Welcome to Midweek Mysteries, and thank you for being here. I am your host, Nick Ryan.

Today's first midweek mystery comes to us from Dallon.

Dallin's story is called Shadow Santa.

Dallin says,

Hello, Nick, I have really enjoyed listening to your podcast over the last few months.

The story I have to share comes from something that happened when I was about 10 or 11 years old.

We were getting close to Christmas time, and I remember how excited I was for the holiday to arrive.

One night, however, I did my normal nightly routine and got myself ready for bed.

I fell asleep, and a couple

hours later, I woke up to the feeling of being watched. I sat up and realized that my door

was slightly cracked open, which is bizarre because I always had my door shut when I sleep,

because my door led to a big empty hallway I didn't like to have staring at me while I slept.

I got out of bed and started walking over to my door to close it when I realized that there truly was a figure standing in my doorway watching me.

It was about six and a half feet tall, and had a large, broad appearance.

Confused and also terrified, I stared at it for a few seconds to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

My first thought after my terror washed away was that it was Santa Claus.

Yes, I believed in Santa still at this time.

I mean, after all, he does watch over you to make sure you're

being nice and not naughty. So I started walking closer to it, and as soon as I reached the door,

the figure backed away. I opened my door to see the figure at the end of the hallway. After standing

there for a few seconds,

he started sprinting toward me with his hands stretched out,

...