STAD Ep. 4-Can I Get My Deposit Back?

Something about a quiet house outside a small town in southern Louisiana feels like it should be peaceful, but the woods have their own soundtrack and it does not stop at the tree line. We’re reading an anonymous listener submission from “Stella,” who moves into a cheap rental surrounded by pines, cypress, and Spanish moss, only to discover that the landlord’s vague warning about “hearing things” is not about squirrels in the attic. Night after night, the same hour brings slow scratching in the hall, quick footsteps across the floor, and that unmistakable smell of wet dirt and leaves after rain. 

Then the story flips. Stella wakes up on the couch and hears breathing beside her, only to spot a fox-like figure in the moonlight with dark fur, smoky edges, and eyes that glow just enough to make you doubt your own vision. It doesn’t stalk or snarl. It watches. It glides. And it passes through a wall like the house is made of fog. If you’re into haunted house stories, ghost animal encounters, or Southern Gothic paranormal podcast vibes, this one lands because it stays quiet and specific right up until it isn’t. 

A conversation with a neighbor ties the haunting to a piece of old cruelty involving traps and a fox that suffered, turning the noises into something more than random scares. We talk through what it means to live alongside a presence that never fully leaves, plus we spiral into our usual late-night snack memories after the chills settle. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend who loves creepy stories, leave a review, and tell us what you think the fox is trying to say.

Transcript

leepy After-Dark Banter

SPEAKER_02 0:35

This is Sweet Tea After Dark. And I'm Pearl. And I'm Holly.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

And we're both not awake. Not yet. But it is after dark.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

But we're recording this in an AM setting.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

It should be after dark. We should have our like our warm beverage and our candles lit, but we do not, sadly.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Well, I did tell you you turned on too many lights today.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

You did. You did.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

You were like, I'm used to podcasting in the dark. Yep. It's too bright in here. It is too bright. So we have an another.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

An another.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

An another.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

See? Not awake. Yep. See, we should have done this at night. We have another anonymous submission. Sweet. We love y'all. Thank you so much for submitting.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

Yes. And it's a Louisiana story again. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

At least the locals are participating. Right. We want, you know, one of these from where you are, so we can shout it out. Let us know. Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

So I'm not using names in this story, however, I will we'll change the name of the submitter. We'll call her Stella. Stella! And um she sent us a little different story this time.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Nothing spooky creepy.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

You'll see what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

When we get through it, you'll be like, oh, that's why it's different. Cool. So if we're ready, we can roll with it.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Buckle up buttercups.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

Stella writes, I didn't believe the stories when I moved into the house. It sat outside a small town in southern Louisiana, about twenty minutes or so from anything that even resembled a grocery store. It was cheap, quiet, and surrounded by pines and cypress trees. Probably smelled really lovely.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

Probably, because those both smell lovely.

SPEAKER_02 3:20

Of course, Spanish moss hanging everywhere from branches, like gray curtains. And at night, the woods would buzz with frogs and cicadas. I feel like we're going on a little bayou tour.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Yes, I was like, we are close to a bayou. I I can I can see it in my brain right now.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

The front porch kind of sagged like a tired back. That's because of all the humidity.

unknown 3:47

Right.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

The heavy humidity.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

See, the heavy humidity is just like weighs stuff down.

ight Sounds That Do Not Fit

SPEAKER_02 3:53

It does. But it was still inviting. The landlord mentioned something strange when I was signing my lease. He said that sometimes folks hear things. So of course I had to inquire further. He said it's animals mostly. The house is old. So here I am thinking, maybe there's raccoons or squirrels in the attic. Right. Got a possum under the porch. Right, something outside. No big deal. But I was wrong. My first night there was normal enough. Crickets outside. You could hear the wind slightly blowing and the trees were moving around. But around 2 a.m. I woke up to a sound that made my eyes snap open. Scratching. Not too loud. Just slow and steady scratching. Scrape, scrape, scrape. Like a cat in a litter box doing its business.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Oh my god. Let me pause here. If you've ever used the tidy cat um system with the pellets and stuff. Oh yeah. You will hear that sound. Because mind you, in the middle of the night, I hear, qu like for 10 minutes straight. I'm like, would you just bury it and get out of the litter box?

SPEAKER_02 5:33

Cat. Fun fact, Stella doesn't have a cat. No. It sounded like it was coming from the hallway. I sat up and listened, and the sound stopped, of course. I waited a minute and thought, maybe I'll check it out. Nothing was there. The old wooden floorboards were empty and quiet.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Then you're like, oh well, maybe it was under the house.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

Yeah, so then you're like, okay, animal outside again. Yes. Which is what she says. My mind starts thinking of more logical explanations for the noise. I figured it had to be a branch against the house. The next night, it happens again. But this time the sound was a little different. Footsteps. Light ones. Quick. Like something small scurrying across the floor. I turned on the hall light. But the hallway was empty. The air did smell strange, though. It smelled like wet dirt and leaves after a rain.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Very familiar smell.

SPEAKER_02 7:13

A week passed like that. Every night waking up, checking the hall. It was always around the same time. And sometimes it sounded like claws tapping across tiles. Sometimes I heard something sliding under the floorboards, like a body being dragged through the mud.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

Like, are you was the house built on a pet cemetery?

unknown 7:46

Right.

Fox Shape On The Couch

SPEAKER_02 7:47

I checked the attic, nothing. I checked under the house. Nothing. Then one night I finally saw it. I had fallen asleep on the couch while watching TV. And when I woke up, the room was dark, except for the moonlight coming through the window. That's when I heard a breathing noise. But it wasn't my breath. Soft. Pretty much right beside me in this dark room. I turned my head slowly towards the opposite end of the couch. And at first I thought it was just a shadow. Then it moved. Curled up on the opposite end of the couch was what appeared to be a large fox. Its fur looked dark and thick, but parts of it seemed almost smoky. And it was like the edges of the animal weren't fully there. Its tail was wrapped around its body, and its eyes glowed faintly in the moonlight. We stared at each other for a long moment. It didn't look angry, just curious. It was just checking her out. Then it stood up. But instead of walking away normally, it moved in a strange gliding kind of way. And then it happened. It passed through a wall. Its body fading halfway through the wood like mist. Oh no. Ghost box. And then it was gone.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

I'm like, well, can I get my deposit back?

he Neighbor Explains The Haunting

SPEAKER_02 10:09

I stayed awake for the rest of the night. The next morning I asked one of our neighbors about the house. He looked at me strangely with a long pause before he finally answered, saying, You've seen the fox, haven't you? What did the fox say? Right? I didn't say anything. I just nodded slowly. And he nodded back. Like herd. He said the man who used to live there would trap animals. And that he was real mean about it too. One winter he had caught a fox in a steel trap out back. And he just let it stay in the trap, freezing and suffering. He said the animal died slow. What an asshole. The man moved away years later, but people kept hearing things, running through the halls, scratching at the doors, watching from the corners. I still live in the house. The fox doesn't appear every night. But sometimes when the house gets really quiet, I hear it moving around, light paws crossing the floor, tail brushing the walls, the faint smell of wet forest drifting through the rooms. And once in a while I wake up and see glowing eyes at the end of the hallway. It never comes close, it just watches. Like it's making sure I understand something. This isn't really my house. I'm just living in its woods.

ox Smell And Taco Bell Memories

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Yes. And I would be like, we can live together, and I will help your little fox soul pass on to the afterlife.

SPEAKER_02 12:13

Right. I'll be sweet to you, Foxy. Right. I'm sitting animals. I'm going, thank goodness it smells like wet forest. Because if you guys have ever smelled a fox, pew. Yeah. They stinky.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

They are stinky. They're like skunky stinky. It's like uh a ferret. Like they have that smell. Mm-hmm. It's not pleasant. So. Well, that was a good one. But that's what I meant by different. Yeah. It took a little twist there. I was like, was it built on a pet cemetery?

SPEAKER_02 12:47

Right. No, but apparently an evil old man lived there, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:51

I'm thinking a ghost chihuahua is gonna come out and nip your ankles.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

Right. Sound like my dog in the middle of the night.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Right. I'm like, dude, stop. He comes popping out of a room. Yo, quiero taco bell.

SPEAKER_02 13:11

He lizardly.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Exactly. If you're old enough to remember the Taco Bell Chihuahua, which here are people.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

I did that in Drive Thru Drunk once. The whole hair lizard, lizard, lizard. Yeah. The people on the speaker thought it was hilarious. I'm like, look at this fool. I'm sure they were like, oh great, another car full of drunk people.

unknown 13:43

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

I'll tell you, Taco Bell, 2 30 in the morning, drunk was like the ultimate, you know. There was nothing after the car food. I remember one time, like I had a whole car full of people, and we were all leaving and we went to Taco Bell. And the next morning I had went out to get something out of my car, and the whole back seat was nothing but like broken taco shells, cheese and lettuce everywhere. Everywhere. I was like, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 14:16

It's not very car friendly. It is not car friendly.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

Drunk person tummy friendly. Everybody had a good time, apparently, because there was like crushed taco everywhere.

end More Anonymous Stories

SPEAKER_02 14:27

It's proof that the night ended well. Right. Oh my goodness. That's so funny. Yep. Well, now we've had three that have barely come in on time. Right. But they've all been really well written. So there's not been a lot of us doing anything to them. Yeah. Making our jobs super easy. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

But we need some more. And like pretty much everybody, they've changed their names. So, you know, they're like, you don't have to mention me, but you can just tell the story and everything. Right. A little, a little uh story shy there, but it's fine. But at least they're sending there. Right. So now you have a homework. Again. There's lots of you out there listening. So don't be like, it's fine. Somebody else will do it. No. You do it. You do it. Because we want to hear it.

SPEAKER_02 15:27

You do it. And then we can make these episodes just slightly longer. Yeah. Because then we can probably fit two in. Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

We can get a couple of them in. Absolutely. But right now they're just short and sweet. That's because that's how they're coming in. And spurt in. Send those in to hold my sweet tea podcast at gmail.com. Yes. Again, hold my sweet tea podcast at gmail.com. Just in case you didn't understand. Do you need us to say it one more time? Do you need us to spell it? Or, you know, click on our website, click on our Facebook page, click on somewhere, Spotify. It's on there. Yes. We know y'all see it. Yes. Send it in.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

Yeah. You can even you can even click the send us a text to copy and paste it. I mean, nobody can see that anyway. Right. It comes to us only. We can't respond to that one. But it'll come to us. It'll come to us and it's super easy. Yep.

unknown 16:28

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 16:29

So as you can see, we're cool with keeping people a secret. Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

We won't tell your secret.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

Like we knew we know who sent it to us, but you don't know. Right. So it'll stay that way. If you need it to. Now, if you're one of those people who are like, yeah, tell them who I am. It's a happily. We'll do. Yep. So submit it.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

Right now. You're not doing anything else. You're about to go to sleep. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

They're like, I just got home for I don't care.

ign-Off And Final Reminder

SPEAKER_02 17:06

If you just finished listening, go write a story. Right. While you're inspired. Mm-hmm. Do it. All right. Now that I'm done fussing, listen to your mama. Sweet Tea After Dark is a Psycho Bee production. And y'all send us your stories. Stay creepy out there. And just because we're good nightin' doesn't mean you can't keep brightening. Creepy real.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Bye.