The Rattle

[00:00:00] Before we begin, I want to tell you about the creepy diaries, Scary Story Podcast, special Halloween event. October 25th through October 30th, Scary Story Podcast will be featuring a creepy tale across our social media platforms and on the website.

[00:00:18] Then you will want to stay tuned for our Halloween live event held at 8pm Pacific Time on Saturday October 30th with me. It will be a night with a short scary story from the show told live along with a question and answer session and a virtual hangout.

[00:00:35] However, you have to tell me that you're going so that we can send you a link and more details. This event is completely free.

[00:00:43] Find the show on social media, links are on scarystorypodcast.com and shoot us a direct message on any platform or a comment or an email. I hope to see you then. With that, let's begin. Welcome to Scary Story Podcast.

[00:01:04] The stories in this episode deal with supernatural events with zero explanation. My name is Edwin. Here's a scary story. The Rattle. There were two knocks at the front door and I don't know if it was all the memories of living in the apartments in downtown.

[00:01:31] For a second there, I thought it sounded just like how the police knocked on the neighbor's door. I snapped back into real life pretty quickly though. There had been lots of changes within the past two months and I was still on edge.

[00:01:45] I wasn't sure how I'd answer my friend's questions about how my new place was. I sort of bought it on a whim and signed the papers in record time. The deal was too good to pass up and the place had no major issues.

[00:01:59] I was warned about something though. It came through an email from the previous owner as she carefully slipped in an offer for some of her crazy services. So far there was only one service that I actually needed and he was waiting at the door.

[00:02:16] I peeked through the blinds of the window that faced the porch and confirmed it. On the curb in front of my house is a white van with the name Compe's exterminator. Tastes fully decorated with silhouettes of roaches laying on their backs. Rats with X's over their eyes.

[00:02:32] The man by the front door didn't seem to match that of an exterminator. I expected a slightly overweight man in his 50s or something but instead there was a scrawny looking kid who looked too happy to be doing this kind of job.

[00:02:46] He smiled at me and confirmed my name and all that stuff. Now this was the first time I ever hired any services for my own place. My family growing up knew that the managers were terrible at fixing stuff.

[00:02:59] Some of my early memories involved my dad fixing the piping, water heaters, the air conditioning and all that. He's the one that told me that the place looked alright but I didn't want to share the price of the house with him.

[00:03:12] The frugal dad is quick to share his opinions. The guy, Harry, asked a few more questions about the place and the sounds. Saying yup after everything until finally he said he was going to go get his inspection kit and would come right back.

[00:03:29] This guy was not what I was expecting but he looked like he knew what he was doing.

[00:03:34] Two pens neatly organized side by side on his shirt pocket and he took notes on the tablet instead of a regular notebook so I don't know what he would use them for.

[00:03:43] He wiped his shoes on the welcome mat before stepping in and then shined a flashlight to the corners of the living room. I cleared it up for him, the rats weren't in the living room.

[00:03:55] He agreed but kept shining the lights against the corners between the walls and the ceiling. We walked up the stairs and to the bathroom, his eyes searching through the corners of the floor and ceiling. I thought he was wasting his time but then again what did I know?

[00:04:12] I pointed him to the opening to the attic. There I told him, that's where the sounds come from. He opened the door to it and climbed up. His footsteps sounded heavy for such a skinny man.

[00:04:26] He walked around and then I heard his footsteps get louder as he got back to the entrance. He took a few notes as I stood there waiting for him to say something.

[00:04:36] He asked to see the roof, the basement, the laundry room and even scan the empty bedrooms in the house. Diligently taking notes every time he came out into the hallway. He pulled up the questionnaire I had filled out online and then confirmed more things with me.

[00:04:53] There were no signs of rodents in the house. No termites, no roaches, not even a spiderweb could be seen. No rat droppings, just a clean wooden house. Probably the cause of the noise. Wood settles and pops he said.

[00:05:11] He asked me to tell him what it sounded like and I said that it was a rattle. Like beans inside of a cup shaking at random times of the night. That's what rats sound like right? This was not good.

[00:05:25] I know what I had heard and even though I also had my doubts that they were rats, I knew there was something there.

[00:05:33] I had been in that house for under a month and all I knew about the place was that the previous owner wanted me to hire her to do a ceremony to cleanse the house. Her email said it all.

[00:05:45] The owners before her had left her the responsibility to serve as a guardian of the house. Supposedly needed to be cleansed every six months. Her email was similar to one of those desperate salesmen who says everything in a 2000 word essay and then expects one to buy.

[00:06:04] Of course I ignored it. That's cleansing meant getting rid of whatever was making that noise, I didn't want to hear it. I was in deep thought about this when Harry interrupted me, somehow understanding my frustration. Ma'am, listen.

[00:06:21] If you want we can try my imagery technique and I can leave my equipment here overnight. It is simple to operate and you just turn it on before you go to sleep and turn it off when you wake up.

[00:06:33] The machine will keep track of movements just like a regular camera. I was desperate to find an answer. I imagined the rats crawling up the bed post and burying themselves into my mouth while I slept.

[00:06:46] There oily fur against my nose until all I felt were the scales of their tails on the roof of my mouth. Nope, nope. I asked Harry to set it up and to tell me how it worked.

[00:07:01] He went back out to his van and came back with a large box and a huge camera device. He had guessed that the source of the noises were from the roof somewhere. There had been no traces of rodents, nests, drop-beings or anything up there.

[00:07:15] Beehives were another idea but we crossed it out too. Sounds were coming from the attic. He opened up the attic door and pulled on the rope for the ladder. He took the camera thing up there with him and sent a cable down to the opening.

[00:07:32] It had been set up. He reassured me that we would find the source of the noise. And that... we did. I plugged in the device and pressed the yellow button before I went to the end of the hallway to turn off the lights that night.

[00:07:50] It must have been around two in the morning when I heard the first signs of it. This time, the rat squeak sounded like soft cries. The sounds of the rattle were still there. Shake, shake, shake. Clumsily and without any patterns or rhythm.

[00:08:08] It reminded me of the way that a baby plays with it before launching it across a playpen. The open door to the attic was not a good idea.

[00:08:20] Odd thoughts kept circling in my mind before I jumped off my bed and rushed to my laptop bag before even turning on the lamps in my bedroom.

[00:08:28] I pressed the power button of the computer before realizing in my half-awake state that I could get to the email for my cell phone too. I scrolled through the messages and the next pages of emails that I never cared to delete when I found it.

[00:08:44] Anna Bilmore, the previous owner of the house. My dear, as you know, blah blah blah, she was assigned to take care of the home by the owners before her. She continued, It is important to cleanse every six months, something that I can teach you to do yourself.

[00:09:03] Of course, I will not charge a dime. Oh, so she wasn't trying to sell me something. It was a bad habit of mine to think so. Two active spirits currently reside with you. And I can assure you that they mean no harm. But please follow the rules.

[00:09:23] My mind couldn't process the entire email at such ungodly hours of the night. But my heart started pounding when I read that she mentioned Baby Tom and his mother Miriam. I fell asleep with them on my mind.

[00:09:40] The next morning, I walked over to the bathroom and saw the flashing light on the cable of that camera Harry had put up on the attic. I pressed a red button and unplugged it. It was a Saturday and I remember wondering if Harry even worked on the weekends.

[00:09:56] But sure enough, he calls right as I was having breakfast and asked me about the camera. He came by a little later and walked over to the hallway. He climbed up the stairs and brought the device back down.

[00:10:08] He then quietly took it to his van, smiling on his way out and told me he would review the imagery and come right back. He was right. Video recordings caught the source of the noise in my house.

[00:10:25] At around 2 in the morning, a small dot appeared in the middle of the frame, slowly growing to about the size of a rat. I knew it, I thought to myself, somewhat relieved. But the thing kept growing to the size of a small dog.

[00:10:42] Harry stood there staring at the screen, not believing what he was seeing. A small figure crawled over to the camera, sat back, and moved its arms up and down to the sound of a rattle. It then suddenly froze in place, right in front of the camera.

[00:11:03] It was the image of a baby. I reached for my phone to email Anna Billmore about the ghost of the baby she had mentioned in her email. I must have looked extra freaked out as I was doing so because Harry asked me if everything was alright.

[00:11:18] Then saying that this was likely some type of prank. I tried to clear it up to him. The previous owner had mentioned the spirit of a baby in the house, but he stopped me halfway. Ma'am, no, he said.

[00:11:34] Then he rushed up the ladder of the attic and came back down. Then, standing sheepishly in front of me, he stretched out his arm. This thing moved. In his hand, he was holding a tiny doll wrapped in a white blanket.

[00:11:55] A toy rattle gripped by its plastic hand, alone in the building. I was assigned to work on a new project with coworkers from a different department. And it came with a small bonus. Nothing big, but enough for me to accept it.

[00:12:24] I had read one of those finance books that talked about side hustles or quick wins to earn extra money. This fit perfectly into that plan to finally pay off my car.

[00:12:35] The thing though was that this department did some of the essential tasks that were needed during regular business hours. Which meant that we had a stack of projects to finish and get approved before 5 in the morning.

[00:12:47] It was completely doable and I was the only person assigned to be in the office floors during those hours. We're direct access to our physical network, which is probably why I was offered the bonus in the first place. It was a cool job.

[00:13:02] There was nothing too big for me to worry about and most of the tasks involved turbo shooting some of the issues that the techs were having on the assembly floor. I would correct them, so they could be able to do the same thing.

[00:13:13] I think the place itself was what worried me the most. The main reason why I left. The guards used to talk about the office and joke with me about being careful.

[00:13:25] They had several issues in that specific building, with lights turning on and off and several reports of employees running out of there. And refusing to go to work. Maybe that was another reason for the bonus. Either way I had no issues in there.

[00:13:42] Well, for the first two weeks I was there. But then everything started. All of the lights had turned off except for the lamps of my cubicle. And I had a YouTube video in the background as I fixed a few things over all of them.

[00:13:59] All of the lights had turned off except for the lamps of my cubicle. And I had a YouTube video in the background as I fixed a few things over operation software. That's when I heard the door to the break room open.

[00:14:14] Now this place had light sensors along the spaces between the rows of cubicles. So I expected the ceiling lights to turn on. But nothing did. They detected no motion. I craned my neck over the dividers of my space and looked over to the break room.

[00:14:33] Sure enough, the door was closing shut. I sat back down lowering the volume of the YouTube screen to be sure to hear it if it happened again. But then the lights turned on in the middle of the last row of cubicles, almost by the wall.

[00:14:51] And they started turning on one by one as it trailed off into the corner of the building. My eyes followed the trail as it turned the other corner where the break room was.

[00:15:05] I sat there, I swear, frozen in my chair as I watched the door to the break room open just enough to show the dark space inside and then shut. I smiled to myself, nervously at the thought that maybe someone else had been in there.

[00:15:23] I picked up the phone while opening up the top drawer of my desk. The phone number for the security booth had been given to me along with a bunch of other flyers when I started working in that building. I found it.

[00:15:37] And I dialed the number and Ben picked up. Ben is someone else in the building with me, I asked him. Oh you mean besides the ghost?

[00:15:46] Now I used to joke around with Ben all the time when I took my breaks I would walk over to his booth to talk for a little while. I learned a lot about the guy over those lukewarm cups of coffee. This wasn't a time for joking.

[00:16:01] He cleared his throat too close to the speaker of his phone and then changed his tone. Uh no man, there is no one else in the logbook. You okay? Someone's in here Ben, I said. Trying to sound extra serious.

[00:16:16] I'll call the security company and be right there he said. Stay alert and call 911 in case you hear something else. He hung up the phone and I sat there in silence. Trying not to look around the dark floor full of empty desks.

[00:16:32] The lights finally turned off again after detecting no movement but still it was tough for me to simply go back to my computer screen as if nothing had happened. There was one last task on the list of things for me to do.

[00:16:46] If I got through that one I could go home. I don't know how I was able to do it but I opened up the files and started working again. There was like a lot of work to be done.

[00:16:56] I don't know how I was able to do it but I opened up the files and started working again. There was loss on the waiting screen that would normally display the green check mark when I heard something move from the corner of the building.

[00:17:10] By the way my cubicle was almost in the exact middle of the floor so I got a good view all around me. It was the longest door squeak I had ever heard and it really started to scare me. But what happened next was even worse.

[00:17:31] I started to hear footsteps from that same spot and I don't know if it was my mind but I think I also saw a moving shadow.

[00:17:40] My palms were sweaty as I kept feeling chills running up and down my spine as I stared into the dark corner of the office floor in silence. It was time to call the police. Then I saw the light from the corner of the floor turn on.

[00:17:59] I froze in place as I heard footsteps walking my way. The other set of lights from the ceiling turned on as whatever it was walked over to the opposite wall. It stopped right on the path that would lead straight to my cubicle.

[00:18:16] Suddenly I saw all of the lights turn on one by one as a thing came closer to me. It was only two or three cubicles away from the entrance to mine. The thing was getting closer.

[00:18:30] It had a distinct sound like heavy breathing approaching but not getting any louder. That's when I heard the front door open and two men with flashlights stepped inside. All of the lights turned on at once as I heard Ben shouting my name.

[00:18:50] The next story is about a taxi driver with an unfortunate luxury. It is called pick up and it is coming up right after this. The nights were extra cold when things went wrong.

[00:19:18] The mother of my daughter had been toying around with the idea of a lawsuit to get some of the other money that I supposedly owed her. Even though I had paid.

[00:19:28] My daughter was multi-talented being a member of the school band, photography club and even cheater at one point. And I considered myself very proud of her even though some of those activities were very expensive.

[00:19:43] I worked during the day as a level one technician at a factory and the pay was all right. With the new shops and developments around my city rent was going up and the pay was staying the same.

[00:19:56] I had a little bit of money saved up and I blamed on my cousin for giving me the idea of getting a job for a taxi company. I should have known and I should have known. My daughter had told me to do Uber or Lyft instead.

[00:20:11] Those paid more and I got to pick my own hours. But I don't know there was something about being in an established company that I trusted more. Blame it on my old school mindset or desire for stability but to me it was the best way to go.

[00:20:28] The job was set up in a strange way. I had a minimum wage pay but the rides paid a certain amount to meet a certain threshold.

[00:20:37] If I owned my own car, which I did, I would earn a little more and only pay the fee for the people who took the phone calls.

[00:20:45] But due to some shortages or something even though I think it was actually competition, my pay would depend more on how many rides I got. That is where the problem was.

[00:20:57] Still I decided to bite the bullet and take the graveyard shifts and hang out around the alleys and nightclubs where people were still out late at night. For a while it worked out alright.

[00:21:10] But even those places started getting less and less people so I started driving over to the next town where they had a small airport and a bus terminal.

[00:21:20] The downside was that their rides were sometimes longer than I expected, driving out into the coastal area and sometimes up to an hour only to drive back without a passenger on board. That was where I was.

[00:21:35] All I could see was a long yellow double line on the black pavement in front of me. As far as I could see, I wasn't going to continue taking calls. That whole night had already been bad.

[00:21:49] If I stayed working I would end up losing even more money on gas. With that I agreed with myself that I would call it a night and head straight home. That's when I spotted someone up ahead.

[00:22:04] If it hadn't been for her long white coat, I would have driven right past her. She was walking with a sack looking bag next to her on my side of the road heading north just like me.

[00:22:16] She turned her head toward my headlights and put her hand in front of her face. I'm sure if she was trying to hit your ride or if the light simply bothered her I decided that should stop just in case she needed help getting somewhere.

[00:22:30] The front passenger side window was right next to her as I pulled the window down and asked if she needed a ride. She didn't answer but then took two steps back and opened the door to the back seat.

[00:22:45] I turned down the volume of the stereo and checked the time. 1.39 in the morning. I started setting the meter starting promptly at 3.50 and then played around with the radio some more. This woman was taking a while to get inside.

[00:23:03] It crossed my mind that maybe she was waiting for me to open the trunk so that she could set whatever she was carrying in there. But it wasn't that big, so I thought she was going to carry it in with her.

[00:23:15] Still I looked over to the open back seat door and upon not seeing her there, I decided to pop open the trunk and step out of the car. When I did, there were no signs of the woman anywhere.

[00:23:30] I walked to the back of the car, the trunk somewhat open and I slammed the shut. I remember shouting hello out into the dark trees that lined up the road but no one ever responded.

[00:23:44] I went to the open door on the side of the car looking all around me. But there was no one else in sight. I shut the door and walked around to my side of the car again.

[00:23:58] I must have sat in there for a few minutes processing the whole thing before I put the car in gear and drove away in silence once again. I was tired after all. That was a good enough excuse for my mind to leave it behind.

[00:24:14] But about 10 minutes after that, still trying not to get hypnotized by the straight double yellow lines in the middle of the road. I saw another figure up ahead.

[00:24:24] A woman in a white coat which I guess could have been a dress walking in the same direction as I was heading. She turned her face toward the headlights once again and covered her face with her arm.

[00:24:41] A sack held tightly with her other hand as she stepped along the side of the road. I slowed down driving right next to her now. But she didn't seem to notice me this time. Her dark hair was still as she floated along the side of the road.

[00:24:59] There was no way she could have made it that far ahead so fast. I lowered the window slightly and asked if she needed a ride. My car kept moving as she slowly turned her head toward me. Her dark eyes and pale face caught me by surprise.

[00:25:19] But then she opened her mouth wide and let out a scream that I cannot forget to this day. I hit the gas pedal so hard, it got away from there.

[00:25:34] I kept looking at my rear view mirrors the whole ride home, praying out loud that she wouldn't be in the back seat of my car. Scary Story Podcast is written and produced by me, Edwin Covarros.

[00:25:57] For more, be sure to visit scarystorypodcast.com to find out details on the creepy diaries and on the user submission contest. You can say hello and message me over on scarystorypodcast.com or on social media. Be sure to tap follow so you don't miss out on future episodes.

[00:26:18] Until next time, thank you very much for listening.