S1 Ep40: Skinwalkers in Iraq

Tax season has arrived, and doing taxes without the right help can feel overwhelming. Intuit TurboTax is here now to guide you through it with confidence. Match with a TurboTax full-service expert who handles everything for you from start to finish. Your dedicated expert checks every single deduction and credit to help you get the best possible outcome so you can feel confident you're getting every dollar you deserve. And the best part? You'll see real-time updates on your expert's progress right on your phone while you live your life. Plus, you get unlimited expert help at no extra cost, even on nights and weekends during tax season. Visit TurboTax.com. Only available with TurboTax full-service experts. Real-time updates only on iOS mobile app. At CVS, it matters that we're not just in your community, but that we're part of it. It matters that we're here for you when you need us, day or night. And we want everyone to feel welcomed and rewarded. It matters that CVS is here to fill your prescriptions and here to fill your craving for a tasty and, yeah, healthy snack. At CVS, we're proud to serve your community because we believe where you get your medicine matters. So visit us at CVS.com or just come by our store. We can't wait to meet you. Store hours vary by location. 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 Blanket Fortiana as we dig through your intriguing messages to the Astonishing Dead Letter office. Tonight's episode, Skinwalkers in Iraq. Tonight's Dead Letter is another one in our rapidly growing category of paranormal events connected to military deployments. But this one has a twist. Indeed, it does. Neither me nor Forrest have any personal military experience, but I am always extremely fascinated by the things that happen to soldiers when they're deployed. The locations that these brave folks go to are wholly unimaginable to me in many cases, especially tonight's story, which takes place on the western border of Iraq and Jordan. That's true. And I think part of the reason is that they do get deployed to these far-flung places where there's a lot of turmoil. That's their job. And I think it kicks stuff up. And so this is no different here. Well, Henry is a Marine who had quite a bit of experience in Iraq. And his dead letter is not only very compelling, but presented in a very matter-of-fact way, with him acknowledging the rigors of deployment and factors that may have contributed to hallucination. But the fascinating thing here is that more than one person witnessed what happened. Yeah, this is a wild story. Forrest, I think it is your turn to read the letter, sir. All righty then. In the summer of 2006, I was a young Marine on my third deployment to Iraq. My platoon was stationed on a tiny base on the Jordanian border of the town of Trebeil. The base sat near the port of entry to Jordan and overlooked an area containing various customs buildings and shops. Besides the port of entry, there was almost nothing else out there. Off-base, there was a diner and a little convenience store. Just over the border, in the one-kilometer no-man's land between Jordan and Iraq, was a refugee camp of Kurds. Kind of off-base, but inaccessible to any civilians, was an abandoned hotel that was about five or six stories tall. It is in this hotel, in the middle of the night, that we had our encounter. Of the various guard jobs at Trebeil, one of them was a three-man observation post, O.P., on the roof of the abandoned hotel. The post took place from a few hours after sundown to just before sunup for six hours in total. To get to it, you'd leave the inner wire of the base and walk a short distance to the hotel. Once inside, you'd make your way up the service staircase and up to the roof of the building. I don't recall there being another way in or out besides that staircase and the front entrance. Now, this hotel was supremely creepy. It had been stripped of anything useful and had very few doors and windows. The doors it did have routinely banged and the wind would make creepy whistling sounds. It was supposed to be entirely empty of people, but you never really knew. In addition to the creepy factor of the hotel, many of us were incredibly exhausted and routinely suffered from hallucinations due to lack of sleep. I personally experienced this numerous times while on the O.P. Once, the entire world in front of me turned 2D, and another, I saw a giant car-sized rabbit in the parking lot below me, and it wasn't until I tried to sight in on it and shoot it that I realized I was hallucinating. In my sleep-deprived state, I reasoned that unless I shot it to show people its body, no one would believe how big it was. Now that the stage is set, on to the creepy experience. On this particular night, I was on the O.P. with two other Marines named Bizzy and Shuey, nicknames, and we had already been on the roof for a few hours. Biz sat inside the door that opened to the roof to make sure no one could sneak up behind us. Shuey and I sat out on the roof watching over the port of entry. This mostly entailed watching stray dogs fight or chase after people who didn't know not to walk around there at night. All of a sudden, Biz comes over the PRR, personal radios, and says he can hear someone coming up the stairwell. I told him to splash some water on his face because he's hallucinating. From where he is, I'm about 50 feet away and outside, so I can't hear the footsteps he's hearing, but I do hear him rack around into his rifle. This must be serious, so I ran over to him and found him leaning over the guardrail and looking down the stairwell with his rifle at the ready. He motions for me to listen, and sure enough, I hear it. Step, step, step. Getting closer and closer. My heart is beating out of my chest going over how the next few minutes might play out. Are we about to have to waste someone sneaking up behind us? Did someone wander into the hotel, not knowing they shouldn't be in there? The steps keep getting louder until there are two landings below us. Step, step, step. Our hearts pound faster, and then we can hear the grit and crunch of the feet on dirty concrete. He's almost there, and I see what looks like the top of a head and shoulder reach the landing below us and sharply pivot and walk down the hall below us. Now someone is in the building, and we don't know where they might have gotten to. We call the base and request the QRF, Quick Response Force, to come over and secure the building and take prisoner of whoever just came in the building. Base responds back and says QRF is busy. You need to do it yourself. Now you never want to be clearing a hotel-sized building with three guys in the day, let alone at night. But this is what we have to do. Door by door, me, Biz, and Shuey worked our way through the floor below us and found nothing. Next floor, as we were clearing, I turned sharply into a room and bang! There was an explosion, a flash of white light, and I feel a sharp pain in my knuckles. Thinking I had just been shot, I finished sweeping the room and then come to the realization that I just tripped a flare that we had set weeks before to alert us to anyone in the building. After all of that, we continued on through the building, and at last we had come to the last room, the boiler room. As we enter the room, guns drawn, we do a quick scan and then see eyes glowing back at us from under the boiler, the eyes of a stray cat. No one in any other post saw anyone enter or leave the building in spite of there being only one way in or out. Biz and I know that what we heard and saw was definitely not a cat. It was the next night or so, while sitting on guard post and talking with Bizzy, that I first heard the term Skinwalker. Biz is Navajo, and the grandson of a medicine man and rug weaver, and his family had deep roots on the reservation. He suggested that a Skinwalker was stalking the hotel and went into great detail about experiences his family members had with them. The way he explained it, they could look like people that you knew, but it was like there was something off about them. He made it sound like it was a regular occurrence on the reservation. I speculated that it was a shadow person, something with which I had many, many experiences. In my late teens and early twenties, I was regularly visited by two of them. They would just stand next to my bed, shoulder to shoulder, and stare down at me. We never did end up figuring out what it was in the hotel with us, and as far as I remember, no one else had any other spooky experiences in that hotel. Love the show. The Unknown Beckons. We'll return its call after these messages. Exploring the Unknown is what makes Astonishing Legends so much fun. But when it comes to dinner, nobody wants surprises. Marley's Spoon helps you eat well without overthinking it. Each meal is chef-designed, made with quality ingredients, and balanced so you feel good about what you're eating. With over 100 recipes to pick from every week, there's always something new to try, whether you're in the mood for a comforting classic or something a little more adventurous. Marley's Spoon adapts to your life, from breakfast to dinner, and even those in-between snack moments. The subscription is simple and flexible, so it fits your schedule, no matter how busy things get. Go to marleyspoon.com slash offer slash pod45 for 45% off your first order and free delivery. That's right, 45% off your first order and free delivery. That's marleyspoon.com slash offer slash P-O-D-4-5. Hey, it's Jay Shetty from On Purpose. Check out the best of a moment we did, presented by eBay. I'd never owned a vintage camera before. There was something about it that felt almost unnecessary in a world where everything lives on our phones, but I wanted to change that. So I started the hunt for a point-and-shoot camera. When I finally found the perfect one on eBay, I didn't keep it to myself. I left it out on a table. Always within reach, people started picking it up without asking, family, friends, everyone to take a photo of whatever felt important to them in that moment. There was no editing, no retakes. You took the photo and that was it. The moment became real right away. It was about choosing something, deciding this matters. Even if it came out blurry, the vintage camera belonged to the room, to the moment, to the people in it. Over time, the photos started to pile up on the fridge, on shelves, tucked into books, each one a reminder that meaning isn't always planned. That's what I appreciate about eBay. It's a place where you can find things that bring people together and pass along things you no longer need, so they can become part of someone else's memories. To listen to more, check out the full episode wherever you get your podcasts. Visit ebay.com to shop your favorite finds. Find what you love, sell what you don't. eBay. Things people love. Let's get back to unraveling this dead letter. This is a great story, and it was one we actually considered it using at Halloween prior. It was at the top of your list, and it's a good one to hear now, and I really am growing fond of these stories that are interesting, because they're, you know, from these military deployments. This guy was a Marine, deployed three times to the region, so clearly somebody with a lot of experience. But the other thing I like about it is that he comes out of the gate saying, hey, you know what? When we're really tired, we can hallucinate. He's, you know, he's, all kinds of things are happening when they're pulling those long hours on these guard duties and things like that. I, you know, I went on, of course, as I would do, Forrest, and you would expect me, I went on Google Earth, and I looked at Tribille, and I couldn't figure out where this building was, the hotel. Like, God only knows if it's still standing. But I thought, I found what I thought might be it, because I could see a large structure that overlooked the border crossing. I looked at satellite maps of Tribille, and I was like, I always want to know where these places are and what it looks like. And it's interesting to think about this. But the other thing that's fascinating to me is, he has Busy, who is Navajo, and he's like, this is a skinwalker. And then he's got, had shadow person experiences in his past. So he's like, no, it's a shadow person. And when it comes down to that whole thing where we talk about how maybe the experiencer is influencing the experience, one of the thoughts I had when I was reading this is like, what if they manifested some kind of cross between the shadow person and a skinwalker? Yeah, that's a good point. I know you're, it sounds comical or flip, but I want to say, you know, talking about Halloween stories we've collected over the years, I don't know when we first started doing listener stories. I love it. I mean, that's part of the reason we're doing the show is to collect and share other people's experiences because they've certainly had some wild ones. But we've had no shortage of very creepy stories about ancient types of entities in the Middle East. And as you said at the top, quite a few from a military personnel, one who I think she was not military, but, uh, and I'm not sure if we used it or not, but it was at the top of my list as well. I think we may have, but it was on a tour and I think it was a, uh, it was an academic excursion somewhere in the Middle East. And so they were with a tour and tour guides and other people, but that's where they had these, uh, they're not really yurts, but they're like a rug covered or heavy fabric covered tents that they would stay in that are metal framed. And so there's a door, but it has a heavy metal frame, but like it kept banging, small pebbles were being thrown. And I just want to relay this part because I love that aspect of it, which we've heard of before. Uh, so she went out and, uh, I think as the group and the, the local tour guide went to go investigate it, they saw a figure off the distance, a very shadowy figure. And they had like pebbles and stuff kind of being thrown at them from nowhere. They see this figure, they approach it because they thought it was somebody from the tour who went about 50 yards away and was goofing with them, you know? Right, right. And so they went up to them and I think it was the tour guide that said, uh, no, no, stop. We got to go back right now. And as, as they saw this black shadowy figure, I think they saw wings. So that might make an, an ifrit, basically djinn with wings. So it's a different variation. Not all djinn have wings, but all sorts of strange, uh, powerful creatures, entities, uh, have been known to have wings. Angels as well. And it makes me think of Midnight Mass, the series there. Uh, so something like that. Also coming from the Middle East, but yes. So that was a very intriguing and scary story. And the, the aspect that I liked is that they, what they noticed as they walk closer to it, it seemed to be always keeping the same distance without moving. It was a little bit like the, uh. You couldn't get closer to it. Yeah. Shades of Death Road, that character that was on the other side of the lake. Now, no matter how close the fisherman got or how he positioned himself around the lake, it was always equidistant. But, you know, we kept the same distance until suddenly the figure looked like it was standing in the middle of the lake. And, and folks that don't know what that is, that's an episode of, of our main show. So look for that if you want to hear that story. But it was astonishing legend. Shades of Death Road. To your point, it has something to do possibly with vision and how you are receiving the image of whatever this thing is. And it may be different for other people. So in that case, that whole group, I think of, uh, anthropologists or, or whatever their study group was, all saw the same thing in the same figure. Here, they heard the same thing and kind of witnessed the same thing, but their interpretation of it was different. And that reminds me of another Halloween story from Angyan Rim. Yes. If you remember, yeah, just the, the trickster element who looked like a regular guy. Yeah. But our storyteller's friend, who was native, said, oh, yeah, you met Coyote, a trickster being. Right. And then we get down to that, like, semantics of different cultures all referring to the same thing differently or in their impressions of it. When really, maybe we're all dealing with one thing, but it's just how our, whatever particular culture we're a part of perceives it. Right. And I think there's something to that. It is, uh, it is that Schrodinger's cat. It's, uh, it's, it's the experimenter affecting the experiment in a way like the double slit experiment, right? Yeah. Where it depends on who's observing it and when, and it acts differently when you're not looking at it. So there's a whole thing about us creating our reality. And it reminds me of a quote. And, uh, you know, we just did our ask me anything here recently. And I couldn't think of the Bob Monroe quote. Now, Bob Monroe is of course, one of the founders of the Monroe Institute, but, uh, his quote that I found here is reality is that which is perceived. So he's the, uh, Monroe Institute founder. And I think that that is quite apropos here. Also, I am more than my physical body. So two things to keep in mind, but these are two individuals who have had previous experience, it seems. So were they more likely to experience something like that, or did something like that? No, or, you know what I'm saying? Is there a channel that's kind of partially open for them to have this kind of experience? Well, and the other thing that interests me about this too is like, and I don't know where you come with this, but with regard to shadow people and all the various stories we've covered on them and some on the dead letter office, but also on the main show or all that stuff, I don't recall the shadow people physically interacting with the environments that they're seen in. There's, I've not heard of people talking about footfalls or, you know, then when they sit in the chair, they see the depression in the chair. I've heard that with ghosts, but shadow people always seem to be not physically interactive with the environment. So for me, the fact that both these guys heard steps, heard something coming up the steps to me, a shadow person doesn't have a physical steps that I've heard of. And, you know, I don't know what the book of rules on shadow people behavior is, but whereas a skinwalker seems like a physical being in the stories that I've heard. There's all manner of things going on. And, you know, by now I've watched plenty of episodes of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch and just hearing people describe what they've seen. And of course, there's been some odd activity and encounters that have been picked up on the show by the team that's currently there. But somebody with major bona fides, Jay Stratton, who had visited the ranch and is mentioned in the book, Skinwalkers at the Pentagon. We talked about him, but he's visited the show talking about what their military personnel that was on the ranch had experienced and a lot more shadow being type things. And I think the way they describe them, it could be all manner. Like I said, there's a, there's a blend there of physical beings. And again, they've had local native people who live right near the ranch talk about their encounters and, and like Busy here is saying that it's not the most common thing, but it's not that uncommon either. And that there's plenty of stories for people who live there of encountering these things and them being semi or quasi physical beings to a point. And then that changing. And yes, it's a little like Bigfoot getting that half footprint in the snow or the single footprint in the snow or, uh, on a wet rock. Uh, as we just talked about Bob Giblin seeing like half of a wet footprint on that flat rock and then Patty disappears into the, into the brush, which is undisturbed. And so there is a, uh, momentary physicality there. And then some beings might be just totally kind of straddling that line, that Daphne is line between complete physicality at some point and being interdimensional and being fully in this present dimension or reality and being able to interact with it. So to your point, it's like, yeah, you don't hear many of those, but I, I, I, that one story I always refer to because it's one of the most detailed things. And again, yes, if I get really told by somebody who was a, uh, you know, a young boy at the time, that story that comes from Jim Harrell's campfire of the, uh, the young boy touching a shadow person as they walk by kind of single file, uh, across the bedroom because it's one of the few times, and I'm sure there's other times this has happened, but rarely do people have that kind of, usually it's like, I'm out of here or I'm just going to put my head under the covers or I'm not going to look at that thing and then it goes away eventually. But being a curious sort, he reached up and touched one and it's always stuck with my, uh, memory here because of what he described in that, because I think he thought also from what I remember him telling the stories that he did wonders like, is this thing real or physical? Am I dreaming? Like, what is this? And so without fear, he just reached up and grabbed like it's pant leg or it's overcoat or trench coat or smock, whatever. And he said, first of all, it felt velvety kind of like soft and velvety. And this thing reacted. And I always love this description. We, we just talked about this probably in another DLO and I apologize, but I repeat the same stories, but the way he said is, remember those old, uh, as you were a kid, those vinyl inflatable punching bags, this thing reeled back on its heels of sorts. I think also it was surprised. I love that element too, is that these things are not totally in control. They seem to be omniscient, maybe a bit, uh, omnipotent, but, uh, they can be surprised as well. We hear that so often these things just appear and it's like, they didn't expect to appear or their cloaking device is off, he's glitching and they look surprised too, to be there. So it's a two way street, but this thing kind of rocked back and then like in slow motion and then it regained its kind of footing and then continued on with the others and went through the wall. So that's your point of being, you know, going through the wall. That's kind of not that physical. No mass. Yeah. Right. So they, they kind of somehow alter mass or go into this other plane of existence, but they were physical at the moment of touch. And that's a good counterpoint to what I said too, like in terms of the, of the steps coming up the stairs. Now let's come back to the more mundane idea that there was some kind of person encroaching on the zone or maybe even a civilian playing around in the building and exploring or something like that. But the thing that's fascinating to me about that is that those guys had folks with eyes on their post who didn't see anyone come or go from the building. Right, right. Exactly. So that's a good point. Also, these guys have a NVG, you know, night vision goggles, infrared. They've got all the latest tech to detect that kind of stuff. Remember the other story was that from another guard post, and this is another fascinating thing, like, well, we're trying to nail down the specifics here and the rules of how these things appear, but one or the other, it either appeared on infrared as being colder than the surrounding environment, this figure coming up from behind a rock that they observed, but they could not pick it up on night vision goggles. So it was on a thermal cam or FLIR, but it did not show up. As, you know, when infrared light is beamed onto it and reflected back. So that was fascinating. So it's not showing up completely. And it was kind of invisible, I think, to the naked eye, but it did give off a heat signature when that was cold. So it was colder than the environment. It was blistering hot at night, even. That's right. And they went down there and there's nothing there that they could see. Yeah. So it's an ancient land and there's been people and spirits and beings and jinn and whatnot for tens of thousands of years, perhaps. So there's a lot going on that's still residual in the land. And, you know, that stone tape theory thing of there could be a lot imprinted on just the surrounding environment. But in this case, it's your point about, okay, let's talk about if it was a person. First of all, I think if you're local to that area and indigenous, or, you know, you're from there, you probably know not to go poking around there. Now that's not going to prevent a lot of people because they do, you know, people here go where they're not supposed to. And it's like they poke into stuff and, uh, especially teenagers, you know, at night roaming around, but that's a pretty serious location. And you would probably know not to go, again, snowman's land. Don't go roving around out there unless you, like you said, really didn't know what you were doing or that you're not supposed to be out there. Now that's possible. On the other hand, they did a sweep of the whole building and found nothing. So that person would have had to hide there and stay hidden somewhere where they didn't find them until they were gone and then leave. And again, nobody, they had eyes on it and they saw no one leave and they would be suspicious of that because if that person was there, what's their intention? You know, legend tripping, ghost hunting. No, probably there to plant an IED, uh, to, uh, you know, booby trap to kind of, uh, injure some American soldiers. So, yeah, this is, by the way, folks, this is a tiny town and its purpose is to control the border between Jordan and Iraq. And so, and I'm telling you, just look it up, look up Trebil, T-R-E-B-I-L, Iraq, and you'll, and you'll see, it's not, there's not a whole lot going on there. So you wouldn't, you wouldn't think there'd be a ton of civilians rolling around doing stuff, but by the same token, it's like the cat too, that brings in the whole, especially when you think about Busy's Navajo background, you get into the whole idea of it. Well, that, that's another, I love that angle is that, is that what that thing turned into? Right. Which is maybe what he thought when he saw the cat, you know? And it's a good, you reminded me of that because, uh, I thought of that. It's like, I think because if you think this is a, some kind of mundane encounter or they were, again, it was an auditory hallucination, auditory hallucination, uh, folie adieu shared by two people, somehow they just both heard footsteps or one suggested to the other, and then they picked up on it and, and that's, yeah, that's what a lot of skeptics would say. I mean, Henry already said he had seen a car sized rabbit in the street and didn't even realize it until he tried to scope in on it that he was hallucinating. Yeah. But I, I like the, I think that belies a certain amount of honesty about this story from these guys. He's like, you know, these are things that do happen to us, but, and he also never went out of his way to point out in his story. It's like, well, we both saw this, so it must be true. He didn't say that. It's just, here's my story. Here's what happened. And in the course of it, two people were audio witnesses to the same thing. And so it does make you wonder about that part of it. So those are all the fascinating bullet points about is that, uh, you know, there was something that, you know, a cat, but a cat wouldn't make that loud of a sound. It did sound like footfalls. They both heard it. I think even though that they're sleep deprived, I just don't see this as being like a shared auditory hallucination between the two because it kept going on, you know, like if you heard a big bang or it's like exploding head syndrome, it's like, Hey, did you hear that shampoo bottle fall into the tub? And I bring that example because that happened to Scott and I, uh, we were staying at the Monte Vista hotel. And yes, a haunted hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona, the most haunted hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona. And, uh, I think we were just kind of nodding off and you said, what was that crash? Did you hear that? I was like, no. And he said, no, I definitely heard something. And in your mind, in your brain, you did hear something. It was not very pronounced loud. Yeah. Hearing is, is perception. You know what I'm saying? Perception is, uh, it's no less real to your head. So in that sense, uh, these, uh, two Marines did hear something together. And at the same time, it's a very tense and serious location to your point about, uh, this town. Look, it's, uh, Jordan and Iraq. Lots of tension there. Lots of deadly action going on and it's, it's taken very seriously around those parts and people don't kind of, you know, you know, not to goof around there because, uh, somebody is going to get killed. So, you know, I think once you're on that kind of alert, you know, adrenaline is pumping now and when you keep hearing it, I think that it probably shakes the cobwebs off to a degree. You know what I'm saying? That it's, it's now, now your senses are heightened. And you're aware you're not in that kind of sleepy, somnambulistic state where you're kind of half dozing, right? And you're not sure what you're seeing. It's not a hypnagogic or hypnopompic state anymore. You're now, you know, guns are drawn, uh, rifles are racked. There's a rounds in the chamber. So yeah, my point is, I think at that point with that heightened awareness, uh, you're pretty awake at that point. Well, another thing that I'd like to do for us before we wrap this up and just something that I've learned from our show is that you have a tendency or one has a tendency. And when I say one, I mean myself in this case has a tendency to maybe add external influences into a story where there might not be any, because here's the other thing. This is an abandoned hotel. How many abandoned haunted hotel stories have we heard from all over the world, but particularly in America, it's like, take away the fact that this is a, you know, a controlled border point and it's in Iraq and it's a military deployment and all that stuff. It's like, well, this was a hotel. It had a lot of people in it. What happened to it? Why is it abandoned? Was, did it fall into disrepair? Was it involved in a firefight? Whatever reason. And, you know, we always talk about how places that are very transient and have lots of people coming and going and, you know, staying in it in these moments in their lives, those things, those places, a lot of times they are the places. That you hear the stories about being haunted and maybe it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that these Marines were deployed and on post and guarding and whatever. It could have just been an ancient guest of the hotel before it fell into disrepair or maybe somebody that passed away in the building. If you, if you believe any of this at all. Yeah. I mean, you know, at some point, ghosts are ghosts. Like, what is this thing? Yeah. I think with all the surrounding elements of their background and their personal experiences, uh, both on the reservation and, uh, Henry's experience before with shadow people, you don't say that informs that, that they both know what this could be. And yes, I think people who are trying to look for a rational explanation saying, well, you heard these stories, it's filled in your imagination. You just filled in the blanks. You're both are tense, hallucinating, overly tired. And, uh, you saw what you thought you wanted to see or what it could be. And yeah, I, you know, that is a possibility, but if you believe that this can happen at all to me, less likely. And so the other thing too, is that they just didn't hear the footsteps. I want to point that out. They heard the crunch and the grit of a strong shoe turning on the concrete. And also as Henry says, he could hear the grit and crunch of the feet on dirty concrete and he's almost there. And I see what looks like the top of a head and shoulder reach the landing below us and sharply pivot and walk off down the hall below us. So he does see some kind of figure there. There is some kind of humanoid shape. Yeah. Yeah. It's not just an auditory hallucination. And he was like, well, that your, your ears heard it and now your brain's filling in some kind of vision. But well, in my bullet points here, wrapping this up is that I think because of their experiences, they may have had a more open conduit to seeing these types of things, not as in a hallucinatory way, but as this being a natural phenomena in a way, you know what I'm saying? Spirits and shadow people and all that's roaming around out there. I've kind of come to believe that. And not everybody sees that, not because their eyes are incapable. I think part of it is just not being tuned into it. Yeah. And these guys were a little more tuned in and also because of what they were doing a little more aware, even though you could say, yes, they're again, they may have been hallucinating, but their job is to be aware. Their job is to be on the lookout for anything unusual. Yeah. So they're doing their job and I think doing it well. And again, they, they did a sweep. Nothing was there. And that's nice little hook at the end of it was that thing, the cat. And I remember that first time I read this, it's like, I wonder if that was some kind of a, you know, shape-shifting thing, but is that connected, uh, to, uh, well, we've heard of like tons of stories also of like, uh, ghost pets. Yeah. Uh, there's a kitty that roams the catacombs in, in Paris. So, and, and folks see a ghost pets all the time. And is that really what they are? Well, it could be, who knows, but this is a very tense and a very entertaining story. And I, I hope that was enough for them or that's all they experienced while on deployment. Well, Henry, thank you so much for sending your story. And it's, it was a really cool story. We really enjoyed sharing it. And, um, we hope that you are back in the States now for good and living a safe and skin walker or shadow person free life. But if anything else has happened to you, be sure and send another story to dead letter office at astonishing legends.com. 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 Bolton. 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 the show may be reproduced anywhere without permission. Copyright, Astonishing Legends Productions. Exploring the unknown is what makes Astonishing Legends so much fun. But when it comes to dinner, nobody wants surprises. Marley's Spoon helps you eat well without overthinking it. Each meal is chef-designed, made with quality ingredients, and balanced so you feel good about what you're eating. With over 100 recipes to pick from every week, there's always something new to try, whether you're in the mood for a comforting classic or something a little more adventurous. Marley's Spoon adapts to your life, from breakfast to dinner, and even those in-between snack moments. The subscription is simple and flexible, so it fits your schedule, no matter how busy things get. Go to marleyspoon.com slash offer slash pod 45 for 45% off your first order and free delivery. That's right. 45% off your first order and free delivery. That's marleyspoon.com slash offer slash P-O-D-4-5. Hello, hello. I'm Malcolm Gladwell, host of Smart Talks with IBM. I recently spoke with IBM's new director of research, Jake Embatta. We discussed his vision for the future of quantum computing. At IBM Research, what we always do is answer what is the future of computing, whether it's coming up with new algorithms, coming up with better AI, coming up with quantum, or coming up with just how do different accelerators go together. It's our DNA to answer the question of what is the future. Isn't it a perfect problem for IBM because you kind of need to have a legacy of building stuff? Yes. Building actual physical machines. It's, yeah, it's why I came to IBM. I wanted the experience, the culture of building hard things that others have not done before. Where do you imagine we are in the timeline of this technology? There will come a point when it will mature, right? Yeah. My cell phone is a mature technology at this point. How far are we from that point with quantum? By 2029, we'll build the first fault-tolerant quantum computer. That is one that can run a very, very large, large problem. To learn how IBM is building the future of computing, visit ibm.com slash quantum. This is Sophia Bush from Work in Progress with Sophia Bush. Check out this special moment we did on our show presented by eBay. When I was living in Chicago, I took part in my first ever giant charity sale, and I was able to auction several items from my personal closet on eBay. They were items that marked huge moments in my life and in my career, and though I was ready to pass them along, I also wanted to make sure they were going to someone who would love them. One of the things I loved the most about doing this with eBay is there was a way for everyone to shop. It wound up being so much fun to see where each and every item was going, where it was going to be loved. And in passing items along like that, authenticity really matters to the person who's getting them. That's why I love eBay's authenticity guarantee. They weren't just listing my items, they were verifying them, making sure something was genuinely from where it claimed to be, in this case, my closet. To listen to more, check out the full episode wherever you get your podcasts. Find what you love, sell what you don't. eBay. Things people love. All right, quick quiz for the hiring managers out there. What's worse, being understaffed or being poorly staffed? Well, that's a trick question because both are recipes for chaos. Either way, just say to yourself, this is a job for Indeed's sponsored jobs. You'll get matched with candidates that meet the skills, certifications, and everything else you're looking for. Or go a different way and get no traction. Seriously, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95% more likely to report a hire than non-sponsored jobs. It really is a no-brainer. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed's sponsored jobs. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed's sponsored jobs. With the Venmo debit card, a taco in one hand, and ordering a ride in the other means you're stacking your rewards. Nice. Get up to 5% cash back with Venmo Stash on your favorite brands when you pay with your Venmo debit card. From takeout to ride shares, entertainment, and more. Pick a bundle with your go-tos and start earning cash back at those brands. Do more stash. Get more cash. Venmo Stash bundle terms and exclusions apply. See terms at venmo.me slash stash terms. Max $100 cash back per month. Success starts with your drive. And American Public University is here to fuel it. With affordable tuition and over 200 flexible online programs, APU helps you gain the skills and confidence to move forward. Whether you're changing careers, starting fresh, or pursuing a lifelong passion, our programs are designed for people who never stop. You bring the fire, APU will fuel the journey. Learn more at apu.apus.edu. With the Venmo debit card, a taco in one hand, and ordering a ride in the other, means you're stacking your rewards. Nice. Get up to 5% cash back with Venmo Stash on your favorite brands when you pay with your Venmo debit card. From takeout to ride shares, entertainment, and more. Pick a bundle with your go-tos and start earning cash back at those brands. Do more stash. Get more cash. Venmo Stash bundle terms and exclusions apply. See terms at venmo.me slash stash terms. Max $100 cash back per month. This message is brought to you by Cologuard. If you recorded songs off the radio for a mixtape, it might be time to screen for colon cancer. The Cologuard test is non-invasive, requires no special prep or time off, and you start screening right from your home. It's just three simple steps. Set up, sample, and ship. If you're 45 or older and at average risk, ask your doctor about the Cologuard test. Available by prescription only. Learn more or request a prescription at Cologuard.com slash podcast. For more information, visit our website.