Unholy Water
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Did you ever feel like there's something in the water? Something sinister, dark, something powerful? Well, all I can do is tell you what happened to me. From Snap Judgment's underground lair, you're listening to Spooked. Stay tuned.

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I'm General Manager Ethan Rosignol at Dark Cars Toyota in Silver Spring. Having trouble finding a car? Come to Dark Cars Toyota in Silver Spring. Dark Cars Toyota is the Central Atlantic region's number one Toyota dealer year after year. We are here to help you with all your car buying needs. Take advantage of our large inventory and pricing. Come visit us at Dark Cars Toyota in Silver Spring or online at darkcarstoyota.com.

There are some football feelings you can only get with BetMGM Sportsbook. That's right. Not just the highs, the ohs, or the no, no, no's. It's the feeling that comes with being taken care of every down of the football season. The feeling that comes with getting MGM rewards benefits or earning bonus bets. So, whether you're drawing up a same-game parlay in your playbook or betting the over on your favorite team. Hey!

The BetMGM app is the best place to bet on football. You only get that feeling at BetMGM. The sportsbook born in Vegas, now live across the DMV. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. See BetMGM.com for terms. 21 plus only, DC only, subject to eligibility requirements. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Okay, so I want to tell you a story back from when I believed. It's a story I think about often, often. And before you ask...

Yes, it's all true. My name is Ben Washington and spook starts now. So we, my father, my mother, my little brother and I, we stand on our newly purchased patch of Michigan farmland. The double wide trailer home waits. Still wrapped in plastic, a pair of boots sticking out from under it. The boots are moving because the man ain't dead. He shouts out that he's almost finished. Putting the last touches on the plumbing system.

Wiry, sunburnt farmers stand around. Some spit into Pepsi cans. Others blink back at their new black neighbors. Then the man with the clipboard tells my pops, First things first, Bill. First things first. Most important thing, more important than power, more important than sewers, water.

He waves a few slow-motion insects away with his clipboard. It's too hot even for mosquitoes. See, you're not just gonna last out here without something to drink. It ain't like down there in your big city. There's no system to hook into here, see? So I've taken the liberty of calling Charlie here to dig you a well. Pinched-looking character nods his greeting. Of course, you make arrangements with Charlie directly, but Charlie's a fair man.

My father looks at Clipboard Man hard. Took all we had to get this trailer here. Supposed to be all-inclusive. Charlie smiles tight. Clipboard Man smiles tight, too. They all switch to speaking low voices. Farmers lean, first on one leg, then on the other. Finally, Charlie reaches out his hand. My father looks at the hand for a long while. I see him calculating, calculating, calculating.

before he sticks out his brown hand to grasp Charlie's white one. Charlie shakes, nods, then turns around to start unloading equipment from the back of his pickup truck. Charlie speaks in a voice loud enough for everybody to hear. I only drill where you tell me to drill. So if you don't tell me where to drill, I don't drill. You point me where you think the water is. And I think what he's saying is that every time he digs a hole...

He gets paid whether he hits water or not. The farmers, they start shouting advice like they're on the price is right. Do it over there by the willow. Drill close to the trailer. They can't move the trailer. Have them drill where all them cattails are springing up. That's where the water is. Pops doesn't even look at my mother when he points to an indentation in the ground. Right there. Drill right there. Charlie sets up his drilling equipment.

a squat antique contraption. He flips, nods, and sets weights before sticking a long metal rod into the top, turns a hand crank on the side several times, machine grumbles awake, huffs, and sets into pushing the rod inch by inch into the Michigan dirt.

Farmers socialize under the engine noise. Charlie watches his drill like a mother. One hand on top of the machine, other hand pressed to the ground, making sure nothing breaks, nothing pops, nothing shatters, nothing bends. Not too fast, girl. Not too fast now. Machine pushes the tube straight down, deep, deep, deep, deep, slow, slow, slow. Finally, there's no more pipe left. Everyone waits for Charlie. Charlie checks and rechecks.

Then he shakes his head. Nothing. And if you know him, you can see that tickle of panic start to creep into my father's face. Again, the farmer starting with the advice. I dare it in depression. Follow the root system. It knows. My father, more careful this time, points to a different patch of ground. My mother bows her head in prayer. Charlie moves his equipment, starts drilling again. We wait. Then once more, Charlie shakes his head.

He drills a third time, and for the third time, he hits dirt. Our new neighbors mill around with an oh-no look, understanding the fix we're in. This next drilling may be our last chance. Then a gray hair says, It's past time to go get Kregel. Get Kregel. And a scent fans back through the farmers. Kregel, Kregel, go get Kregel. One goes off in a truck, and not 15 minutes later...

An older farmhand faded denim overalls prances out of the passenger door like he's the master of ceremonies. Some people clap. This Kregel is a man sporting a John Deere cap like everybody else, but he's got a swagger step like nobody else. Lean forward. I hear y'all need a well witchin'. Well witchin'?

I remember Exodus 22:16 from Bible study. "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." But instead of a sermon, Pop sets his face, walks over to Kriegel, kind of nods when he thinks my mother is turned away. "That ain't no problem, no problem at all." Kriegel hops over to a willow tree, takes out a pocket knife and cuts himself a sapling shaped like the letter Y.

and stripping bark off each tip of his stick. He grins like he's holding back a secret. You know what? It was the color who taught me this, so I'm doing this one free of charge. Farmers laugh. Kregel skips around the trailer, each hand gripping part of the Y-shaped stick, with one end sticking out in front of him.

Creeper points it right, points it left, points it right. Hey, water, water, water, come here, water. Hey, water, water, come here, water. Hey, water, water, come here, water. Hey, come here, water. Where's water? Where's water? Where's water? Waves that stick around like it's sniffing something to bark at. And I'm thinking maybe he drank something beside water on the way over. I look over at my dad, knowing that he's about to blow. How dare this crazy person act a fool in the middle of our seriousness?

Where you at now, water? Hey there, water, water, water. Cold water, cold water, cold water. Hey, water, water, water. Hey, water. The stick leaps straight down to the ground like an invisible hand grabbed hold of it. Gotcha! There's your water right there. So fast. The stick moves so fast. I saw it, but it's a trick. I can do some tricks. It's a good trick, but it's a trick. It's something with his hands. I know he's got to do something with his hands to make a stick jump like that. Kriegel looks at me.

Looking at him and he laughs, come here. He sets the stick in each of my hands. And I'm scared because I don't want to know real magic. Real magic is of the devil. But I have to know how he made that stick dance. And I understand that my mom and my dad, they're going to stop me. But they stand frozen, stuck.

Allowing the white folk free reign over our new property. Kriegel shows me how to hold the stick in front of my body, waist high. Just like that. He walks with his hips out front in a copy, moving like he does. We'll see. Some folks got it, some folks don't. I think maybe now he'll whisper the trick in my ear when no one's looking.

So I hold the stick tight, tight, tight, tight in both of my fists. I feel silly and grin back at the farmers when I hear a hum. The stick feels like it's almost shivering, trembling. I hold it tighter. Here, water, water. The stick twitches alive, whipping, writhing like Satan's own tail. Sends a charge through my arms and plunges towards the ground so fast. The bark strips off in my hand.

I fight the stick pulling back as it stretches for the earth. We tussle and I let it leap to the ground and it lies there waiting. You're a natural! Rising blood, the farmer's tears, my rolling insides buzz together in my ears. What just happened? No way did this just happen! I snatch the stick up again and start from behind the trailer. It comes to life at once, writhing like a snake, pulling me back toward the same spot

Then leaping out of my hand, look at that boy! My father turns his back. My mother continues mouthing prayers. My brother leans away from where I stand. Charlie sets his equipment. And this time, the drill tube slides into the ground like oil. The engine barely straining. Easy, easy, easy. Deep, deep, deep, deep.

I'm General Manager Ethan Rosignol at Dark Cars Toyota in Silver Spring. Having trouble finding a car? Come to Dark Cars Toyota in Silver Spring. Dark Cars Toyota is the Central Atlantic region's number one Toyota dealer year after year. We are here to help you with all your car buying needs. Take advantage of our large inventory and pricing. Come visit us at Dark Cars Toyota in Silver Spring or online at darkcarstoyota.com.

There are some football feelings you can only get with BetMGM Sportsbook. That's right. Not just the highs, the ohs, or the no, no, no's. No!

It's the feeling that comes with being taken care of every down of the football season. The feeling that comes with getting MGM rewards benefits or earning bonus bets. So, whether you're drawing up a same-game parlay in your playbook or betting the over on your favorite team...

The BetMGM app is the best place to bet on football. You only get that feeling at BetMGM. The sportsbook born in Vegas, now live across the DMV. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. See BetMGM.com for terms. 21 plus only, DC only, subject to eligibility requirements. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Everyone looks to see, except Kregel, who lays on his back, grim up at the clear blue sky. Not a care in the world.

Then, water. Cold, clean, delicious water bubbles from the drill just like Creagle said. The farmers holler and reach to touch Creagle like he's the new pope. Happy to help, folks. Happy to help a new family, no matter what color they are. Charlie sets a pump over the well, hooks it up to the trailer, and we run inside and push up the handle on the new kitchen sink. The pipe burbles, spits air,

And water rushes through our fingers. My brother laughs, but my mother recoils. Mama. She doesn't look at me. Mama. Now, there won't be electricity for another day or so. Flipboard man says, but you'll manage. Neighborhood ladies, they bring us casseroles. You people eat regular food. Isn't that right? My mother thanks them all as they get back in the cars and trucks to leave us alone in our trailer in the woods.

My father inspects each room, knocks on the walls, complains about the shoddy nature of the fake wood paddling and the way Werfman left mud all over his brand new trailer carpet. But I can tell he's almost happy. He doesn't say anything about it, neither do I. As the sun goes down, we sit in the dark, try to eat something called tuna fish casserole with cream corn.

I don't say anything because I'm older. My little brother whines. My mother says we have much to be thankful for. And she appreciates the nice white ladies and promises to go shopping for real food tomorrow. In the bathroom, I brush my teeth in the dark with toothpaste and the brand new water. Then my little brother and I, we crawl into the same bed. I think about magic and whether I'm a witch now. I fall asleep. I wake in terror.

Feel the entire trailer shaking, hear sobbing. I wonder if I'm having another one of those dreams. Then my brother grips my arm next to me and I know it's real. I want to be the big brother to fight the monster, but I'm too scared to move. Our bedroom door glides open seemingly of its own accord. A whisper. "Get up." We cling to each other, tighter, trying to peer through the dark.

In the moonlight, my father lurches wild on his face, twisted, panicked. We jump, run after him into the black through the door, him bumping blind, staggering hands outstretched in the dark. Through the living room shadow, I see my mother already bent over the couch in prayer. Satan came to me in the nighttime, boys. I saw him look at me dead in the eye. He told me since we drank his water, we're never going to see God's sunshine again. Never going to see it again.

My skin burns. Hellfire hot. I know it's my fault. We have to pray, boys. We have to pray right now. We have to pray and make the devil a liar. I have to make this right. I drop to my knees next to my mother who still won't turn toward me. Please, Lord.

I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, Lord. Please let my family see the sunshine again. Don't trap them, Lord. The cries, pleas, the moans of my family wail like an evil wind through the living room, breaking in rhythm to my own. My brother wraps his arm around my neck tight, tight, like he knows who's to blame and doesn't care. He shouts, "You can't have my brother, devil!" And I sob. I'm so ashamed. Please have mercy. Hours pass.

I drift in and out of acidity, my face sticky with tears and snot. The darkness trembles. Then through our living room window, rays of orange and red stretch through the silhouetted treetops. Together we stop and watch glory color the Michigan sky, and we reach for each other. My father, my mother, my brother, all of us weeping, laughing, holy, victorious tears

We shake our fists at the sky, rebuking Satan in Jesus' name and shout praise. My mother sings, walk with thee in a loud, pure voice, and we all join in. I am weak, but thou art strong. Jesus, keep me from all wrong. I'll be satisfied as long as I walk.

We are chosen, blessed, nestled in the embrace of my family. I am thankful to know that our God loves us so much that he would even sanctify the devil's water. So when the spook continues, a vacation trip takes a very dark turn in just a moment. Stay. So here's the setup.

Three college women go camping in New Mexico to relax, right? Relax. Well, it's not going to be a relaxing type of trip.

The original plan for the vacation was to take a long weekend to the Manby Hot Springs right on the bank of the Rio Grande Gorge. We decided to set up camp before it got too dark.

The springs were really quite hot and it was very pleasant. Each one of the pools had a few people already in there and as we got in, more and more people started leaving until we were pretty much the only ones in there. There was one other person, a man who was down there with his dog.

He looked like a mountaineer. He was wearing a long brownish-gray coat and some hefty boots. We were in the pool and not wearing many clothes at all, and I almost kind of got the feeling he was just waiting for us to get out. The look on his face was almost vacant, like he was asking questions but not really paying attention to the answers.

The dog kept walking around and around the hot spring, but the dog was acting peculiar in the way that as it was walking around, to each one of us, it would kind of rub up against us. It wouldn't be showing affection. It didn't feel like an affectionate, you know, nuzzle.

The man pulled a bandana or handkerchief out of the inside of his coat. And with that, he rubbed the length of the dog's side. And then he put it back inside of his jacket. And he looked at us and he said, see you later, girls. Once he was out of earshot, my friend said that dog was trained to pick up our scent. My mind was saying he's planning on coming back.

We have our tent here. It's clear that we're spending the night. There's one trail out of here that leads to our car, which is now an almost empty parking lot. Like there was nowhere we could go. Either he was going to be up there waiting for us if we left, or he was going to come back down at some point in the night and panic was starting to set in. I was going through my bag to put on my warm clothes and I grabbed the knife.

At that moment, one of us noticed a beam from a flashlight was bouncing back down the trail. And we really just looked at each other, didn't say a word, and all three of us just started running. The Rio Grande Gorge is 90 miles, and there's no crossing of the river. There's no bridges. There's no foot crossings. There's no places where you can jump across rocks or anything.

So we started climbing up the side of the bank walls. This is really dangerous terrain. My hands are just digging into cactus needles and pulling on any type of shrub or branch I can grab onto. It felt like we got up the side of that mountain with unbelievable speed. My two friends

Friends were scared and anxious, and I also was. And so I said, it's really good that we just did that. We're here. It's okay. We just need to rest, catch our breath. Right when I was doing that, we heard the dog barking. We looked in the direction of the dog barking, and we saw the flashlight beam coming towards us. We just took off running.

It was in the middle of the national forest land and we could see some lights from the city in the very, very far distance. It looked like it was a house. Somebody said that would be the help that we could get. So we just started running to the light.

Going up and down these hills, I would just sprint up to the top of the hill, and then I would just roll down to the bottom. It felt like a quicker way to get to the bottom of the hill. I just felt like rubber, very, very limp rubber in all of my limbs. My heart was pumping. My lungs just felt like they were bleeding. My breath, it just burnt every breath out.

incredibly, incredibly exhausting. I'd turn around and sometimes I'd see a flashlight, sometimes I wouldn't, but I could always hear that dog barking. It just was a consistent bark that never really seemed to get any closer. And it began to feel like my heartbeat. The dog still had our scent wherever we would go. So I had my pocket knife in my breast pocket and...

I just kept thinking the dog would be the first thing to get to me. All I could think is I would just take my pocket knife and I would just stab the dog in its eyeball. I was thinking to myself, if the man caught up, my option would be to do the same to him, to slit his throat.

You know, in movies when people, they're running or they're being chased or they're in these life-threatening situations and they just stop because they're exhausted. I always thought that was ridiculous. I always thought that when you're in that situation, you will always have reserves. That there will always be something more in you and more in me to push me through and survive. And I remember thinking that, but I was wrong.

It's really, really hard to keep going. It was probably a good hill or two behind my other friends who were moving a lot quicker than I was. And my good friend and roommate, she would look back and very frantically and desperately whisper and encourage me on and say, you know, you can keep going, we just need to keep running. I didn't think I was going to live. I...

Pulled my friend back to have her give my goodbyes. I said, tell my parents and my brothers that I love them. She said, you can tell them yourself. It's going to be fine. We just need to keep running. You're going to be fine. We're just going to keep running. And that's when she grabbed onto my arm. And for most of the rest of the run, she was either holding my hand, holding my arm, or really close to me. We did get there.

and the three of us were all just sobbing in exhaustion and fear. We were pounding on the door, and the owners came down. They asked what we needed. They got us water. We were just trying to process what had just happened. While we were doing that, the man paused and was staring out the window. He closed the curtains. He said...

everyone get down on the ground. He told us that when he had looked out the window, he had seen a car that had its high beams on that just was pretty erratically just driving in circles and driving, backing up, moving forward in all directions with the high beams on. There was somebody out there who was looking for something.

He said, call the police, like right now, and the three of you tell me exactly what just happened out there. The next morning, one policeman picked us up and drove us to where we left the car. And then he walked down with us down the switchback trail to where our tent was. Circling the tent was a set of male boot prints.

At that point in time, I didn't camp for a while. I didn't want to hike for a while. I had fear by myself. I had fear with female friends. Now this is ruining my relationship with the wilderness. A close friend of mine suggested that I talk with the tarot card reader to get a different perspective. I was open-minded but with a healthy amount of skepticism.

We just had our own quiet place at this park along the creek. I was really holding my cards close to my chest and really not exposing too much. And so when she, out of the blue, said New Mexico, that really was the shift. I told her a short version of the story, my experience of it. And she said...

If the dog wanted to reach you, it would have. But what it did instead was warn you about the man and keep you on the go and keep you alert to what you needed to do to stay safe. I remember at first, well, I don't know. I don't really. But then I sat with that and I thought about it and

The dog at any point could have caught up with me. There's no doubt about it. There's no way that dog, you know, was slower than I was. It could have caught up with me, but it never did. It was something that I think I had subconsciously acknowledged. You know, like I just never, it was the one piece I could never understand. Why did the dog never catch up? Big thanks to Brio Cain for sharing her story of the spook on the next Spooked.

A group of kids meet a spirit through a Ouija board who says she's offering assistance. Be afraid. We'll let the stories we have for you, but we want to hear the stories you have for us. Hit us on the Spook line. Let us know your story. Record onto your phone device thing and send it to spook at spookpodcast.org. Our Monster Mash team includes Mark Ristich, Eliza Smith, Liz Mack, Anna Sussman, Jasmine Aguilera, Taylor Ducat, and Jody Colley.

Original music by Pat Massidi-Miller, Leon Morimoto, and Renzo Gorio. That Spook theme music was by Pat Massidi-Miller. And if you're digging Spook, let somebody know. There are now nine episodes available for you to scream at as we count down to 13 episodes before Halloween. Get them right now before they all disappear. Spookpodcast.org.

Because we're speeding it up. In this rush, this madness toward Halloween, we're dropping two spooked episodes a week. And if you need your spooked fix with the quickness, here. New spooked episodes three days early. Just download the TuneIn app and hide under the covers. Because blankets are often the best protection from the darkness. Make no mistake. Mysterious forces are at work. Be afraid. Spookedpodcast.org.

Hit me on the Twitter, the Instagram, the Facebook, SpookPod. Don't forget that golems are made of clay. Ghosts reside in two places at once. Demons always have tails. And angels, angels don't come here anymore. That's why my strong advice to you and to the people you care about is to never, ever, never, ever, never, never, never, ever turn out.

I'm General Manager Ethan Rosignol at Dark Cars Toyota in Silver Spring. Having trouble finding a car? Come to Dark Cars Toyota in Silver Spring. Dark Cars Toyota is the Central Atlantic region's number one Toyota dealer year after year. We are here to help you with all your car buying needs. Take advantage of our large inventory and pricing. Come visit us at Dark Cars Toyota in Silver Spring or online at darkcarstoyota.com.

With the American Express Gold Card, I can earn four times membership rewards points at U.S. supermarkets. So I'll grab some chili oil, points, and fish packed with points. Bucatini, that's a lot of points. Heirloom tomatoes, perfectly ripe and packed with points. Get more than just your groceries with the American Express Gold Card. Learn more at americanexpress.com slash U.S. slash explore dash gold. Terms and points cap apply.

There are some football feelings you can only get with BetMGM Sportsbook. That's right. Not just the highs, the ohs, or the no, no, no's. It's the feeling that comes with being taken care of every down of the football season. The feeling that comes with getting MGM rewards benefits or earning bonus bets. So, whether you're drawing up a same-game parlay in your playbook or betting the over on your favorite team. Hey!

The BetMGM app is the best place to bet on football. You only get that feeling at BetMGM. The sportsbook born in Vegas, now live across the DMV. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. See BetMGM.com for terms. 21 plus only, DC only, subject to eligibility requirements. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.