Intoxicated Time Slipper

Come. Walk down the winding path. Don't mind the spooks and monsters. They stay hidden within the trees.

There are mysteries in this world that you need to know and paranormal truths that need to be told. Come, step up into the caravan while we share tales of old, as well as new accounts about things you thought only existed in your nightmares. There are times we imagine ourselves seeking the answers to experiences that toll our thoughts and emotions that could be wrung out of us like a dishrag. Some of us carry the reality forever, while others merely slip them away in a shallow empty space behind the mind's eye.

The things that happen without reasonable explanation triggers the fear and anxiety with results of uncontrollable shaking. Join me as we listen to the tale of the drunken timehopper and shadow figures told by the experiencers of Lynn Howland and Jennifer Ann. Lynn is my sister and we did not grow up together. I grew up in Portland, Oregon and she grew up near Pendleton, Oregon.

So we're about four hours away from each other. And every summer we would get together. And our story, one of them in particular, takes place when I think we were about, I want to say I was 12, because I think you were more like 14, but yeah, somewhere around that area. Okay.

Well, earlier teens for you and I'm only three years older. Right. So, and this was one of the last times that I'd come up. And by then, you know, we were both really interested in the paranormal and we had both had our separate encounters with different things.

And one of our pastimes in a small town was to go up and see the old Pioneer Cemetery. And it stood on top of the hill above the town and everything. Totally abandoned and I've written actually about it in a blog and experienced that my sister and I had and I'll have to link that in the show notes. Basically, later that night, when we were hanging out, we decided that we would go for a walk.

You know, we had already watched movies, we had hung out and we're like, Oh, let's go outside and just have a walk. And nobody else was out. It was, you know, small town, super quiet. Nobody's out there.

We're the only ones. And the way that her house was situated is that as you went up the street, it's like a hill. So then the road that's behind her house is above ground. That kind of a thing, right?

Yeah. The hill goes up on one side and then it flattens on the other side. So it's right there at the base where it starts to incline. Right.

And so we had left and it's also pertinent to the story as well. There was a church right across the street from her house. And so we went out and we went up the hill and we just went on the road that was directly behind her house and we're just walking when, you know, I think it was, it was just us. And I don't remember seeing anybody else there.

We were deep in conversation. So there's a chance that maybe we didn't pay attention. But at one point I looked up and there was this man and he was really having a hard time walking and he had a bag, a paper bag clenching in his left hand. So of course, you know, I thought he was some drunk guy scuffling down the road.

And I started to slow my walking down until I stopped and I was just overcome with fear. I was absolutely irrationally terrified of this man. We both were almost instantaneous. Like, yeah, well, I feel bad about it, but I don't remember.

I know that I turned around and ran, but I don't know if I said anything to you about it. I think I just took off. I don't think you needed to. I remember it being a mutual decision that did not need to be discussed.

So you shouldn't feel bad. It's something that we both just did. So this was a fight or flight instinct that kicked in? Instantly.

Yeah. For both of us. And what did this individual look like? Do you remember?

He was kind of tall. He had grayish hair and a beard. It wasn't too scraggly, but it wasn't real short either. Right.

And he was wearing blue jeans and it was like a rain jacket of some sort, I thought. Yeah. Otherwise, he was mostly nondescript. Other than the gray hair and the beard, there was really nothing that stood out about him.

Right. Exactly. And so when we ran, you know, we turned around the way we came. I mean, and we were running full speed as fast as we could go.

So we ran down the road. We ran down. Sorry to interrupt, but didn't we take the shortcut right behind my house that went into the yard? You know, that part I don't remember because really all I remember is for me, in my mind, we ran down where we came, down the hill and then across the way to the church yard.

And by the time we got there, that's why I was so stunned, you know, because I felt like it really took us a while to get there. Well, I think I remember going through that, what I call a shortcut. It was between the houses because my backyard connected with an empty lot at the top. And I think that's what made part of it so creepy is we took that shortcut.

And for some reason, we didn't go in the house. Our instinct wasn't to go in the house. It was to go across the street to the church. Right.

Yeah. And I remember I got I got right down in the shadows by a bush and was hiding. And, you know, we arrived at the same time. My sister and I did.

And to our astonishment, he was right there, not directly behind us, but across the road, diagonally from it. The thing is, is he was stumbling so much he couldn't walk at all when we saw him on top of the hill on that road. There's no way that he could have made it directly behind us in the amount of time. I mean, to me.

Yeah, he didn't take the shortcut that we did. He just took the actual formal road, which is why the time difference in him just suddenly appearing seems so alarming, I think. Right. No, it was it was really scary.

And I think, you know, here's where our memories kind of split again because I remember laying there or sitting there, whatever, crouching in the church yard, being terrified. And when he looked towards your house, that's when I bolted again without saying anything. And we bolted into the house. So I don't remember him doing anything other than facing your house.

And that was enough for me to bolt. And see, I remember him looking directly at where we were, but eyes just grazing over where we were hiding and just continuing on. He may have looked at the house. That part I don't necessarily remember, but I remember him looking our way, but it was like he didn't see anything.

And the hiding spot was not particularly great. Even in the low light, there was still a street light. You still probably should have seen two girls hiding in the bushes. Right.

Right. Well, and then when we darted across and then we did get inside the house, I remember running up to the front window and I peeked through it and he was just completely gone. He wasn't walking down the street. He wasn't walking.

Well, there was two streets. I don't know if you can explain it better, but there was a road in front of the house and then there was the road that was going straight into town. Right. That was the side.

So directly in front of the house, there was a church. And then right next to it, from my house, it would have been on the right hand side. It was an empty lot. So you would have been able to see straight down on the cross street.

Right. And from that vantage point, you'd also be able to see straight down the street that my house was actually on. Right. Right.

And see, he was nowhere. He was nowhere at all. And it was just it might not seem like that crazy of a story. But then when you have more of our background, you know, when I have the experiences that I've had that I've previously shared or that I've written about in my blog and then the fact that your house as well, we were also experiencing things in the house.

I feel like we've experienced enough different things to be afraid of some man so extremely and to still be affected by it to this day and to still question what the hell was that? To me, it was it wasn't a man. Well, OK, so listening to both of your take on the experience, the most profound thing that sticks out with me, just listening to your story is the fact that you both said and saw the same thing that you ran on your shortcut to get to the church. And there he was.

So there had to have been a greater distance from when you first saw him to when he just appears. Once you got to your spot at the church to hide and then to have that sense of him looking around at that spot, did you get a sense of dread, evil presence, anything very unsettling about it? Or was it just more the oddity of the situation? No, it was very unsettling for my part.

I just I saw this guy and I was instantly afraid for whatever reason. I had no logical reason to be afraid, but him crossing that amount of distance in such a short amount of time and appearing as drunk as he did, that just added and heightened the fear factor, if you want to call it that. Right. You know, I mean, literally, I don't know if this is quite a good way to describe it, but I think that Cemetery.

And, well, one of you can tell this part, because as you were explaining it to me, it's somewhere that you've been before, and you always had a certain feeling, but then all of a sudden, when I was there, it felt totally different. Very much so. I would go up there, and the presence of the cemetery was very familiar to me, and it was always unsettled. And I've had multiple different experiences within the grounds of the cemetery proper, and they're always unsettled.

Always there's some negative, distraught feeling. And I'd been telling Jennifer about this for some time over the phone and whatnot. Then she comes over, and I was excited. I wanted to see what she felt.

I wanted to get her take on it. And I took her up there, and all of a sudden, it was complete peace. And this is someplace that I'd been going for years by that point. Frequently.

It's not something that... Because it was just up that same hill that we were talking about. And it almost freaked me out how suddenly peaceful it was. And I'm pretty sure she thought I was crazy at the time.

You know, that's the way I did. It was just such a drastic difference, because I'd gone up there probably the week before in preparation, you know, getting ready to show her things. And just to change that utterly, well, drastic. It's the only word that I can use.

Can I interject with a question and ask you, Lynn, what motivated you to go there more than once if you were sensing a lot of negativity or bad energy from that cemetery? Was it curiosity or just looking for answers? I don't know for sure. Well, at the same time, I always felt that unsettled presence.

I've always been drawn to it at the same time. Me too. And I just liked going up there, regardless. I don't know if maybe it made me feel more connected to things, or if I felt that there was a reason that I was going up there and just never fully understood it.

I'm not sure. Have you done any genealogy to see if you have an ancestor that may be buried there? Not me specifically. But the town founders are up there.

And if, correct me if I'm wrong, but Jennifer, don't you have an ancestor that is actually buried up there? I have two. They're a great aunt. That might be your connection there.

Could be. One of the strongest presences that I felt up there, and I was drawn to a specific headstone, and it was white marble and had roses carved into it. And it was one of the more elaborate ones. But the most unsettled part of the presence always drew me to that one.

Well, I had a chance to speak with the caretaker of the cemetery, and I asked her about the headstone. Come to find out, she couldn't remember if it was the person's mother or wife, but a female relative, close female relative of that particular person, their corpse had been stolen from the cemetery and, as far as she knew, had never been recovered. You know, that was the crazy thing, too, because my sister hadn't told me anything about that, not yet, before we went up there. And when we went up there, I was also drawn to it.

And I remember, I felt a woman presence. I didn't know much about it, but I remember I told you, and then you told me the story. And so that was a little hair-raising, you know. So there was a body that was removed from the cemetery after it was buried, and it was never recovered?

Right. Correct. Okay, that's terrifying within itself. Right?

But that was a regular thing, though, during that time. I thought that I read something about, you know, it was a way to make money. It was. This would be within the 1800s, I can't remember the exact year, early 1800s, early 1900s, and it was a very common thing.

You know, too, there is a road that went between the two hills, so it was a main road that was used for, oh, man, where they would, oh, the word's escaping me. Not mud, but, you know, hold up the different stagecoaches and stuff. There was a stagecoach road right there. Well, I would guess.

It crossed near the corner of that cemetery within what now are wheat fields. Right. There was a battle there, too, but I don't remember the details on that. Huh.

Lots of interesting stuff there. But, so, coming back to her house, though, here real quick, so I can remember it all, because there's a lot. So, first we did the cemetery thing, and then later on that night, now, well, there's a couple stories about that night. One of them was, see, she had been having an issue in her room where, well, the whole downstairs, actually, you know, she'd have things come off of her walls or the shelves, I guess.

And then there was a figure that stood at the end of her bed. This is you, Lynn, that has all this? Yes. Okay.

Yeah, it was, my room was in the basement of this house. And a lot of this activity was centered in the basement itself as a whole. And then the figure she's talking about was a hooded shadow figure, like, you know, just maybe five and a half, six feet tall, all shadow, but you could tell it was, you know, shrouded with like a cloak and a hood. And it stood by my bed.

I woke up, and it was getting to be daylight, so it was dawn. There was light in the room coming from the small window. And it was just this pitch black figure, and it was just staring at me. I woke up, and it was just staring at me.

I was just going to add that it caused a furious feeling of dread. Right. See, and what was shocking, or I don't know what the right, I guess just shocking, was that when she told me that I had been also having those experiences where there are these exact same thing, the shrouded shadow person that I was constantly seeing in my house. So to hear her have this experience, this was something that we had just then shared with each other.

It was really, it was really compelling, you know. And then with the negative energy and stuff, I decided that I would try to take photographs just to see if anything would come up. And I remember I was in the basement alone, and there were several soda cans that came flying off the shelf, and I was terrified. This was in your house or in Lynn's?

Mine. Okay. Yeah, in the basement, right in front of her bedroom door, looking at this set of stairs. And I had ended up taking photographs of that set of stairs.

And sure enough, in the photos, there was a figure that came up in the photo. To me, it was a man. It looked like a soldier, and he had a skull face. It was terrifying.

Yeah, that's, see, it's terrifying. That's, that goes beyond being unsettled between the hooded shadow person and then to capture a picture that you're able to identify that in a photograph is, yeah, that's terrifying. Yeah, it definitely made it all more real. You know, it's experiences like this, for me, that really solidify that this stuff is made up.

It's not just somebody having an experience and misconstruing it for something paranormal. Through all these experiences, Lynn was with me. I was with her. And so to let that sink in, you know, to me, that's proof enough.

Okay, so both of your opinions, do you think that this bearded individual that you saw had anything to do with previous experiences, or do you maybe think that's just another chapter in all these events that have been happening in your life? Or do you think maybe it's all linked together somehow? I think it's, in a sense, it's just another chapter, but it's linked in the sense that somehow we are, at the very least, occasionally sensitive to some of these things, and we have our own experiences. It's not something that we naturally talk about a whole lot, but then when we'll talk about it to each other, all of a sudden the other's been having almost the exact same thing pop up in their lives.

And it's happened both ways, where I told her something, and she's like, Oh my goodness, this happened to me, and vice versa. Right. Yeah, it's definitely, I don't know, I don't even know what the right word is for it, but comforting, though, at the same time. You know, because with having all the experiences that I have had, you know, I don't talk about all of it too much, but, you know, over the past year, I've been opening up about a lot of it.

And it's one of those things where if you were to look at everything on a piece of paper, you'd be like, There's no way. There's no way this person has actually experienced all these things. But I think I've only been alone a small handful of times while I've experienced this stuff. And so it's comforting to know that I'm not alone and that somebody else has experienced this too.

And like I said, she's four hours away. Right. And to experience the same thing, you know, it's validating. Well, this is really what I find probably the pinnacle of fascination is that it's the two of you and that you are experiencing very similar activity or actually witnessing the same activity together.

And that in itself is, I really can't come up with the right word to describe what that actually means to telling these stories is when there's two individuals that can focus and witness and experience the same thing. Right. When, If I may, you've had a recent happening over at your house, and I will share my side of it, again, you know, it can be edited out if you don't want it in that recording. That's quite all right.

So anyways, things kind of paused for both of us for a while. I became a mom, I moved around. I was still having experiences here and there, but things really died down for a long time. I thought that things were going to kind of remain that way until my children got older.

And I never spoke to them about my experiences or the things that I've seen or anything in particular, just because I was hoping that if you ignore it, maybe it will just go away. Maybe it'll never come back. Maybe it'll never have to deal with it. You know, maybe this is the last serious time in my lifetime and I'll be OK.

That was until they told me on different occasions, my older children, that they see the same hooded figure that my sister and I saw. I never spoke about it again, you know, ostrich, bury your head in the dirt and maybe it'll all go away. It was an isolated incident. It really hasn't happened since.

And then on a conversation that my sister and I were having, I don't know, about a month ago, two weeks ago? Yeah, it was just a few weeks ago. I just blazed over it because it wasn't my personal experience. It was something that I was told and it brought up some old memories.

My stepson is having a problem with being afraid of the dark. And he was talking to me about it. And he told me that one of the reasons he was afraid of the dark was because he woke up one night and there was a hooded shadow figure standing in his room at the foot of his bed, staring at him. And I tried to excuse it away.

I tried suggesting, you know, oh, well, maybe it was just shadows caused by a light outside, you know, going through all the rational experiences that I possibly could. And I guess I was kind of hoping that it was just a child's overactive imagination. But every suggestion I came up with, he shot it down with perfect logic. There was no light in the backyard.

There was no this. There was no that. There was no other way to explain it. And I have no doubt it's exactly what my sister and I have seen and what my nieces have seen.

Right. You know, and it's interesting because the way even the children describe it is the exact same way that we remember seeing it when we were, you know, younger. And it's, that's, again, too, it's absolutely hair-raising, you know, because to think that it, you know, well, number one, to experience it at the same time. And then for it to go away.

And then, you know, for our children to experience it without them knowing about it was also very, it's very shocking, you know. And then we had went on as well in the same conversation that we're having about it. And I can't help but feel, or, you know, I think you feel the same way, that something's changed. Yeah, there, you can definitely feel a change in the wind, if you, if you wanna call it that.

Because for the last number of years, it's kind of felt like, like some barrier's been up or some switch has been turned off, where I haven't had any of these experiences. And it really feels like there's almost this faint electric feel to things, heralding a change. Like things are going to go back to the way they were when I was a teenager. Right.

Again, same here. Same here. Wow, I find that just absolutely fascinating that, you know, there's, there's a string connection between all of you, including your, your own family that experiences the same shadow figure being. You know, I have done, you know, a small amount of research into the shadow beings, and I think with most entities, we have something over them that they cannot get access to us unless you give them permission to.

And they will try intimidation. They will try the scare tactic. But if you say no, no means no. And I think what you did with, you know, in the basement by saying what you said out loud, this is your space.

I've got my space. You cannot mess with me or my family. And you put the law down. They know they cannot cross that boundary.

And maybe if you continue with that voice, even if you're at home alone, just you voice that, by the way, this is my space and you are not allowed in this space. You know, I don't know that it's a respect that they would have for you. But I think they have an understanding that, OK, it is a boundary we won't be able to get into. But I don't know what your feeling is on that.

That makes a certain amount of sense. And certainly you hear a lot of tales of people having issues with things like poltergeists or other experiences, what have you. And some of these things just won't go away. And it's hard to tell sometimes why.

Right. You know, some people just have something in their voice that magically, you know, gets through and sets that barrier. Or, you know, is it just certain beings that listen to that? Or, you know, there's so many different options that how do you know where that line gets drawn?

And how effective that communication is going to be? Part of me feels like, like it's an energetic thing. Maybe, maybe what your vibration level is, what, you know, just what your energetic level is. Maybe, maybe you're stronger.

You're strong enough or whatever that, you know, that it just can come through. But then again, at the same time, you know, here, you know, like for me, for an example, you know, we go to the cemetery and all of a sudden you feel super peaceful. And, you know, people come into my house and I'm just like, you know, they say that there's just this feeling when they walk through the door that it kind of, I don't know, it kind of sucks you in and it makes you feel really peaceful and it makes you feel, you know. And I do a lot of spiritual work to try to create that and to create that kind of safe bubble.

But even though that's the key, you know, there's been times, like there was one morning, my second child and I woke up and we heard footsteps and a man's voice inside our house. But nobody was there. The door was locked and everything. So I don't know, you know.

I have a question for both of you. Have, have you, either one of you heard of what a ghost voice box is? That sounds vaguely familiar, but I think I need a refresher. My EVPs?

Well, yes, and how you pick up an EVP. When you listen to this recording back, I'm getting a lot of interference with very dark voices speaking. And I don't know what's bringing it across, but it's happened about three times now in this conversation. But I hear it, I hear it on my end.

Yes. So for the listeners, it's, you get to hear it for the first time too. And I don't know, it's an unusual interference, but it, it get a little, I will say that it, it kind of got very dark voice sounding. And it's not one of the two of you speaking.

It's something of another whatever. I'm listening to it right now, as a matter of fact. It's interesting. Well, that's definitely odd.

Uh-huh. Um. Nor I. I mean, I've really gotten garbled a couple of times.

Right. Where you tried to say something and it just comes through completely jumbled. Right. And then suddenly you're clear.

Right, no, there, there was a distinct between some of the interference and then this voice that I, I can't discern any statement. It's almost like it was in tongue of some sort, but it was, it was kind of unsettling listening to it. But we can. Well, it's strange because one time my sister and I were on a video call and you, you said you thought you saw something in the hallway, right?

Yes. Um, again, I don't know if it's because we're together. It could be. Um, you know, this is, you know, and this is just something that happens when we're together.

Things, things change or things happen, you know. And sometimes I get worried because there's other people that it's similar with as well. Um, and that's a lot of the reason why, you know, I don't go out and I don't meet people and I don't have a lot of friends. I don't hang out and I don't talk about my experiences.

I've, I've often feared a lot that, um, you know, um, people will just be like, you're creepy. Weird stuff happens when I'm around you. I don't want to be around you. So I don't know.

I don't know what to say, man. I guess we'll all sage when we're done. Maybe to the listeners as well. Maybe you guys should sage too.

I'm not sure. Do it. Well, uh, at studio 118 here, it's a very well protected and it's protected to the point where I've had, you know, Jennifer, the same comments here. It's the second they walk through the door, there's a sense of calm and peace here.

This house has been cleaned. Yes, mine too, recently as well, even today. Well, I guess I'm the weak link here because I'm outside. So I actually had a little bit of peace and quiet from my house because I got a full house right now and this is the only quiet place I could really sit down and have a conversation with.

So. Well, I people out there that have had experiences, they just don't know what to do with it. They really don't know what to do with it. So thank you for sharing, both of you.

It was a very telling tale. Thank you. Absolutely. You're more than welcome.