The Cemetery Shadow Man - Jim Harold's Campfire 767

Jim Harold's Campfire - Jim Harold

A university professor recounts her students' collective experience of attending class in an empty room, while a cemetery worker shares sightings of a shadow man leading a procession of 50 spirits after a mass burial.

Key takeaways

• Multiple students reported being in an empty classroom at the same time.

Transcript preview

The Cemetery Walkers. This is a scary one. Up next on the campfire. those head scratcher stories and Christine's got one of those today and she's gonna tell us all about found out about us of course Christine and him of and that's why we drink we always appreciate Christine and him tell us what happened this sounds great thanks so much for having me Jim so when I was a graduate student at a large university here in the South this was around fall of 2020 I was entering my second year of my program and as part of part of our program we would teach two freshman year composition classes in the fall and in the spring. So I was maybe a month into the semester and you know of course it was COVID so we met with students I met with my students once a week in person and then once a week on Zoom just to try to you know keep things you know spaced out and if people were sick they can meet on Zoom. and so my students knew where the classroom was we had met you know it was well into the semester and I noticed that particular day I was missing you know around like five-ish students and I thought it was a little bit weird because normally students will email me if they're going to miss or if they're sick but in this case I was like well okay we're gonna continue on I'm sure you know maybe people will come in late or I'll hear from them well I finished the class and shortly after class I got an email from one of my top students and she was just you know always on top of things like hardly ever missed really and she asked me if I had canceled class that day because she and a few other students had been in the classroom and came at the right time but the lights were off and nobody was in there and so the fact that she was like okay I'm not really sure what went on here did you cancel class and I was like no I held class you know most of the class was there this is really strange and she was like well this is really bizarre because I was here too along with a few other students and so I said okay maybe you can meet up with me tomorrow or you know later on in the week and you can show me what classroom you went to because in my head I was like well maybe you can meet up with me tomorrow or you know later on in the week and you can show me what classroom you went to because in my head I was like well maybe students say that they skipped so they could have made up this elaborate story. But I was like, why don't we meet up and I'll go over what you miss with me and then you can show me what classroom you were in. And so she met up with me later that week. We walked into the building. I was like, you know, show me the classroom you went to. And sure enough, it was the class that, the very classroom that we always met in. And I was like, are you sure you were here, at the right time and she was like yes and so we both kind of looked at each other like that's weird and she was like that is weird and a few of the other students corroborated the same story that they were they insisted that they were in class but no one else was there and they were there at the same time same place I mean if there were one student you would say well you know maybe they're just whatever or making us something up or maybe they were there they're hallucinating things, but several different students. That is wild. I have one logical explanation, Christine. Let me know what you think of it. Somehow you guys, your small group that missed class and you and the larger group that attended class, somehow you branched off to separate realities temporarily. What do you think? That's what I'm thinking too. I really thought about this for a long time because it's one of the strangest things that's ever happened to me. hearing the kind of the time glitch stories on your show kind of helped solidify the idea that I think that's what it was and it's kind of unbelievable but yeah I think that's the only explanation is crazy. You know we've had and this is one of the better ones but we've had kind of these kind of stories where things didn't make sense and time slips as you said you know somebody walked in a theater and thought the show was was just beginning but it was actually ending you know two two and a half hours passed like that yeah I mean there's really no other explanation I mean again I don't think you would have five or six students making something up together and something that outrageous you know if you're gonna make up something oh we got stuck in an elevator or you know I mean if you were trying to and you sat was one of the better students so it's not somebody who would typically do that to even begin with so I know. Yeah. This is up there in terms of those stories. I don't know if you heard the one about the woman who saw herself across the hall in the elevator. Did you hear that? Yes, I heard that one in the hospital. Yeah, that kind of reminds me a little bit of it. It's almost like a glimpse into parallel universes. And I always quote this one saying, and I think it's true. Not only is the universe stranger than we understand, the universe is stranger than we can understand. And I can understand. And I always can understand. And I can understand. while there's a little glitch in the matrix where something doesn't quite make sense and we get a little glimpse through the keyhole and I think you and your students got just such a glimpse now did you guys share this with the whole class what happened did you say yeah hey guys I've got a great story for you yeah I did and everybody was kind of like that's really strange but nobody could have an explanation for it and when I tell this story to like my family and friends like I think I think I think I think I think I think I think I think of forgot about it for a long time. You know, it happened and then I kind of moved on and I think I told my boyfriend at the time and he was like, that's weird. But I told my parents recently too, they're like, what? That's crazy. I'm like, yeah, it's one of the, and I haven't had very many experiences. I know some of your listeners have a lot of, you know, a lot of experiences and I haven't had anything like truly paranormal, I appreciate everybody it's very sensitive but it's also neat when people don't have experiences and they just say I only had this one that makes it kind of stand out I think sometimes in some ways. Only one downside to this whole thing if you tell this to your classes you know then they'll start using it as an excuse they might say I didn't interrupt class today I was in an alternate universe which might have been like the college hangout and they were having beer but anyway. I appreciate it very much and thank you. sharing a great I would say a campfire classic thank you so much christian stay spooky a spooky jim welcome to the campfire I am Jim Harold and so glad to be with you once again on Jim Harold's campfire the show where since 2009 2009 2009 we've been talking to real people about their real stories of the paranormal the supernatural the strange and we do it every week for 90 minutes Welcome aboard, whether you've been listening for years or you're brand new. And a couple of notes, if you would like to contribute your story to the campfire, please go to Jim Herald.com slash Campfire and sign up. It's easy, it's painless, and I assure you, I do not bite. We just have a quick conversation and then you share your story with the world through the campfire. And many people say, ooh, I was nervous and this wasn't nearly as intense as I expected. It's just two friends talking. So I'd love to share your story with our audience, Jim Harold.com slash campfire. And it helps us out too because honestly if we don't have stories we don't have a show. So we hope that you will contribute, Jim Harold.com slash campfire. Also, we hope that you will tune into our other free podcasts including the paranormal podcast. That is the show I've been doing since 2005. Also, where I interview authors and experts on the paranormal, the supernatural, the same things we talk about here, you know, upcoming shows and show from last week, last week, a great show with Richard Sierra at about Rock and Roll Twilight Zone, basically things like the 27 Club and all these rock stars dying young, fascinating episode, check it out wherever you get this show for free. Also, this week, or let me get my show, calculations right we talked about one of the most unknown but biggest hauntings in America the wizard clip haunting and that's this week and then next week we're gonna have a special show about AI and I gotta tell you some of that is scarier than actual paranormal activity so lots of good stuff we've got Roswell coming up in July a great show about Roswell Amy Bruni at the end of the month talking about her new paranormal cookbook just a lot of great stuff. It is the paranormal podcast. Let me make sure make it clear because we got a couple shows with similar names. I'm talking about the paranormal podcast with me, Jim Herald, and a different guest every week talking about the things that we talk about on this show. And let's talk about those things some more and hear more great campfire stories. And here they are. John is on the line from California and I love that background. I love that background that background that's going to come into play here. And John has a workplace story for us, but a little bit different. A lot of the times we hear workplace stories are like from office parks and office buildings and those kind of things. There's a little bit different. John, welcome to the show. I love this. Tell us, tell you kind of in general terms where you work, what you do and about this special friend. Thank you, Jim. Well, I have worked for over 40 years as a grave digger at a cemetery here. in Southern California. One of the oldest cemeteries here was it was formed in the late 1800s 1817 to be exact and I love my work here it's a great place to work lots of living friends and lots of not living friends. The story that I have for you is an interesting one we four years ago. And in the prepping of that section, we had to dig about two feet down the entire section and clean it all out of Green Beryl is there's no metal, no nothing like that. Everything has to be natural that's put into the ground. So we had to prep entire area. And in doing so, it's about an acres worth of land. And we, my crew and I started to notice that any that there was a black shadow man, we call him just the shadow man, that he's about seven feet tall, but he always wants up standing behind us. Like if I'm over there watering, the guys will, they will inevitably look over and see where I'm at about 15 feet, 20 feet behind me, will be this shadow man, man just watching us work. And now if that wasn't strange enough the fact that that we only see him or had only seen him in that section was was odd but here's where the kicker came in about three months ago and that section has now been open for a while we've done in tournaments there and about three months ago we did one of our we do a mass burial every now and then for the the County of San Diego, whenever the county has indigent people or somebody that doesn't have a loved one and they pass away, the county just, they don't have any place to put these people, so they will contact us and we will do a burial of about anywhere from 50 to 100 cremated remains. And we do it lovingly, we generally put some kind of really big marker like a cross or a some kind of a nice statue over that. So we did that a while back and the following day after we had had that internment, one of my coworkers who had very seldom saw anything. He was opening that morning and it was about six o'clock in the morning, five thirty six o'clock in the morning, and he got to our main gate and as he got inside the gate, he saw the shadow man standing about 200 yards away at the area where you enter the green burial section. So he sees the shadow man and he, one, it was kind of unique for this member of the crew because he doesn't see a lot. But the thing that freaked him out was that the shadow man kind of looked at him and then turned and started walking towards up the hill. he noticed that there was a row of people or row of entities whatever you want to call them that were walking from where this mass burial area was following the shadow man up the hill and he started counting them and there were 50 which just happened to me in number of internments that we had done and so that freaked him out pretty good. he normally is not really an excitable person and I'll call him Jose. So Jose came running over and he starts telling all of us, you're not going to believe what I just saw. And so we thought, you know, Jose, you need to calm down a little bit. We believed him, but it seemed kind of far-fetched to see 50. I've never heard anything like it. Well, then fast forward, the next day, it was. the day I'm opening and I get there open the gate get about to the same area and I look over and sure enough I see the shadow man standing there and he sees me turns starts walking towards the older section of the cemetery and lo and behold this time there were 50 plus I stopped counting at just shy of 50. got to the old section they disappeared but it was a like a procession of people just walking in a line heading towards that section like they were being greeted home it was a super touching an amazing experience one like I'd never had here and I've been here a long long time so it was something that makes you feel peaceful though that's amazing that's amazing and we're having if folks if I don't know I don't know if we'll get this out in the final recording you might be hearing a little weird feedback after I talk. I don't think it's ghost or anything I think it's just an audio thing but John what a remarkable story and that the actual numbers. 50 people, 50 people, 50 people being buried, 50 people entities showing up that morning and a guy who had not seen a lot which is also interesting too. you see it. Wow, what a remarkable story. What a remarkable story. And I mean, is this over the years? I mean, you said you had this shadow person have a lot of like a kind of interesting things happened over the years? Over the years, we've had a lot of things. I've had the instances where we've had a burial and I know, we've never really see the people that we bury a lot of the time. But I'll see a spirit or something like I've seen there was one instance where we buried a woman and her family was there and it really nice thing and as the family left there was one person that had remained and this person was sat down in the grass and they were sitting there Indian style and with their legs crossed in front of a movement and and just peacefully Well, then that person disappeared and the person disappeared right in front of my eyes. I was like, whoa. And I didn't know if that was the person we had just buried, well, about a month later when we put the headstone in, there was a picture and that was the person that I saw sitting there. And we have instances like that quite a bit where, you know, you'll sometimes you'll see somebody, I mean, there are spirits that I see here all the time that are, that are. like regular occurrences that I see them all the time. It's an interesting thing and I've never had any feeling of of scared or any kind of fear. It's always been a peaceful thing sometimes a little uneasy as it's odd being at a cemetery at night or in the dark, but I've never felt anything evil. I think and I've said this before in the show people in your I'll call it an industry or line of work who deal with people at the time of loss morticians grave diggers those kind of things you guys don't get enough credit because I think we try to put the idea of death out of our minds and we only deal with it I think most of us when we have to and I mean it's on one hand it's understandable I guess on the other hand it's kind of regrettable I think what you and your peers do get lost and it's so important because you're working with people at the toughest time of their lives. So thank you for what you and all your colleagues do in your industry. It's a very important thing and many times overlooked. Thank you Jim, I appreciate it. Yeah, we love the people that we work with. We consider ourselves a family with the community. Our community is pretty tight knit and the town is everybody. knows everybody so we have relatives I've got relatives buried here and so it's a family thing I feel an important need to help like I said I'm empathetic and all of these people are going through the worst day of their life so and I like to help we were talking a little bit before the show started and you were mentioning you've got your ball cap on there you're a Cleveland sports and I do want to offer my deepest condolences thank you I appreciate that yes that I weep every year Don't I know it. John, thank you for joining us in sharing this awesome campfire story. Stay spooky. Thank you, Jim. You stay spooky, my friend. Next up on the campfire is Tammy from Minnesota. She's been listening to us since pandemic times and we're so glad that she decided to tell her story today. We really appreciate it because as I told Tammy and I tell all of our story tell us, we don't have a show without a show without, story tell your story, submissions are open now. So go over to Jim Herald.com slash campfire so we can hear your story like we're about to hear Tammy. Tammy, welcome to the show. Thank you for joining us and this seems like a very remarkable story. Please tell us what happened. Yeah, and it's a story that has a lot of moving parts, so I'm trying to condense it to the most important parts, the most gripping parts. We moved into the house where we're living now in about, it was late, it was fall 2010, around Halloween time. And we had seven children at the time and I was pregnant with an eighth, so we have a big family. Wow. And we had four boys first and then a girl and then another boy. So our oldest daughter, this story kind of primarily revolves around her. And she's sandwiched in with a bunch of rough and tumble, Minnesota boys who loved to hunt. fish, wrestle, play football, and she kind of grew up wanting to do all those things that her brothers were doing. And she got right in when she was in kindergarten into wrestling and as soon as possible into football and things like that. And she was just so active and healthy and everything. And then her health really took a downturn around 2019. And she was just so active and healthy and everything. And then her health really took a downturn around 2019. switch from football to cross country when she was a seventh grader. We said, listen, we don't really want you to continue playing football unless you're going to be a kicker. And she said, no worries, I'm going to run cross country. And so she did. And she had a really good season, her seventh grade year, she kind of broke into the 22 minute mark for 5K. And then very rapidly, towards the end of the season, she started having a lot of pain, inexplicable pain. really in her hips was the most prominent area but kind of full body inflammation at times and so she had really by the by winter time she was really struggling she couldn't go upstairs by herself she was pulling herself up by handrail and we were really alarmed because she had gone from being so physically fit and active to just in pain all the time and not getting around very well. So anyway, she, this is relevant because she ended up being put on a 504 plan for school. So she would go to school at the beginning of the day with her siblings and then at lunchtime I would go and pick her up, bring her home, she'd have lunch and then she would often go just straight to bed because she was exhausted and she was in a lot of pain so she would be in bed a lot. And we have a yellow lab who was never her dog to begin with. But this dog obviously sensed that something was wrong with her and he wanted to be with her all the time and He just was glued