Episode 97

You're listening to a Tenderfoot TV podcast. The holidays are here and wow, they're busy. It's easy for your wellness goals to slip. That's why I rely on Bruins to stay on track. They're a daily snack pack of gummies that's more than a multivitamin, a greens gummy, or prebiotic. It's all of that at a fraction of the price. And the best part, they taste amazing. each snack pack has six grams of prebiotic fiber three times the fiber of leading greens powders and more than two cups of broccoli plus

20 plus vitamins and minerals, vegan, nut-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, no artificial colors or flavors. Gruen's ingredients are backed by over 35,000 research publications. There's even Grunz Kids, so the little ones can enjoy the same all-in-one nutrition. Get up to 52% off with code tenderfoot at grunz.co. That's code tenderfoot at grunz, G-R-U-N-S dot C-O.

A decade ago, I was on the trail of one of the country's most elusive serial killers. But it wasn't until 2023 when he was finally caught. The answers were there, hidden in plain sight. So why did it take so long to catch him? I'm Josh Zeman. And this is Monster, hunting the Long Island serial killer. The investigation into the most notorious killer in New York since The Son of Sam. Available now. Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hate waiting a week for the next episode of Radio Rental? Subscribe to Tenderfoot Plus to get early access to episodes, add free listening, and even some bonus scary stories. Visit tenderfootplus.com for details. This podcast includes scary stories with content that could be triggering to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

Take a break from the same old boring blockbusters and experience a new kind of movie night with Radio Rental. At Radio Rental, our videos come to life in your living room. Defy all logic and reasoning. and make you question your own reality. This is not your ordinary video rental store. At Radio Rental, we carry one-of-a-kind videos so frightening, so mind-bending, you won't be able to sleep at night. You've gone. Radio Rental.

Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, frighten you, spook you. Welcome to Radio Rental, a video rental shop with lots of really normal movies. And also an exclusive collection of horror stories told by real people. Not that you're looking for that. But if you are... I'm, uh... I'm Vince. The new junior associate clerk. Well, technically I'm on my trial period, but... I kind of hope this one works out. It's been hard for me to find a job that's the right fit. Anyway, welcome. Can I help you?

are you actually here for this special collection wow perfect i mean okay let's let's dive right in Where's that box? Where's the box? Ricky Lee showed it. Ah, here we go. I haven't actually gotten to see any of these yet. Jeez, this is a real mess in here. Good thing I like messes. I'm a bit of one myself. Guess I'm gonna have to sort all this out later. But first, let's pop in this one. It's got some old bubblegum stuck to it.

I grew up in a very small rural town. My friends and I, we didn't really drink. We didn't party. We were in high school, early college. We didn't... really hanging with that crowd, but we did like to do a lot of trespassing. So we would find really kind of, you know, abandoned schools or construction sites. Really just tried to freak ourselves out. We were big into the paranormal. We wanted to find something exciting, really. One night, my friend and I, we found a construction site for a...

bridge that was constructed over some railroad tracks that ran through our town. We parked our car a few blocks away because we probably weren't supposed to be down there. We walked. towards the construction site, went through some brush towards the pillars that supported the road, so we were underneath the bridge at that point.

Then at the far end of the railroad tracks, there was a railroad platform with kind of a yellow streetlight that was there just for any trains that were coming in. It was mostly freight trains.

So my friend and I went down to explore the site and we didn't really know what we were looking for, just anything interesting, I guess. So we looked at the pillars and, you know, it had typical... transgressive teenager stuff you know the anarchy symbol a pentagram and all kinds of profanity nothing particularly interesting or artistic while we were

Standing by one of the pillars, we stopped in front of a graffiti devil. Somebody had done a rather crude devil face and spray painted 666 underneath it. It was otherwise completely silent. While we were standing and looking at the devil graffiti. We just heard really, really loud, clear radio static. So strange to have a noise like that where there doesn't really seem to be anyone else around.

We had heard a number of cars drive overhead on the bridge. Definitely was not that sound. The static seemed to come suddenly and out of nowhere. It's kind of hard to place where the sound was coming from. We looked at each other, but we did not say anything. Exchanged a glance as if to say, well, that's a little bit weird. We waited maybe another three or four seconds. the laughter occurred. Through the radio static, we heard a really deep, breathy laugh.

I compare it to like Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget. Very, very hard to tell exactly where the sound was come from. It's almost like the sound of the laughter was coming from all around us. Very distinct, deep, throaty laughter. Without exchanging any words, my friend and I just kind of looked at each other and both decided, without any additional detail, It was time to go. Rather than cut through the brush that we had entered the site through, we walked back towards the railroad tracks.

We got on the tracks and it was just a clearer path and we were walking along that. And I don't know why to this day we both decided to turn around in the same moment. Behind us... Beyond the reach of the rail platform spotlight, a person materialized. He's walking alongside. the railroad tracks. It was a man seemed very tall, really didn't have any discernible facial features. There's no real reason for someone at 10, 11 o'clock at night.

to be coming from that direction. He looked to be wearing a gray prison jumpsuit. Beyond that light, there really isn't... anything. There's no houses. There's no real anything. It's just the tracks go on into the country. My friend and I stared at the man as he entered into the light. And as soon as he saw us or seemed to see us, he stopped and without breaking his gaze with us, he took this huge sidestep onto the railroad tracks.

and broke into a dead sprint right for us. It did not take any hesitation. My friend and I did the same. We ran just as fast as we could. along the tracks and back to our car. It's the most scared I've ever been in my life, having that person run at me. So many strange questions going through your head. Where is this guy coming from?

Why is he dressed like he's coming out of prison? Why is he so interested in chasing us? It was just complete fight or flight, and we just... booked it no need for words we were both feeling the exact same thing it was just get out of there as soon as you can as soon as we get into the car my friend just floors it out of there and we

I didn't say anything for the 10-minute ride back to my house. We were just completely silent, and my heart's pounding, blood's pumping in my ears. Even still, once we're back in the car, it just doesn't feel safe.

we did not talk about the situation for about two weeks and finally my friend and i spoke on the phone and it was kind of a yeah we really got to talk about this and We were able to kind of corroborate all of the details here in Radio Static, here in the laughter, and seeing this man charge at us. And it kind of feels like until someone else confirms it, you feel like you might...

I've imagined things, you might be going crazy or something, but having someone else agree on every single aspect of what happened kind of made me feel better and made me feel worse at the same time. You know, I'm not crazy, but... Yeah, that actually was somebody chasing after us. There is a chance that when we heard the laughter underneath that bridge that it was coming from...

the person who chased after us. It was very difficult to determine the direction of the sound or where the source of it was. Given that we heard that sound when we heard the radio static, it seems more plausible maybe that whatever was playing the static also was playing laughter, but that just seems like such an odd. thing for someone to have a recording that they would play at 11 at night in a relatively abandoned part of this town.

That was incredible. The way he ran at those kids full force out of nowhere. Kinda gave me like Michael Myers vibes. What a cool du- I mean, also, he does really bad what he did. terrible stuff shouldn't scare people like that it's mean not cool some people might find it cool but not me let's take a break for some ads and then we'll be right back

Black Friday? More like Black Friday, yay! Shop the DSW Black Friday sale and take 30% off almost all the shoes, accessories, and giftable goodies we've got at DSW.com. Plus 30% off just about every regular price item at your DSW store. Score shoes that get you and everyone on your list at prices that get your budget. So carpe the deal. Head to Designer Shoe Warehouse and get that gift list done. DSW. Let us surprise you.

Own a small biz and need a reliable way to reach new customers? Try TikTok for business. We've generated over 100,000 leads, which has converted into over 40,000 sales for our pet insurance policies. I am the CEO of Spot Pet Insurance. TikTok Smart Plus AI. Take care. Take care. With Black Friday's savings at the Home Depot, you can get up to $1,400 off, plus get free delivery on select appliances like LG, America's most reliable line of appliances.

Check out the newest LG refrigerator with new mini craft ice, straight from the dispenser. Shop Black Friday savings on select LG appliances, plus get free delivery now at The Home Depot. Free delivery on appliance purchases of $396 or more. Offer valid 11-5 through 12-3. U.S. only. See store online for details. Needed those ads to cool off a little bit. Hope you guys use those advertisements to

Also, chill out a little bit after being so piping hot mad with that last guy. I just can't stand creepers. Don't like them at all. Do not research them or look at long YouTube videos all about them. That's not me. I already actually put in the next tape. Hope that's cool. Here we go.

So in spring of 2015, I was a sophomore in college. I went to Appalachian State, which is a small school in the mountains in North Carolina. It has tons of trails, beautiful scenery, rivers, streams, everything you could imagine along the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was a hot spot for hikers and those who just love being in nature. Three close friends of mine and I went to grab dinner. It was a weeknight.

We had no plans afterwards, so after we ate, we just sat there thinking of ideas of things we could do. At this point, the sun hadn't set yet, so we still had some daylight ahead of us. It's probably around 6 or 7 o'clock. Usually when you had free time, you would end up on the Blue Ridge Parkway going for a drive or maybe hanging out at a scenic overlook. I remembered a spot that I'd actually visited the year prior with another group of friends, and I suggested it to this group.

as a place that maybe we should check out. This place was unique. It wasn't something you would find on a map. It's not something you would find at the visitor center or anything that anyone would recommend. It's on the Blue Ridge Parkway. There's a section of road. that's held up by pillars that wraps around the mountain. Kind of looks like a bridge. And the bridge is being held up by pillars, has what appears to be a tunnel underneath with a gate to that tunnel entrance.

That gate had corroded off and you could shimmy your way up into the tunnel. It was a little bit of a tight squeeze, but you could do it. So I pitched it to them to see if they'd be interested in going and yeah, they were all in. One of the guys, Matt, just had this terrible feeling and he didn't want to go in. So me and Nick and Andrew, we make our way in the same way that I'd done the year before via the corroded gate entrance.

We one by one shimmied our way in and started exploring the different sections of tunnel. I was a little scared at first just because it is a pitch black tunnel and you're shimming your way in where both your back and chest are up against a tiny narrow entry. But we went in and we explored. We thought it was fun. There was a lot of graffiti all over the place and it was just cool exploring the inside of a tunnel. As cars would pass by, you would hear them.

driving over you it's it's really loud you hear like the don't go when they you know when they hit the bridge itself the car it makes a really loud sound which echoes into the tunnel but that was the only sound we heard we didn't hear anything else inside the tunnel Pentagrams everywhere, upside down crosses. I know a lot of it was not there the year before, so that indicates that this tunnel has seen someone in the last year.

One of the first things I saw was in that first section was a circle of candles, like a collection of candles. It looked like maybe someone had done some sort of seance, but overall just a bunch of like... ominous graffiti tags everywhere. Tons of upside down crosses, pentagrams, you name it, everything. We just walked past it. It was scary, but... um with me and two other guys i was just trying to keep it cool and i didn't want to be like i was the most scared one there so we

Keep going. Just one by one, section at a time. So the whole tunnel is about a half mile. We just keep going section at a time, just exploring, just looking at things on the walls, just being kids, exploring until... we get to maybe about halfway through. We made it about halfway through the bridge before I came to a halt. Just above the crawl space into the next section of tunnel ahead of us.

was a graffiti tag in all caps that read, he's in there with some arrows pointing to the cross base. He's in there. We all one by one made it. kind of clear that we were all kind of spooked out, but no one wanted to be the one to say, hey, let's turn around. We laughed it off and just proceeded into that crawl space.

I mean, everyone was probably concerned, like, what could that possibly be? But at this point, we had already been halfway through the bridge. We weren't going to let that be the reason why we stopped. So we kept going.

I was the first one in. I crouched walk through that crawl space with the other two behind me. And then before I was able to fully stand up into the next section, that's when I saw some sort of movement ahead of me at the end of the next section. I saw just movement. It was kind of hard to make it out since I had the flashlight on my phone, which can only see a few feet in front of you.

At that point, I had reached for Nick, who was third in line, still making his way through that crawl space. And he had like a legitimate flashlight with batteries. So I reached back and told him to hand it to me. And with this flashlight, I pointed in the direction of the movement. It was maybe two to three feet tall, dark gray color with hind legs like a deer, but shorter arms up front.

green glowing eyes it just didn't have any defined edges which was the scariest part usually when you look at something you can make out its border on the background whatever it is this did not have that It was fuzzy. It just blended in. In the five seconds I was aiming my flashlight at it, it jumped diagonally across the tunnel, wall to wall, faster than any animal I've ever seen move. without making a single noise. I would describe it if you were to take a bouncy ball and throw it

down a narrow corridor, how fast that ball would bounce from corner to corner, just in no direction, like no organized direction. It was just bouncing repeatedly wall to wall. So after I'd seen it initially, I turned around, I told Nick and Andrew that, hey, we need to get out of here as soon as possible. Andrew then takes the flashlight from me.

to look at it for himself, and at this point I'm already walking back towards the previous crawl space. He was terrified. He, like me, could not explain what it was that we had just seen. I mean, you live your whole life knowing what certain animals are, even if you haven't seen them. You know what a giraffe looks like if you've never seen a giraffe in the wild. But this was not something that anyone had ever... seen or heard of or just encountered. This was unworldly. I'm panicking. This is...

the scariest thing I'd ever seen in my life at this point and still to this day. Honestly, talking about it is making me shake a little. When we exit the tunnel is when Andrew makes it clear to us that, hey, that thing was approaching us the entire way back. Slowly approaching, but bouncing off the wall the entire time. We make it back to the car. It was a pretty quiet car ride back. Everyone was really scared. I don't think I got much sleep that night at all.

I got home by this point it is probably, I don't know, 10, 11 o'clock. The next morning, I was taking a shower, getting ready for class. I would sometimes brush my teeth in the shower, and this morning I was. I spat down into the shower drain and I could see that something had exited my mouth that I didn't previously feel. I could see it in the toothpaste water circling the shower drain.

It was the size and shape of a dime. Red in color, but transparent. Kind of grossed out by it. I just ignored it, thinking that if it was serious, it would probably happen again, and I could go see a doctor. I just finished up, got ready for class, and went on about my day. So later that afternoon, I ran into Andrew. It wasn't planned.

was actually hoping to avoid him since I hadn't talked about what had happened the night before with anyone and just didn't want to talk about it again. He tells me that something strange had happened that morning. He describes that he spat out blood. But it was, quote unquote, a clot in a circle. And I told him the same thing had happened to me. And we knew immediately that we had to go find Nick.

Later that evening, we met up with Nick, and sure enough, that was the first thing he greeted us with. This morning, I spat up blood. That's what Nick said. Some days go by, might have turned into maybe a week or two of just thinking, what could it have possibly been? We're all rational individuals. So Demon came to mind.

We started doing some research, the three of us in the school library, different types of demons, demonology, and what they look like. After some time, we found a picture that had... a demon with the same color and fuzzy shape of what I remember in the bridge. And it was said that this demon is only ever summoned onto earth when someone specifically calls for its protection. And that's what it does.

protects the area. If I had to guess, someone had visited that tunnel in the 12 months that I was gone and did some sort of ritual where they... called on to this demon asking for its protection. And when it saw us, it protected that area by scaring us. Well... We all agreed that we would never go back. However, the story didn't keep quiet with Mick and Andrew. They went on to share the story with others, and we had some...

Good chunk of friends go back out there to recreate what we had seen. No one really believed us with what we'd seen. And so they wanted to go check it out themselves to see if they could find what we saw. But no, no luck. We were the last to see it. To this day, I... really don't talk about it that much. I figured, what's the point of telling the story if no one believes me and when I tell it, I'm terrified.

I was really hoping that thing would have popped out and eaten them. What if it had eaten them? That would have been so sick and gross and twisted and bad. Bad, bad, bad. Ugh. Maybe next time. What? Oh, yeah. Break for ads. Break. Let's take a break. Give big, save big with Rack Friday deals at Nordstrom Rack. For a limited time, take an extra 40% off Red Tag clearance for a total savings up to 75% off.

Save on gifts for everyone on your list from brands like Vince, Cole Haunt, Sam Edelman, and more. All sales final and restrictions apply. The best stuff goes fast, so bring your gift list and your wish list to your nearest Nordstrom Rack today. This episode is brought to you by White Claw Search. Great podcast pick, friend. No surprises there. After all, you're all about finding the tastiest flavors out there.

just like White Claw Surge. And with big, bold flavors to enjoy, like blood orange, blackberry, cranberry, and more, it's time to go all in on taste. Unleash the flavor. Unleash White Claw Surge. Please drink responsibly. Hard seltzer with flavors. 8% alcohol by volume. White Claw Seltzer Works. Chicago, Illinois. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Listening to this podcast? Smart move. Being financially savvy?

smart move another smart move having state farm help you create a competitive price when you choose to bundle home and auto bundling Just another way to save with a personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state.

Hey, thanks for stopping by Radio Rental. Maybe I'll see you next week? Hopefully. Because honestly, I really like this. I mean, a normal amount. I like this. A normal amount. I'm kind of indifferent, honestly. Alright, see you next time. Radio Rental is created by Payne Lindsay and brought to you by Tenderfoot TV. Showrunner is Meredith Stedman. Lead producer is Eric Quintana. Executive producers are Payne Lindsay and Donald Albright.

Guest host is Tony Cavallaro. Writing by Meredith Stedman. Original score by Makeup and Vanity Set, with additional score by Jay Ragsdale. Editing by Eric Quintana, Payne Lindsay, Stephen Perez, Cooper Skinner, Meredith Studman, and Dylan Harrington. Sound Design Mix and Master by Stephen Perez and Cooper Skinner. Our production manager is Jordan Foxworthy. Our social media manager is Caroline Orajema.

Video editing by Dylan Harrington. Cover artwork by Trevor Eiler and Rob Sheridan. Radio rental merchandise by Byron McCoy. To shop radio rental merch, visit shop.tenderfoot.tv. Special thanks to Oren Rosenbaum and the team at UTA, as well as the Nord Group and the team at Odyssey. If you have a Radio Rental story that you'd like to share, please email us at yourscarystory at gmail.com.

Or contact us via the form on our website, RadioRentalUSA.com. Follow us on Instagram at Radio Rental. On behalf of the Radio Rental store, we'd love it if you'd subscribe, rate, and review. As always, thanks for listening. Make their holiday unforgettable with a gift that says it all from Pandora Jewelry. A gift that tells a story and shows you know theirs. That doesn't just sparkle, but speaks. This season, give a gift that's perfectly theirs.

Whether you're shopping for a shiny surprise for your significant other, matching bracelets to celebrate your friendship, or a heartfelt gift for a family member, say more this holiday season with Pandora. Shop at Pandora.net or your local Pandora store.