While visiting a friend's house, high schooler Shiann innocently befriends the spirit of a lonely woman. Her friendly gesture quickly becomes a waking nightmare as the spirit latches onto her and follows her home.
While visiting a friend's house, high schooler Shiann innocently befriends the spirit of a lonely woman. Her friendly gesture quickly becomes a waking nightmare as the spirit latches onto her and follows her home. Shiann learns the apparition has a jealous and violent streak and when she falls in love, the spirit launches a bloody attack on both of them. Shiann is determined to fight back but will this entity ever leave her alone?
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Find episode transcript here: https://a-ghost-ruined-my-life-with-eli-roth.simplecast.com/episodes/invitation-to-evil
Eli Roth [00:00:00] I'm Eli Roth. Throughout my life, both as a fan and creator of horror, I've heard lots of stories about haunted places where tormented souls latch onto something in the physical realm. This week, I sat down with a young woman who fell victim to a spirit, attaching on to something much harder to escape... Herself.
Shiann [00:00:21] I completely stopped asking my friends to come over and to say I didn't want my friends to be around whatever energy was in my house, I didn't want them to have to go through the things I was going through, and I really did not want to connect to any of my friends in any way and put them in any danger.
Eli Roth [00:00:41] The thing about a haunted house is you can always run away. But what happens when a ghost latches on to you as a person? Your entire being. Once a spirit decides you belong to them can you ever break free?
Shiann [00:00:59] Over the years, I have come to the realization that it is probably extremely attached, I mean, a huge part of me just wanted to step back and wish I never went to my friend's house that night and wish that I never had to deal with everything happening. But you can't live in the past forever. My name is Shiann Bustamante and A Ghost Ruined My Life.
Eli Roth [00:01:25] Welcome to A Ghost Ruined My Life. We have gone through hundreds of truly terrifying Real-Life accounts and selected the scariest ones to share with you. Shiann was just a naive teenager when she made what was supposed to be an innocent, friendly gesture. Years later, the consequences of this gesture still haunt her and can only be described as a waking nightmare. This is Invitation to Evil.
Shiann [00:01:56] It all started a few years ago in school. I grew up mostly in the same city. Everybody knows everybody. You go to school at the same people, you know, their parents, their parents know each other.
Young Shiann [00:02:12] Big game tonight.
Carolyn [00:02:13] Mmm.
Young Shiann [00:02:13] Coming over to get ready?
Carolyn [00:02:14] Want to come to my place? You never come to my place. It's been, what, six months since I moved here.
Young Shiann [00:02:20] OK. Six works for me.
Shiann [00:02:22] My friend. One day she asked me if I wanted to go to the football game with her, and I was like, Yeah, of course. And she said I could come over to her house after school to get ready. And this was my very first time ever going to her house.
Carolyn [00:02:36] Didn't I ever tell you about the old lady who died in this house?
Young Shiann [00:02:40] You did not.
Carolyn [00:02:43] Well there was.
[00:02:44] She had told me there was an old lady that had died in our house.
Carolyn [00:02:47] She lived here alone, no family, nothing. She fell down the stairs and broke her neck. They say they didn't find her body for weeks.
Young Shiann [00:02:58] Who's they?
Carolyn [00:02:59] The house was full of stuff when we moved in. Kinda felt weird. Like desperate, sad. One time we saw this really dark shadow and it was just like,-
Carolyn's Mom [00:03:13] Carolyn? Stop telling those stupid stories. And I need you to help me downstairs
Carolyn [00:03:18] Mom hates it when I talk about it. But I think she's just superstitious. But I swear. God, just imagine being, that alone. So alone, no one even knows you died. Or even cares. No wonder she bugs me.
Young Shiann [00:03:42] What do you mean?
Carolyn's Mom [00:03:43] Carolyn come on.
Shiann [00:03:46] I could feel like a bad energy in the air just shifting around us. I knew something was wrong. The TV was sitting right across from us and I remember looking up at the TV and you could see the reflection of her bedroom doorway. And in the doorway there is a black shadow that had to have been almost as tall as the door itself. And I looked over at the door to see if there was a shadow and there is nothing there. But when I look back at the TV, it was there again.
Young Shiann [00:04:21] Hello? Are you lonley? You can come sit with me. I'll be your friend.
Shiann [00:04:35] As soon as I said you can come sit down with me, the energy just seemed to have gotten a little thicker the air, it was kind of hard to breathe when I heard the bed creak. You could tell that there was weight to this, to the person who was sitting, but there is no person that you could visibly see. So all I wanted to do was just run. I wanted to freak out all I could think is possibly maybe this entity thought this girl tried to talk to me. This girl is trying to accept me. She doesn't know what I am. She doesn't know who I am. But she's not being disrespectful. The first time she sees me, she's very nice, polite in my younger state, I thought, maybe this spirit wanted a friend. Maybe it could protect, if needed, against darker energies, but at the same time, I could be wrong.
Carolyn [00:05:27] What's wrong?
Young Shiann [00:05:28] Nothing. Let's let's go.
Carolyn [00:05:34] You saw it, Shiann, I know you saw her. What did she do to you?
Carolyn's Mom [00:05:40] Enough about that. There's no one in this house. Besides, she was probably some old shrew who's not worth the thought, so stop it.
Shiann [00:05:58] And she was coming down the stairs and my friend said that it just felt like somebody just shoved her as hard as she could. Then she went down the first set of stairs, rolled over the landing and down the next part of the stairs and ended up breaking her leg.
Carolyn's Mom [00:06:13] Oh, oh.
Shiann [00:06:20] The old lady that had died in her house, she was known for pushing people down the stairs if you disrespected her in any way. So I was kind of nervous, just completely scared me and terrified me.
Eli Roth [00:06:33] There are just too many coincidences at this point, not only for the ghost to actually push Carolyn's mom down the stairs. The very same thing that killed the old woman in the first place, but to do it immediately after she doubts her power. That is terrifying. I've never heard of anything supernatural happening like this. It's so immediate and so specific. And still, Cheyenne attempts to brush this off, hoping that this was just a one off.
Shiann [00:07:01] When I got home. I was really relieved just to be able to get away from the feeling of something being there with me that I didn't know and that I couldn't see. So I just kind of moved on, didn't really tell anybody about what had happened because I didn't think anybody was going to believe me.
Eli Roth [00:07:17] But after returning home that night, Shiann has the terrifying realization that it is no longer just her friend's house, that's haunted.
Shiann [00:07:26] When I walked over on the corner, when I saw it standing there, it was pure terror. I was petrified I literally could not move. It felt like I was frozen right in my spot, and I just had to stand there and watch it. I couldn't move my eyes other than blink to make sure that my eyes weren't messing with me. I would say the shadow probably was over six feet tall, and I froze, I didn't I don't know what to do. I couldn't scream, I couldn't move. I just stared and it was completely black. And the feeling that I got when I seen it was just complete fear. I was terrified and I didn't know what to do. I couldn't move. It left her house and followed me to mine whatever was in my friend's home followed me home, and I'm not sure why I can't sleep at all. I just I felt like somebody was just watching me, just sitting on her bed watching.
Eli Roth [00:08:26] Over the next few nights, Shiann begins to realize that this entity is not going anywhere as it has become almost tethered to her.
Shiann [00:08:37] It felt like somebody was just watching you the whole time from the hallway or something, and it was just very uneasy and unsettling. The feeling that I got when I seen it was just complete fear. I was terrified. I didn't know what to do. Maybe it's waiting to do something bad to me. It felt like something horrible is going to happen.
Eli Roth [00:08:58] Put yourself in Shiann's position. You're completely petrified and totally alone. No one believes you and you can't blame them, but it is happening. And, you know, even saying it out loud, you sound crazy. You're desperate for answers and to finally end this torture. If you were in her position, you'd probably do what Shiann did next. Go to the one person who knows exactly what's going on.
Young Shiann [00:09:23] I saw... I saw something weird on Friday.
Carolyn [00:09:29] She's really hurt. I don't wanna talk about it ok?
Young Shiann [00:09:35] Has it done anything to you.?
Carolyn [00:09:38] What are you talking about?
Young Shiann [00:09:39] You know what I mean.
Carolyn [00:09:42] It's gone.
Young Shiann [00:09:43] What?
Carolyn [00:09:43] It's gone. It attacked my mom and it left. It's gone.
Young Shiann [00:09:52] Listen,
Carolyn [00:09:54] I don'y want to talk about it, OK?
Shiann [00:09:58] I was just trying to talk to her, see if anything had been happening at her house. And when I asked, she just shook her head and was like, Nothing's happened since she left. It was very hard going through everything that was happening when I would try and tell my family they kind of look at me and I would feel like I was crazy. This is just the beginning of the nightmare. Things are about to get way worse.
Eli Roth [00:10:25] We'll be right back after a short break. Welcome back, as Cheyenne told us about dealing with the constant presence of an angry ghost that followed her everywhere We could tell it took an unimaginable toll on her psyche.
Shiann [00:10:49] I was really struggling at this point with everything that was going on. My health was not doing good whatsoever and I was having a hard time with going to school. I completely stopped asking my friends to come over and to stay. I didn't want my friends to be around whatever energy was in my house. I didn't want them to have to go through the things I was going through, and I really did not want it to connect to any of my friends in any way and put them in any danger. I felt completely insane, even though somebody had claimed to see that same shadow. It didn't feel real, felt like it was all made up. I was sitting in my living room and the attic was directly above me and and sounded like something ran from above the dining room into like the attic above the living room. I could hear that like the steps of the paws and everything, but I just kind of stopped because I was like, We don't have any animals here. And once I heard it and life was questioning that I heard of a low growl come from the kitchen, it sounded like an animal growling.
Young Shiann [00:12:02] Leave Just leave. You were not welcome here. Get out.
Shiann [00:12:10] You never get used to it. You never get used to just one second, nothing being there in the next seeing, a shadow. It's completely unordinary and unnatural. You question like, is it going to stay, is it going to leave and even on top of it, like, who is this? Why are you so drawn to me? It Made me want to scream, cry, run? You don't know what I want. You don't know if it wants to harm you. We don't know if it wants to harm somebody in your family.
Eli Roth [00:12:42] As the sightings grow more frequent, Shiann starts to wonder if she brought this suffering onto herself, and it makes sense, right? I mean, she did invite the ghost to befriend her. It's just so crazy that a simple, kind gesture can cause so much pain and suffering. But that's the thing about ghosts. We don't know what they're after. I don't think a lot of ghosts are hanging around here looking for friends. It's usually something much more sinister.
Shiann [00:13:08] I think that whoever the old woman is who died at my friend's house she either had a lot of love in her life, or she didn't have a lot of love in her life and the when I invited her over to sit down next to me was probably something new or something she was missing. Was it because I gave it some attention? This is because I invited the ghost to sit down and be my friend.
Young Shiann [00:13:34] You can come sit with me.
Shiann [00:13:37] And now that's all it wants my attention.
Ghost [00:13:42] Shiann. I'm coming in. I want in.
Shiann [00:13:52] I decided that I had to do something to fix what was going on. So if I come out of it, maybe I can get rid of it. Maybe like an unwanted friend, I just have to stop paying attention. All I could think is that I just I want to get away from this, I want this energy to stop. It could be a relief to be able to be normal,
Eli Roth [00:14:17] Cheyenne decides to ghost the ghost, hoping that if it's attention, the spirit is after the silent treatment will force it to look elsewhere.
Shiann [00:14:26] It was kind of a big change, trying to force myself not to be scared of it anymore. I kind of just forced myself to be OK with it, to just brush it off and act like it wasn't that big of a deal, even though at any moment something worse could happen.
Eli Roth [00:14:44] For a while, it seems to work, Shiann lives life like a normal teenager and focuses on finishing high school and even gets a new boyfriend. Vanian Strunk.
Vanian [00:14:55] Shian and I hit it off pretty quickly. We went on a few dates and it was pretty serious from the start.
Shiann [00:15:01] I told him that I am followed by something he believes that there are no ghosts. And I said I understood that I completely understand if you're skeptical because everybody will have their own opinions on what they want to believe and not believe. And all I could tell them was that I just wanted to give them a heads up as to what could happen in the future. I wanted to be completely honest with him and lay everything on the table in case he decided that if he did believe that he if he didn't want to be there, I'd be OK with it because it's not for everyone. All I could think while he was telling me that he didn't believe in the ghosts was that something was going to happen. All I could think is that he, in a way, is disrespecting her, saying that she is not real. She is going to let somebody know that she is real.
Vanian [00:15:53] As Shiann and Vanian and decide to take their relationship to the next level and move in together secretly, Cheyenne hopes that a change in scenery might bring an end to her haunting.
Shiann [00:16:03] It's a chance to escape and I just want to leave this thing behind. When we got into our own house. It felt like a dream. It was a big step for us. It was complete bliss. I wasn't hearing anything, seeing anything. It was very relaxing and peaceful, and it honestly was like heaven.
Vanian [00:16:27] Now that Shiann finally feels something resembling peace, she starts to let her guard down, even inviting one of the most important people in her life over... Her niece.
Shiann [00:16:38] My niece is my absolutely favorite person of my family. She's like my best friend and I watch her as much as I possibly can.
Shiann's Neice [00:16:51] *Screaming*.
Shiann [00:16:54] I was sitting in the living room with Vanian and about five minutes of us sitting there, I heard my niece scream and I've never heard my niece scream like it sounded like somebody had actually hurt her physically. And we instantly took off running into the bedroom to see if she was OK.
Vanian [00:17:11] She started screaming, Bloody murder, like we've never heard her scream before. So we both booked it in there to see what was going on, and she's staring into the closet screaming.
Shiann [00:17:25] And I instantly picked her up without even questioning what was going on, and I started rocking her just trying to get her back to sleep.
Young Shiann [00:17:31] It's here. It's back.
Young Vanian [00:17:33] She he had a nightmare.
SHiann [00:17:36] It followed me.
Young Vanian [00:17:40] You're talking crazy, Shiann. She's a kid. There's nothing here.
Shiann [00:17:48] And meanwhile, I was rocking her Vanian and said that he seen a dark black shadow.
Vanian [00:17:55] That's when I see it, I see its face. I was completely terrified and I froze in the side of the bed and just didn't know there was something evil, something that wanted to harm me.
Eli Roth [00:18:11] This spirit is relentless and seems to be getting bolder. Both Shiann and Vanian tell us that it became immediately clear that this horrifying, dangerous spirit would stop at nothing to get close to Shiann and push those closest to her away. It no longer wanted to be seen. It demanded to be felt proud.
Vanian [00:18:43] *Grunting*.
Young Shiann [00:18:48] Oh, you're bleeding.
Vanian [00:18:51] I think it wanted me to just leave, I think it wanted to scare me off enough to where I'd never, ever come back.
Shiann [00:19:02] It was jealous, and now it's angry it's using him and hurting him to get to me. I think by showing itself to Vanian and might have been trying to let me know like I am here and that other people know I'm going to be here too, and I'm going to make these people aware that I am here.
Eli Roth [00:19:22] Finally, Vanian experience is the spirit for himself, and as terrible as it sounds, I imagine that Shiann feels relieved in a way. I mean, to have people doubt you for so long and to finally prove that you weren't crazy and that you were right. It must be somewhat vindicating. But more importantly, now she doesn't feel so completely alone.
Vanian [00:19:42] There's something here. I've seen it, and it's horrifying. I didn't understand or believe in any of this. And then all of a sudden, it's a big part of my life.
Shiann [00:19:55] I know it's still here. It's using him and hurting him to get to me. It's still following me.
Vanian [00:20:03] It made me question safety of the people who entered our house.
Eli Roth [00:20:09] Though the ghost may have intended to drive a wedge between the couple. She only seems to bring them closer together. But of course, ghosts aren't known to give up a grudge, and this closeness only angers the spirit more.
Shiann [00:20:22] It was jealous, and now it's angry. The closer Vanian and I become, things just seem to get worse, it messes with electronics, throws things and physically harms people. But at least I know I'm not alone in this and I have confirmation that this was all real.
Vanian [00:20:41] It wants the frequency of of pain and of suffering and a fear and somehow that it thrives off of that. I think that by putting us through these experiences, it's telling us that we don't have control. And the more we try to gain control, the more we're going to lose control.
Ghost [00:21:05] *creepy whispers*.
Ghost [00:21:09] As things progressed and got worse, it it's very unsettling to even be alone in the house.
Vanian [00:21:19] It made me question the safety of the people who entered our house. It's very stressful to know that every day there's a possibility that something bad could happen, and it's it's like stepping on hot coals or, you know, walking on broken glass. You don't want to say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing.
SHiann [00:21:44] We've talked about going to a priest, but I'm not religious and a part of me who doesn't believe it'll work.
Eli Roth [00:21:51] And so like many people, faced with a daunting situation, Shiann and Vanian and head to internet forums to find the answers,
SHiann [00:22:00] I seek answers out online and I'm sure there has to be somebody out there that can help us. I was posting about it on social media, asking for advice and what to do
Young Vanian [00:22:14] an enttity attaches to the person not the place. It doesn't leave until it gets whay iy wants. Have you tried saging?
Young Shiann [00:22:25] What saging?
Shiann [00:22:27] A lot of people had actually commented, telling me on stuff that I could do that they believed was the only thing I was going to be comfortable with would be burning sage.
Eli Roth [00:22:37] The couple sages their house for the first time. Our crew is there to witness. Now I've done saging before, I thought it was crazy. And you just dried sage, you burn it and you walk around and say a prayer with intention, but you can feel it. You can feel the before and after and the energy. After making the show and seeing this, I now cannot live in a place unless I've saged it. Of course, I have to be the savior because I'm the horror movie guy, so if I see a ghost, I'd be thrilled. I will sage any house I'm about to move into just in case. Sometimes it works, and in this case, sometimes it doesn't.
Shiann [00:23:14] I'm hoping this might actually end up helping whatever is in here. Move on.
Vanian [00:23:23] While I'm doing this, I'm just going to say out loud, I'd like any negative energy in this house to leave or move on and no longer bother or harm us. In the nicest way possible. I think that this attachment is some form of spirit or some form of non-visual being that can walk, you know, many planes of reality because it has shown that it can, it can walk in our plane and it can walk in its own. I've tried talking to the to the to the presence and letting it know, Hey, if we can find some kind of common ground, I won't bother you if you don't bother me. It seems like it doesn't want to come to terms like that because it wants to feed off of some kind of fear or some kind of loneliness or sadness that it can bring out and provoke within us.
Eli Roth [00:24:24] The couple told us that still, to this day, the ghost has a profound impact on their lives and affects simple decisions we might take for granted.
Vanian [00:24:33] We're remodeling our house, and it's almost like we have to ask permission for certain areas to be remodeled and see what happens to see if it's OK with the thing because we don't want to do something that might set it off more than we have in the past.
Shiann [00:24:51] A huge part of me just wanted to step back and wish I never went to my friend's house that night and wish that I never had to deal with everything happening. But you can't live in the past forever. We're hopeful that something will finally work, but there is always in the back of my head that I accepted what has what is going on and that it may not ever leave me. I know we can fight this thing together. We just need to stay strong. And one day this will all be over. It's not bigger than the both of us.
Eli Roth [00:25:32] That story is a true testament to the power of love, but also to the power of a vengeful spirit. This thing just does not want to let Shiann go. It's crazy. The child and Vanian's mindset has shifted from trying to fight this thing to trying to live with it in something resembling harmony. But unfortunately, that's all you can really do in a situation like this. Shiann's story definitely illustrates how dangerous it can be to make yourself vulnerable to a desperate soul like the one she encountered years ago. I've said in the past I would love to have a paranormal encounter, but this story for sure makes me think twice. Shiann's experience will serve as a reminder that you do not want to say the wrong thing to a spirit, even if it's well-intended. If you want to hear more real, terrifying stories like this, go to Discovery Plus and check out my TV series. Eli Roth presents A GHost Ruined MyLife. And check us out at Travel Channel Dot Com Slash a ghost ruined my life to learn more about the podcast TV show and what we're up to. A Ghost Ruined My Life with Eli Roth is produced by Cream Productions for Discovery Plus. For Discovery Plus, our executive producer is Marissa Lucy for Cream Productions our executive producers are Eli Roth, Johnny Clangers, Kate Harrison and David Brady. See you on the other side.