Hey, it's Michelle, and this one is a little different from our usual calls. This week, I am joined by Brennan Storr, host of The Ghost Story Guys podcast and author of A Strange Little Place: The Hauntings and Unexplained Events of One Small Town. Brennan spends a lot of his time collecting and telling other people's true ghost stories. This time, he is telling his own.
Brennan grew up a skeptic. He did not believe in ghosts, did not look for them, and had no particular interest in the paranormal. Then he moved to Victoria, British Columbia, one of the most historically haunted cities in Canada, and something at his workplace changed that permanently.
It started with a shadowy figure. A dark shape Brennan glimpsed at the edge of his vision that had no business being there. What followed was a series of real ghost encounters with shadow figures that grew more frequent and more unsettling over time. Not threatening exactly, but wrong in a way that Brennan struggled to put into words. The experiences left him feeling genuinely depressed and unwell in a way he could not explain and could not shake.
What changed everything was an elderly Indigenous man named Dennis. Through Dennis, Brennan was introduced to the concept of the wrong spirit, the idea that something had attached itself to him that did not belong there. What followed was a spiritual cleansing ritual that Brennan describes as one of the most profoundly disorienting and clarifying experiences of his life. He walked in as a skeptic, carrying something heavy. He walked out changed.
The shadow figures have not entirely gone away. But Brennan's relationship to them has shifted in ways that this episode will make you think about long after it ends. This is a true ghost story about what happens when the person who collects haunting tales becomes the one being haunted.
Brennan Storr is the host of The Ghost Story Guys and the co-host of Fear Daily with Southern Gothic creator Brandon Schexnayder. His book A Strange Little Place is available now.
If you have a real ghost story of your own, a haunting experience, something you heard, something you cannot explain, I want to hear it. Call 1 (701) 484-2666 or visit tellmeaghoststory.com to share your story.
You might end up on the show.
Support us with official merch at newmanmedia.shop, catch us on YouTube at @tellmeaghoststory, and follow along on Instagram at @tellmeaghoststorypodcast.
Theme music is Sexy Sax by Cool Cascade.
Production by Newman Media.