Episode 382: Your Urban Legends XC - Wholesome Urban Legends
/The antidote we all need to April Fool’s Day is here: a roundup of wholesome stories from your lives about the ways you and your parents make your days more magical.
Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of genitalia, illness, insects, spiders, injury, child endangerment, divorce, and death.
Housekeeping
- Recommendation: This week, Julia recommends Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV
- Books: Check out our previous book recommendations, guests’ books, and more at https://spiritspodcast.com/books
- Call to Action: Check out Pale Blue Pod!
Sponsors
- BetterHelp is an online therapy service. Get 10% off your first month at https://betterhelp.com/spirits
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- Website & Transcripts: https://spiritspodcast.com
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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: Welcome to Spirits Podcast, a boozy dive into mythology, legends, and folklore. Every week we pour a drink and learn about a new story from around the world. I'm Amanda.
JULIA: And I'm Julia. And Amanda, it's wholesome time, baby.
AMANDA: Oh, thank goodness. I've been looking forward to this one.
JULIA: I also have been really looking forward to this. I— listen, I love a scary story. I love a creepy story. I love everything that is spooky and cool. But I also do occasionally want my heart to be warmed by a wholesome story or a wholesome urban legend. And I think our listeners very much delivered when we put out this request a couple of months ago.
AMANDA: Totally agree. It's also a couple of days after my least favorite day on the internet, which is April 1st. I am somebody who doesn't like to be fooled, and I especially don't like kind of cruel pranks. And so to me, this feels like a really good sort of antidote or chaser to the April Fool's Day.
JULIA: Amanda, you don't like those, like, prank YouTube channels where people are really mean to their spouses?
AMANDA: No, they're my least favorite thing. I saw a video recently of someone who, like, got a dog and, like, her husband came home and she's like, "Here you go," and he was like, "Uh—" and I'm like, "That's mean. That's not nice for the dog."
JULIA: That's also not how, like, any adoption agency would really work. Like, I'm going through the process of trying to get a dog right now, and the woman was like, "Oh, yeah, you know, you sound great. Sounds like you're really excited to have a dog. Can I talk to the other people that live in your house to make sure they also want a dog?" Like, there's no way that you can just, like, sneak a dog into a house.
AMANDA: "Maybe she just, like, bought a puppy."
JULIA: Oh, yeah.
AMANDA: "This person doesn't strike me as like very, you know—"
JULIA: Adopt, don't shop?
AMANDA: "—ethics." Yeah, yeah, yeah.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: The point is I'm very excited. I would actually love to start, Julia, with an update from Betty, whose my mom is a magician story prompted this entire idea.
JULIA: Yay. Oh, I'm so glad that we heard back.
AMANDA: Yes. So Betty writes, "Hey, Amanda and Julia, thank you so much for reading my story about my mom on the show. I was so excited to hear it. I called her to tell her about it and sent her the episode link. I'm attaching her response below." And so we have a very sweet screenshot where Betty has texted the link to mom and mom writes back, "So sweet. So glad to have added some magic to your childhood. Smiley with hearts emoji, heart emoji, heart emoji, heart emoji." And then Betty says, "Love you," and mom says, "Love you too."
JULIA: That's so cute.
AMANDA: So cute.
JULIA: Aw. I love y'all's relationship. That's the nicest thing, like, hey, you know, some—some people don't get to have a great relationship with their parents. I am so glad that you guys do and that, like, you know, it's still going on to this day. Not only did you have an awesome childhood, I'm sure, but you're still having a great relationship with your parents, and that's great.
AMANDA: Yeah. And Betty continues— we got a little more of a nugget. So remember, this was a, like, very elaborate like leprechaun, St. Patrick's Day, you know, installation.
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: And so Betty says, "On the phone, my mom also told me that the leprechaun doughnuts came about because my brother said he saw a leprechaun on St. Patrick's Day when he was little. So it was yet another instance of her making our imaginations come to life."
JULIA: That's so sweet. I love that. I love that it became a whole thing just because your brother was like, "I saw a leprechaun on St. Patrick's Day," and you're like, "You know what? We're gonna make this whole thing."
AMANDA: Here we go.
JULIA: "A whole thing."
AMANDA: We also have a screenshot of a— of, like, a representative Facebook post from Betty's mom, which has a photo of a bunch of deer sort of, like, nibbling around some pine trees. And the caption is, "So glad I decided to go for a walk this afternoon. Believe it or not, there are a total of eight reindeer, no sign of Rudolf, though. Deer emoji."
JULIA: That's so sweet. Your mom seems very wholesome. And you know, it seems like she still has that kind of childlike wonder as a parent and as a full-ass adult now, and I love that for her. That's the kind of person that I want to be in the future.
AMANDA: Agreed. So Julia, can you give me a little— a little sampling, a little appetizer of some of the wholesome urban legends that we've gotten in?
JULIA: Ooh, yeah. I have a great one that is from Marissa, and Marissa writes, "Hey, Amanda and Julia, I'm a longtime listener, and I've written in maybe once or twice before, but I'm currently listening to Episode 371 Urban Legends. A number because I can't read— can't read Roman numerals, but episode 371. And had to pause the episode to tell you a fun story from a childhood showcasing the magic my parents would do for me and my sister. My family is Jewish, so growing up, we didn't have the magic of fantastical characters visiting us like Santa or the Easter Bunny, but we did have the Great Pumpkin."
AMANDA: Oh. And I will say you do have Elijah during Passover, but it's not so whimsical because, you know, scripturally, he does come into check if everybody's circumcised, so—
JULIA: I was gonna say Elijah and the Easter Bunny kind of don't fit in the same vein, Amanda, in my mind, at least. I could be wrong.
AMANDA: No, they don't.
JULIA: You know?
AMANDA: They don't. They don't.
JULIA: Now, I'm just picturing the Easter Bunny, like, checking to see if people are circumcised and that's the most ridiculous image.
AMANDA: The Easter Bunny is no penis sheriff. That one is for the Jews, that one is Elijah.
JULIA: That's fair. That's fair. So Marissa continues, "Yes, you read that right. the Great Pumpkin, like the Halloween special from Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang. If any listeners haven't seen the cinematic masterpiece, that is It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown from 1966, I highly recommend watching it. On Halloween night, usually towards the end of dinner where my sister and I were sitting with our parents, the doorbell would ring, which was strange for my area, because trick or treating was always the Sunday before Halloween." That's very interesting, and I think that's kind of like a Midwest church thing, where it's like, you know, you wouldn't do it on Halloween proper.
AMANDA: Hmm, yes.
JULIA: You do it when, like, you could make sure everyone is, like, you know, safe and walking with family members. And sometimes maybe they do like— I think that's becoming really popular, are the, like, trunk or treats, have you heard of this?
AMANDA: Yes, I have, where people will sort of gather in, like, a parking lot of a school, or a church, or community center, which makes sense, especially in a rural area where you'd have to otherwise, like, drive between people's houses.
JULIA: Uh-hmm. Yeah. We— a couple of towns near me have actually started doing it, but it's, like, the village or town sponsor, so they'll close off the street and the businesses will, like, pull up cars and put the— the treats in the trunk and, like, have all the kids run around to all the businesses. It se— it seems cute.
AMANDA: It must be a lot less intense than, like, wrangling your toddler for, like, two hours, you know, between, like, different suburban—
JULIA: Right. And, like, streets that don't necessarily have sidewalks and, like, you know, just going up to random people—
AMANDA: Yeah, yeah.
JULIA: —and a lot of people just aren't putting Halloween decorations out or whatever. It's— it's odd. "So the doorbell would ring, which is strange for my area because trick or treating is always on the Sunday before Halloween. But upon hearing the doorbell, my sister and I would run to the door, and sitting on the front step would be goodie bags with our names on it, and no one in sight."
AMANDA: Whoa.
JULIA: "Inside the bags would be some candy, small toys, and games from the Great Pumpkin."
AMANDA: Great Pumpkin.
JULIA: "One year leading up to the doorbell, we got a phone call, and my dad claimed that it was the police, saying that there had been a sighting of the Great Pumpkin in our area."
AMANDA: Oh, no. That's— that's really good. That's good foley, because like he had to have somebody called the house phone.
JULIA: Yeah. That's very, very good. Or it's just like someone happened to call ahead of time and he was like, "Oh, yes and thank you, Mr. Chief of Police for telling us about the Great Pumpkin." My parents would kind of do this as well, where we always went to my grandparents' house for Christmas Eve.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: And whenever we were driving back to our house afterwards, it'd be all dark and stuff like that. And my dad would always point out to airplanes, and it'd be like, "Julia, look, it's Rudolph in the sky."
AMANDA: Aw.
JULIA: 'Cause there was a— a blinking red light and I was always convinced that I was seeing Rudolph every Christmas Eve.
AMANDA: So cute.
JULIA: "the Great Pumpkin continued to visit us until we were 13. And pretty sure we may have been the only kids ever to have visits from the Great Pumpkin. I am 29 years old, and to this day, my dad still claims that he had absolutely nothing to do with it."
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: "He has a similar claim for the Tooth Fairy after all, and do we really think that he would actually pay us for teeth that would fall out?" It's a good question. It's a good question. It'd be like, "Yeah, maybe."
AMANDA: That is a good question.
JULIA: She finishes with, "I can't wait to continue the tradition when I have my own kids, maybe by then my dad will share the trick with the doorbell." Which is interesting. Maybe he had, like, a neighbor come over and, like, drop them off and then run away.
AMANDA: Then again, Julia, at this point, people who are writing into us it's possible they grew up in an age of, like, smart doorbells or at least, you know, maybe like a home security system. Like, it's— it's possible. Like, I was thinking to myself like, "Now, a parent could just pick up their phone and be like, 'Oh, hello." You know, like you— you don't have the phenomenon of the house phone, which I find very funny.
JULIA: Marissa is 29, so I don't know if the—
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: —the instant—
AMANDA: Probably a neighbor, then.
JULIA: Yes. I would say a neighbor probably, but it does make me feel better that I'm like, "Oh no, I'm too old." Well, I think that's great. I love the Great Pumpkin. That's such a fun Halloween tradition, especially if your area doesn't have a ton of Halloween traditions. I know that we're gonna have plenty of Halloween traditions if and when we decide to have a kid, so I— I love this one specifically. It's great.
AMANDA: Love that for you.
JULIA: Amanda, how about you? Do you have another wholesome urban legend for us?
AMANDA: Oh, you know it. This is a wholesome family urban legend round-up coming in from Helen, she/her. Helen says, "Hey, Amanda and Julia, in response to your suggestion at the end of episode 371, I would like to send in my wholesome family traditions and urban legends. Like, the person who wrote in, and you and Amanda both mentioned, we had a, I think, unique St. Patrick's Day tradition, which started with my kindergarten class. One of my classmates' mom would come in every so often to lead crafts with the whole class. I went to a Lutheran kindergarten, so like any self-respecting Protestants, we obviously spent lots of time on fun, but non-churchy things like our St. Patrick's Day project. For St. Patrick's Day, we all made a little craft with a brown paper lunch bag with a drawing of a leprechaun on it, and made little paper, quote, 'gold coins, shamrocks, and other decorations glued to it.'"
JULIA: That's so cute. I really like that. Adorable.
AMANDA: I actually think there was some element of leaving shiny things or golden rocks, maybe pyrite. I don't remember. Pyrite, how do you say that?
JULIA: Pyrite.
AMANDA: Pyrite inside the bag. The idea was you have to leave this in your house overnight the night before St. Patrick's Day, and the gold coins and pyrite would attract the leprechaun.
JULIA: That's really cute because it's fool's gold.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: Which is such a leprechaun thingy.
AMANDA: "Even if you didn't successfully trap a leprechaun, he might leave you some treats for the next day. And so this one small craft project turned into a year's long tradition for me and my younger sister of leaving out my leprechaun trap every St. Patrick's Day, and waking to most often some Thin Mint cookies for us to have."
JULIA: I— first off, love that it's Thin Mints because this is now Girl Scout cookie—
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: —season here in the US, and so that makes a lot of sense that that would be your reward.
AMANDA: And it's green?
JULIA: Yeah, gre— mint green. Sure. Yeah. The box is certainly green.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: So that feels St. Patrick's Day-y to me. What I love in particular is crafts for kids.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: And so this is such a fun, little, like, activity/craft that is fun, and themed, and like a little bit like supernatural-y, and I— I just love it. I love it.
AMANDA: I just love that people are so creative. I just love the parents got like an email, or a flyer, or something that we're like, "Hey, so this is the lore." Because if I pick my kid up from school, and they're like, "Yeah, yeah, teacher said I'll get chocolate if I put this out overnight." I'd be like, "Okay."
JULIA: You're like, "I did not buy chocolate. I don't know where we're gonna get some chocolate from."
AMANDA: But, actually, Helen finishes this tale with, "I love this tradition, and I think my sister did as well because she continued it even after I left the house. And I guess my parents thought it wasn't too strenuous to put a few cookies in a bag late at night for us, because they did it every year."
JULIA: That's very cute. And, you know, a few cookies in the bag means that they got to have the majority of those cookies. So parenting 101—
AMANDA: Nice.
JULIA: —you buy things for your kids that you're also going to enjoy.
AMANDA: I think that's great. I think I've said it before, but there— there was a good, like, two, three years where my dad would not order a meal in a restaurant if we went out as a family, because inevitably, my twin brother and sister would, like, leave half of their meals for him. And he— he's like, "Yum chicken fingers again. Okay."
JULIA: Amanda, here's the thing, I— Jake orders smaller portions because he knows I'm only going to eat about half of my food when I order, because I have eyes bigger than my stomach. And that happened last night when we went to go get tacos, where we ordered four tacos each, and I was like, "Alright. I've eaten two of these tacos and taken a bite out of each of the other tacos, so the rest is yours." Like, I just want to taste it. I don't mean to necessarily, like, eat the whole thing, so hey—
AMANDA: That's fair. That's fair.
JULIA: —whatever you want, baby. I've got one more here from LibraryChick.
AMANDA: Hey.
JULIA: And she writes, "Hey, spirits, when you asked for wholesome urban legends, I thought of one that my parents made for me as a kid. I have a genetic condition that required a lot of doctor's visits and medication as a kid. I would often become very upset about this and it would take my parents a long time to calm me down. But one day, when I was about three or four years old, my parents took me out to our garden to a blackberry patch. They encouraged me to explore and I found a small chest covered in roses.
AMANDA: Whoa.
JULIA: "My parents made a big deal about it, and told me that I was really lucky to have found a fairy treasure chest. From then on, whenever I became distressed about a doctor's visit or taking my daily medication, my parents would tell me to check the chest. They said that the fairies may have heard me being sad and would leave a gift to cheer me up in the treasure chest. Sure enough, there would be a favorite snack or a little treat waiting for me. This would help me get through being angry or sad, and do what I needed to do at the doctor's, or to take my medication. I look back now and appreciate how much effort my parents went to help me and the touch of magic that they made for me. I hope you've enjoyed this story and it makes you smile, like it does me."
AMANDA: Aw, it's so cute.
JULIA: Isn't that adorable? I really, really love that. The idea like, "Alright, we hide a little chest in the garden and they find it, you know, that's— that's a little fairy chest." And then like— gosh, that's such a sweet story, and it reminds me of, like, all the times that I played, kind of like, pretend by myself in the backyard and was, like, searching, looking for stuff in the bushes, and my mom would be like, "What are you—what are you doing?"
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: "What's happening back there?" I was like, "No, I'm finding the secret hidden tunnel to the fairyland. And she's like, "Alright, kid."
AMANDA: Great.
JULIA: "Whatever you want."
AMANDA: "She's outside, I guess. Yeah, whatever."
JULIA: "That's great. You know, She's not eating any weird bugs or anything like that, so it's a win for me as a parent."
AMANDA: My— one of my favorite hobbies as a kid was making little fairies out of clothes pins, and like gluing on, you know, like hair, and eyes, and making little, you know, skirts out of, like, scraps of fabric, because I had a bunch of books about, like, flower fairies and, like, little mini fairies. And my grandma, at one point, added a, like, statue to her garden, which I think she just like bought at a garden center, my grandpa got for her, and she had me name her. And I named after one of the fairies from these books, which was Tissa A Cabbatica. And I don't know where that came from. I don't know if I made it up, or if it was just a character. I don't think Tissa is a name, so she was the queen of the fairies. And my whole life, I'm like, "Hmm, she got covered in moss, and her little, like, umbrella collected rain." I was like, "Yeah, no, Tissa is in charge of the fairies."
JULIA: I love a Amanda original. Alright, Amanda, why don't we take a quick break? And we'll be back with a couple more wholesome urban legends and a fun, little game that I've come up with.
AMANDA: Ooh, let's do it.
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JULIA: Hey, it's Julia, and welcome to the refill. We are back from tour and though, I am very sleepy, I am feeling very fulfilled. We had such an amazing time. And thank you so much to all the conspirators that I got to meet live. It's incredible to have seen your faces, and to meet you, and know that our voices aren't just going out into the ether. You're real people that are listening to this. It's— it's amazing. Some of those people that are real people who listen to this show are our new patrons, like Crystal? Phoebe, Kaitlyn, and Elizabeth. Thank you so much for joining us. You can also join us by going to patreon.com/spiritspodcast and signing up today. And joining the ranks of supporting producer-level patrons like Uhleeseeuh, Anne, Arianna, Ginger Spurs Boi, Hannah, Jack Marie, Jane, Kneazlekins, Lily, Matthew, Phil Fresh, Rikoelike, Captain Jonathan MAL-uh-kye Cosmos, Sarah and Scott. And of course, our legend-level patrons, Audra, Bex, Chibi Yokai, Jeremiah, Morgan H., Sarah, and Bea Me Up Scotty. I have a recommendation for you this week, and it comes from something that I watched upon getting home from tour, and that is Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. I'm sure if you are on the internet, you've probably seen some of the clips from this or have heard people talking about it. It is really a kind of like dark, true crime-esque show, a real deep dive into television from the late '90s and mid-2000s to like, you know, early aughts. And I think it was a really, really cool show. Obviously, check those content warnings because it does get very dark. But the new episode is coming out, I think, next week and I'm very excited to see the kind of conclusion to everything. So that is Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. I also want to recommend a lighter show for you and that is Pale Blue Pod. Pale Blue Pod is an astronomy podcast for people who are overwhelmed by the universe, but they still want to be its friend. Astrophysicist Dr. Moiya McTier and comedian Corinne Caputo de mystify space, one topic at a time with open eyes, open arms, and open mouths, from like the jaw-dropping and the laughter. By the end of each episode, the cosmos will feel a little less, "Ahh, too scary," and a lot more, "Ooh, so cool." And you can get new episodes every Monday wherever you get your podcasts. That's Pale Blue Pod. And we are sponsored this week by BetterHelp. A lot of us spend our lives wishing that we had more time. Like it would just be so much easier if we had an extra hour in our day to, you know, do the things that help us destress. Maybe you'd like to have an extra hour to read a book, to show up for a friend, to go for a run, or get a workout in. It would be so much easier if that was the case, right? But the question is, time for what? You know, if time was unlimited, how would you use it? And I think that it's important to figure out what is important to you, and what is a priority, and to make it a priority. And therapy can help you find what matters to you so that you can do more of it. I know that I really enjoy talking to my therapist. It makes it really easy to, like, have a conversation with a person and know, like, what is the first thing that is bothering me? What is the first thing I'm going to bring up with this person? What is the first thing that I want to put my time towards in order to solve or just, you know, talk through? And that is really the important. And I think that's something that everyone could benefit from. So if you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapists at any time for no additional charge. Learn to make time for what makes you happy with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com/spirits today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P, .com/spirits. And now, let's get back to the show.
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JULIA: Amanda, we're back and hey, what— what have you been enjoying lately, cocktail-wise, drink-wise? That kind of thing.
AMANDA: Julia, I went to one of my very favorite places on Earth, which is a suburban Target.
JULIA: Welcome to my land.
AMANDA: I know. I was taking care of my grandma, running some errands for her, and was like, "You know what? This is a great excuse. I rented a car, I'm out here. Let me— let me run to a Target." And they did have a— I think a 16 pack of glass bottles of Miller High Life for, like, $9 ,which is my genuine, not ironic—
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: —favorite beer, I think, to just have at home. It is— it is, like, just enough. It's not very much. It's pretty light. The champagne of beers is champagne for me. And I— I have been, like, slowly— maybe like one a week, treating myself to, like, a Highlife, you know, with dinner after a day of work. I mean, it's like 4%, like it's— you know, it's not going to have any appreciable effect, which at this point, like I'm— I'm down for it. And I— I love a Highlife. I use a bottle opener, even though it's a twist-off just because— just because I like it. Just because I want to.
JULIA: Amanda, when I tell you that we go through a case of Miller High Life every band practice—
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: —it's— it's the champagne of beers, everyone in the group loves it, and we just, like, pound through them. You know, we basically have to refill every time we have a band practice. Jake will be like, "Oh, we got to stop at the 7/11 and get a pack of the— the Miller High Life." I'm like, "Yeah." And it's got that beautiful art of the lady on the moon, it's great.
AMANDA: Now, wait, do you get cans, glass tall bottles, or glass pony bottles?
JULIA: Glass tall bottle, baby.
AMANDA: Okay, good. That's the— that's the— if you can't get a pony, that's the best. But a pony bottle— a pony bottle is my— is my favorite beer shot combo, is to have a pony bottle of Miller and, like, one ounce of whiskey or tequila. Like that's— that's it. I'm— I'm good for an hour. Like, leave me alone.
JULIA: I also just love the gold foil on the pony bottle. I think it looks beautiful. And it feels like a champagne of beers, so—
AMANDA: Yeah. We just have one, like, in our kitchen as decoration, because especially during the pandemic, at some point, there was a pony bottle shortage, and so it was like— it was a real thing. They didn't have them at all of the bars in our neighborhood that were known for pony bottles. And so it must have been if we were in a bar like post-vaccination, with like outdoor seating in the back. And so it was— it was past the like original supply chain crunch, such that we were like, "Oh, no, like will pony bottles be back?" And when they were back, we were so excited. So good.
JULIA: Threw a celebration.
AMANDA: We bought, like, two cases when we were at a suburban Wegmans, yeah.
JULIA: Hell yeah, dawg. I love that. I love that for you guys.
AMANDA: How about you, Julia? What have you been drinking?
JULIA: I mean, apparently, it's been Miller High Life because we've had a lot of band practices lately, but I was just at a recording session with Jake and— and the band and stuff like that. And it is above a very dive-y bar. But the very dive-y bar did have a really great sour.
AMANDA: Ooh.
JULIA: So this is a Garvies Point Sour Batch sour beer. It's delicious.
AMANDA: Cool.
JULIA: I really liked it. And they served it in one of those, like, goblet style glasses, which I was very—
AMANDA: Very nice.
JULIA: —into. So that was— that's kind of been doing it for me lately. I like Garvies Point. It's like— they've got a nice selection of stuff.
AMANDA: Very cool. You're also reminding me that Genesee Brewery, pride of New York State, has brought back their— my favorite summertime beer, which is their Ruby Red Kolsch, which you have done great work in sourcing and schlepping to us.
JULIA: Hard to find.
AMANDA: It is hard to find, but Julia, this year, they're releasing tall boys of the Ruby Red Kolsch. And I am so excited, and if I find them, we're— we're buying as much as I can carry, because it's— it's gonna be great.
JULIA: I'll keep an eye out, for sure.
AMANDA: Thank you.
JULIA: Alright, Amanda. I have a really cool idea for a game that we can play. Maybe we'll play it in between the wholesome urban legends that you're going to be reading for us.
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: But I want us to come up with wholesome, little magic moments based on randomly generated holidays from this random holiday generator that I found.
AMANDA: Okay. This is great.
JULIA: Alright. I'm gonna run it, and I'm gonna give you five options for each, and you'll pick one, and then we'll make up a little, like, wholesome magical moment, tradition, right?
AMANDA: Love it.
JULIA: Alright. Here we go. Malcolm X Day.
AMANDA: Great.
JULIA: International Women's Day, just passed when— at the time of us recording this.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: Black Friday, Arbor Day.
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: And Amanda's least favorite holiday, April Fool's Day.
AMANDA: That's right. Okay. So some— some childhood magic rituals. I'm really interested in Black Friday.
JULIA: Okay.
AMANDA: I— how can we— how can we do some, like, anti-consumerist, you know, sweet Black Friday things?
JULIA: I think that on Black Friday, you go through all of the clothes in your house to see if you need to get rid of any.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: Always a good time to do some spring cleaning, but in the fall. And you end up donating them to, you know, your local, you know, thrift store or what have you. And when you get back, your house spirit that lives in your house—
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: —is so happy about all the new space and stuff like that, they leave you little treats.
AMANDA: I love that. I think that's so smart. I am all for it. I was totally thinking down the same line of like, is there something that we can donate, or repair, or maybe do like a swap with people? But that's— that's absolutely wonderful and I think a great tradition overall, is what can you like repair, or donate— or, you know, donate to a mutual aid organization on Black Friday instead.
JULIA: Yeah, I really like that. You're not getting necessarily a gift that is going to take up more space after you've just cleaned out the nice, little space for yourself. You're getting like a little treat. Maybe it's like a baked good or, like, some candy, or something like that.
AMANDA: Yeah, that's really good.
JULIA: I'm into it. I'm into it. Alright. Let me— let's do one more and then we'll hear an urban legend?
AMANDA: Let's do it.
JULIA: Alright. Would you like, Amanda, Leif Erikson Day, German-American Day— which is apparently October 6th.
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: Oktoberfest, Women's Equality Day—
AMANDA: Oh.
JULIA: —and Diwali?
AMANDA: Diwali great, has its own traditions, not— not for me.
JULIA: Don't need us to do it. That's fine.
AMANDA: Ah. Ooh. Oh, baby. First, I didn't even know we had Women's Equality Day. That's interesting.
JULIA: August 26th.
AMANDA: Who knew? A very hot time of year, it's kind of rude. Now, I did in my mind think Leif Erikson was a Canadian hockey player. He's not, is he? He's a— he's a colonist?
JULIA: He's the— the, like, Norwegian Viking dude that, quote-unquote, "found America before Columbus did."
AMANDA: Alright. Let's— let's pretend there is a contemporary Canadian hockey player named Leif Erikson and he is just a sweetie, and an absolute love bug, and— and just like goes around to, you know, schools like, you know, repainting their playgrounds and, you know, installing hockey rinks. And I think Canadian community Hockey Association Day, aka the old Leif Erikson Day, should be a day where we all go down to our local primary schools and kind of repair, clean up, you know, do some DIY. Give the kids a nice facility to play in.
JULIA: I like that as a kind of like Busy Bee Day where you're like— maybe you're raking leaves in a community area, like at the park or at the— at the schools, like you suggested. I think that's kind of fun. Or wear hockey uniforms.
AMANDA: Yeah. And then maybe afterward, there is like a ceremonial, you know, first goal in the— I'm sure people do this already. Like, the— the resurfacing of the ice. Like, I don't know, getting— getting the rink prepared for winter. And maybe there's like a special thing you do as, like, the last day before you put the ice in, you know?
JULIA: Wait, you know how Gritty— Amanda, you know, Gritty—
AMANDA: Of course.
JULIA: You know how they said like, "Oh, you know, Gritty was unearthed after they did construction on the— the stadium and stuff like that."
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: I really liked this idea that, like, some weird like, hockey gremlin comes out every year at the beginning of the hockey season, and like crawls into the Zamboni, and like helps it run on its own.
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: And that is a fun, little magical moment for the children because like, "The Zamboni, it's running on its own. It must be the hockey gremlin."
AMANDA: Love it. Love it. I think this is great. Thank you for going with me down this imagination station.
JULIA: I'm sticking with you, baby. I'm sticking with you.
AMANDA: Thank you.
JULIA: Alright. How about another urban legend and then we'll play a couple more of these?
AMANDA: Absolutely. Julia, this legend came in from Ally, she/her, and it is a wholesome story of a guardian angel that saved her little sister.
JULIA: Ooh, okay. Alright.
AMANDA: And Ally says upfront that this story involves her sister being hurt, but she was totally fine. So if that's a thing that's, you know, you're sensitive to, feel free to skip this one, but she was all good.
JULIA: I'm glad she's okay.
AMANDA: So Ally writes, "My little sister Becca is only 10 months younger than I am. (I know, our poor mother.)"
JULIA: Your poor mother is right.
AMANDA: "Because we're so close in age, we were almost inseparable as kids. The story I want to share happened when she was 3 and I was 4. At the time, my family lived in your stereotypical Midwestern two-storey white farmhouse with a beautiful front porch and even a red barn. Becca and I are playing upstairs in our parents' bedroom, which we were not supposed to do, jumping on the bed," which you're also not supposed to do.
JULIA: Classic child move.
AMANDA: Man, some— so fun about jumping on the bed. I wish I jumped on the bed more as a kid. A lot of rules that I— I'm glad it didn't break, but one that, you know, I— I can't really do as much now.
JULIA: And let's be honest, when you're child size, best time to be jumping on the bed. I wouldn't jump on the bed now because I'd be worried about it actually breaking, but like—
AMANDA: It— that's what I'm saying.
JULIA: —when you're 30 pounds or however big children are, I don't know, that's the perfect time to be jumping on a bed because you're not going to break the bed.
AMANDA: Yeah. You might like— yeah, especially before mattress technology was as advanced, you could, I guess, like kind of compact the coil or, you know, make something bad? But yeah, like an adult sitting on a bed and child jumping on the bed can't be that different.
JULIA: Can't be.
AMANDA: "We were having an excellent time wrestling and acting like hyperactive hellspawn when one of us GOT AN IDEA."
JULIA: Never good when children that age get an idea.
AMANDA: I know. Especially capitalized as it is in this email. So you know those great big exercise balls that adults claim they use properly, but children instead recognize as the awesome toys that they are?
JULIA: Yes, I remember those from my childhood.
AMANDA: Well, we decided to put that on the bed, citing the immaculate three to four-year-old logic that if you put a bouncy thing on top of an already bouncy thing, Julia, it'll even be better, turbo bouncy.
JULIA: Oh, no, this is very bad.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: This is— I will agree, bad idea.
AMANDA: I'll be honest, despite what happened next, that logic still holds up to me in my mid-20s. "Now, we didn't have air conditioning in our house, so my parents had opened their bedroom windows to help the air circulate better through the house." Julia looks so scared.
JULIA: Oh, no.
AMANDA: Remember, again, the child is fine.
JULIA: Everyone's okay, but this is very bad.
AMANDA: Everyone's okay. "Now, this would have been fine, except that their bed was pushed up against the wall in front of the windows that were opened. You probably see where this is going. Becca and I've been taking turns rolling across the top of the ball and flopping down on the bed like giggling ragdolls. And we were at this for a while until Bella rolled across the ball and didn't land on the bed. Somehow I didn't see where she went. I just saw where I expected her to be, and she wasn't there. Then I heard her scream. I heard a thud." Remember, everybody's fine. "And then more screaming. My mom and Sarah, who at this point had been downstairs in the kitchen washing dishes, came running up. She's yelling, 'Where's your sister? What happened?' I was in tears at this point, worried that my sister was in pain or, you know, in danger. I sobbed I didn't know. When the two of them noticed that the window screen was missing, that's when they knew what happened."
JULIA: Oh, no.
AMANDA: "We found Becca at the foot of the porch steps, trying to unstick herself from the window screen, and screaming bloody murder. Miraculously, she was completely unscathed. Other than some scrapes on her knees and elbows, she was completely physically okay, and the only thing broken was actually one of the porch steps, which we think was close to breaking anyway and somehow broke her fall."
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: "Obviously, my parents still took her to the ER and they confirmed that she was somehow entirely fine. Later, when my parents had calmed down enough to talk to her about it, they asked her if she had been scared when she fell down. Becca simply looked at them and said, 'I wasn't scared because the angels got me.'"
JULIA: Huh?
AMANDA: "When I asked her about it again recently, she said that while she didn't remember very much about the incident, she does remember being convinced that angels were with her, safely guiding her down from her fall the whole way. Suffice to say we never pulled any bullshit of that magnitude again, and I'll always be grateful to my sister's little guardian angels."
JULIA: That's beautiful, first off. So glad that no one was seriously hurt.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: I wonder if it— I— I don't know why I've been trying to, like, logic my way out of so many urban legends lately, but I wonder if it was like, a weird trauma response where it's like, "Okay, well, I don't remember exactly what happened, and I"— you know, probably someone was like, "Oh, it's a miracle. You know, you didn't— you didn't get hurt, it's a miracle." Like— and maybe depending on like, you know what your background is, you're like, "Oh, a miracle. Angels— the angels kept me safe."
AMANDA: Yeah. Or I mean, like, as a little kid, like, I remember— I would never allow my husband to do this, my parents are now divorced. But as a kid, my mom hated and my dad loved when we would jump from the top of the stairs and he would catch us at the bottom of the stairs, which I'm sure lots of parents do. Again, I'm— I'm sure when the— when the kid is, like, you know, 20 pounds, you can catch them easily, like it's fine. My dad is also very tall and broad, so he was, like, as broad as the stairs. But still, I— it was like the most fun thing in the world. The kids would laugh maniacally. And, like, if your only experience of jumping was jumping onto like a pillow, or a play mat, or like into your parent's arms, then maybe you're just like your brain auto-fills like, "Oh, of course, of course, someone will catch me."
JULIA: Yeah. It's why children are so reckless and adults— you know, you're like, "I gotta go down the stairs slow because God forbid—"
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: "— something happens."
AMANDA: Exactly.
JULIA: Are you ready for some more holidays?
AMANDA: Yes, please.
JULIA: Alright, we got Oktoberfest again.
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: We got Veterans Day.
AMANDA: Alright.
JULIA: We got Washington's birthday.
AMANDA: Oh.
JULIA: We got New Year's Eve.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: And we got to have Halloween.
AMANDA: Oh, it's gotta be Washington's birthday.
JULIA: Okay.
AMANDA: Because the completely apocryphal story of chopping down the cherry tree, I feel like has to have some kind of modern incarnation here with little wholesome traditions.
JULIA: I think it's the ghost of Washington is upset that he did that thing, so every time on Washington's birthday, we plant a native, noninvasive tree.
AMANDA: I love that. Why did my brain immediately go to a paper mache, like pinata of a cherry, where you hit it open and chocolate-covered cherries fall out? Maybe I'm just fantasizing about a snack, but that sounds great.
JULIA: Amanda, can I yes end your thing and say instead of—
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: "—chocolate-covered cherries falling out of the cherry pinata which I love, it's like native wildflower seeds?
AMANDA: Oh, that's it. We did it.
JULIA: We did it.
AMANDA: Perfect.
JULIA: And then you're like, "Oh, look, sweetheart, this is where the seeds landed, and now we have a beautiful wildflower patch."
AMANDA: Yes. Scattering on the wind, I— I love that. That's so cute. And then the outside can be compostable.
JULIA: Yes. And then you're like, "Ah, yes, it was a blessing from the ghost of George Washington." Alright, one more— one more and then we'll read another one. We're back at Women's Equality Day. I think the list is just really small, so we keep getting a lot of repeats. Easter, Flag Day, Thanksgiving Day, and once again, April Fool's Day.
AMANDA: Alright, let's— let's accept the challenge. Women's Equality Day, end of August. This is for children. Oh, boy.
JULIA: Does your parent, potentially your mother, end up being possessed by the ghost of a woman's rights activist? Like, all of a sudden, you wake up on Women's Equality Day and your mom's like, "I'm Amelia Earhart. I flew an airplane across the ocean. Would you like to learn more about me and how my fight for equality and aviation helped us lead the path we are on today?"
AMANDA: Yes. Yes, I do. That sounds perfect.
JULIA: You're like, "Mom, it's weird that you got possessed by a ghost." And then she wakes up the next day, she's like, "I don't remember what you're talking about."
AMANDA: Incred— maybe you have to, like, bring your mom breakfast in bed or else, you know, she'll stay like that all day long.
JULIA: Yeah. You're like, "Mom, once we get some breakfast in you, the ghost of Amelia Earhart will leave you."
AMANDA: Yeah. I hate when my mom is the ghost of, I don't know, Coretta Scott King. I— I hate that. Julia, this next urban legend comes in from Anna Catherine, and it's titled, Remember to scatter ashes sooner, rather than later.
JULIA: Uh-oh.
AMANDA: And it's wholesome.
JULIA: Okay, that's good. I think of my grandfather's ashes still in my grandma's cabinet because they haven't gotten around to doing a ceremony for him.
AMANDA: Anna Catherine says, "I grew up with a mix of Christianity and a vague awareness and respect of the spirit world." Which I— I think is— is good. Prudent.
JULIA: I'm into that.
AMANDA: "My mom raised me to be attuned to energies and possible spirits nearby, which wasn't uncommon in my childhood home, which was built in 1930."
JULIA: Okay. Alright.
AMANDA: "I was in my preteen years when I had my first long-term experience with the paranormal. I'll call it a ghost or spirit for lack of a better term, but the thing that I perceived was a distinct energy. I was around 11 or 12, and a feminine spirit energy settled into my bedroom. I never felt threatened or harmed by it, but I could always feel its presence in the southeast corner of my room specifically. That corner became the spirit's corner. Our dogs never liked coming into my room, and they would frequently stand at the doorway and stare alertly into that corner only."
JULIA: Spooky. Don't like it.
AMANDA: "When I rearrange my furniture as I like to do every couple of years, I never even considered moving my bed into that corner. It belonged to the spirit."
JULIA: Right. And I wouldn't want to sleep in the spirit's corner, not even a little bit.
AMANDA: Right. "The only piece of furniture that ever lived in that corner was a chair that I rarely use except practice the cello, because it was the right height and had no arms."
JULIA: Okay.
AMANDA: "The energy of the ghost always felt more concentrated when I played the cello, and I had the distinct dissent that somebody was watching me as I did so."
JULIA: Ghost likes music, got it. Cool.
AMANDA: "Fast forward about four years during which time I had been living in harmony with the spirit for many years now. One day, my mom and I were talking about an older woman, Miss Joyce, whom she had cared for during my childhood and had passed away when I was 10 or 11 years old."
JULIA: Okay.
AMANDA: So looking back just before this, this began. "Now, my mom mentioned that she, A, wasn't the best at doing things in a timely manner, and B, had yet to scatter Ms. Joyce's ashes, which she had been tasked with doing."
JULIA: Oh, no, girl.
AMANDA: "Of course, she told me, 'The ashes were in a container on the other side of the wall, backing that corner of my room.'"
JULIA: Damn, mom, come on. Come on, mom.
AMANDA: "Needless to say, I was astonished, a little disturbed, and asked my mom politely to move Miss Joyce's ashes from that area of the living room. After she did, the constant presence went away. And as of last year, my mom did in fact get around to scattering her ashes. It's almost a decade after her passing, but hey, gave us a chance to remember her. I can only assume it was Miss Joyce's spirit residing in my room all those years, not only was the presence friendly, but it always felt more pronounced when I played the cello. And Miss Joyce, during her life, loved my music for the few years that I had been learning it while she was alive. I even brought my cello to her hospice to play for her."
JULIA: Aw.
AMANDA: "I like to think she was enjoying the music from whatever plane comes next.
JULIA: Amanda, I really liked that we're finishing with this one, because we started this episode with like, you know, "My parents really wanted me to like have a magical childhood, so they would like hide fairy gifts in the garden or, like, you know, the Great Pumpkin would drop off Halloween candy for us." And this one is a completely different way of making your childhood a little bit more supernatural and magical, which is, "Oops, forgot to spread some ashes, my bad."
AMANDA: But Miss Joyce continuing to enjoy and support and— and— and protect Anna Catherine.
JULIA: Well, I love that. Amanda, I'm so glad that so many people wrote in with these wholesome urban legends. It's really sweet to, like, see how, one, people who listen to the show kind of came into existence and became the way that they are, thanks to their parents.
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: And two, I just— I really love seeing everyone's kind of traditions and stuff like that. It's very, very sweet.
AMANDA: I know. It really makes me smile. And if y'all want to keep writing in, please do. Use that word wholesome, and we'll know how to sort through them, and we can continue sprinkling these in as palate cleansers if we ever get particularly spooky urban legends. Which I just want to shout out editor, Bren, has been making spookier than ever with incredible sound design, so thank you, Bren, for doing that. It's really enhancing my enjoyment of these urban legends, and I'll keep your wholesome tales categorized for another day.
JULIA: And remember, next time that you're breaking apart a paper mache cherry in order to spread some wildflowers to celebrate with the ghost of George Washington, remember, stay creepy—
AMANDA: Stay cool.
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