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I'm here to haunt you with a horror story of Halloween past, so sit back, turn the lights down,

and listen to me. I hope everybody had a nice weekend. This is our Halloween episode, I guess, because I won't see you until November.

I had a very wholesome weekend. I went to see Boni Verre, which was really just a great show, especially because it's been very gloomy and rainy here.

It was such a mood. It was like the perfect vibe, a perfect time for that show. What else? I watched The Muppets Haunted Mansion, which I had not seen, and it was delightful.

I highly recommend if you need something to calm you down after today's episode. I got to be honest, I was planning on doing a list episode for Halloween this year,

but I kept coming back to the story that we're talking about today, and I was adding more details and stuff because the more that I read, the more chaotic it got.

The entire story is actually insane. I wish I had a counter going for the amount of audible what's that occurred during my research.

It was just far too much to consolidate into a list episode, and so I was left with two choices. I'm like, okay, either I can't talk about this story and omit it from our list episode, or I just acts the list episode and cover the entirety of this story.

That is what I opted for because I think it's just so wild. Our story takes us to Michigan. The year is 2012, and the unassuming locals of a quaint city are on the cusp of experiencing a Halloween nightmare, in an area where nothing like this normally happens, but isn't that always the case?

This is a lifetime movie of a story. If I have ever seen one before, we've got twist, we've got turns, it's absolute insanity. Our story is going to focus on a guy named John White.

So picture this, John White, he's a pastor. He moves back to Michigan and just kind of shows up in the city of Mont Pleasant seemingly out of nowhere.

The community could not have been more welcoming to the traveling pastor. They accepted him from the minute he got there. The Christ community fellowship, which was a church in town, had gone through a recent route in regards to church leadership.

So to church goers, they thought John was a true gift sent from God. According to the city's official website, Mont Pleasant offers a vital and energetic lifestyle, not often found in a community retaining a true hometown feel.

Surrounded by lakes, rivers, forest and healthy farmland, it offers residents a vibrant place to live, work, learn and play.

The city's 26,000 full-time residents have chosen one of the states most walkable and quote, safest communities.

It's all the more reason residents were shocked by the events that unfolded in the tight-knit community back in October of 2012.

John quickly assimilates into the community and he spent his first couple years there, setting down roots. He was the dream neighbor. Pleasant, polite. He'd watch your kids if you needed to run errands.

Oh, you need some help with the house project? You could call John. He just seemed to fit right in.

If you'll notice when we're talking about the city, there's an emphasis on full-time residents. Some people vacation there, some people just come passing through and that's kind of what was going on with the church at the time.

They said that people were like they would have a pastor come for a season but then they'd go away. So there was times where the church would just have no one leading it. They really needed him.

Every Sunday he would spread the gospel and thank the congregation for accepting him and listening to what he had to say. They were even receptive when he let them in on the truth. He had a past. And he wanted to be open with everyone about it.

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