200!!! Urban Legends + Q&A Spectacular!
/200 episodes. Wow. We answer your questions, follow up on past episodes, and rate the sexiness of several mythological and folklore beings. Thank you. We couldn’t have done this without you.
Here’s a few of our favorite Orisha dance videos mentioned in the episode: Yemayá, Oshun, and Shango.
Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of killing/murder, sex, human remains, spiders/insects, anxiety, sexism, infancide, car accidents, animal death, and mental illness.
Housekeeping
- Recommendation: This week, Amanda recommends Survivor. Check out our previous book recommendations, guests’ books, and more at spiritspodcast.com/books
- LIVE SHOW! Go to spiritspodcast.com/live to get your tickets to our digital live show on October 28 at 8 PM ET. Your ticket includes a copy of the video on demand recording of the show, so you can grab a ticket to watch later even if you can’t join live!
Sponsors
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Find Us Online
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Transcript
Amanda: Welcome to Spirits Podcast, a boozy diamond to 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.
Amanda: And we have done 200 of these. Julia, happy 200th episode.
Julia: Happy 200th episode. I cannot believe that we have done – like, I genuinely cannot believe we have done 200 of these, as a full serious statement.
Amanda: We wax poetic about this with editor, Eric, in the actual episode. So, we won't do it twice, but thank you so much to everybody for supporting us, for making this thing, a podcast, a community a job. And we're truly just so thankful.
Julia: And we're particularly thankful, especially, today, the fact that we can do this as a full time job because of our new patrons.
Amanda: Thank you so much to Gragnok, Helen, Sarah, Elissa, Kelsey, Meadow, and Jenny, who are just the latest folks to join our 350 plus patrons. You are incredible. And our supporting producer level patrons also help sustain the show: Philip, uhleeseeuh, Allison, Debra, Hannah, Jen, Jessica, Keegan, Kneazlekins, Landon, Meaghan, Megan Linger, Megan Moon, Molly, Neal, Niki, Phil Fresh, Polly, Riley, Sarah, and Skyla. And our legend level patrons, who allow me to send them beautiful presence every month; Audra, Chelsea, Clara, Drew, Eden, Frances, Jack Marie, Josie, Lada, Mark, Morgan, Necrofancy, Sarah, and Bea Me Up Scotty.
Julia: It’s like music to my ears every time I hear you read out those names. It really is. It's like the My Soul song.
Amanda: I'm just so thankful that we have a wonderful name like Bea Me Up Scotty to end on.
Julia: It's – it's fantastic. It is the reason why we swapped from the supporting producers to the legends in the list. Amanda, what have you been listening to, reading, watching lately?
Amanda: You know, we recommend books all the time, other podcasts, you know, things that I read and listen to. But, sometimes, you got to just put something on the TV and, like, play Switch. So, I highly recommend playing the Spyro Reignited trilogy --
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: -- on Switch while watching Survivor reruns.
Julia: Incredible. I played it on PS4 and, thoroughly, enjoyed the replay. But I imagine it's even better when Survivor is on in the background.
Amanda: I have watched probably 15 seasons of Survivor since quarantine started. The podcast Purple Rock, which is a Survivor podcast published a spoiler free listing of all of the seasons, like, ranked by how good they are.
Julia: Incredible.
Amanda: So, I kind of started at, like, number 20 or so and, like, picked ones that I haven't seen yet moving forward. And it's just so fun. No one loves their job more than Jeff Probst.
Julia: That’s true.
Amanda: And I will talk for ages – I actually referred a client to watch Jeff Probst do interviews about Survivor as a way for her to come up with vocabulary to talk about her own podcast, which is about, like, physical, you know, feats and, like, long distance running. Anyway, it's amazing. It's so fun. I love it so much. Give Survivor a try.
Julia: It's been on the air for how long?
Amanda: Yeah, 40 seasons.
Julia: 40! What?
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: I would have thought, like --
Amanda: Late 20 to who a year.
Julia: Okay. Okay.
Amanda: So, that's the – that’s the situation.
Julia: That makes sense.
Amanda: But it is just – it's really incredible. Anyway, we also have exciting news, which is that we, like Jeff Probst, are timeless and ageless.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: And, even though we cannot visit y'all in person right now, we are going to do a digital live show.
Julia: Another one.
Amanda: We are so excited.
Julia: We are so pumped. I have some very fun spooky things planned.
Amanda: We are going to do it on October 28th at 8:00 PM Eastern. Cannot wait for it. It's going to be at spiritspodcast.com/live. That's where you can buy a ticket. And you can also use that link to buy a replay, which we are doing so that those of you who can't make the show live can still enjoy it. And you can help us by purchasing a ticket, which we really appreciate.
Julia: It would be really nice. And I think you're gonna really enjoy it. It might be the perfect thing to watch, you know, afterwards on Halloween because you probably won't have that many trick or treaters this year. And, you know, it will be spooky scary.
Amanda: It will be spooky. We cannot wait. We're putting all of the things we learned during the Multitude live show to use. And I like to do live shows. I can wear sweatpants and a nice top on top. It's amazing.
Julia: Mhmm. Yep. And no one will know. No one will know.
Amanda: No, they will not.
Julia: But people will know a lot of things, Amanda, because – did you know that Multitude publishes free resources for creative people of all kinds?
Amanda: I happen to know that, but I wanted to remind everybody out there that, if you make a podcast or any other creative project and when you want to learn about stuff like marketing, like working with friends, like what the heck a podcast collective is and how Multitude manages our finances, all of that is at multitude.productions/resources. I also just made a web page recently for all of our templates because we have so many templates for emails, and Spreadsheets, and press kits, and all kinds of other things that multitude.productions/templates is now a thing as well.
Julia: We're making it so easy for you guys to create podcasts and also other creative projects. It's really easy.
Amanda: We are making the stuff we wish existed when, almost five years ago, we started Spirits. We started research on Spirits in October of 2015. So, it's incredible.
Julia: It's been so long.
Amanda: All right. Well, let's talk about a little bit more about what Spirits means to us and what's happened over the last almost five years in the episode proper. But thank you everybody again. We love you so much. And we hope you enjoy Spirits Podcast Episode 200: The 200th One!!! Wooh!!!
Julia: The 200th One!!!
Into Music
Amanda: Family, happy Episode 200.
Julia: 200. Are you sure?
Amanda: I am sure. I double checked it. I added them all up. And that's how many we did.
Julia: Whoa.
Eric: Whoa.
Julia: Whoa. That's so many.
Eric: It's a lot of episodes.
Julia: I can't believe. So many.
Amanda: I can't believe I've been old enough to do 200 of something that isn't like a biological process.
Julia: Okay. Fair enough. Fair enough.
Eric: I mean, at this point, podcasting is practically a biological process.
Amanda: That's true. Every Monday, I wake up and I'm like, “Oh, time to finish the Spirits episode.” And then, suddenly, on Wednesday morning, I wake up and it's there.
Julia: If you cut me, do I not bleed podcast episodes?
Eric: Mhmm.
Amanda: You do. Your blood does, does pool in waves.
Julia: Oh, I like that.
Amanda: That's a – that's a type of audio file. Anyway, we have a great episode planned for you guys today. Thank you to everybody who has sent in questions and follow up. We have a true banger of an episode. I cannot wait to get to it. This is the structure. We're going to start with some myths and episode follow ups. So, this is additional info and stories and superstitious, you know, scary things that y'all have written into us about after listening to a certain episode. And then, after the refill, we're going to go into some Q&A about our opinions on mythological stuff, on podcasting stuff, and just questions about us and our lives as well.
Julia: Yeah, we talk a lot about our lives in relation to mythology and folklore, but not just like about our lives-lives.
Amanda: So, just as a little, like, aperitif, guys, a little amuse-bouche to get the palate ready, @books_with_will on Instagram would like to know snog, marry, avoid, Apollo, Thor, Oberon.
Julia: Hmm. Okay. Umm --
Eric: Marry Thor.
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: Because that is just out of your life practically. You don't have to worry about it, because he's gonna be just having affairs everywhere. So, now, you're just free to do as you please.
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: Apollo and Oberon, I know less about.
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: But Apollo holds up the world. So --
Julia: Nope. Atlas.
Eric: Atlas holds up the world. Well, let’s – well, I'll stick with it. Apollo seems great. He – I'm gonna snog. Probably a nice strong dude. And Oberon, kill.
Julia: Okay. Okay. I'm with you on marrying Thor, because I feel like Thor is the kind of guy you meet at a bar. And then you still have his number in the morning. And you're like, “Oh, dang. He was pretty cool.” And then you date him for, like, five years and then you marry him. Apollo, for me, seems like a guy you make out with at a bar. And then you don't call him back because he seemed a little too douchey. And then, Oberon, I just like don't want to get involved with Oberon because I feel like Titania would just come after me. So, I will hard, hard avoid.
Amanda: See, I thought that Oberon fucks. And, so --
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: -- I think Oberon would be good to snog. I think Apollo would be good to marry --
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: -- because he's god of all kinds of, like, interesting disciplines. And I think, if you have a sort of Victorian style, like living parallel lives, different bedrooms, you know, and you come together to, like, entertain, that would be a pretty good combo. And, as much as I love Thor, I don't want an absent spouse. So, I think I'd avoid him and just hear of his exploits.
Julia: I like that you're like, “I'll take this guy, because we don't have to be, like, married-married, but we can host parties together. But I won't take the warrior god.”
Amanda: I don't know. If I'm gonna marry a god, I feel like the marriage is going to be untraditional no matter what it will be.
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: And Carpe noctem as our final amuse-bouche on Instagram. I'd like to know, on a scale from one to 10, how sexy is Mothman. Now, before you answer, I am going to – Julia, I'm going to count to three and then we're all going to say our answer at the same time. So, I'm going to go 1, 2, 3 and then we're going to say our answer. Ready, 1, 2, 3. 10.
Julia: 10.
Eric: Eight.
Amanda: Ooh.
Julia: Oh, okay. We’ll dock points for Mothman for you, Eric.
Amanda: How can Mothman be sexier?
Eric: I feel like I need to know a few more specifics about the Mothman. Well, writing in general.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: Okay.
Eric: The idea of Mothman, generally, sexy. I don't know though. The fact that he, like, mysteriously showed up, but didn’t actually help anybody? That's – that's, at least, a point off for me.
Julia: Hmm. Okay.
Eric: I mean I want – I want – I want a harbinger that actually is like, “Here's what's bad.” I don't want to be like – to be like, “I'm just here. That means something bad is gonna happen.” It's like, “That's not enough information, dude.”
Amanda: That's some real, like, Jughead sexy aloofness, though.
Eric: I liked the mystery. So, he doesn't lose too many points because mysteriousness is sexy.
Julia: Yes, that is true.
Eric: But he's arguably too mysterious to be because he doesn't – de doesn't – he doesn’t, eventually, give, give, give the stuff to you.
Julia: He's too aloof is your problem.
Eric: He’s too mysterious to be fully 10 for it.
Julia: Mhmm. Okay. Okay. That's fair. I get it. I just love the butt on that statue in Point Pleasant. Well --
Eric: Look, if we're just ranking the butt on the statue.
Julia: We could.
Eric: But we're not. We're ranking all of Mothman.
Julia: All right.
Eric: Including how mysterious he might be.
Julia: Valid. Okay.
Amanda: I will rate the butt on the statue a nine, only because a 10 is the Perseus butt holding the head of Medusa in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Julia: Well, see, the Perseus butt gets a plus because Perseus kind of has, like, his hip cocked.
Amanda: Oh, it’s a perfect posture.
Julia: And that makes the butt look better.
Amanda: Oh, yeah.
Julia: Whereas Mothman is just stoically --
Amanda: Just standing.
Julia: -- standing there. So, he doesn't get the, the bonus of the butt cock.
Amanda: He's, he’s a true bubble butt.
Julia: That’s a bad, bad phrase.
Amanda: Okay. Before we get – take it away into our podcast within a podcast butt watch, we are going to get into some episode follow ups. So, this is just a hit list of, like, interesting stuff people wrote in. I'm going to read them. And then y'all are welcome to react into it. You know, extemporaneously do your thing. Chris wrote, in November of 2017 --
Julia: Oh-oh.
Amanda: -- about the first Urban Legends episode. Not very long ago, you mentioned a story from my hometown of Brisbane around the Slaughter Falls at Mount Coot-tha.
Julia: I remember that one.
Amanda: Well, they just found some skeletal remains --
Julia: Oh, gosh.
Amanda: -- not too far from a walking track there. Maybe it isn't such a myth after all.
Julia: Oh, good.
Amanda: And there --
Julia: Love, love some skeletal remains found three years ago at this point.
Amanda: There is a link to the news story. [Inaudible 11:32].
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: And Martha wrote in about the Sailor Superstitions episode. I heard you mentioned the phrase red sky at night, sailor's delight. I've never heard it that way before. I'm from Devon in the UK, which is a relatively rural county. And, here, we say shepherds delight rather than sailors. Also, there's a follow up. Red sky in the morning, shepherds warning, which I can't remember if you mentioned or not. I just thought it was interesting how the same phrase changed given different cultural contexts.
Julia: I was gonna look and see. I was like, “Well, Devon’s probably landlocked. And that's why you heard shepherds.” But, nope, surrounded by water.
Amanda: It's just very, like, hilly and shepherdy.
Eric: Yeah, sailors take warning is all – is the second half. I don't remember if it was said in the thing. I mean my understanding was – of it – I wasn't on this episode. But my understanding is that the, the part of it is that, like, certain atmospheric shifts or whatever, like, choppier waves are more likely depending on, like, those kinds of things.
Julia: Yeah, it shows, like, which direction the storm clouds are moving in from.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: So, if you have red sky in the night, it means the storm clouds are moving away. And red sky in the morning, they're moving towards you. Anyway.
Amanda: That's fascinating. Thank you.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: In regards to the Great Floods episode, MiniCooperGirl93 --
Eric: Well, I have – I have – before we talk about it --
Julia: Eric.
Eric: -- I do have a question. What are the shepherds getting up? Like, what is the – what is the big risk to shepherds?
Julia: Well, they don't want to take their flocks out into a storm and stuff.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: Yes. Yeah.
Amanda: So, firstly, I think you could probably move your – move your sheep into, like, a covered area or, at least, a more sheltered area.
Eric: Oh, yeah.
Amanda: And, secondly, a lot of shepherds will – like, depending on how big their area is and whether they have vehicles or on horseback or whatever, like, you camp out in, in your land, sometimes, if you can't make it back.
Eric: That, that makes sense.
Amanda: So, I think that is the concern.
Eric: Okay. Because I'm like, if, if it gets choppy waters, it’s very dangerous to a boat. But I was like, “I don’t know. If it is with a bunch of sheep, how bad – how bad can it truly get.
Amanda: Well, a storm.
Eric: But I guess it could – I guess it could get pretty bad.
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: I guess it could get pretty bad.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: MiniCooperGirl93 wrote in about the Great Floods episode. I studied Climate Science in grad school. And the current consensus among most climate scientists and geologists is that these flood deposits are from several ice ages that occurred millennia ago, long before Homo sapiens walked the earth. There's some controversy in the field surrounding some of these Ice age theories, specifically the Snowball Earth Theory. But it's so interesting to think about how our interpretation of these deposits changed over the years. Many early scientists believe that there was a global flood until we found out that the Earth went through periods of freezing and ice cap expansion. A lot of anthropologists and paleontologists believe that the flood stories in mythology were created when people encountered massive Ice Age glacial deposits, including giant piles of rubble and bedrock that had been scoured, smooth and only have the reference to recognize them as similar to deposits formed by rivers when they flood. Therefore, it must have been a giant flood that formed them.
Julia: I love when scientists have to, like, kind of confirm or deny mythological stories.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: That is my favorite thing about mythology studies.
Amanda: It’s awesome. And it makes complete sense why, if you see something that happens after a river floods and then you see it, you know, 1000 times larger or 500 times larger, that is a completely rational and understandable conclusion.
Julia: Yeah, of course.
Amanda: John writes in, after the La Llorona episode, I recently started listening to podcasts. I came across yours and Episode 116. I was excited because I grew up in West Texas on the border outside of El Paso. We were so rural we had no phone. And the small town in Mexico across from us had no electricity or running water. I was in high school. So, it was the early 80s. I was hunting along the river after dark and walking back to my truck. I saw a female figure across the river --
Julia: Oh-oh.
Amanda: -- on the Mexican levee
Julia: Oh-oh.
Amanda: She was in a white dress with a white shawl.
Julia: Oh-oh.
Amanda: I couldn't see any movement other than her floating along the levee.
Julia: Nope. Bad.
Amanda: Her face was down. So, I never saw her arms or her face. After what had to be at least a full minute, she turned away from the river and faded moving back toward the Mexican town.
Julia: Whoof. Whoof. That was – that was La Llorona.
Eric: That – that’s scary.
Julia: There’s – there's no other explanation.
Amanda: Ash writes in and about the Anansi episode. I've been enjoying Spirits on my commute every morning for the past month or so, but I had to write into thank you for the Anansi episode. I'm Jamaican-Canadian and would hear Anansi stories from my parents and grandparents. I still have a book of these from my grandma got me for Christmas when I was eight, many moons later.
Julia: Aww.
Amanda: Anansi has such a special place in my heart and was a huge part of my childhood. I remember my dad trying to get rid of my fear of spiders by explaining it was just Anansi and I had no reason to fear. It's so rare to see representation of my culture in Canadian or American media. So, I was thrilled when this came up in my feed. Sorry for my rambling. I wanted you two to know how much it meant.
Julia: That makes me so happy. I always – again, this is like a concern I always have. I always want to make sure that, when we're telling stories that, obviously, aren't, like, stories that you and I come from, Amanda, I want to make sure that we're representing them in a way that honors where they come from. And, so, whenever someone writes in to tell us that we did a good job with that, I know it sounds a little conceited, but it does make me very, very happy. It means that I, I did the work that I needed to do.
Amanda: Totally. And I love that idea that, you know, spiders are just Anansi and you got nothing to fear.
Julia: That's true.
Eric: I like that. I like that a lot.
Julia: Every spider. Yeah.
Amanda: Marissa wrote in, Urban Legends #16, I love listening to your show, especially when my office is empty during the holiday season and I need something entertaining to keep me company. Today, I was listening to Episode 106: Your Urban Legends #16, and wanted to share some advice with you and the listeners when dealing with the supernatural in your home.
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: Now, I'm no expert. And I'm not going to go as far as to say I'm a medium or anything like that. But I do feel I'm very in tune with the universe so to speak. My great Aunt Millie, who's 93, says that we have The Gift, whatever that means.
Eric: I don't like that. I – yeah, I like it for you, but I don't like, like it as generational thing where it's like, “We have The Gift.”
Julia: Eric, personally, would not like gift.
Amanda: My great grandma, the one whose obituary I did not read on the other side of my family, said that she had the sight and then women in my family have the sight. I'm happy to say that I have never had a premonition, but I do have anxiety when I think constantly --
Julia: It might be the same thing.
Amanda: -- about things that might happen. So, I kind of have the worst of both worlds if you put it that way.
Julia: I think – I think the sight is just anxiety that we haven't honed in.
Eric: I, I could imagine every bad outcome of this situation.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah, worst case scenario, brain.
Eric: That’s not a superpower.
Amanda: On many accounts, when I visited great Aunt Millie, we have felt the presence of other family members, specifically, my grandmother and namesake, who Millie was very close with. Anyway, Millie has always said that the best thing to do when a spirit presents itself to you is to acknowledge the spirit and kindly ask it to leave you alone. For example, if I were to wake up in the middle of the night for no reason and get that weird, prickly feeling that someone or something is there, I would sit up open my eyes and clearly say something like, “Hi, spirit. I see you. I hear you. I acknowledge you. I'm going to go back to sleep now. Please let me be.” Millie said that, by doing this, the spirit will be happy that they were acknowledged and leave you alone. I hope this tip helps other listeners because I found it very useful myself.
Julia: I think we figured out this tip ourselves just from reading so many urban legend episodes.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: But I do really think that, as long as you are polite to a ghost and the ghost is polite back, you got a fine situation there. Like, obviously, you probably don't want to be haunted, but there are worse situations than that.
Amanda: And, to kind of continue the theme here, I do think it's a really helpful metaphor for, like, unwelcome thoughts or anxieties or things that keep you up at night if you sort of say, either, you know, I see you there. You're there. I know you're there. I'm not gonna, you know, try to push you away. We're just going to coexist. Or, like, thank you, brain, for considering this. I don't think we need to, you know, get lost in this right now. So, like, I'm gonna try to do something different. I, I think team ignorant has finally been vanquished because this is a, you know, time-tested and listener-approved method.
Julia: I agree. Also, can we --
Eric: So, I’ll just agree, but, you know – you know, I mean I'll stick by my guns.
Julia: Also, Amanda, can we discuss the fact that, apparently, you have, like, paranormal grandparents on both sides of your family?
Amanda: Yeah, allegedly.
Julia: That's – we're gonna have to investigate that further, I think, at some point.
Amanda: Listen, Julia, we have many more episodes ahead of us. And, if by – if we make it to Episode 500 – I'm saying this right now.
Julia: Ooh.
Amanda: I will go to Ireland and talk to my relatives, who – the children of the woman whose obituary I read still live in Ireland. And I am going to do a little bit of first person investigation as to the sight in the Clancy's and the McLoughlins.
Eric: And I think we could – we could get that even sooner than Episode 500.
Julia: True.
Eric: Because I'm pretty sure it's a Patreon goal that we buy a castle in Ireland or something.
Amanda: It is. It is.
Eric: So, I mean --
Amanda: For 6,666 patrons, it is.
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: Yeah. So, I mean we just felt like, if y'all just own up and start --
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: -- start donating, we can – we can get this way sooner than within the next 300 episodes.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Drafi has that many patrons. All those political podcasts have many patrons. We can do this, people.
Julia: The Last Podcast on the Left probably has that many.
Amanda: Yes, I’m sure.
Julia: I can't confirm or deny. But --
Amanda: We can do this.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: Andrea, who wrote in about the Rangda episode, if you recall her excellent letter that we basically structured the episode around --
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: -- wrote in regarding that and the Aswang.
Julia: Ooh.
Amanda: Oh, gee, Spirits. Hey, Spirits team. It's Andrea. I requested Rangda, the widow witch and demon queen of Bali. That's all I'm ever going to call her now. She's amazing. The episode made me so happy. It was actually released just as I was flying to Bali to spend the holidays with my family.
Julia: Whoa.
Amanda: A lovely coincidence. The stars aligning. And I accidentally kicked my luggage as I attempted to suppress my excitement in a busy airport. I loved that the Rangda episode very much honed in on the theme of female rage. You reminded me of an article I came across the other day in Indonesian, but Google Translate did a pretty okay job that trumpeted the Indonesian variant of the Aswang as a feminist icon.
Julia: Oh.
Amanda: The horrors of the aswang and Rangda come from the fact that, as mortal women, they were crushed and constrained under patriarchal structures of society. But, as ghosts and demonesses, they regained some of their power and subversive, monstrous feminine in, unrepentantly, vengeful ways. I also love the nuance the episode managed to relay, especially in the little segment on the life of historical Queen Mahendradatta. In all honesty, we've barely scratched the surface here. Her life is rife with political intrigue and prophecies. It's so interesting. The Cersei comparison I made, imagine if such a figure also gave birth to Jon Snow, her son, and eventual folk hero King Airlangga.
Julia: Incredible.
Amanda: He also made his daughter his heir, backing accepted gender norms of the time. Said daughter abdicated the throne and chose to live as a Buddhist nun. Also backing accepted norms.
Julia: This is awesome. What a good story.
Amanda: I also wanted to write in with just two Indonesian mythological figures that I also find amazing. One is Dewi Sri, a goddess and, for the longest time, the goddess. That's what her name literally translated as, by the way. The goddess --
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: -- of harvest in Java and Bali. There's quite a bit of backstory, but, in essence, she was a primordial figure whose body became all sorts of things found on Earth like the giant, Ymir, from Norse mythology, but a goddess. It's great. I can't think, off the top of my head, many figures who were allowed such an enormous amount of influence in cosmology, literally, spanning the entire earth and all vegetation. I feel like those are usually given to male deities, right?
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: Having something so important embodied in the feminine feels great. Just like the mermaid queen, Dewi Sri was also purportedly considered a divine partner of Javanese rulers and sultans. They bestow him consortship over their respective dominions, the sea and the land, which is important since Java/Indonesia as a whole is an archipelagic state. Well, I never knew that archipelago had a – had a tribal form, but that makes sense.
Julia: I do love that word.
Amanda: A non-monogamous partnership with two goddesses seems a very male gazy, fantasy thing, but maybe not entirely when the two are deities and capable of controlling all aspects of the realm. Displeasing them, in any way, can cause them to make crops wither and catches, diminish, and unrest so, thus, wrenching political legitimacy away from your already tenuous mortal rule.
Julia: So, when is Andrea going to have a mythological podcast that I can listen to? That's my question.
Eric: Yeah, this is good.
Amanda: Truly. And you're welcome on anytime. And then, secondly, Shikhandi, localized as Srikandi in Southeast Asia, is a delightfully gender fluid/queer-coded figure in the Hindu epic, The Mahabharata.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: In Javanese shadow puppet traditions, Shikhandi is retconned into a female character and cast as one of Arjuna’s many wives. Again, it's a kind of like -ish compulsory femininity, heterosexuality situation at first glance.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: But, as Arjuna, himself, is also canonically gender fluid, a chapter of the epic details how he lives/disguised himself as a feminine presenting person with ease. Castings Srikandi as one of his partners brings a nice added queerness to an otherwise very masculine and militant text.
Julia: That sounds awesome.
Amanda: Arjuna is also somewhat the Gary Stu of the epic, which I say with love as I adore the Mahabharata and recite almost every character's backstory by heart, but the patriarchy is strong with this one. So, I personally choose to interpret his partnership with Srikandi in Javanese traditions as an affirmation that gender nonconforming people, especially those assigned female at birth, are worthy of love and respect. Like, literally, the best human being aside from Krishna because he's the fucking avatar. Thinks your butch/trans/gender nonconforming self is the best thing since sliced tempeh. Well, then, gosh, darn it, you are.
Julia: Oh, god. Andrea, come on the show, please.
Amanda: Incredible.
Eric: Very nice.
Amanda: Incredible.
Eric: Very nice.
Amanda: Here is some Scandinavian lore in response to the Unquiet Dead.
Julia: Oh, okay. I remember this.
Amanda: This is from Ciri, who writes, hey, Spirits team, in your episode on the Unquiet Dead, you mentioned about a Scandinavian creature with a hole in her back. I think that could be Skogsfrun. I'm a listener from Sweden who grew up with my grandfather telling me tales from Norse mythology. And, ever since then, I've been obsessed with it. I've been searching for material in English to link to you, but, so far, I haven't found any good ones since a lot of it seems to be lost in translation.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: So, the first thing I want to tell you about is our forest queen, Skogsfrun, which means the forest madam or lady or wife.
Julia: Mmm. I like madam.
Amanda: I know, right? She's also called the Skogsrå, translating to the forest rå, which is a being that oversees a certain domain like a mountain, mine, lake, or forest.
Julia: Okay. Okay.
Amanda: Skogsfrun is the keeper of the forest, seeing to it and its occupant’s wellbeing and safety. She generally appears as a beautiful young lady dressed in greenery. But, if you were to look at her from behind, you'd see her back, which appears as an old hollow tree.
Julia: Mhmm. Mhmm.
Amanda: Many translations depict her as malicious and sort of like a seductress who spellbinds hunters and lumberjacks by be witching their sight making them lost or by having her beauty “ensnare them” luring them deeper into the forest and making them her servants. This, however, is not the case as long as you're respectful of her and her forest. She's also known to, sometimes, help wanderers who get lost or show you to a good mushroom or berry spot. But, alas, she's a powerful woman. So, of course, men are afraid of her. And that's the story that gets retold.
Julia: I like any forest spirit that will show me where I can get good edible mushrooms,
Amanda: Right? Like, these berries are the good ones. Thank you.
Julia: Yes, I – also, I was reading an article the other day about how certain mushroom foraging cultures like, I think, particularly in France, the place in which they get their mushrooms is like a heavily guarded secret that's passed down through the generations.
Eric: Oh, yeah.
Julia: And it's considered extremely rude to ask someone where they found their mushrooms.
Eric: Mushroom foraging is very serious business. I follow a guy on Instagram, who is, like, a chef at a local restaurant. And he, he, like, has, like, his secret foraging spots that he, like, goes to to find all of his mushrooms.
Julia: Secrets.
Amanda: That seems like a really natural extension of, like, truffle farming, which is also – before people knew how to, like, create environments that bred truffles really easily, it was just kind of, like, an accident of nature based on like moisture and, you know, shading and what trees were there. So, people would, yeah, be, like, even more, you know, guarding their secrets. And, now, they have to guard their farms because truffle theft is a huge issue. And there's this really good book called Truffle Underground that, that Eric Silver got me that I've really, really enjoyed, because it is a complete, like, heist narrative.
Julia: People would, legit, murder people over truffles.
Amanda: Yes.
Julia: It is wild.
Amanda: So, just to finish up this follow up, secondly, I want to come to the defense of the Myling. They're not as creepy as you might have thought.
Julia: Mmm.
Amanda: Yes, they are ghost children --
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: -- which in and of itself is kind of creepy, but they aren't evil. They are children at heart. So, of course, they might play a prank, like, appearing or disappearing, playing peekaboo, or making faces behind you and laughing, but they won't hurt you. They are children often conceived out of wedlock whose mothers killed them instead of giving them names. Therefore, they'll ask you if you could give them a name. And, if you do, their spirit will be laid to rest and they'll never bother you again. They're tied to the place where they were killed allegedly or where their body was buried. And the thing about weighing you down as it rides on your back is actually from a different undead spirit called the Strandvaskaren if I remember correctly.
Julia: Mmm.
Amanda: They're just sad and lonely, often feeling abandoned. Ghost orphans, basically who just want some company and a friend.
Julia: It might be a regional difference thing, where it's like the Mylings in one area do --
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: -- have a malicious intent and/or, you know, end up killing people even if it's not malicious. It seems like a lot of the Myling stories are accidental deaths. Like, just children not knowing their own strength and stuff like that, but I love the regional differences. That's part of the reason why we do this podcast.
Eric: Kids on their own are surprisingly strong.
Julia: Yes.
Eric: And then you add supernatural powers to it and it's just – it's too much maybe.
Julia: Yes, that is right.
Eric: Again, maybe it's all an accident. It could be. It makes sense.
Julia: It could be.
Amanda: This is follow up to the Orishas episode from Alyssa.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: Hey, sexy ladies and Eric. Hearkening back to Episode 73: Orishas, you may be interested to learn that the Yoruba tradition in Cuba is practiced a little differently today. It's not spoken, recited, read, sang or chanted but danced.
Julia: Nice.
Amanda: My knowledge of this practice has been informed by Cuban dance instructors. I’ll include videos of the dances for each of the main Orishas so you can see the traditional movement. This is a very creepy and very cool quote about the practice. The trance creatively reassures the vitality of death. One ritually dies into the god so as to apotheosized the Earth and our life on it. The human body becomes a shrine room with two entrances. Earth takes possession of it so as to transmute itself into heaven and heaven descends so as to submit to earth. And that is from an Austrian-Nigerian artist who has studied Yoruba culture called Adunni Olorisha, Susanne Wenger.
Julia: Ooh, that sounds interesting. I'll have to check out more of their work.
Amanda: There was a movement in the 20th century to display the dances as cultural education outside of their ritual practice. And, because the movements are so freaking cool, the steps of the Orishas have often been incorporated into Rumba and Casino, just Cuban salsa. So, there are a lot of detail about the different Orishas and their dances. So, we are happy to link to those videos on our show notes page at spiritspodcast.com because they are absolutely beautiful.
Julia: I can't wait to watch them. I'm really, really excited.
Amanda: Next, Matt writes in about the Nyami Nyami. Hey, I'm a US diplomat, who recently started listening to your podcast. I very much enjoyed how you weave the sociological --
Julia: Wait there. A US diplomat?
Amanda: They sure are. They --
Julia: Why are you listening to our podcast?
Amanda: Well, Matt enjoys how we weave sociological, anthropological --
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: -- and political analysis into our explorations of myths and legends.
Julia: Okay. Okay.
Amanda: My last assignment was a years-long stint in Zambia, which provided me the opportunity to travel across the vast country and get to know many of its 73 tribes. I spent a good deal of time in Tonga land, which is largely coterminous with the country's southern province and interacted frequently with the Tongas. During a 10-hour drive, one man regale me with stories of witches, magic, and curses from his childhood. In particular, he recounted seeing a huge snake with the head of a fish emerge from the Zambezi River, shout at him, and nearly caused him to capsize.
Julia: I want to know what he shouted.
Amanda: I would, too.
Julia: Or was it just like a infernal scream?
Amanda: I don't know. If any Tonga listeners would like to let us know, I would love to hear it.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: Another told of throwing rocks at trees only to find them suddenly mobile as a herd of angry elephants chased him into the town square. So, I don't know if the trees --
Julia: The trees?
Amanda: -- were elephants or if the trees turned into elephants, but, either way, that's amazing.
Julia: Mmm. Either way, very funny. Very cool.
Amanda: Yet another story relayed how a criminal had escaped and, in hot pursuit in the capital, turned himself into a banana tree.
Julia: Ah, very cool. Banana ghost.
Amanda: And our last myth follow up email comes from Magda. It is titled Syncretism or how my devout Mexican-Catholic family out pagans my Wiccan in-laws.
Julia: Excellent. Love it. Give it to me.
Eric: There's a – there's an opening right there.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: I can't think of a better – a better email to end this segment with. So, Magda writes, I recently started listening to your podcast and almost caught up. It's so good. I love how in depth you all get and how, even when I'm familiar with the story, I end up learning something new. I don't have an urban legend or ghost story to share, but I thought you might find this interesting nonetheless. In many episodes, you point out syncretic aspects of various cultures. And I wanted to share some of my family's rituals that I grew up with as a long line of Mexican-Catholics. These are, of course, very specific to my family and my experiences, different strokes for different folks. Your mileage may vary. The first thing to note is the idea of Ojo, the eye, specifically, the evil eye.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: The superstition occurs in different cultures. But, for us, it's commonly seen as a byproduct of jealousy or desire. Kind of like cute aggression. You admire and want something so much that you could hurt it. Think of someone's purse is amazing. Touch it so you don't give it Ojo and and cause it to rip. Is your partner eyeing your dessert? Better give him a bite before the Ojo makes you drop it on the floor. Isn't that baby just the cutest thing? Don't give it Ojo or something bad will happen.
Julia: What's the way of fixing that though? Do you just compliment the baby? Say how cute the baby is and then leave?
Amanda: Or stop admitting it. I don't know. But, Julia, how do you know if you've been afflicted? Simply have someone rub you with an egg.
Julia: Obviously.
Amanda: The process varies, depending on where you're from, but it's fairly common. In my family, it's done when you're sick, feverish in particular. After all, that is how the Ojo can manifest itself. You would lie down and, starting at the top and moving down your body, they trace crosses all over your body while reciting the Apostle’s creed in Spanish making the sign of the cross at the end of each iteration. The crosses would start big and get smaller each time. For example, it would go from forehead to stomach, shoulder to shoulder at first, then forehead to chin, ear to ear, then one on each facial feature; forehead, lips, cheeks, eyes, et cetera. The repetitions continue until you've gone pretty much head to toe. The egg is then cracked into a glass of water. The idea is that the egg is absorbing the negative energy from your body with the power of faith. If the egg cooks in the water, you just have a fever. If it doesn't, something malicious could be afoot. Some cultures look for patterns in the way the egg sinks or floats. All I know is that the egg would determine if I was too sick to go to school the next day. Also, when you're burning up, a cold egg feels really nice on your skin.
Julia: Yeah, that makes sense. And I, I'm very curious as to the temperature of water. If you're just dropping the egg in water and it's cooking, wild.
Amanda: Or I guess if you're so hot that the egg gets hot.
Julia: Oh, yeah. I mean that's possible too.
Amanda: I don't know.
Julia: But then, like, it wouldn't really crack in there, you know.
Amanda: I feel like, if I were a kid and that happened, I would, like, microwave the egg before it was used and put it back in the container, like, right near the front, thus, ensuring that my mom grab that one. And then, when she cracks it, it's like, “Oh, man, scrambled already. What are you gonna do? I have to stay home.”
Julia: Trying to game the system, Amanda. Come on.
Amanda: A common thread in these is the use of brujería or witchcraft. More like folk remedies and practices really that derives its power from Catholic prayer. The next one is to rid yourself of the susto or frights. My parents only did this on me once after a particularly bad car accident left me afraid of driving every time I was just overcome with dread and anxiety. Like, with the egg, I was lying down, but this seemed more serious. My siblings weren't even allowed in the room. I was covered with a thin sheet and sprinkled with holy water. Then, instead of an egg, they use a whisk broom – they don't have any sage handy, I guess – to sweep crosses up and down me while reciting the Our Father in Spanish. I don't remember how many times it needed to be repeated. But, after the final one, they pulled down on my ankles three times each time saying, “Magda Benfica, come here.” I was to respond, “My boy, I'm going,” uncovering myself once I felt ready. From my understanding, this was to ground me and break the trance. Like, being shaken awake from a bad dream. I was older and not as Catholic anymore so I felt a little silly, but I did return to driving shortly after.
Julia: I want someone to do that to me about everything. Just life.
Amanda: I know, right? The last one is something I've never personally witnessed but was told about by my dad. Apparently, during bad storms, his father would take a machete, consecrate it with holy water, and then go outside and slash across into the sky while saying a prayer. My dad doesn't remember what prayer it was, but he was basically fighting the weather with the power of Christ. I don't know how common this is exactly, but, at least, one other person has indeed said it's a thing. But they were also fuzzy on the details. Either way, super cool visual.
Julia: That does sound extremely cool. I like that a lot. I’m gonna fight the sky with a machete.
Amanda: In general, this is all fairly par for the course with us. So, it's interesting to see others reactions when they hear about it. My in-laws are practicing Wiccans and my husband could be considered Wiccan agnostic. Like, if there's a deity, it's not a Christian god. And there's more than one of them. I've been to a few of their Sabbath's and enjoyed seeing the overlap in traditions. That just made it so much better when, upon learning about the rituals in my “so Catholic” that even regular Christian churches are bad, parents embraced. The reaction was, “Gee, I thought we were supposed to be the pagans.” Thank you so much for creating such great content. I hope you found this even half as fascinating as I find Spirits. Every episode has so much to offer. I'm excited to see what's to come. In the meantime, stay creepy, stay cool, and don't give anyone Ojo.
Eric: Strong advice.
Julia: I love that a lot. I know, personally, my, my husband's family is very, like, you know, no evil eye kind of stuff. My mother-in-law wears an evil eye anklet to kind of ward off that kind of stuff and something with the color red. Usually, I see them in blue, but hers is red and read has something to do with – I don’t know – bad luck or something like that. So – but it's super interesting that certain things, you know, defy what the religious tradition is, in the broader sense, and get very much honed to the traditions of the culture that it is in. You know what I mean?
Amanda: Yeah. There's, like, the Hamsa in Jewish and even some Muslim traditions. So, it's just a thing that human beings have thought about for a long time and has real significance to different people in different ways.
Julia: Yeah, absolutely.
Amanda: So, guys, after all that reading, I think I need to soothe that my parched throat. Will you join me in the kitchen for a refill?
Julia: Of course.
Eric: Yeah.
Midroll Music
Julia: Amanda, it's been weird because I've been trying to get into different routines as project start, as projects end, as I keep having to do more and more work and stuff like that. And, when our routines changes, it's super easy to kind of forget to check in with yourself and, like, see how you're doing and how you're feeling. Do you need a break? Do you need to go get a glass of water or just, like, take a better nap? And, if you need to hit pause and take a moment for yourself, Dipsea can help you.
Amanda: Absolutely. If you have a lot on your mind, if you have, you know, times during the day that you used to take a walk, take a break, use your commute to kind of zone out or think about a creative project, it's important to build that time back into whatever your new routine looks like. And it helps you to show up for your community, to show for people in need, to show up for activism because you can't do that if you are running on fumes. And we are really happy that Dipsea is getting you a chance to talk about this because they are an audio app full of short sexy stories and also wellness sessions that are designed to turn you on and help you get in touch with yourself.
Julia: These stories are really relatable and immersive. You kind of, like, feel like you're there, which is what I want when I'm listening to something, you know, sexy to get me in the mood. And there's something for everyone, whoever or whatever you're into. They add new content every week. So, there's always something new to explore. And the wellness sessions, like Amanda mentioned, can help you unlock new confidence and heightened intimacy with your partner.
Amanda: Dipsea is also really great to work with. They have rented our studio before. We know folks who have written for them. And it's really great to be able to support a company and get supported by a company that is doing things right and that you believe in. So, for listeners of Spirits, Dipsea is offering a 30-day free trial when you go to dipseastories.com/spirits.
Julia: That's a 30-day free trial when you go to D-I-P-S-E-Astories.com/spirits.
Amanda: dipseastories.com/spirits.
Julia: Amanda, I've been taking a lot more hikes lately. And I found that the current bras that I have just aren't really up to hiking snuff. They get like too tight in certain areas or the straps keep falling down. And it's really, really helpful that I recently invested in a new Third Love bra. It's super comfortable. I don't feel like my boobs are going all over the place. And I haven't had a single strap slip yet. And it's because Third Love bras are designed for your perfect comfort. They use the measurements of millions of people to design bras with all day comfort and support. And they stand behind their products. If you don't love it, exchanges and returns are free for 60 days. And the bras come in over 80 different sizes. They're all made with the signature memory foam cups, the no slip straps, like I said --
Amanda: So good.
Julia: -- and a scratch free band. Again, another annoying thing when you're hiking.
Amanda: Who wants tags where your clasps are?
Julia: No one.
Amanda: Who designed this stuff?
Julia: Not women. And that's the problem.
Amanda: I also love that they donate all of their returned bras to people in need in the San Francisco Bay Area and across the US. So, when you do that return, it is not a wasteful thing because it ultimately supports – a little pun intended there – people in need.
Julia: And they've donated over $20 million in bras, which is really like putting your money where your mouth is and I appreciate that. And Third Love knows that there's the perfect bra for everyone. So, right now, they're offering our listeners 10 percent off your first order. Go to thirdlove.com/spirits right now to find your perfect fitting bra and get 10 percent off your first purchase.
Amanda: thirdlove.com/spirits for 10 percent off today. Julia, another part of just building a new routine is making sure that I have time to talk about myself, and my goals, things that I am struggling with, and just being able to vent to somebody who's kind of outside of my daily life and doesn't have a, you know, interest in the things that I'm feeling or struggling with. And I'm really grateful that I'm able to use BetterHelp for that idea. BetterHelp assesses your needs and matches you with your own licensed professional therapist. You can start communicating in under 48 hours. And there's also a broad range of expertise available, which might not be locally available in your area. It's also more affordable than traditional offline counseling, which is incredible and available worldwide. You can log into your account anytime to send a message to your counselor and also schedule weekly or biweekly video or phone sessions. So, you don't have to sit in a weird waiting room. You don't have to do therapy while masked, which would be hard if you can't read each other's faces. And, just in general, you can do it at a time that works for you. I do mine on the evenings on weekends, which is great because I'm not, like, exhausted from a workday when I then come home and decide to do therapy. So, if you want to try it out BetterHelp wants to help you. They want to help you start living a happier life. And there are tons of testimonials on their website, betterhelp.com, if you would like to check out what other people have to say about it. But you can go to betterhelp.com/spirits. That's betterH-E-L-P and join the over 1 million people who have taken charge of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional.
Julia: Yeah. And Spirits listeners can get 10 percent off their first month by going to BetterHelp, betterH-E-L-P.com/Spirits.
Amanda: And, now, let's get back to Episode 200.
Julia: Whoa. So, in our first episode, I believe, Persephone and Hades, we had a Pomegranate Martini. And, much like Persephone, we are making a cyclical return with the Pomegranate Martini.
Amanda: It's delicious, man.
Eric: Very good.
Julia: It's very good. Just love a little like tart on alcoholic beverages. Like a Cosmo but with more depth.
Amanda: Beautiful. So, in this, the Q&A section of Episode 200, we have mythology questions. We have podcasting questions. And we have just like life questions. So, do you guys want to theme it or do you want me to kind of, like, cycle through?
Julia: Just throw at us whatever tickles your fancy, Amanda
Amanda: Bone Hatton asks, “What is your favorite cryptid? And, if you had to change into a cryptid yourself at night, which one would it be?”
Eric: I am gonna go with the cat that I think is in the most recent Urban Legends episode.
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: The one – I can't remember its name now. But it's the one that like --
Julia: The Yule cat?
Eric: No, no, no. It's the one that, like, was looking for a raccoon and then headbutts a tree that turns gray.
Julia: Oh, yes.
Amanda: Oh, yeah.
Eric: I can’t remember the name of the cat. It was in the last episode and I was editing it just a few days ago.
Julia: It was the splinter cat.
Eric: Splinter cat. The splinter cat, very cool. I like his – the – they're very unique. Not, not a well-known one. And I – yeah. But what would I be if I was gonna change? I don't know. Julia, Julia and Amanda, you can answer the first question while I think about this.
Amanda: I think I would be the, like, churchyard grim, black dog situation.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: Mhmm.
Amanda: I think it'd be fun to be a dog. It’d be fun to like haunt a nice, beautiful, spooky church. And I just want to be a little dog though at night.
Julia: I'd be the squonk, which is the creature that just dissolves into tears because it's always upset.0
Eric: I don’t know. Turning into Bigfoot would be fun.
Julia: That would be.
Eric: Just having a nice – like, Bigfoot probably gets to take really cool strolls through the woods that, like, a human shouldn't and can't do due to the dangers of the woods at night. So, I bet Bigfoot has a pretty chill life.
Amanda: Think how grippy your feet would be.
Eric: Yeah, exactly.
Julia: I think, in terms of favorite cryptid – oh, man, it's hard to choose. They're all my babies. I don't think it really counts as a cryptid because it is a Native American spirit. But I do love the story of the Wendigo. And I think that is one that always sticks with me. And, again, I really do want to do it on the show at some point when we can get someone from that tradition to be a guest.
Amanda: Totally. Francis would like to know if you've come across any red head stereotypes when looking into subjects for Spirits. For context for this question, I'm a redhead. And, once when I was sitting outside of the Apple Store, a guy came up to me and hit me in the face because he thought I was a witch because of my hair and I was casting a spell on him and that was inappropriate of me. Well – well, that sucks.
Julia: That is a thing that they, they think – for example, in our Sailor Superstitions episode, redheads are considered unlucky. That's a thing. I don't know why. Just there's not a lot of them, I guess.
Amanda: Yeah, I guess rareness, depending on your area --
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: -- and the traits that are most common, is often stigmatized.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: One lady one blue one on Instagram asks, Top 10 mythological creatures. Go. I think we should go in round robin style.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: I am going to start with Yuki-onna.
Julia: Good choice. I'll go with Medusa.
Eric: Mothman. Is Mothman a mythological creature or --
Julia: Yes, we’re counting it.
Eric: -- or modern cryptid?
Julia: We're counting it.
Amanda: Beaivi.
Julia: Beaivi. Good choice. Um, the Bigfoot from – the Bigfoot Yokai from Japanese folklore.
Eric: Yeah. I was thinking about --
Julia: Oh, bigfoot.
Eric: I was thinking about the live show one --
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: -- because we do so many during the live show ones.
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: What was the one – wasn't there just like a flaming skull – a giant flaming skull of – in the Texas live show?
Julia: Yeah, there was.
Eric: I like that guy.
Julia: He's a big dude.
Amanda: Same, same genre, I like banana ghost a lot.
Julia: Banana ghosts, also, very good.
Eric: Yeah, I was gonna – it was a toss-up between him and banana ghost for me.
Julia: You know, I love the bird wives, the Russian bird wives.
Amanda: Oh, yeah.
Julia: They’re just tits out, birds out.
Amanda: Very good.
Eric: I'm gonna go with the Krampus, which was an episode that I did.
Julia: Excellent.
Eric: But, like, Krampus is great. Krampus is a great because a lot of people just don't know about Krampus and as so many people know about --
Amanda: It feels just fully made up.
Eric: -- Santa Claus.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: It does seem fake.
Amanda: And, to close out, we can – we can all share the final pick if we want. Mine was going to be Orishas just because the, the previous follow up really put me in the – in the headspace.
Eric: Orishas, very good.
Julia: I was going to suggest Baba Yaga.
Amanda: Baba Yaga, she deserves a spot as well. Maybe we'll do top 11 then.
Julia: Mhmm. Okay. That's fair.
Eric: I was also thinking about the Yule lads.
Julia: Oh, there they are.
Amanda: Yule lads.
Eric: Talk about the Yule cat.
Julia: The Yule lads can take up the whole list.
Eric: So, I mean, like, I – I don’t – let’s get – shout – honorable mention to the Yule Lads.
Amanda: Oh, Yule lads, classic.
Julia: Yogurt liquor.
Amanda: And then, to close out our mythology section, CaitlinMaeM on Instagram asks, “What do you think would be the worst animal mashup?”
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: So, we’re combining two animals?
Julia: Two animals.
Eric: Okay. Can human be one of the animals?
Julia: Yes, human can be one of them.
Eric: Okay.
Amanda: I think --
Eric: Hmm.
Amanda: -- spider torso, human bottom would be pretty bad.
Julia: Oh, no.
Amanda: So, like four legs and then the head of the spider.
Julia: Top, top spider, bottom human. Oh, no.
Amanda: Bottom human. Yeah. Anything with bottom human is just like – it's gonna look super --
Eric: Bottom human is bad.
Amanda: Bad. Yeah.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: That's for sure, because it's just like two – just like a pair of legs just running.
Julia: I feel like the combo of, like, insect and farm animal is just terrible.
Eric: Mhmm.
Julia: Like, think of, like, cockroach goat. Cockroach goat.
Eric: A big worm with a chicken's head.
Julia: Terrible.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Genuinely terrible.
Amanda: No. Bad. I think – I think a worm snake centipede situation is really the, the worst we got.
Julia: Mhmm. Yeah.
Eric: I think also any just regular animal with a Renaissance painting baby face --
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: Oh, they're terrible.
Eric: -- is very bad because, like, you know how there's a lot of – like, they didn’t know how to draw babies back then and all the babies look like weird old, old adult man.
Amanda: Yeah, just tiny, tiny man Jesus.
Julia: That's the – the – what we do in the shadows joke.
Eric: I feel like, if you just put that on, like, a goat, you've practically got Lucifer right there.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Oh, no.
Julia: Damn bad. It's all real bad.
Amanda: Well, thank you, Caitlin, for putting us in that headspace now. Thanks very much.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: This is a kind of transition question from Necropants on Instagram. If you could interview a mythological figure on the show, who would it be? For me, definitely, Baba Yaga. I think she would have the best stories and also would just be unrepentant and will be like, “Yeah, fuck your husbands.” And I'll be like, “Whoa. Okay.”
Julia: I feel like I would want like a killer interview with Medusa, but, at the same time, also like a very – like almost like the startup CEO interview with Beaivi.
Amanda: Oh, yeah. That'd be sick.
Eric: What, what about El Chupacabra? Like --
Julia: Well, okay.
Amanda: What would they have to say?
Eric: I don't know – I don’t know what questions I would ask. I'm just thinking – I'm just thinking like more outside of the box answers because your, your guys are, like, very good answers. They got some stories to tell. They got some opinions. But, like, I don't know. What, what, what do we – what, what, what's really behind El Chupacabra?
Julia: A desire to eat goats.
Eric: Like, what's they kind of do other than, like – just like goat eating?
Amanda: Let me put this to you.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Panel interview with the Yule Lads.
Julia: Ooh.
Eric: I was – yeah. I didn't want to just keep repeating the Yule lads because most, most of my answers would just be Yule lads or Mothman.
Julia: That’s fair.
Eric: But I wanted to think outside the box on that. But I mean --
Julia: I appreciate that.
Eric: -- I would definitely want to ask – maybe, maybe just a nice panel of, you know, Bigfoot moderating Yule lads, Mothman, El Chupacabra. Just a kind of whole swath of, of, of everybody there.
Julia: Okay. Okay.
Amanda: Incredible.
Julia: I'd ask El Chupacabra if he was just an alien or vice versa. Maybe aliens are just Chupacabra.
Amanda: Bonehat asks how we choose submissions for the urban legends episode. Is there anything beyond, “Yo, this is sick?”
Eric: Not for me.
Julia: It's mostly, “Yo, this is sick.” If you have a very killer email subject line, it is way easier to pick yours because it's like, “Oh, you've drawn me in. And I haven't even read the email yet.” So, very good email subject lines are the biggest thing for me.
Amanda: Yeah. And it's also, you know, we want to kind of go for a certain length. So, we'll either choose, you know, three shorter ones each or two longer ones. We'd like a label system in the inbox. So, we don't double choose, but, sometimes, that is not perfect. And, for me, too, if I – if I choose one, I just like to read through a lot of them. And, if I see one that I definitely want to do, I might search for a keyword because, at this point, we have, like, hundreds and hundreds of emails that we can search through. And, if I do like a little themed, you know, situation on, like, theater ghosts or food ghosts, I, I like to do that as well.
Julia: That's way more organized than my choices, which is, like, that has a cool headline.
Eric: I do – I do occasionally try to find, more recently, stories that might be on the shorter side, but I think will lead to a good discussion.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: So, I think – so, like, I might not have, like, four paragraphs of content, but it'll end with – well, I think this is how we got onto the what, what the worst sense --
Amanda: Yes.
Julia: Yes. Yes.
Eric: -- it would be to experience a ghost.
Julia: It is.
Eric: I think it was a very short story, but I think it led into like – I was like, “This will be something that every one of us will have opinions about to talk about afterwards.”
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: So, I think, if you can also kind of give us some, some prompt with your story, that also – that also helps.
Julia: Mhmm. For sure.
Amanda: Those are always really good. Yeah. And I – you also just don't want to choose ones that are just sad, you know.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: That's like, “A kid got murdered in my house.” Or, you know, I dissociated and it was scary. And, like, those are obviously big parts of urban legends. And we read stories along those lines sometimes. But, you know, we also don't want the episode to be like a bummer from end to end.
Julia: Yeah, I always like the personal ones a bit more too. Like, I do like the idea of the my hometown urban legend, but, at the same time, I like the part where it's like, “I messed personally with a Ouija board.”
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: And here's a weird stuff that happened to me.
Eric: Speaking of urban legends, me and Kelsey, last night, we're watching PEN15, the amazing Hulu show about the 90s where all of the characters are children, for the most part, except for the two cast members who are adults dressed up as 15 year olds, which is a phenomenal conceit. But they – there was an episode about sleepover, which got me thinking about the sleepovers that we were discussing in the last episode. And Kelsey was like, “I definitely slept over at some of my friend's house 100 times.” And I was like, “What?”
Julia: What?
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: So, I guess maybe whoever, whoever wrote in that story and I dunked on you for, for claiming you had 100 sleepovers at the same person's house, I guess – I guess it's possible.
Julia: Yeah, it is possible.
Amanda: Francis asks, “Was there anything in particular like a book, movie, show, or story that sparked your interest in mythology and folklore?”
Julia: Edith Hamilton's Mythology. That was it for me. I picked it up in the school library. And then I was like, “Oh, okay.”
Amanda: And, when we were in elementary school, wasn't there, like, a kind of encyclopedia style book of Greek gods?
Julia: Probably. Yeah.
Amanda: But that was the book that, like, solidified it for you.
Julia: Yeah, it was Edith Hamilton. Me, like, really getting deep diving into the story. Like, I think all girls ages like six to 12 go through a mythology phase. Or, at least, that's my experience, where it's like, “I like crystals and these cool rocks and, you know, vaguely pagan things that my Catholic parents probably aren't gonna be too pleased about when they find out about them.” And, you know, not everyone deep dives and latches on to things with ADHD hyperfocus like I do, but that's what happened.
Amanda: You sparked my interest in mythology, Julia.
Julia: Aww.
Amanda: When we started the show, I was just like, “These are fun stories that Julia tells me. And I, you know, got deep into it and built my knowledge base and all that along with you, our audience.”
Julia: Yay.
Eric: Yeah, I would – I would ditto, ditto Amanda's claim. I was not like a big mythology person before Spirits.
Julia: Well, what do you guys think of, like, ghost stories and stuff like that before the show?
Eric: I mean I like ghost stories. I mean I like those stories. I like – I like all of those things, but I liked it on the very, like, pop culture level --
Julia: Sure.
Eric: -- compared to what we, we do here.
Amanda: Right.
Julia: Okay. Okay.
Amanda: And, per year CEO interview comment earlier, It'sRayAdams would like to know what it took to start Spirits and then branch to Multitude, our how I built this story.
Julia: Amanda, do you can answer that probably better than us two.
Amanda: Yeah, I'm curious too. You know, almost five years later – whether this jives with what you guys remember. But, basically, Julia and I wanted to start podcasts. We thought about writing something and doing something, like, scripted. But that was, you know, a lot to dive into for your first podcast. So, we sort of said like, “What is a version of a podcast we'd be really excited about that we could make a little bit, you know, more manageable and not have to like bring in a ton of other people?” So, we decided on the name and the logo, I think, at – via at the Herald in Manhattan and, like, wrote it on a napkin, which I no longer have the napkin, unfortunately.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: And just decided that, you know, doing our happy hour conversations, but on a mic, would be a good conceit. Did some researches and some pilots. I reached out to Eric, who I knew from YouTube many moons back. And --
Eric: Well, I, I agreed to edit the first idea of the podcast the day I had met Julia and you – the three of us went to Shipwreck at the Bell House.
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: Ooh.
Eric: And you guys were spitballing the idea of a podcast and I was like, “I'll edit the podcast.”
Julia: Very chill.
Amanda: I do remember being very specifically like, “Eric, now you said it, but did you mean it?”
Eric: Yes. Yes.
Amanda: Because we can’t make a podcast if I have to edit it, because I don't have time. And, so, yeah, we – you know, we just started it. And we mean we put some thought into it, you know, and wanted it to do well and reach its listeners and stuff like that. But it definitely, you know, grew. And we did, you know, collabs on other people's podcasts, and got to know people on Twitter, and went to meet ups, and, you know, gotten included on some lists and stuff like that. And the show, you know, just kind of started to grow on its own. And then, a couple of years into Spirits, I started Join the Party with Eric and Brandon. And then Mike as well wanted to start a podcast later in the year that we started Spirits. So, I gave him a little bit of advice as he started up. And, so, then we had kind of, like, a collection of, you know, six people, who I all knew from various aspects of my life who had podcasts, and started, you know, making sense to make some kind of umbrella because we were going to conferences and, you know, cross promoting each other on each other's shows. And it didn't make sense to say three different podcast names. We were already kind of --
Eric: Oh, we had some stickers of names though. We had some stickers of names.
Amanda: Oh, we sure did.
Julia: We did. Do you want to share some of those?
Eric: Oh, let's see if we can think – I think Audio Nuts.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Audiomancers.
Amanda: Audiomancers, both of those were on there.
Julia: Yes.
Eric: Audiomancers. Audio Nuts. Both of those were there.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Siren signals.
Eric: Siren signals. That was the other one.
Amanda: I liked One if by Land, Two if by Sea. I think Two if by Sea was the, the part which is catchy, but you cannot spell. Both the word two and sea have many, many spellings.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Also by has a few different spellings as well.
Amanda: Yeah, that's true. And I think I probably went through 200 names, including, like, name generators, and like synonym things, just like free association before Multitude really stuck. And then, you know, started it, made a website, made an LLC a few months later. People wanted to, you know, hire us to do consulting. So, I was able to quit my job about nine or 10 months after setting up the Multitude website, because we had, you know, not just a little bit of income from Spirits on Patreon with ads that I was starting to sell for the podcast and the other shows. But then people were like, “Oh, you know how to do podcasting things. Like, helped me, you know, make or grow my show.” And that was kind of the, the thing that was like, “Okay, I have a contract for six months, you know, with a radio station helping them market their podcasts. I know that a little bit of income is going to be coming in that way at least for six months. And then I could figure out, you know, the next six months over that time.” And then the office came about six or seven months after that. So, that is what we did. Here we are.
Julia: There we are. That's – that's the history of our show. And, now, we're up to present.
Amanda: We’ll also link to some interviews that I have done along with Julia and a couple other Multitude people on our website, the Multitude site, if you go to the – either the about or the team page. So, if you're interested in more in-depth interviews, go to multitude.productions.
Eric: We also – we also bought an ad on the Adventure Zone.
Julia: Oh, yeah, that did bring us a lot of attention.
Eric: That also was – I mean like that – like the list, undeniably, we're very helpful. But I think our – like, for a long time, our single day biggest growth was the day that episode came out, which was worth its weight in gold.
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: And it was worth $200 in gold.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: Yeah, I think that's the only ad we've ever taken out for the show.
Eric: Yeah. Yeah.
Amanda: And it was definitely – like, in our listener survey every year, you know, people say that they found us through that. So, it was very exciting. Treeman75 asked on Instagram, “What superstitions or rituals do you hold to in your everyday life?”
Eric: Never trust a man with two first names.
Julia: Okay. Bold choice. Interesting.
Amanda: True.
Eric: And always touch the outside of a plane while boarding.
Julia: Oh, okay.
Amanda: I do that. My mom makes me do that. Yeah.
Julia: I don't do those things. I'm not a particularly superstitious person, I don't think. I'm trying to think of like anything that I do that is particularly superstitious. I don't really think there is anything.
Amanda: I am firmly team investigate noises in the night, but that is I think more of a personal preference and less than a superstition.
Julia: Yes, that is the reason that we have a, a bat next door bed. But, other than that, you know --
Eric: Well, yeah, I mean I like obsessively make sure the oven is off.
Amanda: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Eric: That's – that's mostly because I'm worried I left the oven and not because I'm worried about a ghost.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: Definitely. Shay Sarris asks for our favorite colors. Mine is probably – is the Multitude colors; either teal or purple.
Julia: I go green or gray.
Eric: Mine is yellow.
Amanda: Schneider, always with the dark horse pick with yellow.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: Tyler is online, asks for our favorite places in Scotland. I moved there last week for my Master's Program. Congrats. And I think I'm the only person among us who's been to Scotland.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: I really love the – I think it's like the Royal Museum of Sciences in Edinburg. It’s beautiful. And Glasgow is also lovely. I spent a lot of time down at the, like, Town Square and staying with my friend, Paul, and just, like, enjoying a local life in Glasgow. And it was absolutely beautiful. And then, if I ever go back to Scotland, I'm definitely going to look at those kelpie heads there. Absolutely.
Julia: That was the only thing I was going to recommend because I know very little about Scotland. But I know those kelpie heads are gorgeous. And you should go see them.
Amanda: Yeah, I want to go to the Highlands. I want to go to the Isle of Skye. And I want to go to, to the kelpies. Abigail asks me a specific question about what's my process of finding out what restaurants are safe to eat at because they too cannot eat garlic. And I just accepted that, if I eat out, my stomach's gonna get upset. A, look at the menu in advance and, if I'm getting takeout or I want to go somewhere, I’ll sometimes call and ask like, “Hey, I'm allergic to alliums. Like, yes, I'm sorry. It's annoying. Like, it is a real thing. You know, do you have any options?” And just like, sometimes, they don't, you know. And, like, everything has garlic powder in it or onion powder in some way. You kind of learn over time what is safer to eat. Italian food is really hard, you know. But, like, Thai food is really easy. Japanese food is really easy. Korean is a little bit harder, but Chinese food is often easy. Indian, generally, does not have onion or garlic in it unless it specifically says. And most nutritional labels as well, when you're shopping, if they say spices, they generally don't mean anything garlic. They'll usually list those things separately. So, that is very helpful.
Julia: And that's Amanda's tummy corner.
Amanda: And then, to close out, Rebecca said that, while I was listening to your most recent episode, I considered typing up 200 questions to celebrate. But I decided to narrow it down to my favorite number, a mythical number, 13.
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: So, of the 13 questions that Rebecca sent in, I am going to just throw some at you guys. And we will close out with a little rapid fire round.
Julia: Great. Let's do it.
Amanda: Favorite ever recorded episode.
Julia: That's such a hard question.
Eric: That's so difficult.
Amanda: I think, while recording Beaivi and Disabilities in folklore --
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: -- we’re both like, “Oh, shit. This is a home run for me.” And interviews, in general, are always so much fun. Obviously, talking to Garth Nix was incredible. Julia Turshen’s interview, I just felt like I was, like, being told like a beautiful story, like, you know, while under a blanket. Like, it was so lovely. So, those for me.
Julia: I think mine is going to be a bit of a left field one, but I loved terrorizing you in the Japanese urban legends episode. That's one of my favorites just --
Eric: That’s a very good one.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: -- for reactions to the horrifying legends. It was --
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: It was a lot of fun.
Eric: Yeah, I'd say a lot of our recent interview episodes have been really enjoyable.
Julia: Just because Amanda's crushing it with getting interview guests.
Amanda: Oh, thanks. Turns out, if people have a book coming out, they’re really easy to book. So, that’s what I’ve been doing.
Julia: That’s true.
Amanda: Favorite place to visit for a live show. For me, a real tie between Portland and Austin. But, since I hadn't been to Austin and we – you know, we're just there pretty much do the live show and, and, like, chill and eat tacos, that was super, super fun.
Julia: Yeah, I really liked the venue that we did our Portland show in. It was like an underground bar, which was great.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: And I also had a lot of fun doing the Multitude live show in Seattle.
Amanda: Yeah, that was sick.
Eric: I mean I'm gonna say – I mean it wasn't a full, full – it was a Multitude live show. But the Bell House is –
Julia: Yes, a classic.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: I mean that's not – that's not maybe a place to visit. I've been to the Bell House multiple times before. But, like, that was the – let's say the green roof of the Bell House was my favorite place.
Julia: That's fair.
Eric: Because it was great to, like, be like, “I'm here behind the scenes.”
Amanda: I'm in the green room of the Bell House.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: In their – in their back of house WiFi.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: A chocolate or vanilla?
Eric: Vanilla.
Julia: Yeah, vanilla.
Amanda: Vanilla:
Julia: Ice cream, vanilla. Chocolate, other things.
Amanda: Yeah, I like chocolate in several different applications, but I always like a vanilla thing. Any pets?
Julia: Nope.
Eric: I mean I've got Henry and Herbie. They're doing great.
Julia: The good lads.
Amanda: Two Boston terriers. Lad’s brothers.
Eric: Brothers. They're great. I love them. I don't know if he was drunk, but some guy, like, yesterday on the street was like, oh, sponsor to – oh, he was very excited. I think it's because he said he worked at a pet store. But he was like --
Julia: Aww.
Eric: It was like – maybe, it was Sunday afternoon. I don't know. He was very stoked to see the dogs in a way that like when I imagined like a dude, bro, it's only – he's – they're only excited to see a dog like that when they’re like – just, like, having a good time.
Amanda: For me, no pets. I'm allergic to all of them, but I have about 30 plants. And those are lovely.
Julia: Nice.
Amanda: Do you enjoy being scared?
Julia: Yes, kind of. It's weird.
Eric: I enjoy suspense for movies with horror elements, but I don't like – I don't like in the moment. No one likes being scared. Do I enjoy scenarios in which I will be scared? Yes.
Amanda: I like opting in to being scared. You know, I like reading novels or like detective stories or murder mysteries, where I know it's gonna happen and I can close the book and walk away if I have to. Recording Spirits, I would say, like, I enjoy the feeling of being thrilled and scared. But it's because I'm safe in my studio and can stop, you know.
Julia: Yeah, I think, for me – like, so, for instance, haunted houses, I hate the anticipation of waiting in line for the haunted house, but I am totally fine once we're in there. You know what I mean?
Amanda: That's fun. Um, glasses or contacts. I wear reading glasses.
Julia: I have distance glasses and I use bluelights for when I'm at the computer, like, 40 percent of the time.
Eric: I just have good old vision.
Julia: Oh, hell, yeah.
Amanda: Drive or public transit. For me, living in the middle of New York City, I have public transit all the way. I’m buying a bike soon. I’m very excited about that. And, on the rare occasion that we do rent a car, it is such a, like, delightful revelation to have a car. I'm just like, “Oh, my god, I could buy heavy liquids and not have to carry them home. Like, it's amazing.”
Julia: Yeah, I would always pick public transit over driving. I live in an area where it's mostly driving, unfortunately. But I like being able to kind of zone out while I travel rather than having to be very alert.
Eric: I, I am fully on board with public transportation. Driving is terrible and better urban development is key.
Julia: Hell, yeah.
Amanda: Do we craft anything?
Eric: I have crafted a lot because I used to work for a subsidiary of Michaels and made video content for them. But I don't craft much these days.
Julia: I used to embroider. I don't anymore. I’m thinking about getting back into it, but we'll see.
Amanda: I do like very elementary kind of knitting, crocheting, embroidery. My grandma is a fabric artist and taught me to sew as a kid, but I don't have a machine right now. So, that is something I want to get back into. It’s like quilting. And, currently, I'm really into mending like the visible mending communities. Like, a beautiful thing about, you know, you don't have to disguise your mends. They can be like beautiful and like add art to your clothes or pillowcases or whatever. So, that has been my main outlet recently.
Julia: Very cool.
Amanda: And cooking. Cooking feels like crafting. It's creative.
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: Baking, I really like baking. And, finally, lucky number 13, guys, do we have an interesting question for our listeners? I'll say that, when we do this Multitude survey every year – and it's not too late to take it, by the way, if you want to; multitude.productions/survey – I'm always so curious to hear where people found out about the show, because it is fascinating and, like, hearing people say like, “Oh, you know, I saw someone's t-shirt in the mall. And I asked them what that was about. And they told me it’s about Spirits.” Like, that, that, to us – you know, we don't get to see our audience ever. You know, like, we don't get to see the size of you. We don't get to talk to all of you. We don't get to, like, see or, you know, comments on our podcast as if it's a YouTube video. So, knowing these, like, real life moments where you encounter somebody out in the world or the few times that, like, I've seen people out in the world who don't expect to see me and it’s not on a podcast thing and they recognize me. That is the, like, thing that makes my career tangible to me. So, that is always my favorite thing to hear.
Julia: Yeah, I think mine would just be, you know, the question that we ask all the time is what is your experience with the supernatural and stuff like that, because I think that it is fascinating that so many of our listeners and so many people across the world have had experiences like that or have had, you know, paranormal investigatory experiences. I think that's always something I want to hear more about.
Eric: Yeah, I mean I would – I would pretty much just echo both of those. I mean I think knowing why, why people are listening and how they're finding it, I think that's – that's the most interesting stuff that we, we can get.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Amazing. Well, guys, any, any parting words to close out this, our 200th episode? I'm so glad that I get to do this with you both. I’m amazed that fun project we did, because we hated our jobs, turned into jobs. And I'm really grateful for that.
Julia: I'm so grateful that we've gotten to do 200 of these and I hope we get to do another 200.
Eric: And then some.
Amanda: Me too. I can do this forever.
Julia: Too many stories. We can't – we’ll never run out of content.
Amanda: Well, conspirators, we love you. We thank you. We – you know, obviously, there will be no podcast and no any of this without you. So, we hope that you enjoyed this bonanza. We hope you enjoy the many, many episodes to come. And we hope that you remember.
Julia: Stay creepy.
Amanda: Stay cool.
Theme Music
Amanda: Thanks again to our sponsors. At dipseastories.com/spirits, you can get a free 30-day trial, at thirdlove.com/spirits, you can get 10 percent off your first purchase, and, at betterhelp.com/spirits, you can get 10 percent off your first month of counseling.
Outro Music
Amanda: Spirits was created by Amanda McLoughlin, Julia Schifini, and Eric Schneider with music by Kevin MacLeod and visual design by Allyson Wakeman.
Julia: Keep up with all things creepy and cool by following us @SpiritsPodcast on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Tumblr. We also have all of our episode transcripts, guest appearances, and merch on our website as well as a form to send us your Urban Legends at spiritspodcast.com.
Amanda: Join our member community on Patreon, patreon.com/spiritspodcast, for all kinds of behind-the-scenes stuff. Just $1 gets you access to audio extras with so much more available to recipe cards, director’s commentaries, exclusive merch, and real physical gifts.
Julia: We are a founding member of Multitude, a collective of independent audio professionals. If you like Spirits, you will love the other shows that live on our website at multitude.productions.
Amanda: And, above all else, if you liked what you heard today, please share us with your friends. That is the very best way to help us keep on growing.
Julia: Thank you so much for listening. Till next time.
Transcriptionist: Rachelle Rose Bacharo
Editor: Krizia Casil