Will You Survive... The Podcast
Immerse yourself in the world of cinema as we embark on a journey to equip you with the skills to tackle any disaster head-on. Through the lens of thrilling tales, particularly those of the zombie apocalypse, we'll unravel the secrets of preparedness. Join us as we explore the silver screen to empower you for the challenges that lie ahead.
Will You Survive... The Podcast
Will You Survive Reads Reddit Stories #1
A ghost that loathes clocks, a sugar daddy who pays well for eerie “favors,” and a Grand Canyon hike that splits a friendship—tonight’s mix blends chills, laughs, and a debate you’ll want to weigh in on. We kick off with a haunted-home confession that reads like a bad roommate story: windows thrown open in the rain, food containers mysteriously unsealed, and antique timepieces dead on arrival. It’s spooky, but it also opens a conversation about how simple sounds—ticks, drips, creaks—can haunt your head long after the lights go out.
Then we wade into a modern urban legend: a too-good-to-be-true arrangement where the money is real and the rules are stranger. Lock the door twice. Avoid faucets at specific hours. Don’t answer unless Marvin calls. If the hallway closet is open, sleep in the library. And for the love of your future, keep the TV on static. It’s folklore disguised as a checklist, and forgetting a single line triggers a razor-clean twist that reframes every errand, every message, every glance at the quiet screen.
We close by trading campfire chills for real-world stakes with an all-day Grand Canyon hike in triple-digit heat. Two trained hikers let a fitter-looking friend join late and then leave her mid-descent when she lags. Was that ruthless or responsible? We unpack safety culture, group duty, and why muscles don’t equal endurance, drawing parallels from scuba to mountain runs. The consensus: in high-risk environments, you plan, you check each other’s gear, you set turn-back points, and you don’t gamble with someone else’s margin for error.
If you love haunted stories with a human core, high-tension moral puzzles, and a few sharp laughs along the way, you’ll feel right at home. Hit follow, share with the bravest person you know, and tell us: which rule would you have broken—and which one would you never forget?
Hello, survivors, and welcome to Will You Survive Reads Reddit.
SPEAKER_02:The podcast.
SPEAKER_00:You see, I switched it up on you guys. I'm joined here by my co-hosts, Alex, and TJ. That's me. They are actually my listeners today. I'm gonna tell creepy, scary stories. Not exclusively, but mostly. I have a bunch of Reddit stories here that I want to read you guys and get your guys' opinions or thoughts on. Um, and this is in the spirit of Halloween. Let's read our first story. So this comes from uh serious Redditors who have lived in a haunted house. What are your most unexplainable paranormal experiences?
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:This person writes I lived in a house for about five years that was haunted, but not in a malicious way, in a shitty roommate kind of way. I'd come home to the windows on the second floor being open when it was raining, to food containers being open in the fridge that I hadn't touched yet. And the worst was that the ghost hated clocks. She hated them. I had antique cuckoo clocks that had worked for 50 years that would just stop. Brand new wall clocks that ate through batteries like it was candy. My watch ended up on the floor one morning, the crystal shattered, even though I knew I slept with it on. The one that pissed me off the most was that I got a brand new Kit Kat clock for Christmas, and the bitch threw it off the wall. What? I was cooking and out of the corner of my eye saw the cat freaking fly. Turned around and it was across the kitchen broken, and it was brand new. Man, she was a bitch.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, can you blame it though?
SPEAKER_00:Well, oh, that's actually funny. Some somebody said, um, uh, where did they say? Uh I can't find it, but basically there was a commenter who was saying, uh, can you blame her? I can't sleep with clocks on. I also find it funny that she knew it was a she.
SPEAKER_03:I don't like clock. I don't like clocks. Like actual, actual clocks, like grandfather clocks, cuckoo clocks, noise-making clocks.
SPEAKER_02:I it pisses me off.
SPEAKER_03:It's it's annoying. It's like it's like a drip. It would be like listening to a drip all night long. Yeah, it could be rhythmic. And I mean, I mean, a clock is gonna be rhythmic, right? But oh my god.
SPEAKER_00:That's so interesting. Do I like that? I had a fish tank in my room for a while, and I love that sound.
SPEAKER_03:That's okay. Water is okay.
SPEAKER_02:A clock, a ticking. You ever had a watch you couldn't find in your house and it would just randomly beep?
SPEAKER_00:Like every hour?
SPEAKER_02:I've literally had that happen.
SPEAKER_03:I've I've never had that particular thing happen, but I have had the I would call it, like I don't know what made the noise. I still don't know what made the noise, but it was perhaps a water heater or something. It would make that like after the metal cools on uh you know fire hitting metal, and it's that yeah, the the metal like shrinking. It just drove me out of my mind.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I yeah, I don't mind the like a ticking clock or something.
SPEAKER_03:As long as it's not like unbearably just like I feel like grandfather clocks and cuckoo clocks are that.
SPEAKER_00:Cuckoo clocks I hate. I mean, he said it was a cuckoo cuckoo. Oh yeah, I I despise cuckoo clocks. I do like a grandfather clock. I like the big chime at at 12. Now, with that said, if that goes off in the middle of the night, I am freaked out.
SPEAKER_03:But they do go off in the middle of the night, they go off every hour.
SPEAKER_00:I I had a neighborhood friend who had a giant grandfather clock, and I remember we were we were doing like uh just a late night movie night, and it hit midnight and it went off, and I was like, that is the most terrifying thing I've ever seen in my life. Like that that just made me feel so unsafe in this otherwise very safe home.
SPEAKER_03:It's uh I don't like grandfather clocks. I don't. I I think it's it's a cool concept. I think it's very cool when houses have them. I would never have one, even if I had the money to.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. And and on that note, fuck Big Ben. Big ass grandfather.
SPEAKER_00:The biggest of grandfather clocks.
SPEAKER_03:It doesn't exist.
SPEAKER_02:Doesn't exist.
SPEAKER_03:Big Ben, but it's why are you guys talking about a clock that doesn't exist? Well, the same AI.
SPEAKER_00:The same reason we talk about like Lord of the Rings or or Harry Potter.
SPEAKER_03:Or or birds.
SPEAKER_00:All those made up stories about that made up place.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Like people talk like that. Come on.
SPEAKER_03:Fine. Don't try to say aluminium.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that makes me irrationally angry. Because they're right and I hate it.
SPEAKER_03:They're not right.
SPEAKER_00:Uh next up, from the same subreddit, somebody says, My uncle's house out on a very eastern part of New York was said to be haunted due to the family that used to own it in the 1800s, decided not to give it to the stableman and stole sold it instead. He and the maid were said to have haunted the place. We always used to joke that you would hear people or things moving at night, but since the house is so old, we we used to just laugh it off. Uh, my uncle's friend had her and her sister stay over the house one night, and the friend noticed a maid bringing towels down the stairs when she woke. She saw the maid again bringing what looked like a percolator down the stairs. She was so impressed by my uncle hiring staff. He's a neurologist in New York City, so he had a habit of spending a little bit extra. She went back to bed and woke up later downstairs to see my uncle and his friend just chatting. She asked where the maid went and she thought that the maid was cooking breakfast. My uncle had no idea what she was talking about and asked what she looked like. The sister explained and he laughed, walking her to the living room and pointing to an old picture. She said that was the woman. My uncle replied, Yeah, she she's been dead for about a hundred years. Oh which I I have to say something. To just laugh and be like, Oh, you saw the ghost. I don't know if that's the reaction I would want.
SPEAKER_02:Why are all ghosts just like old ass people? Why why are they all from the 1800s? Like what I want to see some like 80s ghosts, you know?
SPEAKER_00:I would love to see a 90s ghost. Alright, moving on to our next one. Uh this one is from No Sleep. Uh and it's called My Sugar Daddy Asks Me for Weird Favors. This is a very, very popular one. TJ knows this one.
SPEAKER_03:This is a very weird very what?
SPEAKER_00:This is a very popular one. I know this one! I think Okay Wade. I I I I figured TJ would know this one. So his Tinder profile said he was 45, but he looked to be in his early 30s at most. Looking for a sugar baby.$700 weekly, no sex. It sounded too good to be true, but as a broke university student, I was willing to take my chances. I swiped right and Tinder let me know it was a match. His message came seconds later. Hey there, sweetheart, smiley face. I cringed at that word, I hated it, but$700 was$700, so I sucked it up and replied, Hey, winky face. His name was Jack, and he told me he owned his own business, although he never specified what kind of business it was. We talked for a while before he asked me for my Venmo to send me the first payment. After a few minutes, I get the notification. I stared at the$700 for at least 20 minutes, expecting to wake up from a dream at any second, but it wasn't a dream. You still there? I clicked on the message. Yeah, sorry, if you don't mind me asking, what are you looking for in return? I stared at the chat until he replied, I'm just looking for you to do a few favors for me. That sounded like it was going to be sexual to me. Like what? For example, the first thing I need you to do is pick up a delivery for me. That sounded innocent enough, but I was still expecting there to be some kind of twist.$700 to pick up a package? Come on, even I wasn't that naive. From the post office or something. No, I'll send you the address, but I'd rather not do this through Tinder. You got kick, or you can give uh or you can give me your number. Do you know what kick is?
SPEAKER_03:I I know I know of it. I don't know it.
SPEAKER_00:It was basically a place for miners to get a bunch of unsolicited nudes.
SPEAKER_03:Oh I did not know that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, there well there was like bots that like a crap towards the end of Kick's life, a crap ton of bots. Because it was mostly young people, people under 18 on kick. And there was a crap ton of bots that would just send, like it was basically like walking down the Las Vegas strip. You just get a naked picture that'd be like, hey baby.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I'm very glad that I don't know what kick is.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I kind of doubted. You're a boomer. Um how horrible would that have been if I was like, oh yeah, I know. Very familiar. Uh so they say, Kick? What was this? 2011? I decided to give him my number instead, and he texted me the address immediately, followed by the address to his house where I would have to drop off the package. I'm not home right now, but there's a key on the bottom of the blue flower pot near the door. Go inside and put the package on the coffee table in the living room. Make sure that you lock the door when you go inside the house and then lock it again when you leave. I grabbed my car keys and wallet and got into my car, putting the address into Google Maps. Got it, on my way. My phone buzzed as I backed out of the driveway. He texts, I'm serious, lock the door both times, please. I thought that was a little excessive, but I promised him that I would. The house looked abandoned. It had a broken chain link fence around it with a small door that was hanging on to dear life. It stuck out like a sore thumb, surrounded by houses that were a lot nicer than the one in comparison. You here for Jack shit? I looked up to see a man standing in the open doorway of the house. He took up almost the entire space, his head skimming the top of the doorframe. He was huge, in height and muscles, and his entire torso was covered in tattoos. Uh yeah, I I guess, I replied, not moving from my spot on the sidewalk. Stay right there, he said. I did. I actually don't think I would have moved if he had asked me to. I looked around and realized that there was no one else on this street. I was a twenty one-year-old woman alone in the street. I gripped my car keys. A few minutes later, the man came back out carrying a cardboard box. It was about the size of a shoebox, but stained and damp on some of the corners. Eric speaking, that's disgusting. I would be up to it. You don't want to touch the soggy cardboard? No. Sogboard?
SPEAKER_02:No.
SPEAKER_00:Uh the guy says, Can you uh can you open your car? He asked. I opened the trunk, not wanting that inside on my on my car seats, and he set it in. Alright, there you go, he said. Thanks, I replied. I walked around to the driver's side of the door and opened the door. Oh, and one more thing, he said. I looked at him. Watch out, he said. I didn't reply. I blasted my music as I drove to Jack's house, hoping it would drown out my anxiety, but it didn't. I parked my car in the stone driveway and stayed inside the car, admiring the house. It was a huge house, with stone pillars on the front porch and the greenest grass I had ever seen in my life. I turned the car off and got out. I grabbed the package and walked to the front door, getting the key from where he had said it would be. I opened the door and stepped in, closing it behind me. I thought about what he said about locking the door when I got inside. I thought that was a little overboard, but as I stared at the closed door, something made me reach out and lock it. I walked inside, my feet cushioned by the thick maroon carpet and admiring the inside of the house. All the furniture was wooden and looked incredibly expensive. I would probably finish school a dozen times with the money that it took to furnish this place. I set the package down on the coffee table, and as I walked back to the door, I heard a phone ringing from somewhere inside the house. I froze. In my pocket, my phone buzzed, and I took it out. Don't answer any calls that aren't from Marvin. I put my phone back and followed the sound of the phone, poking my head into a few different rooms before I found it in an office. I walked over to the desk and looked at the caller ID. Incoming call from Jack. That was odd. I grabbed my phone to look at the message again. I was stare I was starting to get a little bit creeped out and decided I wouldn't answer just to be safe and left the house, remembering to lock the door as I left. I've done a few more favors for Jack since then. I drove a BMW to a random park in another city only to get out and drive a different car back to Jack's house. He had me meet one of his employees at lunch, who then gave me a briefcase to deliver to the house, to the first house I had gone to, and told me he would know if I looked inside. On several occasions, he asked me to drive down to that same house and stay with the guy whose name was Julio for a certain amount of time. In total, I've made around$3,500.
SPEAKER_01:Ah. Jeez.
SPEAKER_00:So I want to stop here. Would you guys do this?
SPEAKER_03:No. No. This sounds like transporting dead bodies and shit.
SPEAKER_02:High key, I might do it, but also the shit with the weird rules creeps me out.
SPEAKER_03:Lock the door both ways. Don't answer any call that's not from Marvin. Uh that yeah, yeah. Don't open the package. I'll know. Like what the shit's creepy. Or don't look rather. Don't look.
SPEAKER_02:It's just weird. But I'd do it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but I'm not gonna lie, I think I would do it. Because I think there's I don't know. Who are you?
SPEAKER_03:A freaking teen girl in a horror movie?
SPEAKER_00:I don't know where the law stands on this, but I feel like if I was, I'd be like, dude, I don't fucking know. I I'm just paid to deliver this. I have no idea what's in it. There's pause about it.
SPEAKER_03:How many times do you think the police are told that?
SPEAKER_00:Show messages. This is the guy. He's paying me to just deliver this stuff, dude. I think I would do it. I'm not gonna lie.
SPEAKER_03:And I mean, even with the rules$700 a week?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:$700 a week, you're like, look, look at how much he's paying me to just deliver this stuff. Like, I'm sorry, but you know that you're doing something illegal for$700 a week.
SPEAKER_02:No, the guy really likes me. He was like, hey, go stay with Julio for like three hours and then leave. That's not that bad.
SPEAKER_03:Especially if I'm like, if I'm the cop, I'm gonna be like, dude, you're really not that hot.
SPEAKER_01:So Okay, first of all, fucking weird.
SPEAKER_00:I think you could get away with it. I I wouldn't I just wouldn't ask any questions. Most recently, Jack asked me to stay in his house overnight. I woke up to a text message from him that said, I need you to spend the night at my house. I hadn't ever seen him in person, but I had talked to him on the phone a few times. He proceeded to tell me he would pay me a thousand dollars to spend the night at his house, provided that I follow a few rules. I drove to his house that evening. The driveway was empty, and it it normally was, but the porch light was on. I walked up, unlocked the door, went inside, and then locked it again. Everything in the house looked the same. Jack had told me over the phone that he would leave the list of rules on the dining room table. I set all my stuff down in the living room. My bags looked like garbage compared to the fancy furniture in there. I wandered into the kitchen and then to the dining room. Sure enough, there was a piece of paper on the wooden table held down by an empty glass. The rules read Lock the door when you come in. Only answer calls from Marvin. Don't turn on any faucets between 9 PM and 11 PM. Don't open the door for anyone, no matter who they say they are after 10 PM. If the door to the closet at the end of the hall is open, sleep in the library. If closed, sleep in any of the bedrooms. The gardener comes at midnight. If he starts knocking on the windows, hide. Turn the TV on and let it play on static through the night. Do not forget to do this. Help yourself to anything in the fridge, smiley face. Okay. I love that one. Help yourself to anything in the fridge. I'll pay you in the morning. Good night. I would like take the note around. And I would just look at it.
SPEAKER_02:But I I know for a fact I'd be looking at like a bunch of them and then just miss one.
SPEAKER_00:A thousand dollars for one night. I'm literally doing nothing but carrying around that piece of paper going, lock the doors when you come in. Only answer calls from Marvin. Don't turn on any faucets 9 pm. I'm just staying away from the faucet. But it like set an alarm to go off at 9 p.m.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. We're safe.
SPEAKER_02:If I gotta take a shit, dude, and I get a little bit pooky on my finger, I'm not using that faucet. I'm not taking that chance. I'm gonna just wipe it on the paper top.
SPEAKER_00:He has wipes. Or he has a bidet.
SPEAKER_03:Dude, you are just like making excuses.
SPEAKER_00:Does a bidet count as a faucet? It might.
SPEAKER_03:Kinda, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Is it yeah, it would be a faucet. I don't know. It runs water.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, I wouldn't risk it. I don't know. I just have poop on my hand for a moment.
SPEAKER_02:If Pablo the fucking gardener is outside and he's knocking on the window, hide.
SPEAKER_00:Bitch, no. That's the one I don't like. All the other ones, I feel like are very passive, right? Like just make sure you do these things or don't do these things. The gardener one is like, that one feels like someone's out to get me.
SPEAKER_03:No, dude. The door. If the door is not closed, hide in a closet. No, no, no. If the door is closed, sleep in any of the bedrooms.
SPEAKER_00:If the door to the closet at the end of the hall is open, sleep in the library. Or the library. Which I guarantee you is beautiful. It probably looks like Bell's library. I but I don't care. If you're enclosed, sleep in any of the bedrooms.
SPEAKER_02:I don't care. The thing with me, sleeping in a random ass house by myself is creepy. I don't like being alone. You know? I'm so used to it. Fuck that.
SPEAKER_00:Although I normally have a dog with me.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, but you you you mean like apartments.
SPEAKER_00:No, I I've been in like big ass houses before that are low-key pretty creepy because it's like it's not your house.
SPEAKER_03:So it's you almost feel like you're like because I'm not that rich, so I'm like, why initiative I've done I've done house house sitting for big houses like that, but I'll tell you the truth, long enough, statue limitations is gone. I would stay until midnight, one, two, and then go home. And I come back in the morning.
SPEAKER_02:I thought you were gonna be like I beat my dick in every single room.
SPEAKER_00:I thought you were gonna say you stole stuff, but that one's funnier.
SPEAKER_03:Um couldn't do it.
SPEAKER_00:The the only time I've ever left early, like I left in the middle of the night, was I was house-hitting this this it was Bon Jovi, the wiener dog. I was house-hitting him and her two cats. And this night they they broke me. This one of the cats had started this new behavior where he would just stand on the bed and piss on it, and he would stare you down while he did it like an asshole. What? And Bon Jovi was on a fucking spree of peeing on everything in the house, even with his diaper on. He kept getting it off and peeing, which he would never normally do. Wow. It was just an awful night, and then the final straw was I I had like a horrible day at work, had a horrible time with with with the the animals that night. Everybody was causing problems, getting into fights, like things that just it wasn't normally happening. And then I'm like, I just want to go to bed. I've been up for so long. I've been like I at that point, I think I was up for like 23 hours, and I was like, I've been up for so long, I just want to go to bed. And then I I walk in the bedroom and I see Ozzie, the cat, sitting on the bed. I'm like, no. And he pissed all over the bed. And I was like, I fucking can't. And I I I left. I I think I might have taken, I think I took Bon Jovi here, or or maybe I left him in his crate overnight, and I came and I slept at home, and I messaged her in the morning, and I was like, I'm so sorry. I had to go. I was like, I was going to fucking lose my mind. I like I had such a horrible day, and then Ozzie pissed all over the bed, and I had no sheets to use. I couldn't find any spare sheets. I just had to go home and sleep. I'm so sorry. And she was super understanding about it.
SPEAKER_03:Little a-hole.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that that that sucked. That's the only time I've ever left her.
SPEAKER_03:Cats are nothing but demon spawn.
SPEAKER_00:But he was a cute cat. Okay, continuing the story. I made sure to follow all the rules. To be honest, I was regretting my decision, but seeing as I was already there and I was getting paid, I decided to stay anyway. I figured as long as I followed all the rules, I'd be perfectly fine. Still, it felt a little odd. What was this? A haunted house? Nevertheless, I lounged around the house for a few hours as I was planning on going to sleep around nine, since that's the time that all the weird shit would begin to happen. At 8 50, I brushed my teeth using the faucet for the last time before 9. I would not use the faucet between like 8 30 and 11 30 to be honest.
SPEAKER_02:I'm like, damn, what if it's nine PST or EST? Shit.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, like I I he well, he should have specified. I checked the closet in the hallway, and upon seeing that it was open, I moved my stuff into the library and got ready to sleep on the couch. I locked the doors too, just in case, and laid on the couch, scrolling through my phone. I hadn't gotten any more messages from Jack, and I started to think up scenarios and reasons as to why he had such strict peculiar sets of rules in his house. I had dozed off at some point because at exactly 1016 PM I was woken up by the doorbell ringing. I was about to get up to check, but then I remembered the rule. Don't open the door for anyone, no matter who they say they are, after 10 PM.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:I stayed on the couch, trying not to move, paranoid that they would hear even the slightest of sounds.
SPEAKER_03:Can I pause you for one second? TJ's absolutely right. I already fucking forgot that rule.
SPEAKER_00:That's what I'm saying. I'm just too many rules. She's doing pretty good at remembering that. That one I would know.
SPEAKER_03:But I mean, could I get what you were saying? Because I'm sitting there chilling out, scrolling through my phone, right? And everything's placid. There's nothing going crazy. And then all of a sudden there's a knock at the door, and I'm just like, get up, walk over to the door, open it up. Like, I just I just felt myself do that right now. And it wasn't until you were like, and then I remembered the rule. I'm like, oh my god, I completely fucking forgot that was even a rule.
SPEAKER_00:That is crazy. Even at home. Well, at home, no, but I don't answer the doors. If I'm at somebody else's place, I am not answering the door once it's nighttime. Why are you knocking on this house? I'm not the owner. There is nothing, no information that I can give you right now. You need to come back another time. It is too late.
SPEAKER_02:It's any time.
SPEAKER_00:Home, if somebody knocks on my door, I'm thinking maybe a neighbor needs something.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Well, I mean, I'm thinking the same thing.
SPEAKER_02:It's like, I don't give a fuck if my neighbors need anything. Don't fucking knock on my next door.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but I mean I'm way I'm way more hesitant to answer somebody else's door. No, I get it.
SPEAKER_03:I get that.
SPEAKER_00:So I would I would like I would think about it like who the hell's knocking? And then it would click like I'm answer the door. Right.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I'm not answering it anyway. I don't give a fuck if you're my neighbor or my mom. Hey, your dog's outside, a guy outside. I don't give a fuck. Leave me alone. Wow.
SPEAKER_00:It is night. It is dark outside. I stayed on the couch, trying not to move, paranoid that they would e hear even the slightest of sounds. It's the police, open up. I didn't move. Hello? It's the police. Open up or we're coming in. I'm gonna barge it again. I would just be like, then come in. Yeah. I still didn't move, but I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. There was silence for a while after that. Then the doorbell rang again. Hey, it's Jack, let me in. It sounded like Jack, but still, I didn't get up. He would have a key, wouldn't he? Why would he need me to let him in? This continued for almost a full hour. Oh, come on. Yeah, that's a lot. Different people would ring the doorbell, announce themselves, and then disappear when I didn't respond. I was finally able to fall asleep, and the gardener never came. When I woke up the next morning, I heard someone in the kitchen. I got up slowly and unlocked the door as quickly as possible, taking my phone with me and walking across the living room and into the kitchen. I stopped at the entrance and peered in. It was Jack. He was standing in front of the stove, stirring something as the coffee machine brewed coffee on the counter behind him. Hey, good morning, he said when he saw me. Hi, I replied nervous. I hadn't seen him in person before, but he looked exactly like his pictures online. Scrambled eggs? he asked, motioning to the pan with a wooden spoon. Yeah, thanks, I replied, walking over to take the plate from him. I ate my breakfast and drank some coffee in silence. So how was it? he asked. It was okay. Nothing super freaky happened, I replied. Cool, he replied. There was an awkwardness in the room. I think I'm gonna go now. I have class, I trailed off. I didn't, but I really wanted to get out of there. Oh no, yeah, sure. I'll talk to you some other time, he replied. I grabbed my stuff and he walked me to my car. I could see him standing in the driveway staring at me as I left. When I got home I unpacked all my stuff and noticed that I still had the list with me. I sat on my bed and read it again. I felt my body tense up as I realized that I had forgotten something. Turn the TV on and let it play static through the night. Do not forget to do this. Turn the TV on and let it play on static through the night. Do not forget to do this. Oh come on. Do not forget to do this. I stared at the words on the page until they lost meaning. Beside me, my phone buzzed, snapping me back to reality. It was the thousand dollar payment. I looked at my phone and then back at the list. Maybe it wasn't an important step. As I was thinking this over, the one that has caps on it. That's probably not the important one. Uh as I was thinking this over, a text from Jack came in. I'm not in town right now. I should be back next week. So you're free from running any more errands for me until then. Just sent the payment. Go do something fun. Winky face. I stared at the message and read it again. And again, and once more for good measure. I'm not in town right now. I thought back to this morning and how Jack was in his house, how he gave me breakfast. I'm not in town right now. Within minutes, a new text came in, this time from a number that I didn't recognize. Did you forget something?
SPEAKER_01:Winky Face? Oh my god.
SPEAKER_00:The text was followed by a picture of Jack or whoever this version of Jack was standing in front of the TV. I didn't respond. Next came another picture. This one from was of the outside of my house. It was followed by another text. Watch out.
SPEAKER_03:Oh come on! See? Forget one fucking thing.
SPEAKER_02:God. I love this story. I already knew the fucking ending. But I was I was hoping that I was like, I was hoping maybe Alex would like remember this stuff, but he did not. No, I didn't know this one at all, dude.
SPEAKER_00:I knew it would get him because I I had completely forgotten it.
SPEAKER_02:It's so weird that they lay out the steps and you somewhat remember like some of them, right? But the one that literally says don't forget this one, you don't remember.
SPEAKER_00:I think it's because right after they give the list, she proceeds to tell you how all of the rules were applied, except the one.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, why wouldn't she just immediately turn the TV?
SPEAKER_00:But that's what I mean. Like, I would be reading those steps like every five minutes.
SPEAKER_03:I I oh my lord.
SPEAKER_00:It would be to a point where the the I would not forget the static one because that would annoy me. That would annoy me. Also, static would be hard to do that.
SPEAKER_02:First on the or second on the list. Lock the door in the middle. First on the list, lock the door, second on the list, turn the TV on.
SPEAKER_03:Order of importance. And then give me the rest of the shit.
SPEAKER_02:Lord.
SPEAKER_00:I'm not gonna lie. If someone was like, look, my house is haunted and there's a set of rules, but if you follow them, you'll be completely fine. The rules fuck me up, bro.
SPEAKER_03:Oh my lord.
SPEAKER_02:The weird, strange rules, it's just like you don't want to fuck it up, you know? Because why would they be so weird and strange?
SPEAKER_00:Right. I mean, honestly, if I read those those those rules, there's zero part of me that's like, I wonder what's happening here. Immediately I'm like, oh, okay, the place is haunted. Okay, I want to do uh this story. This is an Am I the Asshole story that got reposted onto Am I the Devil? And then said user deleted it. But uh a lucky moderator here put in case the story gets deleted slash removed and has it pinned on the on the chat. So they're not getting away that easy. Am I the asshole for partying with my friend midway through a Grand Canyon hike? My My friend Crystal and I spent six months planning and training for a very intense all-day hike of the Grand Canyon. We would go down South Kaibab and up Bright Angel on Crystal's birthday in June, which would be over a hundred degrees. Two weeks before the hike, our friend Valerie said she wanted to join us. Valerie looks way fitter than us. She does CrossFit and has a six-pack, and we assumed she would be fine. On the trip leading up to the hike, Valerie was eating salad while Crystal and I were carbloading with pasta and pizza. Crystal and I each brought four liters of water, trail mix, and granola bars, and believed Valerie had packed her bag with the same, as uh as it was all in the hotel room for all of us to share when we packed up the night before. About half of the way down, Crystal and I realized that at the pace Valerie was going, and thus the rest of us, we would not finish the hike before sundown. We told Valerie about our concerns and she said we should just hike ahead without her, and that she would either catch up or if it was too much, turn back. We asked if she was really sure about it, and she said she was. So off we went. When we got to the bottom of the canyon, we waited for about an hour at the Colorado River, but did not see her. At that point we really had to get going so we would finish the trail before nightfall. We tried to call her from a payphone but got her a voicemail. None of us had reception. We explained the situation to a ranger and they said they'd look out for her. When we were close to the top and it was actually already dark, we got reception and got messages from her that she had collapsed and had to stay at the lodge at the bottom of the canyon. The lodgers booked months out, but I guess they hold some emergency beds. She would hike out the next day with another group and said not to worry about her. Both Crystal and I were totally destroyed physically, but we got in the car, went and demolished a pizza, then went to sleep at the hotel. Oddly, we found half of Valerie's water and all of Valerie's food at the hotel. I don't want to make too many assumptions about her, but I think it's clear enough to say that it seemed clear she didn't know how to eat during or before a hike, despite our guidance. The next day, Valerie said she would be up by 3 PM. I was planning to pick her up, however, the one update we got from her was that she would be hours late. 6 PM rolled around and she still wasn't up. I left her a voicemail letting her know we needed to continue on to our next hotel an hour away. We were both feeling really beat up and I didn't think I would have the energy to do the drive much later. I told her in the voicemail that I'd pay for her to Uber to the hotel, just let me know how much it was. At around 10 PM, Valerie called me furious. It took her over 13 hours to hike up, and she almost didn't make it. She was suffering from sunstroke. She said she could have died because we abandoned her and we were really selfish not to stay with her. Am I the asshole? Ah God. No. I You don't think she's the asshole. So TJ, have you read this one?
SPEAKER_02:I don't know this story. Um and I don't think she's an asshole. Really? You should have prepared for the fucking hike that we were doing even when we gave you guidance and you still didn't fucking do the shit, you know?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. And that's kind of the other thing is there is such a thing as muscles for show. Um that's kind of kind of something that I I experience on the regular. I'm not a uh I'm not a buff dude. I don't have gym muscles for sure. I have a belly, all of that, but I can I can pull my own weight, literally. And when you can do that, when you know your limitations, you shouldn't have to explain to someone else. And that's kind of the problem here is having someone else not tell you, like, hey, I'm not sure I would be able to do this. Like this is intense.
SPEAKER_00:Um well it was her who asked if she could join the hike. Like, why are you gonna ask and be a fucking bird?
SPEAKER_02:That's on her, bro.
SPEAKER_00:I So here's so here's my perspective, and Reddit says she's the asshole. Reddit has labeled her the asshole, Reddit has reposted her onto Am I the Devil. They think she's that bad. Now, let me add their perspective because I do happen to agree with this.
SPEAKER_03:So I'm trying to figure out who we're talking about. The person telling the story sounds like the the girl who left Valerie.
SPEAKER_00:This is What we call them OP, original posters. So Crystal and OP left Valerie.
SPEAKER_03:I don't, I don't, I I so let me go ahead, go ahead. Like, why are you telling me to go ahead?
SPEAKER_00:So somebody replied, they should have said no from the beginning. I know plenty of fit people who have absolutely no stamina. Show me. I definitely would say no to a CrossFit person unless I know they actually hike on the side. And as for what she brought, nope. A girl at ASU was going to go hiking with some exchange students from the UK. She canceled the hike after she saw they only brought a small bottle of water each. I think everyone is an AH or is an asshole, but OOP more. You don't leave people. I grew up in Arizona. ASU is my alma mater. Every year from April to October, you see the daily news about people who need to be rescued or died due to exposure from hiking on one of the many hiking trails peaks in the valley. It's tragic and entirely preventable. Unfortunately, it's often tourists or people who are new to moving to the state that find themselves in trouble because they underestimate the intense heat that radiates off the rock well into the night. OOP thought it would be no problem to leave someone alone in the wilderness with no reception and where a single misstep can lead to a serious injury or death. She did this in June when it's ridiculously hot. The friend is equally dumb because doing CrossFit does not mean that you have the endurance to do a 12 to 15 hour wilderness hike, let alone making poor choices like not bringing enough food or water. Choices. So Reddit's point on this is Crystal and OP had been training for I think they said six months for this hike. And Valerie randomly comes in and says, Oh, can I join you guys on the hike? If I know I've been training six months for this hike, I'm going to at least ask, hey, do you hike often? Like, I I want you to know this is an intense hike. This is not like this is not just strolling through a forest. Like it's going to be hundreds of degrees. It's going to or uh over a hundred degrees. It's going to be harsh. Are you sure you can do this? Well, I guess I guess that part's true, but this leads me to Can I add more? I think there's a lot of points in which they should have said no. Because what you guys aren't thinking of it this way, but the way I think of it, maybe I'm just I I don't know. But the way I'm thinking about it is if I'm going hiking with a group, everybody is everybody's responsibility. We are all looking out for each other's safety. If we're going halfway down this hike and we realize, oh, she's not gonna make it, then I'm telling Valerie, look, dude, you tried. This is it, we gotta turn around. This is unsafe. We gotta turn around. I'm realizing you don't even have you don't have the food. You don't have to be. Well, that's another thing. When you're at the hotel, we should all be checking what we're bringing. Hey, hey, do you have your water? The same thing that we do when when you're leaving a hotel to go anywhere. You have your phone, you have your wallet, you have your water, you have your food, you do you have all this stuff?
SPEAKER_03:I mean, I think all of that is very nice, but I don't put it on anybody to remind me. I don't even put it on my wife to remind me.
SPEAKER_00:I think it's different when you're going to in a to a situation which can be life-threatening, people die doing this. I think there's a different level of caution that needs to come with that. This isn't just going to a water park, oh, I forgot my credit card. Fuck. This is like, oh, you forgot your water and now you die.
SPEAKER_03:So that's different. Let me give you let me give you the the side of it from me. Is back in the day I was into surfing, boogie boarding, always, always at the beach. I lived at the beach. And one particular situation, me and my best friend were talking about going, uh, there's gonna be some harsh rips, so I don't want to surf, but let's take the boogie boards out with our fins, and we'll catch some some pretty good waves out there. And these two girls were like, Oh, can we go? Now, I do agree with this part because I was like, Are you sure? Like, do you know what the water's like right now? It it's storming. There's there's rip tides, there's currents, like you can get sucked out. Oh no, I'm a really great swimmer, I know what to do if I get caught in a riptide. Okay, I'm not gonna be watching you. So this part I kind of get because I'm not gonna be watching you, I'm gonna be doing my thing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's different.
SPEAKER_03:My eyes are gonna be out at the horizon, so you're sure you're you're okay. Oh, I'm I'm fine, I'm gonna be good. And while we're out there, um, it caught me, it actually caught me by surprise because it was a lot more chop than I was expecting. And I turn around and I see one of the other girls. Uh, there's two girls, one of them is on the shore hollering at us, look, look, look, and I turn and I see the girl that's in the water, she's unaware that the current is sucking her toward the jetty. And I'm watching her, I'm like, You've gotta get come come away. And I'm waving at her, come this way, and she's like waving at me, and I'm like, No, look, look, look behind you, and she finally turns, and then panic set in. And I saw her incapable of you just gotta smooth strokes your way out of here. You've got I mean, you you've gotta find where the current is taking you, pressure against it. Like you can't swim against you can't swim against a current, you gotta go with it without going into the rocks. So go toward the shore.
SPEAKER_00:You are sideways.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, we're not we're not talking about a rip current, because rip current will take you out to sea. This was the natural currents, and the currents are running uh north-south, and they're pushing you towards like they were pushing her south straight towards the rocks of the jetty. So trying to tell her, like, either swim out to sea, which would probably have been safer, it's it was a shorter swim to go out to sea than to get all the way to land. So me and my buddy swam to her. We were on boogie boards, so and I had both uh Churchill fins and I had webbed gloves. So I was able to get to her pretty quickly, and I had to tell her, I was like, you gotta grab onto my ankle, just grab my ankle. And of course, you know, she started panicking and she was like trying to like climb up on the board. I was like, No, no, no, no, just hold on to my ankle, I will get you out of here. And we did, but so from that aspect, I kind of get it that like I told her what she was gonna get into. But I will be honest, I don't think I would have felt too much guilt if something terrible would have happened to her when I was like, You sure you know what you're doing out there? Because I'm not paying attention to it.
SPEAKER_00:Another difference, well, another difference in that is that this was their friend. So I it my friend, I care about my friend's safety. If we're halfway through this hike and I look back and they're not doing good, they're struggling, and I know and I'm looking, I'm like, hey, drink some water, you know, eat some food. Yeah, and then I'm realizing so here's another thing. While they were carbo loading, they were watching her eat a salad.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, that's true.
SPEAKER_00:So somebody else replied uh to the last comment I read, and they said, couldn't agree more. I am a well above average fit person. I teach pole and aerial and have stamina doing that specific activity. I know how to eat and prepare to do well during my strength, mobility, and aerial classes. I have no idea how to prep for a really challenging hike in that much heat. Should their friend have done more research and m and make sure she had done her part to be prepared? Yes, absolutely. Should the very experienced hiker friends who know how challenging what they would be doing were to do their due diligence and checking in with their friend, help them with their prep and pack and ask them if they were only going to have the salad and not do a carb load up? Also, yes. If I asked to join my experienced hiker friends for a hike, of course I have a responsibility to do research. But I also don't think it's unfair to have a certain level of trust in my friends who know their shit, that they would take some basic steps to make to let me know if I was doing something impractical or dangerous, and tell me no if they weren't confident I could do it. Not talking to her about the salad and just watch her uh and just watch her make a dangerous mistake is insane to me. Okay, I agree with that.
SPEAKER_02:So that that gives me uh I don't be dipshit going back for one, and then also everybody involved is just not you gotta care for your friend and be like, look, yeah, but I expect my friends not to be fucking dumbasses, you know? But I I also expect for myself to care about my friends, you know, and it it it didn't seem like she even like cared.
SPEAKER_03:But like on both sides, it's just well I kind of missed I kind of missed the point that this was her friend. Like I thought this was just somebody they knew who was like, hey, I wanna go, and they're like, Yeah, okay, whatever. Like, not even my friend.
SPEAKER_00:If you're doing this super challenging hike and someone asks, Hey, can I go with you? I don't think and you say yes, I don't think it's acceptable to leave them. Even if they're saying, Oh, go on without me. As an experienced hiker, you gotta be like, No, what we're not gonna leave you alone on this trail where they say one misstep and you die.
SPEAKER_02:No, I get all of that lifters and putting fucking heavy ass weight on the bar and lifting it, and I'm like, All right, your turn walking away and then walk away.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and it's and it's funny because he gets it on there.
SPEAKER_00:You've seen me do it from spotting me, and I'm like, oh my god, I'm gonna die.
SPEAKER_03:No, that's the so that's the thought that came into my head was I go back to my days of running cross-country when we used to train in the mountains, we would do low oxygen training, right? You go way up. I mean, it's the summertime, so it's not like we're running in the snow or anything. You're not talking about danger of hypothermia, but you are talking about um what is that called? Uh when it's hypoxia. And if you're not used to it, if you're not able to deal with it, you you can really suffer major problems. Yeah, and so when you're running, when you're putting your body through this on purpose, and because the reason is you know, you wanna you wanna be able to run on low oxygen, uh get your lungs capable of holding more. We used to do stuff like hold our breath while we were running, and our rolling. So running up in the mountains was was something else, you know, because your your muscles do ferment to create oxygen. That's what creates the lactic acid. And so when you when you do this stuff on a regular, you're capable of handling it. So it it does raise that point where if somebody I get TJ's point, and I think I'm I'm with you, TJ, that both sides of this equation are the asshole. Because if somebody asked me, you know I'm a freaking cross-country runner, you know I'm pushing for Olympic levels, I'm trying to go for the national qualify qualifications. I'm trying to get a qualifier, and you say, I want to run with you. Well, you're you shouldn't be saying that to somebody if you're not in my league.
SPEAKER_00:Well, so here's the thing. I think the thing about hiking trails is that it's really easy not to look up the trail before because like there's a lot of hiking trails in LA that you could just go do.
SPEAKER_03:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, there might be one or two that you're like, oh, it's a little more elevation than I thought.
SPEAKER_03:If you guys look at our TikTok account, my wife and I go on the uh old Los Angeles Zoo Trail. It's a nice several mile-long trail.
SPEAKER_02:I was like, nope, fuck you. I'm sitting in the car. You'll have fun. See, that's like, dude, we got to the top wasn't worth it. Yep.
SPEAKER_00:That's someone who knows their limits. Got halfway through and went, I'm not gonna make it. I'm just gonna turn back now. Yep. Uh that I think would have been It's respectable. I think what they should have done is about do like a quarter of the way check-in. You know, just check in with everybody. How are we doing? We feeling okay? Do we feel like we could keep going, or should we turn back? Because it's way easier to do it then than to do it when you're in the middle of it.
SPEAKER_01:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:So the last uh comment I'll read: somebody says, Normal adulting rules don't apply when hiking the Grand Canyon in the summer. You check every adult's supplies before you leave, and if they don't have enough, you tell them to get more or stay at the hotel, but they won't be going with you if they don't have enough supplies.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Because if they don't, you will have to give them some of yours and put more people at risk, or they will have a medical event or worse.
SPEAKER_01:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:And you never leave someone on the trail who doesn't have water and isn't doing well.
SPEAKER_03:So all of that makes perfect sense when you put it all in in perspective like that. Some of those comments help me see the the reasoning. Because when you look at, let me take a another extreme. When you look at scuba diving, everybody checks everybody else's equipment.
SPEAKER_00:Because that's life-threatening. It is, and that's what I mean. But so from I think oh OP is an asshole. Yeah, OP's a horrible person. I think they're stupid, but I think like you're an experienced hiker, you should know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I'm not going to like I this would be less extreme because this isn't life-threatening, but as somebody who can play music, I'm not gonna toss a friend who's never played an instrument on stage and be like, This is really serious.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah, yeah. Play this music. And they're like, I don't fucking know what I'm doing.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Like, so even or how about this? You're not gonna be really good at drums.
SPEAKER_03:You're not gonna hand somebody who doesn't know anything about dogs a red flag dog.
SPEAKER_00:That's I'm not gonna hand them a bite wrist dog and be like, here, take care of this dog. Yeah, no, that's dang, that's much more uh comparable. I that's just not realistic. I get it. I get it. I would want to know, like, hey, have you ever handled dogs before? Uh do you know what you're doing? If a dog does this, what are you gonna do?
SPEAKER_03:Although we we all agree. I think all of us are saying the same thing about the other person, too. Two things can be true at the same time. Other person, complete dick for putting these people in that position. She's an idiot.
SPEAKER_00:I don't think she's an asshole. I think she I think Valerie's an idiot.
SPEAKER_03:I think Valerie's an asshole too. Well, no, I'm how dare you put people in that position.
SPEAKER_00:She's just an idiot because she found out oh my god, my friends are going hiking in the Grand Canyon. I've always wanted to see the Grand Canyon. Uh a nice hike. Zero idea that this was something I can read here. Well, you're nicer than me. That's what I mean. It's easy to just look up and to not even look up a trail and just be like, oh, we're gonna go. It's true.
SPEAKER_03:But you're nicer than me.
SPEAKER_02:I know exactly what color these people are. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I think that's a good thing. You know what? I don't even need to say it. Everybody knows. TJ, the names are Crystal and Valerie.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I know some black crystals. That's true. I do.
SPEAKER_02:But spelled with a C? Yeah. But the three more black crystals.
SPEAKER_03:Do they do they work at the cherry pit?
SPEAKER_02:The Caucasity and the way. Hang on.
SPEAKER_03:Crystal is not their real name, TJ. Listen. When their name is Crystal Chandelier. Come on.
SPEAKER_00:That that's her maiden name.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:My name is Crystal. Crystal Meth or my name is short for Methane.
SPEAKER_03:Crystal Methany.
SPEAKER_00:Low key a banger stage name.
SPEAKER_02:I feel like that would be like a a drag queen fucking name, Hikey. And they're just tweaked out for Washington. Alright, guys, that concludes part one of our two-part Halloween special. This shit was two hours long. So I cut this down about an hour. We got a whole ass hour left of stuff for this episode. So I'm just gonna do two parts because I don't really, you know. I don't really care. You get your content either way, so it's fine. Um But yeah, I just wanted to wish everybody a happy Halloween and you know, happy holidays and all that, and I will see you next week with part two. Until next time, stay alive.
