Cracked Doors: A Week of Unexplained Terror

Some people say that a Ouija board doesn't have to be used to invite something in. One woman believes a simple sticker unleashed a week of nightmares that changed her life forever. My name is Edwin, and here is Adriana's true scary story. My name is Adriana. My story takes place in Inglewood, California. It was the year about 2018. At the time, I was living with a now ex-boyfriend in their family home. A group of friends and him and I, we were all at a local brewery one day. Just hanging out, this local brewery on this particular day had a variation of vendors selling all kinds of stuff. Stickers, books, pins, all kinds of stuff. One vendor in particular caught my attention. He had stickers. He was selling stickers and the stickers were really cute. They were fashioned in old timey cartoons like Betty Boop and Felix the Cat. I went over to look at the display that he had. They were really cute because they were all spooky characters. There was werewolves, ghosts, vampires, witches, etc. He comes up to talk to me and he's like, oh, I have a deal with stickers. You buy so many for such price. So I was like, okay, great. I start looking at the stickers that I want. And I noticed that there was one sticker that was a Ouija board. And it had these little cartoon characters on it. So I thought it was really cute. And I was like, oh, I'll take one of those also. And the guy, have you, he had a very mischievous look to him. I don't know if you know what the rocker Billy kind of looked like. is but he was dressed in that attire socks suspenders loafers slick back hair handlebar mustache and he just kind of had this mischievous look to him so he tells me I'm actually sold out of that sticker and I was like oh okay he's like but I have this he pulls out the sticker replicating this Ouija board he was like I made this myself and I could give it to you for a good price I immediately declined because I've always been scared of Ouija boards. I know what power they could hold. I know what could be let in if you mess with these things. So I immediately declined. And I told him this. When I told him this, he laughed. He laughed this very sinister laughter. And I was like, okay, this is a little bit weird. So he was like, okay, if you say so. He went ahead, put the board away. We finished our transaction. He gave me the stickers that I chose. I paid for them. A day or two goes by. I completely forget about the stickers, but I'm going to see a friend of mine and I know that she. Would like these stickers. So I opened the package now at home. I'm sorting out through the stickers and I noticed that in the bag, there's not only one, but there's two of the Ouija board stickers in the bag. which I was surprised, right? I didn't think anything of it. I was just more like, oh, cool. I guess he gave them to me or he had a few left over and decided to give them to me. So I start them out. I put one for my friend and I keep the other one. I see my friend, everything. We come back home and this is where things started. They started that night and it started with nightmares. As I mentioned, I lived with a, ex-boyfriend at the time. And we were always on different schedules. We would watch TV. He would watch TV to fall asleep. I would fall asleep before him. I always had to be up earlier for work. So we're falling asleep. He has the TV on. I turn over getting ready to fall asleep. I remember the last thing I did, I looked over at him before I decided to fall asleep. And he kind of had this very serious look on his face. I'm not sure if something was bothering him or he just was in a mood. But I didn't think anything of it. I rolled over. And when I rolled over, I guess I went to sleep immediately. And I went straight into the dream. I dreamt that when I rolled over, I put the blanket over my head, which is something I never do. I get very claustrophobic and I have trouble breathing. But in the dream, I did that exactly. In the dream, I rolled over because I felt my boyfriend coming into the bed as if he was putting the blanket on him too. So as I'm turning over to look at him, he's putting the blanket completely over his head as well, looking at me. And as he's looking at me, his face turns into this demonic thing. And it's like a big, huge smile and just demonic. As he's leaning towards me, his face starts to melt. His body starts to melt. He starts to melt entirely. I freak out. I wake up from the dream. Or at least I think I wake up from the dream. When I do, it's right back to how he was when I fell back asleep. I looked at him and he looked at me. Just same serious look. So I think I'm awake. I'm not awake. I'm still in the dream. This happens at least two more times. Same thing. Go under the blanket. He goes under the blanket. He's this demon. He's melting. At this point, I'm completely freaked out. I'm not religious in any kind of way. But I happen to have a rosary right above the bed that his late grandma gave to me. So I've always kept it just as a thing as protection. I grab the rosary at this point. I have you, my, my boyfriend is fully awake, but I'm not telling him what is going on just because he gets freaked out really easily. And he believes in all these things and the manifestation of things. If you speak him and speak of them. So I grabbed the rosary. I lay down and I keep my, I have the rosary in my hand underneath the pillow. I'm trying to think of prayers. I'm not good with prayer. Again, I am not a religious person. So I'm, I'm trying to think of just whatever prayers. And I start praying, I'm holding the rosary and I'm praying just repeatedly because I am freaked out by this dream, right? And as I'm finally starting to doze off, I felt the rosary being pulled from my hand from something underneath the bed. It literally felt, I could feel the beads slipping through my palms. I freak out. And for some reason, all I could picture, this sounds so creepy, but the only thing I could picture was like little hands, like baby hands underneath the bed, pulling the rosary. Why? I do not know. But that's all I could picture at that moment. I freak out. I get up and now I'm sitting in pitch black darkness and I don't know what to do. I start praying. I lay back down. And I somehow managed to end up falling asleep. But I was clutching this rosary so hard that it was being like embedded in my hand. The cross was being embedded in my hand. I woke up with the print in my hand of the beads and the cross and everything because I held it so tight until I finally fell asleep. I woke up the next day completely terrified, not knowing what happened. I couldn't explain why I was having these, I had this terrible nightmare and I didn't, I, again, I didn't think anything of it. I didn't think it could possibly pertain to this sticker. When I got up, I needed to do my daily routine to get ready for work. So our bedroom door is in a hallway and that hallway right as you exit the bedroom door is our bathroom. So you could go right into it. I went into the bathroom. I'm getting ready. When you sit on the toilet, you're facing the door. So you could see the hallway at the bottom of the door, the little opening. This is an add-on part of the house. So there was more space underneath the door, probably about an inch bigger than usual. So you could see. Shadows, like if someone were to exit my bedroom going into the hallway into the kitchen. And this hallway in particular is very creaky. This house always made a lot of noise settling. And this hallway in particular was always very creaky. So even if a mouse stepped into that hallway, you could hear it creak. So I'm sitting in the toilet. I'm doing my business. I see a shadow walk out of my bedroom, go across the hallway and into the kitchen. No sound whatsoever. I'm looking at this terrified because I'm like, this is unexplainable. There would be sound right now because again, I know this house. I know how creaky it is. And I see the shadow literally exit the room, go across the hallway and into the kitchen. I try not to think anything of it. I'm like, okay, maybe I'm just still freaked out from my nightmare last night. Whatever. Don't think anything of it. Day goes on. I come back home. Now, again, it's time. to go to sleep. I'm getting ready to go to sleep. I've always had a thing of being scared of doors being slightly opened at night where you could see just that sliver of darkness from a closet, from a bedroom, from a bathroom. It has always given me the heebie-jeebies. It scares me. So I've always had this habit of going around closing doors completely because I don't like that crack. I've always been scared ever since a kid. So. I'm on edge because of all the nightmares and because of what happened in the morning. I'm a little more tense than usual, a little bit more alert of these things. So I noticed that the bathroom was slightly open that way, right? So I'm getting ready to close it. And I noticed that it looked darker than usual inside the bathroom. Usually you could see the reflection of the garage light that we had outside just slightly. You could see it. And I noticed that and I could tell I knew the garage light was on, but you couldn't see any light in the bathroom whatsoever. So I'm like, OK, that's scary. As I grabbed the doorknob to close the bathroom, I felt as if someone was holding the doorknob on the other side. You know, when someone is trying to keep the door from being shut, it felt like that. I immediately freaked out because I knew no one was in there. It was just me and my boyfriend at home at the time. And he was in the kitchen. I could see him in the kitchen. I ended up shutting the door and it slams because I literally had to pull it. Again, I'm keeping this to myself because my boyfriend... he grew up Catholic. So a lot of this stuff is very, they know about it in their culture and in their religion, demons or possession and all kinds of stuff. I don't mention anything to him. He gets freaked out really easily. I kind of try to brush it off. I'm scared. Now comes bedtime. I'm freaked out. I don't want to go to sleep. I don't want to have nightmares like I did the night before. So I don't have nightmares, luckily. But what does happen is this hallway, again, as I mentioned, loud, creaky, the house settles. In the middle of the night, this had to be right before 3 a.m. or just at 3 a.m. I kid you not. I hear what sounds like someone or something screaming. Running down the hallway. And it was loud. We have hardwood floor there. So it sounded like a hooved animal. I'm just going to say that. Or someone wearing very heavy shoes. It sounded like they ran from our bathroom down the hallway to which is my boyfriend's brother's bedroom. And it was so loud. It was so loud. And the house creaked and made so much noise that you could feel the rumble. So it went from the bathroom to the end of the hallway. And then you heard the end of the hallway, which would be his brother's bedroom door slam hard. I freaked out. I woke up. I woke up my boyfriend at this time and I told him, hey, did you hear that? And he was like, what? And I was like, you didn't hear that. It sounded like someone ran down the hallway and slammed your brother's door. He was like, no, I didn't hear anything. I was like, are you serious? He was like, yes. I didn't sleep the rest of the night because I was so freaked out because I know what I heard. The next day I asked his brother, hey, did you run down the hallway for some reason and slam your bedroom door in the middle of the night? He was like, no, I was asleep the whole night. I didn't get up at all. I was like, okay. At the time, my boyfriend's parents were actually using the bedroom in the front temporarily. They would come and stay with us. That night in particular, they were there. So I then asked them, hey, did you or your husband happen to use the bathroom last night and slam the bathroom door or the bedroom door? No. You guys didn't hear anything last night? No. So I'm the only one that heard this and have you again. It sounded like the house was getting ready to fall apart. I couldn't explain it. Freaked me out. So now it's morning time. I'm exhausted. I'm sleep deprived because nothing. I've had two nights in a row of being completely terrified. I'm getting ready for the day. Same thing. I see a shadow come out of my bedroom, go across the hallway, the same thing. At this point, I'm starting to freak out because I'm like, all right, this is two nights in a row. This house has always been scary. What is going on? I've never had anything that scary happened. I've always had the sink turn on its own, the TV turn off on its own, the radio turn off, off and the TV turn on little things like that. And nothing to the point to scare me like this. So I was like, this is something different. I'm freaked out. I don't know what to do. I'm not looking forward to what is what is happening now. So Nightmares again. I have another nightmare. This nightmare in particular, I wake up and I see something in the corner of the bedroom. I can't make out what it is. In my subconscious, I'm telling myself, it's just the coat rack. It's just the coat rack. I don't think anything of it. But in the dream, I'm terrified. I know that it's something there. And again, it's the same pattern. I wake up, but I'm still in the dream. I wake up and I'm still in the dream. This happens again a series of three times throughout the night. There's something in the corner. I do the same thing. I pray. I stay up almost basically all night until I fall asleep somehow. The next day, I didn't see the shadow come out of the room. So I'm thinking, okay, this might be, we might be getting, whatever it is, might no longer be here. It's just bad nightmares. I was stressed out during this time. My boyfriend and I were at a breaking point. I was getting ready to move out. I was unhappy with my job. So I was under a lot of stress. So I was like, maybe I'm just stressed out more than usual. And it's just affecting me. I already wasn't sleeping well. So adding this was making it even harder. So I started thinking maybe it's just my mental health, right? I didn't see the shadow. Cool. Maybe I'm getting over it. I was able to get a little bit of sleep prior to the other nights. Day goes on, same thing. Here we go. It's nighttime now. I don't have nightmares this night, but my boyfriend, he has always had nightmares where he is doing exorcisms. I kid you not. On this particular night, and he's very You could hear him talk in his sleep, mumble, grunt, all these things. This night, he's having one of those nightmares. He's grunting. He's shivering. He's moving more than usual because it roused me. It woke me up. And I'm looking at him and I'm trying to wake him up. I'm shaking him. And it takes a while. He does wake up, reposition himself, but goes back into the dream because he's still mumbling, grunting and stuff. And so the next day I asked him, what were you dreaming about? And he goes, I had one of those dreams again where I was doing an exorcism. And I was like, what? And he was like, yeah. He was like, but this time it was in Mike's room, his brother that sleeps, that has the bedroom right down the hallway. And I was like, what? And he goes, yeah. He is like, there was something in Mike's closet that And I couldn't see what it was, but I knew it was something evil and demonic. And he was in, and I was doing an exorcism. I was telling it the power of Christ compels you, like you see it in the movies and stuff. And I was trying to get it out of the room, get it out of the room. He was like, yeah, I was freaked out. It was a nightmare. And I was like, oh, I was like, because I heard you. And he was like, oh, he was like, I'm sorry if I woke you. And I was like, yeah, no, no big deal again. I haven't told him any of the things that I've been experiencing that week. At this point now, I'm really freaked out. I'm starting to think, what could it be? What is going on here? I'm starting to do some research about cleansing. Hey there, Edwin here, jumping in really quickly. I know that I'm going to get some notes about this, but I am aware of a strange anomaly, a strange sound that sounds along with Adriana's voice. right at this section i have not determined where it came from what it is but i am thinking that it might just be a repetition like a i call it ironically i call it a ghostly repetition of the audio because it sounds like it goes along with her voice but i can't identify what it says i'm gonna start that same clip over again and let the story continue back to the. Episode At this point now, I'm really freaked out. I'm starting to think, what could it be? What is going on here? I'm starting to do some research about cleansing. That house has been cleansed before because, again, things have changed. have happened in that house and it has been cleansed before. And I've cleansed that house before also with sage and everything. So I'm thinking now, let me, what type of cleansing do I need to do to get this out of the house, right? And I start thinking, I'm doing research. I'm looking for stuff online. and looking for things of what could have potentially stirred this up and stuff. And again, being stressed out, having negative energy, there's always things that could stir things up. But then an article came up about playing with a Ouija board or opening up at portals and stuff like that. And then that's when it clicked. I was like, could it possibly be this sticker that I have in my home that opens something up? I was in my head. I'm thinking, no, there's no way it's just the sticker. It's not even a real board. Right. But then I start thinking it was replicated from a real board that someone made. So there is that possibility that there is something attached to this board sticker or that it has the potential power to open something. Again, the vendor was a little bit weird and mischievous. So who knows? He could have, put a spell on it, conjured something to be attached to those stickers. So I start thinking, could this be a possibility? And in my head, I'm like, okay, maybe. I need to get rid of the sticker. I need to get rid of the sticker, cleanse the house, and see if that works. It's the weekend now, so I don't have to work. So I start putting a plan together. I have to get rid of the sticker. I have to get it away from the house as far as I can. So I decide I'm going to go for a hike. I'm going to take the sticker with me and I'm going to get rid of it out in the open in nature where it's away from possibly going into another house or something like that. Right. So I do this hike. I get ready, get all my gear ready. I take the sticker with me. I'm so scared at this point of the sticker that I actually don't touch it with my hands while I'm in the house. I get prongs. I put it in a bag. I get my gear. I go. As I'm now hiking, I find a little secluded area. As I'm disposing of this sticker, leaving it there, I'm of. Course saying I'm. Telling the bad spirits to leave, that they're not allowed in the home, that they must leave with this sticker, that they cannot come back with me, that only the light of God is allowed to be with me, that I am protected by the light of God. So I am rebuking these spirits, this demonic entity or whatever. It is attached to this sticker. I leave it. It's at a tree trunk. So there was like a little bit of a little burrow, like an animal had made. So I kind of took it in there, cover it with leaves, do a little, again, a blessing of leaving it there. Whole time I'm hoping and praying this works. I go home. Luckily this day, no one was there. So this is when I do my sage cleansing. I am cleansing the heck out of the house. I open every window, every door. I'm saging. I'm telling these evil spirits to leave the home, that they're not allowed there, that only the light of God, the same thing, that this house is protected by God and have you. I'm not religious, but I felt like this was the right thing to do because of the events. They felt so demonic in a sense. So I'm cleansing the house. All the doors are open. All the windows are open. I sage the place, do my spiritual cleansing. And I'm hoping and praying that this works, right? So I'm sitting there just waiting for night to come now, because again, I feel like now I'm playing with. Heavy hitter stuff. I got rid of a board, which we all know can either go really bad or really good. I'm terrified. I know of stories that boards that have come back, people have tried to burn them and they come back. So I'm freaking out. I don't know what's going to happen. So nightfall comes. I'm having trouble going to sleep because I'm scared. I don't want to fall asleep. I don't know what's going to happen. Again, I'm falling asleep with the rosary in my hand. And at this point, I have now put the Holy Bible at my nightstand because I felt like I needed every kind of protection that you could think of because of the things that had been happening, especially with the nightmare that my boyfriend had saying that there was Something demonic in his brother's bedroom, which was just down the hall. I felt like we super needed protection. I finally followed sleep. I dozed off. And this is the last dream that I end up having. In the dream, I see the entire house, right? And in this house, from when you step in, it's the living room, the dining room, the kitchen, the back door. You could see straight across into that house. So... That's my view. I'm in the living room. Have you the living room in this house is where the energy has always felt the thickest and heaviest. I was, I have always been scared to look into that living room at night because I've always felt that something would be there. So I would never look into that living room at night. So in the dream, I am in the living room and I'm seeing straight across into the house. The house has this bluish hue to it. Everything is pitch black, but there's like this bluish hue that gives light to everything. So you could see everything. You could see the house. So as I'm standing in the living room, all of a sudden in the dream, every single door and window opens. Everything opens. And I freak out because it's like in the movies. It's like sudden everything opens like the pantries, the cabinets, everything. It's just like that. Everything opens. And I freak out in the dream. I'm terrified in the dream. And as I'm looking around to see everything open, I start to try to move along the house to get to my bedroom. In the dream, I knew that I was trying to get into my bedroom. As I'm midway in the dining room, I stop because there's a mirror that faces the hallway. And in the dream, I'm trying to keep walking, but for some reason, Something is trying to get me to look into the mirror. I don't want to look into the mirror because that mirror faces the end of the hallway, which faces the bedroom where... My boyfriend was doing an exorcism in his dream the night before. I'm not trying to look in that way. Right. And at that end, his brother always slept with the door slightly open. Also, again, I'm terrified of doors being slightly open. So I never looked that way regardless because of that. So I'm trying my hardest to keep moving, keep moving. But something is just has me stuck there. Finally, I don't know what happens. I guess in my subconscious, I try to rebuke this evilness and I'm finally able to move. When I get to my bedroom door, it's as if I'm about to go into my bedroom door. It's the same thing. I feel someone holding the bedroom door from the other side. And this is in my dream. So I'm now trying to go in, but something is keeping me from moving. being let in it's like they're holding the door after a minute or two of struggling with the door finally open this is the only door that is closed have you remember in the dream all the doors and all the windows open when I finally open this door in the dream all the other doors and windows slam shut and then this is when I'm awake awaken I'm awakened because I could hear the sound of it It sounded like it actually happened, like all the windows and all the doors shut, slammed shut. So this wakes me up now. I'm freaked out. It is now morning time. I apparently have slept through the entire night in this just one dream. I wake up. I'm full blown sweat in a panic. I'm like, oh, my God. I go about the day, same thing. I look for the shadow, no shadows this time. The house did feel lighter this morning. Again, I had cleansed it the night, the day before and everything. So I was, I'm hoping here, okay, maybe that's it. Maybe I got rid of this. Go to work and everything. This is now like Monday and evening time comes, right? My boyfriend again has one of these nightmares, not as scary, not as intense. He tells me about it. He said that he was now in a different place trying to again, do an exorcism. So I tell him, I was like, that's kind of strange that you've had these dreams like in a row. And he goes, yeah, he was like, but in this one, he was like, I got rid of whatever it was. If it finally left, like the place was safe and it was happy again. And I was like, okay, nice. Good. That night, No nightmares for me. No strange sounds. Nothing happened. Same for him that night. No more nightmares. No strange sounds. Nothing. Obviously, the cleanse, getting rid of the sticker and everything worked. The house is fine. And that kind of is where it ended. Just as abruptly as it started, it ended so easily. And that was it. After that, the house seemed calm. It was quiet. There was no more nightmares. There was no more sounds. There was no. My boyfriend went on a long time without having any kind of nightmares. It really just ended that way that quickly. I got rid of the sticker. I did the cleanse. I did a spiritual prayer. I separated myself from it. I rebuked all the evil and asked the evil to stay away. And after that, it was calm. Nothing else happened. But this was all in a series of a week. And the fact that my boyfriend was having these nightmares at the same time as I was, but I didn't tell him anything that was going on was probably the craziest part. Adriana, thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us here at True Scary Story. We did have a conversation about this stuff after the calls, even like during the call. Again, not everything that we talk about makes it to the final recording. Because, yeah, we press stop to the recording and sometimes we keep talking. Usually that's what happens here. But something really, really strange here that I just have to bring up. And it's the house itself. Was. already unsettling. There was something strange in that house. And I know that Adriana mentioned it in a very, you know, like a normal thing when you're so used to your house being, I don't know, inhabited or you see things that shouldn't happen, but you see them so often that they're normal to you now. Like things, the radio turning on, the TV turning on, random things like that. I'm thinking bringing that thing home, the sticker of the Ouija board, Could that have, I don't know, did it agitate what was happening already in your house? Did it bring something up? Remember, Ouija boards, what they're for is basically a method of communication with the other world, right? So bringing a symbol of that, even if it's a sticker, does that trigger something? I don't know, just a thought here. Of course, we also have to mention here the strange vendor. the guy that just gives you this strange vibe. And I know we've all encountered someone like that. I mean, I've taken buses in Los Angeles where I felt like there was something off about somebody. Also, when I was a kid, I mean, I guess this isn't paranormal, but when I was a kid, we used to have these yard sales. I guess they were scheduled throughout the neighborhood at a certain time in the summer. And I used to be allowed to roam around a little bit, like two or three houses down. And one time there was this old guy who said, hey, come here. So I kind of looked at him. And he showed me his hand and he pulled off his thumb. It was a magic trick, right? But still, I freaked out and I ran away. And I remember that guy for a while. I'm like, whoa, like, I'm definitely not talking to strangers now. You know, but I know what you mean about there was something off. Like, Adriana described him as mischievous. And. The fact that you showed up, you got home and you saw that the stickers were there or the Ouija board stickers. I don't know. I wouldn't have accepted them, especially you believing that, you know, you don't want to be around these kinds of things, yet you still kept it. Maybe that was a trigger, you know, like, hey, maybe you are open to this. Maybe it was something that the guy did. I don't know how I feel about that. Right. But let me know, listeners, what do you think? What do you think happened there with this strange, strange Vanderv? Also, the idea that you don't have to use a Ouija board. What about all these images that we see of the Ouija board? What about apps about the Ouija board? Are those things also going to put us at risk? Do we believe? Do we believe that these Ouija boards are actually capable of communicating with, I don't know, the dead or whatever else is out there? I think near the end of the story that Adriana was telling us, she eventually found a way to stop the activity. It did take a lot of effort, obviously, to try to get rid of it and to make sure that it wasn't going to come back. She would go to those extremes in order to prevent these things from happening. We have had callers here on the show talk about trying to get rid of Ouija boards and having difficulty doing so. Interested in what you're thinking about all this stuff? I know that we do have a collection of Ouija board stories, but this is the first time we have a sticker one or something that represents one. found that really really interesting of course you're probably wondering also about the the boyfriend and the dream dreams of being an exorcist i asked about this and i don't know how i feel about this stuff like it feels like maybe subconsciously he had an ability to do something like that or maybe to at least detect it especially there's something going on around the house that he wasn't aware of yet adriana knew chose not to talk to him about it yet he was experiencing all these things like is that enough to count him as a witness or as proof even though he didn't know he was acting to defend himself pretty much from some whatever was roaming around the house very interesting story thank you so much for for sharing it i'm seriously i'm i've always been creeped out about ouija boards but now i'm just like even stickers or things that represent that We have to be a little more careful about them. But anyway, this episode of True Scary Story was edited and sound designed by me, Edwin Covarrubias, with additional production by everyone else here at Scary FM. If you have a story that you want to share, you know where to find me, truescarystory.com. That's a website, right? You click there, you end up at this form, you fill it out. Once we have your contact information there and everything, we reach out. If it's the format of the show, we get you on and we share your stories. Also, I just want to bring up here that we do have a discussion-based podcast called Paranormal Club. It's video and audio. If you want to check it out, we're over on YouTube. And we also have it available here in your audio platforms. That's all I got for you this week. Thank you very much for listening. Keep it scary, everyone. See you soon.