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It's time for Bob's Dare to compare. The hottest game show on TV that asks, what happens when you compare Bob's to the competition? You get style. You get quality. You get beeps and boops and dings and whops. And thousands of dollars in savings. Everyone's winner when you dare to compare with Bob's discount furniture. Shop in store at mybobs.com to play now. Welcome to Otherworld. I'm your host, Jack Wagner. This episode first came from a person named Skyla. Their experience itself is very unique, but I think the backstory leading up to that experience is almost as interesting as the story. Skyla is adopted and grew up in rural Appalachia with a big blended family. Skyla told me that they experienced a lot of frightening paranormal things when they were a little kid. Basically, just a constant barrage of little experiences. And it made them very scared. Skyla told me that they basically kept this to themselves and didn't talk to anybody about it. Partly because Skyla didn't want to stick out anymore than they already did as an adopted kid in rural Appalachia. That changed, however, when they met Gabby, who eventually became Skyla's adopted sister. Gabby also experienced a lot of frightening stuff as a kid. But Gabby, on the other hand, was very vocal about it. These two quickly formed a bond over being adopted, but also their experiences with the paranormal. And I really love that backstory. So even though Gabby and Skyla both had their own childhood experiences, they never experienced anything together. And as they grew up and moved away from their home, they kind of stopped talking about this stuff as you do when you get older. However, that all changed when the COVID-19 lockdown happened. And it brought them both back to their childhood home in a very isolated area of the Appalachian Mountains. It was there that they finally first talked about this stuff as adults and both experienced something together for the very first time. This is episode 93. The title is Gabby and Skyla. And you're listening to Otherworld. Hello? Is this Bobby? What is it? At that it's core, the science, you can't argue it. You don't have a story about a science. It's up in the sky. It's almost frustrating not to have a mission. Yes, I'm gonna die of budget. It's wins. We're just like wrong. Everybody moves back into the light, even if it takes a minute. MUSIC My name is Skyla. I'm 25. I'm originally from the Appalachian Mountains in a really small farm in the Appalachian Mountains. It's really secluded. The nearest grocery store was like 30 minutes away. No friends lived near me. My best ride was two hours. Every morning to get to school, 5 a.m. Yeah, my family is very blended. My dad adopted me when he was 22 years old. And I'm the oldest of seven siblings. My family is really complicated. Three half siblings. I have some siblings that aren't related to me. The youngest is Emerson. Then Addie, Gabby, then Verity, and then me. I'm the oldest Skyla. And then I have two siblings who don't live with me. Ireland and Canada. I have a biological mother who I don't speak to anymore. A stepmother who I'm still in contact with but doesn't live with us. But right now it's just us and my dad. My dad is a single father. So Gabby is one of my sisters. She came to us in elementary school. She was the best friend of my sister Verity. And she's adopted. And I'm adopted as well. I think that she was really bonded from the beginning on that aspect. She also had a lot of issues with her biological mother. Issues with substance abuse in her family. It got to a point where, you know, she was spending almost every day at our house. She became almost like a sister to me even before she was officially emancipated. Like we always thought of her as part of the family. We're really lucky to have her as an addition to our family. And I feel sometimes she feels a little like an outsider. And I can kind of relate to that experience as well since we're both adopted. But we're very lucky to be in the situation that we're in now. So I'm very grateful for her. I grew up in a really dense forested, woodsy area. It was really magical growing up there. But, you know, my parents are kind of hippies. So there's a difference in outlook with the people there. We got bullied a lot. We got told we were going to go to hell because we don't go to church. You know, just classic sort of southern Baptist mentality. But no parent is perfect, but our life is extremely ideal. I'm so lucky to have lived in the place that I lived. But there was also a lot of sadness and loneliness when it came to experiencing the paranormal stuff. Because I really, I didn't want it to happen, you know? Like I wasn't like searching for it. I wanted to be able to sleep at night. I wanted to not like feel like I had to go in my dad's room every night and wake him up and tell him that I was scared. You know, I had this experience where there would be like stomping on the bottom of my floor. Or like a party being thrown under my floorboards. My bed shook a lot. I had like a lot of experiences with my bed shaking, my doorknob shaking. Like really loud experiences, but no one else would hear it. It almost felt kind of like an attack from a really early age. There was a lot of fear based in it. It was almost every night where I couldn't sleep. And this is important because when Gabby came into our lives, we really bonded in our shared experience with the other realm and our gross experiences. So my name is Gabby. I'm actually from like the depth of the Appalachian Mountains that kind of live in a small town. I mean, I actually met Skyla when their family moved here and I became best friends with her younger sister. So this would have been about third grade. I didn't really have the best home life, you know, so eventually her parents ended up adopting me into their family. And that's when Skyla and I got like super duper close. I started seeing spirits when I was like three years old. So it's been like sporadic throughout my life, but Skyla was like the first person that I ever opened up to about it. But I think that that was because we both were like in that familiar kind of like we're stepping into like a life that's kind of like already in motion almost or like, you know, like they could choose to just like disappear at any point, which sounds kind of like fucked up. I think that's the fact of the matter. It's like, what is this person going to accept me if I open up about these things or just think I'm some like lunatic, you know. But that was like the one person that I was able to express a lot of this stuff with. And yeah, so we met, you know, as children, you know, we've kind of like over the years, always in some way or another than near each other. I was quiet about it because I felt a little bit like an outsider, but mostly because I was acutely aware of the fact that of how it was perceived. But Gabby has always been forthcoming with her experiences and she really got bullied because of it in our school, which is exactly what I was afraid of and that's exactly why I didn't say anything to a lot of people. So when I met Gabby, it was like an instant connection in that way. And I felt really safe expressing myself about those things and yeah, it was a huge relief. So a few years ago, I started experiencing something strange out of the corner of my eye. I'd see something kind of crawling on the ground, a shadow, just kind of out of the corner of my eye, I never put too much like energy into it. It is strange when something's kind of crawling around, because especially in the house that I was in, I was like, was that an animal or like a mouse or something, you know. After my mind goes, I'm scared of something that I'm going to have to call someone to get rid of. So, you know, I started seeing this thing out of the corner of my eye crawling. The first time that I really got a sense of like what it was, I was waking up. I heard something crawling around in my room, you know, like dragging itself around. I hear like a voice say they're waking up, like shh, they're waking up, they're waking up. I open my eyes and I see it dart into like the corner of my room, which was dark at the time. I'd say it's like the size of a medium-sized dog, like a black figure on all fours, but there were these like tendrils coming off of its head, like an axolotl. It didn't have like a face of an axolotl, just like the three tentacles coming off the side of its head hunched over, like just darting into the corner of my room. So, you know, that really freaked me out. I like have experiences where I see things a lot, but I don't have things really talk to me, or if they do talk to me, you can't really understand what they're saying, it's like shh, shh, shh, shh. Like that, though, like to hear something so clearly, say like Skyla's waking up, they're waking up, and like laughing and giggling, and then just running off into the corner of the room, it really jarred me a little bit. The second time, same thing I was waking up, and it was a voice again, but this time there was a second voice. So, I wake up, as I'm waking up, I hear, they're waking up, they're waking up, but then I hear laughing from two individuals. So, this time it darts to the left and like into my closet, both of them. This happened at least once a week, but continued to happen up until COVID, and the last time that I had an experience with it was in my opinion. The most intense for me, when I was in my room one night, I was just relaxing in my bed, reading a book, and I see it out of the corner of my eye, dart in the corner once again. You know, I acknowledge it in my head, and I kind of move on, and then I feel something crawl onto the bed and try to touch my leg. I was scared because it had like gone past, just darting around in my room and gone on my bed and like touched my leg. And I had never had an entity try to touch me before, so I was definitely scared. I was more so angry, like I was annoyed that it like had crossed that boundary, and that's when I had to make a boundary with it and just say you're not allowed to touch me. I was like very short with it, and I was like, you know, I didn't get the feeling that it kind of like ran away with its tail in between its legs. It was just, it kind of just kind of took a step back. A little bit after that, I hadn't really thought about it until one or two weeks later. I woke up one morning, I came down the stairs, I came in the kitchen, and Gabby's boyfriend is there, making breakfast, and I asked him how his night was. He looked a little scared, and he told me that he didn't sleep very well last night because he woke up in the middle of the night and saw something crawling around in his room, like a shadow. And instantly I'm like, I know, I know exactly what he's talking about, but I didn't really say anything. I just kind of let him keep talking, and he's telling me about how he woke up, he saw this thing dart around in the room and crawl around in the room on all fours. And he went to go wake up Gabby, and Gabby's like half asleep, and he's like, do you see that, do you see that? And she's like, yeah, I see there's something crawling around right there and points exactly where it is. He's like, what is it? And she's like, I don't know, but it feels like a child, it feels like it has child-like energy. And that's exactly how it presented itself to me, like it felt like a trickster, it felt very child-like, it felt not negative or mean or like an oppressive force. And she comes out as he's finishing the story, and she tells me the same thing. She was like, oh yeah, there was something in our room last night, and that's when I told her, I was like, I know exactly what it is. It's been following me around, and yeah, that was the first time that it was validated for me, and it was validated in a really funny way, because it had gone away from me. And then went to Gabby, which it made sense, because it was almost like Gabby was the closest person that would also be able to see it, you know. So this would have been 2020, I want to say, the COVID shutdown had just happened. Yeah, we were all kind of like living at my dad's house at that point, we were all like, screw this, like most of my siblings were living in the city. And so like my dad luckily had enough space, so we all just kind of like quarantined together there on his farm, and my partner at the time was actually included. And so we were like laying in bed one night, and I remembered like hearing his heart start beating really quickly. I remember that was the first thing, I was like laying on his chest, and I like hear his heart start beating really fast, and that kind of like wakes me up, and he's like, like Gabby, Gabby, are you awake. And so of course I like kind of opened my eyes and he's like I'm pretty sure there's something crawling on the ground. Like over there, and like he didn't really point to where it was, but as soon as I like turned my head up I looked down and I see this thing kind of just like on all fours, you know, like crawling towards me. I mean I would say it was probably like maybe like a 12 year old child size, like I would say like a small kid, and that's also why I was like, I told him I was like, it feels like a child, like I don't really know that you're supposed to be scared of it. Like, but it almost looked like it had like a dark, like you could see a body underneath it, but there was like this translucent cloth, like kind of draped over its face. You know what I'm saying? You could see a body underneath this like translucent cloth that kind of draped over it. And I also, yeah, like I think I remember like as I got closer I could start to see features in it, but I was kind of just like at that point I could tell how scared he was. So I was kind of like in my own, like in my head being like I need you to go away, like it's time for you to like leave us alone. And then it did like I don't really know that he slept much more that night, obviously, but those things kind of occur, they happen to me a lot. So I've at this point I've kind of able to like disassociate from them enough to be able to just be like, okay, like I know I'm protecting myself, because that's kind of your only like power against them. I just feel like, no, like I'm holding my own, you can't affect today, you know what I mean? To me, I was like, wow, this is crazy, like I'm having these experiences, this experience validated me and Gabby would talk about things, but we have kind of separate ways of accessing the world. I kind of feel and hear more where she can see things more. When we have similar experiences we get excited, even though they're slightly different, like I get excited about hearing what she sees, she gets excited about hearing what I see. I think she's way better at believing me than I was of believing her at first because she would tell me things that were kind of hard to believe. Oh, I saw a man that had gunshot holes in it or I saw someone with burnt skin, I don't have that sort of experience. So when I was younger I'd be like, oh, I think she's kind of making it up. And it wasn't until we were locked down and we had the experiences that we had where I was like, okay, well, I know now that Gabby, we saw the same thing and it showed up as a shadow for me. And she actually saw what it was, so now I know that she has more of the ability to see things rather than feel and hear things. I want to say maybe a few months later we were sitting in the dining room and I was cutting Gabby's hair. You know, we were watching a video on YouTube of something so ridiculous, like people meditating and attempting to spin an object under a glass dome. So you take up toothpick, you put take a piece of tin foil. It's kind of like light as a feather, civ as a board kind of activity, you know. We were going through all these like random like videos on this woo woo website and I was low key making fun of a lot of stuff that was happening. And we came across this video of this, these people like moving stuff with their cheat. So like it's like your soul energy like I essentially kept trying to concentrate it and then you'll like move things, you know. So we were like, okay, let's see if this actually works. And so we went into my room and we had like set up this like little thing, you essentially take like a toothpick and tin foil, make like crumple it up or something and like stick it on the toothpick. And then the toothpick is supposed to essentially just like be like a pivot point for your ball of 10 foil. So we go in her room and we meditate, we're like grounding ourselves before doing this exercise and still not really putting too much energy into it. We're kind of like joking around about it. We're like, this can't be real. But yeah, we are meditating grounding ourselves. We set up the contraption, we put our hands around it. And at first we see like the tin foil moving like a little bit. We're kind of like, that was weird. Maybe it was the wind. We put the glass over it. We're like, close all the windows, you know, it's completely contained in this little glass, you know. And we put our hands over it and it starts spinning the tin foil does like around the on the toothpick. So it starts spinning and we're like, what the hell? And right in that moment, we hear this noise above us. And it's like, it was so strange because I had so much adrenaline. I didn't really notice it at first. And I hear, I hear it and I'm like, whoa, whoa, Gabby, Gabby, wait, do you hear that noise? And Gabby's like, yeah, yeah, and she makes the same noise. She's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Alright, I'm just going to jump in here and explain this experiment that they're doing. They actually sent me the original video of it. The person in the video basically takes a piece of paper or aluminum foil and balances it on a pin. They then put a big glass bowl over that to stop any wind from interfering with this piece of paper or aluminum that's balancing. They even use a blow dryer to demonstrate that air is not making its way into the bowl and affecting the movement of this little piece of paper. The person in the video then takes their hands and kind of hovers it over the bowl like you would with a crystal ball or something like that. And they apparently focus their energy, their Qi energy, and the paper starts to slowly move. It starts spinning very slowly. It was like, think of like a bell. If someone took a bell and then like, drug that bell out like... But yeah, I like, I thought I was like hearing like a phone or something, you know, but then we both acknowledged like no one else was even at the house that day. I think we were there alone. And so we were like, is like someone in the driveway? Like, I remember us like looking out. So like in the windows to see if anyone was like parked in the driveway and no one was there. I was like looking around, I was like, where is that coming from? Because it felt like it was all around us in the room and it felt like it was above us. So I was looking up and I was looking around and I look out the window and I see a shadow about the height of the doorknob standing outside. And I'm like, well, get me. I just saw a shadow. And of course, you know, when we look over, it's not there anymore. But I honestly was really like, oh, whatever. I try not to put too much stock into those sorts of things. I didn't really think anything of it. So we go out to go smoke a cigarette and go outside of her door. And as we're passing the front door, it's slightly cracked open. And I'm just ahead of her. And she like stops for a second. And that was the first time I completely saw the blood drain out of someone. I got like a feeling that somebody was behind the door, you know. And so I like turned to look and the door like at my dad's house. He'll just leave the windows and the door is like open. And yeah, so I like go to pass the door and like kind of like turn. And in the crack of the door, the door is just cracked about like this much. I see just like the corner of an eye and like a beard kind of peeked behind the crack of the door, you know. And my first assumption was that it was my dad because he'll like try and scare us like he'll put like masks on and like climb up on the roof like knock on windows and stuff. And so my first assumption I was like, Oh, that's Kevin messing with me. And so I like ran up to it. I remember like kind of bolting at it. And like I grabbed the door handle and kind of like swing the door open more. But as I do that, that's when I acknowledged that like this thing wasn't really human. It had skin now, but it was like made up of like plants like it was like like tree bark or like leaves like almost like this like camouflage kind of a situation. And its beard was also made up of that even though it like resembled hair from like a distance like once I got up close to it. That's when I acknowledge like it was not made up of like meat or anything like that. It's like it was made out of plants. That's the best way I could explain it. But as soon as I made this acknowledgement, I was fucking horrified. I'm like literally shaking right now. But it had like a cloak on I remember that but it was like every even the cloak like it wasn't made of fabric like its entire material literally just looked like leaves and flowers and like it was almost as if it moved as it moved away. Like the shape of those like things moved with its expression and things like that but it was horrified of me. Like I remember seeing its expression so it was like, I think it was more scared of me honestly that I was of it when I opened the door at it. I just remember seeing his eyes go wide and he like grabbed himself and jumped back like this. And then it was like as he stepped back he stepped back into a wall and like disappeared. But it was like right before my eyes he was there and also gone and it was like literally as I was like that's when I was like nope I'm out of here I'm not doing this with you. I think I literally just like turned to Skyla and I remember them being like holy shit like are you okay or like you know being like what just happened. I was frantic to get to the other side of the house and I was just like I just like come with me like grabbed her and like walked out because I saw the thing go away so it wasn't like I felt like it was a continuous threat necessarily. But I do remember like going outside and kind of just like freaking out for a second until I was able to be like you don't even fucking understand like this thing was crazy. And I'm like what happened to like what is going on because like one second I'm getting chills thinking about I'm like one second I thought my dad was out there and now I'm like who was that like is there an intruder or something you know. And she was like no it was you don't have to worry we need to go on the other side of the house and I need to smoke a cigarette because I'm going to lose my mind. The craziest thing about that's right to me was the fact that it was scared of her like I had never experienced something like that I didn't know those things could be scared of like humans. So that was really strange to me that it like jump like it was surprised like I didn't know those they could feel like kind of emotion you know what I mean. So I still think about that aspect of it all the time. When I ran at it I think is also what scared me because I was like oh shit I just almost ran into the arms of whatever that thing was. Because I thought it was my dad messing with me so like when the door was cracked and I just saw this like little face poking through I just saw the beard and like one eye. And like maybe like the tip of a nose you know but like I was like at first sight I was like oh that's Kevin ran at it. Grab the door handle and like push the door the rest of the way open and I come face to face with this thing. And so I'm like looking at it and that's when like I see that he's scared and I'm like you can't come in and like. But it was like as I went to close the door he just like stepped back again and was like gone. I honestly have no idea what this thing and I haven't seen anything like it since then either. My sibling like pointed out that it's like the green man but I was like I don't really know. I've seen like the beard that's like the green man with the big beard but he didn't necessarily look like that either. And then I thought like maybe like a leprechaun but like that's like ridiculous it's like. It's definitely not that so I don't really like. I mean at this point I'm just like yeah that was super weird I don't know what else to do with it other than just be like I know it happened. That's all I can really say. Alright we'll be right back after this quick break. This episode is brought to you by Ford. I know you've heard it a million times but when it comes to car care there's nothing more important than maintenance. Instead of waiting for a problem to arise getting ahead of things and keeping up with routine checks and balances can truly extend the life of your car. And as a Ford owner there are lots of choices of where you can get your vehicle serviced. You can choose to go to their place the local dealership or your place like your home apartment condo and workplace. 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I'm Jim Costa and I'm cash the ticket Mike Valenti and I give you the edge to make every game playable at college football NFL we're breaking it all down game by game your podcast feed is going to be filled and you're going to love it. You can click on the games you care about. We do it all with our analysis we're fighting games that other people aren't talking about. We're turning every Saturday and every Sunday in the days where you got a chance to win. Don't you sit on the sidelines cash the ticket with us follow cash the ticket in the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Other world is sponsored by rocket money. I love rocket money I use it myself to keep track of all my bills and accounts. Rocket money is a feature where if you think you might be paying too much on a certain bill you can have rocket money try to negotiate a lower price for you. 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I am completely kidding do not do that but theoretically rocket money could help you do that if you wanted to but once again do not do that rocket money has over 5 million users and has saved a total of 500 million in canceled subscriptions saving members up to $740 a year when using all of the apps features stop wasting money on things you don't use cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to rocket money.com/otherworld that's rocket money.com/otherworld this episode is sponsored by quince it's been a busy season of events and travel and honestly just making the show my wardrobe has been taking a beating a total overhaul isn't in my budget but I have been replacing some of it one at a time with affordable high quality essentials from quince quince has all the seasonal must haves like cashmere sweaters for $50 100% European linen shirts and versatile active wear the best part all quince items are priced 50 to 80% less and similar by partnering directly with top factories quince cuts out the cost of the middleman and passes the savings on to us and quince only works with factories that you safe ethical and responsible manufacturing practices along with premium fabrics and finishes we just redid our bedroom which I've been putting off for a really long time and I got some European linen sheets from quince I've never had linen sheets before they're amazing I don't think I'm ever going back we also got some new curtains from quince also European linen all of this made our room look 10 times better I'm kicking myself for not doing this sooner but I'm really glad that I did so go to quince.com/otherworld for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns that's quinc.com/otherworld to get free shipping and 365 day returns quince.com/otherworld a week later as I was passing that same door it's around the same time of night this was like 11pm so both times my whole family is still awake my dad's gardening upstairs in our like little grow tent that we have with all his like tropical plants and yeah I was just walking upstairs the door was cracked open again like it always is when it's warm out I look outside the window and there's like something really tall it's tall and it has flower petals all over its face like its face is made out of flower petals and only a few feet away but its face kind of took up the whole crack of the door you know so I can't really tell how far away it was flower petals made up its entire face so the absence of flower petals made its eye like there was not like anything fleshy to it like there was just a gap in the petals that was eye shaped the facial structure just was made up by petals but it also extended past the head so it almost was like petals created like a crown too this time the thing it was not scared of me this time it was like staring at me like what are you gonna do kind of thing it was really beautiful the only thing scary about it was just like you feel outmatched like you feel like you this isn't human so the capabilities that it has are boundless you know so you feel so small in that moment that's the only reason why it's scary but it was really beautiful and I don't think it was threatening at all it's just threatening in the way that you just know that it's different from you and you don't know how to handle it you know and I had the feeling is though it was this is gonna sound so strange but it felt like it's like the other things higher up it felt like it was checking to make sure everything was good after us seeing that and after us being kind of mean to it like it felt like it was kind of watching us to make sure we weren't volatile of this I don't know this is that's just the feeling that I had I can't really explain why I had that feeling but I thought I knew stuff about like the spirit world until I experienced that because that just completely blew everything I knew out of the water and the fact that me and Gabby experienced together I'm very grateful for because if it was just me I'd probably never talk about it again because I would just feel like this is knowing no one is going to believe me you know but the fact that we experienced it together that was really validating for me Shortly after Skyla did mention this like tall but like a taller version of this thing I remember her being like dude like I'm pretty sure I saw another one of those things that you were talking about like it had plants on its face the same way that you describe the other thing but it was like this one was like flowered and it was taller you know like people talk about the green man or whatever I'm like if you're seeing multiple that are made up of the same things maybe they're just like tree spirits of some sort I do know that my dad like offers weird like fairy things like milk and honey and stuff I'm like you don't do that like you don't want to do that It was like at a dinner one night and Skyla's boyfriend had a friend come over and he was like like there's all kinds of weird shit that's like happened in this house and started you know going about things that like he had experienced with Skyla I get into the story about the green man you know I just call him like the plant guy you know essentially that's when we were like we were all sitting down at dinner we're all having this conversation about it We're like yeah like this super weird thing happened and my dad just is like looking at this like laughing and he's like yeah like I offered like the the tree fairies like all these like milk and honey and I gave them berries He's like that's what the altar out behind my bedroom window is and we're like are you serious and he's like yeah and so we like went out like later on and like looking at it and sure enough he has like this like little plate and like there's some burnt up candles just from where I guess he's like lighting them and he'll like offer them goods like bits of cheese and stuff like this and I guess he started doing this when they were young kids So it's like not something he does I guess every single day but he'll do it you know I guess around the time he's wanting to harvest food and stuff like that it's just like good luck you know you ask the like tree entities to or like the forest entities I guess in general to you know gift you with like a bountiful harvest or whatever and then you offer them something in return that's like the other reason why I think it was peaking like I think it was wanting to see if the coast was clear almost for it to come inside which I think is awesome maybe why I was so scared of it like because it was like on its way through the door you know like I said like with how much these kinds of things have happened you kind of you learn to almost disassociate from them like it's almost like like you know that it happened but you can't really like dread dread on it you know because like you will start to make yourself like go crazy or just like not really be able to function you know so I think really we both kind of were like wow that was really you know crazy but you can't really do much more than that you know like when these things happen it's kind of like you find the time to process it you know in the best way that you can and luckily we had each other to kind of like bounce ideas off of and like be like if you didn't feel scared and I didn't feel scared then like maybe we're fine but yeah I think you just kind of have to be like alright we're not going to take this with me around everywhere you know you kind of have to like let it go and just live your life when Gabby came I always tell Gabby she saved my life because you know I felt so singular in my experience our experiences were different but it was nice to like know someone that was willing to talk about that stuff at all you know what I mean so that was very validating to me and I think what we experienced over lockdown really really healed me almost completely because you know I'm experiencing it with the person that helped me realize that I wasn't crazy but also like we're experiencing things that are just so hard to rationalize and really feeling like someone believes you fully is a feeling that I cannot like describe like it just feels so nice to know that someone fully believes you and is just right there with you and you know is just really interested in the story that you have to tell so yeah like that's why I'm able to open up now a little bit is because I don't really need too much validation from other people anymore because I know now what I experienced is real and that's really all that I need to like I need for myself which is a really really good feeling now I accepted myself a lot more but it was through those experiences seeing that happened to Gabby seeing how she owns it so much now and my relationship with her I mean she genuinely saved my life I can't like we tell each other that all the time every time we hang out we're like you save my life I love you so much like we would be feel so alone if I hadn't met her there's really I can't say enough good things about her hey this is Jack from other world hi Jack how are you I'm good how are you doing I'm well thanks so as I'm sure you know I've spoken to two of your kids at this point Skyline Gabby and they've told me about some pretty strange things they experienced at your home around the property and they also told me that you might have some insights potentially about this as well I was just wondering how long you've lived there and what your experiences have been about this this area so I've lived in Appalachia all my life southern Appalachia for the last 30 years we live about as remotely as you can get in this side of the country which you know I mean the closest town to us is 30 minutes away so it's not terribly far but it's it's pretty remote it's a dense very diverse forest you know the old term haulers is very real here you can you can hide away especially in the summertime I mean you know as a fair amount of deep-seated lore and mystery especially again where we live which is you know pretty far out and about and that have I had weird experiences I mean I definitely refer to Gabby and and Skyla is my two little weirdos that seems to be a lot more attuned to things on the edge or you know the other world than than most people it's it's hard to say if I have or have not because I've lived in all my life and so what might seem like a foreign a mysterious experience to others is so you know it's so such a constant for me I mean I've heard all sorts of amazing noises that come out of the forest I've seen shadows I've seen lights that shouldn't have existed I've seen that has lots of experiences in terms of you know the potential of being or character that Skyla and Gabby saw no no I've not I mean they all had visual experiences and very visual experiences that I have it not certainly in our home or right near it but they they told you what they saw right like this like this forest being absolutely yeah would you did that sound familiar to you at any way or like would you think the energy of it definitely sounds familiar the the shape the visual representation not so much because I don't have a struggle in believing in you know spirit entities goes whatever you might want to call them you know very fair it's all very real to me but you know the fact they felt it is familiar to me if that makes any sense yeah tell me about this altar I heard you have what that is and why you started well I'm not sure which one they're referring to we've got one altar in the house which is just a bunch of found objects from mostly from the forest or around the property also some artifacts that we found here they might be referring to that one I'm not sure if they know you have multiple altars oh they definitely do there's the one that's that's the one in the house there's one in my bedroom that might be more specifically that they're referring to is you know a little bit more of my personal collection of things that feel important to me that connects me this altar space they're probably referring to is directly in front of a big window and that's across from my bed and the window looks right out into the forest when I reach towards something that people might refer to as a prayer it's into those woods and it's out the window and into those woods specifically and so I'm in conversation with what you know anybody might might describe as being in conversation with their God their prayer it's with the things that are existing in the in that forest and so you know it doesn't surprise me at all that you know when I am in a space of like being in prayer being like I need some support I need some help I need clarity on you guidance whatever that might look like it's to those things that are in the forest that I don't need to give shape to but it's very much you know I'm in a constant conversation you know any of the fairies or or elses in the woods that might be there to listen to me and so that they actually came across one of those those beings it actually isn't surprising because I'm probably the one that's you know most likely the one that invited that into our space or that it had some connection or sense of you know liberty because like I said I'm the I'm I'm in constant conversation with most likely with the kinds of beings that they had had that interaction with when I think of you know forest creatures I think of I think of beings that are a little bit more light-hearted and whimsical and looking to play rather than you know there being some foreboding or serious message mechanism that's you know that's there but my feeling my sense of it is more that the thing just wanted to play just wanted to engage and took a shape that would get their attention perhaps or just took a shape that felt fun or funny to take in that moment but I have no idea I have no idea what that what that might have been I am so fascinated with the space between the mystery of it all the things that we don't know and you know one of the reasons why I love where I live especially in the summertime you know you look across into the forest and it is just so dense you just don't even know what's going on 10 feet beyond the forest stage you know when you've got miles and miles of you know forest between you and the next person anything could be happening I love the mystery of I love the excitement of it doesn't make me anxious or afraid at all makes me more anxious to think that everything is answered so yeah all right thank you so much to Skyla Gabby and their dad Kevin for speaking to me and telling this story I really don't know what it was that they saw together but the description of it was something that I have not been able to stop thinking about ever since I spoke to them to me it sounds almost like a gnome type guy a small man but made out of moving leaves and organic material it's really so strange to me I've never heard anything like it before not only that when I hear stuff like this it kind of strikes me as something that's a little too strange to be fake it's like beyond the scope of what someone could even fabricate if they were to concoct some kind of tall tale it's just bizarre I hadn't really heard anything like it until speaking to these two and then of course Skyla ends up seeing another thing some sort of organic forest-based creature shortly after except this one's tall and made out of flowers is all just so weird and intriguing one thing Skyla and Gabby casually mentioned to me after I stopped recording the interview is that their house was built on not one but two graveyards apparently one graveyard is very old and another one is more recent you know I'm not sure if this has anything to do with what they saw but it does seem like something that would have been worth mentioning to me in the interview I was cracking up when they told me this it's just such a huge reveal maybe not mentioning details like this is something that runs in their family because Gabby and Skyla seemed equally surprised when they found out their skeptical dad has had secret altars and some sort of regular practice of worshiping forest spirits of some kind something he never mentioned to them until it got brought up at some sort of dinner where they had to guess there is folklore from around that area of something called the green man that sounds quite similar to what they saw but Skyla and Gabby did not seem to make that connection themselves they know about the green man and thought this was maybe something else a big factor in releasing stories like this on other world is the hope that maybe somebody listening will have experienced something similar and end up writing in with their own experiences maybe that will happen with this story and we could get more information down the line I really hope so because this was such an interesting one for me and I think maybe it barely scratched the surface that brings us to the end of this episode so much once again to Skyla Gabby and Kevin for sharing the story this has been episode 93 the title is Gabby and Skyla and you've been listening to other world is executive produced and hosted by myself Jack Wagner. Our theme song is by Cobra Man. The soundtrack of this episode is by Juice Jackal and North Americans. This episode was edited by myself and engineered by Theo Shafer. Our artwork is by Coldusac Studios. Our associate producer is Nikki Kate Delgado. Production help by Haley Pearson. Please show us your support by subscribing, leaving a five star review and telling your friends about other world. If you want to hear bonus episodes you can become a patron at patreon.com/otherworld. Our social media is @otherworldpod. Thank you to the team at Odyssey, J.D. Crowley, Jenna Weiss-Burman, Leah Reese Dennis, Rob Miranda, Eric Donnelly, Matt Casey, Moar Curran, Josephina Francis and Hillary Shuff. Follow and listen to OtherworldNow for free on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. And finally if you or somebody you know has experienced something paranormal, supernatural or unexplained you could send us your story at stories@otherworldpod.com [Music] Pet emergencies can happen at any time. That's why veg ER for pets is open 24 hours a day including weekend and holidays. Veg has revolutionized the ER experience for pet and their own. Not only do you see an emergency veterinarian right away but there's no more waiting and worrying in a lobby. You get to stay with your pet the entire time. Veg treats all kinds of pets, dogs, cats, reptiles and exotics. Go to veg.com to find the veg ER for pets nearest you. That's veg.com
