202: Your Urban Legends XL - Maybe it was Crows?
/It’s Halloween month, which means we are breaking out some of the best urban legends in our inbox. Cursed buildings, cursed objects, cursed woods. You name it, we’ve got scary urban legends about it!
Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of the USSR, loans/debt, possession, spirit binding, curses, pranks, revenge, death, Covid-19, sacrilegious acts, grave robbing, animal bones, serial killers, family member death, insects/dead insects, and science experimentation.
Housekeeping
- Recommendation: This week, Julia recommends the movie, Oculus. Check out our previous book recommendations, guests’ books, and more at spiritspodcast.com/books
- LIVE SHOW! Go to spiritspodcast.com/live to get your tickets to our digital live show on October 28 at 8 PM ET. Your ticket includes a copy of the video on demand recording of the show, so you can grab a ticket to watch later even if you can’t join live!
Sponsors
- Dipsea is an audio app full of short, sexy stories and wellness sessions that are designed to turn you on and help you get in touch with yourself. Start your 30 day free trial by going to dispseastories.com/spirits
- Skillshare is an online learning community where you can learn—and teach—just about anything. Visit skillshare.com/spirits and the first 1,000 people to use our link will get a free trial of Skillshare Premium Membership! This week Julia recommends “Start Drawing: 3 Fun, Freeing Exercises to Spark Your Creativity” with Carly Kuhn.
- BetterHelp is a secure online counseling service. Get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/spirits
Find Us Online
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Transcript
Julia: 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 Julia. Amanda is on vacation. And this is Episode 203: Your Urban Legends Part XXXX. I know we say, in every urban legends episode, that we can't believe how many of these we've done, but 40, 40 seems like so many, right? And we are able to make these incredible Urban Legends episodes plus a bonus one every month for our patrons because of the support of our patrons. So, we want to thank our newest patrons; Renegade and Jennifer, as well as our supporting producer-level patrons; Philip, Uhleeseeuh, Allison, Debra, Hannah, Jen, Jessica, Keegan, Kneazlekins, Landon, Liz, Meaghan, Megan Linger, Megan Moon, Molly, Neal, Niki, Phil Fresh, Polly, Riley, Sarah, and Skyl, and our legend-level patrons; Audra, Chelsea, Drew, Eden, Frances, Jack Marie, Lada, Livie, Mark, Morgan, Necrofancy, and Bea Me Up Scotty. Normally, in the introduction, this is when Amanda asks me if I have anything that I'm reading, or listening to, or watching lately. And Jake and I just finished watching the Haunting of Bly Manor, which I super enjoyed. I know it's a little controversial, the ending, but I really, really liked it. I just like gothic horror as a whole. But, if you like that and you like the Haunting of Hill House, I definitely recommend checking out, especially for Halloween, the movie, Oculus, which is made by the same team. And, ooh, boy, it is good. It is scary. You will develop probably a fear of mirrors after that and I won't blame you. But check it out if you like spooky, scary stuff. And, if you like spooky, scary stuff, our live show is happening on Wednesday, October 28th at 8:00 PM Eastern Standard. It is going to be so much fun. I'm currently putting together the slideshow as we speak. But, if you like creepy, cool stuff, if you like creating mythology, and folklore, and urban legends, the whole cloth, then you're going to definitely want to come to this virtual live show. And, if you can't make it at that specific time, your ticket includes a copy of the video on demand. So, you can just buy the ticket and watch it whenever you want. It's available whenever. Come join us. It's a great way to start your Halloween season. Get the weekend going a little bit earlier. I know a lot of people can't do the usual parties and stuff that they're doing or go trick or treating, but this is a great way to hang out with your friends – we’re your friends – and talk about some creepy cool stuff just in time for Halloween. And, hey, if you're eligible to vote in the US, please do make a plan today at vote.gov. The deadlines are coming up for requesting ballots by mail or changing your address. So, make your plan today. You can figure out if, in your state, you can vote early or where you need to go to vote if you're going to vote in person. It's really important. This election is going to determine a lot of stuff for our future. And we really, really encourage you to add your voice and vote. So, without further ado, please enjoy Episode 203: Your Urban Legends Part XXXX.
Intro Music
Eric: Everybody, we have now – with this recording, just about one fifth of these episodes now are urban legends episodes.
Julia: Whoa.
Amanda: Wow.
Eric: What do we think about that?
Julia: That's wild.
Eric: Right. Four times five is 200. And this is Episode 20 – something or other.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: That sounds like math, for sure.
Eric: Sounds like math. We don't do a lot of math here. So, you know, we’re doing our best.
Julia: Umm-umm. Ideally, no math in this podcast.
Eric: No.
Amanda: Except when it's like, you know, a great apartment with a great deal plus one haunting equals no apartment.
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: That's the kind of equation that I’d go for.
Julia: True. Unless, it's New York and then it's just one --
Amanda: Fair enough.
Julia: -- fairly good apartment. Hopefully, priced well.
Eric: I mean, sometimes, we want to, like, add the number of ghosts and divide it by the number of hauntings.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: Hmm.
Eric: And then subtract --
Amanda: Fair.
Eric: -- the number of cold gusts of wind. And then you've pumped ass your – how, how spooky the situation is.
Julia: We have said too many math words and, now, I am sad. So, let's tell some scary stories.
Eric: Luckily, since we're keeping the combo going --
Julia: Uh-oh.
Eric: -- I've got a story about a kind of creepy, kind of cool university.
Julia: Ooh.
Eric: Which is where I think some people learn math.
Julia: Some people. Some people definitely do. I was not one of them. I took – in college, I had to take a math course as like one of my, like, core classes. And I ended up taking a logic class where it's just like we read mystery novels, basically. And they're like, “All right. So, let's figure out the logic behind how this, you know, Sherlock Holmes discovered this fact and was, like, excellent.”
Eric: I love the logic class.
Julia: This is the only kind of math I want to learn.
Eric: I did the same thing. And then, when I transferred schools, they're like, “That's not math enough for this school. So, you have to take another math course --
Julia: Boo.
Eric: -- which I never attended, except, for the tests and managed to pull nice B- in.
Julia: Psyche.
Eric: And that worked out really well. One time, everyone did so badly on the test the professor just gave us all a mulligan.
Amanda: Wow.
Julia: Nice. That's a win.
Eric: Which I mean, honestly, like, if everyone does as bad, like, I think the average grade was like a 48, which I think that says something about how well we were prepared.
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: And then that how hard the test was.
Amanda: I just wish that anybody told me I didn't have to try my hardest all the time in school.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: Like, that's the thing that, when I got to college or when, you know, I was, like, in the workplace and taking exams and stuff, people were like, “Oh, yeah. No, you know, I only needed like X grade on the final to pass. So, I, I only, you know, got that much.” And I was like, “Wait. What? Like, you could do – you can do anything except lay awake at night stressing out about getting an A- instead of A in, like, a given assignment? What?”
Julia: Ah, yeah, that would have been nice, huh?
Amanda: All right, Eric, but I want to hear about this university story, please.
Eric: Yes, this comes to us from Kay and she writes, “Hi, y'all. I'm a huge fan of your podcast and especially enjoy your hometown urban legends section.” Well, you're in luck.
Amanda: That’s you.
Julia That’s us.
Eric: Despite the fact that I'm very scared of spooky things. I'm writing today to let you know about my kind of creepy, kind of cool university, Rowan University located in South Jersey in a small town called Glassboro, which has its roots in glass working business.
Julia: Hmm. Okay. Okay.
Eric: I work in the school's library and, occasionally, with a historical group, which works on collecting and organizing information on the history of the town and the university. One cool thing I discovered is that, in June 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson and Premier Alexei Kosygin of the USSR met in the Hollybush Mansion on the Rowan Campus to discuss the relations between the two countries.
Julia: We love librarians on this podcast.
Amanda: Heck yeah.
Julia: Anyone who is a librarian gets a pass with us.
Eric: It was called the Glassboro Summit Conference. A fun fact that the university likes to share about the mansion is that the two chairs used by Kosygin – I don't know this, this Premier of the USSR. So, I'm sorry if I'm butchering his name – and LBJ were taken from the mansion when the president left. These chairs were heirlooms of the mansion’s owners and very important. So, they contacted the White House to see if they could get them back. After a few months, the White House returned the replicas of the chairs to the mansion. The actual chairs are still in Washington, DC. What a weird move. What a absolutely strange move.
Julia: Yeah, I think it's cause Kosygin according to Wikipedia.
Eric: Well, luckily, the rest of story doesn't have to go --
Julia: Excellent.
Eric: -- don’t have to do with him. And, now, we're moving on to the spooky stuff.
Julia: Awesome.
Eric: That's just – that's just some fun facts about Rowan College – Rowan University.
Julia: We love it. Great. It's got a great name. I'm excited to learn more about it.
Eric: I apologize for the Premier of the USSR. You know, it fell two years after I was born. So, I'm not too concerned about it. Now, onto the spooky stuff, we have several haunted buildings on campus, not by Premiers of the USSR.
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: But the oldest is Bunce Hall. Here we go, everybody. Are you ready? September 4th, 1923 --
Julia: Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. No.
Eric: -- was the first time students attended the school in Bunce Hall. Back then, it was called Glassboro Normal School. You know, I love a good – I love a good normal school.
Amanda: Oh, yeah.
Julia: Someone wrote – someone wrote in and told us what this means.
Eric: There's a theater in Bunce Hall, Tohill Theater, which is named after Elizabeth Tohill, a former drama arts teacher. Allegedly, her spirit attends every practice and show that goes on in the theater and her spirit has been seen walking the halls at night. Students have said they've experienced flickering lights, doors opening and closing on their own, and strange feelings of both good and evil spirits.
Amanda: Hmm.
Eric: I can say that I have attended two classes in Bunce. And it's certainly creepy, but I've never experienced anything too spooky. What makes the building even creepier though is that there are allegedly tunnels built below the building and the front lawn.
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: Apparently, the tunnels have been sealed off or maybe they never exist in the first place.
Amanda: Mhmm. Mhmm.
Eric: They definitely existed.
Julia: Definitely, 100 percent.
Eric: Regardless, that seems pretty spooky.
Julia: Checking in, normal schools or schools that people went to become teachers.
Eric: Hmm.
Amanda: What?
Eric: The normal job.
Julia: You know.
Amanda: Hang on.
Julia: It is.
Amanda: I looking up the etymology.
Eric: Of normal?
Amanda: Oh, obviously, it’s an English – no. Yes, Eric, because it's an English pronunciation of a French word.
Julia: Of course.
Eric: Oh, I thought you might be looking at the pronunciation – the – of teacher. To see if teacher and normal had some relation.
Julia: Hmm. Umm-umm.
Amanda: Normal means just, just – does mean normal in French.
Eric: So, that doesn't – that hasn't cleared it up at all.
Amanda: No.
Julia: All right. Hold on. Hold on. Normal school is an institution created to train high school graduates to be teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum.
Eric: There you go.
Julia: So, they’re teacher-training colleges.
Amanda: You know what, France? I'll let it slide this one time.
Julia: Damn you, France.
Eric: This one time, but look out. Finally, I wish to tell you a story about my friend's haunted dorm from last year. So, we've got – we've got something from 1923 --
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: -- and also last year. Once again, too many specific dates.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Almost immediately after moving in the building, my friends said it gave off strange vibe. And, after mentioning it to their RA, they confirm that the building was most likely haunted. You know, just your standard RA stuff.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. You know, it's probably – it's probably haunted.
Julia: Classic.
Eric: I’m a junior. So, like, I speak with authority.
Amanda: I know. I was just gonna say I thought my RA was such an authority and like a grownup, worldly person. And then I was like, “Wait. Your grown ass boyfriend was living with you in the dorm room that my college provided to you for free. And, like, that's not allowed or, or very adult.”
Julia: But you are 20. So, I have to trust your judgment.
Amanda: Exactly.
Eric: They claim that they would sometimes hear laughing or strange noises. Though I would always – what a – what a strange thing to hear at a college dorm. Though, I would always mention that they did live in a college dorm.
Julia: Yep.
Eric: So, it’s probably just the neighbors. Yep, there – that hosted off – I’m overtired from jumping to conclusions on that sentence. My friend once told me that she was sitting in her room when a figure walked pass her open door looking like it was going from the living room to the bathroom. My friend got up to say hello assuming it was her roommate. Only, when she got to the hall, there was no one there. Her roommate was still sitting in the living room on her computer. No one else was in the apartment.
Julia: Woo ooh.
Eric: Later in that year, around spring break, my friend noticed that a knife had gone missing in the apartment.
Julia: Oh.
Eric: Which was concerning, but not a major problem.
Julia: Umm.
Eric: I mean --
Julia: Until it ends up in your back.
Eric: They joked with me that the ghost had probably stolen it. Later that night, my friend was asleep and she woke to hear a thump in the dark. Opening her eyes, she saw a shadowy figure near her bed. At that moment, she was convinced the ghost had come with the stolen knife to get her. Thankfully, nothing more happened. And my friends no longer live in that apartment. Though, even though after moving out, they never found that knife. Well, thanks for listening. Stay creepy. Stay cool.
Julia: So, like, one of their roommates almost definitely broke the knife or did something with it accidentally and threw it out. And they were like, “Oh, no, the knife went missing.”
Eric: I mean a lot of things can happen to a knife.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: Like what?
Julia: That’s true.
Eric: Ghost.
Julia: Ghost.
Amanda: Uh, huh.
Eric: Ghost is the number one that could happen to a knife.
Amanda: Uh, huh.
JS: Mhmm. Mhmm. Falls between the cabinets and the stove while you're cutting vegetables perhaps.
Eric: I mean maybe your – maybe your roommate murdered someone and hid it.
Julia: That's very possible as well.
Eric: To hide the evidence. Just saying. Lots, lots of things can happen with a knife.
Julia: Are they missing a whole outfit because it was covered in blood perhaps? I don't know.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: I did recently buy my first, like, knife that cost more than $10. And it, it was half because I couldn't really figure out how to sharpen it properly and all the sharpening places in Brooklyn are currently closed because of COVID. And, also, partially because I was like, “I am – I am an adult now with at least a little bit more disposable income than I used to have. And I can – I can buy a knife that is not from IKEA.”
Julia: That is true. You can. I love having nice knives. I got Jake a really nice, like – like, almost like butcher knife for his birthday this year and it's so nice. He named it Loretta. It's great. I love that knife. I have a – like what a person did after they moved home from college. So, keeping the combo alive.
Amanda: Ooh.
Eric: Okay.
Julia: This is from Morgan and she titled the email, You've heard of haunted froyo. Now, get ready for haunted newspapers.
Amanda: Love it.
Eric: Have we heard of haunted froyo?
Julia: Yes, it was a while back.
Eric: Okay.
Julia: but we did have a haunted froyo place.
Eric: It sounds vaguely familiar.
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: One of our – one of our food ghosts.
Julia: Mhmm. So, Morgan writes, “Hello, my dudes. I've been a conspirator for about a year and a half and I fall more in love with the show with each episode.”
Amanda: Aww.
Julia: I'm about to move to Boston or, if you're reading this after September 1st, just moved to Boston for grad school.
Amanda: Congrats.
Julia: But I grew up in a Dallas suburb and moved back after college because student loans are a bitch. Yes, they are.
Amanda: Mhmm.
Julia: Weirdly, I didn't grow up with any local ghost stories or urban legends. Though, they've always fascinated me. It wasn't until I got a job with a local newspaper chain after college that I found a story worth mentioning to y’all. The company I just finished working for produces five weekly newspapers and a monthly magazine. Our main office is in Wiley, the biggest of the cities we cover, but we used to have one in a tiny town called Farmersville. Our staff just isn't big enough to warrant two offices. So, it sat empty for years while my former bosses tried to sell it. It's a gorgeous building built in 1888. The structure is two-storeys tall and made of stone, complete with big rounded windows at the front. It was originally a Masonic Lodge for a local chapter of the Freemasons, which makes it inherently spooky to me. There's nothing scarier than deeply rooted misogyny.
Amanda: Isn't it true?
Julia: Which is true. When I first started at the paper, my editor told me that a cantina used to sit next to the old Masonic Lodge. She and her youngest son are sensitive to spirits. And, apparently, her son has seen ghostly figures gathered where the cantina used to sit. Both have seen orbs multiple times, especially on the second floor of our old office. A coworker who used to work in the building said she'd hear strange noises on the nights she stayed late. However, I'm not so sure I believe in ghosts. Maybe it's the remnants of my Baptist upbringing that I've since rejected but I also absolutely believe in energies, whether it's of a place or a person. Fast forward to July of this year, I had a meeting in Farmersville. And, since my editor knew that I need a microwave for my Boston apartment, she gave me the key to the office to see if I wanted the one there. My meeting ended as the sun was setting and I parked out front and FaceTime my best friend to give her a tour. You know, as you do with friends.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: We just take them to creepy buildings on FaceTime and show them.
Amanda: That's what we would do, Julia.
Julia: Yes, it is true. I went in through the side door, a big wodden affair that creaked loudly as the key turned. Old, dusty desks and piles of newspapers filled the back half of the office. And it had that distinct old building smell that I actually love. I peeked into the two bathrooms and they had those round mirrors that houses in horror movies usually have.
Amanda: Mhmm.
Julia: Gilded edges and black markings on the glass. As I made my way to the front, I passed a huge old fashioned safe just sitting in the middle of the hallway. Like someone was interrupted in the middle of moving it. At this point, my FaceTime call dropped. Logically, I knew it was because I lost cell service, but I had several bars when I walked in. So, the suddenness startled me. As for the microwave, it was far too big for my tiny apartment counters. But I will say that it was awfully eerie standing in a kitchen that was clearly abandoned. It had plates and forks sitting out like someone was expected.
Eric: Umm-umm.
Amanda: I don't like that. I don't like that one bit.
Julia: I passed three or four doors on my way out. One was to the upstairs area and the others were likely storage closets. Now, I'm not sure if it was because I've gone in expecting something spooky could happen or if it was my propensity for picking up energies, but I felt an unbearable urge to open all the doors. It was like they were just begging to be unlocked. I needed to see what was behind them and to break down the door to the staircase and go upstairs. There was something that needed to be discovered, but I've listened to every single episode of Spirits. I know better than to go opening doors in abandoned buildings, especially when I'm the only one there. Instead, I decided to get out of there and leave a quarter at the door as an offering just in case. I'm not sure if ghosts exists, but it never hurts to respect the dead.
Eric: This ties in very nicely with, with a thread on the Spirits Facebook group that – I don't know if you guys saw about this, this house with a spooky door.
Julia: Oh, the hidden door?
Eric: They were remodeling a house and there was a door hidden behind a wall. And everyone was like, “Eric would say --
Julia: Don't open that door.
Eric: -- ignore the door.” And I just – I'd like to – I'd like to clarify a few things.
Amanda: Okay.
Eric: Ignore the problem is the solution I recommend when the problem might go away. If you hear a spooky and you just stay in bed and you don't keep hearing the spooky sound, no need to investigate further. If you are in a house that you own and you are remodeling it and there's a door there, that door ain’t going away. You've got to open that door.
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: Like, that's – that is, directly in front of you, evidence of something happening. That is not the kind of thinking like, “Well, can’t remodel this part of the house. We just got to ignore it.”
Julia: We just got to ignore this creepy door.
Eric: That's not when ignoring is the solution. I just want to be very clear about when it is and isn't appropriate to ignore spooky situations.
Julia: To finish up with Morgan, she finishes, as I glanced up the second floor on my way to the car, I caught a glimmer of something shiny in a window. Maybe it was one of the last sunbeams of the day, but maybe it wasn't. I had the overwhelming feeling that I was being watched as I drove away. I'm sure you all know the feeling; hair standing on the back of your neck, goosebumps, a gut instinct that you need to turn around now. I didn't though. I kept my eyes on the road and turned up my music. The feeling only faded once the building was out of eyesight. Creepily and coolly, but, mostly, creepily yours, Morgan aka your new favorite bisexual soon to be a librarian.
Amanda: Incredible. Thank you, Morgan.
Julia: So, I appreciate that Morgan followed your advice there, Eric, because she, you know, ignored the feeling --
Eric: Mhmm.
Julia: -- that didn't need to be investigated and just drove away.
Eric: Right. Exactly.
Julia: Very, very smart.
Amanda: Incredible. You know, sometimes, it is not a question of whether you should, you know, engage with or ignore a haunting, but, instead, someone who actively brings a haunting down upon you.
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: Oh, boy.
Amanda: This is a short but very sweet email that comes to us from Rangsay, who writes, “Hey, everybody, I love Spirits. This is a short email, but I thought it'd be really interesting. It's from a story my dad told me growing up. And it's about spirit binding. My dad said that, in his childhood village in the southeastern province of Cambodia, there was a middle-aged man in the village who was known to have the ability to bind spirit. My dad said that this uncle – in many Asian countries, we refer to any middle-aged man as uncle – can bind any kind of spirit of the deceased, recently deceased, ancient ghost, died young, elderly, et cetera, to any object of choice.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: His usual go-to is an unassuming plank of wood often used for building houses, because those can be left against the walls of village homes and not seen out of place. I have a lot of questions.
Julia: But hold on.
Amanda: Yeah. Okay. All right.
Julia: Because what if that – what if that is used in actually building someone's home? And, now, you have a spirit bound to this plank of wood that is now in someone's house.
Amanda: It's a great question. And, while this ability sounds frightening, the village never shunned him. He was a friendly guy who loves to joke around with the kids and go drinking with the other men. They do, however, warn visitors and kids not to insult or anger him. Because, if he's irked enough, he will bind a ghost to an everyday object and hide it at your home to let the ghost haunt the place for a while --
Julia: Nope.
Amanda: -- and has done so before to people who cause trouble to him or his neighbors.
Julia: Oh, god. No, bad, bad idea.
Eric: This is – oh, no, this feels like a step beyond fun prank.
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: It sounds incredible because, like, listen, guys, when you're stuck together, there are only so many things you can do. You know, you – if you have a problem with people in the village, and you all live in the village, and no one wants to leave, it's like, “What are you gonna do?” But this is the most wonderful, I think, a slow burn revenge I've ever heard. I love it so much.
Julia: Oh, yeah. I was – I was thinking about – I read a great thread about, like, ways to mess with people who have wronged you that, like, doesn't cause them, like, any physical harm or anything like that, but it's more of a nuisance. And I've been thinking a lot about that lately. Like what the best ways of going about that are. This is a great, supernatural way of going about it. My personal favorite is the idea that you take in, like, boxes of instant mashed potatoes and then spread it across people's lawns so that, when it rains, all of a sudden, their lawn is just turned into mashed potatoes.
Amanda: Oh, my god. I love that.
Julia: It's very good.
Amanda: Well, just to wrap up the story, the old uncle never married or had any kids, to her knowledge, and didn't pass on this knowledge or ability. But a follow up story, when I was living in Indonesia, my dad's phone got stolen one time. In my annoyance over this, I texted to the number, “Go die.” I know I was very immature. I was 15 to be – to be clear. I was surprised when I got a reply that said, “If I die, I will come haunt you.”
Julia: Spooky.
Amanda: After getting over the audacity of this thief actually responding, I remembered the story of the old uncle. Wanting the last word, I texted back, “Good. I'll add you to my collection,” and got no more responses afterward.
Julia: Good. What a great reaction. What a great response.
Amanda: Rangsay, I think that is the best response to a phone theft and, also, to just like someone saying something unsettling that I have ever heard before. I'm going to file it away in my library. And thank you so much for telling.
Julia: Fantastic.
Amanda: All right, everybody. I, after that wonderful comeback, I'm a little bit parched. And I think I need a refill. Who wants to join me?
Julia: Sounds good.
Midroll Music
Julia: Our sponsor this week is Skillshare. You've heard us talk about Skillshare before. It is a online learning community where you can grow your creativity and learn new skills. And I'm a lifelong student. I always want to learn new skills. So, I am diving into stuff that is a little bit more relaxing but allows me to, you know, flex those creative muscles, which is why this week I tried Start Drawing: 3 Fun, Freeing Exercises to Spark Your Creativity. Because, sometimes, you just get bogged down in the idea of, “Oh, I have to create something for work. And it's just not hitting those buttons in my creativity.” So, sometimes, it's easier to kick-start it by doing something you're not super skilled at, but, at the same time, it's really freeing to just doodle every once in a while. And it gets those creative juices flowing. And that's what this class by Carly Kuhn is all about. She also has a really cute dog in a lot of her videos and that's a big selling point for me. 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Speaking of your mental health, we do talk a lot about how physical and mental health are super important. But what about your sexual health? You're going for walks or doing squats in your apartment like me or meditating, but you need to take care of your whole self. So, why not prioritize your pleasure along with your body and mind. That's why I use Dipsea. Dipsea is a audio app full of short, sexy stories and wellness sessions that are designed to turn you on and help get in touch with yourself. The stories are super relatable and immersive. You're going to feel like you're right there. And there's something for everyone, whoever or whatever you're into. I don't know if they have a sexy Mothman one yet, but they should get on that. That's all I'm saying. They also add new content every week. So, there's always more to explore. You can find stories about a spontaneous hook up with this hot stranger, or getting closer to that sexy yoga instructor that you can't stop thinking about, or even stories about trying a new toy together. The wellness sessions can help you unlock new confidence or heighten intimacy with your partner. And they add new stories every week. So, you'll never get bored. So, spice things up today with Dipsea. And, for listeners of the show, Dipsea is offering a 30-day free trial when you go to dipseastories.com/spirits. Again, that's a 30-day free trial when you go to D-I-P-S-E-Astories.com/spirits. There's no reason not to try it out. dipseastories.com/spirits. And, now, let's get back to the show.
Eric: So, I have been drinking a Ransack the Universe --
Julia: Ooh.
Eric: -- Indian Pale Ale. I'm wrapping up the nice warm weather with my final maybe nice summery beer for a little bit as we – as we start to chill down and cool gets switched to, to stout mode, to porter mode.
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: It's from Collective Arts, a lovely new brewery that I've had a few things from. They have something called Head in the Clouds. I think that was also really good that they had in the summer. So, yeah.
Julia: Nice.
Amanda: I'm also kind of clinging to the last weeks of summery drinking weather. And there is a place right near my house in the studio actually called St. Agrestis, which is a – like aperitivi and digestivi distillery, I guess – I don't know what the right noun is – right here in Greenpoint. And they make amazing, like, Negronis to go. Like a Negroni bag in a box. Like, wine box style thing. They make spritzers. And it's very very tasty. Very, like, sophisticated feeling. Like herbal, you know, tastes. And I'm not usually the person to go for the Julia-style, like, extremely herbaceous cocktail.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: So, this is sort of like just enough for me. And you can have a little bit with, like, some seltzer or on its own. And it's just like a nice sort of treat to keep around.
Julia: You know, I've been trying to – trying new flavors. Usually, I'm not a huge fan of coconut but Jake is. And, so, I – we've been, like, splitting six packs lately because it's just easier than buying like one thing that I really like and one thing he really likes. I just had an extremely good beer from Oskar Blues called Death by Coconut. And, honestly, like – again, I'm not, like, a big coconut person. I'm usually not into like porters or stouts, but this one is delicious.
Eric: Julia is a small coconut person. She likes – she doesn’t like a huge coconut. She just likes a little coconut.
Julia: You know – you know, I don't --
Eric: She’s also very short.
Julia: Yes, I'm a small coconut person. And my issue with coconut is a texture thing, not really a flavor thing.
Eric: Mhmm.
Julia: So, I'm down for a little bit of coconut flavor every now and again.
Eric: Gotcha. I like all coconut things.
Amanda: I've been watching enough seasons of – oh, my god. Wait. No, I was gonna talk about Survivor and how they eat coconuts all the time. Guys, are you watching Bake Off right now?
Julia: No, not yet.
Eric: Yes. Yes.
Amanda: Schneider, can you tell me what the fuck a mango filled macaroon is?
Eric: Oh, I was – I was like, “I know what this will look like.” And then they showed it --
Amanda: No.
Eric: -- and I go, “I don't know what that is.”
Amanda: It looked like a cheese Danish. It was a macaroon, but it – but like donut-shaped and filled with shit. Europe, please answer me, what the fuck is this?
Eric: They were making a conversation about it where there's a macaron, which is one O.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: And this is a macaroon with two O's --
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: -- which makes it different. And I think – I think a Noel, on the show, was, was saying, “Eventually, there'll be something with three O’s. And that'll be a different thing as well.”
Amanda: No, but, even compared to, in my mind normal coconut macaroons --
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: -- shredded coconut, mine’s in a little, like, pyramid shape.
Eric: Mhmm.
Amanda: It’s delicious. Adorable. No, these ones are filled with shit. And I've never seen that before. And I was so --
Eric: It was very strange.
Amanda: I was so blown back. Julia, when you watch it, please let me know your thoughts.
Julia: I will.
Amanda: Also, UK/Europe, I, I really need to know, “The fuck. Like, is this something that you have? We don't have that in the US.”
Eric: Me and Kelsey were also talking about, like, how they have names for every cookie.
Amanda: Yes, they do.
Eric: Like they – like, they got so many different kinds of cookies.
Amanda: Oh, yes, the bat and bug. No, that's a cake.
Julia: Why?
Amanda: Oh, yes, the Linzer.
Julia: Well, listen, I've heard of a Linzer tart before.
Eric: But, but they're also – but they're also like, “Oh, my, my favorite type is the battered [Inaudible 31:09] growing up was this – like, they have like types. They, they --
Amanda: Oh, yes. Nan's biscuit.
Eric: They have – they have, like, a whole Genus Phyllis system for every cookie.
Amanda: They really do.
Eric: It's – it's mind boggling.
Amanda: They have a whole Linnaean classification. And every biscuit has to have a snap, Eric.
Eric: Oh, I hate the snap.
Amanda: Otherwise, what the fuck are we doing here?
Eric: I hate it.
Julia: I don't like snappy cookies.
Eric: I was like – I was like, “Here's the cookies we have in America; snickerdoodle, peanut butter, sugar, frosted sugar, chocolate chip, oatmeal, raisin --
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Maybe – maybe one more. That's it. And they're all circle.
Amanda: That’s it. Chocolate.
Eric: They’re simple.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. Yeah, like a double chocolate chunk. Yeah. But, like, we don't have, like, all these fancy names and yadda yadda yadda with all our – all our biscuits. It's – it's mind boggling. But I think we're – we’re – we are burying the lead on Bake Off. This is the Bake Off half of the show.
Julia: Yes, spoilers.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: Don't – don't take the podcast out too early. What was up with those heads in episode one.
Amanda: I know. I know. It's a – it's a strong entrance to the season.
Julia: This is an – this is an Animal Crossing thing again where it's like you guys go off. And I'm sure I'm gonna watch this eventually, but, oh, my god.
Eric: Julia, they had to make heads of famous people out of – I don't know – cake.
Amanda: They had to make cake portraits in week one. Bad idea. Bad idea.
Julia: No, bad.
Eric: Very bad idea. Someone made Tom Delonge from BLINK 182.
Amanda: What? What?
Eric: That's the best thing I've ever seen on this show.
Amanda: Very good.
Eric: It was terrible. Someone also made – someone also made Freddie Mercury, which Kelsey couldn’t identify it. I was like he has buck teeth. A man with a mustache with a yellow jacket [Inaudible 32:50].
Amanda: He was very cute. I liked that one a lot. That's my favorite contestant.
Eric: The only one that looked remotely good was Charles Darwin because they just made it gray. It looked --
Julia: Just beard.
Eric: -- terrible to eat. I'm sure it tasted fine, but it was just gray. A gray cake is a – the wrong color for cake. Anyways, we've got at least three more stories to get to. So, let's, let's stop talking about cakes.
Amanda: My final comment is just we love a soft cookie here in America and Brits need the snap in their cookie.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: And I, I just think that Brits hate pleasure. And, for that reason, their, their pastries taste like fucking anise and all kinds of bizarre, savory/herby flavors that I would never put in baked goods. And it's just – it's – as an American watching the show, it is so funny to be like, “Wait. Why the fuck are there like sesame seeds in your desert?” And, anyway, it's a – it's – it's a whole hypothesis that I have, but that is my final word.
Eric: Also, they put them in an NBA Bubble.
Amanda: They did.
Eric: They Bubble Bake Off.
Amanda: They Bubble Bake Off.
Julia: Wow. That’s impressive.
Amanda: Listen, both the NBA and Bake Off are working much better than the NFL is right now. So, I, I think it's a very good idea.
Eric: And just most other governments.
Amanda: Yeah. Mhmm.
Julia: Whoops.
Amanda: All right. Let's – let's get back to the wonderful soothing world of mild haunting, please.
Eric: I, I'm gonna just break the combo --
Julia: Oh, no.
Eric: -- because I think we successfully did that with literally five minutes of Bake Off conversation --
Julia: That’s true. That’s valid.
Eric: -- with a – with a – with a story by Sophia titled, I Haunted a Church and a Religious Ghost.
Julia: Ooh.
Amanda: Ooh.
Eric: Sophia writes, “The first thing is to tell you this isn't an urban legend. But I think this is the kind of thing that you guys would enjoy. And I'd like to think that, in the last hundred years, people will remember me --
Amanda: Whoa.
Julia: Well, I love that. I love that.
Eric: -- or, at least, my petty demonic antics.
Amanda: Oh, my god, I'm so into it.
Eric: I'm an atheist, but I respect religions, promise.
Julia: Gotcha.
Eric: But I still went to church every week for a hefty amount of time because I'm a Cub Scout leader and an Explorer Scout, which was held in a church and church hall. There's always a bunch of crosses, you know, as churches do. So, every time I was in there, I would go around and turn every single cross upside down. Now, you did say I respect religion and then do this. So, I'm not gonna – I’m gonna – I’m not gonna argue with you because they're not here to defend yourself. But, anyways, I never did anything else. But I do know that it freaked out the vicar, who is honestly such a chill guy. Well, yeah, of course, it would fresh out – it would freak out anybody. I've not done it in almost a year. I really hope the vicar feels victorious over Satan. Now, hold on. I'm back – I’m back – I'm back on Sophia's side because maybe the vicar feels victorious over Satan. That's – that’s – there you go.
Amanda: That’s a – that’s nice. Yeah.
Julia: Maybe, maybe, like, God sent her to make this vicar feel like he's doing good. I don't know.
Eric: Yeah. I've got another one, which is a wee bit more spirity. I live in a house which is over 300 years old.
Julia: Dang.
Eric: That's impossible. No building is that old.
Julia: That's not true.
Eric: But we only moved in six years ago.
Amanda: Not in America anyway.
Eric: I mean I was – I would hope that it was a believable number in which you've moved in. But we only moved in 200 years ago.
Julia: Listen, Paul Revere’s house still is in Boston and that was built 300 years ago.
Eric: We were watching a House Hunters episode where they were in Boston. And it's – there shouldn’t be houses that old. I'll tell you that much. They should have just torn down every historical building at some point and just started afresh.
Julia: My college roommate, she recently moved down to Charleston. But, before that, she moved into this really, really nice apartment in the north end, which is like the very Italian part of the neighborhood but also, like, very old part of the neighborhood. It's the church where Paul Revere held – hung the lantern --
Eric: Mhmm.
Julia: -- in, in the window so that people knew that the British are coming.
Eric: Titular, One if by Land, Two if by Sea.
Julia: Yes, the one if by land, two if by sea.
Eric: That’s not how the word titular works, I know.
Julia: The north end is where that church is. And I went to go visit her to, like, see her new place. And she's like, “Yeah, just find some street parking. Not a lot of people park across the street from me. So, you could probably just park there.” I'm like, “Oh, awesome.” And I pulled in across the street from her apartment. And I looked to the left where her apartment was and then I looked to the right. It was a cemetery. And I was like, “Oh, okay, that makes sense. Yeah. Okay.”
Amanda: Sounds great to me.
Julia: It was just like – it's just like fully a cemetery, which, also – I'm sorry. I'm gonna go on a tangent. When I was in history classes in Boston, the north end is also a place where they have a lot of grave robbing like during the – I don’t know – like, the 8 – 70s, 80s, around that time. And --
Eric: 19? The 1970s and 80s?
Julia: 19s. Yes.
Amanda: Wait. What?
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Hold on. Hold on.
Julia: No. Okay. It wasn't like people, like, fully robbing bodies or anything, but just like tombstones would go missing.
Eric: Okay. Okay. Not, not good, but better than what I was thinking.
Julia: And they just, like, could not, for the life of them, figure out where these tombstones were going. And these are like tombstones from the 1600 and 1700s. And, like, really old stone.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: And they finally were able to figure out where these stones were going because people were ordering like pizza pies and bread. And they're like, “Why are these like letters and numbers on --
Eric: I heard about this.
Julia: -- the, the pizza and the bread?” And it's because we're using them for baking, for, like, pizza stones and stuff like that.
Amanda: This must be an urban legend.
Eric: I, I have also heard this story. So, I'm willing to say it is somewhat true.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Because I remember hearing that there were a bunch of like pizza places that were using, like, tombstones.
Amanda: I mean I think that's dope if you – if the Providence is pure, you know, to use it. I would order from that place. That's great.
Eric: So, back to the story, while Julia Google's pizza places. The house I live in was built to be the vicarage to the village’s church in the 1700s. When we moved in there, there was a couple of really beautiful old leather bound books that were probably about 100 years old and this huge wood [Inaudible 38:45] beautiful Bible that is original to the house. Anyway, we moved in and took the Bible out of the dining room and put it in the living room because it just fits the aesthetic in there a bit more and a bunch of weird stuff started happening. It started with people dropping things all the time, but there was never no reason for it. And, one day, there were three cups that were smashed in one day, including my favorite mug.
Amanda: Oh no.
Eric: So, that was kind of dodgy. And the lights in the dining room blew. Then we were in the living room and both my dogs looked straight at the Bible on the bookshelf. And they would just stand in the doorway of the dining room and bark while staring at it in the corner. We eventually put the Bible back in the dining room and all the things stopped. And, since then, our house ghost hasn't done anything that I'm aware of. I still think it's cool that they tried to stick to their religion even in death.
Amanda: Right on. I feel like a, a holy book no matter what – which book it is, is definitely a, you know, weighted object spiritually.
Julia: Well, I picked this next one mostly because Jake and I have been doing a lot of, like, hiking and nature trails lately. And, also, to start off Halloween month, we watched The Blair Witch Project.
Eric: Nice.
Julia: So, this email caught my attention. And it's from Sarah and she titled the email, A Lovely Camping Trip When You Ignore the Blair Witchery and All the Cursed Rocks.
Amanda: Okay.
Eric: I mean true for most camping trips.
Julia: It's true. So, Sara writes, “Hey, y'all, newish but avid listener to Spirits and other Multitude shows. You drew me in with the mythological subject matter. And I've stayed because of your guys’ humor. Anyway, the story, it started with me and my boyfriend lying dead tired in a tent. If the tired wasn't there, that would be a problem.
Amanda: Mhmm.
Julia: That – that morning we had backpacked into the mountains, but, as we hit mile after mile of snowfields, we decided to deviate from our original route. That is why we dropped into a thawed Meadow Valley cradled on either side by rock and snow. I don't want to get caught up in too many pristine nature descriptors, but I feel like this topography kind of informs my mood of the place. Even writing about the place now, I can't tell if that snowless meadow gave me feelings of an oasis or of confinement. Anyway, that is the setting. As I was falling into sleep, the sounds of the creek gurgling nearby began shifting into music and human voices. Perhaps this is a common hallucination, but my mind would not quit interpreting a conversation out of the babble. I could parse out the voices of a man and a woman calmly talking over music that might have been coming out of stereo speakers. Maybe I would have let those noises drift back into the sound of water if my boyfriend had not turned over to ask if I could hear the music too. This affirmation bugged me because, when setting up camp earlier, we had seen no one. We did, however, find one sign of old human habitation. There had been something glinting off the trunk of a tree at the edge of the woods.
Amanda: Oh, my god. Oh, my god.
Julia: It was a fork that some joker had nailed business-end down into the bark of the tree. One of its tines was bent in an odd angle and someone had stamped out a mini little keyhole through the upward pointing handle. Since the crooked tines pointed down to a nice patch of flat earth, that was where we set up our tent.
Eric: The earth is round. Just --
Amanda: Umm-umm.
Julia: Yes. No, I mean, like, the – like, the ground was flat there.
Eric: It was – it was a joke.
Julia: Other than the fork, all we found in that meadow were throngs of mosquitoes, lovely wildflowers, and the little bleach rib cage and arm bones of a rodent.
Amanda: Okay. Please hold. I feel like this is definitely a, you know, serial killer’s calling card and, like, sign to themselves that this is where the bodies are buried. And I would 1,001 percent never camp there.
Julia: Okay. Finding animal bones in the woods is not an uncommon thing.
Amanda: The fork. The fork.
Julia: The fork? Okay.
Eric: The, the fork – the fork is weird.
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: I hate it.
Julia: Still it was possible that we were wrong about being alone that night. There could have been some rowdier unseen groups still awake further down the valley. There was a lake somewhere nearby. This was what we reasoned to each other as we lay in the dark. I wouldn't say it got creepy until the next day. You should know that I am fairly skeptical, especially when there is any other non-supernatural answer plausible. In my opinion, there often are other explanations available to people’s stories. As much as I love topics in mythology, folklore, cryptids, and ghosts, I'm more compelled by the way humans tell themselves stories than believing in the paranormal aspect of the story itself. That being laid out, here's something I do not have a good explanation for. The next day we woke up soggy and tired. To dry out our shoes and socks, we found a rotted out stump just steps away from our tent. It received pretty consistent sun. So, we left out our wet belongings there throughout the day. Periodically, we'd go over to the sun stump to retrieve our shoes and hike around the meadow valley. That is how, in the morning, we realized the lake was much farther than we expected. Unless some group had pitched a tent in the intervening bog, the sounds of voices were probably just the brook. In the sunlight, the area was beautiful. Beautiful. But it did feel like a lonely island because we were too tired to climb back into the snow. Aside from the mosquitoes and the increasing number of deer bones we found, being stranded in that meadow felt more like a mildly pleasant purgatory than anything malevolent. It stayed pleasant until the afternoon when we walked back to camp barefoot after icing our joints in the glacial stream. Amanda, glaciers, there you go.
Amanda: I love a glacier.
Julia: I walked over to the familiar son stump to put on my shoes and my stomach just about dropped. In front of the stump, right by my shoes, was more deer bones. Bright, white jaw bones that I swear we're not there the whole time. The stump was only feet from our tent and we had wandered over that area 20 times or more over the course of a day. We could not explain the appearance of those bones or, at least, we were not willing to admit that we had failed to notice them all day long. Nor could we explain how, at each end of our tent, now sat a pile of sizable obsidian rocks.
Amanda: What the fuck?
Eric: Oh, you know what? That – that's where I draw the line on what is acceptable.
Julia: This brand of black, volcanic glass is formed in this region. These rocks were obviously moved from their origin point and arranged by human hands. Rock piles are not uncommon and it is easy to say that some past camper – perhaps, the folk artist – collected and left them. The thing that got me was how close to the tent they had been without us ever noticing them even when we had cleared the area before setting camp. Anyhow, my boyfriend, who usually comes at issues from a logical angle, turned to me and said, “Maybe it was crows and they were carrying the remains of a deer together, and they dropped the bones while we were at the creek.” Yeah, crows dropping bleached, white face bones from the sky. I'd rather put my money on us being horrendously oblivious or, more creepy, that we did, in fact, have something interesting and unseen human neighbors. We did spend one more night under the fork. Why? Why would you do that?
Amanda: Under the fork.
Eric: Under the fork.
Julia: Again, as I was lying in my sleeping bag, I heard the voices there was no music playing. Just conversation. This time my boyfriend said nothing. I said nothing. We both fell asleep. It was the next morning that we were packing up camp that he asked if I heard the talking again. He said he didn't hear music. Just talking. And he told me this unprompted. This is the part of the story where people get freaked out, not the earlier parts guys. This part right here. Not about having the eerie night voices corroborated for a second time, but rather my friends are unsettled by what I did next. I thought that, if paranormal shit was going down, then the rocks and bones would mean one of two very different things, either, one, they were bad omens and curses or, two, they were gifts and blessings. I might be a realist most of the time, but it doesn't mean I'm a pessimist. I chose to tell myself a positive story. And they were gifts. I also decided to take them home with me. Not the bones. I left those by the stump. I packed away the obsidian and we headed back up into the snowfields. Now, out of that wilderness, I put those rocks in the window of my apartment. When I told my roommate, also my sister, the story of the mysterious rocks and bones, she wanted me to get rid of them. Logical. A logical choice.
Eric: Mhmm.
Julia: She's not the only person to grow uncharacteristically serious and tell me this. If I'm being honest, after receiving those gifts, things in my life have begun to break. For examples, during that trip, holes appeared in my camping equipment; tent, air mattress, coat, and cracks appeared running up the screens of my electronic devices; phone, Fitbit.
Amanda: What the fuck?
Julia: My car experienced brake issues the day after the trip. As I swiped a small fortune out of my bank account to cover the repair, my familiar and reputable mechanic stared through me to the door --
Eric: I like that that – that it sounds like her mechanic might be her familiar.
Julia: Yes.
Eric: My familiar, my mechanic.
Julia: Stared through me to the shop floor while saying that he had no clue how much damage could have occurred. My apartment, which admittedly had pre-existing issues, started to grow a darkish mold on the walls of my closet ruining my clothes. Don't worry. We've since moved.
Amanda: Oh, my god.
Julia: I got laid off the same day I was supposed to go to a funeral for my boyfriend's grandpa, who died shortly after our trip. If you list out only the bad things, it is quite easy to blame black magic rocks. So, I'll pivot here and posit a different theory. Bad stuff occurs to those who don't make enough money to buy nice unbreakable things or live in not so crappy apartments in an expensive city. Maybe that's why I go to the wilderness in the first place, to escape something worse than curses. And, sometimes, I bring something back with me from those wild places, a memento. Sure. I might display rocks in a window where an inordinate number of flies are now dead and left their scattered carcasses, but I refuse to read life by counting each fallen body. All that to say I am actually entertaining the idea of returning to those mountains. I might bring those rocks along with me and leave them in that valley in a whimsical way. If I do go back, then I will leave the rocks arranged outside the door of someone else's tent while they're away from camp. You know, to keep the gift giving spirit alive. If you do take the time to read this long story, congrats, you finished. Thank you for sticking with me and thank you for your podcast. Not only does it provide information, but it functions as a forum for some awesome individuals. I hope my story does not deter you from visiting the wilderness. I guess stay spooky. Do cool shit on mountainsides. Don't start a rock collection. Sara.
Amanda: Holy shit. This is my, my favorite urban legend we've read in a long, long time.
Julia: Yeah, it's real good stuff.
Eric: That’s some wild stuff.
Julia: I think --
Amanda: Sara, you should be a writer.
Julia: It is not deterring me from going back on my wilderness hunting. It’s deterring me from staying in the woods overnight though.
Eric: Though dropping things, this happened to both me and Amanda --
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: -- in the past, past few years, right?
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: Like, it seems to be like these, like, people will have like these bouts of just like dropping stuff.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: And I mean that's less scary to me than my other thought, which is – I mean I got a concussion once and maybe this is just like a thing that happens now in my life. But I – yeah, I think it's more that getting used to a space or like fucking air pressure or just, just a phase that you go through, I guess.
Julia: For sure. But I think you're only looking at the spooky things that happen in your life when you have something to, like, look at it through the lens of spookiness.
Amanda: Sure.
Julia: And I think Sara brings up a good point in that sense.
Amanda: I know. I – listen, Sara, as much as I want to, to yell at you about how spooky that was, I really do love your reading. And I don't know. I think – I think you have a good head on your shoulders. But I, I do believe that perpetuating this, this curse/spooky happening and practical joke on fellow hikers, I think, would be fantastic.
Julia: Extremely so.
Amanda: Well, if you want to circle back to a, you know, college/university urban legend, I have one here from Elaine. And it took me a few lines to realize that this is an absolutely wonderful, in universe, Join the Party urban legend.
Julia: Tell us.
Amanda: All right. Elaine writes, “Giant crustacean real?” Hey, Spirits. I have an urban legend for you. I’m a ecology student at a university in Upstate New York near Lake Champlain. I didn't grow up around here, but the town's really proud of their bowling alleys, hockey team, and seafood, especially the crawfish.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: The love of the crawfish actually became a big problem as the town started growing in the 80s. The local crawfish population almost went extinct, but it's like their thing. So, the mayor commissioned a huge conservation project with the two universities to breed and release crawfish while simultaneously restoring the lake near the docks. It's kind of cool program running collaboration between the two schools ecology and environmental engineering programs. Most of the work is actually done by students for lab credit. Anyway, the legend goes that, when the university started getting bigger in the 90s, there was a period where the biology labs were moved downstairs from the physics labs. It seems like that would have been a problem, but who am I to criticize? Occasionally, the crawfish would escape. And one escaped while the program was in the physics building. Rumor says that it was found later in one of the physics labs upstairs. The bummer was that it didn't live.
Julia: Aww.
Amanda: It has chewed or clawed – I guess it's a legend. Go with me here – through one of the cables in the physics lab and there was a small explosion. They later found the crawfish in the debris. Everybody was fine. The physics lab was fixed up. They finished construction on the new building. And the ecology department moved in there. Though, apparently, this was the start of a rivalry between our department and the physics department. Like, it was our fault we moved to their building, eye roll. But here's the thing, ever since that night, there have been sightings in the lake of a giant crawfish. It's so big. Occasionally, it comes onto land and the footprints it leaves are supposed to be as big as the holes that a man's fist would leave. And its tail leaves a drag mark behind it like somebody's dragging a snow shovel.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: Sometimes, it'll even leave behind pieces of fish it's eaten or chewed up debris. I always assumed it was some silly urban legend. My roommate’s friend, River, swears up and down that they saw it for real last October. The way they tell the story is that they were in – down by the boathouse one night looking for a good spot to release the next batch of crawfish when things started to go down. River saw two guys skulking around the back of the boat house, one thick but short guy in all leather and a skinny dweeb who looked really nervous. Luckily, River was able to stay hidden the whole time. River says that they stayed there the whole time to record the incident for the police, but that the recording was later confiscated (yeah, right). Anyway, I don't know if I believe them. But they swear that the guys went into the boathouse and, like, 10 minutes later, all the lights went out. And then this giant crawfish, just like in the legend, exploded out of the boathouse. And that is when River made a break for it. I would have assumed that River was making this shit up, but a lot of weird things happened around town last October. A lot of really weird things. There's a string of bank robberies, a local historian or something like that beat up a bunch of them in a robbery at an auction. At the same time, there was this dude who – there was documented evidence of ghosts bursting out of his chest. Maybe you should see a doctor about that. Oh, my god. Then a panther escaped from a zoo and caused mayhem for like an hour but then was never seen again. And no one knows what zoo it came from. And some local socialite held a press conference but did it with a sword at her side and nobody else really remembers anything other than the sword. Like I said, October was weird. Oh, and I forgot to say, in the legend, the giant crawfish is called Monte. And the locals call him The Mountain Lobsters. Cheers.
Julia: Mountain Lobsters.
Amanda: Elaine Silver, Ecology student, Morrow College, Lake Town City, New York.
Julia: Oh, man, Lake Town City would have the best urban legends.
Eric: I think we've been had by this one.
Julia: I think we might have been. Yes.
Amanda: I, I so enjoyed this from, from Danielle who wrote this email from the fictional student, Elaine Silver. But I – listen, this is incredible. I love it so much. If you don't listen to Join the Party yet, this is all true mythology of our – of our city. And you might enjoy it because it is very mythos-based, very place-based. And a lot of things happen that I think become urban legends in Lake Town City later on.
Julia: Yeah. Or becoming urban legends as we play.
Amanda: Precisely. So, Danielle, thank you so much. And, Julia and Eric, thanks for another extremely fun addition of your urban legends for the spookiest of months.
Julia: The spookiest of months. So, I think that this was – this was a good grouping of spooky ones. So, hopefully, it will appease everyone for the, the holiday season.
Amanda: An especially good one in, in thanks and in spookiness. And, everybody, keep writing in. We love them.
Julia: Yeah. And, if you want more spooky urban legends for October month, for the spooky month, for the Halloween month, definitely, make sure you join our Patreon at the $4-level because you're going to get a bonus urban legends episode on Halloween. What's not to love about that?
Amanda: It's gonna be incredible. All right, everybody. And remember.
Julia: Stay creepy.
Amanda: Stay cool.
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Outro Music
Amanda: Spirits was created by Amanda McLoughlin, Julia Schifini, and Eric Schneider with music by Kevin MacLeod and visual design by Allyson Wakeman.
Julia: Keep up with all things creepy and cool by following us @SpiritsPodcast on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Tumblr. We also have all of our episode transcripts, guest appearances, and merch on our website as well as a form to send us your urban legends at spiritspodcast.com.
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Julia: Thank you so much for listening. Till next time.
Transcriptionist: Rachelle Rose Bacharo
Editor: Krizia Casil