Everyone Assumes the Worst of Devin the Ghost | Your Urban Legends 108
/We dive into three generations of hauntings, from blackbird death omens, the worst Ouija board experience we’ve ever encountered, and a haunted cabin where the ghosts should be paying the utilities. Also, Julia and Amanda plan a road trip.
Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of medical issues, gentrification, death, suicide, global politics, drowning, abusive relationships, cancer, and car accidents.
Housekeeping
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Cast & Crew
- Co-Hosts: Julia Schifini and Amanda McLoughlin
- Editor: Bren Frederick
- Music: Brandon Grugle, based on "Danger Storm" by Kevin MacLeod
- Artwork: Allyson Wakeman
- Multitude: multitude.productions
About Us
Spirits is a boozy podcast about mythology, legends, and folklore. Every episode, co-hosts Julia and Amanda mix a drink and discuss a new story or character from a wide range of places, eras, and cultures. Learn brand-new stories and enjoy retellings of your favorite myths, served over ice every week, on Spirits.
Transcript
[theme]
AMANDA: Welcome to Spirits Podcast, a boozy dive into mythology, legends and folklore. Every week, we pour a drink and learn about a new story from around the world. I'm Amanda.
JULIA: And I'm Julia. And Amanda, it's another Hometown Urban Legends episode.
AMANDA: Hooray!
JULIA: Huzzah. I am excited. I'm like in a certain mood right now, Amanda.
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: Because at the time of recording this, yesterday was, like, the first day where I could, like, sit outside and read a book comfortably. Like, not worry about a little—
AMANDA: Well, Julia, it's your charging port.
JULIA: I know.
AMANDA: It's what you need.
JULIA: Sometimes I'm like, "Okay, the weather is nice, the sun is out, but it's, like, a little too windy where I am, or a little too breezy. I want to wear a sweatshirt. I want to, like, have my guns out, and I want to read a book." You know?
AMANDA: Your guns, your gams, and your glasses out.
JULIA: Uh-hmm. Exactly. So— or, actually, because I read a lot of my books on my Libby app on my phone.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: I can't use my sunglasses because they're too polarized.
AMANDA: Aw.
JULIA: And if I, like, angle my phone the wrong way, I can't read. So I do break out my cool dad hats.
AMANDA: Yay. Oh, that's so cute. But you were finally able to go outside on, like, an optimal weather day?
JULIA: It was perfect. I only got a little bit sunburned.
AMANDA: Oh.
JULIA: And it was only because I only covered my tattoos with sunscreen and nowhere else.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm. Classic.
JULIA: The dream.
AMANDA: I had some blood tests done, and my doctor was like, "I need to get on a call to talk this through with you, because it's complicated."
JULIA: Oh.
AMANDA: And I was like, "Uh-oh."
JULIA: That's [1:51]
AMANDA: And so I had a weekend stressing about that. But then when we got on the call, she's like, "Yeah, your Vitamin D is pretty low, but, like, you're also pale, so that's to be expected." And, like, moved on to the, like, way that my body specifically uptakes B12, which was the real issue and, like, it's fine, but I just need to take B12. I was like, "Dania, [2:10] this was a lot. This was a lot. And the fact that you started with, "Well, obviously, you're so pale. You don't get enough sun. Take vitamin D.'" I was like, "Okay."
JULIA: I mean, like, I am not as pale as you, Amanda. I think, naturally, askew pale, but also, once I am outside, I get a lot of color. But I also take Vitamin D, because my doctor said, "Girl, you're inside too much." I said, "I agree, Dr. Lowy, [2:31]I am inside too much."
AMANDA: Well, do you know what else is inside waiting for us, Julia, besides our Vitamin D supplements?
JULIA: Some incredible Urban Legends sent in by our listeners?
AMANDA: I was gonna say ghosts, but you got there even better.
JULIA: Oh, yes.
AMANDA: Yes, indeed. Would you like me to start with one from Gigi, she/her?
JULIA: I would. I also wanna point out, hey, the ghosts, they could be inside. They could be outside.
AMANDA: They could. You're right.
JULIA: Wherever the ghosts are, they'd be ghosting.
AMANDA: Ooh, I wonder— I feel like it'd be really cool to have a ghost of, like, a— we call it in the northeast, like a three-season room or, like—
JULIA: Hmm.
AMANDA: —a screened-in porch. Like, it's not totally insulated. Maybe a sun room, if you're in the UK or Australia. I think that would be a cool place to be a ghost, because you got, like, outside stuff. You got some inside stuff. You could, like, move back and forth.
JULIA: You know what, Amanda? I'll up that and say a solarium is a great place to be a ghost, because you're probably like a cool Victorian ghost.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: And also, something about the solarium is very beautiful to me.
AMANDA: Very beautiful. I mean, if I had my druthers, Julia, I would be a ghost of a Victorian orangery—
JULIA: Oh.
AMANDA: —AKA, a greenhouse just for oranges.
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: Because they're so horny for citrus over there in the UK.
JULIA: They need it because of the scurvy.
AMANDA: They do, they do.
JULIA: Everyone just out there dying of scurvy.
AMANDA: So, Julia, this is an email from Gigi, she/her. It is titled—
JULIA: You said, "Okay, enough of that joke."
AMANDA: [3:51] good stuff. Just want to keep it brisk. You know what I mean?
JULIA: Uh-huh.
AMANDA: Gigi says, "Hi, Amanda and Julia, this story has two parts. First, my university has an unfortunate history of gentrification."
JULIA: Hmm.
AMANDA: So relatable, Gigi. "It started off as a two-year college, but once it converted to a four-year university, new buildings were added and a lot of people's houses were bought to make room for that school." Probably eminent domain stuff, probably people didn't want to move.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: And yet, here we are.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: "Side note, in the middle of campus is one person's house because they were stubborn and refused to sell."
JULIA: We love a spite house. We love it.
AMANDA: "I don't know who lives there, but they have a lot of signs now in their yard about how their yard is not school property."
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: "But I digress. The weirdest building situation involves, of course, the school's theatre department. Instead of building an entirely new space, they converted part of an old high school into theatre classrooms and the blackbox."
JULIA: Okay.
AMANDA: Intense.
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: "Here's where we meet our urban legend. Back when the building was just a high school, a student died. In some versions, this was an accident that took their life tragically. In some, she took her own life. And, of course, she was a theatre kid. I think her name was Hillary, and she was said to haunt the blackbox theatre."
JULIA: Hmm.
AMANDA: "There was a superstition spread from upperclassmen to new freshmen, that the first person who entered and the last person leaving the theatre had to greet Hillary or she would cause mischief."
JULIA: That's a classic theatre one. I feel like we've seen that in multiple theatre superstitions before.
AMANDA: We have, and it's just polite.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: Just say hi to the ghosts. "I never saw her, but that's likely because I was typically on stage, not behind the scenes, and thus rarely left last."
JULIA: Uh-hmm. Oh, those actors, they don't get to experience the hauntings.
AMANDA: Oh, my God. Yeah, no, my 5:00 PM call time. Yeah, nice. I've been here since 1:00.
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: "One time, we did explore some of the unconverted parts of the old high school, but that's another story." And Gigi, one we'd love to hear.
JULIA: Teasing us, Gigi. Come on. Come on.
AMANDA: A short part two, "I now work at a high school down the street from my university."
JULIA: Oh.
AMANDA: "I don't think the school's haunted, but the wind has opened or closed my door a few times."
JULIA: Okay.
AMANDA: "And one of my more active classes is convinced that this is a ghost."
JULIA: Okay.
AMANDA: "I've started telling them that the ghost dislikes their behavior and they should stop making it upset. My results have been mixed, to be honest."
JULIA: Uh-hmm. Well, hey, listen, it's better than absolutely UNO reversing your decisions, you know?
AMANDA: Totally. And that brings me, Julia, finally, to the subject line of the email, which we typically start with, but this one, I just thought ended so beautifully.
JULIA: Oh.
AMANDA: And the subject line that Gigi went with was, Will a school theatre ghost work for classroom management?
JULIA: Oh, interesting.
AMANDA: TBD.
JULIA: What about for extra credit?
AMANDA: Ooh, that's really good. It'd be like, "Hey, guys, if you behave even nicer and make sure that the ghost doesn't slam our door, I'll give you some extra credit."
JULIA: Or I'll give the ghost extra credit if it scares the children into submission.
AMANDA: Huge. I didn't consider grading the ghost.
JULIA: Have you considered grading the ghost? Have you considered a sticker situation—
AMANDA: Chore chart.
JULIA: —for the ghost? Yes. Like, that sort of thing, where it's a rewards and, whatever, demerits.
AMANDA: Interesting. Then, do you think you could incentivize good behavior instead of just disincentivizing disruptive behavior? Like, sometimes there is, like a, you know, a habit tracker where, every day I floss, I give myself a star, or if you don't smoke or drink on a given day, you can give yourself a star. Do we tell the ghost to curb their disruptive behaviors, or do we say, "Hey, ghost, make Ben's life over there hard. Ben fucking sucks"?
JULIA: It's a real catch-22 of, do we use the ghost for good or evil?
AMANDA: It depends on the ghost.
JULIA: I'm worried about, like, corrupting a potentially good spirit—
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: —by asking it to do shenanigans and mischief, and then what happens? Then it becomes demonic or something? That would be terrible.
AMANDA: See, I'm thinking, am I inviting trouble by trying to get the ghost to act against its nature?
JULIA: Hmm.
AMANDA: Because if it's like a disruptive kind of, you know, let's say, like prankster, you know, cheeky ghost.
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: And I'm like, "Stop pushing over my pencil cup."
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: Will it then push over, like, the computer? You know, like, am I just redirecting in a way that's worse than before?
JULIA: Yes. Well, that brings up the question then of, like, does politeness work on ghosts? And the answer is, usually, yeah.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: Unless it's a particularly malevolent spirit, in which case you need to be firm with it—
AMANDA: You do.
JULIA: —and say, "None of that anymore."
AMANDA: Uh-hmm. Like a dog, just firm, firm, but loving, and say, "That's not what we do."
JULIA: Well, we have to figure out what kind of ghost is in that classroom, and then we can make our best decision from there, I think.
AMANDA: We're gonna need a follow-up, Gigi. Not just about the exploration of the unconverted old high school, but also some more details on this classroom ghost, because I think there's really something here, and we can work on it together.
JULIA: It's very possible. Okay. Amanda, I have quite a long story. I think we might split it up into two parts, maybe before our refill and after our refill.
AMANDA: I love a long story.
JULIA: This comes from Taylor, she/her, who writes, "Three women, six stories of paranormal run-ins, one hopefully fun email for Amanda and Julia."
AMANDA: Doing the Lord's work. Thank you so much.
JULIA: Taylor writes, "Hey there, Spirits ladies. My name is Taylor, she/her, and I'm writing to you from Ontario, Canada. I found your podcast right before the pandemic, and have been an avid listener ever since. Your spooky stories, along with your beautiful perspectives and literary takes on life and mythology, have truly helped keep me sane through both COVID and grad school. I'm currently working on my PhD in Kinesiology."
AMANDA: Oh, my God. You know, whenever I hear that word, Julia, I've never actually said it out loud, but I think about, like, one of the earliest movies, which is of a horse running. Do you know what I mean?
JULIA: Yes.
AMANDA: Because it's like— I think it's the study of kinetics and a movement, but, like, not of horses, I mean, of people. But I'm just, like— my brain just immediately flashes me the image of, like, a horse and a stable when I hear kinesiology.
JULIA: That's fair. Yeah, it's the study of the human body in movement, so—
AMANDA: Wild. Thank you.
JULIA: I don't know what one does with that, necessarily. Maybe, like, goes into, like, some sort of physiology or what have you, but I'm curious to see.
AMANDA: My to be sister-in-law just got a PhD in physical therapy, which I think has similar courses of study.
JULIA: Probably similar vibes.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: Incredible. Okay. Well, she continues, "Although I live in Ontario now, I am originally from the East Coast of Canada, specifically New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island."
AMANDA: PEI.
JULIA: "And let me tell you, it is the spookiest region of the country."
AMANDA: Let's go. Let's go.
JULIA: I want to hear Canadians maybe refute this—
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: —and say, "Actually, it's—" insert portion of Canada here, but I love the straight out the box statement, Prince Edward Island, spookiest place in Canada.
AMANDA: Well, Julia, because we are avid watchers of Top Chef: Destination Canada—
JULIA: Uh-huh.
AMANDA: —You and I both know about the Prince Edward Island mussels—
JULIA: I do.
AMANDA: —shellfish. But, you know, from there, I think that just in this era of, like, serious tension between the US and Canada, which, by the way, US is wrong, just in case anyone's worried about that.
JULIA: We don't— we're not supportive here of the 51st state.
AMANDA: We don't— no, we don't like that. But I think that in return, I should just be really supportive of inter Canadian drama. Do you know what I mean? Like—
JULIA: Yes.
AMANDA: —they have their own problems. They're doing their own thing. I'm here for them. We certainly have our own and they're not fun. And so I feel like I'm kind of voyeuristically, like, looking at someone else's relationship, to be like, "Tell me about your drama."
JULIA: I want to say, we do support a 51st state, and it's DC, the District of Columbia.
AMANDA: It sure is.
JULIA: It's the only 51st state we should have.
AMANDA: And freedom, or full states' rights for Puerto Rico. That's also where I'm at.
JULIA: And probably, you know, Hawaii leaving the United States, but that's a different thing for a different time.
AMANDA: Probably a lot happening, yeah.
JULIA: Uh-hmm. So she continues, "Between the brutal logging and farming industries and the ruthless, unforgiving sea, which I know you know quite well, the East Coast, though warm and welcoming, has a certain supernatural energy that seeps into your very soul."
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: "The eerie charge of the place has given rise to many ghost stories. I actually collect books of East Coast ghost tales, and would be more than happy to share some of my favorites in another email." Yes, please.
AMANDA: I would love that. And it's just now occurring to me, Julia, that PEI might be the Ireland of Canada.
JULIA: Oh, Amanda, you might be right.
AMANDA: It's up there in the Atlantic, so cold. What are those winds doing? And we might have some similar, like, island spookiness with the sea figuring it out. This is my hypothesis. We're gonna test it.
JULIA: Drowning,
AMANDA: Many drownings, I'm sure.
JULIA: "For today's message, I'd love to share several stories connected to the three living generations of very intuitive women in my family. I've broken the six stories into three chapters, one per generation. They're mostly unrelated, aside from the people involved, so feel free to space them out, however works best for the show. I hope you enjoy, and I can't wait to share more."
AMANDA: Yay. Oh, Taylor, this is great.
JULIA: "Chapter 1, The Blackbirds and the Rogue Angel. The Blackbirds. My grandmother on my mother's side, lovingly nicknamed Nanny or Nan for short, is a barely-Canadian-born Scottish woman."
AMANDA: There we go.
JULIA: "Her parents and older siblings immigrated to Canada in the 1930s right before she was born. She's a total badass who left her abusive husband and raised three kids on her own at a time when society frowned on women for severing marriages or stepping into, quote, 'non-traditional' roles like being the sole provider."
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: "Maybe it was her Scottish upbringing. Maybe it was facing down a world that told her she was wrong for doing what she had to do to protect her children. Whatever it was, Nan has always been at ease with death, the supernatural, and the next life. She's also loaded with old Scottish superstitions."
AMANDA: Incredible.
JULIA: "One of those superstitions came out one chilly fall Saturday when she was coming over for supper. In our family home at the time, we had a large fireplace that we use daily to heat every corner of the house. It was especially crucial during those intense East Coast winters. That morning, a blackbird flew down our chimney and started tapping on the glass pane of the fireplace. With dad at work, mom called my grandfather on my father's side to come help get it out. That evening, my mom was telling Nan about it, when Nan suddenly paled. 'Cathy,' she said, 'that's not good. When blackbirds enter your house, it's a sign of death.'"
AMANDA: Oh, no.
JULIA: "My mom shook it off and told her not to be silly. Then, in that same winter, maybe five or six weeks later, another blackbird came down the unlit chimney. We got it out again, and this time, we screened off the chimney to stop anything else from getting in."
AMANDA: Fool me once, yep.
JULIA: "When Nan heard, she said, 'Cathy, this is really not good. That's two deaths.'"
AMANDA: Oh, no.
JULIA: "A month later, in February, my grandmother on my father's side was diagnosed with stage four cancer and passed away within the same month."
AMANDA: Oh, God.
JULIA: "It was sudden and heartbreaking. We never had any prior concerns for her health. She was only in her mid-60s, and had always seemed so strong."
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: "Not long after that, maybe seven months later, my grandfather, on the same side of the family, whose health had been declining rapidly since her death, had a sudden crisis and passed away as well."
AMANDA: Wow.
JULIA: "Now, my mom hadn't really thought about the blackbirds or her mother's warnings, at least, not until we were in the car a couple of years ago, chatting about how all three generations of women in our family are, quote-unquote, 'a little spooky.' Her face shifted, this look of awe, as she told the story. And she said, 'You know, that was a really spooky coincidence."
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: I don't know it was a spooky coincidence, so much as your mom was very right.
AMANDA: Damn. That's crazy.
JULIA: The second story of Chapter 1, The Rogue Angel. "Years after the blackbird incident, about 10 years ago, Nan was living in a condo just a couple of streets away from us. We had a holiday tradition of going over to help her put up and decorate her Christmas tree each year. At the top of the tree, she always placed this angel, an old, weathered thing that lit up when you plugged it in. A little beat up, but it had charm, and it had been part of our Christmases for as long as I could remember. That year, we helped her decorate, plugged in the angel, the cord hung a little slack from the tree, which is an important detail for what happens next."
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: "And after a while, we headed home. The next morning, Nan called my mom, 'Cathy—" I love that it always starts with, "Cathy."
AMANDA: Ring, ring. "Cathy, I have a problem."
JULIA: "Cathy, did you put my angel on the tree backwards?" My mom laughed. "What? No, we put it on the right way. Why?" "Well," Nan said, "it's turned around. It's facing the wall."
AMANDA: No.
JULIA: "Now—"
AMANDA: No.
JULIA: "—to be fair, my family does love a good prank."
AMANDA: No.
JULIA: "So it wasn't a totally unreasonable question, but my mom swore she hadn't touched it."
AMANDA: Oh, that's so scary. I don't know why this specifically, why, like, a thing, like, being turned around on the shelf and, like, moving of its own— maybe it's because it's like the angels pretending that nothing happened, and it's just like— it's fucking gaslighting me, like it's turning around and then being like, "What? I'm just an angel. I can't move." And it's like, "Yes, you can. You did."
JULIA: It's also— the fact that it's turned around and probably facing a corner is very Blair Witch, and I hate that, too.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: It's like a cat.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: And at least cats, we know are connected to the external plane.
JULIA: Exactly. Exactly. This angel, who fucking knows? "Nan sighed, and my mom said, 'Well, just turn it around.'"
AMANDA: I imagine your mom, like, working on a laptop and, like, cooking dinner with one hand and being like, "Man, I don't have time for this." And then Nan's like, "Cathy." And she's like, "Goodbye."
JULIA: "Cathy." Every time, "Cathy." "So Nan turned the angel back the right way and went on with her day. Later that night, she came out of her bedroom, which was in the very back of the condo, opposite the living room where the tree was, and found the angel facing the wall again."
AMANDA: Absolutely fucking not.
JULIA: "So she called my mom a second time. 'The angel's backwards again. I already fixed it once,' she said. Now, mom was starting to wonder if Nan was the one who was pulling a prank. She drove over to the condo to help. The two of them looked at the angel together, confirmed it was facing the right direction, and that was that. Now, my Nan has some physical health challenges, so climbing up on a step stool twice in one day would have been pretty taxing. At this point, no one else really believed her. Everyone except my mom and me figured Nan was playing tricks. But my mom, being the spiritually connected woman she is, called up our family's naturopathic nutritionist."
AMANDA: Cool.
JULIA: "This woman was not just a close family friend. She also was very energetically inclined. My mom asked if she could do an energetic check on the condo and explain what had happened with the angel. Sure enough, her friend Heather—" I love that we're just like, "This is Heather. She's the naturopathic nutritionist. We love her."
AMANDA: "Everyone's naturopath, Heather. Yep, we know."
JULIA: "Friend Heather said the place had several lost souls hanging around, and she went ahead and energetically cleaned the space. After that—"
AMANDA: I know this is not what happened, Julia, but I'm really picturing me being like, "Hey, Heather, how can I incorporate more fiber into my diet?" And Heather being like, "You have a lot of lost souls in the space right now."
JULIA: "And that's why you need to eat more bananas."
AMANDA: "Whatever you say, Heather. Great. Hemp seeds. Okay."
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: "Okay, sure."
JULIA: Love it. "Heather, you're right. And thank you. And here's a $100."
AMANDA: Uh-hm.
JULIA: "So after that, after the condo was cleared, the angel stopped turning around. It never happened again. Why was it happening in the first place? No one really knows. But the condo that Nan lives in, it's the same one my grandparents, on my father's side of the family, lived in before they passed. Maybe it was one of them wishing her a merry Christmas or maybe just a hitchhiking spirit playing holiday pranks. Either way, it was a really weird December."
AMANDA: Oh, my God. And wait, how did the cord come into this? Because I thought the cord, like a cat, might have snagged it or something.
JULIA: Right. What I think Taylor was saying, was basically it wasn't that the cord was tight and so it, like, slowly turned the angel around or anything.
AMANDA: Got it.
JULIA: It was slack, so there was nothing really pulling on the angel.
AMANDA: Oh, my God. Even creepier.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: Maybe it's a doctor who hold over, but I don't fuck with angels moving—
JULIA: I don't trust those angels.
AMANDA: —yep, and looking away from me. Uh-uh.
JULIA: Uh-uh. Not a fan.
AMANDA: Uh-huh.
JULIA: Not a fan. Don't like it.
AMANDA: Julia, I'm, like, parched for more of Taylor stories, but I think first I might need a quick refill. Does that work for you?
JULIA: Let's do it.
[theme]
AMANDA: Hey, everybody, it's Amanda. And welcome to the refill, where I want to extend a special welcome to our newest paid patron, Christine. Now, of course, anybody can sign up for the Patreon at patreon.com/spiritspodcast, just to stay informed as to what we're doing, new merch we make, like our beautiful Old Wives' Tale Teller black corduroy hat. Selling like hotcakes, y'all, at spiritspodcast.com/merch. But, anyway, I wanted to especially thank the folks who pay us some money every month to help make this our jobs. Thank you, Christine. And thank you to supporting producers, Uhleeseeuh, Anne, Hannah, Jane, Lily, Matthew, Rikoelike, Scott, Wil and AE (Ah), as well as the legend-level patrons, Audra, Bex, Chibi Yokai, Michael, Morgan H., Captain Jonathan MAL-uh-kye Cosmos, Sarah, and Bea Me Up Scotty. All of you, all of you listening right now, could have your name read every single episode of the podcast if you wanted to be a supporting producer or legend-level patron, and you can join at patreon.com/spiritspodcast. Now, there is always a ton going on over at Multitude, and this week, I would love if you check out Join the Party, an actual play podcast with tangible worlds, genre-pushing storytelling, and collaborators, like me and Julia, who make each other laugh every dang week. Every week, our GM, Eric, and players, me, Brandon, and Julia welcome everyone to the table, from folks who are long time role-playing game players, to people who are kind of like, "Oh, that sounds kind of fun. I know someone who plays DND or Masks or something like that, or Monster Hearts, but, like, I don't really get it." Hey, we can help you get it. We can help you see why exactly it's something that is taking the world by storm. Right now, we are playing superhero teens in a superhero high school through the game, Masks, which is incredibly fun. We're only seven episodes in, so if you have not checked it out and you want to, now's a great time. Come on over. Listen to Join the Party in your podcast app or go to jointhepartypod.com. If you are a parent, you get it, time is precious and it is hard to research and think about, not to mention buy and restock all of the products you use in your home and around your family. So I want you to know about Blueland, which is a cleaning company that I really admire. I buy their products, I like them a lot, and their whole mission is to eliminate single-use plastic by reinventing cleaning essentials to be better for you and for the planet. I really love that you can just, one time, buy a set of beautiful cleaning bottles, and then they sell you tablets that you mix with water, because who needs to be picking up, buying, schlepping up the stairs, getting delivered, something that is like 95% water anyway, to your home? And you can just refill your all-purpose cleaner, your glass cleaner, your bathroom cleaner, whatever it is, right there with a plastic-free shipment and packaging, which I absolutely love. Bueland products are effective and affordable with refill tablets starting at just 2.25. And if you want to, you could buy refills in bulk or set up a subscription, but you also don't have to. Their products are independently tested to perform alongside major brands and are free from dyes, bleach, and harsh chemicals. So if you are a busy parent, trying to save some time, if, like me, you don't love getting things shipped to you and try to avoid it when you can, check out Blueland. I love their sense, I love how easy it is, and I love getting those refillable packets in their beautiful cardboard, plastic-free packaging. Blueland also has a special offer for our listeners right now. You can get 15% off your first order by going to blueland.com/spirits. You don't want to miss this, blueland.com/spirits for 15% off. That's blueland.com/spirits to get 15% off.
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JULIA: Amanda, we are back, and normally, I would ask you, hey, Amanda, what are you drinking lately? I have to tell you about this cocktail that I made, Jake and me.
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: So I am getting really into, like, milk punches, washing cocktails, and then batching them. I bought myself a whole system of things that I've been using lately. I made a clarified Blue Hawaiian that I had you enjoy when you were last at my house.
AMANDA: It was so good.
JULIA: And I made for Jake, because one of his favorite things— and we don't often get it, because there's not a lot of, like, Thai places around us, but Jake loves a Thai iced tea.
AMANDA: Cool.
JULIA: Like, loves a Thai iced tea. So I made a Thai iced tea milk punch.
AMANDA: Yo.
JULIA: Where I infused white rum with Thai iced tea mix as well as cardamom, star anise, and cloves. And then I made —
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: —this sort of Jasmine rice, coconut milk, ginger, cinnamon syrup.
AMANDA: Damn.
JULIA: And then I washed the cocktail in a sweetened condensed milk.
AMANDA: Wow.
JULIA: And then strained that all out, clarified it, and it tastes insanely good.
AMANDA: That's so many steps, and I'm sure—
JULIA: It is.
AMANDA: —you really taste each of them, you know?
JULIA: Yes. And you batch it, because, obviously, like, if I was doing that for a three-ounce cocktail, that would be a lot of work. But I made, like, a eight batch, basically. And, my God, it's good.
AMANDA: That's so good. As you know, Julia, this is gonna be my hot herb summer. I'm growing a lot of herbs, and I'm gonna challenge myself to use herbs in ways I've never herbed before. And I am very excited to have, like, a crap load of basil or whatever, and be like, "Julia, what do we do?"
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: There's— obviously, there's always a simple syrup we can do, but I want to do some weird shit with these herbs. I'm excited.
JULIA: Yeah, dude. Let's puree some stuff. Let's do some coconut washes on some things. We're gonna have—
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: —a hot cocktail summer. What about you, Amanda? What have you been drinking lately, cocktails, mocktails, what have you? What's up?
AMANDA: Well, Julia, you know I'm an aficionado of the beer shot combo.
JULIA: Of course.
AMANDA: I am now at the coveted status of my local dive bar, where they'll pour me any beer for a beer shot combo.
JULIA: Incredible.
AMANDA: Instead of the Miller High Life that comes on draft, which is, again, outstanding. No notes. So recently, I had a nice— the Montauk watermelon sour.
JULIA: Yes.
AMANDA: Which remains one of my absolute favorites. I paired that with a shot of tequila. And I wasn't sure early on. I was like, "Let me get a beer, and then I'll see if I feel like having a shot later."
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: And then, again, because I'm go there all the time, the bartender is like, "Sure, whatever." So I get the beer, about five minutes later, I'm like, "You know what? I think I'm— I think I'll take the shot." And then I said to my friend Rick, [27:41] who's bartending, I said, "Rick, I'm a bingo this Bango." And he said, "You got it," and knew what that meant.
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: And so I just felt like I really took a swing and it connected. And that felt great. So the beer was good, but more saying like—
JULIA: The bingo this Bango.
AMANDA: I'm gonna bingo this Bango, because we call it the Bingo Bango.
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: I'm just still riding that high, frankly, and it's been five days.
JULIA: I love that for you. Personally—
AMANDA: Thank you.
JULIA: —I love that for you. Also, Jake's band didn't get sponsored by Miller High Life, but Miller High Life sent them swag. And now, I have a shirt that is a men's medium, so it goes about down to my knees.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: But it is like a very, I think, exclusive design Miller High Life shirt that I will have to show you at some point. But—
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: —bro, very cool.
AMANDA: I'm feeling crop top for you out of this.
JULIA: Hmm. I'm honestly feeling like—
AMANDA: Like oversized, yeah.
JULIA: —a little bike shorts underneath, and I could just wear—
AMANDA: Uh-huh.
JULIA: —it as a dress.
AMANDA: Hell yeah, dude.
JULIA: Pretty cool, pretty sexy. Not gonna lie. Beach cover-up. Loving it.
AMANDA: A plus.
JULIA: All right, Amanda, let's continue with Taylor's emails. This is Chapter Two, Millie's Warning and Propane for the Paranormal.
AMANDA: Oh.
JULIA: "Millie's Warning. These next two stories are all about my mom. Back in my early teen years, I was at that magical age where there was only one thing on my mind. You might be thinking, boys, but no. True to my Wednesday Adam's core, it was the supernatural."
AMANDA: Yay.
JULIA: "My girlfriends and I grew up during the Golden Age of Bloody Mary, step on a crack and break your mother's back, and the ever terrifying myth of razor blades in Halloween candy."
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: "Basically, if there was even a hint of spooky, we were there."
AMANDA: Taylor, if you don't listen to American Hysteria, I have great news for you, and you must.
JULIA: "One night during high school, my best friend Emily was over, and she was telling me all about her newly acquired Ouija board."
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: "My mom, who was nearby, overheard us and immediately said, 'Don't you dare play with that, Taylor.'"
AMANDA: Wow.
JULIA: "Naturally, we asked her why, and that's when she told us this story." And this is in quotes directly from the mom now, by the way.
AMANDA: Oh, my God. I'm gonna picture this starting with, "Cathy, please," even though it was, "Taylor, don't."
JULIA: "Taylor, don't." "Why, Cathy?" Here we go. "I started university in 1986. One night in early '87, a bunch of us girls were hanging out in the dorm's TV lounge, bored and looking for something to do. My roommate said that she had a Ouija board and suggested we try it. So six of us went back to our room. My roommate was very religious. Her space was filled with crucifixes, rosaries, crosses, you name it. We turned out the lights, lit a bunch of candles because, of course, and set up the board. We placed the planchette in the center, stared at each other, trying to figure out what to do next. Eventually, we decided to follow the instructions on the box. At first, we just asked yes or no questions, and to our shock, the planchette started moving. It completely freaked us out. We hadn't expected anything to happen. We started asking more complex questions that required the board to spell out things. Weirdly enough, when I asked the questions, the planchette moved faster, more confidently than it did for the others."
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: "So I kept going. Here's what happened. 'Is my mom okay?' 'No.' 'Is she in danger?' 'Yes.' 'Is she going to be in an accident?' 'Yes.' 'Tomorrow?' 'Yes.' 'On the way to work?' 'Yes.' 'Can I stop it?' 'Yes.' 'Can it be avoided if she takes a different route?' 'Yes.' 'Who are you?' 'Millie.'"
AMANDA: Millie?
JULIA: Millie, M-I-L-L-I-E.
AMANDA: That's a full name.
JULIA: And a double letter, too. So it went to the L, and then it came back around to the L.
AMANDA: Oh, baby. In sign language, we slide that letter. And so I like to imagine the planchette doing the same thing.
JULIA: "We asked a few more questions, some silly, some serious. But then something changed. I asked another question, and the planchette started jerking around the board in this strange, twitchy way. It didn't feel like Millie anymore. So I asked, 'Is this still Millie?' The board said, 'No.' 'Who are you?' 'D-E-V-I—' and that was it. That was more than enough for us. My roommate flipped the board over, saying that it would break the connection." That's not how that works. "We blew out the candles, we boxed up the board, and got the hell out of that room."
AMANDA: All right. Best-case scenario, this is a poor ghost named Devin who never gets to the end of his name, because everybody comes in and says, "Uh-uh. I'm out of here."
JULIA: So at this point, the quotations from Cathy have now stopped, and we're back to Taylor narrating for us. "After telling us this, my mom said she immediately called my Nan and told her to take a different route to work the next day. Nan, of course, asked why, and when my mom said that she had been playing with the Ouija board, Nan was not impressed. But my mom insisted, pleaded, until Nan finally agreed to take a different route, and that was it. Nothing happened. All seemed fine. But a few weeks later, my mom's Uncle Blair offered to take Nan's car to his shop for some maintenance. On the way over, the car veered off the road and into a field. He was seriously injured, but he survived."
AMANDA: Oh, my God.
JULIA: "My mom still says the moment the board spelled out D-E-V-I is one of the most terrifying moments of her life. And in case you're wondering, who was Millie? Millie was Big Mum's best friend. Big Mum was my mom's grandmother on her father's side, who took in Nan and the kids when Nan left her husband."
AMANDA: Aw.
JULIA: "Millie used to come over for tea all the time, and she recently passed away at the time of the seance."
AMANDA: What incredible family support. I can't get over that. That's so cool of Big Mum to do. And, like, truly—
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: —girl’s girl has been keeping it down forever. So good. Secondly, Julia, I was wrong. It could also be Devinder. It could be this poor—
JULIA: Oh.
AMANDA: A poor ghost named Devinder who's like, "We're not even halfway, folks." And I— let's just— you should go by Dev. That's just gonna be my suggestion to you.
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: Thirdly, that's crazy.
JULIA: "Here's the spooky part," Amanda, and that's what Taylor says in the next part.
AMANDA: The spooky part? Julia, the whole show's the spooky part.
JULIA: "Here's the spooky part, my mom barely knew her roommate. She definitely didn't know the other five girls, so none of them could have possibly known who Millie was. It really does feel like some kind of divine intervention helped keep my grandmother safe from a potentially fatal accident. It's comforting to know that we have spirit guides watching over us, though it's less comforting to know that something far darker might have been hovering nearby. So thanks to that night and the strange energy that seems to run through our family, I've never been allowed to play with a Ouija board. And honestly? I'm good with that."
AMANDA: Smart.
JULIA: "Propane for the paranormal."
AMANDA: I felt my heart's racing. That doesn't always happen during the Urban Legends Episodes.
JULIA: I know, right? I love when we get chills already, like really gets us going.
AMANDA: No, my palms, like they are sweating.
JULIA: Sweaty?
AMANDA: Oh, yeah.
JULIA: "Alma, New Brunswick, is a village so small you might miss it if you blink, but don't. Today, only about 244 people live there year round, but each summer, nearly 100,000 visitors arrive to soak in its beauty."
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: "It is the gateway to Fundy National Park, famous for its rugged coastline and the world's highest tides. Fun fact, Alma was once in the running to be named one of the new Seven Wonders of the World."
AMANDA: Wow.
JULIA: "200 years ago, Alma was a thriving hub for fishing, hunting, and logging, industries that, while booming, were also perilous. That dark, dangerous history left a mark, and today, Alma is known to be spiritually loud."
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: "For mediums and intuitives, it can be a tough place to visit. The sheer number of lingering souls is overwhelming. A few years back, my parents bought a cottage in Alma, my mom's lifelong dream." Cathy, the more I find out about you, the more fascinated I am. I love you, Cathy.
AMANDA: Julia, this is my dream for us. Are you ready?
JULIA: Yes.
AMANDA: I want us to take Cathy—
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: —Ma Winchester—
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: —and Mother Goose—
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: —to lunch.
JULIA: Yes.
AMANDA: I want that lunch—
JULIA: That would be a fascinating lunch.
AMANDA: I want that lunch to have, like, six bottles of wine, minimum.
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: And at least three hours long.
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: And obviously, there are kids also.
JULIA: Yeah. Obviously.
AMANDA: But I just want to shut up and listen for at least half a day.
JULIA: If we can get Nan also.
AMANDA: Nan will be great. Oh, my God, Nan, of course, is welcome. We can go to her condo, bring takeout. It'd be great.
JULIA: That's brilliant. "So a few years back, my parents bought a cottage in Alma, my mom's lifelong dream. She'd spent decades hiking and camping in Fundy, first with my dad and then with me and my brother, and finally, on her own when we were grown. The cottage had been originally built inside the park before the land was seized to become part of that protected area." That's wild.
AMANDA: Oh. Wow.
JULIA: "At some point, the entire building was picked up and moved down the steep hill to sit just across the river from the park's entrance."
AMANDA: Wow.
JULIA: "It had clearly seen generations of residents. We even found a newspaper in the walls during renovations dated 1884."
AMANDA: That's nuts.
JULIA: That's wild.
AMANDA: Wow.
JULIA: That's wild. "While renovating, mom and dad would drive from the city on weekends. When dad couldn't make it, mom would go alone to meet with contractors and finish projects. Driving in and out of Alma at night is no joke. The roads twist and wind, and the forest are full of moose, bears, cougars, and wolves."
AMANDA: Oh, I mean, those are all the predators.
JULIA: "So after long days, mom would often stay overnight. That's when the spirits started making themselves known."
AMANDA: Uh-hmm. Just one of the things being uncovered during the renovation, you know?
JULIA: Yeah. You know, the newspapers, maybe some like old bones you found in the backyard, and, of course, the spirits.
AMANDA: Some bottles. Uh-hmm.
JULIA: Uh-hmm. "Now, my mother is not easily spooked. She doesn't ignore weird energy. She just confronts it head-on, always asking the spirits to be kind and respectful. On the nights she stayed alone in the cottage, she'd hear pots and pans clanging, chairs dragging, cupboards opening and closing. And for reference, the bedrooms are upstairs and everything else is downstairs."
AMANDA: Wow.
JULIA: "One January evening, things got especially rowdy. It sounded like a full-blown kitchen party, quintessential East Coast ghost behavior. So my mom, former bartender, firm but fair, stood on the top of the stairs of the cottage and said in her best command voice, 'That's enough. That's enough. Go to bed. I need to go to bed.'"
AMANDA: Great.
JULIA: "And just like that, it all stopped."
AMANDA: Cathy.
JULIA: "She said it felt exactly like those movie scenes when parents walk into a party and the music cuts out, total silence."
AMANDA: Oh, my God.
JULIA: "Eventually, the cottage became an Airbnb. Since winters are quiet in Alma and driving the icy roads is risky, mom hired a local woman to help clean and check in on the place."
AMANDA: Of course.
JULIA: Now, I want to rent this Airbnb, Amanda.
AMANDA: Now, I really want to rent this Airbnb.
JULIA: Hmm [39:34]
AMANDA: Cathy, we'll pay market rate.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: Like, we don't need a friends and family discount, but like Julia—
JULIA: It could be nice.
AMANDA: —I would go record something in situ in Alma.
JULIA: "One day, not long into her new role, the cleaner called my mom and asked, 'Just a question, does your cottage have ghosts?' Mom burst out laughing, 'Absolutely.'"
AMANDA: Wow.
JULIA: "That day, the propane fireplace and TV had both turned themselves on, and the cottage was roasting hot. The cleaner, an Alma local, well-accustomed to supernatural activity, said, 'I've heard they like electronics. It's toasty in here.'"
AMANDA: Wow. Not phased.
JULIA: "Now, this didn't just happen once that first winter, the tank of propane that should have lasted a year or more, ran out in three months."
AMANDA: Uh-oh.
JULIA: "When mom called the supplier to order a refill, the woman on the other end was baffled. 'You never replaced a tank this quickly before. What's going on?' 'The ghost,' my mom replied simply."
AMANDA: I mean, Julia, if I was a logging ghost, I would also be so fucking excited for electricity. Like, imagine, you're— imagine the, you know, the most, like bro-y, like firefighter or trucker, or some like— imagine just like working people, like getting together, having a beer—
JULIA: Hmm.
AMANDA: —watching the game, all that requires electricity. And I think these logging ghosts—
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: —would be like sports bar devotee, number one types. You know?
JULIA: Amanda, you're so right.
AMANDA: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you.
JULIA: "From then on, she turned the fireplace off between guests, no more pilot light, no more remote start. And with that, the fireplace stopped turning on."
AMANDA: There you go.
JULIA: "The ghosts, it seems, don't know how to relight the pilot."
AMANDA: Well, they can do electronics, okay. They can do the remote, but I don't think they can manage the match, which is honestly good for all of us.
JULIA: Yes, probably for the best. "These days, mom doesn't get out to the cottage as often, and we haven't heard of any new activity. Strangely, no Airbnb guests have ever mentioned anything paranormal. We don't advertise the haunting in the listing, business is great without it, and it seems the spirits prefer my mom's company. Maybe they just miss her voice. Maybe they're waiting for the next kitchen party."
AMANDA: Taylor, maybe they like that your mom and your family are the custodians of this cabin, and they want y'all to make that bank.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: All right. They wanna support your efforts to support tourism in this community. And they're like, "You know what? We'll keep it together for the guests. We're not gonna bother them. We hang out with family."
JULIA: Taylor, we are gonna need you to email the Airbnb listing to us, though.
AMANDA: Quite genuinely, if you're okay with that, and like, you can say no, but I would totally rent this with Julia. And we'll go and record some episodes there and see what it's like.
JULIA: I would love that. That would be great. That would be great.
AMANDA: That would be great. Anytime.
JULIA: All right, finally, chapter three, Amanda, which is Taylor's own chapter.
AMANDA: Yay.
JULIA: "Nana's Push and Echoes of the Unseen."
AMANDA: Don't push Nana.
JULIA: "Nana's Push. With women like that in the family, it's only natural that I inherited the same inclination towards the supernatural. I haven't had as many full-blown encounters as my mother or grandmother, and I do consider myself a woman of science. I've still had my fair share of paranormal run-ins." Also, to be fair, both your mother and your grandmother have had much longer lives than you have, and thus, have had more time to accumulate supernatural experiences.
AMANDA: Julia, do you know how sometimes in, like, toxic hetero-patriarchy, people say like, "I'm married, I'm not dead."
JULIA: "I'm a woman of science. I still have paranormal experiences."
AMANDA: Exactly, yeah. Like I—
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: —observe things, right?
JULIA: "In my final year of high school, I went on a three-day, 50 kilometer hiking trip with 10 classmates. You guessed it, Fundy National Park."
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: "Despite being very familiar with the park and most of its trails, this route took us deep into the wilderness, onto paths that I had never explored before. The plan was simple, hike 20 kilometers on day one, 10 kilometers on day two, and 20 kilometers on the final day. Now, on the second day, we reached the stunning Bennett Lake, which served as our halfway rest point. After a long break, we packed up and began the final 10 kilometer of the day, and quickly learned why it was the short day. We were about to climb hundreds of feet up a mountainside via steep switchbacks. If you've never seen them, switchbacks are trails that zigzag up steep terrain, so you're not climbing vertically. But don't be fooled, they're still very intense. At some points, we were basically crawling on all fours. Since this was a backcountry trip, we had to carry everything with us."
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: "I took on a slightly heavier pack than some of the others, being one of the more athletic people in the group. It helped us stay on schedule, but it was no joke. About halfway up the cliff, roughly 150 feet off the ground."
AMANDA: Oh, my God.
JULIA: "We took a much needed break. After resting, I made a split-second mistake. While chatting with a friend, I turned to face her, and without thinking, threw my heavy backpack over my shoulder to gear up. The problem? I had my back to the edge, so I started to fall backwards off the cliff."
AMANDA: No.
JULIA: "My friend's face was frozen in horror as I stumbled, sure to topple off the edge. But just as I lost my balance, I felt two firm hands slam into my back hard, pushing me forward. I landed face first into the cliff. Bruised, sure, but still alive and very much not at the bottom of a ravine."
AMANDA: Oh, my God.
JULIA: "There was no one behind me. These trails were narrow, and we had to space ourselves out for safety, so no one was close enough to have caught me. My friend and I just stared at each other, stunned. And then out of nowhere, I started laughing."
AMANDA: Yeah, you gotta.
JULIA: "'I am so sorry, Nana,' I said out loud. 'Thank you for catching me,' because in that moment, I knew. Every cell in my body was certain that it was my grandmother on my father's side who had passed just five months earlier, remember the blackbirds, who saved me. I could feel her presence, almost hear her scolding voice.
'What were you thinking?' She never liked watching us play sports. Never liked hearing about anything even remotely risky. And in that moment, I could feel her disappointment and her love."
AMANDA: Aw.
JULIA: "Now, my friend thought I was a bit unhinged for laughing, but I just promised out loud to be smarter. We never talked about it again, but I don't think either of us will ever forget it."
AMANDA: Wow. That's insane.
JULIA: That's wild. That's wild, man.
AMANDA: Wow.
JULIA: Damn, damn. All right. And our final story, Amanda, Echoes of the Unseen.
AMANDA: Let's go.
JULIA: "I've always had an overactive imagination and suffered from night terrors. In my first year of university, I started treating them naturally through supplementation, shoutout to the naturopathic nutritionist I mentioned earlier in the episode." Heather.
AMANDA: Heather. We know Heather. We know Heather.
JULIA: By my second year, my night terrors had dramatically improved and were nearly gone. During my second year, I also met and fell in love with my first boyfriend."
AMANDA: Hey,
JULIA: "I study at the University of Prince Edward Island. My boyfriend lived in a small city on the opposite side of the island, in a place called Summerside."
AMANDA: Julia, Summerside sounds like where Buffy took place.
JULIA: Yes. Well, that was—
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: —Sunnyville or Sunnyvale.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: So you're right. "Much like Alma, this seaside town known for its fishermen, had a similar supernatural energy to it, though, I didn't think much of it at the time. My boyfriend and his older brother loved watching B and C-grade horror movies, you know, the ones with, like, really bad graphics."
AMANDA: Nice.
JULIA: "Even though my night terrors had mostly gone away, I didn't like to give my brain any new ideas, so I usually stayed away when they were watching those films, choosing to study somewhere else in the house."
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: "One fall night, I was staying in his home in Sun—" now I'm saying Sunnydale.
Damn it.
AMANDA: Sorry, sorry.
JULIA: "In Summerside. Earlier that day, he and his brother had been watching one of those horror movies. On my way to the kitchen for a study break, I caught a clip from the film. I don't remember the name or much about it, but I clearly saw a porcelain figure dancing through the woods towards a wooden cottage."
AMANDA: Creepy.
JULIA: "The figure had no face, no hair, and long limbs, but it moved with such grace that it felt almost enchanting, until a chill ran down my spine. I didn't see it reach the door, and I didn't stick around to find out what happened next. I grabbed my snacks and rushed back to my study corner, quickly playing my most comforting music to drown out the image. That night, my boyfriend's brother had gone home, and his mom was out with her girlfriends, returning the next morning. So my boyfriend, his two Golden Retrievers, and I crawled into bed in the large, empty, old farmhouse. We said goodnight, we closed our eyes, and we turned over to sleep. But as I was drifting off, an image formed in my mind, the same porcelain figure, graceful limbs moving closer to the cottage. I could feel my palms getting sweaty and my heartbeat rising as it neared the door. Then just as it reached the threshold, a piercing scream ripped through my brain and the house. I jolted awake, thinking that it was just a dream, but my boyfriend was awake, and the dogs were off the bed, growling at the door. Clearly, I wasn't the only one who'd heard that scream. It had been so loud, it felt like it came from right beside my ear. I looked at my boyfriend, and I asked, 'Did you hear that?' He nodded, saying that the scream sounded like it came from inside the house. It only happened once, though, and we were both terrified, so we called the cops. Now, like most cops, especially in Prince Edward Island, they're not the most thorough or concerned when it comes to distressed—"
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: "—callers with no evidence."
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: "They called us back shortly after, saying they'd done a drive-by and saw nothing out of the ordinary. They suggested it might have been kids yelling in the streets."
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: "We stuck by our story and insisted that the dogs were proof that something happened. The police asked if we thought someone was in the house, but we said no. So they called it case closed and went back to their other calls."
AMANDA: I'm sure, from their perspective, nine times out of 10, it is nothing, or it is a kid outside, or like a car backfiring or whatever. But from the caller's perspective, it's like, "No. Like, I fucking know. My dogs were growling."
JULIA: Yeah, yeah. No, it's not good. It's like, clearly, everyone, including the dogs, heard the scream.
AMANDA: Something happened somewhere.
JULIA: Whether or not it was in the house or outside, I guess like— you know, when you're half asleep, maybe it was so loud that it felt like it was inside, but maybe it wasn't actually, I don't know.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: "In true gentlemanly fashion, my boyfriend then looked at me and asked if he could take the spot closest to the wall, farthest from the door. I said, 'Sure.' And he and our female dog curled up on the safe side of the bed."
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: "Meanwhile, I slept on the side closest to the door with our very protective male dog, who assumed the position of watchdog. Cooper," which I'm assuming is the male dog and not the boyfriend, because it goes, "Cooper and I stayed up all night watching cooking shows and trying not to think about what might have been on the other side of the door. We finally dozed off when the sun came up and the church bells in Summerside began to ring, signaling Sunday morning services. The next morning, we searched the house for any signs of intruders but found nothing. To this day, we still wonder what exactly visit us that night and what that scream was all about. That's all for now. Thank you for your beautiful podcast. I hope these stories have been both creepy and cool. Yours in spookiness, Taylor."
AMANDA: Taylor, you seem like a great hang. We're inviting ourselves over to your cabin. Let us know if that's all right.
JULIA: Yeah. Let us know if that's cool. But I'd like to do it personally. I think that would be great.
AMANDA: 12-hour road trip through the wilds of Canada, let's fucking go. I'm ready.
JULIA: Let's go. Did you look up how far of a drive it is for us?
AMANDA: 12 hours.
JULIA: Oh, Amanda, nailed it.
AMANDA: We can do that. We can do that.
JULIA: We can do that.
AMANDA: We can stop by Portland, Maine for some cocktails overnight there, head up to New Brunswick. Oh, I'm down.
JULIA: We also could, like, fly to Portland.
AMANDA: Of course.
JULIA: Drive from there.
AMANDA: Fuck me up. I need the smallest excuse.
JULIA: Let's go.
AMANDA: Thank you so much, folks, for writing in and voicemailing in. We have a lot of new stuff in the pipeline, so thank you for coming through. And, Julia, I can't wait to tell even more Urban Legends with you at the end of the month, as a bonus for our patrons.
JULIA: Yeah. Did you also know that you, ConSpiriter listening to this right now, can sign up for a seven-day free trial to hear not only that Urban Legends bonus episode, but every other bonus Urban Legends episode we put out? There's no losing in that situation. You can just do it.
AMANDA: There's no losing.
JULIA: Just marathon right through them.
AMANDA: Oh, yeah. We love you. We care for you. If you have a big trip coming up, I don't know, maybe a 12-hour road trip to New Brunswick. I highly recommend doing it. We want you to be able to enjoy all the goodness that's been waiting for you for the last nine years over at our Patreon.
JULIA: patreon.com/spiritspodcast.
AMANDA: All right, Julia. Well, as we think about what kinds of snacks are going to be appropriate for this road trip, I just want you to remember one thing when going into the grocery store, okay?
JULIA: Stay creepy.
AMANDA: Stay cool.
JULIA: Later, satyrs.
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