Episode 183: Your Urban Legends XXXV - It’s Ouija Time!
/It’s Urban Legends time! We share your family ghost stories, visit a very beautiful/creepy mannequin in Mexico, and learn the reason why The Devil refuses to visit Wales.
Learn more about Devil’s Bridge Falls at devilsbridgefalls.co.uk, and check out photos of La Pascualita and the obituary Amanda quoted at spiritspodcast.com/your-urban-legends-35
Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of death/obituaries, dolls/mannequins, animal endangerment (but no death), ouija boards, car accidents, murder/missing persons, the death of parents/loved ones, and axe-murder.
Housekeeping
- Donation: Please join us in donating to the National Bail Funds at http://secure.actblue.com/donate/bail_funds_george_floyd
- Recommendation: This week, Julia recommends The Orbiting Human Circus. Check out our previous book recommendations, guests’ books, and more at spiritspodcast.com/books
- Multitude: Digital merch for all shows, including new Spirits posters and phone wallpapers, are available at http://multitude.productions/merch. Join the MultiCrew for just $5 at http://multicrew.club!
Who knew Amanda’s grandma had the sight?!
Photos of La Pascualita:
Sponsors
- Skillshare is an online learning community where you can learn—and teach—just about anything. Visit skillshare.com/spirits2 to get two months of Skillshare Premium for free! This week Julia recommends “Writing for Self-Discovery: 6 Journaling Prompts for Gratitude and Growth” by Yasmine Cheyenne.
- Stitch Fix is an online personal styling service that finds and delivers clothes, shoes, and accessories to fit your body, budget, and lifestyle. Get started at stitchfix.com/spirits for 25% off when you keep your whole box!
- Backblaze is an affordable unlimited backup service for Macs and PCs. Sign up for your fully-featured free trial at backblaze.com/spirits
Find Us Online
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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.
Amanda: And this is Episode 183: Your Urban Legends, Number 35, and first off this week, we’d like to extend love from our team and our whole community to our black listeners. Your lives matter and we stand with you this--and every--week. As people with a platform it is our duty to speak up about the racism and violence. Multitude has therefore made a donation to National bail funds, and we encourage anyone who can to do the same. A like to do that is in the description of this episode. We would also like to welcome our newest Patrons, whose support makes it possible for us to continue to make this podcast. Aaron, Drew, Andrea, Lukas, Wednesday, Sydney, Scott and Cali. Welcome and thank you. You join the ranks of our Supporting Producer level patrons--Baz, Mr. Folk, Jen, Tank a Roonie, Hannah, Uh lee see uh, Landon, Niki, Megan, Debra, Molly, Skyla, Samantha, Sammie, Neal, Jessica and Phil Fresh--and our Legend level patrons--Avonlea, Ashelia, Chelsea, Clara, Stephen, Frances, Josie, Kylie, Morgan, Bea Me Up Scotty, Audra, Chris, Mark, Sarah, and Jack Marie.
Julia: We are always thankful for your support, especially now. You guys make it possible for us to do this show every week and it is a dream come true.
Amanda: Next week we are doing our Myth Movie Night for the month, and it’s going to be The Shape of Water. So if you would like to watch that movie between now and next week and then listen to the episode along with us as always we will let you know when the spoilers happen. That way if you haven’t watched or you want to watch later on you can still enjoy the episode. But if you want to join us, do it!
Julia: Yeah, I think it’s going to be a really interesting conversation. We kind of came at the movie in a different angle than most people do and I’m very excited to talk about it.
Amanda: We also drank some local liquors instead of some local beers so stick around after the refill to hear about what we enjoyed.
Julia: Yeah, I think yours was my favorite out of the two that we talked about, Amanda, but I’m definitely going to have to enjoy some next time I see you in person.
Amanda: Totally, and Julia, what have you been listening to, reading, or watching in the last week?
Julia: So, I have kind of fell off of podcasts in the past couple weeks. We’ve just been really busy and I don’t really have a commute anymore, so I haven’t been listening as much, but I totally fell in love with The Orbiting Human Circus lately as I’ve been going for walks around my neighborhood and stuff like that with my mask on. The Orbiting Human Circus is a magical and musical podcast that invites you into a mystery surrounding the lonely young janitor who lives at the top of the Eiffel Tower and just has no idea how he got up there. They’re actually wrapping up their second season now, so you can start from the beginning or jump right into season two and let The Orbiting Human Circus take you somewhere else. It features voices like John Cameron Mitchell, Susannah Flood, Julian Koster--just a bunch of different people. You can listen to it anywhere you listen to your podcasts or you can go to orbitinghumancircus.com.
Amanda: I definitely get some Far Meridian vibes--from our friends at The Whisper Forge--so if that’s something you enjoy you should definitely check out Orbiting Human Circus.
Julia: Yeah, it’s really just lighthearted and fun and a little mysterious. I’m into it.
Amanda: Fabulous. Well, listeners, we are here for you, we stand with you, and we hope that we can provide you some escapism and humor in your week. So, for now, enjoy episode 183: Your Urban Legends, Number 35.
[Theme music]
Amanda: Guys, I shared something with you in our team chat this past week that all of us immediately said, “we have to share this with the conspirators.”
Julia: Yes, please.
Eric Schneider: Oh boy. Here we go. Here we go.
Julia: Here it is.
Amanda: So, I talk a lot about my Irish family on the show. My dad’s one of eleven kids and a lot of them don’t know anything about our other family, because, you know--moved to America, didn’t keep in touch with a lot of the relatives back in Ireland as often as they’d like, and also just don’t have records going back a lot of the ways. When you have 12 kids, not everybody remembers all those kids’ names, and birth orders, and what the great-grandmother’s maiden name was. So, when my dad recently found an obituary for his grandmother, my great-grandmother, we were really excited because it lists out all of her kids’ names in order, where they lived, and it’s just a lot of information. So I kind of scanned it in the text message in the group chat with my family, and a word stuck out to me. And that was “telepathy.”
So, I would love to read to you a quote about my great-grandmother, Ellie. “A well-known rancounter--” which means like an orator-- “...she was reputed for her recitations. Indeed, she was very aptly described in a letter this week from a Leitrim man in England who, on hearing of her death, said, ‘a grand lady whom I remember very well for all the times I visited her home in Eslin in far off days. She used to hold us spellbound with stories of fairies and ghosts. God rest her soul. She was like her sister, Mrs. Gaffney, late of Shancurry, Drumshanbo, reading the cards, the tea leaves, and hands--besides having the gift of a second sight or telepathy as it’s known today.’”
Julia: I really appreciate that you are keeping your great-grandmothers tradition alive by telling stories of fairies and ghouls and whatnot.
Amanda: Apparently! I wish I knew more about this lady who was apparently a gifted story-teller and like “oh, yes, come here lass and I’ll read your tea leaves and also your palm.” And “Oh, oh no, I see something in the corner.” Oh my God, I love it! Ellie McNamara, man.
Julia; Incredible.
Eric: Truly good stuff. Truly good stuff.
Amanda: So that’s just my little opener for us this week. I”m going to try to channel her a little bit in daily life.
Julia: I love it. I do have a follow-up to a recent urban legends episode, if you guys would like to hear it.
Amanda: Oooh! Yeah!
Julia: This was sent in by Bonehat--sure--
Amanda: Great.
Eric: I’ve got a story about a little old lady and the Devil’s Bridge.
Amanda: Ooooh.
Julia: Oooh, a little old lady! Devil’s Bridge!
Amanda: Devil’s Bridge is definitely like a subset of urban legends that I am 1000% here for.
Eric: For sure, exactly. So this comes to us from Sophie, and she writes: “I found your podcast about a year ago, and this lockdown has been a great time to sit down and work through all the episodes. Unfortunately, I have personally never had a cool/creepy spirits experience. Then again, I’m scared easily and that’s probably for the best. I’m from England, but now live in Wales. I went to university in a small seaside university on the coast of Wales called Aberystwyth. So I have a Welsh myth for you from near where I went to University. Near Aberystwyth there is a beautiful waterfall at a place called Devil’s Bridge. It’s actually been used in a BBC series called Hinterland.--”
Amanda: Oh, I love that show! No shit!
Eric: Yeah. “Anyway, let me get a wiggle on with the story of the Devil’s last trip to Wales.”
Amanda: Oh my God! This is hall of fame email already. I love “get a wiggle on,” I love Wales, this is incredible.
Eric: “It is said that the Devil has not returned to Wales since the 11th century, all because of one little old lady. The Devil was walking through the area when he came across a little old lady who was upset by the side of the river. He asked her, ‘what is wrong?’ and she says, ‘I don’t know what to do. My cow has crossed the river and I can’t get her back.’ The Devil offers her help, but of course, there is always a price. ‘You need a bridge and I can make you one. Go home and in the morning there will be a bridge. All I ask for is the life of the first living thing to cross it.”
Amanda: No!
Eric: “Now where most people would say hell no and run from the Devil, she says ‘okay then. It’s a bargain. I’ll see you in the morning. Nos da.’--which is Welsh for ‘good night.’ When she goes home, she thinks about the bridge and the offer. It seems odd. Next morning she takes her dog with her as she walks to the river. She is shocked to find that the Devil is stood there next to a brand new bridge. He says, ‘I kept my end of the bargain, now it is your turn to keep yours.’”
Amanda: Now listen! If this dog goes over the bridge before her, this is not an Eric-safe myth.
Julia: It just means it can’t end on Eric. That’s the only problem.
Eric: That’s what it means. It means we can’t end with something sad.
Amanda: Okay, okay. I’ll allow it.
Julia: We can’t have a stone-dog incident again.
Eric: Exactly.
Julia: Okay, so here’s my reasoning here. If this was me. I would be like, “all right, that’s fine,” and then I would bring a chicken with me. And I would just--
Amanda: Yeah!
Julia: Yeah! You know, push the chicken aside, the chicken’s probably going to get taken by the Devil, and then we’re all good and you get your cow back.
Amanda: Fair enough.
Eric: “She knows the first living thing to cross the bridge is his, and so she gets to the edge of the bridge and pulls out a loaf of bread and throws it across the bridge.”
Julia: There we go!
Amanda: Oh my god!
Eric: “In a flash her dog runs across the bridge to get the bread.”
Julia: Oh no, it is the dog!
Amanda: No!
Julia: I thought the bread was the thing.
Amanda: I was like, “does yeast count? If so, that’s amazing!”
Eric: “‘Agh!’ screamed the Devil, ‘you stupid old woman, I don’t believe it! Your smelly, hairy farm dog has become the first living thing to cross my bridge. It’s no good to me!’ he screams, and then vanished. The little old lady is now free to cross the bridge without worrying.” I assume that this means that the dog was okay, because it sounds like he just doesn’t want a dog.
Amanda: Yeah. Yes.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: The Devil doesn’t want a dog.
Julia: The Devil’s an asshole, he doesn’t like dogs, and so he’s like, “nah, I won’t take it. It’s smelly and it’s a farm dog.”
Amanda: Fair enough.
Eric: I like that I can now play on my former mistakes of reading a sad dog tale to really ramp up the suspense for the story.
Julia: Proud of you.
Amanda: It was great! Well done!
Eric: “It is said that the Devil was so embarrassed that he never returned to Wales.
[Laughter]
Eric: They’ve also sent us a link to a place where they can look at the Devil’s bridge webpage which you can see in the description of the episode and it’s also just devilsbridgefalls.co.uk if you wanna type it in quick.
Julia: I think I feel bad for whoever actually made the bridge, because now their fine craftsmanship is attributed to the Devil and not them.
Eric: It’s attributed to the Devil but also it was a very helpful bridge, so you take what you get.
Julia: You win some, you lose some.
Eric: “Hope you liked the myth and the little old lady who outsmarted the Devil. I hope this counts as a hometown urban legend, I wasn’t 100% sure.” It definitely counts! If you’ve got a legend that you know about, even if it’s not from your hometown, or you have the exact perfect memory of it, send it in. Send us them, we get tons, we love to sort through. The more, the merrier for us to pick from, for sure.
Amanda: That was wonderful, and “the Devil hadn’t been to Wales since 1100” sounds like the beginning of a Neil Gaiman novel.
Julia: It does.
Amanda: And I really want to read that novel.
Julia: Very good.
Amanda: Do you guys want to hear about the Most Beautiful Bride?
Eric: Sure.
Julia: I’m nervous now.
Amanda: You should be, Julia.
Eric: Yeah, this sounds like it could be very dark.
Amanda: So, this is from Mariana and she writes: “My name is Mariana and I live in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico. I would like to share with you an urban legend from my hometown. Imagine it’s a Sunday afternoon, you’re happily walking down a crowded street downtown. You think you might get some ice cream later and maybe buy some corn for dinner. On the street corner, you notice there’s a small, old bridal shop. It’s name: La Popular--”
Julia: Don’t go. Don’t do it.
Amanda: “--beautiful gowns steal your attention, but there’s one that stands out among the others. You don’t know why. You look up at the mannequin wearing this pretty dress and something--you’re not sure what--makes you feel rather uneasy.”
Julia: Oh good. I’ve got literal goosebumps now. Cool. Cool, cool, cool.
Amanda: “This is the story of La Pascualita. La Popular is one of the oldest--if not the oldest--bridal shop in town. The story goes back to March 25, 1930.” We got a specific date, guys.
Julia: No. No. Terrible. Hate it.
Amanda: Already creepy. “Pascuala Esparza Perales de Perez bought a new mannequin. She named her ‘Chonita’ for the female name ‘Concepcion’ because this mannequin got here from France on December 8th--the date on which the feast of the immaculate conception is celebrated. Later in time, when new owners acquired the shop, they started calling her ‘Pascualita’ after the people in town. Because of her elegance, poise, and beauty, Pascualita was named Chihuahua’s most beautiful bride. Immediately, this mannequin was attracting clients and the transient’s attention, for there is something peculiar about it.”
Julia: Has anyone ever looked at a mannequin and was like, “mmm damn, that’s a hot mannequin.”
Amanda: Well, Mariana was kind enough to send photos, and this mannequin is pretty beautiful. She has make up. She looks really nice.
Julia: Oh wow. No, she is very pretty and very detailed and very scary.
Amanda: Yeah. She has hair, she’s a little bit busty. I get it.
Julia: Look at those eyelashes. Holy shit.
Amanda: Very arched brows. She looks a lot like Evita, actually, if I’m thinking about the sort of movie version. “If one pays close attention to La Pascualita, there are certain characteristics that stand out about her. The detail in her eyes seems kind of disturbing. Those big brown eyes are strangely glassy, and it feels like they’re deeply staring at something. Her features are too perfect. Her nose and lips show an impeccable handiwork for a mannequin. Her hair seems natural, carefully placed in her head and neatly done in an updo, but her hands--her hands are the creepiest part of Pascualita. They show unbelievable and flawless detail.”
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: “You can see her fingerprints, the creases in her palms, the pores in her skin, the tiny hairs on the back of her fingers.”
Julia: Now I’m curious to see if--has anyone ever fingerprinted the mannequin to see if it matches any fingerprints.
Amanda: Oh shit! Residents of Chihuahua, I have a mission for you. When it’s safe, please someone figure this out. “You can see her fingernails in a creepy normal human form. You can see black stains on her fingers and palms suggesting decay. Of course, little to no time had passed since Doña Esparza had placed the mannequin before rumors started spreading around town. The story tells us that this is no mannequin, this is in fact the perfectly well- kept embalmed corpse of a real woman. But not just any woman. It was the corpse of Doña Esparza’s own daughter. Strangest thing is Doña Esparza never confirmed nor denied these rumors. So who was Pascualita? Doña Esparza’s daughter was very beautiful. She came from an important family and had a renowned name and fortune. She found her true love and was, for the first time in her life, happy. She found the most beautiful dress to wear to the most wonderful and important day of her life, and there are two versions to how the story goes.
First version: Pascualita was just perfect, almost done with her hair and make-up for the wedding. The only thing left for her to do was to put on her tiara. When she did, though, a scorpion hidden in it stings her, killing the beautiful Pascualita.”
Eric: Where is the scorpion? Scorpions are not that small.
Julia: They can be.
Amanda: The veil is normally attached to the tiara, so maybe it was kind of hidden in the folds of the fabric.
Eric: Okay. Okay.
Julia: Bad.
Amanda: “Second version: Pascualita is looking perfect and makes it to her wedding. She’s impatiently waiting, but her loved one never makes it to the altar. Pascualita is heart broken. Days pass, maybe even weeks but she can’t bear it any longer and decides to take her own life. Doña Esparza cannot endure the loss of her only daughter so she decides to embalm her and dress her the way she was on the happiest day of her life--as a bride. Doña Esparza died in 1967 and La Popular was acquired by new owners who kept Pascualita. Throughout the years, people have told stories about how they have seen her slightly smile, look directly at them, and even move. Some employees have said they’ve even seen veins under her translucent skin while changing her dress. Some even say that they change her dress at night before closing the store and the next morning Pascualita will be wearing a different one.”
Julia: She doesn’t like the one that they picked out.
Amanda: “The store itself even feels eerie inside to this day. And not all aspects of the story are too bad. Some people say that if a bride chooses the dress Pascualita is wearing, her marriage will be a long and prosperous one, and Pascualita is also part of the city tour. A couple of years ago, she was moved to be presented at an exposition in Mexico City, but there is a belief that they changed her out for a mannequin. A real mannequin. We want the real Pascualita back if it’s true that we now have a fake one. Because she is just part of the city by now.”
Julia: Awww. Give her back!
Amanda: Of course, we’re going to include the photos on our instagram, @spiritspodcast. My favorite one has to be the one of Pascualita in just a glass cube. It must be at the exhibit in Mexico City, because A: there are a bunch of flowers around her and it looks a little bit funerial and 2: it’s like they had to prap her in there so she wouldn’t move, which I just really appreciate.
Julia: I like that interpretation.
Amanda: Mariana, thank you so much!
Julia: So I have two themed stories, gang, and they’re both about Ouija boards.
Amanda: Yes!
Eric: Oooh.
Julia: So would we like to hear “Ouija Board Hide and Seek” first or would we prefer “Lake Frome, Ghosts in The Kitchen, Australian Ouija Board and Saskatchewen?”
Amanda: Oh, that feels like a finisher to me--
Julia: Saskatchewan?
Amanda: --I think the other one has to be first. Yeah
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Okay, cool. Great. Let’s start with Ouija Board Hide and Seek! It also says “Eric safe maybe?” so that’s where we’re at.
Amanda: Let’s front load any ambiguity.
Julia: So this is from Raven, and she starts with: “I was born and raised in Astoria, but this story takes place in the forgotten borough--dun, dun, duuuun--Staten Island.”
Amanda: Yes, girl!
Julia: Already a good start. “You see, my mom was dating this man who lived deep out in Staten Island whose family was known for throwing a party for literally any occasion. Whenever my mom brought me along to one of these gatherings, I would end up stuck with his 11-year-old niece--we’ll call her Sam--as the two of us would be the only children at the party. I was 14 at the time. The two of us soon discovered our common interest in all things spooky and I was psyched when she pulled out an old fashioned Ouija board from the top of her closet one evening. Having been raised as a Jehovah’s Witness until the age of 10, I had no prior experience with a Ouija board, but found it absolutely fascinating. I soon became hooked. Whenever my mother would go out to her boyfriend's family home, I would tag along and Sam and I would play the Ouija board for hours on end. Asking it every question we could think of. At first, of course, we thought the other was moving it but our fingers were barely hovering the piece. We soon became so comfortable with the process that we began taking turns asking questions--bear with me here, I know how crazy this sounds--silently, bringing the question to the front of our minds and focusing it with our eyes closed like meditation, and the Ouija board would answer. It always answered.”
Amanda: Y’all are good writers. This is very well-done.
Julia: “Things got even stranger when the adults decided to peep in on us one day. They began to tease us how one of us must be moving it, and how there’s no way we can actually be communicating with anything. That was when a woman stepped forward and asked us to ask the Ouija board what medication she was currently taking. As it turns out, she had been in a car accident and had several split discs in her spine. Though I can’t recall the name of the pain-killer, I can distinctly recall the woman’s expression as the Ouija board spelled out the first five letters of the prescription. The adults went wild--they were also fairly drunk--and Sam and I became even more certain that the supernatural force was at work. We thought it was the coolest thing ever! It’s not like anyone could get hurt--we thought. Oh. How wrong we were.”
Eric: Oh boy. I don’t like this. I don’t like it, it’s like, “oh, we thought we’d be fine!”
Julia: Yeah, nope, never good.
Amanda: Also, you’re on Staten Island. There’s where shit goes really extremely in New York City.
Julia: Mhmm! “It was the following visit--the final visit--that occurred about a month after the previous party. As soon as I walked into the house, I forgot all manners and bound right past the host without so much as a greeting and ran upstairs to Sam’s room. I needed my Ouija board fix and I needed it now! I found Sam seated at her keyboard when she looked up and saw it was me. She smiled and turned her instrument off immediately. She knew the drill, it was Ouija time, except then it wasn’t all of the sudden.”
Eric: It’s Ouija time!
Julia: “Because the game was no longer present in its usual spot in the closest atop the Twister, Star Wars Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit. It was missing! After exchanging a look of pure confusion Sam and I began to take the closet apart piece by piece. We searched every corner, pulling everything out, but we couldn’t find it. Sam swore up and down that it was there that very morning and so we came to the conclusion that one of the adults must have snatched it and were using it at this very moment. So we left her bedroom and headed downstairs to where the party was. Not a Ouija board in sight. We searched everywhere. The basement, first floor, and second floor. Not the attic, of course--we didn’t have a deathwish-- and we could not find this damn Ouija board! Even some adults joined us in the search but quickly got bored and got more drinks. After what seemed like forever, it finally got to the point where we gave up. We retired to Sam’s room and she offered to play a song for me on her keyboard. The next moment--”
Eric: I love that! We couldn’t find a Ouija board, here's a song!
Julia: Here’s Wonderwall. “The next moment happened in slow motion. As I sat on the bed across from her and her fingers played the first note, I could clearly see the shape of two white spheres fly out of the top of her closet in a perfect parabola and crash directly on her head before rolling to the floor. Sam clutched her head with her hands and let out a yelp as she fell from her seat. My eyes travelled from the portable iPhone speakers that had struck Sam on the open closet door with the Ouija board sticking ¾ of the way out of it as if to say ‘Boo!’ This thing was sticking so far out of the closet that it should have toppled over for the sake of physics. It’s almost like it was hiding from us the whole time and got offended when we seemed to lose interest in it and wanted to punish us. And mind you, Sam wasn’t sitting directly under the closet. The board had to have had some real force behind it to throw those speakers as far and as perfectly as it did. Needless to say, I Scooby-Doo’d out of that room, that house, and that borough, I never stepped foot in that house again, I never saw Sam again and I certainly never messed with another Ouija board. Thankfully nothing spooky has happened to me since.” And that was from Raven.
Amanda: I really thought Raven was going to say, “And I certainly haven’t been to Staten Island again.”
Julia: Well, probably.
Eric: I also thought that was going to happen.
Julia: I mean, she does say she Scooby-Doo’d out of that borough, so I imagine that it was a long time before she returned to Staten Island, if ever.
Amanda: The fact that it was not visible and then made itself really known is a level of intent that I do not wish for Ouija boards to have.
Julia: Yup. Agreed.
Amanda: Well, I think after that, I need a quick refill. Who wants to join me?
Julia: Let’s do it.
[Theme music]
Amanda: Hey everybody! At the top of this refill we do want to let you know that we’ll be donating a portion of this episode's sponsorship proceeds to the national bail funds. Please join us if you can, a link is in the description of this episode.
Julia: And, Amanda, I wanted to tell you about this class that I started taking with skillshare. I started taking this class called ‘Writing for Self-Discovery: 6 Journaling Prompts for Gratitude and Growth’ by Yasmine Cheyenne, and let me tell you. I have just--therapy is great, I enjoy my therapy, but I do therapy every two weeks and sometimes I need a little bit of self-discovery and self-reflection throughout my weeks when I’m not talking to my therapist, and honestly this class has really helped with kind of prompting myself to think about the things that are bothering me and the root causes for those things so I really really love this class and I found it via skillshare. Skillshare is here to help you explore new skills, deepen existing passions, and get lost in creativity. You can learn about illustration or design or photography or video or freelancing or lifestyle stuff and so much more. I know you been enjoying the beer class that you told us about last time, I’m been looking at some crocheting classes because I had a weird dream about crocheting and now I want to crochet, but skillshare is a great way to stay inspired to express yourself and to connect with the community of creatives like i did when i took my class. You can explore your own creativity by going to skillshare.com/spirits2, where our listeners get two free months of premium membership. Again that’s two months for free at skillshare.com/spirits2.
Amanda: It’s a great time to learn something new so that's skillshare.com/spirits2. We are also sponsored this week by stitchfix, and I know that, like a lot of people, I have been struggling and it’s taking more energy to just get through the day in a way that it didn’t before. One of those things that I find really difficult to do when I’m having trouble with processing or executive function or just having the energy to do non-essential tasks is decision making. So I genuinely appreciate that a lot of my summer wardrobe comes from stitchfix/. This is a personal styling company that brings you the world of fashion and style in a way that is totally tailored to you. It’s like if you went to a clothing store and everything that was there was already in your size, in a style that you appreciated and in your budget. Stitchfix does all of that. Your personal shopper gets you whatever items you need for that box, maybe it’s shorts for summer, maybe it's dress up button downs for good occasions and zooming fancily with your friends. Maybe it's flats to wear sound the house. Whatever it is you let them know your preferences, your budget, your style, and just those little things--;like wherever I buy shirts the torso is too long, but whenever I buy pants the legs are too short! --and they take that into account. Stitchfix only charges a $20 styling fee with each box, but that is credited toward anything you keep. You can also schedule it at any time and there’s no subscription required. PLus shipping, returns and exchanges are all easy and free. Which I so appreciate, because no matter how good your personal shopper is there's always a risk that maybe you just don’t like it, or they’re so on point that you’ve already bought something just like it! So, I really appreciate that fact in particular.
Julia: I’ve been really enjoying their style quizzed kately. Where they just show you a bunch of clothes and they’re like, “is this your style or is it not your style?” and I just go through like four of those a day--
Amanda: It’s so therapeutic.
Julia: ...I really am helping them with my style choices too. They’re like, “you seem to really like leather jackets,” and I’m like “StitchFix, you’re right, i do love leather jackets!”
Amanda: I love them! And you can get started today at stitchfix.com/spirits where you’ll get 25% off when you keep everything in your Fix. That is stitchfix.com/spirits for 25% off when you keep everything in your box.
Julia: stitchfix.com/spirits.
Amanda: And finally, Julia, there is truly no task I like better each week than just checking on my BackBlaze and making sure that all my little files are uploaded to the cloud and safe and my harddrives are happy and it says 100% and honestly I don’t need to do it, because BackBlaze is a online backup service that is unlimited for Macs and PCs, and it just works in the background. It just works. You don’t have to think about it, you don;t have to push a button, it just keeps everything up to date and backed up to the cloud, but I just like checking in on it. Like I like watching my roomba go. It doesn’t need me to watch it, but I just think it’s so fun! BackBlaze makes sure that your documents, videos, photos, projects--all of your data--are backed up online. You can also restore files from anywhere. You can search on their website to directly download just one file if, for example, you were at home, left your computer somewhere, or you were traveling and forgot something at home or you can even have the restore by mail option--which is to purchase an entire harddrive that they’ll overnight to you at home. After you restore you can even return the harddrive to them for a refund. BackBlaze truly just works. THey have mobile apps so you can access stuff on the go. They are the bomb. I have used them for absolute years and I am so glad that they are a sponsor.
Julia: Yeah! So you can get a free fully featured, no credit card required free trial at backblaze.com/spirits. Visit backblaze.com/spirits so they know you came from us and they’ll continue to support the shw and you will receive a fully featured 15 day trial at backblaze.com.spirits. Go there, play with it, start protecting yourself from potential bad times. Start today!
Amanda: That’s backblaze.com/spirits. And now, let’s get back to the show.
Eric: All right. We are back from our refill. I am drinking just some straight Tom Foolery whiskey. Made right here in Ohio. It’s been one of my go-to’s the last few months. I found it at my local store and I;ve been enjoying it. They have a few. They got a rye, they got a bourbon, I’ve been enjoying it. Just sippin’ on it.
Julia: Very nice.
Amanda: I have some Greenhook gin which is made here in Greenpoint, Brooklyn--where the multitudio is--and it is absolutely delicious with some Meyer lemons and tonic. Instead of the OG lime in a gin and tonic, I got my hands on some Meyer lemons and they are just coming out of season now. It is so good. The gin is super floral which I know you love julia and with the kind of sweetness of the Meyer lemon and just a splash of tonic--or even a mineral water would be really good in this--it’s just the perfect compliment.
Julia: Nice. That sounds incredible.
Eric: I’ve got a creepy kid turning into a creepy adult, sleep paralysis, sleep talking and sharing the spirit.
Julia: Oh, is this just a story about you, bud?
Eric: It’s not a story about me, because I’m none of those things.
Julia: Hmm. You sure?
Eric: Yup. I’m sure.
Julia: You slept-talked a lot as a child.
Eric: Eh, I slept-walked occasionally as a child
Amanda: What were you trying to say?
Eric: Anyway-sies. This comes to us from Kristen, and she writes: “Hey y’all. I’m a long time lover of the podcast and was recently FaceTiming one of my best friends when we were talking about when we lived together in college. She made me realize I was apparently a creepy kid, but we’ll come back to that in a second.”
Julia: Apparently.
Eric: “So, anyway, when I was in college I used to have sleep paralysis multiple times a week. Something about the stress plus lack of sleep made it so much worse.” Which is pretty common from what I understand about sleep paralysis. “She and I were joking around about it because before I knew the word for sleep paralysis, I had always assumed it was just bad dreams. I’ve had chronic sleep paralysis since I was a kid, but that’s for another story. So one night, not too long after we moved in freshman year, I woke up in a sleep paralysis state. Now normally, it’s a visual type of situation, but this night I was facing the wall and it felt like someone was sitting on top of me. For some reason, I just assumed it was my roommate, but when I asked her about it the next day, she told me that obviously she hadn’t been sitting on me in the middle of the night. Now, once I know what was going on, I came to just accept that I have sleep paralysis and it;s not a big thing. Sometimes I would ask my roommate if she heard me screaming in the middle of the night as I tried to break free, and she always said no, because obviously i couldn’t actually scream while paralyyzed.” Which is both good and bad, for different reasons for different people.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: “So eventually our facetime conversation turns to her talking about all the times she did hear me talking in my sleep though. One particular night she was studying and I was sleeping because I had to be up early for rowing practice. We had to be at the boathouse and on the water by 5 AM.” Now, I don’t know about that life, but friend of the show Tim does. “She was studying and she heard me say something but couldn’t quite make it out. She assumed I had woken up because I was talking to her. She asked, ‘hey, what did you just say?’ to which I replied, ‘I’m sharing the spirit.’ This obviously freaked her out and her response was something along the lines of ‘you’re doing what now?’ to which I then replied in a whisper, ‘it’s with love.’”
Amanda: Oh no.
Julia: That seems really cute! It’s like you’re making a cocktail for a friend and then you hand it to them like, “it;s made with love!’
Eric: Yeah, except for it's creepier in this case.
Julia: Yeah, okay. I think there's a fine line between very cute sleep talking and also very creepy sleep talking.
Eric: Hmm. Interesting. Interesting. I feel like I've been much aligned on the creepy side of it for some reason. Not a actual first hand experience.
Julia: It depends what you're saying!
Eric: "This is her favorite story to tell about me from when we were in college but while we were reminiscing it made me realize that I've always done this kind of thing. I've talked in my sleep for as long as I can remember and when I was younger I used to sleep walk as well. One time my mom found me just standing there in her room, dead-asleep, standing over her. On another occasion we were sharing a hotel room and she woke up in the middle of the night to me sitting at the end of her bed laughing--"
Julia: No, bad.
Eric: That's no good. That's the worst possible thing. Maniacal laughing in the middle of the night is the possibly creepiest thing that exists. "--just laughing. I have no memory of this but she stands by the fact that it's the creepiest thing I've ever done." As I just agreed to a second ago actually. "So that's my story, i was a creepy kid, and apparently I'm still a little creepy. Love y'all and all that you do. Stay creepy." We will! You stay creepy as well! And stay cool. That's not the end of the episode. That was just me talking to our listener who wrote it.
Amanda: Aww. That's lovely. Do you all want a time that Morgan's mom solved a missing person's case and other stories?
Julia: Yes. Yes, I do.
Amanda: It sounds like an absolutely wonderful who-dun-it and I would like to read this novel. So Morgan writes: "Hey, Spirits! Writing to you from very warm Austin, Texas. I love listening to your adventures in Texas and all the talk of Bucky's Beaver Nuggets. They are truly a Godsend. When my husband showed me your podcast a few years ago, I instantly thought about writing in, as my family's known for our spooky encounters/premonitions. My mom's always had what she considers to be 'weird feelings.' She can sense if a ghost is around and often tell you when something bad is coming. The story of my mom solving a missing persons case comes from around the time that I was born. Out of respect for the victims family, I'll leave out as many personal details as I can. Where I grew up there was a string of abductions for about a decade. All of them were women and almost all of them were never seen again. One of the missing person in particular struck a chord with my mom and she began to have dreams about her. Each night a new detail would be revealed to my mom and within a week she knew everything about where to find her. She knew where the person had perished, where her location was and some details that the police would later discover, including a small object a few feet away from her.
She was eventually found less than a mile from my childhood home. In the news they reported details from the scene and all of them matched up with what my mom had dreamt about. She accurately predicted every single detail of the case. The victim marked the last known abduction of the town's highwayman, but the fear, of course, lives on. Not a single person I knew growing up was willing to drive that road alone. And as a quick side note, I now get those same premonition feelings. I haven't solved any crimes yet, but I do often know when things are going to happen. I guess it runs in the family. "
Julia: I believe in you! I believe you'll solve a crime one day!
Amanda: "The second story I have for y'all is about my grandmas house. NOtoriously haunted, I refuse to go there alone, ever since I was a kid. My great-grandma died in the house and everyone can tell you when she is around. My mom has felt her walk through her in the hallway, I've gotten a lovely--and terrifying--tap on my shoulder, and more often than not you can hear footsteps and smell cigarette smoke. This story, however, is about my dad and his terrifying childhood encounter. My grandparents have lived in that house since the early 50s and raised my dad, my uncle and my aunt there. When my uncle was born my dad and he shared the middle bedroom. One night when my uncle was asleep in his crib, my dad saw something coming into his room. Despite it being fifty years ago he remembers exactly what this figure looks like. The entity, named 'the Hornstunk', was a glowing man with a helmet on his head and what looked to be a horn. His entire body swirled as it walked."
Eric: Yes. Real quick. I love it all. Very cool.
Julia: This is usually not the angle you go for.
Eric: I mean, this is just such a aesthetic that I cannot not appreciate it
Amanda: It's a lot like a neopet, you know? Like vaguely the shape of an animal but also with a profession for some reason?
Eric: Yeah, exactly!
Amanda: "So the hornstunk walked into my dad's room and over to the crib. He stopped for a while and peered down at my uncle My dad not comfortable with his only companion being a baby, ran down the hall to his sisters room while the hornstunk was occupied. He lodged himself between the nightstand and the bed until he pulled the curtains over his body to stay hidden. My dad watched as the hornstunk made its way to his sisters room, but he wouldn't come past the doorway. Instead, he turned and began to walk through the rest of the house, seemingly in search of my dad. My dad stayed there under the curtain the rest of the night and watched as the hornstunk eventually disappear. He never saw the entity again, but he still speaks about how terrifying the experience was.
"Lastly, to lighten the mood, I wanted to share a story from my mother-in-law. She's constantly seeking out spooky things. when my husband was a teenager she took him to an incredibly haunted hotel to investigate it. armed with an EVP recorder and a thermal camera, she set about finding real evidence. walking through the halls, her thermal camera started noticing really cold footsteps. she followed them all the way into her own hotel room and was shocked to discover that they were the wet footprints of my husband after leaving the hotel pool."
Julia: All right, all right. Good, good, good.
Amanda: "I guess not everything is a mystery, lawl."
Julia: Not everything has to be.
Amanda: Wonderful. I love the idea of a mom taking her kids to a hotel to investigate it and staying in the haunted hotel. And the kid's like, "have fun, mom. Going to the pool. Later"
Julia: Cool. Cool, cool, cool.
Amanda: But yeah, I just really loved the idea of the hornstunk. It's just a really unique image.
Eric: It's so peculiar and so unique and very, very cool to think about.
Amanda: Thanks, Morgan.
Julia: All right, so I'm going to finish up with a email from Ash and she writes: "I really love your show and I wanted to share a couple of family ghost stories."
Amanda: Yeah!
Julia: "So the first one I'm going to tell is 'the ghost in the kitchen' it happened to a friend's grandparents. They just moved into a new house and the grandfather was cooking dinner, his wife out at the shops. He briefly went out of the kitchen to grab something from a box. When he returned into the kitchen there was a woman at the sink staring out the window. 'Excuse me, what are you doing here?' he asked. The woman did not reply and instead turned away and walked out a different door that led to a hall and the bedrooms. The grandfather grabbed a knife from the kitchen very scared and followed her down the hall. He saw her enter their bedroom but when he got there to confront her there wasn't anyone there. The next day they went and talked to a neighbor and told them what happened. The neighbor mentioned that there had been a serious car accident in that street a few months ago which had killed a man and woman….The Ouija Board--” that’s the end of that story.
[Laughter]
Eric: And that’s that!
Julia: And that’s that. People die. Probably a ghost. “The Ouija board story--” pulling in my Ouija board stories here…”--comes from my mom who grew up in Wyndhurst, Saskatchewan.This story came about when my mom warned me never ever to use a Ouija board. Her and her friends when they were younger found a Ouija board in a friends house and decided to use it.” A random Ouija board is probably not a good thing. If you don’t know how it got there don’t use it.
Amanda: It’s a good point.
Eric: That’s good advice for almost every board game. I mean, look at Jumanji!
Julia: Exactly. “They asked it all the regular questions and thought it would be fun and spooky. Then her friends decided to ask it when her mom would die. The board said 16. My mom’s friend kind of laughed, because her mom was well over 16. I think 42 years old or something. In the year that my mom’s friend turned 16, however, her mom passed away. Pretty weird stuff.”
Amanda: Fuck.
Julia: That’s tough.
Amanda: No!
Julia: “And then finally, this is the story of Lake Frome. So, this happened to my parents who were travelling with my dad’s father--my paternal grandfather--while they were fishing around Tasmania. So they were driving around Tasmania, camping and fishing, going from spot to spot. When they finally got to ‘Lake Frome.’ Quotation marks because I think it’s real name is Frome Dam. It was there that they found an old scout hall no longer in use abd thought that they would sleep in there for the night instead of having to set up a tent. The scout hall--”
Eric: I don’t like this.
Julia: You’re not going to like it even more.
Eric: Let’s just examine this. I was in the boy scouts for years, maybe, or so? I don’t like the idea that they abandoned the scout hall. Because here’s why that’s weird. It’s already in the woods. It’s not like, “oh we need to rebuild this because it’s too out of the way.” That’s the whole point! Like, why did they abandon this hall? It’s weird. I don’t like it. Something bad happened here.
Julia: Well, you’re going to dislike it even more as I read this next sentence. “The scout hall had a grave next to it for a man that had fallen to his death while building the dam.”
Amanda: Oh no!
Eric: Hell yeah.
Julia: “There were also another seven people who died.”
Amanda: Oh god!
Eric: Any explanation for those people?
Julia: Nope.
Amanda: I mean, even if this is a building used on camping trips so it was just currently not in use, that would be the most optimistic reason, that’s still creepy, because then you become the urban legend. A poor pack of scouts comes the next day and they’re going to go on their summer camping trip, but no! There are some creepy fishing poles and some adults there! No!
Julia: Excellent. Okay. “I didn’t know my grandfather very well, but my dad always said he was completely oblivious. So that night he fell asleep with no problem. My parents on the other hand, did not sleep the whole night. They couldn’t exactly say what it was, but both of them felt like they were going to be axed to death in the middle of the night. They didn’t say anything to each other in the night, they just lay awake. In the morning, my dad told my mom he hadn’t slept, and my mom confided in him that she’d felt terrified the whole night and thought an axe murderer was going to get them. So without saying anything to each other the whole night, both of them had this feeling that an axe murderer was going to kill them. Dad still says it was an incredibly spooky place, and he’s normally a very ‘ no such thing as ghosts’ sort of person. He said he could never go back there.”
Amanda: Wowee.
Eric: Yeah, I wouldn’t either.
Julia: “Anyway, hopefully these stories were kind of interesting. Thank you for all your work.” And this was from Ash.
Eric: That was great. Those were both really good.
Julia: All three of them. Good stories. I’m a fan.
Amanda: I just feel like I wouldn’t want to camp at the bottom of a dam. I’ve seen too many movies where dams burst.
Julia: yeah, no. Seems bad. Wouldn’t do it.
Eric: You never see a movie where a dam doesn’t burst.
Amanda: Exactly.
Eric: Well, no. That’s not right. There’s lots of movies in which a dam doesn’t burst as a C-level plot, but also in Transformers the dam doesn’t burst I’m pretty sure, so I guess both of my statements were wrong in two different ways.
Julia: I think its a Schrodeinger--not Schrodeinger’s--I think it’s a Chekov’s dam. You don’t introduce a dam to a plot unless it is going to burst.
Eric: It’s also a Schrodeinger’s dam. If you don’t see a dam, is there a dam?
Amanda: You don’t know if it’s burst or not.
Julia: Because it’s not there.
Amanda: Until you look at the dam, it neither bursts nor doesn’t burst.
Eric: That’s true.
Amanda: Can’t prove it’s not true. Well, conspirators, thank you so much for sending in these stories! Again, we want to read them. If you think theuy’re mildly interest, they probably are interesting to us. So, you can email us directly spiritspodcast@gmail.com or go to spiritspodcast.com and click on th econtact page to send us a form.
Eric: And just remember, if we don’t read your story on the air, we do read every story that comes through. So we still get some enjoyment regardless. So, please, please send them.
Julia: Yes, please.
Amanda: And everyone who joins our patreon at the $4 tier, you can look forward to your bonus urban legends episode coming later this month. So with that, everybody, remember…
Julia: Stay creepy.
Amanda: Stay cool.