Welcome to our gathering tonight. Here we share stories of ordinary people who have experienced extraordinary things.

Sit back, relax and warm yourself by Jim Herald's campfire.

Welcome to the campfire I am Jim Herald and I'm so glad to be with you today. And it is a red letter day here at the Spooky Studio because this is the 500th episode of the campfire.

So to all of the listeners, all of the storytellers who have told thousands of stories, true stories on the show over the last 12 years.

Thank you so much. Really, really appreciate it.

We wanted to bring you this week the best of the best. And we thought who else to turn to.

But our listeners, so we went to our virtual campfire group on Facebook. That's a virtual campfire group.com.

And we said, hey, pick out some stories for the 500th episode. And when I loved about it, usually for the anniversary shows that we do every year, I'll pick some stories.

This time we mind the wisdom of the group and got some stories. Frankly, I had forgotten about plus some old favorites I would have thrown in.

So it's just a great show and it clocks in at over two hours. So I think you're going to enjoy it. So I'm going to shut up and let the stories do the talking.

Welcome to the campfire. Michael is on the line from Los Angeles. And he has well, one of my favorite kinds of stories. It starts with an estate sale. So let your mind wander. Michael, welcome to the show and tell us what happened.

Thank you, Jim. Well, my wife and I moved into a townhouse in West Hollywood built in 1921. And when we moved in, we decided we wanted older furniture to sort of fit with setting. So we had a lot of estate sales.

And it ended up at one and picked up a few things, some chairs, et cetera. And another item that I wanted was way over price. And the woman holding the estate sale took my car and I took hers. And she says, well, you know, if this the sale ends tomorrow, this is still around, you know, we can negotiate.

So the next morning, I was talking with my wife, and I think that is no way we can afford to go get these other things. And then the woman called, she's like, hey, it's, it's Linda from the estate sale. I'm like, oh, hey, it's because I've got the, the, the things you wanted. And I give them to you for 50 bucks. I was like, you wanted 500. She says, yeah, I know, but there's this guy here who's offering me nothing. And he's being very disrespectful about my great grandmother stopped. So I'll give both.

To these things to you for 50 bucks flat. Yeah, probably you were a nice guy. You were respectful. She figures, I got to get rid of it anyway. Why not? Yeah, exactly. And I'm trying to, there's so many details. I'm trying to just pair it down a little bit.

And then she says, well, if you can come get those chairs, I also have a very large antique mirror. If you can get it out of here, it's yours. And then, you know, horror movie warning. I think you're the one that's supposed to have it.

So yeah, I should know from watching these movies not to take such things. So anyway, we, I had a friend help me get this mirror over. And it's say about five feet by three feet.

And just far too heavy to hang on an almost 100 year wall. So I had it sort of sitting on its side in the corner. So it's like a full length mirror.

And it's, it's very, it's kind of damaged. It has a goldwood frame. It's the day on the back is like 1891 or something.

But it's damage looks like it's out of a Roger Corman movie. So of course, I had to have it. But I had it sitting up in the corner trying to figure out how we're, we're going to mount it.

And at the time, my wife and I were working opposite schedules, how we get home from work like one, three or two in the morning. And she would have to get up and leave by 430.

She can't get up in the morning. So I would come home and sleep for about an hour, then get up and make coffee, have a cup of coffee with her and then sleep on the couch with cat.

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