. And so on top of working two jobs, I try to help my mom as much as I can with my grandmother.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Yeah, I am. I'm sorry. The other big thing was with everything going on politically, my mom has made it quite known to me how concerned she is about me and my family's well-being. And she has said consistently on numerous occasions, if things were to go from push to shove, she would like for us to
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Hi, Rachel and Jade. Thank you for taking my call. I am beyond thrilled to have the two of you answer my question.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
OK, so I have a scenario that I have not heard and I have been wanting to pick your brain for a long time. I my question is basically simply what is the next best move to make based on your advice? And my situation is I am 63 years old. I have moved back into a property I've owned for 28 years to establish. I had it. It was a rental property.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
I moved back in to establish it as my primary residence to save $80,000 in taxes. Okay. Okay. Because of it not being my primary residence, I wouldn't. Okay.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Now, I don't own another property. I have $50,000 in retirement. I have an account that has $200,000 non-retirement. I spent $30,000 plus... Well, actually $40,000, $50,000. I've spent $60,000 so far and I'm a year in. Like your living expenses. Is that what you're saying, Lori? It takes $60,000 for you to live. Is that right?
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Oh, I spent $60,000 above and beyond what I bring in on my income because I actually put the house on the market because I thought this is ridiculous and upside down and against my money philosophies. And, uh, it fell out of escrow twice cause there was a repair, just, you know, things happen in real estate. So I had to spend money.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Well, a part of that was fixing it. And part of that was, uh, you know, just, um, an additional to just keep the house running with insurance and, um,
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
uh you know uh utilities and whatnot so what is it costing you now to live there like what's the payment or is okay it okay so uh it cost me thirty eight hundred dollars to maintain the house a month and a month okay and that's rent and what that's what is that rent and utilities or is there something else we need to know about that goes into maintaining it
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Okay, so that includes my mortgage, property tax, insurance, utilities. That is everything. I also will tell you I am a huge fan of our budgeting. I just lost it. Every dollar.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
OK, so I have I am telling you, the two of you, I know every penny that I spend and that comes in. So I am so organized here.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Okay, so I bring in about $90,000. My income can fluctuate, but I'm going to say that it averages, and this is on the conservative side, $90,000 a year. Okay.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Monthly. Um, it looks like probably, uh, I'm going to say, let's just say 6,000, 6,500, 6,000. Okay. Okay. And, um, I, here's a couple of things that are important to know. I don't, I, I, I thought at some point maybe I would, you know, uh, pay this house off and stay here, but I don't want to be here. Period. And I will also throw in, I'm in a fire area.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Because of the expenses, because I don't want to live in the area. It's far from my kids and my grandkids. Where do you want to be? I want to be closer to where they are or... I am willing to go a little outside of the area to stay within my personal comfort financially. Okay.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
I'm fine. Okay. What that would look like is, uh, right now, honestly, um, creating some more freedom for myself, freeing up the equity that I have in the house, um, getting accounts set up properly, renting for some period of time and something as low as I can. And what location, Lori?
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Well, unfortunately, those grandchildren are in California. But, you know, and it's maybe outside of Los Angeles because, you know, I'm in a fire zone too.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
My main question, Jade, is does it make sense for me to sell the house before it hits the two-year mark as primary residence? I would be foregoing about... you know, 70 to $80,000 of tax, you know, but I've already spent 60 and I'm going to spend another 30 or 40 for the rest of the year. And I'm choking.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Because it feels financially absolutely so uncomfortable. Right, because it's more than half of your take home.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
No, that's an additional. So I'm going in the hole, I'm borrowing.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Um, that's going to be just covering all the nut because, um, it's actually more like, let's, you're only making 66 to 6,500.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Um, I would be walking away with about 1.2. One or 1.2 million. Wow.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
No, the taxes would be because I bought that property for such so low amount. Right, right, right. The overall with everything said and done is still going to be like 300,000 of taxes to pay. Okay. So it's like under that category of math is not a feeling. It's like, as you can hear, I am like struggling every month.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
So we live in a single income household. I'm a stay-at-home mom. I do have side hustles. But basically we've been in a like rinse, wash, repeat cycle our entire marriage for five years where we are debt free. We are able to save a few hundred dollars every single month. And we're trying to save for a down payment on a house.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Um, but pretty much what happens is we either get hit with, like we had my daughter two years ago, so we had a big medical bill or we had to buy a new car. Um, you know, new to us car, but it's like that savings gets depleted and it basically takes us, you know, a couple years to save up, you know, double digit money and then we have to spend it on something big.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Um, so I just see that happening again in the next couple of years. Like we have our cars. But when I look at saving for a down payment, I think it's going to take at least five to seven years, maybe longer. And I'm looking at our cars and I'm like, well, we're going to need to buy a car.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Yeah, he's working overtime. I have side hustles. How much are you guys making a year, Catherine? About $65,000.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Yeah. So let me ask this too. So in like the baby step list, it says to... Sorry, Catherine, you're good.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
And the baby sub list, it says that like you pay off your debt and then you start investing in retirement. So like my husband and I, he works for the state and because of that, he has to opt into like the state retirement system. And we're like, okay, so we're,
True Crime with Rachel Shannon
TOXIC: Affluent Family Masterminds the Murder of a Respected Lawyer?! THE ADELSON FAM & DAN MARKEL
You didn't ask Mr. Garcia to help this lady get her kids back in Tallahassee? No, ma'am. You didn't solicit him to commit a murder of Dan Markell? No, ma'am. Why did he put you on the payroll? Is that as a favor? Yes, ma'am. Not as payment for murder?
True Crime with Rachel Shannon
TOXIC: Affluent Family Masterminds the Murder of a Respected Lawyer?! THE ADELSON FAM & DAN MARKEL
I'm going to ask the questions, okay?
True Crime with Rachel Shannon
TOXIC: Affluent Family Masterminds the Murder of a Respected Lawyer?! THE ADELSON FAM & DAN MARKEL
All right, so he put you on the payroll two months after the homicide, yes?
True Crime with Rachel Shannon
TOXIC: Affluent Family Masterminds the Murder of a Respected Lawyer?! THE ADELSON FAM & DAN MARKEL
All right, and were you involved in a sexual relationship with Mr. Adelson at that time?
True Crime with Rachel Shannon
TOXIC: Affluent Family Masterminds the Murder of a Respected Lawyer?! THE ADELSON FAM & DAN MARKEL
Okay, so you were still sleeping with him after the homicide.
True Crime with Rachel Shannon
TOXIC: Affluent Family Masterminds the Murder of a Respected Lawyer?! THE ADELSON FAM & DAN MARKEL
And was there an actual job opening at the Adelson Institute that you filled with this position? No, ma'am. All right, so it's a position that he created for you.
True Crime with Rachel Shannon
TOXIC: Affluent Family Masterminds the Murder of a Respected Lawyer?! THE ADELSON FAM & DAN MARKEL
All right, and you heard testimony from the employees that work there that they've never heard of anybody working remotely before in the history of that office. Why did Mr. Adelson create a position for you?
True Crime with Rachel Shannon
TOXIC: Affluent Family Masterminds the Murder of a Respected Lawyer?! THE ADELSON FAM & DAN MARKEL
Okay. When did Sigfredo Garcia find out that Charlie Adelson was involved in this conspiracy?
True Crime with Rachel Shannon
TOXIC: Affluent Family Masterminds the Murder of a Respected Lawyer?! THE ADELSON FAM & DAN MARKEL
Yeah.
True Crime with Rachel Shannon
TOXIC: Affluent Family Masterminds the Murder of a Respected Lawyer?! THE ADELSON FAM & DAN MARKEL
Charlie told you he wanted this problem flushed. You were asked about that call on direct.
True Crime with Rachel Shannon
TOXIC: Affluent Family Masterminds the Murder of a Respected Lawyer?! THE ADELSON FAM & DAN MARKEL
And was the problem the gang member who was threatening to extort his mother?
True Crime with Rachel Shannon
TOXIC: Affluent Family Masterminds the Murder of a Respected Lawyer?! THE ADELSON FAM & DAN MARKEL
Right, and I got the whole... reference to the bathroom humor, but the problem that he's referring to that he wants flushed is this guy that's extorting his mother, right?
True Crime with Rachel Shannon
TOXIC: Affluent Family Masterminds the Murder of a Respected Lawyer?! THE ADELSON FAM & DAN MARKEL
And flushed means he wants the problem resolved. I would assume. And you're the one to do it. I guess. And when did you find out that Dan Markell had been murdered?
True Crime with Rachel Shannon
TOXIC: Affluent Family Masterminds the Murder of a Respected Lawyer?! THE ADELSON FAM & DAN MARKEL
Why were you talking in code on the wire?
True Crime with Rachel Shannon
TOXIC: Affluent Family Masterminds the Murder of a Respected Lawyer?! THE ADELSON FAM & DAN MARKEL
Okay, and what does the code mean? What's it code for?
True Crime with Rachel Shannon
TOXIC: Affluent Family Masterminds the Murder of a Respected Lawyer?! THE ADELSON FAM & DAN MARKEL
Why do you need a code?
True Crime with Rachel Shannon
TOXIC: Affluent Family Masterminds the Murder of a Respected Lawyer?! THE ADELSON FAM & DAN MARKEL
All right. So, for example, when you spoke to Mr. Garcia, you told him that Ethan's clothes would cost $65.70. Do you remember that? Yes, ma'am. And $65.70 was the last four digits of that phone number, right?
True Crime with Rachel Shannon
TOXIC: Affluent Family Masterminds the Murder of a Respected Lawyer?! THE ADELSON FAM & DAN MARKEL
And so was this an example of the type of code that you used?
True Crime with Rachel Shannon
TOXIC: Affluent Family Masterminds the Murder of a Respected Lawyer?! THE ADELSON FAM & DAN MARKEL
And are you telling this jury that that was needed to protect your children or your coworkers in some way?
Will & Rusty's Playdate
she broke up with me at hibachi
She slurred her speech as we stopped to screech and she didn't come. Yeah, that's awesome. Isn't that great?