Haunting Encounters and Yuletide Spirits: A Brooklyn Ghost Story

I just had to do like assignments for college , exam for college , which I've definitely failed I think I'm still just waiting for the results so not been feeling great and , in turn , not really been feeling in the Christmassy mood , but I know it's Christmas or the holiday season , so you know I want to do like a spooky Christmas or holiday story .

But , yeah , so luckily , finally got in the mood , I started writing . So , yeah , this is what this episode is out a little late , I am very sorry , but yeah , hope you all having a wonderful holiday season so far . And yeah , less than a week till a big day , so not long left to wait for Santa to come and give you presents .

So , just to make you all aware there will be this episode , obviously because you're listening to it and there is going to be some Christmas ghost stories coming out on Christmas Eve , so giving you all something spooky and Christmassy to listen to in front of the fire over Christmas .

And yeah , between Christmas and New Year , I'll be putting together some of my favorite stories from my episodes in 2022 and 2023 . And the first week of 2024 , there'll be a brand new Missing 411 case files episode .

So , yeah , so I do apologize again for this being a little bit late , but there's a lot of content coming your way to get you through the holiday season . This episode is the first of the new , reworked main episodes . So , like I said , going forward I'm going to have basically a larger main story instead of having listener stories .

It's just difficult to source them . People send them to me intermittently and then having to go on to Reddit to find some spooky ghost stories , it was just becoming more of a chore to do that part of it , especially while I'm in full-time work and trying to get my degree to become a nurse .

So , yeah , so I've cut that little bit , but there's still going to be a larger main segment , main story . And yeah , so I've still got the film part of it , got the hiccups now , and I'm still going to have the spooky on radio film club , but I'm still going to call it that , but it can be anything .

It's like a TV show , a theater show or you know , like a classic , like a film , and I go a bit more into depth with them as well . So , to make up for the lack of the listener stories .

And , yeah , going forward , I'll be highlighting other people's podcasts each episode and it will really help myself grow and others grow , very importantly as well , because , yeah , I want to make , like you know , a bit of a community and that's how you grow in the end .

So , yeah , apologies for that long intro , but I promise we're about to get to the spooks and now all I want for Christmas is for you to please leave me a review on Spotify and Apple , if you haven't already , and follow me on Instagram and TikTok if you haven't already . And , yeah , it does mean the world's a good and I would appreciate it .

You know , just a little Christmas tree like bam , a little present for me . But , yeah , let's get into the main episode , which is taking us across the pond to Brooklyn . I'm also like a child and every time I hear the word Brooklyn , I have to sing Beast of Boys in my head . So , yeah , that's just how my brain works . But , yeah , let's get into it .

It was the springtime of 2015 and my life was turned upside down . My name is Sarah and I lived with my elderly mother , who was not feeling her best , and at a routine health check she was diagnosed with stage 4 terminal cancer and given just months to live .

I don't know what was better , knowing that she only had a few months left on the earth or not knowing . I think those last few months we had together were very nice . We got to do some stuff she'd always wanted to do . We travelled to nearby states like Vermont to get some nice clean air and visited the Empire State one last time .

We paid our respects to one last time to my sister at the World Trade Center Grand Zero Monument , who sadly lost her life that terrible , dark day back in 2001 . It was some kind of comfort to me that at least they would be soon reunited . The last few weeks she was really unable to leave our apartment .

We lived in Brooklyn in a two bedroom railroad flat in Kemmermoor hotel . Our front windows faced directly onto the New York metro and when the trains went past sometimes the whole apartment would rumble and shake . The apartment itself was very dark , but it was all I had known , having lived there with my mum and sister for many years .

Because there were only windows at the front and at the back of the apartment . It was very dark , especially during the bleak midwinter those last two weeks , however , were the darkest days I ever spent in the apartment . My mum was in agony and I would wake up in the middle of the night with her writhing in pain .

She was starting to become confused and she would tell me in the morning that Emma would come visit her in the night and was waiting for my mum . Of course , I didn't believe this , however . I could not delight that .

There was a strange feeling to our usually pleasant apartment , the feeling that someone was watching me sometimes , or a strange noise in my mum's bedroom , and when I would go in to investigate she would be asleep .

I put this down to knowing that my mum was coming to the end of her life and there was nothing I could do about it but sit and watch and wait . The morning of August 29th , I made my mum her favourite breakfast and went into a bedroom to wake her up , but to no avail .

In the night she had passed away in her sleep peacefully , and that was at least some kind of relief . It had been a few weeks and I was struggling very much with the loss of my mother . I had one of my closest friends staying with me for a couple of weeks to help me cope with the loneliness .

One night , for some reason , she suggested using a Ouija board to try and contact my mother . I must have just been at that right level of tipsy because I said let's do it , but we don't have a board . I said to Daisy , we found a mock-up photo on the internet and printed it off and placed a glass in the middle of it , as she said . Now we have one .

So we turned on the lights and lit some candles around us , poured ourselves another large glass of wine each and placed our fingers on the glass in the centre of the makeshift Ouija board . My finger was trembling as I asked mum , mum , are you there ? There was no response . Lily , are you there ? Sarah misses you very much .

Please , if you are there , foot off , give us a sign . If not for me , for your daughter . And then the room fell silent . The glass slid across the board . We looked in amazement at each other as it slowly started to move towards . Yes , it was at this point I started to smell roses .

My mum had a perfume she always used to wear that smelled just like roses and I knew it was my mum and I started crying Mum , is that you ? I could smell your perfume if you come back to see me . Slowly the glass moved towards no .

The atmosphere just changed and the smell of my mother's perfume became to turn into this putrid smell and the room somehow became darker . And I moved the glass towards the centre again and said mum , please , it's like you . Again the glass flies across to no and starts to spell something out N O T Y O U R M U M .

And with that the glass smashed , with just our fingers resting on it . Not your mum , that's what it said . Safe to say , neither myself or Daisy slept much like night and the apartment felt different . It felt like there was something lurking in the shadows . A couple of weeks had passed and it was now the start of December .

Living on my own , especially at this time of year , was very depressing . The light of day rarely penetrates the entirety of the apartment and the feeling of something watching me was now ever present . Every now and then I could sense by mum .

I could sometimes smell the perfume around me , or I would often fall asleep in front of the TV watching friends or some kind of sitcom , only to wake up to the TV remote moved onto the sofa and the channel changed to reruns of Downton Abbey , my mum's favourite TV show .

Nothing too scary though , I thought , until one night I was asleep in bed , and I must have only lightly been asleep as I awoke , as a night train rumbled down the metro and my bed shook . I felt so disorientated and for some reason , when the shaking stopped , I thought I could see something . Something in the corner of my room .

I had a small Christmas tree lit up in the living room which bled a dim glimmer into my bedroom , allowing me to make out a shape . My shivers went all up my spine and for some reason I got cold all over . I started to panic and I could feel what felt like my heart beating out of my chest .

I could hear from the shadows in the corner the floorboards beginning to creak , as if something was walking towards me . My heart was now racing and I thought I was going to pass out .

And just when I thought I could make out some features on the dark shape in my room , it rumbled again as a second train rushed past and the lights of the train illuminated my room for a brief second and the shadow . I slept with a big light on that night and it took me a few days to recover .

I asked Daisy if she would come and stay with me again for a week or so , but she was visiting family for the holidays and I had never felt so alone . I had a feeling that whatever was in my apartment knew that and over the next few days I would feel like my mother was around me as I could smell roses .

However , the scent would always change to a pungent , foul smelling odour , almost like whatever came through . The Ouija board was pushing my mum aside and I felt like it wanted me . The next evening again , I fell asleep in front of the TV and I woke to a loud banging at the door .

It was only about 8pm but , given it was the middle of winter , it was pitch black outside and as I fell asleep when it was still light , the only dim light illuminated a long , dark apartment was the Christmas tree and , once again the TV , which again was showing down to Abbey .

As I was getting my thoughts together , there was another loud bang at the front door . I walked to the door and looked through a peephole and there was no one there . I thought odd , but maybe someone got the wrong door and moved on .

And as I turned around , and I turned around in a second and swung open the door , ready to shout at whoever was banging on it , but I was met with an empty corridor . How could that be ? I stepped onto the hallway and looked around and there was no one there .

I heard the creak from my front door as I turned around and it started to slam in my face , and in the shadows I saw him , the tall shadow man with glowing red eyes and a crooked smile , laughing as he slammed the door in my face .

I was pushing and banging on the door and it would not open , and as I collapsed on the floor crying , I spelt the smell of roses once again and the door creaked open . I ran into the apartment and slammed the door behind me .

It felt so dark in there and all the hairs stood up on the back of my neck and something in my body was telling me to turn around and look behind me in the corner , in the shadows , and when I did , the tall shadow man was looming over me and laughing , reaching out for me . I fell backwards as he reached for me , laughing .

I was in the total field position now , not being able to bear looking at what was going to happen next . And then the smell of roses once again and a bright light coming down the corridor . I looked up and I know it sounds crazy , but the Christmas tree lights were illuminating so bright it was impossible .

I do not know how this happened , but the light from the Christmas tree lights extinguished the shadow figure in front of me . With one last scream and laugh , the shadow figure had finally gone . The feeling of being watched had now gone also , and a sense of peace hushed over me as the Christmas tree lights went back to their previous state .

I could not believe what had happened and what I saw , but I knew that this was my mother still looking over me . I made myself a hot drink and a sleeping tablet to help me sleep and I got into bed and fell into a deep sleep . I had the strangest dream that night .

My mum and sister were in my bedroom and my mum was on the end of my bed smiling and my sister was taken by the hand , and then they both left together through my bedroom door and into a bright light . I woke up in the morning thinking what a strange dream . I made myself some lunch and sat down by the Christmas tree and I was feeling lonely again .

And then I smelled it and roses . Now I had a mixed bag . I had a mixed bag . It's a mixed bag . This story is what I was trying to say , but I couldn't get my words out . I just love the idea that our loved ones are still there , you know , after they pass on .

The more and more I've done this podcast and gone on more ghost hunts and things like that , the more I question like , is there anything or are we just dead ? Do you know ? What I mean is who knows , who knows ? I'm still on the fence , even though I've had my own experiences . I'm still on the fence . But yeah , I love this story .

I loved how it was . It was so dark , like , and I can just imagine . I can just imagine the apartment and how dark it was . And yeah , I love the idea that you know she , her mother , was still there and my sister was there as well , waiting for her mum .

You know , because a lot of people say like on their deathbeds , like they see the loved ones , and it's like One or two people saying that you could sort of say okay , but like someone who's like got to say dementia , who's not gonna remember that there were stories people used to say like , oh yeah , my loved ones came to me , like most people with like

dementia can't even remember like their family who were alive . You know , just as an example , like but People that I've spoken to , stories that I've read , they say , a lot of people say that they see loved ones who've passed over , come in for them to take them , hell them , pass on . So yeah , it's got some good parts and some dark parts .

This story , just like , is life and that is the main what's the word I'm looking for point to take away from the story . And you cannot have the light without the dark . So yeah , you know , full of philosophical on , you know .

But yeah , hope you all enjoyed that , hope we got you all on the Christmassy mood and let's get straight into this week's podcast trailer . So , yeah , let's do it .

And With that said , it's time to get into the spooky island radio film club , where this week I'm talking about a film called Anna and the apocalypse . Let's get into it . Run the intro the spooky island radio film club . So yeah , since it's Christmas , I thought I'd best do a bit of a review of a spooky , halloweeny Christmas film .

And , to be honest , like I say , a couple of weeks ago I had so much of my plate I really wasn't in the Christmasy mood and about a week ago decided to sit myself down , sit my ass down , watch a Christmas film while wrapping presents , and Didn't get me in the Christmas you moved , but I did wrap my presents and watch the films .

You know it's was a success . And I was scrolling and swirling through prime and I couldn't really see anything to my fancy and how I saw this film pop up called Anna and the apocalypse . I was watched the trailer and it came with a quote from a review which said Sean and the dead meets la la land and that was just my decision made up .

I mean it was more la la , it was more Sean the dead meets high school musical , if I'm honest , like it's a lot less heavy than la la land , but it was such a good film . So here's the synopsis . So I got this straight from IMDB because I'm an established Polcaster .

When the zombie apocalypse hits the sleepy town of Little Haven at Christmas , teenager Anna and her high school best friends have to fight , sing and dance to survive with the undead horde all around them , teaming up with a best friend , john , and has to fight her way through zombified snowmen , santas , elves and Christmas shoppers to get across town to the high

school . Whether we safe , but soon . But they soon discover that being a teenager is just as difficult as staying alive , even at the end of the world . So yeah , that's a little bit of synopsis and basically it tells the basically the whole story .

You know the main , the main things is like this girl and her best friend trying to get through high school college , the most being college , and and she wants to . I mean they try to inject drama into it . You know it's like a Jokey sort of film .

It's like she wants to travel to Australia after college and Her best friend , he , is in love with her but can't tell her the classic and yeah , it's just . There's another couple of side characters and it's really good . I've got to say like the songs are really catchy .

So basically Some of the parents and some of the people from school are trapped in the school overnight . Anna and John are not there at home and basically by the morning that there's everybody . Everybody is a zombie and Basically Anna and John have to get to the high school to get to their parents and they pick up some people along the way .

Here we're going to see like their partners and stuff like that . But yeah , it's a really good , really good . It's about an hour and a half Film . It's really good . I definitely recommend it . The song break away it's like such a great song . That's why I mean it's more high school musical . But yeah , I'll play a little bit of analysis , so catchy .

Hopefully I don't get copyrighted , but who cares ? Oh shit , it's Christmas , right here we go . This is a little snippet from the breakaway . Doesn't it just remind you of high school musical ? I fucking love that song . I literally have it on route . I had it on repeat while I was writing this story .

Um , it's such good , such a good song , so catchy , so high school musical and there's like a great scene where Anna and her friend are Walking through the street on the way to school and it's like the scene out of night living dead or the bit of show on the dead .

Well , it's the start of night living dead where everybody's out in the street like suburban living and People just getting eaten , and like that scene from show on the dead where everybody he walks like the shop in the morning and doesn't realize there's zombies around him .

There's a great scene where she and hit and her friend are dancing and singing and everybody's just getting Destroyed around them . They don't even notice . So that is a great section , yeah , and a great , great catchy song with breakaway , yeah . So what else is there ? So , yeah , what makes it good as well ?

Says some quite interesting kills and Says like a guy who's a zombie but he's dressed in a sermon outfit and they're in like a children's play park and they like law the undead snowman across to where the seesaw is , as she like pushes the seesaw down , it like cuts his head off , really inventive , really good .

And the evil headmaster , of course , ripping , being ripped apart by zombies . And there's a scene where they're all in the bowling alley and they're using like all sorts of equipment from from the bowling alley to kill the zombies , including smashing the head in with two bowling balls . Very , very good , it's very , very good . Yeah , it's just a bit of fun .

I sort of lost interest with my favorite character , died and was turned into a zombie and I mean to be honest , without spoilers , ish , most of the characters do die and there's like it even got me tearing up a little bit .

There's like a final song which I will play a little bit of in a second , a little snippet , and it's sort of her final stand with a couple of people and it sort of zooms back to everyone They've lost along the way , like and their zombies . Let me play a little bit of songs you can . You can sort of see how emotional it is .

You may be crying yeah yeah , like the final belter , the final song . It's so good , the final stand and it . It cuts back to everybody that they've lost . And there's like a couple there so , like she , he was trapped .

Anna picked people up on the way to the school , including this guy who wanted to get back to his girlfriend at the school , and they survived all that , but then they sacrificed themselves in the school and there's like a little scene with that song going on and the zombies .

The two of them are like walking past each other but like still like touching hands as they walk past . Oh , my god , I was bowling . It was Very sad , very melancholic and I loved it .

So it's probably one of those ones I'll go back to watch over time with over the holiday period In the years to come , because , because I was about to say years and like a really posh person In the years to come , yeah , so go watch it .

If you got some time to kill over the Christmas period with family , stick it on and , like I say a lot of this songs on my spot if I play this now , because it's a great soundtrack . So that's Anna and the apocalypse . Go watch it . It's a great film and , with all that said , thank you very much everyone .

I hope you have a great Christmas , a great new year , great holiday period , whatever it is you celebrate , even if it's just time off work because you don't celebrate anything . Have a great time and , like I say , I've got a few more episodes coming out over the next couple of weeks To get you through this period , so stay tuned for that .

Go follow me on Instagram , facebook , tiktoks , spotify , apple podcast , google podcast , everything . Go follow me , I will love you forever and ever . Yeah , thank you for another great year and thank you for making speochial and radio what it is . So until next time , over and out .