Hello everyone, welcome back to National Park After Dark for a very special Trail

Tales Edition. Yes. So I specially requested Cassie help me out on this. So today the day we release

this episode is April 13th and this is Ian's birthday. So he would have been 29. It's his first

heavenly birthday. So because of that, I really wanted to do something special to honor that.

And for that reason, today's Trail Tales are all going to be signs and coincidences,

quote unquote coincidences. No such thing. No such thing is that. And just all things that kind of

Ian's story has inspired through our community. So I'm so excited. Would you like to go first?

I would and I will say I'm going to try very hard to, I'm already feeling like I'm going to cry,

but I'm going to really try not to. So hopefully I can get to this. Okay, thank you if you cry,

we're all crying with you. So you're not alone. Okay. All right, so my first story is titled

Spirit Phone. Hi Danielle and Cassie, I hope you are well. My friend recommended your podcast to me

in September of 2022 and I'm nearly caught up all the way. As a fellow New Englander, I really

appreciate all the references to the area. You're both incredible and respectful story tellers

and your podcast keeps me company during my commutes to and from grad school and while I crochet.

Thank you for all the great work you do. This story doesn't necessarily take place in a national

park or forest, but in a previous Trail Tale episode, Danielle asked for listeners to send in

stories about signs from departed loved ones. All my love to you Danielle, by the way, and your

family. My story is about a sign from my uncle who passed away in March of 2019. He's

interred in a national cemetery, so maybe that counts. It all counts. It doesn't matter. It all counts.

Yeah. I understand if this doesn't make it into a Trail Tale episode, but I wanted to share this

with you anyways as I find it comforting whenever I find myself missing my uncle. Every single night,

my uncle Bobby would call my mom his sister just to chat about their day, how their kids were,

...