The Naked Ghost

Jim Harold's Campfire

This episode of Jim Harold's Campfire features a series of chilling paranormal encounters shared by various callers. Stories range from unse

Key takeaways

• Jeff described a terrifying hotel experience where a voice explicitly announced a previous occupant's death in the bathroom.
• Travis witnessed a 'clothing impaired' man walking through a park without leaving any footprints or disturbed leaves.

Main topics

• Paranormal encounters
• Ghost sightings

Notable quotes

He died in the bathroom.

Conclusion

The episode serves as a haunting compilation of evidence suggesting th

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:00) Up next, the naked ghost on Jim Harreld's Campfire. Sit Speaker 1 (0:13) back, relax, and warm yourself Speaker 4 (0:14) by Jim Harreld's Campfire. Next up on the campfire is Jeff from Texas. And, you know, it's pretty cool. You look at his background here, you'll see he's got some jellyfish, too, which is pretty awesome. Well, maybe they'll become pen pals. You know, my jellyfish and your jellyfish. But thank you for joining us. And you have a story. I mean, I think a lot of us have had a situation where we've checked into a hotel room and we've. I'd say, hey, you know, there's a problem here. I've got to move to another room. But yours has a little bit of a twist. Tell us what happened and welcome to the show. Speaker 2 (0:54) Jim, thank you so much. So this is great to talk to you about this today because this is almost a week exactly to when this happened. And I thought it would be good to talk about it while it's still fresh in my mind because I realized I was starting to. explain things away that, oh, it must have been this or must have been that. I think it's a way to self-comfort because this, I'm finally feeling more relaxed about it now, but it was giving me chills the entire past week. The line of business that I'm in has me traveling pretty often. And I had a situation where I had to go somewhere that's about three hours away from my house. And I decided to drive. And I went straight to the place where I was going to be working that day. It was a very chaotic day. And ended up not getting to the hotel around 7.30, 8. When I got there, there was a bit of a line. And when I was finally checked in, the woman could not have been more friendly or nice. Speaker 2 (2:07) typical check-in process, went right up to the room, got everything unpacked, and sadly discovered that the plumbing was not working in the bathroom. Speaker 4 (2:18) So I Speaker 2 (2:19) walked downstairs, and the lobby was absolutely empty. I couldn't find the person who checked me in. I finally found her. I said, hey, explain the situation. She said, I'm so sorry. Pack up your stuff. Come back down. I'll get you checked into a new room. I was exhausted at this point and annoyed, but she was being so friendly and so nice. I'm like, what other choices do I have? I went up, got all my stuff, brought it back down. Speaker 4 (2:46) And Speaker 2 (2:47) in the span of a minute and a half, there must have been maybe four or five people all of a sudden checking in. And so I was just exhausted and I sat off to the side. In the middle of all this chaos, she started waving. I have it right here. She started waving the key. Huh. She had already changed the room over for me. Jim, the second she handed me the key in the middle of all this chaos, it felt like somebody was giving me something cold and clammy. Huh. And I said, this is this is this is crazy. You're tired. You're exhausted. Just looking at the number gave me this really weird feeling. I didn't pay any any mind to it. I said, you're exhausted. You're not fully functioning. Went to the elevator. Jim, the second I got off the elevator, this room was about maybe 10, 15 feet from the door. I felt this impending sense of doom. Oh. I approached the door and I realized that it was designed for somebody to be, it was an accessible room. So it had two different peepholes. There's one like a standard height and then there was one for lowers for somebody who's in a wheelchair. I didn't know why they gave me this room. I walked in. Jim, I stood in place for about 45, 60 seconds holding my bag. I felt so uncomfortable in this room. I felt this feeling of just terror and super, I felt super uncomfortable. I said, why is this happening to me? And I was debating, do I have the energy to go back down to the lobby, wait another line and then try to change? And I stood there kind of weighing my options. I said, why am I feeling this? This is absolutely crazy. Speaker 2 (4:39) And I said, this is so silly. So I said, I'm just going to stay here. It's only for a couple of nights. So I unpacked everything. And I had this very strange feeling every time I would go into the bathroom. It was this very large bathroom with this larger entrance. And something didn't feel right. That's the only way I can describe it. And so I was absolutely exhausted. Called my wife, gave her a check-in about how the day had gone. And I said, I'm so tired, I'm just going to go to bed. I've never in my life had a problem falling asleep, ever. I could not fall asleep. So I went on my cell phone, and then I finally turned off all the lights, and I started to drift off. And I had this sensation that somebody was rattling me awake by like grabbing my shoulder. It was that moment right when you're about to slip off into sleep. And I felt this jostling. I kind of startled up and I heard. I didn't hear a voice, but it was as clear as a bell. It said, he died in the bathroom. Oh, oh. And I remember feeling, why did this thought occur into my head? And I heard this voice again saying, he died in the bathroom. He's dead. This terrified me. And but I started doing all of the explaining like this is absolutely insane. This is crazy. And so I I'm like, let me just I'll just go back to sleep again. I'm having some kind of a weird dream or something. From that point until about I'd say maybe 545, six in the morning, I would go through cycles where I would just be about to sleep. And the only way I can describe it, the the top. Blanket in this bed was like that waffle kind of material right and it I had kind of covered my my shoulders It felt like this bony finger was pressing into my shoulder. The way that if you want to wake somebody up, there's, I think there's a nice way you can wake somebody up like, Hey, or you can kind of like angrily jostle somebody. Right. Right. Jim, that's what I felt was happening. But this one, this was like a cycle the entire night. Speaker 2 (7:16) And I remember at one point, I remember I didn't move from that position of the bed. I said, maybe this will stop. Everything was logical at that point. Maybe this will stop if I move to the other side of the bed. So I, at one point in the night, moved to the other side of the bed. Same thing happened, except on the opposite shoulder, the one that was closest to the edge of the bed. I would get to that point where I was just about just, I'm like, oh, this is finally going to happen. I'm finally going to sleep. And I would get this angry, this bony finger sensation against my shoulder. And I remember at one point saying, I was debating of going to the lobby to sleep. I've never had that idea in my life to go to sleep in a hotel lobby. Anywhere felt like it was going to be better than where I was. I was thinking to myself, maybe I'll go and sleep on the couch in this room. Speaker 2 (8:12) And so this went on and on. And at one point, I had shut the blackout screen on the window. And the only light that was in the room was from the smoke detector that was blinking every 30 seconds or so. And at one point, this noise started to happen that sounded like this. It was like... Speaker 2 (8:40) And I remember I explained it away in my head that it was the, oh, that's the smoke detector that must be doing some kind of a test. Speaker 4 (8:47) Yeah. Speaker 2 (8:48) It was like I was in some weird reality where I was explaining these crazy things away. And all of a sudden, I started having these horrific images running through my head of disasters and just terrible events. And at that point, I got up and I packed up all my stuff. Speaker 2 (9:17) I said, I remember saying out loud, I said, I will never come back to this hotel for the rest of my life. I can't blame you. I, the second that I got outside of the room, it was like a, like a heavy trench coat had been pulled off of my, off of my back. I felt completely, almost like I was free, like I had escaped something. And I walked, there was this amazing breakfast buffet happening. I was super hungry. I walked right past all of that. The second I got outside, it was like, it was this muggy morning. It was super hot. But it was like the most fresh air that I've ever smelled in my life. I had a second night at this hotel and they had called me. Said, hey, we're sorry. We wanted to get you into another room, but that's the only room that's available. I said, that's fine. I said, I'm driving home tonight. And so later that night, I hadn't slept. I drove the three hours and it was the most liberating drive I think I've ever had. Wow. Because I was getting away from whatever that was. Speaker 4 (10:38) So it almost seems like you encountered actual evil of some type. Speaker 2 (10:43) That's what it's a it was so clear that something had happened in this bathroom something terrible And I remember at one point there was it was it's a brand new hotel There was a tile in the bathroom that was loose, which I thought was very very odd I've never had something speak to me so clearly or have have a thought Placed in my mind that filled me up with so much terror when I got home I sat out on my porch for like an hour, just breathing in my surroundings, slept like a baby that night. It was absolutely terrifying. Speaker 4 (11:25) Well, the good thing is, the good thing is, is that whatever it was doesn't appear to have followed you, which is a good thing. Speaker 2 (11:32) But I'm assuming, let's say Speaker 4 (11:34) the hotel called you up and said, Jeff, we know you're coming to town and we know you had a bad experience and we are going to give you a free night in that room. No, no, no cost whatsoever. In fact, we're going to throw in a free breakfast buffet. What would you answer? Speaker 2 (11:54) I wouldn't my, uh, for a million dollars, I would not, I would not be physically capable of going back into that, uh, into that room, whatever was in there. Speaker 4 (12:05) I kind of thought that would be your answer. Well, who knows what it was? You have no idea who or what it was. Speaker 2 (12:12) No, no, no. It just, it was the, this. Speaker 2 (12:16) feeling that someone was very angry that I was there that that would not let me sleep. I've never had that situation where over and over and over an entire night I was completely interrupted at the exact moment where I was about to drift off into sleep. It was this exhausting experience that I've never never had before. It was terrifying. Speaker 4 (12:44) Jeff, thank you for joining us on The Campfire, sharing this scary story. And stay spooky. Speaker 2 (12:50) Stay spooky, Jim. Thank you so much. Speaker 4 (12:53) Welcome to The Campfire. I am Jim Herold. So glad to be with you once again. And this is the show where we share real ghost stories and real spooky stories. Not just ghost stories, but all kinds of strange happenings from real people who have encountered the paranormal. Welcome to our show. Appreciate it very much. A couple of things before we get started. First of all, I have some local events here in Northeastern Ohio coming up, and I hope that you'll join us. First up is September 29th, Tuesday, which will, if you're watching this on Monday, will actually be tomorrow. And that will be at the Fairview Park Library. It's a branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library, and that is from 7 to 9 p.m. Again, the Fairview Park Library. Fairview Park Library. It's a branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library from 7 to 9 p.m. And then October 5th, that is a Monday, October 5th, the Avon. Library from 6 to 7 p.m. in Avon, Ohio, and that is a branch of the Lorraine Public Library. And then I'll throw one more out there for you. We've got more coming up. But October 7th, Wednesday, October 7th, at the Lorraine Public Library main branch from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. And all those and more coming up. And you can get all the details over at jimherald.com slash events. jimherald.com slash events. And I hope to see you there. We'll share some classic campfire stories and hopefully some stories from the audience as well. Dar will be there. So good time will be had by all. Also, I want to draw your attention to the Spooky Studio Plus Club. It's a big reason we're able to do these. shows and you go to jimherald.com slash plus jimherald.com slash plus to sign up. You get things like eight pieces of content that you don't get. If you're not a plus member, every month, remastered, Campfire remastered, Paranormal Podcast remastered, a couple of interview episodes I do every month and behind the scenes I do with Dar. Then you get the entire Jim Harreld back catalog, thousands of Campfire stories and hundreds of interviews going back to 2005. And again, it's a great way to show that you enjoy what we do and it does make it possible. So... Thank you for your consideration. Thank you, PLUS members, and join at jimherrell.com slash plus jimherrell.com slash plus. And now on to another great campfire story. Well, for many years, he was one of our favorite callers, and then we kind of lost touch. But he's been back lately in a big way with some great campfire stories, and I'm sure tonight will be no exception. Travis from California joins us again, and he has a couple more stories about that spooky park he was telling us about. And, wow, they're as fascinating as the last ones. I can't wait. Travis, welcome back to the show. Tell us these stories. Welcome back. Speaker 3 (16:03) Thank you very much. That's nice to be back. I got to be completely truthful. I almost canceled because I thought, you know, if I was one of your listeners, I would be like, well, if all these things are happening, why does he keep going back to that park? One thing that I really, really need to make clear, I haven't been going to that park since November of 2023. It's now roughly going to be October of 2026. And in all that time, the only thing that has happened to me is the two that I told you before. And then this one. So like I said, it's not poltergeist on the park, people. You know what I'm saying? It's not happening all the time. Yeah. So anyway, there we go. So once again, meeting my buddies, they get off work about maybe 1030. I'm like, cool. It was May. It was May of 2024. And at the park, it's dark. And I'm sitting there at the picnic table. And I wish you guys could see a picture. There's one path. It goes right in front of the picnic table. You can't get by me. Unless you either walk right or walk left. Right is you're going deeper into the park. Left is you're leaving the park. So I'm sitting there and I have my phone and I'm looking at the sky and all that. And so I sit there and I'm on my Nook and Kindle and I hear crunching, like leaves crunching. And I can hear somebody coming down the path. And I'm like, well, that's really weird. My friends aren't supposed to be here until 1030. And my buddy, Greg, the way that you... that I sit at the table, I can see cars pulling up. And I'm looking up and I'm like, no cars pulled up. I'm like, hmm. So anyway, I can hear crunching and I see this gentleman walking down the path. And it wasn't really moonlight, but it was enough where you could see somebody. So this gentleman walks by me and I'm like, okay. And he walks deeper into the forest on the path. The only problem was this gentleman was, oh, how shall I say? severely, severely clothing impaired. Oh, I'm like, Oh, I'm like, okay, dokey. Uh, well, that was interesting. And so actually I kind of started getting mad. He walked, he didn't even acknowledge me. Didn't look over nothing. So my buddies get to the park and I said, Hey man, I said, look, I said, this is the deal. I said, I'm not approved by any stretch of the imagination. I said that if this kind of nonsense is going to go on down this part, I said, I'm not coming down here. And they go, I told them, they go, yeah, they said, oh, you saw the naked ghost. And I said, wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. And I said, is this, I said, what do you, my buddies are really nice. But if a mothership alien landed in the park and they saw it, they'd go, huh. Then they wouldn't tell you, you would have to ask them. They'd go, oh yeah, that happened. You get one of those kind of, you know, those kinds of people that you have to ask them. And I said, no, no, no. And they said, what's really weird that you happen to see him because he's usually seen way, way on the other side. And I said, dude, I said, you know what? I said, I'm not falling for this anymore. I said, is this some kind of like hazing weird thing? And he goes, they said, no, dude. Yeah. And I just like, you know, whatever. And I'm thinking about it. And they kind of made a joke. And they said. Whoever the guy was must have been really hot. And Jim, I don't know where this came from. I immediately said this without even thinking. I said, no, I said, no, he wasn't. I said, he died of hypothermia. And I'm like, where did that come from? And they kind of looked at me. I said, when you die of hypothermia, you take your clothes off because you get hot. When you're freezing to death, you get, yeah. And I'm like, where did that come from? And I just said, he died of hypothermia. And I'm like, I have no idea where that came from in any way, shape or form. And so anyway, we're, uh, uh, they leave and I'm back at the park, you know, look at the sky and I, some more things were, uh, not making sense. Remember when I heard the crunching? Yes. Okay. First of all, I looked at the path. It was pure dirt. There's no leaves. There were no leaves on that path. And I thought, okay, if there's no leaves, then why did I hear the crunching of leaves? Right. So I, yeah. So I thought, wait a minute. So I got my, uh, uh, phone and I got my flashlight and I'm looking other than my buddies, uh, uh, footprint, no print in any way, shape or form. And the guy walked, yeah, the guy walked past me. So there