Excerpt from book 1

Foreword

Telling a story is easy if the story you tell is something that happened to you. A first-person narrative of an event you saw and experienced comes naturally. You were there in that time and space and you will describe the episode with honest clarity. On the other hand, and for obvious reasons, relating something that happened to other people is more difficult. You try to repeat someone’s words to replicate the emotion they went through, as well as the way the story made you feel. To deliver the details so that your audience is swept into the excitement or terror of that moment is not an easy task. I found this to be the case when I naively thought that starting a storytelling podcast would be easy. It’s not.

My first podcasts were the retelling of stories I heard others tell through the years. While at lunch on a job site, for instance, someone would recount a crazy story about a ghost they saw. At a party there is always the person describing an experience with Bigfoot or a Demon or a weird UFO. For some reason, I remember these stories in great detail and can put them in writing to narrate on my podcast. Ask me to remember the birth dates of anyone in my family and I cannot, but tell me a story about an encounter you’ve had with other-worldly entities, I will never forget.

After uploading ten podcasts, I ran out of my own stories. I needed help, so in a plea of desperation, I asked my small audience to email their stories to me and that I would narrate them on my podcast. To my amazement, I received over ten emails that week. Only one of those emails was in literary condition to narrate. The others needed editing first, so I got to work. Over the years, stories sent by random people who regularly listen to my podcast are the meat and potatoes of my show.

In the winter of 2020, I interviewed a man from Colorado who claimed one or more Sasquatch harassed him and his family at home. The interview was popular and created a stir in the Bigfoot community. Namely, because the ordeal they endured was scary and traumatic.

To this day, I receive emails from people who want to hear more from him. I tried repeatedly to interview him again, but was unsuccessful.

On March 19, 2020, over two years after I started my podcast, and not long after the Colorado interview, I received an email from Todd, which caught my eye. The subject regarded that interview.

His email was fascinating, actually. It described an interview he did with some locals in the same part of Colorado. These people experienced similar events with a creature they believed was a Sasquatch. I included his story in my next podcast - it was that good.

It would be the beginning of a rich correspondence with a good writer who experienced some of the most fascinating things I’ve heard. Through his writing, I got the sense that Todd had a unique connection with the people he gathered stories from. I think he is also a good listener, and that makes for a great storyteller. I also believe he has the spirit of a child when he is a witness to the paranormal. I am sure he could be frightened, but like me, I believe he looks at these events in wonder, amazement, and curiosity.

Since that first email, I have included his stories in no less than ten podcasts. I admit, I am giddy when I see his name arrive in my inbox. I know that something intriguing awaits me. No matter how busy I am, I open Todd’s emails to read the next in a series of stories that have heightened my imagination.

At some point, I remember telling Todd that he had a book on his hands. It did not surprise me when his response was that he had several books planned. With work and life, the process was slow. But the books were coming. And then the day came a few weeks ago when the manuscript for this book arrived. I read the fifty stories and was not disappointed with a single paragraph. It was like all of his emails, but on steroids.

Paranormal Bedtime Stories is a book title I would have never chosen. It crossed my mind to tell Todd he would have to change it if he wanted to sell books. However, after reading this book, I believe it is the perfect title, because this is exactly what this book is. These are short stories you will read in five to ten minutes at the breakfast table, on your lunch break, while sitting in traffic, or in bed before you fall asleep. The latter being the perfect time to read them. The stories will enhance your REM sleep and dreams, if not give you night terrors.

Paranormal Bedtime Stories is not a collection of fiction. These are true stories, which either he experienced or was told by others while in an environment and space, where they felt at ease. As you will see, he has a way of doing this out in the field in real-time, as it’s going down.

You can read the Author’s Bio at the end of the book to discover why Todd is uniquely qualified to relate these stories to us.

I enjoy novels and long form non-fiction, but since the start of my podcast I have fallen in love with reading stories in short format. When they are written as a story instead of something like a courtroom testimony, they will capture your imagination. You will enjoy this book for the sake of the story. In addition, the events in this book will leave you pondering the world around you. They are well written and will hold your attention. I suspect that when you finish one story, you will want to move to the next one, no matter if it will make you late for work or keep you up past your bedtime. That is the effect Paranormal Bedtime Stories has on me. As I write this, I am already looking forward to book two of this thrilling series.

In the first paragraph, I stated that telling a story is easy. However, writing a story is not. I don’t know how difficult it was for the author to compile and write the events in this book, but he sure makes it look easy. Todd Chapman is a natural storyteller. You will agree as you turn the pages, so be prepared for something that could forever make you question if the world you live in is actually what you think it is.

Cameron Buckner

Host of the Dixie Cryptid Podcast