Terrifying & True | Exploring Djinn Legends: Mysteries and Mythology Unveiled

Explore the enigmatic world of Djinn, beings straddling the line between good and evil, shaping ancient tales and haunting modern narratives alike.
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When you think of the word genie, you think of maybe rubbing a magic
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lamp or bottle and summoning a spirit
that'll give you three wishes. Now,
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maybe those wishes will be a little
mischievous, but they're overall benign, or
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are they. Tonight we're gonna talk
about the gin, the original genie of
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folklore, and it's darker than you
think what you were about to beat the
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spurn. Based on witness accounts,
testimonies, and public record, this is
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terrifying. And the first time I
heard of a gin was actually watching the
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film wish Master, which features to
maniacal genie granting wishes that led to death
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and dismemberment. It's a fun film. I highly recommend it and wish Master
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too, and how why not treat
yourself to wish Master three as well.
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But after watching the film, I
got really curious what exactly is a gin?
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I mean, I know what a
genie is because I grew up watching
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Disney movies, but the gin is
so much darker, more mysterious. It's
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a part of Arabic culture that most
outsiders never really learn much about. So
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tonight, right here on terrifying and
true, we're gonna take a dot into
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the sandy dunes of the Gin.
Right after these quick words, let's talk
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about Gin, super natural creature from
Arabic stories that lives on earth but is
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invisible to us. These beings aren't
just figments of the imagination. People have
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believed in them for a very long
time, even before Islam came about.
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In those days, Jin was thought
to whisper ideas to poets and those who
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foretold the future. Even the Kuran, a holy book of Islam, says
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they're real and talks about them as
creatures who, just like us, get
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to choose to be good or bad. This means they can end up in
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heaven or in hell. Gin is
made of a special type of fire that
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doesn't create smoke, which is kind
of like how humans are said to be
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made from clay, and most importantly, Jin stay hidden from human sight.
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These Gin aren't just some obscure term. They're extremely famous in Middle Eastern countries.
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You'll find them in loads of stories
from places like North Africa, Egypt,
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Syria, and even as far as
Turkey. They're also constantly referenced in
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The Thousand and One Nights, a
collection of tales where they pop up quite
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a bit, and they're not just
in Arabic stories anymore. People in India
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and Indonesia know about them too,
mostly thanks to the Koran and the impact
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of Arabic literature in the tales that
people tell each other. Gin can change
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their shape to look like humans or
animals. They're thought to hang out just
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about everywhere in stones, trees,
old buildings, underground, up in the
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air, or dancing around in flames. Despite being supernatural, they have needs
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like eating and sleeping, and believe
it or not, they can even die.
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But they don't have to play by
the usual rules of life. They're
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far beyond that. Here's the catch, though, If you somehow annoy a
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Gin, even if you didn't mean
to, they'll want payback. There are
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stories where people believe they're behind all
sorts of bad luck, from getting sick
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to having horrible accidents. On the
flip side, if you're clever and know
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the right tricks, you might be
able to get the Gin on your side,
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perhaps even doing you a favor or
two. Long before massive buildings scraped
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the skies and technology tethered humanity to
screens, the legend of the Gin,
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those enigmatic entities now widely known as
genies, whispered its way through ancient dunes
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and into the heart of human folklore. This metamorphosis from beings of profound mystery
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within Eastern traditions to the sanitized,
lamp dwelling figures of Western narratives span centuries
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of misunderstanding and fascination. Yet it
is within this journey that the true essence
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and complexity of the gin come to
light, revealing a narrative far richer and
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more nuanced than the simplified tales of
wish granting. Originally, these supernatural beings
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were seen not as servants, but
as equals to humans, invisible yet integral
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participants in the grand scheme of creation. Over time, their portrayal shifted.
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They became spirits bound to worldly objects, often oil lamps, jars, or
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bottles. This image of confinement entertained
the masses, but belied the depth of
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their original lore, where the Gin
were capable of both benevolence and malevolence,
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reflecting the full spectrum of moral ambiguities
found in humanity itself. Darker than their
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light hearted counterparts, malevolent gin were
said to embody the very essence of horror,
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with propensities for acts as sinister as
murder and torture. These twisted spirits
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delighted in corrupting the wishes of those
who unwittingly freed them, inverting desires into
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deadly snares. The legends served as
grim reminders those who dare to summon a
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gin must tread carefully, for their
liberation could herald one's doom. Survival tales
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whispered among the sands told not of
battles of strength, but of intellect.
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Victorious were those who could outsmart the
gin, leveraging their vanity or pride to
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trap them once more within their inanimate
prisons. Through clever ruses, heroes could
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avert the catastrophic plagues and destruction these
spirits were capable of unleashing upon the world.
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Rare are the stories where a gin
is truly destroyed, though, for
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these beings are of a realm beyond
the tangible, a domain where they are
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bound not by mortal coils but by
the limits of their containers. These narratives,
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rich with the essence of human experience, offer not just entertainment but also
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profound insights. They reflect our intrinsic
fascination with the unknown, our fears of
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what lies beyond our control, and
the enduring belief in humanity's ability to confront
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and overcome the shadows. Jin are
mysterious beings from ancient stories that have fascinated
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people for centuries, even before Islam
began in the seventh century. They are
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an important part of Arab's stories and
Islamic beliefs. These spirits have been around
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for such a long time, making
people feel both inspired and scared in Arab
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and Islamic culture. They still influence
people to this day. In the Islamic
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world, people think of gin as
creatures made from a special kind of fire
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that we humans can't see. This
is different from humans, who Islamic stories
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say are made from clay or earth. Jin are not stuck in our physical
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world. They can move around in
both the physical realm we see and the
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realm we can't see. In Islam, people do not worship jin, but
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they are mentioned many times in the
Qur'an, the Islamic Holy Book. Islam
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sees jin as beings that can make
their own choices, just like humans.
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They can do good things or bad
things, and they will be judged for
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their actions after they die, just
like humans. Will. Arabs before Islam
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thought Jin had amazing powers over nature. They could control things and make the
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land good for farming. People respected
and feared what Jin could do, and
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this showed up in their culture and
stories. For example, old Arab poets
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would say a Jin help them write
their poems. Jin and humans are thought
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to have a deep and complex relationship
that goes back to both Islamic and older
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beliefs. People think Jin can also
fall in love, feel passion, and
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even have relationships with humans when it
shows, they interact with us more than
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just in old tales. They're part
of personal and spiritual stories too. Experts
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like Amera el Zi have written a
lot about Gin and say they can exist
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and act in both the world we
see and the one we don't. This
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makes them very flexible in how they
deal with us humans. One of the
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most interesting things people say about gin
is that they can change shape. They
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can look like a person or an
animal. Gin also have needs and do
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things that are a lot like what
humans have to They eat, drink,
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sleep, have babies, and they
die in the end. This means they
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live lives that are similar to ours
in a way, but we usually can't
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see it when Gin show up in
Western stories like the Friendly Genie from Disney
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movies. They're often more charming and
kinder than in those old stories, but
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traditional tale give us a fuller picture. They say that some Jin are good,
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but others can be tricky and even
dangerous. This mix of feelings being
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interested in but also a bit afraid
of Jin shows how much these spiritual beings
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have grabbed our attention over human history. Long ago, the Islamic prophet Mohammed
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introduced the world to Jin in the
Koran, describing them as beings with their
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own will, similar to humans.
A Mira Alzine, an expert on the
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subject, even says that believing in
jin is a crucial part of being a
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Muslim, though not every one of
the one point six billion Muslims agree,
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but for those who do believe Jin
represent a hidden world, this belief is
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so strong that some people have turned
to religious rituals to chase them away,
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often involving the reading of the Koran. But back before Islam, Arabs had
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many methods to protect themselves from gin, like carrying animal teeth or using incense
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and charms. Gin are not entirely
good or evil, but they are considered
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less divine than angels, and are
often thought to possess people. A study
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conducted in twenty fourteen showed that in
some Muslim communities, mental health issues are
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sometimes attributed to gin. Stories of
personal encounters with these beings can truly be
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chilling. There's a story of a
girl at a boarding school whose bully suddenly
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couldn't breathe because her tongue swelled.
This happened right after she damaged another student's
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necklace. Shockingly, this student then
spoke in a man's voice, claiming to
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be a far traveled gin. It
turned out her parents got the necklace from
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a shaman in order to contain an
evil gin. In bah Lla Oman,
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a place known for its historic Islamic
architecture, stories about jin are especially common.
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Mohammad al Hinai, a well educated
Muslim, reported seeing a ghostly woman
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in tattered clothes who laughed eerily.
Another local noticed his brothers speaking nonsense to
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a wall after supposedly meeting a spirit. Harib al Shukali, a local who
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has performed many exorcisms, thinks jin
aimed to destroy our peace. They cause
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arguments and disbelief and want to break
communities. Apart. According to him,
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the presence of Gin is a constant
danger that the people of Baalah must live
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with. Across cultures and continents.
Stories of encounters with the Jin have been
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passed down through generations. They've made
their presence felt in various, mysterious,
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and often unsettling ways. The following
accounts are inspired by such traditions, bringing
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to life the ethereal and often eerie
experience as people have shared. These stories
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were originally shared on BuzzFeed, but
we're retelling them here. Once upon a
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time, Sakin a Blue shared a
rather chilling tale about her brave mother in
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law. Late one night, as
she was about to sleep, she saw
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a strange figure with long, pointy
fingers and a sharply shaped face sitting near
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her bed. Without a second thought, she grabbed the gin by its wrist
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and sternly told it to leave.
Surprisingly, the gin tried to bite her,
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but after a brief struggle, it
vanished into thin air, leaving behind
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a mix of fear and relief.
A user named Avar five brought forward a
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haunting memory from their own childhood,
this time in Spain. They often conversed
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with an invisible friend by the stairwell
repeatedly mumbling tech tac, tech tac.
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During the night, family members also
noticed that the television would switch on and
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off by itself, and shadows would
mysteriously glide across their balcony. This unknown
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presence became a part of their nightly
routine, blending unnerving fear with childish wonder.
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Another person spoke of how as a
child, they found their usually messy
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home mysteriously tidy each morning. No
one could explain how or who did the
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cleaning. This baffling occurrence, although
helpful, brought a silent terror with it,
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making them wonder what invisible entity took
the liberty to sweep through their home
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at night as they slept. Another
user shared a personal and spooky experience of
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feeling a heavy, unseen presence at
the foot of her bed during the vulnerable
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time of her pregnancy. She heard
a strange voice in her mind instructing her
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to pray. After she prayerfully responded, the overwhelming feeling lifted and the room
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felt peaceful once again. Marium h
three brought up the tale of her aunt
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who heard her husband's laugh coming from
an empty room. When confronted, the
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laughter didn't cease, but grew louder
and stranger, suggesting it wasn't her husband
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at all, but a Gin mimicking
him. Now let's jump to present day,
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and Gin are still causing a stir. There was a show on Netflix
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called Gin, which was all about
these young folks trying to stop one from
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destroying the world. The story was
set in Petra, a place with ruins
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older than time itself. Now,
this show got people pretty riled up,
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but not because of the Gin.
No, it got heat because a girl
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in the show was getting a little
too friendly with a couple of boys.
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You see, it doesn't matter if
centuries have passed, people still have strong
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feelings about Gin and their antics.
People have been blaming them for all the
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weird and unexplainable things that happen around
us for ages, and it seems we
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love to hear about them, maybe
because they're mysterious or scary, or because
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they remind us that the world isn't
always just what we see with our own
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eyes. So now when you hear
about Jin, think about their stories.
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They're woven into our history. They're
a part of what scares us, intrigues
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us, and sometimes even entertains us, and between you and me, it
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doesn't seem like they're going anywhere anytime
soon. They've been around since way back
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when, and they'll probably stick around
for as long as there are people to
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tell their stories. Terrifying and True
is narrated by Enrique Kuta. It's executive
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00:18:47.799 --> 00:18:52.240
produced by Rob Fields, Mark Shields
and Bobotopia dot com. It's produced by
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00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:57.039
Dan Wilder with original music by Ray
Mattis. If you have a story you'd
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like us to cover, send us
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so much, and thank you all
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next time on Terrifying and True on
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