Lady by the River

[00:00:00] Welcome to Scary Story Podcast.

[00:00:02] Have you ever seen something that was never supposed to be real?

[00:00:07] Let's explore the creepy story of a local myth, and then the tale of Mrs. Hilbert, and

[00:00:13] her problem.

[00:00:16] My name is Edwin.

[00:00:18] Here's a scary story.

[00:00:24] When I first arrived to the house rental, I was amazed by how close the river was

[00:00:27] to the house.

[00:00:29] The river surrounded by tall trees was something out of the scene of a book.

[00:00:33] And I gladly accepted to take up the empty room in the house.

[00:00:37] There was one thing I should have paid attention to, though.

[00:00:42] I asked Bill, the owner of the house about the food.

[00:00:46] He was one of those regular expats, you know, people who leave their country to settle

[00:00:49] down somewhere else.

[00:00:51] Typically, they're retired workers looking for something a little more peaceful as they

[00:00:55] get older.

[00:00:57] Bill fit the description perfectly.

[00:01:00] A man from Australia who bought a house to live in and another house to rent.

[00:01:05] Both right next to each other.

[00:01:07] He told me that there was an outdoor food market nearby, a short walk along the river.

[00:01:12] That there was a good chicken place around the corner.

[00:01:16] That was all there was.

[00:01:17] So over the next few weeks I simply started exploring, daring to go a little farther down

[00:01:22] the road along the river.

[00:01:24] Telling the few people I knew that I wanted to try new foods.

[00:01:27] But I knew I was secretly hoping to find a really good burger or something more

[00:01:31] familiar to me.

[00:01:33] My search worked.

[00:01:34] I could see when I found a man with a cart who sold chicken on a stick and fries.

[00:01:40] Then I found a place that sold fish soup with sides of banana chips.

[00:01:44] Eventually, I found salads, fried rice, and yes, burgers.

[00:01:49] My friends back home all asked me why I simply didn't cook things at home.

[00:01:55] But I did.

[00:01:56] I learned to make lots of things while I was at that place but cooking for one

[00:01:59] gets boring real fast.

[00:02:02] Steering up all those pans and plates and spending an hour for something I could

[00:02:05] have picked up in five minutes was the way I justified it.

[00:02:09] Though I still cooked breakfast and lunch most days.

[00:02:12] I have to say, I started cooking at home a lot more after an experience that

[00:02:16] I still can't explain while I was living there.

[00:02:20] And around seven or eight in the evening I would start smelling the scent of charcoal

[00:02:24] in the air.

[00:02:26] Whenever I cook outside at a barbecue or bonfire, it takes me right back to those

[00:02:31] days in the mountain city in Ecuador.

[00:02:34] I think back on the rainy nights and the walks along those long dirt roads

[00:02:38] along the river.

[00:02:39] I also think of the construction site that never finished or progressed

[00:02:43] the entire year I spent there.

[00:02:45] I think of the skewers roasting over fire and the smell of those

[00:02:48] potatoes and chopped parsley.

[00:02:52] But along with those thoughts, I also get vivid reminders of the night

[00:02:55] walks to grab a snack and the reason why I started believing in other

[00:03:00] worldly entities.

[00:03:02] There was an alarm, more of a beeping sound coming from an empty building

[00:03:07] of about five stories, maybe to keep burglars out.

[00:03:12] But it would beep following no specific pattern at all.

[00:03:16] Those beeps and the sound of my boots against the gravel and dirt

[00:03:19] were the only accents against the sound of the river.

[00:03:22] It was strange walking around there in the pitch black darkness

[00:03:27] where the only way to know that the river was there was to take out your earphones.

[00:03:32] Those beeping sounds were annoying and I often wondered how people were able

[00:03:37] to live with it, beeping all night.

[00:03:40] I couldn't really hear it from my room so that was a plus.

[00:03:44] Whenever I stepped outside, there it was.

[00:03:49] I'm not sure if any of you do this but there are certain things

[00:03:51] that I find haunting and calming at the same time.

[00:03:55] Night walks are one of them.

[00:03:57] I was always stepping into an abandoned place or looking at pictures of foggy forests

[00:04:01] and abandoned cabins.

[00:04:04] Being in a new place with lots of things to explore gave me that chance

[00:04:07] to set my thoughts straight.

[00:04:10] It is one night, I didn't know exactly what I was doing.

[00:04:15] I was deciding between the man who sells french fries and chunks of sausage

[00:04:18] in a bowl and the restaurant that sold roasted chicken and again fries.

[00:04:24] People loved fries over there.

[00:04:27] So I was excited when I saw a woman walking along the river with a huge basket by her side.

[00:04:32] I was close enough to see that she was not walking very fast

[00:04:36] but far enough so that I couldn't see the shape of her head.

[00:04:40] I had seen women with those baskets and they usually sold these cheese sandwiches.

[00:04:44] They would also give you a cup of coffee with it if you asked.

[00:04:48] So I picked up my step to get closer to her and maybe grab myself one of

[00:04:52] those things she was selling when she turned the corner.

[00:04:57] She was hunched over, like severely so.

[00:05:01] And she dragged her shoes against the dirt as she crossed the street.

[00:05:07] Fries for dinner again wasn't that bad.

[00:05:09] I remember thinking as my attention went back to the dirt path along the river.

[00:05:14] That's when I noticed something else.

[00:05:17] Woman's silhouette stopped moving and simply stood there.

[00:05:21] The shadows of the corner of the street that led to places I hadn't explored in.

[00:05:27] I thought she was about to set up shop there and wait for customers to try her sandwiches.

[00:05:32] So I crossed the street and I tapped the pockets of my pants to check for coins.

[00:05:38] But the woman hunched even lower and walked into the dark street.

[00:05:43] I could hear her leather shoes against the gravel as she stepped away until she stopped suddenly.

[00:05:49] As soon as I got to where she used to be, she would have been two or three steps away.

[00:05:53] Since the sounds of her footsteps simply stopped.

[00:05:56] But I couldn't see around the corner.

[00:05:59] But I was expecting her to be there, to see that woman in her basket standing right there.

[00:06:04] Sandwiches ready and their paper wrappers.

[00:06:07] But no.

[00:06:09] There was nobody there when I got to the corner.

[00:06:12] I looked around briefly before crossing the street and continuing straight.

[00:06:18] She was still on my mind when I grabbed a plastic bag with a bowl of fries to take back home with me.

[00:06:24] Once I got to the end of the street and close to where I was staying,

[00:06:27] I looked back to the road, wondering who that old woman had been and where she was going.

[00:06:34] Had she been afraid of me?

[00:06:38] Later I found out that I should have been afraid.

[00:06:43] It was not long after the sighting of that woman.

[00:06:47] I asked one of the waitresses at a coffee shop about what the women with the baskets sell.

[00:06:52] And she said that people didn't do that anymore.

[00:06:55] But they used to sell cheese buns and other breads and asked me why.

[00:06:59] I explained what happened with me and the woman walking along the river.

[00:07:03] And when she heard my story, her eyes opened wide as she called some of her other coworkers.

[00:07:09] They asked me what she was like and where I had seen her exactly.

[00:07:14] That's when they told me about the old tale of the headless lady by the river.

[00:07:19] The story of the old lady who made a round selling up and down the street by the river

[00:07:24] when the town was developing.

[00:07:26] Until one day, while reaching for change in her bag,

[00:07:31] she tripped on her root and broke her neck as she landed on the river.

[00:07:36] The fish feasted on her wrinkles and her eyes and her ears

[00:07:41] until there was nothing left.

[00:07:44] She is said to roam through her old familiar places

[00:07:48] and sometimes gets lost with the new streets and houses.

[00:07:57] The next story is called Mrs. Hilbert.

[00:08:00] It's coming up right after a quick message from sponsors that help make this show possible.

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[00:09:27] Mrs. Hilbert and her husband used to live right next door to us

[00:09:30] before she moved away to a care facility by the edge of town.

[00:09:34] I heard it was a nice place and she asked me to go visit her through tears

[00:09:38] when she said goodbye to my parents.

[00:09:41] But even though we felt bad for her, she still gave me the creeps.

[00:09:46] I was 8 or 9 when I was asked to give her the box of cookies

[00:09:49] that she ordered from the catalog that they gave us at school.

[00:09:53] I was terrified of that house for some reason,

[00:09:55] but my mom still made me go and knock on her door and everything.

[00:09:59] I still remember walking up the steps of her porch,

[00:10:02] going around the vases and potted plants along the steps,

[00:10:05] avoiding her wind chimes dangling in front of me

[00:10:08] and then leaning against the boxes she kept next to her front door

[00:10:12] as I waited for her to open it.

[00:10:14] It was a struggle for her even back then and getting to her front door.

[00:10:18] This wasn't because she was unable to move or had a disability,

[00:10:22] but because she had stacks of boxes, random items,

[00:10:25] and piles of old newspapers all around the inside of her home.

[00:10:29] Her husband looked frustrated whenever my family bumped into him,

[00:10:33] but Mrs. Hilbert was always smiling and bringing us things.

[00:10:36] When I took the box of cookies to her,

[00:10:38] she looked at the box and smiled.

[00:10:41] Then asked if I was going to throw the plastic bag away,

[00:10:44] the one I used to bring over the box before I took it out.

[00:10:47] I told her that I didn't know, but just like that,

[00:10:50] she snatched it from my hands and asked me to say hi to my parents for her.

[00:10:54] Then she disappeared back into her mountain of stuff.

[00:10:57] She left the front door open.

[00:11:00] I figured she was simply going to come back out.

[00:11:04] Mrs. Hilbert had a problem.

[00:11:07] She had too many things.

[00:11:10] We grew up next to her and one time I asked my parents about what was wrong with Mrs. Hilbert.

[00:11:15] The mom explained that she was sick and that she would get help on her own,

[00:11:19] but that everything would be okay.

[00:11:22] I remember her yard being somewhat clean, well, compared to what it looked like now.

[00:11:28] She had lots of children's toys also,

[00:11:31] like that shiny red wagon toy that I always wanted to use,

[00:11:35] but instead I saw it grow rusty as the years passed

[00:11:37] and even more things seemed to accumulate around it.

[00:11:41] At one point she had a waiting pool,

[00:11:43] she had a scooter and a couple of swing sets.

[00:11:46] It was incredible.

[00:11:48] For some strange reason Mrs. Hilbert seemed to grow happier.

[00:11:53] Mr. Hilbert started to look sick and angry.

[00:11:57] Mom used to tell us not to ask too many questions and to let people be themselves.

[00:12:02] So we just sort of ignored the neighbors unless we bumped into them outside,

[00:12:06] like when Mrs. Hilbert walked out with her enormous nightgown and hairnet

[00:12:10] and she went to get the mail or a package out in the front yard.

[00:12:14] Those brown boxes that you just knew would live forever out in the front porch

[00:12:18] until they would get crushed by even more boxes, continuing the cycle.

[00:12:24] But it was years later when I was about to go to college

[00:12:27] and everything became too much.

[00:12:30] Some city officials took note of the home.

[00:12:33] They had warned her about her garden.

[00:12:36] I had been outside when they came out and told her

[00:12:38] that she needed to clean out the front yard or face a citation.

[00:12:42] She didn't get angry or anything.

[00:12:44] She simply smiled and apologized.

[00:12:47] As she was walking back to her house,

[00:12:48] she looked at us completely embarrassed that we had heard what they told her

[00:12:52] and she shot us a shy, sideways smile.

[00:12:57] The next day she had a gardener come and raked the leaves

[00:12:59] and trimmed down the trees and stuff like that.

[00:13:03] We stopped seeing her around the front of her house after that.

[00:13:07] Then again, we stopped seeing her husband altogether.

[00:13:12] The lights would come on at night

[00:13:14] and the blue light from the television would be visible

[00:13:16] through the cracks of the spaces between the glass of the window

[00:13:20] and the stacks of boxes and clothes that she kept against her walls.

[00:13:24] So she was in there.

[00:13:26] It would see the grocery delivery service

[00:13:27] unloaded with boxes of frozen meals to her every week.

[00:13:31] But her husband's car started growing spider webs

[00:13:34] between the side view mirrors and the car doors.

[00:13:38] Dust was caking on the hood and the roof of it.

[00:13:42] Our theories about what they were up to

[00:13:44] grew crazier by the day.

[00:13:47] We started off by saying that he had gone out for a vacation

[00:13:50] after being sick and tired of Mrs. Hilbert's messy house.

[00:13:55] Then we came up with stories about him finding another job,

[00:13:58] him being eaten, which got a lot of laughs.

[00:14:02] But what actually happened was worse than anything

[00:14:04] we could have come up with.

[00:14:07] It was not in the morning when a police car

[00:14:09] pulled up to Mrs. Hilbert's home.

[00:14:12] And then another car with people dressed in hazmat suits

[00:14:15] entered her living room along with a man with rubber gloves,

[00:14:18] a face mask and a camera to take pictures.

[00:14:22] They were in there for several hours as more and more neighbors

[00:14:26] started gathering outside by the curb and our sidewalk.

[00:14:30] Mrs. Hilbert came out and stood by the stack of boxes,

[00:14:34] her hands covering her face.

[00:14:39] A red fire truck pulled up with calm firefighters

[00:14:42] with a saw and other heavy tools.

[00:14:45] They broke one of the windows

[00:14:46] and threw some of the boxes out.

[00:14:49] Mrs. Hilbert only stopped shrieking and crying

[00:14:51] when she saw what we were all saying.

[00:14:55] A gurney with a black bag on top of it,

[00:14:59] carefully being carried out by the window

[00:15:02] withheld by the firefighters.

[00:15:05] Mr. Hilbert had been dead for nearly two weeks

[00:15:08] when they came for him.

[00:15:10] A heart attack, we think.

[00:15:12] Someone from his work had alerted the authorities

[00:15:15] about his disappearance, unable to get rid of anything.

[00:15:20] Mrs. Hilbert had a problem.

[00:15:24] Scary Story Podcast is produced by me, Edwin Comarruyes.

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[00:16:09] Until next time, thank you very much for listening.