Our story this week comes from Tony Stangert from California. I first received what I thought was a good story from Tony, but I thought it was missing some elements. After a few emails I got the rest of it and what started out as a good story is now epic. I won’t try to sway you. I will let the story do that. Here is Tony’s story!
In 2001 I was visiting a girlfriend in Monterey Bay. Karen and I decided to visit an art museum where they were presenting the works of the famous photographer Ansel Adams. The photos were from his historic venture into Yosemite National Park. His art simply took our breath away, especially when you consider the pictures were taken in 1927. At that time I was a free spirit and I convinced Karen that we should just go there and see for ourselves.
Yosemite was about 160 miles away and we arrived at the park at dusk. There was not much available for lodging but we did find a crappy motel about twenty minutes outside the park. The area had a few businesses, motels, a couple restaurants, a liquor store, and a gas station. All the buildings were separate and free-standing. However, I could not see a single residence. It was very odd for me having been raised in the city.
The motel was a drive-up to the door type and very outdated. Two things stood out in my memory. The floor model TV was still in black-and-white and the strange bathroom had cedar outdoor siding surrounding the tub. There was one other thing, and that was just how creepy the whole place was. At first, the novelty of it was fun, but then at two in the morning we were fleeing the room. We had finished setting up for the night and decided to head out for dinner and drinks. It was a small town, with no more than 50 people, but there were places open. We ate dinner, and had some fun, but wanted to be ready for a full day of exploring the park. So, we headed back to the motel early.
Back at the motel, we both had issues falling asleep even though we were exhausted from the trip. I turned on the old black-and-white TV to find a classic episode of Kojak playing. Finally, at around eleven we dozed off. At precisely two in the morning, the both of us woke up, sat up in bed in terror, and pain. Neither one of us was clear on what had just occurred, but we knew we had to leave and leave now. We grabbed our stuff, shot out of the room, and headed to the car. The motel office was closed so I threw the keys at the front door as we left.
About half an hour later we were parked at the Yosemite sign in a little pull-off. We both described the same experience. A very angry short man with long gray hair and an even longer beard was yelling about some woman. He was dressed in dungy overalls and had no shoes. He somehow subdued us and had put his hand into the center of our backs while we slept. This felt like a possession. It was so painful we both could still feel it even after we had left the motel. Karen was not in my dream and I wasn’t in hers. The physical pain lasted 10-15 minutes for both of us. To this day I am not sure what we experienced, but I do know I will never be back.
We slept in the car at that pull-off until the first bit of light woke us up. Sleep-deprived and bleary-eyed we made our way home. I remember driving past one of the cliffs we saw in the museum. Our perspective of it was much different than that of Ansel Adams. From our view, we were mostly just under it but we were satisfied and our goal was achieved.
At the first bit of civilization, we got a room at a real hotel. let’s say a Holiday Inn. We grabbed a six-pack, some fast food, and watched a color television. We went to sleep early that night, but sleep for us was messed up for a couple days. We got up early and drove to San Francisco for a full day of tourist stuff.
Anthony Stangert – California
This Week’s Podcast:
On the show this week we have a radio classic and favorite story. It comes from the series Escape and is titled The Golden Snake. This one is a real adventure in the Yucatan that you won’t want to miss. You can listen to this podcast on Thursday at Ron’s Amazing Stories, download it from Apple Podcasts, stream it on Stitcher Radio or on the mobile version of Spotify. Do you prefer the radio? We are heard every Thursday at 10:00 pm and Sunday Night at 11:00 PM (EST) on AMFM247.COM. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link
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