hi welcome to dead and roasted what can I get you y'all said that really long story about the creepy basement Discovery from the previous episode was really good and epic and apparently the god of terrifying happenings listened because another very long story takes center stage in today's set of allegedly true scary work stories this tale involves an abandoned facility with a more than dark past and a supervisor who ends up in an eerie night security position this story and one more are in store for you today so grab your coffees your Fiber One bars kiss
your bowels goodbye because my snack recommendations are trash and enjoy have your scary work story narrated by sending it to us at Eerie cast.com submit follow and rate Tales from the breakroom on Spotify and apple podcasts or your favorite podcast app to help dead and roast did finally defeat its ultimate rival Starbucks and sign up for the Eerie cast membership at Eerie cast.com plus to unlock membersonly goodies now these are Tales from the break room Madness from R Strayer 625 have you ever wondered if Madness is something more than a mental illness maybe it leaves
an impression on a place I've always had an ability to get a sense of the emotions of a place churches are a good example walking into one you just get a sense of all the things the walls have held within them the joys of marriages the grief of funerals even pride of baptisms and christenings maybe I'm just overly empathetic to these things but something happened a few years ago that made me really start to ask if it's not just me but in the end I still have more questions than I do answers I work in
construction specifically demolition I travel up and down the state for my job I live out of a duffel bag and I've slept in more hotels than my own bed for most of the year my roommates have genuinely forgotten my name on more than one occasion so when I got to work that morning to see all the tools and equipment of my trade being loaded onto trailers and all the guys throwing their various suitcases and backpacks I knew it was going to be some time before I was anywhere near my home again I offered up an
apology to the house plants that I had recently purchased as they would probably be yet another sacrifice to the allc consuming need for a paycheck I trudged into the office to see where my next job was going to take me I grabbed that big red folder out of my mail slot to examine its contents of the new project we'd be be taking on as I walked into my project manager's office I've never even heard of this town I moaned deciding to start the day by irritating my boss Tom that's because you were born in this
Century Tom replied without looking up from his computer this place is pretty much stuck out of time he said finally looking up used to be a mining town back in the ' 50s and from what I can tell once they shut down the mine the town just kind of refused to die but that's not our concern what is our concern is that we're getting at least part of the contract to demo an old mental hospital part of the contract I asked already suspecting the answer would not be to my liking Victor's got the cleanup we
got the demo he said flatly looking at me with a heavy implication to not start with him on this I fixed my Gaze on the calendar on the wall above his desk and I was idly wondering how long it would be until I saw my own bed again when he spoke up by the way just to keep you in the loop on this one don't expect a warm welcome from the locals they are not happy about this building being set for demo apparently this place has some local history and it's been a hotbed for local
disputes he said that rather casually trying to convey that our crew could be expected to get into fights with the locals and expect no help from any business in the immediate area awesome I said sarcastically before leaving the office the drive into this place was almost as boring as the town itself I know some people find endless Rolling Hills to be Majestic or something like that but after miles of dry grass-covered Hills I started to feel as drained of life as the landscape around me this is going to suck I said aloud to the crew
cab full of guys I was about to spend the next few weeks supervising none of them responded but that was my job supervising I'm an engineer for the company my job really consists of overseeing the operation solving all the little day-to-day problems and logistically making sure we can stay on schedule and within budget this responsibility manifests in any number of ways ranging from equipment repair making sure our vendors deliver supplies on time as well as planning demolition in a manner that makes the most sense given the available resources seeing as I was already warned by
Tom that our arrival would not exactly be greeted with loving Open Arms I wasn't looking forward to the challenges of this assignment after our arrival we had one of those idiotic groundbreaking ceremonies that I truly despise I'd been wondering when we drove in what flavor of time wasting nonsense I'd be subjected to the golden shovel variety maybe the giant scissors and big red ribbon either way they're always a waste of precious time photo opportunities and people in suits people who will never step foot on the job until after it's complete and me I'll have to
stand there over actual blueprints with people who have zero idea what they're even looking at posing for a camera somehow the the thought of standing next to one of these idiots for a photo was even more distasteful than the growing stack of concerns foolishness and general Havoc this assignment was about to bring but we did it me standing there pointing at irrelevant points on a map on a blueprint with some mayor or government official standing by my side nodding approval for an all to Willing news crew I wanted to use that golden shovel to brain
the lot of them in hindsight I would have been doing them a favor standing shoulder Tosh shoulder with City officials always made me uncomfortable and by God these people didn't help the situation a greasy looking man in a cheap suit settled up to me during the last of the group photography he had the look of a used car salesman going through multiple divorces all at the same time Haggard would have been generous to say the least of his demeanor having all the calming presence of a man who had been held at gunpoint Point more than
once in his years he began to speak in a quiet conspiratorial tone even before I acknowledged his odor of Cheap whiskey and even cheaper cologne I gave my best effort to maintain my fragile composure as he began what I was already sure was a useless synopsis of how local government works and who I should try to make friends with if I wanted this project to succeed not interested I began cutting him off from even beginning his pitch what he said figting innocence look I'm just not interested in pitches deals or inside scoops on who's who
in this town we are here to do a job and see it through to completion with minimal interference we have more than enough of our own resources to see it get done without greasing any wheels or taking any deals I lied I hadn't even turned my head to look at him trying to focus on the cameraman and where he was angling for a good shot for what I guessed would be the local paper I was just wondering if you knew the story behind the building you're about to destroy he asked with the first tone of
actual sincerity in his voice I had heard a dozen of these speeches before on why a particular place needed to be preserved or turned into a historical site they come from a good place but the sad reality is I work for the sword of progress not the preservation of the past or at least that's what I believed at the time that old things should make way for the new I'm here to do a job that's all I said trying to instill a note of finality in my voice men like you always are he said and
something about his words were Laden with a sadness I couldn't quite place as genuine or manufactured he moved away from me sheepishly and I felt a little bad inside as I finally turned to see him fully and beheld hel someone deeply broken by years of loss and public service we didn't make it through the first day before things started sideways it began with equipment failures machines that had been designed to break apart concrete and mortar began to malfunction at the very least end of their expected workload I was already cursing upper management by 10: a.m.
for sending me the worst of their tool lot when Tom called me how's the St art he said before even a perfunctory hello not great I replied you really sent me the cream of the crop here for equipment totally top shelf Tom I said putting as much emphasis on his name as possible accusatory tone aside he continued as if I had said nothing of note 36 Days Allan that's your deadline we're counting on you to get this done as fast as possible if we're going to make it profitable ay number number of profane words came
to mind as I contemplated my reply yes sir I answered in a way that I really hoped would convey my contempt for him and his higher-ups at the end of the first day I was looking over incident reports and Equipment logs to try and see how bad the short end of the stick I'd been given for this job really was my first priority was the tools why had this equipment broken down and what could be done about it my conclusion only left me scratching my head the company had not sent me bad equipment the maintenance
logs were basically perfect some of these things I'd overseen the repair of myself or by a tech that I knew was reliable then why I wondered in my hotel room I could not see any reason for the failures these machines had been operating at full capacity over the last few jobs s and had been maintained properly so why fail now I racked my mind for an answer and got nothing except for open-ended questions in return I decided then it was time for a proper drink and to go down to the local bar I needed distance
from maintenance logs and performance schedules more time to reflect and think upon my current situation as I walked into the bar by accident still wearing my my company hat and vest I was greeted with about as much warmth as bone cancer the glares of the patrons there gave me all I needed to know about how welcome I was at their establishment Outsider read clearly on the countless faces littering the bar the decision to Avail myself of the outside patio area was clearly the Smart Choice after a half-hearted attempt by the bartender to make a whiskey
sour the poor sad excuse for a drink was already halfway down my throat before it registered in my mind that violence was clearly reading out on several of the patron faces my already addled mind wondered if I would make it out of this bar without having to punch someone in the neck for the trouble outside on the patio I spotted the man who had tried to talk to me during the photo op he had procured himself a table in the far Corner away from anyone or anything the only thing keeping him company was a number
of empty pint glasses his blur eyes met mine and he motioned for me to join him in the empty seat across from him I decided against my better instinct to join him as just about everyone else in the bar looked as though they would have offered a pint glass to the side of my head rather than exchange any pleasantries come on have a seat he offered me the seat by way of pushing the chair out with his foot I obliged him setting my half finished Whiskey on the table as the offered his hand to me
we got off on the wrong foot I'm John I took his hand Allen I offered don't worry about them he said vaguely gesturing at the inside of the bar they may give you all the death glares but for the most part they're harmless for the most part I asked well aside from the local paramilitary that lives deep up in the hills but they rarely come down due to all the warrants for their rests most of them have he stated as if it wasn't a big deal oh so nothing to worry about I glared at him
letting these sarcasm seep into my voice and gaze they aren't coming down from the mountain just to mess up this project he tried to reassure me but the slight slurring of his words wasn't offering much in the way of shity let me try to explain something to you he seemed to be trying to gather himself that building was more than just some small Care Facility it was the repository for a lot of grief and misery over the years it's failed in just about every Incarnation it's been through the years and that was before the shooting
shooting I inquired I'll get to that he started again that building has been the sight of every failed public program in this town doesn't matter what the work project is they all fail and those people in there are beaten down and wary from years of being made promises only to have their hopes of something better happening dashed over and over again getting kids to read no source of books illiteracy rate here is worse than you might think internship for work no business wanted to support it unemployment skyrocketed with a whole Workforce of interns trained to
a job no one wanted them to do and then the crown jewel of failure is the rehab program supposed to take the mentally ill the homeless the addicts all the people that place failed and help them get back to being functional members of society you want to guess how that turned out he spat this is the part where you tell me about the shooting I ventured this is the part where I tell about a failure that resulted in six people dead including my son he said apparently having completely so Ed up during his description his
words had struck me I let my guard down and listened to his words more carefully the rest of the evening Jon bought the drinks and I listened taking down occasional notes of certain things he said names dates events that he said had taken place it's not that I didn't believe him but I had a way I like to do things in situations that have this much potential to go sideways trust but always verify by the time we left my notes had begun to slightly wander off the pages and my usually neat handwriting had a bit
of a slant to it JN even in his State gave off a certain air of confidence walking me out of that bar that prevented any of the establishment's occupants from requiring the aformentioned throat punching before we opened the front door to a waiting cab he opened the door turned to me and as he did so he said consider it a professional courtesy I do wish you luck in tearing down that godforsaken building it's been an ugly reminder through all the years that has stood of the greed and incompetence of our local government but every contractor
that's ever tried to do anything with that building has failed and without another word he got into the cab I watched the tail lights disappear over the hill wooly taking out my keys as I walked back to my work truck I could smell the spray paint before I even got to it there in Big Red Letters was a single word leave it had been painted down the entire side of my truck I sighed wearily this is going to be great saying aloud in the open night air I got back to my hotel room after an
unenthusiastic officer came to take my statement I didn't even want to call knowing my report is going straight into the filing cabinet under a Big W for who cares but company policy required it for insurance purposes I sat at the little desk of the hotel room and I fired up my laptop digging my notebook out and deciphering my slightly drunken scroll I began to do some research into the conversation with John again it wasn't that I didn't believe him but soab stories were kind of a dime a dozen in this industry it didn't take long
before I found confirmation to almost every one of the building's failed Endeavors including the one that involved the death of his son I poured over the article which was written by a newspaper outside of the town so it contained a lot more details about the incident maybe it was the Whiskey Still floating around in my veins or the fact that John had looked so Haggard but my heart sank when I read a paragraph towards the end of the article describing what had plagued the rehabilitation program it cited budget issues that had resulted in the place
being horribly understaffed with what could best be called underqualified people citing this as the reason for the massacre at the facility that had killed Jon's son who was working the front desk reception at the time the architect of the budget had been brought up on criminal charges but none of them stuck there in a court sketch was the man being held responsible for the crime if maybe be only in the public eye even in the poorly painted courtroom sketch I recognized Jon's wary Haggard expression I went to bed that night thinking of this poor man
who had in a way if perhaps only inadvertently in the course of doing his job as a public servant caused the circumstances that surrounded his son's murder and then had been made a public pariot to be charged in it all the next morning the phone in the little trailer that was serving as my office began to ring I cursed under my breath last night's events had produced a profound headache which Tom's nasy weedling voice only seemed to make worse well I have good news for you Tom chirped with an enthusiasm that made me despised the
man and the entire concept of hearing anything at all Victor's just filed for chapter 11 Tom had said that with the inflection of a lion who had just learned all the gazelle forgot how to run we have the whole contract everything about this job now falls under you Alan he sounded like it was a privilege and not just simply adding more weight to the burden I was already bearing I intentionally moved the phone receiver closer to my nose so it could hear my long exhale of acceptance and frustration great I said through gritted teeth I'll
update you as things progress and I hung up the phone the next few weeks progressed as painlessly as a tooth extraction equipment failed deliveries were delayed and worst of all morale among the crew fell fights became more common don't get me wrong I'm used to dealing with conflict resolution the guys I work with the crews I manage are largely made up of the tough guy types and tough guy types don't like wearing their ear protection half or more of the conflicts I have to deal with are about miscommunication rather than actual insults a routine hearing
test by our insurance company produced a result that nearly half our guys had some loss in the hearing department and despite multiple meetings about the importance of safety equipment the problem persisted I was about to chalk the most recent batch of conflict resolution reports up to the stress of this job when I saw the name in the report Ramirez okay that makes no sense at all I thought Ramirez had always been a very peaceful man I even relied on him for conflict resolution he was a deeply religious guy who didn't believe in violence in the
least wonder what made him lose his cool I thought as I read the report I tried to picture a gentle guy like Ramirez in a jail cell again I came up scratching my head what was going on here my cell phone vibrated in my pocket Tom's office number brighten the screen I debated tossing the phone into the running wood chipper for a brief moment I begrudgingly decided against it but I let it go to voicemail I really didn't have the time for his overly litigious nonsense right now two of my guys had made their way
into the jail last night via the back of a squad car after an altercation with some locals at the bar and I'd already spent half the morning on the phone with our legal department trying to figure out how to bail them out my phone then chimed in with a new email I rolled my eyes hard and looked at the notification it was a response email that had been cced to our Branch supervisors that was never good I'd been trying to address the problem of vandalism at the job site when Victors had pulled up Stakes after
the company went under they'd sold their equipment to us after we took over their entire contract but what we had failed to acquire in the body out was their night security team the sheer dollar amount of equipment that had to be left at the job most evenings was basically a big pot of gold for every thief in the area and confrontations with the unhoused who were used to camping out in the grounds Were A continuing problem I'd already rung up several charges on my corporate account buying some of our tools back from the local pawn
shop even after contacting them and asking as politely as possible to be on the lookout for our branded tools that bore our company logo even though they clearly belonged to us local police had sided with the shop owners and I had to pay to get our stolen property back I went into my little trailer office so I could read the email on a proper screen instead of trying to squint at my phone and immediately I knew I was really going to be unhappy by the time I was done it was first a denial for my
request for a night security guard the corporate jargon that followed stated in simple words we don't want to spend money on you I was already pinching the bridge of my nose when I scrolled down to the second page and I felt my face get hot expansion of supervisor job duties Not only was I not getting a security guard I was now going to be responsible for any theft or loss of time or property and just to add some terrible icing to an already lousy cake my corporate account had been severely Limited in what I was
allowed to spend it on I could hear Tom's weasy voice as I read the words cost reduction measures I put my head down on what was passing for a desk with a groan wondering when was the last time I updated my resume part of the email had been sent to me directly and not to the rest of the supervisors it was a note from Tom all it said was maybe you could put a cot in the site trailer as I paced about the trailer going through every obscene word I had in stock a light bulb
came on and two words flashed across my mind malicious compliance a dark smile began to form as I checked the company policy book for our specific guidelines about reasonable accommodations I found the Clause I was looking for and highlighted it this was going to be my shield I called the hotel I was staying in and canceled my reservation for the rest of the job 2 hours later I pulled the 30ft rented luxury class fifth wheel into the job site wearing a huge grin I could already picture Tom's red face as he looked over an expense
report seeing how much I had just spent on my new accommodations knowing that I had followed the letter of our company policy and there wasn't a thing he could do about it I stopped by a toy store on my way back to the job site still grinning like a lunatic when I made my purchase I made sure to save the receipt my phone chimed with another email I opened it it was only marked with exclamation points it was a picture of an expense report with the cost of the fifth wheel highlighted and surrounded by several
red question marks I took the plastic children's sheriff badge I purchased and fixed it to my jacket below my name and Company logo making sure to hold the receipt next to it and took a picture I sent it to Tom's email with a note my own highlighted section of our our company policy about expenditures on reasonable lodging and performance of our work and a note that I expected to be reimbursed for my additional equipment his two-word response put a smile on my face for the rest of the day well played the workday concluded and the
guys had begun shuttering the job site for the evening I took a revolver from my duffel bag a large caliber handgun loaded with snake shot that I usually brought along two jobs for dispatching V Wildlife that do like to occasionally occupy warm engine compartments of our equipment I'd only had to use it once in The Last 5 Years as usually I didn't like killing an animal unless I absolutely had to but the weight of it on my hip brought me a bit of comfort as more of a deterrent if I did end up encountering some
thief trying to steal anything not bolted down during the evening I'd moved many of these standing work lights around strategically placing them so if I flipped the switch most of the job site would be illuminated satisfied with my little defense perimeter I laid down for the evening with my laptop to watch something brainless as I kept watch for the night the sun had just passed behind the Horizon when the first problems began the first was a group of teenagers who I caught trying to scale the fence I was making around walking the fence line when
I spotted them just a group of kids really not real criminals I could hear the cans of spray paint rolling around in their backpacks as they tried to mount the fence I hit the remote start button on my fob for the generator hooked up to the perimeter lights and made sure that the first thing they saw was me silhouetted against the light with my hand on my gun they fled instantly I waited until I couldn't hear the cans rattling in their backpacks anymore before I finally started to laugh I never would have hurt them but
I'd already had enough spray paint happy vandals for one trip the building was pretty much covered in a variety of graffiti ranging from actually not bad street art to many variations on fornication with my mother and a recurring theme of various distressing words like run hide and watch out seeing them all over the walls made me feel a little sad about how callous some people could be about a real tragedy I pressed the off button on on the fob for the generator it wound down and the lights dimmed I was back in total darkness I
was waiting for my eyes to adjust to the dim Moonlight when I heard a noise coming from within the job site I began walking back up toward the building itself hoping to keep my element of surprise being as quiet as I could straining my ears to try and locate the source of the noise as I approached the building I could tell the sounds were coming from inside the hollowed out building itself the empty concrete walls made trying to pinpoint The Source nearly impossible as Echoes bounced back and forth down the hallways and corridors the confidence
I'd been feeling from putting a little scare into the kids faded away into cold dread and goosebumps is now I could hear what the sounds actually were they were sobs not I lost my job or my significant other left me cries but the Deep hard heart rcking sobs of someone in genuine anguish I changed tactics fumbling around my pockets for my flashlight at some point in your life you'll encounter the kind of cries I'm talking about they have an effect on your heart my mindset changed from needing to run off whatever was trespassing on the
site to needing to locate and perhaps Aid someone in distress I flicked on my flashlight entering the building expecting to see maybe one of the local unhoused or maybe some kind of teenage runaway as the mournful whales continued to bounce off the walls making them sound like they were coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time I felt my heart rate go up a few more notches as I swept my light down hallways walking up and down the length of the building the actual building was only about 34,000 ft there just aren't that many
places to hide I walked down a rubble strewn hallway that had been the most recent to be demolished it ended opening up to the outside again where that section of the building had already been torn down the sobbing abruptly stopped then a blood curdling scream erupted in my ears and something hit me hard in the back sending me to the ground with Incredible force my head slammed into one of the piles of concrete and little Points of Light began to swim in my vision before everything went dark I heard a word whispered harshly into my
ear hide I startled awake with my forehead throbbing in pain I put my hand on my face and felt something wet dripping over my eyebrow I peered around trying to get my eyes to focus on anything my eyes finally fixed on the only source of light my flashlight it had tumbled off the edge of the concrete foundation its upward beam illuminated the tree it had come to rest against I pulled myself up from the concrete floor giving myself a moment to make sure my feet were going to stay underneath me I managed to get their
cooperation and reached down to pick up my flashlight when the sobbing started again I pointed the flashlight all about the area trying in an even more futile effort than before to locate the sound now the blood trickling from my forehead was starting to run into my right eye I wiped away the blood as best I could but anyone can tell you head wounds like to bleed a lot I was standing in an open area near the partially demolished hallway when my ears finally fixed on where the sound had been emanating from the open hallway leading
back into the facility holding one hand to my forehead and squinting out of one eye I scanned the hallway with the beam of my flashlight a fresh wave of nausea overtook me and I had to steady myself against the wall with the hand I was using to try and control the bleeding I looked down for a moment feeling both too hot and too cold at the same time the cusp of light caught something my eyes tried to focus on blood on the floor not droplets but a pattern a shoe print still holding myself up I
tried to examine myself to see if I'd been injured somewhere else and hadn't noticed due to my throbbing head I closed my eyes and let the wave of nausea recede a bit before taking a second look at myself no blood or scrapes no tears in my pants the sobs cried out again this time from somewhere directly in my vicinity I redoubled my efforts to steady myself I moved the beam over the footprint and two things finally clicked into place it's not my blood and it's not my footprint or rather Footprints this was definitely the pattern
of an athletic shoe not my heavy patterned work boot I traced down the hallway and I found a trail of them another sobbing moan snapped me out of my focus and brought my attention back to the more pressing issue someone out there bes besides me was clearly hurt I pressed my legs back into surface following the footprints to the source of the sobs the footprint smeared and made a sharp left through a heavy steel door and a large pull of blood had formed from under it I took my gun out of its holster rested my
hand on the knob for half a second and held sharply and flung the door open the scene I lighted upon was what nightmares wanted to be when they grew up my heart followed my stomach right down through the floor as my eyes settled upon the two bodies lying sprawled against each other on the floor they leaned against the back wall against one another a man and a woman in matching blue uniforms his body partially draped across hers both with obvious signs of injuries that could not have been anything short of absolutely fatal I turned away
from the gruesome sight before my mind had a chance to memorize any more of the details okay I thought no more playing hero for me tonight time to call actual authorities I pressed the flashlight into the crook of my neck and began fishing around my coat pockets for my phone I managed to get 911 punched into the phone as I turned my back on the two bodies when I nearly bumped into someone standing directly in front of me the screen turned from the black of the dial pad to the bright white of active calling Illuminating
the figure right there the light Shone upon what was left of a face ghost white Flesh on one half stood out in sharp contrast to the grotesque lack of it on the other empty white eyes stared sightlessly into mine the mouth opened and a single word escaped what semblance of a mouth remained leave in a purely visceral reaction I flung myself backward away from this new horror only for my feet to find the Slick pull in the doorway resulting in my rapid falling backward my hands were full with guns and phones and the back of
my head struck the floor with all my weight behind it this time it wasn't little Points of Light I saw rather Stars exploded across my vision the terrible pain I already felt redoubled and for the second time in a span of 10 minutes or less Darkness swept the world away the next thing I knew I was back on the job I looked up from my clipboard to see my guys back to the task at hand jackhammers and engine noise filled the air I was talking with Ramirez about where to place our new arrival of dumpsters
without looking up for my paperwork something was bothering me but I can't quite put my finger on what it was it was like I was struggling to read the paperwork at all Ramirez had his back to me looking at sight plans pointing to a location for the dumpsters wait Ramirez when did you get out of jail legal said they couldn't do anything about it until Friday I asked his back he replied yes sir they let me leave what did you say I asked the alarm rising in my chest leave he repeated in a voice that
was distinctly not his own awareness washed cold dread on me as I realized the noise of the job site had gone down a few octaves I looked around to see none of my guys were working anymore they still held the tools in their hands Machinery still running but they were all just standing there with backs towards me I got up from the log I was sitting on and grabbed Ramirez by the shoulder turning him towards me hey I asked you but when I turned him to face me the words died in my mouth the face
was still H but below the brim of his hard hat were two white eyes that stared out lifelessly at me he said in a loud whisper no I stammered I looked around for help to find all my guys now facing me with those same white eyes they all began to whisper the words leave or run or hide then they repeated them over and over again leave run hide until it was all I could hear I woke up to the sound of my own screaming I was still lying in the doorway with Jon shaking me awake
Allan Allan calm down the bright light of his flashlight brought fresh waves of pain shooting through my skull I brought my arm up to Shield my eyes but still used the available light to look behind me into the room behind the door no bodies they were gone I checked the ground around me no blood my ears still rang with the sound of my own screams and The Echoes of the whisperers still playing in my mind I sucked in a breath as Jon put a hand on my shoulder what happened to you he asked with deep
concern in his voice my heart was beating so hard and fast I barely registered the sound of his voice I I fell was all the reply I could muster at the moment his flashlight traced over to My Revolver lying on the ground then back to me and more specifically the little yellow plastic sheriff's badge pinned to my jacket which was now spattered with droplets of my own blood you're lucky you didn't end up blowing your own foot off or something come on you ridiculous idiot that gash on your head is going to need stitches he
said as he heaved me to my feet in a way that brought new way W of pain shooting through my body but I took it just happy to have a companion in my misery JN threw my arm over his shoulder and walked me out of the facility back toward my trailer a few moments later a police officer rolled up to the lot in response to my 911 call but John confronted the officer flexing his authority assuring the officer it was a simple accident and misunderstanding the officer seemed more than willing to leave well enough alone
as I imagined this would be a lot of paperwork on his part when some of the pain receded and I managed to collect myself enough I asked so what are you doing here I peered at Jon from beneath a makeshift bandage pressed to my forehead well I came here to tell you what a terrible idea it is to stay here overnight or really on these grounds at all the replied this soil is contaminated and tomorrow the EPA will be here to close the site I wanted to deliver the news personally to you before the EPA
got here and confiscated all your company's equipment for potential contaminants he gave me an almost smug look I could only stare back at him blankly I've been trying to shut this place completely down for several years of my time in public service he said perhaps not really to me as he was looking out the window of my trailer out into the night seemed to be saying it to himself trying to pierce the darkness by sheer force of will nothing good has ever come of this land or anything ever built on it and it hurts everyone
who steps foot here he mused aloud still staring into the dark come on I'll take you to the ER to get your head stitched up then I recommend you start making phone calls to get your equipment and this this very expensive trailer off the site by morning after a quick trip through the ER for 10 stitches and a fresh tetanus shot for my troubles I started to make phone calls waking up every single one of my guys not currently residing in a drunk tank to come back to the job and begin the Hasty process of
getting everything loaded back onto the trucks and moved to an open lot off the highway I fired up every generator we had and hooked up every single work light available to illuminate the entire area tired battered and still feeling the ache of fleeing adrenaline I must have looked a bit like a madman to my guys head bandaged still sporting my blood covered jacket shouting orders that no one is to be alone always travel in pairs wherever you go and so on they were giving me a wide birth by the time we'd gotten the last piece
of equipment loaded A Chorus of rones answered my next order to utilize my expanded job duties and ordered everyone to load up and drive back to the home office right away I stayed behind for another 2 hours until I could pick up the stragglers from jail they gave me bewildered looks as I told them to get in the truck that we're going home after some assurances that their personal belongings had been collected from the hotel and that our company wasn't also filing for bankruptcy that yes they did indeed still have jobs they all climbed aboard
I passed one of my guys Ramirez the keys you're driving I'm getting some sleep that's all I said even though he clearly had more questions the obvious relief on his face was all but too apparent I sat in the passenger seat watching the town disappear over the horizon in the Morning Light sir there was something really wrong with that place wasn't there is that why we had to leave asked Ramirez I involuntarily shuddered at the last word circumstances beyond our control I said as I began to doze off out of sheer exhaustion I watched him
cross himself as my eyelids fell no kidding I thought to myself before sleep took me away from that awful place I turned in my two weeks the next day deciding I'd had enough of wielding the sword of progress John sent me an email updating me on the land's fate he had succeeded in not only proving the soil contamination but also in tying up any further efforts to use the land for nearly any purpose and such a nice little package of bureaucratic red tape the place was pretty much walled off from anyone ever setting foot on
it for the foreseeable future I felt a wash of relief at this news partially because it meant no one would be harmed but also the soil contamination helped explain what happened to me I must have been exposed to it and hallucinating the feeling was shortlived attached to the email was a single photo of a young man in a blue uniform John's son and I recognized his face well I should say I recognized half of it and will never forget it as long as I live stuck in time from spoy Tunes I'll start my story off
by saying this is the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me this will be my first time ever sharing these events some details and names have been changed for anonymity sake the date was November 16th 201 19 I had recently moved to a new apartment complex somewhere in Colorado my new job at a well-known hardware store was running me ragged due to preparation for the upcoming Black Friday and holiday madness that was quickly approaching I'd been working late and finally arrived back at home I was finally climbing into my soft warm bed I sighed
and tucked myself in I looked around my dark room first there was a faint glow from the outside street lights creeping in through the window something felt off I couldn't shake the feeling everything looked in place all around me but somehow it didn't feel quite right I shook it off telling myself I was simply exhausted from work and I really needed some sleep I set my alarm on the nightstand beside me and started to slowly close my eyes I was later jolted awake to the sound of a vintage style alarm clock going off I didn't
think much of that at first because I was ticked off that my alarm had gone off so soon in the first place what the heck I said angrily as my eyes adjusted expecting to see my dark room but to my surprise there was light outside and as the confusion set in I started to get more and more confused as I realized I wasn't in my room at all orange tinted 1970 style wallpaper covered my walls and all my posters and belongings were gone there was just these boxes everywhere and loads of them I started to
panic I reached over to check my phone and realized it was gone in its place was an old school alarm clock and a magazine of women's fashion that looked like something my mother would have worn born when she was a teenager I started to think that maybe I was having a dream yeah that must be it I attempted to pinch myself and yelped in pain when I realized I was very much awake that's when I heard a woman's voice calling me from the other room Linda darling are you finally awake we have to be leaving
soon get yourself up and get dressed I sat there dumbfounded Frozen in confusion and Terror Linda who's Linda I whispered softly I slowly pulled myself from the bed and walked to a door that I assumed was my closet inside the closet was a bunch of vintage looking clothing that looked like the sort of things that girls from The Brady Bunch would wear I picked out the least ugly patterned dress and held it in my hands still trying to figure out what in the world was going on all of a sudden I heard a little giggle
I whipped around to see a little girl with blonde hair tied into little braided pigtails Linda mom wanted me to come check on you we're going to be late if you don't get out of here soon she said as she squeaked the door back and forth who are you I blurted out in further panic she said with shocked voice what I'm your sister Lisa silly are you feeling okay okay did you fall on your head or something just before I could answer the woman I'd heard calling me before came walking up behind Lisa what's the
holdup Linda she said sternly we have to get going soon put on that dress and get out here the woman appeared to be in her late 30s she had curly light brown hair and blue eyes wearing a grayish blue dress I blinked a few times as she huffed and walked away with the little girl running behind her I decided to get dressed heading out to meet up with the woman and little girl obviously something was very wrong but if I wanted to find out what that was I had to play along as I headed out
of the room I noticed everything in the house was boxed up I looked around the house and noticed everything the furniture wallpaper the clothing all looked to be from the 1970s my eyes finally landed on a calendar on the wall the date read November 1974 below the days had been crossed out except for what I assumed was today's date the 16th I was in awe dazed trying to figure out where I was when the woman's voice boomed out of the kitchen Linda she shouted in the car this instant young lady your sister is already outside
we have to go now I ran with her to the car and climbed inside the car was what looked to be a70s green Ford Pinto wagon the woman started to pull back out of the driveway when she snapped at me if we're late meeting up with your father this time you're in trouble this is the second time this week we've been late because of you you've got to start being more responsible I'm I'm sorry I said with a stutter just before I could say anymore a passing vehicle slammed on their brakes as a nearby car
spun out and headed right at us I screamed along with the other passengers and everything went dark gradually I began to wake up to a faint familiar sound my actual alarm clock my eyes slowly began to adjust and I realized I was back in my room my beautiful room I immediately grabbed my cell phone to see it was now November 17th 2019 I let out a deep sigh and started to cry what happened who were those people all these thoughts were racing through my mind but I had to get ready for work the day went
on like any other but still the thoughts about what happened were racing through my head as I was sweeping down an aisle I saw this little old lady I started up a friendly conversation with her and asked if she had ever heard anything about a car accident that took place back in the 70s she looked up at me with sudden sadness in her eyes ah yes she said slowly wouldn't I was a little girl I used to play over at my friend Lisa's house she and her family were getting ready to move to a new
place it was around November of 74 if I recall she seemed so somber Lisa her sister Linda and their mother Margaret were heading off to meet up with her father with another load of boxes to put in their new home when a drunk driver spun out and collided with their car it was such a tragedy the only one left alive was the drunk driver that's horrible I said the old woman and I exchanged a few more words then we finished up our conversation as she wished me a good day and walked off when I got
back home from work I did a little bit of digging online I found some old photos of the family from the accident in question sure enough it was the woman and little girl and her sister whose body I briefly inhabited I was in shock the apartment I lived in now stood where a few old houses once were including the house that family once lived in they'd been torn down to make room for the apartment complex nothing like this moment has ever happened to me since and I'm not sure why I was briefly stuck in the
past with these people perhaps it was to live about their final moments with them to share their story so they wouldn't be forgotten or perhaps it was just a very weird dream and a massive coincidence I don't know all I know is I hope their Spirits can be at peace it's a weird world we live in and some things simply can't be explained the ghosts of the past haunt us 99% of the time that phrase is just a metaphor concerning trauma mistakes and events from our pasts but in the rare cases like tonight's Tales this
phrase is quite literal some dead things are very angry about being dead and they want people who still have a pulse to hear about it thanks for listening to another episode of tales from the breakroom if you're a fan please follow and review Tales from the breakroom on Apple podcast podcasts and Spotify or your favorite podcast app you can also listen to us on the darkness prevails YouTube channel have your scary work story narrated by sending it to us at Eerie cast.com sssubmit also if you really want to support us and unlock tons of exclusive
scary content sign up to be a member at east.com plusus where you can listen to membersonly audio books and bonus episodes get early access to certain upcoming podcast casts and listen to all Eerie cast shows without ads thank you for now it's time for me to clock out but don't you worry I'll be clocking back in real soon
