Episode 19: Japanese Urban Legends
/A popup ad gone wrong. A fatal taxi ride. A host of vengeful ghosts. Present-day Japan has so many creepy-cool urban legends to offer, we just had to give you a round up before Halloween. We’ll teach you how to survive an encounter with these spirits—and how to scare your friends next time you find yourselves together on a dark and stormy night.
Myths discussed: The Red Room Curse, Aka Manto (Red Cape), The Fatal Fare, Kuchisake-onna (The Slit-Mouthed Woman), Teke Teke, and Kashima Reiko/Kamen Shinin Ma.
If you like Spirits, help us grow by spreading the word! Follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and review us in iTunes to help new listeners find the show. Plus, check out our Patreon for bonus audio content, behind-the-scenes photos, custom recipe cards, and more.
Our music is "Danger Storm" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Transcript
AM: Welcome to Spirits Podcast Episode 19: Japanese Urban Legends. It's a spooky one, y'all.
JS: It's super spooky because I love Halloween. I love the entire month of October. It's my birthday month.
AM: Hey.
JS: We totally are psyched to bring you guys some spooky urban legends this month.
AM: That's the theme for the month; spooky stuff.
JS: Spooky. Spooky. And you, guys, you know, you might want to check out your feeds next Wednesday, just, just saying.
AM: We're normally a biweekly podcast. But, you know, the October ghouls, and goblins, and witches, and wizards, and tooth fairies might have a special surprise. Before we get going, we would love to just shout out some of our new patrons. We have had so many patrons join this last couple of weeks, and we're so happy about it. So, thank you so much to Catherine McQueen, Steven Mikkelightest, Carolyn Hoover, Phil Fresh, which I don't know if that's his real name, but it's pretty badass. Kimo Hardleen, Jenny Sweeney, Eli McKenna, and a super special extra thanks to our new supporting producer – that's the top tier of our Patreon – Leanne Davis. So, if you want to join the ranks of these generous, cool, exceptionally good looking patrons --
JS: Really, really good looking.
AM: -- really good looking, click that link in the show notes or find us at patreon.com/spiritspodcast. We're so close to our next goal. And we are so appreciative of your support.
JS: Thank you guys again for interacting with us on Twitter, Facebook. You guys know how much I love liking and responding to your tweets. It's my favorite thing in the world.
AM: We love it. Especially this month, we are – we are so, so on theme for this October.
JS: You guys are so spooky. I'm loving the witch aesthetics. I'm loving everything.
AM: So cool. And you can always hit us up at spiritspodcast@gmail.com if you have things to add, questions to ask, stories to tell.
JS: The more emails and stories and questions you guys send us, the more likely we're going to do a Questions-Only bonus episode for you guys.
AM: Yeah. Heck yes. Reader mail. Mailbag.
JS: Oh, we're gonna love that. That's gonna be so much fun.
AM: So good. So, Julie, what are we drinking this episode?
JS: Amanda, do you remember that time we went to Ippudo West? That really cool Ramen place.
AM: So good.
JS: It's really, really good.
AM: Oh, so good.
JS: It's in Hell's Kitchen.
AM: Get the veggie pork buns. So good.
JS: Well, if your veggie --
AM: Yeah. You're not.
JS: Well, actually, no, they were pretty good.
AM: They were pretty good.
JS: You did that cauliflower tempura too?
AM: Yes.
JS: That was really good. Anyway, their specialty drinks that night were this jello shot saki that were called Ikezo.
AM: Yeah. That was the brand of the like jelly sake. Like it was – it was taste consistency. Uh.
JS: You, you take it. You shook it up.
AM: Yeah.
JS: And then you drink it. And it was like weird jelly. And it was fantastic.
AM: It's like in the champagne flute. It was delicious.
JS: It was like I went to a Japanese frat house.
AM: Awesome. On that note, I think it's pretty safe to say that you will enjoy this episode. You might be creeped out. Listen with a friend perhaps if you're feeling, you know, particularly vulnerable to bad stories.
JS: Just remember keep it kind of creepy and kind of cool.
AM: Kind of creepy. Kind of cool. That's how we do it. Without further ado, enjoy Spirits Podcast Episode 19: Japanese Urban Legends.
Intro Music
JS: You don't like creepy shit, do you?
AM: Not particularly.
JS: I know. But creepy shit can be cool sometimes. You like Stranger Things, right?
AM: I do. I like it quite a lot. And I also like the kind of creepy, kind of cool middle of the Venn diagram where we, here at Spirits, flourish.
JS: Yeah. We're going towards the creepy end of that Venn diagram this episode.
AM: Okay.
JS: Because doing some --
AM: Hold on. I'm gonna take a drink. I'm gonna take a drink.
JS: All right.
AM: Okay. Are you good now? I'm good.
JS: All right. Because we are going to Japan, Amanda.
AM: Wooh!
JS: But we're not just going to any particular part of Japan.
AM: Okay.
JS: We're doing Japanese Urban Legends.
AM: Wow.
JS: From specifically modern times.
AM: There is some crazy shit that comes out of Japanese cities these days --
JS: And shit gets creepy.
AM: -- and the internet. Then --
JS: Shit gets creepy.
AM: -- I'm really ready to hear about it.
JS: Speaking of the internet, that will be our first story, but we'll get there.
AM: Okay.
JS: So, I want to give you a little background on Japanese Urban Legends.
AM: I'm ready.
JS: So, we're talking about basically modern folk tales in Japan right now.
AM: Yeah.
JS: This kind of strays away from the fantastic and the sort of animalistic creepy ogres and stuff that Japan's traditional mythology tends to focus on. Instead, it focuses on onryo, which are vengeful spirits that take out their aggression on any of those who cross their path.
AM: Great.
JS: Creepy. But good to start.
AM: Love a good vengeance spirit.
JS: Japanese urban legends, they tend to be cautionary tales. And they tend to focus around schools, which kind of tells you a little bit about the audience of who's spreading these urban legends and who they're for.
AM: Yeah. People, in middle school Algebra, who have got nothing else better to do.
JS: Yeah. That's true. Can you remember like all those sleepovers and all the creepy, creepy stories we told each other?
AM: Oh, yeah. Bloody Mary. The Amityville Horror.
JS: The one where the guy is like dragging the body up the stairs, and it goes to the – thump, thump, tsspp, thump, thump, tsspp.
AM: Yeah. Like the chills of this spine.
JS: Yeah.
AM: So good.
JS: So creepy. So, we're actually gonna start with, like you said, some internet creepy stuff.
AM: Let's do it.
JS: It's called the Red Room Curse.
AM: All right. I’m thinking Natasha Romanoff.
JS: Okay. Solid. Good.
AM: Hey, that was the look of Julia being surprised at my pop culture knowledge.
JS: I'm a little – I'm just smiling and wide-eyed at the moment because, damn, Amanda, good job!
AM: Hey.
JS: Called some good stuff there.
AM: My MCU lore is legit.
JS: Yep. The Red Room Curse, it started out as an internet legend. So, of course, you're gonna love it, Amanda.
AM: I'm ready.
JS: It's this idea that a pop up appears on a victim's computer. It shows a door.
AM: I thought of like a pop-up sample sale, but you're not talking about that.
JS: No. I mean like a pop up like the thing --
AM: Advertisement.
JS: Yes. You click on something, and it pops up on your computer.
AM: Yes.
JS: So, it's an image. And it shows a door and a recorded voice starts playing and says, "Do you like?"
AM: Uhmm.
JS: And, even if you close it out, it will continue to pop up and continue to speak. And it'll pop up until it finally says, "Do you like the Red Room?" Those who see the pop up are later found dead in their own rooms with the walls painted in blood.
AM: Oh, god,
JS: The Red Room.
AM: Ugh, so many layers to that. Right. Like, one, anyone could be victimized by a pop up.
JS: Yeah. You click on the wrong one.
AM: And remember the, "Congratulations! You've won." Like, like the audio part is also terrible.
JS: Oh, yeah.
AM: And, finally, not only are you dead, but like did you paint the room with your own blood? That's terrible.
JS: Maybe your computer did.
AM: Did the spirit paint it? Did the computer like fire the molecules and fling them all over the wall?
JS: Some Terminator Skynet bullshit right there.
AM: Yeah. And the like super bloody Carrie style crime scene gets me.
JS: Not great. It's actually really interesting because the whole concept of this gained popularity because there was this interactive Adobe Flash animation that was circulating through Japan.
AM: Okay.
JS: But the media started picking up on it because it was a favorited tab by this girl who actually murdered one of her classmates. She was like this 12-year-old girl who murdered her 11-year-old classmate. And this was like one of the things that they found on her computer. It was this Adobe Flash --
AM: Oh, my god.
JS: -- like The Red Room curse.
AM: That's terrifying.
JS: Isn't that creepy?
AM: Wait. It was a real ad?
JS: Well, it wasn't a real ad. It was sort of this like viral marketing video that someone made.
AM: Yeah.
JS: Sort of like --
AM: And, so, they construed it into a curse after the fact.
JS: Right. Yes, and the whole concept of it was they created the story, but then story became real on this girl. Like so sick.
AM: That's like the – it wasn't – or was it the Slender Man --
JS: Yeah. Yeah.
AM: -- myth that some girl like killed two of her classmates.
JS: Yeah. That's like actually came up really recently, which is creepy as hell. Like small children's --
AM: Yeah. It's like – it's like nine or 12 months ago.
JS: Let's stop corrupting small children with like creepy murder everyone --
AM: I know.
JS: -- around you stuff. But it is what it is. The internet has many boons and bad stuff. I forgot --
AM: And doggles and other things.
JS: No. There's a thing. It's boons and boo.
AM: Bean – bane and boon.
JS: Bane and boon. That's what I was thinking of.
AM: That sounds like a – like a generic supermarket cereal version of Bullwinkle and the other one.
JS: Rocky and Bullwinkle.
AM: Yeah.
JS: Wow. I'm surprised you even knew who Bull – Bullwinkle is, Amanda.
AM: Only because there's a bowling alley named Bullwinkles in the town where my grandparents live [inaudible 8:58]
JS: Moving on, the next one we have also kind of involved school children. It's called Aka Manto or The Red cape.
AM: Going with the red motif.
JS: Uhuh. So, this is a spirit who haunts bathrooms. Think of like a really creepy Moaning Myrtle.
AM: Good start.
JS: It's a male spirit. He's usually found in the last toilet stall of a woman's bathroom.
AM: Where any woman goes to like hang out and check her cell phone.
JS: Yes. In many versions, the spirit wears a mask that covers his extremely handsome face --
AM: Weird.
JS: -- which, when I was doing research, they're like, "Oh, yeah, it got him in trouble with stalking." Like, so, he was stalking people or like girls were stalking him.
AM: Right. Yeah.
JS: I'm not sure exactly what that is supposed to be.
AM: Fascinating. And like how do we know that he's handsome if he's a mask on?
JS: Well, when you sit on the toilet, a voice asks you if you want red paper or blue paper. I think they mean toilet paper.
AM: Right, and like Japanese crazy luxury toilets. I mean cool.
JS: Yeah. I guess you can pick that.
AM: Yeah.
JS: And, so, if you ask for red, you are violently killed and drenched in blood.
AM: Oh, my god.
JS: If you ask for blue, your strangled, which leaves your face or your skin blue.
AM: Ugh, no good choices here.
JS: Well, if you ask for any other color, the hands appear out of the toilet and then drag you to hell through the toilet.
AM: Oh, yeah. No. You don't want to be sassy and choosy.
JS: Purple, fuck you.
AM: How about white, duh?
JS: The only way you were spared in this situation is if you refuse anything that he like offers to give you.
AM: Or like run away out of fear.
JS: Yeah. It's just I guess you wouldn't be impolite to this crazy homicidal spirit. But --
AM: I mean, some of the toilets from what I understand do have like audio today.
JS: Right.
AM: So, it's not totally out of the realm of possibility. Why?
JS: Just dude – I think the background from what I remember is the guy somehow died because girls were stalking him.
AM: Okay.
JS: And, now, he haunts women's bathrooms to kind of get revenge.
AM: Too handsome for his own good.
JS: I guess.
AM: Oh.
JS: Which seems kind of dumb and seems like victim blaming.
AM: Yeah.
JS: But whatever.
AM: Exactly. Yeah. Like a – like a twisting of women's sexual agency, right?
JS: Yeah. What a dick.
AM: Like they dare to go after him. And, so, he like, has to murder every woman who dares to use a bathroom. Like what's the logic there?
JS: So, the name, the red cape, actually comes from a version of the story where he asks if you want a red cape or cloak. And, if you answer yes, he rips the skin off your back.
AM: Huh. Hannibal style.
JS: Yeah. Not great.
AM: What if you say no?
JS: I guess, I don’t know, probably the blue thing happens we you get suffocated.
AM: Yeah. Like he lays down you until you're crushed or something.
JS: Yeah.
AM: My imagination is getting way too vivid --
JS: Well --
AM: -- the more we learn about mythology.
JS: We are less than halfway through this. So, let's keep going.
AM: Great.
JS: Next story, it seems more like a, an American one. But I guess it's that sort of idea that mythologies and the stories are – the stories that scare us are the same stories that scare people in Japan or England.
AM: Yeah. [Inaudible 11:04]. Right. Yeah.
JS: So, this is called the Fatal Fare. This is a story about a taxi driver who was making his way along a road at the dead of night.
AM: Awesome start.
JS: Out of the darkness, a person will suddenly appear and hails the cab down.
AM: Normal. Sure.
JS: They take a seat in the back and asked to be taken to a place that the driver has never heard of. The person assures him that they'll give him directions, which are complex and kind of lead him down back streets and alleys and usually out of the city that he was in and down into the country side.
AM: Oh, yeah. No. Isolate you and --
JS: Yeah.
AM: Yeah. You know, make sure your trail can't be followed. Classic.
JS: Once he reaches a stretch of road, he realizes that he hasn't heard anything from the passenger in a while. So, what he does is he turns back around to ask if they're close. And then sees that the backseat is empty.
AM: My least favorite jump scare/the most scariest jump scare to me is the one where the person gets into their car in like a dark parking garage. And there's a person in the backseat.
JS: Yeah.
AM: Like you check that backseat every time you get in.
JS: Yeah.
AM: I don't care if you're in an empty parking lot, and you've had your eyes on the car the whole time.
JS: Right.
AM: No.
JS: I think the worst one for me is they close the mirror and suddenly there's someone behind them reflection thing, which is a terrible one.
AM: So bad.
JS: So bad. So cliche.
AM: Objects in the mirror are closer and more deadly than they appear.
JS: Only if it's car mirror. Pop, pop, pop.
AM: Oh, shit, with the bathroom mirror.
JS: Oh yeah.
AM: Oh, shit. No. That's bad too. That's bad too.
JS: Yeah. No. It's the worst. So, he turns around. Backseat’s empty. He's like, "What the fuck?"
AM: Right.
JS: And then he turns back around just in time to see that he's driving off a cliff, and then he dies.
AM: Whoa.
JS: Yeah.
AM: There is like two plot twists in that one.
JS: Guy missing. Off a cliff.
AM: I'm struggling to find meaning in this myth.
JS: Yeah, iIt's just like don't pick up random people and trust them to drive you out of the city. And listen to their directions.
AM: I mean don't do your profession? Like I don't – don't leave your comfort area. I don't – I don't know what the --
JS: Use your GPS, you dumb fuck.
AM: I guess this is modern, modern life.
JS: Yeah.
AM: And, also, I mean, say what you will about the sharing economy, but ride-sharing apps do at least – don't spill on my couch – do, at least, you know, make you certain of where you're going and eliminate the odds that some Uber driver will kill you or I guess vice versa.
JS: I mean, yeah.
AM: I guess that's why Uber drivers rate us as well.
JS: Yeah. You know, if you disappear from the backseat, they give you that one-star rating.
AM: I mean I guess, if they drive off the cliff though, there's no one left to rate you.
JS: Maybe he pulls out his phone just in time to give that one-star rating.
AM: One star!
JS: We're next going to talk about the Kuchisake-onna, which means slit-mouth woman.
AM: Okay.
JS: It's going – this --
AM: Prepping myself here. After the Maui myth, I don't know if I could be shocked by anything.
JS: It's not a vagina-mouth woman. So, that's a plus.
AM: Really?
JS: Yeah.
AM: Oh, plot twist.
JS: While walking alone at night, you might encounter a woman who has a surgical mask on.
AM: Nope. Nope.
JS: It's not uncommon in Japan.
AM: I know. I know. But --
JS: They're trying to like protect people from getting their own sicknesses and stuff like that.
AM: Right. Which is super, super like altruistic and a great idea. But I still see it and go, "Huh!"
JS: So, this woman, in particular, will stop you. And she'll ask you, "Am I beautiful?"
AM: No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
JS: If you answer no, she takes out a pair of scissors that she's carrying and slits your throat.
AM: Oh, my god.
JS: If you say yes, she removes her mask to reveal the fact that her mouth has been slit ear to ear. Still bloody, still gross, still dripping. Real good.
AM: No.
JS: She'll then ask, "Well, how about now?"
AM: And what do you say?
JS: In the creepiest voice she's demanded. So, let me redo that. "Well, how about now?" That was good.
AM: That was really too good.
JS: Whether you answer yes or no, she's gonna kill you.
AM: Okay. Fine. Fair.
JS: If you answer no, she cuts you in half with the scissors again. If you say yes, she cuts your mouth exactly like hers.
AM: I think I'd rather go, go out quick with the halfsies.
JS: Yeah. I think – I think that's fair. The trick is you have to tell her she looks either average or so-so, which confuses her enough for you to run away, which I think is like the best.
AM: I do, again, on principle, I like the sort of inversion of street harassment. Where, instead of like, you know, men telling women and asks for what the men think of their appearance, like the woman sort of like bullies him into there being --
JS: Tell me I'm beautiful!
AM: -- there being no good answer. Like there's no good catcall.
JS: Yeah.
AM: And there is no good answer to this slit-faced woman's query.
JS: Yes. If you also want to escape her, you can either carry around sweets or fruit in your pocket --
AM: Okay.
JS: -- and throw it at her feet because she will stoop down to pick it up.
AM: Like a pokemon and a raspberry.
JS: Yeah. You can also ask her if she thinks you're pretty or tell her you have to meet your husband or wife. And she'll excuse herself and leave, which seems like oddly polite for someone --
AM: I know.
JS: -- who was going to either cut you in half or slit your mouth open.
AM: Like I have almost irrepressible homicidal impulses, but I really respect the institution of marriage.
JS: Oh, you have to meet someone. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have stopped you.
AM: I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I don't want you to be late. How could I?
JS: Interestingly, this is one of the few that actually has a very solid backstory. It actually goes back to the Edo Period of Japan. In modern tellings, the woman was mutilated by her husband, who accused her of cheating, asking her, "Who will think you're beautiful now?"
AM: Nope.
JS: Which is kind of very like Nolan-esque Joker. Like Heath Ledger's joker.
AM: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
JS: Where he's just like, "Ahhh."
AM: I thought of that when you said that kind of ear-to-ear grin.
JS: Which I like. I like that.
AM: Yeah. Right. Like taking the role that society has placed you in to an extreme.
JS: There are more recent stories, however, that kind of have proof behind sightings where a woman said to resemble this woman in the 1970s was chasing little children around like the City of Tokyo --
AM: Yeah.
JS: -- and got hit by a car. And, when the coroner like did their report on the body, he made a note of saying that the mouth was slit from ear to ear, which is creepy since this is – like the story goes back historically. And then you have someone in the 1970s who --
AM: Yeah. Likes chasing people.
JS: -- fits the bill.
AM: Right. Like killed weirdly. Oh, boy.
JS: In some other story, she's like escaped a mental institution and did it to herself.
AM: Yeah.
JS: Like self-inflicted harm and stuff like that.
AM: Yeah.
JS: But it's like really creepy that 1970s thing where it's like, yeah, this is a thing that happened. And --
AM: Yeah.
JS: -- we still tell that story. And it's creepy.
AM: I mean, right, like one would think that a sort of, you know, maybe not quite plausible historical basis would like undermine the myth in some way. But, to me, it's just like I believe it. I believe it.
JS: That totally could happen. Fuck.
AM: Checkmark in the yes column. Oh, shit.
JS: The next one is the Teke Teke.
AM: All right. Sounds good to begin with.
JS: So, the Teke Teke is the ghost of a woman who was pushed in front of a train, and then cut in half by it.
AM: Okay. Got that double trauma.
JS: Yeah. Not so great. The same kind of idea of the spoiler alert, cast the cards, infamous scene.
AM: Yes.
JS: So, this Teke Teke carries around a scythe, which weird for modern times, but, you know, into it kind of Grim Reaper style.
AM: Right. Like, you know, having your legacy and truly embracing it. Leaning in.
JS: So, it's really interesting because – so, the Teke Teke is this ghost of a woman who was cut in half. So, it's just her torso up. So, she --
AM: Floating or like, like --
JS: No. She travels around on her hands and elbows dragging her upper torso.
AM: Oh, god. Oh, god.
JS: And that's actually where the name comes from because it's the scratching sound of her pulling her body along the road. Teke, teke, teke, teke, teke, teke.
AM: No, please don't.
JS: Yeah. Creepy as hell, right?
AM: Who pushed her? What is she after?
JS: She just wants revenge.
AM: Just revenge.
JS: It doesn't matter who pushed her. She's just like, if you're slow enough, I'm gonna catch you and do the same thing.
AM: Oh, my god.
JS: So, if she encounters someone in the middle of the night and the person isn't fast enough, she actually slices them in half as well. And they become a Teke Teke themself.
AM: Oh, zombie style.
JS: Yeah. There's actually a great story where a boy sees a beautiful woman kind of by window sill resting on her elbows. They’re like, hey --
AM: Can't see her waist. Oh, no.
JS: They make eye contact. And he's like smiling. He's like, "Oh, she's cute." And the girl sees him, and she jumps out of the window. And it's a Teke Teke. And it's only the torso up. And the guy is like so surprised by it that he freezes, and she cuts him in half. And he becomes a Teke Teke.
AM: It's almost like in Sweeney Todd where like the young, you know, virginal sailor is looking up at Johanna, the beautiful woman in the window.
JS: Except she murders him.
AM: And it's like, "Walk away, walk away, young sailor. You don't know that her dad is a fucking homicidal barber."
JS: Well, more like Alan Rickman is gonna beat your fucking ass up.
AM: And also your interest in her will piss off her vaguely incestuous guardian.
JS: Yeah.
AM: Nothing good about that woman.
JS: Nothing good about that. Just stay away from her.
AM: She sings a pretty song about Green Finches and Linnet Bird.
JS: Yeah.
AM: Nightingale Blackbird. How was it you sing? I don't know, Johanna. You're scaring the shit out of me.
JS: You're just a creepy motherfucker. Just get out of here.
AM: Oh. And imagine her having no torso – no legs also.
JS: A thousand times creepier.
AM: That is – that is mad creepy.
JS: There's actually another version of this myth where a similar thing happens to a woman. But, instead, she haunts a bathroom stall. And, when people are alone in the bathroom, she'll ask them where her legs are. If they answer incorrectly, she'll rip their legs off.
AM: Wait. What's the correct answer?
JS: It's the train station where she was pushed in front of a train.
AM: How are they meant to know that?
JS: Because she's an infamous story.
AM: Oh, yeah, like notorious. It's funny. It's a bathroom too. Because, normally, like, you know, you just look to see if a stall is occupied and you see the legs.
JS: Yes. Yeah.
AM: And that's only thing that you do see of people.
JS: It's funny.
AM: Right.
JS: I like that.
AM: Yeah. Yeah.
JS: So, if they do tell her where she died, she'll ask them what her name is, and people are supposed to know the name. But, if you say it, she will attack you. You have to like say some other name, and she'll leave you alone because it means that she's not remembered and her death wasn't as tragic as it was.
AM: I mean I would assume that, if you don't remember her name, she would attack.
JS: No. Because she's like a vengeful spirit. So, it's kind of like saying Voldemort's name. It's, it's cursed. You can't – you can't fuck with that shit.
AM: I see. And, if you don't remember her like her quest is fueled or something.
JS: Yeah. I guess so.
AM: I don't know. I'm curious. And, also, I'm realizing now that one of the kind of things behind super scary myths to me is like peeling back the, the normal facade to reveal like corruption and perversion.
JS: Yeah.
AM: So, whether it's a surgical mask coming off of the woman with the, you know, half-slit face or like, you know, pulling back the bathroom stall to show that this person has no legs or Johanna in her tower; Sweeney Todd style. Listeners, you are going to soon find that musical theater is a motif second only to Harry Potter throughout this podcast.
JS: It is our jam. It has always been our jam.
AM: It is our like multiple mix CDs in our, you know, 2002 high school ride cars jam.
JS: 2002?
AM: My car is 2002 model.
JS: Okay. I was like we were not in high school in 2002, girl, girl.
AM: No. No. We might have been telling Bloody Mary stories.
JS: Oh, definitely.
AM: Yeah. But not driving or drinking. Certainly, not drinking.
JS: Certainly, not that.
AM: Julia’s dad is a cop.
JS: No. Yeah. So, I- I have to agree with that. I have to agree with the idea that myths and particularly modern myths and urban legends are so much scarier when you kind of understand why we, as a culture, are afraid of these things. Like we're afraid of these things because they could easily happen to us. Like we can find ourselves in that bathroom stall.
AM: Right. In a bathroom on the street like --
JS: We can find ourselves in the subway late at night waiting to get that ride home.
AM: Yeah.
JS: It's scary because these are situations we always find ourselves in.
AM: I think it's funny too because a lot of what you read about in like media criticism and like kids using the internet these days. It's all about the stuff that we choose to do. Like, oh, kids overshare. Kids like, find weird shit on the internet or, you know, if you have any kind of opinion like you can find people to back it up. But all of these myths are about happenstance. It’s about bad timing.
JS: Yeah.
AM: You know about being in the wrong place at the wrong time, doing just human shit.
JS: With wrong crazy shit.
AM: Right. Like out in the world. And I guess that – I don't know. Like it's – is it heartening? Is it disheartening? I don't know how to – how to interpret it.
JS: It's human.
AM: It is.
JS: It's what it comes down to.
AM: It is.
JS: It's a human experience, and it's scary. But, at the same time, it's fascinating because this is what we all experience.
AM: And what we repeat to each other, right? Like myths are made in the retelling. And I think it is so funny that this is the kind of stuff that we choose to retell.
Outro Music
AM: Spirits was created by Julia Schifini and me, Amanda McLoughlin, it's edited by Eric Schneider with music by Kevin MacLeod and visual design by Allyson Wakeman.
JS: Subscribe to Spirits on your preferred podcast app to make sure you never miss an episode. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, @SpiritsPodcast.
AM: On our Patreon page, patreon.com/spiritspodcast, you can sign up for exclusive content like behind the scenes photos, audio, extras, director's commentary, blooper reels and beautiful recipe cards with custom drink and snack pairings.
JS: If you like the show, please share with your friends and leave us a review on iTunes. It really does help.
AM: Thank you so much for listening. ‘til next time.
Transcriptionist: Rachelle Rose Bacharo
Editor: Krizia Casil