The paranormal researcher and storyteller known as "Dark Waters" joined Dave Schrader (email) to discuss mysterious encounters in the South. Waters is a professional storyteller who interviews witnesses to strange, confusing or frightening phenomena, and recreates their stories as accurately as possible on his website and YouTube channel. Waters began by describing a childhood encounter with a strange dark shape with glowing eyes that appeared to come after him in response to his grandmother's interest in the practice of "hoodoo." He said that his hometown of New Orleans is full of strange stories because of its history of tragedies like hurricanes, slavery, and war, as well as the presence of voodoo and the fact that many cultures have contributed their lore and history to the city and to Louisiana. Waters summed it up as "a gumbo of the paranormal."
Dave asked about the vampire lore that is connected to New Orleans, and if there were any actual reports of such creatures. Waters was guarded in his answer, saying only that there seemed to be a group of individuals that seemed to be able to draw the "life force" of others, and have amassed a great deal of power and influence in the city. People who have encountered them report episodes of missing time. He mentioned a division of the New Orleans Police Department that actually deals with paranormal issues, and one of the officers who did not want to talk about these so-called "vampires," even after promising that he would do so. Waters is "100% certain" that these people exist.
One story that is not generally known outside New Orleans is the account of an "angry man" who apparently haunts an old restaurant and bar. Waters recounted the story of the entity who followed a female employee home and tormented her and her boyfriend. A dark shadow of the figure accosted her in a swimming pool and tried to strangle her boyfriend in bed at night. He also shared stories of a "banshee"-like figure that plagued a neighborhood during the flooding of Katrina. The witnesses described hearing piercing screams getting closer to their home and then seeing a female figure floating over the floodwaters dressed in a torn grey dress and wailing with a mouth that was unnaturally large - "two-feet wide" as they told him.
Waters also revealed accounts of black-eyed children and one story in particular that came to him from Nashville, where a female acquaintance told him of a child with black eyes that she inadvertently invited into her apartment, and which has continued to appear, coinciding with health problems that she did not have before the encounter. He then described his own experience with an apparent group of "dog men" who he saw moving about in the trees at dusk when he was interviewing a witness. He says that they have been reported worldwide and "have killed people and will kill people in the future." Waters encouraged listeners not to seek any contact with the creatures.