Halloween is upon us so we deemed it necessary to do a spooky episode. Halloween is my favorite holiday. The only thing making Halloween better for me is my daughter. She loves all things spooky. Her bedtime stories are Halloween-themed, year-round. She requests to go on walks multiple times a day, just so she can see the neighborhood decor. On this week’s episode, we dive deep into urban legends, spooky Reddit stories, and the real reason you would want to accuse someone of being a witch.

Our first story comes from tightiewhities37 on Reddit:

I lived in an old apartment in 2002. The place was built in 1900, so it was just over 100 years old when I moved in. The living room and kitchen were fine, but the bathroom and bedroom we're unnerving, like I just always felt like I was being watched, especially in the bedroom if the closet door was open. Those unnerving feelings just became moderately uncomfortable as I settled in. I felt safe in the bedroom, but only if the door was locked. One night I was dead asleep when there was a loud BANG on my bedroom door. When I got up the courage to get out of bed, I checked the apartment and all the windows were closed and locked from the inside, the door still had the chain secured, no one was in there. I mentioned the closet in the bedroom, I never liked going in there, and I never liked if the door was open. For some reason, in my head I would hear gasping noises. So for that reason, the closet stayed closed.

A month or more after I was woken to the bang on my door, I was dead asleep. But something woke me up, and it was a pressure on me like being held down. It was pitch black in my room, I couldn't see anything, but I knew some was standing over me. When I could finally turn on a bedside lamp no one was there. After then I couldn't sleep in the dark, I had to sleep with a lamp on. That incident scared the life out of me. And after that the unnerving feeling of being watched intensified. Friends would come over, and comment about being uncomfortable in the bathroom like being watched. It became so uncomfortable for me, when I had the chance to move to another unit, I jumped at it. I packed up and got out.

After me, several people rented the apartment, and they would move out within months. I became friendly with the building manager, and I told him that I felt the place was haunted. He kind of laughed it off.

Years after, they were renovating the place, building manager was doing some painting in there, the building owner was there too. I went and checked out the apartment, and it looked nicer, it didn't feel as creepy. I got to talking with the building owner, and through the course of conversation he just throws it out there that a former tenant committed suicide in the closet by hanging themselves. He also mentioned that the original designer of the building lived in that apartment, and died in there. I wasn't mad when I heard that, but felt validated that what I experienced was real.

Our second story comes from Wisely Chosen on Tiktok:

For 2 years, I had a roommate who was on meds for psychosis. It was me, him, and another guy. He was fine but a little weird. We always made sure to include him in stuff because we didn’t want him to feel isolated and possibly worsen his mental state. He never blew up or anything like that, just a quiet and awkward guy. He was not a drinker. The three of is would go to the pub, but he never had more than 1 beer. This one day though, he was a little different. He seemed really chipper, much happier than ever before. Not manic or anything, just positive and energetic. When I came home from work, he was chatting with the other roommate and was cracking jokes. We go out to the pub and I get uneasy because he downs his first beer and asks for another, (The very first time he has more than one.) After he finished his second beer, I took the other roommate aside and we decided to just keep an eye on it. He was having a blast and we didn’t want to ruin his fun. Eventually, we were all 8 pints in, which was irresponsible of us, but he surprisingly handled the alcohol fine. He hit on a few girls and got some interest in return, (we had never even seen him talk to a girl before.) When he came back we just had to ask him, “Why are you so happy today?” He said he got some good news, that his father had passed away. We put it together that he didn’t have the best relationship with his dad. He went into all the abuse he’s experienced growing up, how he watched his dad beat his mom and little sister, powerless to stop him, or how he’d get tied up in the freezing garage for entire nights as punishment for tiny infractions, just awful stuff. We did a cheer to this because it looked like he was starting to find meaning in life after his abuser was gone. 2 days later, our roommate was arrested. Turns out the day he was so happy, he drove 2 hours back to his hometown and bashed his dad’s head in. The worst part is everyone came out to say that the abuse never happened, including his mom and sister, because he was apparently saying these things to the police. The story made some waves in our state as well, with the court concluding the abuse probably didn’t happen.

Story number three comes from salemwitchmuseum.com

Did you know that the Salem trials were mostly property disputes? Basically, if you wanted someone’s land, you would just accuse them of being a witch. None of the people who were accused of being a witch, and confessed to being a witch were executed. Only the people who refused to confess were executed if you confess to being a witch, then you had to give up your land.

In the seventeenth century, when boundaries between Essex County towns were still poorly defined, longstanding disagreements about property ownership were sometimes the underlying cause for witchcraft accusations between neighbors. Nowhere was it truer than in Topsfield. Bitter land disputes between residents of Topsfield and Salem Village likely impacted the tragic deaths of Mary Easty, Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Wildes, and Elizabeth How, and the imprisonment of Sarah Cloyce.

Giles Corey refused to confess and was crushed to death at 81. While crushing him, they asked him for a confession, and he responded with “more weight.” His kids were able to keep their land as a result.

His wife was not able to keep the land because she was in prison for witchcraft. You see, Giles was an asshole who supported the witch trials. He not only testified against his wife at her trial, but he also beat a man to death in his youth. His wife, Martha Corey, was later hanged with Mary Easty.

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