S1 Ep3: It's Just Martin

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Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Astonishing Legends Network. The views and opinions expressed by hosts and listeners on the Astonishing Dead Letter office are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Astonishing Legends Productions, the Astonishing Legends Network, or any affiliated entities or guests. When something unexplainable happens to you, it can make you feel isolated or alone. But trust us, you're not. For over a decade, you've been sending your strange stories to Astonishing Legends. And now it's time for our fellow legenders to hear them too. Join us weekly in the vault beneath Blanket Fortiana, which we call The Astonishing Dead Letter Office. Tonight's episode, it's Jess Martin. All righty, what have we got this week? Well, this story comes to us from Megan and connects back to episode 16 of Astonishing Legends, Are We Ever Alone?, which we posted way back in May of 2015. Yeah, wow, nine years ago already, huh? Yeah, and I guess that was what she was listening to when she decided to send this in, even though it's not directly related to that episode. Right, right. That is a good episode. That was ER physician Dr. Goldstein's story about a time he went camping by himself, and after a series of strange events, something felt so off to him about the campsite he wound up leaving due to oppressive negative feelings. Yeah, that was a pretty wild story. Well, let's hear Megan's story. I've been listening to your older episodes since I just found your podcast. I listened to one from May 2015 titled, Are We Ever Alone? I really wanted to share my own story with you. I don't really tell people this story in person because I'm not even sure what I think about it, but you guys like this stuff. I've heard this story from my mother, my aunt, my uncle, and my grandparents. Each version is slightly different, but the key points are the same. In the late 60s, my grandparents bought a house in Riverside, California. I've been told by everyone who's lived there that from the day they moved in, they would hear doors slam upstairs and the sound of footsteps in the upstairs hallway. According to my grandparents, about a month to six weeks after they moved in, they were all in the kitchen together one afternoon. My mother, aunt, uncle, and grandpa were at the table eating while my grandma was cleaning or cooking. They all heard two doors slam. And then my aunt, who was about 10 or 11 at the time, said, It's just Martin. This is when my grandma said she nearly sh**ed her pants. Apparently, she'd been referring to the door slams and footsteps as Martin since they moved in, but she hadn't told anyone that yet. She says she doesn't know why she called him Martin, but that she automatically thought of what was going on as a he named Martin. From then on, it was just a fact of life that Martin lived with them. Everyone has said they all felt welcomed and never felt like Martin was in any way negative or malevolent. But if he came home and didn't say hello, he would always show his displeasure by slamming an extra door or two. Fast forward a couple of years, and my mother is about 9 to 11 years old now. My grandma said that one night she was woken up by someone violently shaking her. She said that when she opened her eyes, there was nothing there, and my grandpa was sleeping soundly next to her. But she immediately felt terrified and needed to check on my mother. She ran upstairs and found my mother in the middle of her first severe asthma attack. My grandma had been woken up just in time to get my mother to the hospital. She says that the doctors told her that 20 minutes later might have made the difference between life and death. My grandma says that they made it to the hospital at 3.35 a.m., and had she not woken up, she wouldn't have known anything was wrong until 8 or 9 a.m. when they usually got up. My grandma claims that Martin saved my mother's life. Fifteen years later, I came along, and I started to have some of my own experiences. I barely remember the ones that happened when I was a child, and I'm not entirely sure how much of that is influenced by what I've been told, to be honest. But when I was really little, I was terrified of the dark, except at grandma's house. I'll be honest, I'm still scared of the dark, so I have no clue why I wouldn't have been scared there, too. But I'm told I used to play upstairs for hours in the dark with my friend. From my own memory, I don't remember ever being scared there. That's really all I have from when I was little, because my family moved across the country when I was seven, and I didn't return to California until I was 15. A little backstory on my grandparents before I get to the last bit, though. My grandpa is very into his native ancestry. He is part Blackfoot in Lakota Sioux and takes it very seriously. They attend drum circles and powwows regularly and are active in the native community. When I was about 12, they ended up moving houses, and when they did, they wanted Martin to go with them. So they held a sort of ceremony where they burned sage and called Martin to join them in their new home, and burned the sage the entire drive to the new house so Martin could follow. Since the move, they've had small things here and there, like radios changing stations, Martin loves oldies, but not like what it was in the old house. Now, the first major experience for me happened on the first day I arrived at the new house for a visit. I was 15 at the time, and I flew to SoCal to see my grandparents. I was exhausted. We got back to their place, and I ended up falling asleep on the couch. Sometime during the night, after my grandparents went to bed, I remember waking up to someone standing over me. I couldn't make out features or details, but I saw the black silhouette of someone dimly backlit by the light from the street lamps outside. I don't remember hearing anything, but I remember saying, No, not at all. I'm sorry, Martin. I was just so tired when I got here, and I forgot to say hi. And then I promptly passed back out. I remembered it immediately when I woke up. What really gets me about that experience is that I don't know why that didn't terrify the s*** out of me. I've always been afraid of the dark. How was I not scared of seeing a black shadow over me while I slept? I'd jump when I see just ordinary things in the dark. I can't even count the number of times I've jumped at chairs or a box that isn't usually there. But somehow I wasn't frightened then. In fact, I felt peaceful and calm. That was the last I ever saw of Martin, though. By the time I was an adult, no one had heard from him in years. I don't really know what I think of this. On the one hand, I don't believe in ghosts, because I believe that there are always logical explanations for the world around us. Just because we don't understand it yet doesn't mean that it's supernatural. On the other hand, I vividly remember my experiences that night, and it just doesn't make sense to me. My reaction, the calmness, and what I said all point to something else. At first I tried to say it was a dream, but this was a different house I'd never been in before. And no one had talked to me about Martin at this point. This experience was actually the reason I found out about all the stuff that my family had experienced over the years. I told my grandma my dream, and that's when she told me about Martin. I didn't know any of that before then, so why would I even say the name? Anyway, that's the story of my family ghost, Martin. Well, the first thing I'm going to point out here, which I often love, and I'm not making fun of anybody, especially Megan, is on the one hand, I don't believe in ghosts, because I believe that there is always a logical explanation for the world around us. Now, we often do too, so we have nothing to say against that. But even after all that happened to her family and her a little bit, and those feelings, like, I'm still going to put that in the I don't know, probably not category box. Right, right. But on the other hand, she says, yeah, she remembers her experience vividly that night. It doesn't make sense to her, and it's, well, very vivid. So she remembers all the feelings, her reactions to it, the calmness, you know, her response, something just basically waking her up, and seeing that where most people, again, she said, I don't know why I would be afraid of that, but I just wasn't. And something looming over you in your sleep generally gets people riled. But it hadn't. You know, again, her coming up with the name Martin when she'd never heard of it before. Her childhood imaginary, quote-unquote, friend, and again, playing in the dark. So all these things happening. And to her, it's like, well, it just points to something else that is just a logical explanation for something we just don't know about yet. So it's just an interesting take. So I don't know how she feels about it now, or if that's a way of her just kind of coping with it or reconciling it with your own mind so you can go on about your day, you know what I'm saying? Rather than, oh, now I have to deal with ghosts as being a reality. And the other thing I found interesting, this was such a positive experience that the family took Martin with them. And usually people will use sage to get rid of ghosts, to fend them off, to get them to just leave the premises. Because as one psychic medium had told me, the sense of burning sage, white sage, and all these other ones, cedar, all the things we use like Palo Santo would, these things kind of disrupt the frequency that ghosts and spirits operate on, and it kind of throws them off. It's like countermeasure flares, Scott will find funny, where you're just kind of deflecting them and they don't operate well in that, and it's distasteful. So they leave the premises or their activity is quelled. So here, though, they used it to bring Martin along. They had such a, well, he's part of the family now. So that was a couple of interesting aspects to this story. And as she was talking about with Are We Ever Alone, it's just when things start piling up and you can't deny it, as a rational ER doctor would experience it. No, no, you kind of feel this and like, this is too much. Like, this is too many weird things not going well or happening that shouldn't. And then now you have to think about it differently. And then another aspect I've heard of before is sometimes spirits affecting or controlling emotions. One of my favorite stories I often tell, I think this was on Jim Harreld's campfire, of a couple that took the tour of the Queen Mary. And it was a ghost tour, but basically the husband was trying to take it seriously. He was really fascinated with the tour guide, telling the history of the place and was really into that. And I think was into maybe seeing a spirit, but there were several ladies ahead of him who had, they'd imbibed a little bit and they were being boisterous and very disrespectful. Like they were just making fun of everything. They were talking over the tour guide. They were really just disrupting the experience for him. And, you know, he didn't really say anything, but he was getting a boiling mad at this point. And his wife was like, don't just calm down. Don't say anything. Don't make a scene. And he was just getting more and more upset. And then he felt a presence come up behind him that he felt was female and place a hand, I think, either on the back of his head, the back of his neck or his shoulder. And he said he instantly just calmed down and felt relaxed and forgiving. That touch just instantly just, ah. And so I've heard of that also going in the other direction, where a spirit gets people angry or they absorb the fear and anger and the violence even of some entity. And that can last a long time. But here, this sounds like a more positive healing experience with Martin. And he's a good guy. And he's just part of the family hanging around. The other thing about this that struck a chord with me is that she's basically wouldn't be around if Martin hadn't woke up her grandmother when her mom was suffering a possibly fatal asthma attack. So that's pretty wild stuff there. I could see why if she's going to visit the house where Martin is and she comes in, he's like, you wouldn't be here if it weren't for me. You need to say hello when you come in this house. Yeah, that's a little credit. I think Martin must realize that, you know, people generally can't see or hear him. He's often, it's not like he's a visible ghost form there that's just constantly present, you know what I'm saying? That's like. Well, no, but she said when she woke up, he was blocking out the light that was coming in through the window. True, that's what I'm saying. But you know what I'm saying? That's pretty wild. Martin, you're a ghost. You're going to have to realize that people, if they don't say hello every time, cut them some slack, you know? Right, right. Well, you know, they have personalities. We've talked about this. Well, they're people. Yeah. If Martin was a person in his former state. Yeah. You know, as it's often said by psychic mediums as well, that if they are people, they had personalities in life. Why wouldn't they have the same ones in death? You know, bad people are bad on the other side. Good people are good once they reach the other side. And not everybody is stuck in this plane to lurk around as ghosts at their former abode. But some apparently do. And they are just kind of hanging around. And I think they don't feel or experience any time passage. So to them, it could have been... That's another thing that's really hard, but fascinating to contemplate philosophically is not being able to sense the passage of time. Because you think, oh my God, I'm a ghost. I've been here since the Battle of Hastings in 1066. How much longer... I mean, it's been much too long. Or ghosts from other ancient eras. And I don't think it works like that. Because that would drive you nuts. Just, you know. Now I get to go to another house. However, what's also another fascinating aspect of this is that Martin goes, but he's not as active apparently in the new place. Yeah. So now Martin's a guest at another house where maybe, you know, he has to say hello to somebody else. Some other ghost entity. Yeah, I know. Or ask somebody to leave. Right. So it's like, I know we're sounding flippant about that, but if they were able to transport Martin to this new place, like that's a new place for him too. So maybe he's just not as active there. And there's some reason for that. Well, there's two things that I thought of with this. And one is an old record album that I have, but I've mentioned it on the main Astonishing Legends show before called Scary Spooky Stories. Yeah. It's just Halloween stories. It's got kind of a Disney vibe to it, but I don't think it's a Disney record. The Wailing and the Rattling Chains. Yeah. Yeah. And these amazing voiceover guys reading these stories. And I think it's the first one on side B is called Wait Till Martin Comes. Oh. It's so great. It's so great. And I just found it while we were talking on YouTube. So we'll put a link for this episode on there so that people can go listen to the whole record or just Wait Till Martin Comes. It's pretty great. But here's another thing for us that I wanted to tell you is because when we were drafting all these up to produce them and everything, and I was trying to get this one into a format so we could record it, and I was just finishing it up, I heard footsteps on the stairs coming up to my living room that sounded super pronounced. Wait, what? They were so loud. Yeah. Yes. They were so loud that both my dogs, Astonishing Dogs, Nixie and Lulu, jumped up and started barking like crazy. Now, I'm in a townhouse, so I thought maybe it was a neighbor, but the neighbor's house does not have stairs on the other side of the wall, and I have never heard stair sounds through the wall in years, and also there's an air gap between the units. So I don't know what that was. I don't think anybody was over there. When was this? When I was working on this outline for this particular story, it was over this summer. It was over this summer. Okay. Okay. And you were home alone? Yes, working on this, just getting this into a format with my dogs. Yeah, my son was out of the house at the time, and I heard something sounded like it was coming up the stairs. Just to be honest, it sounded like it was coming up the stairs inside my home. Yeah. And there was nothing there, and the dog started barking at it, whatever it was. Could have been Martin. Well, we have a friend of ours who claims to have seen some kind of entity over your shoulder or behind you in the space where you record. Yeah, that's true. That was female, I believe, as a presence. So maybe not Martin, but there was somebody there they claimed to have, they sensed this presence there. And we know some people who are sensitive and intuitives, and they said somebody needs to talk to you, and they're desperately trying to get your attention, or their attention because they realize that you are too dulled to hear them. So who knows? Yeah, I'm still trying to figure it out. Yeah. Hey, there's things floating around all the time. Edgar Cayce said that. Why not? There's souls and spirits and entities all around us, and you just don't interact with them usually or get any sign of them. But why wouldn't they just be, you know, they're floating around in life. Why aren't they just in the afterlife just kind of pacing around doing their own thing? And again, I don't believe that everybody's here locked in this plane with us that has passed on, but certainly some still seem to be lingering. So would you hear the footsteps? These were loud, pronounced, not just creaking, right? Yeah, and this wasn't Lou like picking her head out from under a blanket. Right, right. This was Nixie jumping off of a chair and barking like someone was coming into our house. But did they point in a specific direction at the steps? Yes. At the stairs, yes. So they both heard it. It wasn't like they were kind of like looking around, like something's around us, or there's a squirrel outside. They were looking exactly where I thought I heard it from. Yeah, it was right as I was finishing the outline. I kind of jumped a little bit. Well, I understand that. Megan, thank you so much for sending your story in to the Astonishing Dead Letter Office. And say hello to Martin for us. The Astonishing Dead Letter Office is hosted by Scott Philbrook and Forrest Burgess and is executive produced by Tess Feifel. The show is edited and mixed by Sarah Voorhees-Wendell at VW Sound. The theme is based on the Astonishing Legends theme by Judson Crane at Founder Music, arranged by Alan Carissia, who composes all the other music in the show. Tommy Beaver Design created the logo. The announcer is John Bolan. That's me. Stories are lightly edited for length, content, and readability, but otherwise presented as they're sent to us. We're always looking for more Dead Letters, so if you have a story of your own you'd like to share, email it to deadletteroffice at astonishinglegends.com. Please include how you would like to be credited. First name only? First name last initial? Anonymous? A pseudonym? Let us know. Due to the number of emails coming in, we often cannot respond, but we do read them all. No part of this show may be reproduced anywhere without permission. Copyright, Astonishing Legends Productions. Protein bars often feel like you're choosing between taste and nutrition. If it tastes good, you flip it over only to discover it's made with a whole paragraph of ingredients you've never heard of, or artificial sweeteners are doing all the heavy lifting. It's basically dessert in disguise. You shouldn't have to choose between tasty and nutritious. 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