Episode 410: Your Urban Legends XCVIII - Short & Spooky!
/Something a story is short, sweet, and more importantly, spooky! So we’ve got a variety of those quicker stories this episode - from graves, to elementary school ghost hunting clubs, to the worst story a grandma has ever told, these are short, quick, and terrifying!
Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of colonialism, violence, death, child endangerment, warfare, and xenophobia.
Housekeeping
- Recommendation: This week, Amanda recommends sending in more urban legends!
- Books: Check out our previous book recommendations, guests’ books, and more at https://spiritspodcast.com/books
- Call to Action: Vote for Spirits in the SIGNAL AWARDS!
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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: https://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
AMANDA: Hello, ConSpiriters, Amanda here. I want to take a quick minute before the episode to tell you that we were nominated for an award, the Signal Award, in fact, which rewards excellence in podcasting. And we need your help to win the Paranormal and Horror category. So between now and October 17th, please help us out by going to vote.signalaward.com and put in Multitude to help Spirits, but also Join the Party and Pale Blue Pod win our categories. Thank you. And now, enjoy the episode.
[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. This is a special episode of Hometown Urban Legends. This is our Short and Spooky episode.
AMANDA: Julia, I'm so excited about this because we sort of came up with an idea, inspired in our last episode, and are kind of getting right into it. And I love that here on Spirits, working for ourselves, making a podcast that we love, we can just be like, "You know what? That sounds fun. Let's do it."
JULIA: That does sound fun. Let's just do it. And I think this was kind of inspired by the fact that we had someone asked us, "Oh, when you're looking for Urban Legends episodes, what are you looking for in terms of length?" And I realized a lot of times we are looking for longer stories, because it really gets you into the atmosphere of it all, and it really, like, allows us to kind of have a lot to bounce off of. And so there are a lot of, I would say, underappreciated, short and spooky stories that we get submitted to our inbox that haven't made it onto episodes only because they were shadowed by the idea of these bigger emails.
AMANDA: Julia, it's like when you and I, you know, go out to a bar or something.
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
Amand: And someone tries to come up to, like, talk to me, or be like, "Hey, like, do you guys want to blah?" This never happened to us. I'm coming up with a scenario. Just because I'm taller and have more mass than you, and then immediately I look at you because you are the one making the decisions. And that is something that I greatly value. And I think that, you know, the volume of text here ought not overshadow the fact that there are some short and spooky and wonderful emails.
JULIA: I 100% agree. So, Amanda, why don't I get us started here? I have one, hmm, what to pick first? I'm gonna start with an email all the way back from 2022.
AMANDA: Ooh.
JULIA: Titled Ghosts Magic and Why I Can't Look Into My Parents' Room.
AMANDA: Oh, that's very good.
JULIA: This is from Tyler, he/him, and he gets right to it, which I appreciate. Here we go. "When I was a sophomore in high school, my mom started getting into witchcraft. Her first actions were, obviously, putting up barriers around herself, me, and my brother, and my dad was overseas at the time. But she also started to help whatever spirits showed up move on." Which I would say, quick pause here, the proper things to do if you're gonna start dabbling in witchcraft—
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: —make sure you and everyone around you is protected, and also do the good thing, which is helping spirits move on to realize that they can find peace and everything like that.
AMANDA: Love it.
JULIA: "After about six months of this, she met her first dark presence, and we could all feel it. So, obviously, she started blocking all of the things that were in the house, pushing them across a small river near our house." I'm, again, a little bit concerned by this idea of like, "All right, so we met our first dark presence, so we're pushing all the things out. We're not entertaining this at all anymore."
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: "Recently, some of these dark things have found their way back, and while our house is now protected, it ends at the fence, and the spirits pace back and forth along the fence line, meaning that the single window in my parents' room makes your skin crawl due to the absurd amount of supernatural energy along the fence."
AMANDA: Oh, my.
JULIA: End of story.
AMANDA: I think Tyler's mom is too good at this and needs to start leveling up into, like, banishment, because that is bananas.
JULIA: Yeah, I don't— first off, I do and don't love the idea of the, like, barrier at the fence line.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: It reminds me a lot of a movie that I probably watched too young as a kid. It was a Tales from the Crypt movie, so, like, not the TV show version of it, but there was, like, a full length movie version about, like, a bunch of people stuck in a house that is surrounded by demons, and like fighting to see if the demons will be let in.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: And just the idea of these, like, malevolent spirits pacing the barrier of the house is very spooky to me.
AMANDA: Yeah. The image that came to my mind was like, if you dig a moat around, like, your garden, or your yard, or to deal with, like, flooding, maybe put up like a little barrier of sandbags in advance of a hurricane. I think we did a lot growing up on Long Island. It is better that your house doesn't have water in it, but you sure are now surrounded by a river. And in this case, it is a river of malevolent spirits that wish to do you harm.
JULIA: Yeah. I don't love that. It also reminds me of, like, you know, big cats pacing at the zoo. You know, where they're—
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: —enclosed, and all they want to do is get out. I don't love that image. Tyler, very spooky. Do not like.
AMANDA: Extremely spooky. It also brings to mind we've talked about, like, the most sinister sort of actions that a spirit could take, standing stock still, right? Like a classic, scary one. But pacing, I think your jungle cat analogy, Julia, really unlocked for me that, like, pacing implies intent.
JULIA: Yes.
AMANDA: Pacing means that you are, like, keeping your heart rate up, or metaphorical heart rate up, to get something done, and it's something you're gonna get done probably involves me.
JULIA: Yeah. It probably involves eating me.
AMANDA: Uh-huh.
JULIA: Don't like that, not a fan.
AMANDA: Don't like that. Pacing, creepy.
JULIA: Pacing, bad.
AMANDA: All right, Julia. Let me see that and—
JULIA: And raise me.
AMANDA: —pair it— no, no, I'm gonna pair it.
JULIA: Oh, okay.
AMANDA: You amused our bouche. Now, this our transcriber found very difficult to transcribe. It is because I am mispronouncing French, KM. It's not anyone else. You are— you've amused the bouche, you've awakened the palette. And here's our second course. This is from Plate, she/her, back in 2021. And it's titled The Trail I Was Not To Traverse.
JULIA: Ooh.
AMANDA: So Plate says, "This is a short story I wrote for a Halloween scary story contest my department at work had. It happened to me, and I rendered it into story form."
JULIA: Okay, okay. I was gonna be like, "Don't send us your fiction, but—"
AMANDA: No, no, no.
JULIA: Okay.
AMANDA: No, no, no. Plate made it happened, and does give us some context at the end, additionally, to the story. So, "The forest I frequent is haunted, not by the traditional ghosts of fiction or fancy, but by stone walls dividing nothing but trees, foundations left to crumble, and once trafficked roads now abandoned. It's testament to how cruelly the land was wrenched from its owners, quote, 'for the good of all.' Yet I've never felt unnerved there. The woods are my home, and they welcome me into their embrace, except for that afternoon. Tripping lightly down an overgrown path, leaves waving their summer green into the sky, a wave of unease hit me. Slowing, I walked onward, the feeling of unease giving way to downright dread as the trail dipped down into a hollow. I stalled. Every nerve twanged with a dissonance beyond anything I'd felt before, freezing my feet from taking another step forward. I unhappily gave in and walked back along the trail until it rejoined the main path. The dread receding with every step. I don't know what was in those woods, a shade of those who were or a beast who wished me ill, but when I returned years later, I couldn't find the path. It was quite simply gone."
JULIA: Ooh. Interesting.
AMANDA: And the context that she includes is, "For clarity, this is in a Pennsylvanian State park that was built in the '70s by eminent domain."
JULIA: Ooh.
AMANDA: "There is a pre-Revolutionary War town now drowned under the waves of the lake in the park."
JULIA: Oh, no.
AMANDA: "But as I've yet to experience any ghosts on the water during day or night. Yes, I kayak at night. Spooky AF, 10 out of 10 recommend. I left that bit out."
JULIA: Amanda, I'm gonna ask maybe a dumb question for a smart business person like you.
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: What the fuck is eminent domain?
AMANDA: Eminent domain is when the state says, "Our need to do something is more important than your private ownership of property." So they're meant to compensate you fairly. But if, for example, they want to build like a railroad track or a highway or— I didn't know they could do it for state parks, but a state park, they say, "Sorry, government's buying your land now. Here's some money. Goodbye." And the people just have to leave.
JULIA: Interesting. Okay. I like that they were like, "The government needs a state park. Get the fuck out of here."
AMANDA: I guess you could debate it, but I thought it was just for— I mean, you usually hear about it in, like, transportation, but anyway, that's it.
JULIA: Very cool. Okay. I also love that this is summer too. Like summer for me is such a, like, bright and not spooky time of the year.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: So I was picturing fall in my head, until Plate described the green summer leaves and I was like, "Oh, shit. Okay. Interesting, interesting."
AMANDA: But the fact that it's so lush and the path, it's not like it was winter, and then you come back in the summer, and everything—
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: —looks different, right? Like, you come back, you had a trail, a trail that was demarcated enough you could follow it, not just out, but back to the main trailhead. And then you're like, "Oh. Oh, that's just fully not there anymore," is so spooky.
JULIA: That is very spooky, as someone who does a lot of hiking in trails, usually very marked trails, the idea of, like, going down a marked trail and then not being able to find that trail again is very, very spooky.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: Do not like. Do not like. All the hikers out there, you know what I mean. You know.
AMANDA: Hell yeah.
JULIA: All right, Amanda. I've got something from Jude titled Something Was Outside.
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: "I am writing about something I saw when I was younger and while I was staying at my grandma's house. Let me give you some background first. So the room I was staying in was on the second floor and had a window looking down on the front yard. My grandma and grandpa stay downstairs because they do not like the stairs." Fair enough. Lot of elderly people don't want to be on a second floor.
AMANDA: That's a trip hazard.
JULIA: Exactly.
AMANDA: Why do it?
JULIA: All right. Now, the story. "So I woke up, and it was around 2:00 AM and I was struggling to fall back asleep, so I turned on a podcast and started reading a book." I love the podcast and book bonus. That's great.
AMANDA: So powerful. I couldn't do that.
JULIA: "An hour pa—" you know what? I, actually, sometimes do kind of get that, because sometimes you just want to hear other voices and, like, not even, like, focus on what they're saying necessarily.
AMANDA: Listen, powerful.
JULIA: "An hour passed, and then I heard something strange. I heard a train horn sound that lasted for around 10 minutes."
AMANDA: 10 minutes?
JULIA: It's too long.
AMANDA: Damn.
JULIA: "Now, my grandparents lived in the middle of a small town in Texas, so there weren't any train tracks around."
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: "I decided someone was just playing some noises, and I went back to reading. But then I heard something crack, like when you pop your knuckles. I heard it again and again, and I decided to play team ignorant, at first. I heard the noises for like the 15th time, and I decided to check it out through the window. So I opened the blinds and I looked down. I saw a black thing with a hunched back and extremely long arms and legs. The face was all white and it was staring at me. I freaked the fuck out and didn't know what to do. I tried to go back to sleep, but failed, and then I decided to ignore it and listen to the podcast even more. And I waited until my grandparents woke up. Then I went downstairs and I talked to my grandma. I asked her, 'Hey, do you know what that thing outside is?' She asked me what on earth I was talking about, so I told her, and she laughed and said it was my imagination, and I shouldn't worry. I remembered it when my grandma joked about it and decided I should tell you guys. So thanks for reading, and I love the podcast."
AMANDA: That's really good. I do love when the person you turn to for help is like, "Oh, no. You too?" But it's very funny if your grandma to be like, "Trololol. No, no, no."
JULIA: "LOLOL. No. No, sweetheart. That was just nothing."
AMANDA: "No, sweetie."
JULIA: "That was— that means you were just very sleepy."
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: "And you saw a spooky thing." Happens to the best of us.
AMANDA: Happens all the time. Very cute.
JULIA: Oh, yes, yes. Very spooky, but also very cute.
AMANDA: Love it. Julia, I have a 2017 vintage for you.
JULIA: Ooh. Wow, that's very early. Hot damn.
AMANDA: Yes. This is from [13:51] who wrote in In the Dark Depths of November. And the email just begins with, "Let me set the scene. You're in third grade. You're lying awake in your bed."
JULIA: I don't like when they use second person.
AMANDA: Me, neither.
JULIA: I don't like that. It's too spooky.
AMANDA: I don't, either. Well, here we are. "It's late, and you're usually asleep by now. Come to think of it, you can't remember the last time you were up this late. Your mind drifts to the ghost stories you were told at school that day, and you've almost suppressed a shudder when you hear it. The footsteps, first across your downstairs floor, then up the stairs. It's probably nothing. You didn't hear the front door open, so it must be someone in your family. Still, you have to be sure. You get out of bed and tiptoe to the stairs, but you've barely gotten to the banister before you're thrown backward down the steep flight of stairs."
JULIA: You are in third grade.
AMANDA: "The last thing you see before your neck snaps on the tile below—"
JULIA: Whoa, hold on.
AMANDA: "—is a shadowy figure in a long lacy gown. This is the image that haunted the minds of all the eighty-ear-olds at my elementary school in my small georgia town."
JULIA: How would they know? If your neck is getting snapped, how would you be able to tell the tale?
AMANDA: That's the creativity, Julia. That's where we add in.
JULIA: Hmm. Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: "So her name, as it was with all ghosts at my school back then, was Elizabeth Blackwell."
JULIA: What? I'm Googling. Go ahead.
AMANDA: This shared OC of Elizabeth Blackwell. Okay? "So the characters of Elizabeth and her best friend Frankie were the ones created— sorry, discovered by me and my ghost hunting gang of third graders. We called ourselves the Ghost Club, or the GC for short. The basic backstory was that a girl, Elizabeth Blackwell, had a curious and scientific father that often went on expeditions to cold and desolate places. On one such occasion, Elizabeth and Frankie tagged along on the S.S. Terra Nova, but one day, Frankie done goofed, fell off the small boat into the freezing water. Elizabeth immediately jumped in to help, but the two girls were thrashing around so much they both drowned. Now is a good time to mention that Frankie was based off one of my family members, and yes, she was Irish."
JULIA: Amanda, that's so for you.
AMANDA: "The spirit of Elizabeth varies in temperament from story to story, but in this particular yarn, she is mad. She started out just by pushing people into the water. It wasn't enough to kill someone, just enough to be inconvenient. They usually got back up. But she got tired of pushing people into water and started pushing people to their doom, alas. Now, the SS Terra Nova was a real ship. You can look it up, and there have been a few notable Elizabeth Blackwells throughout history. I don't know why my friends and I were so intent on including facts in our ghost stories, but we were, and now I get to tell them to you."
JULIA: Well, because then it lends a certain credence to it, you know?
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: That also makes it easier to confirm that it didn't happen in our Google day and age, you know?
AMANDA: Incredibly well done, thank you.
JULIA: So I looked up Elizabeth Blackwell because I was very curious, and there are two things that come up when you search Elizabeth Blackwell ghost. One—
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: —is the fact that there was a real-life woman named Elizabeth Blackwell, who was the first woman America to earn her medical degree. Love her.
AMANDA: Cool.
JULIA: Awesome. The second is a movie that came out in 2017 called The Blackwell Ghost, which is about a filmmaker who attempts to prove the existence of ghost, but is terrorized by a ghost in a haunted house, and it's presented as a documentary that actually includes ghost footage, rather than being like, you know, in a very Blair Witch Project style.
AMANDA: Love it. I feel like Elizabeth Blackwell is sort of our shared name for random ghostly lady.
JULIA: Yes, I like that. There's also a middle school that's called that, so—
AMANDA: Oh.
JULIA: —there you go. Maybe that's where they heard it. Who knows?
AMANDA: I hope they have no instances of students being pushed on the stairs.
JULIA: Me, too. Me, too. All right. Amanda, I have one, and I'm excited, because this one is a Italian Hometown Urban Legend.
AMANDA: Oh, one of your vintage.
JULIA: One of my vintage. So this is from Romy, she/her, and the subject of the email is The Windows Always Kept Open.
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: "Hi, there. I've been listening to your podcast since the start, and I love all the Hometown Legends. When in Florence for work, I found out about this local legend that immediately made me think of you guys. The one of the window always kept open. The story goes that at the corner of Via de Servi and Piazza Santissima Annunziata stands a red brick Palace facing the square, Palazzo Grifoni. When you look at the palace from the square on the right side of the building, you may notice a window which is always kept open. According to a 16th century legend, a member of the Grifoni family went off to war, leaving his just married wife." Never a good thing. Never a good thing.
AMANDA: Uh-uh.
JULIA: "The beautiful lady grieved over the departure, but still hopeful to see her beloved husband again, spent her days looking out of that window. The man never came back, and she died a widow. After her death, and as the window was closed by her relatives, strange and mysterious events happened inside the room. Painting started falling off the walls, objects began to fly, and furniture kept on shaking. As soon as the window was reopened, everything went back to normal. An additional twist makes this legend even more interesting. In the middle of the square, there is an equestrian sculpture of Fernando de Medici looking towards the window. Was the young lady his secret lover? As for all of the legends, nobody knows exactly, and it's up to you to choose your favorite ending. Hearing about this story, I immediately thought of Spirits Podcast, so here it is. Hope you have an amazing day. Kind regards, Romy."
AMANDA: Incredible.
JULIA: I love a kind of classic, like, "Ah, this young, beautiful lady, her husband went off to war, or went to sea, or whatever." And then they're like, "Ah, big sigh, because I'm never gonna see that husband ever again, and I'm never gonna remarry, and I'm just going to be the ghost that lives in this widow's walk," or what have you.
AMANDA: It's an incredible trope, and one that we get a lot of very good legends from.
JULIA: We do. We do. Can you tell I'm from the northeast of America by the fact that I'm like, "I love when sailors go to sea and their wives mourn them."?
AMANDA: I mean, that's our— that's where we came from, right? Like lot of, you know, wailing widows, truly.
JULIA: We had a lot of wailing widows, for sure.
AMANDA: And not like wailing like the noise, but whaling, W-H-A-L-I-N-G, the
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: —industry.
JULIA: That too. Both of them, same.
AMANDA: Julia, here's one from Rigo Martinez from 2018.
JULIA: Ooh. You are going so far back. I love this for us.
AMANDA: It's titled A Personal Story of My Past Hauntings. "Now, I've only told friends this story, not even family. So here we go."
JULIA: Okay.
AMANDA: "I have a slight fear of mirrors. And when I was younger, I remember looking into my own reflection and seeing something behind me. I was about seven years old."
JULIA: Someone showed you a horror movie too early, girlfriend. That's just—
AMANDA: This is already a no for Julia. "So I look around and I saw a black shadow that disappears to smoke."
JULIA: The— it's worse that you can describe the disappearance. It's not like, "Disappears in a blink." The idea that there is some lingering aspect to it that you describe as smoke is bad.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: Bad.
AMANDA: "So naturally, I ran as far as my little legs would take me."
JULIA: Oh.
AMANDA: "For the next few weeks, I would see the figure out of the corner of my eye. But before I got a good look, every time it would turn to smoke. It actually got worse as time went on, to the point that I saw it daily. I was sick of this nightmare. I had to face it. So I ran to the mirror in my bathroom. I put the step stool down to see well. I was short, even for my age."
JULIA: Aw.
AMANDA: This brave child.
JULIA: Same, same. I needed a stepstool, too.
AMANDA: "And I stared into my own eyes. I was flickering between the shadow and myself until it stopped on his reflection. I was paralyzed. It just stared. As I knew it meant no harm, I realized it was me. He had scars on his right cheek and half an inch away from his right eye, a scar that I got at 10 years old."
JULIA: What the fuck?
AMANDA: "Fast forward to when I was 10, I looked in the mirror one day to see seven-year-old me in the reflection with a look of shock, yet amused in some way. After a second, he vanished, leaving me and myself alone."
JULIA: What the actual fuck? Listen, I do stand by the fact that I think when you die, time becomes irrelevant, and like your energy can move forwards and backwards and what have you. I'm very much of the Hill House mentality.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: I also think there is a reason why they tell you, if you're going to do like hallucinogens, you don't look at the mirror, because there's something hinky and spooky going on, and you just can't, like, perceive yourself correctly when you're in an altered state. And I somehow think that, like, both of these things are true about this story. Not that I'm saying this child was using hallucinogens, but—
AMANDA: It just— there is something about the, like, slipstream of time about the thing haunting you being you, and not just being you now, but being you from the future with a scar that you remembered well enough to know that three years later, when you got it and looked in the mirror. You're like, "Oh. Oh, it all makes sense."
JULIA: Oh, God, that's so spooky. I do not like that.
AMANDA: Short and spooky, Julia.
JULIA: I don't like it one bit. That was a very short and very spooky one, Amanda.
AMANDA: Hooray.
JULIA: I think after that, I'm gonna need to quickly grab a refill.
AMANDA: Let's do it.
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AMANDA: Hey, everybody, it's Amanda. And welcome to the refill, where I'm so excited to welcome a brand-new patron to the mix. It's Soft Lightning. What a good patron name that is. Huh? Welcome and thank you so much for supporting this podcast, which presumably brings some knowledge and smiles and company to your days. We couldn't do it without you. So thank you very much. And if you would like to join Soft Lightning, you can do so at patreon.com/spiritspodcast where you have 410 episodes worth of bonus content. That's right. Recipe cards, director's commentary, monthly bonus urban legend episodes, and more. October is a great time to get some spooky stuff in your ears, and you have dozens and dozens of extra urban legends in there for you to enjoy. Thank you as well to our supporting producer-level patrons, Uhleeseeuh, Anne, Arianna, Hannah, Jane, Jeremiah, Kneazlekins, Lily, Matthew, Captain Jonathan MAL-uh-kye Cosmos, Sarah, and Scott. And our legend level patrons, Audra, Bex, Chibi Yokai, Michael, Morgan H., Sarah, and Bea Me Up Scotty. This is the final week that you can vote for Spirits in the Signal Awards, which is podcasting's premiere award that we have been nominated for. and that's incredible, but we need your help to win the People's Choice category. Okay? So look for Spirits in the Paranormal or Horror category. The link is in the description or you can just go to vote.signalaward.com. That's a singular award, Signal Award. And I'm so excited. So we would love for you to go ahead and do it. We want to win. While you're there, you can also search for Multitude and vote for Join the Party and Pale Blue Pod as well. Thank you so much. And hey, you may have heard that we are doing all Urban Legends for the remainder of October, so if you've been meaning to send some in, now is your time to do so. Come on over and send your urban legends directly to us, spiritspodcast@gmail.com or go to spiritspodcast.com to use our contact form. By the way, we accept any and all pictures of your pets, plants and crafts, I'm gonna say, so feel free to attach some photos. We always love seeing them from you, but we need your urban legends, okay? Send them in. We are sponsored this week by Blueland. I don't love the amount of plastic that coming into my house that I have to schlep up my stairs to just use for daily stuff and personal care products, things that I can't necessarily replace in a reusable way, even the film around laundry pods is plastic, for example. And Blueland set out to actually do something about it and eliminate the need for single-use plastic in the products we reach for the most. They don't use any single-use plastic in any component, from bottles, tablets and wrappers to their shipping, even the packaging of their tablets is fully compostable. I just chuck it outside in my compost on my balcony, and it works. You can get even more savings as well by buying refills in bulk or setting up a subscription. I love their all-purpose cleaner. It is the only one that I use at home, and whenever I need it, I just get a refill. So I use the same beautiful glass spray bottle and just refill it. It feels so much better, and also means I'm carrying less stuff up my stairs. Blueland 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, folks. blueland.com/spirits for 15% off. That's blueland.com/spirits to get 15% off. And now, back to the show.
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JULIA: Amanda, we are back. And for our Short and Spooky episodes, I want us to recommend our favorite shots.
AMANDA: Oh, I love that.
JULIA: Because it's kind of like a shot chaser situation here for the short and spooky.
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: And I think that people think like, "Oh, you know, if I'm gonna do a shot, it's gonna be, like, of just pure alcohol," which is, like, you know, the fastest way to do it, certainly.
AMANDA: You could.
JULIA: But there are some, like, great flavored shots out there, so I wanted to just, like, share with the people what you would recommend in terms of ordering a shot.
AMANDA: You know, I don't think I've ordered a lot of, like, composed shots at a bar.
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: But what I do sometimes do is, when making a cocktail for myself, if I have any extra in the cocktail shaker, I'll put it in a little shot glass and then give it to Eric or something, or he will, for me. He's been making a, like, tomato margarita recently here in, like, the dog days of summer as we're recording this. And so I'll often have just, like, the little sidecar of the rest of his tomato margarita, or, you know, a martini or something in a little shot glass. And it's very tasty, especially when it's so cold and has that, like, nice aftertaste of the, like, tomato vermouth or little olive brine. It's like, mwa, so tasty.
JULIA: I really like that. That's very good. I am not the kind of person who orders shots very often, but I'm often with people who order shots for people or are given shots by bartenders. I enjoy a lemon drop.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm. It's a classic.
JULIA: Yes. And then there's always the basic bitch green tea shots, which— don't ask a good bartender to make you green tea shots.
AMANDA: What's that?
JULIA: It's like— it's whiskey, peach schnapps, sweet and sour mix.
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: And it sounds awful, but it does taste pretty good. It kind of tastes like green tea, but I— it's like one of those things that bartenders hate to make, so don't order them. You know what I mean?
AMANDA: I get it. I get it.
JULIA: Unless it's, like, especially on the menu or something like that. Like just don't do that. But I also really, like— I've had this one where it is just like pineapple juice and, like, spicy tequila.
AMANDA: Ooh, nice.
JULIA: Usually, like a jalapeno or chili infused tequila, and that's a great, like, shot kind of combo, especially with, like, a Tecate or something like that.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: I'm a big fan of those.
AMANDA: My first thought was, like, some Mezcal with a dash of grapefruit juice.
JULIA: Oh, yeah.
AMANDA: Just to, kind of, you know, open it up, give it some body. But I really like a Mezcal drink on the rocks, or even a Mezcal shot where I'll do, like, a Mezcal Tecate, like you were saying, just to have that, like, lovely smokiness.
JULIA: Yeah, I was gonna say, if there's one thing that I'm going to do a pure shot of nowadays, it's Mezcal, so—
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: I love going to a place and being like, "Has Mezcal made it here yet? Is this a thing yet? How cultured is this bar?"
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: Not to be too picky, but sometimes a little picky. Just a little picky.
AMANDA: You're allowed.
JULIA: Well, Amanda, why don't I get us started for this back half of the short and spooky with an email from Kay, she/her titled Ghost Hit and Run and other road-themed haunts. "Hello, Spirits crew. My name is Kay, and I have some road-themed haunts for y'all. First being the time my friend hit a ghost."
AMANDA: Hit a ghost?
JULIA: Hit a ghost.
AMANDA: Don't often hear that.
JULIA: "So in college, I knew a girl who lived in this really old house that was remodeled from an old mill in South Jersey." These are all Jersey-themed, which I also really appreciate, because I think New Jersey is hawunted, but we don't talk about it enough.
AMANDA: Yeah, it's a liminal haunting, right? You're often going through it—
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: —to something else, and New Jersey's attitude is like, "Go fuck yourself. We're the most haunted." Which I like.
JULIA: Exactly. All right. "So it was a beautiful house, and it even had its own well in the basement that was sealed off."
AMANDA: Good god.
JULIA: I would not buy a house that had a sealed off well in the basement. That's just me, but that's asking to be haunted, The Ring style.
AMANDA: Yeah, yeah. Yep. Uh-hmm.
JULIA: Uh-hmm. Like, Amanda, what is the spookiest feature a house could have that— besides a sealed off well in the basement?
AMANDA: I'm gonna say, staircase to nowhere, boarded up,
you know?
JULIA: Hmm.
AMANDA: Like the doorway boarded up.
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: Can't go in there, no, no.
JULIA: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm. And then you open the door eventually, after you bought the house, and there's scratch marks inside.
AMANDA: Ah. I didn't even consider that, but that. Oh, no.
JULIA: I feel like I saw a video of someone who was like, "Yeah, I'm staying at my friend's new house." And they said, "Oh, we haven't really been in the attic yet, that the attic door is attached to the bedroom I'm staying in." And then they open it up on camera, and there's scratch marks on the inside of the door. And she's like, "I hate this. I'm leaving. I'm not ever staying here again."
AMANDA: Oh, boy.
JULIA: All right. "So, apparently, when the mill was still running, a man had died while working there, and he still wanders the property. We know this because when someone was visiting her house, they left late at night and started backing out of the driveway. Suddenly, they saw a figure in the rearview mirror and the car hit something. Freaking out, they jumped out of the car and ran to the back to see who or what they had hit, but there was no one there."
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: "They ran back to the house, telling the girl I knew that they definitely hit someone, and was so spooked that they refused to drive home, and the girl's dad had to drive them home instead. Now, I've been to this house, and it's fairly remote with no sidewalks or anything, so I don't think it was some random pedestrian taking a midnight stroll."
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: Also, you know, you would have seen if you actually had, like, hit someone or something like that.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: "My second story is related to your Episode 201, about urban legends from each state." Remember we did that? That was fun.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: "I was excited about the New Jersey legend, and was surprised because it was about my hometown, the Exit 82 Phantom, which is the exit to my hometown. Now, I'll be honest, I've literally never heard of that ghost, but I am just barely a Gen Z kid, so maybe it was before my time, because my mom did know the legend when I told her about it," which shout out to the moms in the audience.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: We love and appreciate it.
AMANDA: Shout out to the elder millennial or younger Gen X moms in the audience, for sure.
JULIA: "I've taken this exit multiple times late at night coming home from my girlfriends, and I always look out for a ghostly figure, but I haven't seen anything yet."
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: "What I thought you all might discuss was Clinton Road in Passaic County. It has a very spooky history, and to quote the Wikipedia, quote, 'The Road and the land around it have gained notoriety over the years as an area rife with many legends of paranormal occurrences, such as sightings of ghosts, strange creatures and gatherings of, quote, 'witches' and quote, 'Satanists.' The well-known story I know from this road is the ghost truck, a phantom truck with headlights that randomly appear and chase drivers off the road."
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: "There are many other weird stories about the road, like a ghost boy in the area called Dead Man's Curve." Fucking love a name like that.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: It's so good. Feels like it's the 1950s and they're like, "Oh, we're gonna trade pink slips if we're racing around Dead Man's Curve."
AMANDA: I love this greaser voice. Incredible.
JULIA: I wasn't even trying that much. I'd be like, "Hey, yo, we're gonna race around Dead Man's Curve." That would be more of my greaser voice.
AMANDA: "I bet you the keys to my Harley."
JULIA: Yeah, it's just me doing Danny Zuko.
AMANDA: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
JULIA: "Hey, yo. Rockin' and rollin' and whatnot." "So Dead Man's Curve, two ghost park rangers, a phantom Camaro and a heck pupper named Wolfy."
AMANDA: Cute.
JULIA: I want to hear about all those, to be honest.
AMANDA: Yes, anytime.
JULIA: And then Kay also sent a video that has some cool urban explorers driving down the road that she mentioned and investigating the different myths. So very cool. Love that.
AMANDA: Incredible.
JULIA: She finishes with, "Stay spooky, Kay."
AMANDA: Thank you, Kay.
JULIA: Thank you, Kay.
AMANDA: Julia, I'd love to give you a secondhand experience of La Llorona.
JULIA: Ooh. I'm excited.
AMANDA: This came in from Ramen Hamster in 2018—
JULIA: Great name.
AMANDA: —before we did an episode on La Llorona.
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: So they gave us some context, which I love and appreciate. But here is the personal twist. "So my uncle Alejandro lives in my family's hometown of Puruandiro Michoacan, said that one night when it was pouring rain out, like waterfalls of rain, he was awoken by what sounded like a woman calling out for help. He felt bad for her and her kids stuck out in the cold rain middle of the night, so he went to find her and offer them sanctuary until the rain died down. Now, it didn't sound like she was very far from his home, but when he opened his door and looked out onto the street, there was no one there, and the woman's voice was gone. He freaked out, ran back to bed, and happened to wake my aunt up as he was getting back in bed, and she asked, 'What's wrong?' He said, 'Oh, nothing,' while hiding under the covers, until the next day, when he told her."
JULIA: Okay. I'm glad he was honest at least the next day about it.
AMANDA: "And then it got passed around by the family. And this was years ago, so I first heard it when I was about 16, and I still feel creeped out. Since La Llorona tends to appear at night near bodies of water or in the rain with men and children as her victims of choice. I'm glad my uncle didn't fall victim that night."
JULIA: Yeah, yeah. And he was only just trying to do the right thing. That's the—
AMANDA: Right.
JULIA: I like a vengeful spirit, but I also am like, "That guy didn't do anything wrong. That guy didn't do anything wrong."
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: "Why you gotta kill him? He didn't do anything wrong. He was actively trying to be a good person, in fact."
AMANDA: It's almost like it's a metaphor for, you know, for grief, Julia, and the unexplained.
JULIA: Yeah. You know, you can grieve however you need to, so long as you don't hurt the people around you know. I don't know why I did that, but here we go. All right, Amanda. On kind of the other side of things, I have an email from Matt, and they have titled the email Catholic Schools are Haunted AF.
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: So they start with two stories here, both experiences of their own. So first story, "I was staying late at school in the fall of my junior year because of tech week." I love a theater kid already. I already see the theater kid here. We appreciate it.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: "I went to use the restroom when I noticed something strange in the building next door. My school was basically four long hallways with semi-glass doors allowing to see into the buildings next door, which is where the bathroom was located. I was in the 300 building, and through the door, I could see something strange was in the 200 building. I saw what appeared to be a woman rising out of the floor. However, what made it creepy—" first off, a woman rising out of the floor, immediately already creepy. I don't know why a secondary thing needs to make it creepy, but yep. "The thing that made it creepy was she appeared to be made out of liquid mercury and had no face."
AMANDA: That's like a comic book villain.
JULIA: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm. Yep, yep. That's very spooky. There's a— of course, I've been to Spirit Halloween already, even though, at the time of recording, it's mid-September. And there is a great $10 mask you can buy at Spirit Halloween that is just a blank chrome face, and I definitely am going to get it next time I go there.
AMANDA: Hate that.
JULIA: So they continue, "So I did what any normal person would by, which I mean, I ran to my friends to show her to them, but at that point, she had vanished."
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: "The next involves my math teacher, who unfortunately passed during winter break."
AMANDA: Oh.
JULIA: "Again, during tech week, this time for the spring musical—" I was gonna be like, "Is it the same tech week? Is this tech week just particularly haunted?" No, for a different musical. "This time for the spring musical, I went to use the restroom." Why does this keep happening when you go to the bathroom is my question, Matt.
AMANDA: Yep. I think you have to institute the buddy system.
JULIA: Yeah. Yeah. You cannot go to the bathroom by yourself anymore, buddy.
AMANDA: No.
JULIA: You need a buddy.
AMANDA: No.
JULIA: "Since we were in the gym, the nearest restroom was under the football stadium." Spooky. Hate it. I hate it that it's under it.
AMANDA: Oh, no.
JULIA: "On my way there, I saw someone familiar. And as I stopped to look. I realized that it was my former math teacher."
AMANDA: Oh.
JULIA: "Despite wanting to go up to him, he looked so peaceful that I decided to leave him alone. He was gone by the time I came out of the restroom. However, I do like to think that his spirit was still watching us from where he may be."
AMANDA: Aw.
JULIA: That's really nice.
AMANDA: That's a real trauma when adults in any kid's life dies, especially someone at school. It's just like— you know, for a lot of kids, I think their first experience.
JULIA: Yes. I think a lot of folks are fortunate to go through their early childhood without having to kind of, like, very closely face death.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: Or the idea that, like, anyone can die at any time, which is extremely scary and kind of, like, an existent— like the first existential crisis you have as a young adult or a child, so—
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: Yeah, that's—
AMANDA: Oh, well, that's a little bit soothing, at least of an experience.
JULIA: Yes, that you know that he was at peace, wherever he may be.
AMANDA: Julia, I'm gonna do a real 180 on this mood here.
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: This email came in from Marissa titled George Steals Your Breath When You Don't Go To Sleep.
JULIA: Oh, no, George. Why would you do that to us, George?
AMANDA: "When I was younger, six or seven, my grandmother would occasionally babysit us. One night, I decided that I was going to stay up until my parents got home. When they got back, I ran downstairs and excitedly greeted them. After a couple of attempts to get me to go back to bed, my grandma thought this story would help."
JULIA: I'm already gonna be like, "Grandma, no, it fucking didn't."
AMANDA: "There is a creature named George that lives in the closet under the stairs."
JULIA: This— Amanda, I'm gonna let you get to the story. Just give me a minute. This is what I'm talking about when I said we shouldn't lie to children.
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: Because then they're just traumatized, and then they write us emails, like, 15 years later about, "Hey, here's a terrifying story that my grandma told me one fucking time, and I'm still not over it."
AMANDA: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
JULIA: I don't mind being therapy for these people. I don't mind it. They need to get it out. They need to get it off their chests, but think about what you did, grandma. Think about it.
AMANDA: I know that kids won't react in the same way to, like, you have to go to bed because the next day you're going to be irritable, and that's bad for all of us. But good God, this is next level.
JULIA: All right, go ahead. "There's a guy named George who lives under the stairs." Let's fucking go.
AMANDA: "He's mostly just a head with two feet, two freakishly long arms, a huge mouth, and crazy eyes. He lies in wait for little children who won't go to sleep. If you're caught awake when your parents have gone to bed, he sneaks up to your room and jumps on your chest. He then," this is in all caps, Julia, "HOLDS YOU DOWN AND SUCKS THE FUCKING AIR OUT OF YOUR LUNGS."
JULIA: I hope that's the way grandma told it, too. I hope grandma dropped the F bomb.
AMANDA: I hope so, too. So Marissa continues, "Realizing my parents were still awake and I still had time, I ran up to my room, got the fuck in bed, and laid there in cold terror until I fell asleep."
JULIA: Uh-hmm. You know, it definitely soothes a child to go the fuck to sleep being terrified.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: Heart racing. So Marissa finishes with, "You know the scene in Monsters Inc., where Randall tries to use that machine to suck the life out of Mike Wazowski?"
JULIA: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: "That shit was terrifying to me after hearing that story."
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: "Thanks for reading, Marissa."
JULIA: Marissa, I'm sorry about your trauma. I really am. I truly am.
AMANDA: Nothing but respect for your grandma. That's— that shit is metal as hell.
JULIA: Oh, God. Okay. Amanda, I have a, like, hometown urban legend that's kind of based in history, which I love those. This is from Sarah, she/her, and the subject of the email is The Vampire of Lafayette, Colorado.
AMANDA: Ooh.
JULIA: "Hey, y'all, I've been catching up on the podcast during my very long commutes, and recently listened to Episode 268, I think, with an urban legend involving a cemetery for vampires. It reminded me of the cemetery in Lafayette, a small town, an hour north of Denver that my grandparents are buried in, that also has a vampiric grave."
AMANDA: Oh.
JULIA: "When my partner and I were moving into a nearby town, we decided to explore the area by looking at Atlas Obscura." Hey, if you're moving into an area, that's a great way to kind of— and especially for our listeners—
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: —that's a great way to find out about all the spooky shit around you.
AMANDA: Yep.
JULIA: "I lived in Denver my whole life, and had only gone to Lafayette to visit my family's graves and antique stores, so I didn't know too much about it. On one side of the tiny, old for Colorado cemetery is what looks like a simple slab of concrete with scratches on it. Apparently, this is a grave of a poor, unnamed man who died in the 1912 flu epidemic, who originally came from Romania. On this makeshift grave, it literally looks like someone just like took a stick to label it. It says a few Romanian words, including the word Transylvania."
AMANDA: Oh.
JULIA: "Because of this, he was dug up by townspeople. His body was staked through the heart and then reburied. It was said that a tree grew out of the stake in his body, and there is a tree, whether it's close enough to the grave is debatable. Although I'm just realizing there is a much closer tree to my grandmother's grave."
AMANDA: Oh, no.
JULIA: "It is apparently tradition to leave coins and other objects on the grave. When my partner and I first went there, there was a Bowser figurine and an action figure on it. I'm thinking maybe this is a Romanian Memorial tradition? Or maybe it's an apology for our ancestors' xenophobia. Anyway, thank you for this wonderfully cool and creepy podcast that keeps me sane while driving, especially in traffic." Amanda, if you were gonna visit this, you know, unnamed Romanian man's grave, and you are going to leave an object there.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: What would you leave?
AMANDA: A pastry.
JULIA: A pastry, nice. I like that.
AMANDA: I feel like people will often leave, you know, flowers, lovely for, you know, remembrance, beauty, decor, maybe like a treasured object to you, like a Hot Wheels or a Bowser. But I feel like I really rock with traditions of leaving like oranges or spices, or food at folk's graves so that they have some sustenance for whenever they're, you know, on the side of the mortal coil.
JULIA: I like the idea of a couple of tiny macarons.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: That'd be nice.
AMANDA: Yeah. I think like a Danish and maybe some grapes.
JULIA: You know what's weird? I also originally thought—
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: —Danish, and I was like, "Well, this man's Romanian. I don't know if he'd like a Danish necessarily."
AMANDA: Well, you know, we'll see. We'll try it out and see what— what's next.
JULIA: Yeah. I think I'd leave a nice, like, crystal or a rock, something shiny.
AMANDA: Cute, right?
JULIA: That's my hot take.
AMANDA: I think that's really good.
JULIA: Let us know what you would leave on this man's grave if you were visiting it.
AMANDA: Please do. Julia, would you like my final urban legend for this episode, which comes from Elena Varg, a friend of the show, titled A Very Short Demon Story About Finnish Designer Beds?
JULIA: Yes, I would. I would like that.
AMANDA: "I've never been one to have ghostly meetings with paranormal friends, this which doesn't fuck with spiritism. But today, I was reminded of one instance of a spooky happening in my old apartment. So I've had this same loft bed ever since I was a literal child. It's all wood, finished design, very flexible. The same bed can turn into a loft, a bunk, or a normal bed." Sound— where are these? That sounds incredible. I mean, it's in Finland, clearly, but I want one.
JULIA: It's very IKEA-coded in a positive way.
AMANDA: "My last apartment was tiny, so I used my bed in loft form to fit a couch underneath for maximum comfort."
JULIA: Nice. Smart.
AMANDA: "So one night, I'd already fallen asleep when I woke up to my loft ladder creaking."
JULIA: Oh, no.
AMANDA: "I assumed it was my kitten climbing up the ladder to sleep with me."
JULIA: Acceptable. That's the only reason I would be like, "Ah, yes. Creepy noises in the night. Must be the cat."
AMANDA: Right. "It sounded to me like something slowly getting up the ladder. And like I said, I've had the bed for over 10 years, so I am super familiar with every sound and creak that it makes."
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: "But then I realized my sweet baby kitten was already in the bed with me."
JULIA: "Nooked up."
AMANDA: "My stomach turned upside down. I made sure I could move slowly and shortly. As I've heard you guys talking about sleep paralysis."
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: "I was able to move, which to me, meant I wasn't dreaming."
JULIA: Okay.
AMANDA: "And I could really hear something slowly climbing up the bed."
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: "There are six steps on the ladder, and as I listen, slowly, I count six times that the ladder creaks."
JULIA: Hmm. Okay. If you're sure.
AMANDA: "And then nothing. The feeling of someone being there was gone. My baby kitten was suddenly awake and started begging for my attention, and I was relieved."
JULIA: This has, like, real energy of, like, the spirit was like, "Ooh, what's up here? Whoop, there's a person. Whoop, I gotta go." They got embarrassed and they wanted to leave.
AMANDA: "So who was he? A local ghosty, a curious demon boy? My old apartment wasn't a building built in the '60s, so you never know."
JULIA: You never know.
AMANDA: "Love the show. Thank you all. Cheers, Elena."
JULIA: That's— I don't— I— you know what? I'm glad it ended well, you know? Like it wasn't like, "And then I saw a head behind me."
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: Amanda?
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: I know that was a great final one to end on, but I did just get one in an— eight hours ago.
AMANDA: Oh.
JULIA: Hot and fresh. And the person who sent it in specifically was like, "I hope this makes it into the October episode for Halloween." And here it is. It's going to.
AMANDA: Let's go.
JULIA: "So this is from Ella, she/they and she titles this Urban Legend Scare Actor Gets Scared By Local Spirits.
AMANDA: Let's go.
JULIA: Let's go. This— I'm so ready for this. I was so excited when I saw this email coming. Okay. "Hi, there. Longtime listener, first time writing in. I hope this makes it into the October episode for Halloween. Back in 2017, I worked as a scare actor for a popular haunted attraction in the LA area in California."
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: "The entire haunt was located in a well-known park that is said to be haunted, due to it being the location of the old zoo. All of the mazes and the main hayride took place outdoors, and we usually started once the sun set, and would work until sometimes 2:00 AM. Towards the end of October, we worked 13 nights in a row. I can't remember the exact dates these took place, but they were experiences I will never forget. During my break one night, I went to the backstage area where there were park benches that we would sit at. Surrounding this bench was at least three different areas of the maze, two of which had doors that actors would hide behind or in front of. One of the doors was just a doorway with curtains, so sometimes if the actor wasn't directly in front of it, guests would walk through, thinking that it was part of the path, and would eventually realize it was the wrong way and go back where they came from. As I'm eating my snacks—" which I loved a little, like, idea of like, 'I'm in full ghoul makeup and, like, having a Cheeto, you know?
AMANDA: Eating a banana.
JULIA: "As I'm eating my snacks, I see out of the corner of my eye the curtain move. And as I look up to see if it's one of my coworkers or a guest, it takes a second to register what I'm seeing. All it looks like was a tall, black, shadowy figure, and it only stayed still for a few seconds before walking towards the right and disappearing into the wall. I froze for a good minute or two, and when the actual actor from that door came through to get some water, I jumped and yelped, which ended up startling him as well."
AMANDA: Oh, no.
JULIA: "I immediately told him what happened, and he didn't seem surprised and did his best to comfort me quickly before returning to the maze. I finished my food and returned to my own section of the maze, wondering and maybe even hoping that I'd see another shadow person again, just to be sure it was real and I wasn't just exhausted." Which I like that mentality. I like this idea of like, "I just want to see it again, just to confirm what I saw was what I saw, you know?
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: "Another quick story to add from this haunt, I played a creepy twin." Great. I wanted— I was wondering what you played, Ella. I'm really excited that you told us. All right. "I played a creepy twin, and would coordinate with my other twin to pop out and scare people at the same time while speaking in unison."
AMANDA: Nice.
JULIA: "We had a few different lines that we cycled through to keep things different for each group that came through. Towards the beginning of a slow night, we heard people start making their way through the maze, and even saw a shadow of someone walking towards the section before ours. We waited, counted down and came out as usual, but no one was there."
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: "And I mean, no one. We weren't early, we didn't miss them, just no one was there. We stopped mid-sentence," which I like the idea it's gonna be like, "Play with— wait, what the fuck?" We stopped mid-sentence, looked around, looked at each other, and slowly went back to the starting position and contemplated what had just happened. It was possibly the scare actor from the section before ours going back to their spot, but I don't remember if we asked them if they had just come back or not."
AMANDA: But also, you get so familiar with each other's rhythms, right?
JULIA: Right.
AMANDA: And especially in a haunted house like you— the whole thing is timing, like you're—
JULIA: Yes. It's all about hitting your cue.
AMANDA: You know. Exactly.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: And so you weren't— I, like, don't believe for a second that you just messed up.
JULIA: Yes. I think that while it is, like, dark and spooky and whatnot, in— on a particularly slow night, you would also be, like, so aware of, like, "Ah, we got to get ready," kind of situation, so—
AMANDA: Someone's here, right? Put your phone away, yeah.
JULIA: Overall, it was a super fun but exhausting experience. I haven't been back to that park at night ever since, but maybe this year, I'll go as a guest to the haunt and see if I have similar interactions. Stay spooky. Happy Halloween, Ella."
AMANDA: Well, Ella, you got a couple of weeks, okay? So I want you to go back and figure this out, and let me know if you see anything new this year.
JULIA: Maybe we'll get an update for the November episode. Who can say?
AMANDA: Who can say? And if any of you out there are scare actors in a haunted house this spooky season, I want to hear about your job.
JULIA: Yeah. Especially if you think that haunted house is also actually haunted.
AMANDA: A haunted house. Yep.
JULIA: I know Jake has had experiences in haunted houses where he's like, "Nah, that shit was actually legit haunted.
AMANDA: Julia, this was so much fun. I loved doing some short and spooky stories. And listeners, if you enjoyed it too, let us know, and we can do some more in the future.
JULIA: Yes. I think it's very fun to hit a bunch of things, kind of keep going, keep— my doubts are a swage. I had some doubts about the short stories, but I do really like them, so keep on sending them in. I want stories of all lengths and sizes and—
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: —details and whatnot.
AMANDA: We love it. And folks, we hope you enjoyed this back-to-back spooky fortnight of double urban legends episodes. We'll see you, of course, next Wednesday with a whole 'nother episode here in spookiest month of all. And in the meantime, next time you are startled by a story your grandma tells you about a creature that will steal your breath, remember—
JULIA: Stay creepy.
AMANDA: —stay cool.
JULIA: Later, satyrs.
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