Episode 213: Your Urban Legends XLIII - Second Chances!
/A whole month of urban legends. You read that right. And we’re kicking it off with Second Chances - a series of updates from stories we love, and new tales revisited! We discuss haunted restaurants, hiking mistakes, and guessing the names of ghosts.
Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of animal death, pet abandonment, death, fire, bodily functions, threat of physical violence, dismemberment, torture, and animal endangerment.
Housekeeping
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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 213: Your Urban Legends, Second, second, second, second Chances, chances, chances, chances.
Julia: Well, I love that. That was great. What an incredible effect?
Amanda: Do you know, Julia, when you're watching, like, The Great British Bake Off or something?
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: And, you know, someone's eliminated or it's the end of the season. And then they, like, flashback to all of the contestants. Or maybe, years later, you rewatch a season and you're like, “Damn. What is that person doing now? Like, I'd love to just catch up with them.” That's what this is because, A, we are doing a full month of Your Urban Legends.
Julia: Whoa.
Amanda: And we could not be more excited. You've asked for it. We love doing these also. And, so, we're like, “Hey, what better way to start off this godforsaken year a little bit better than the last one then a full month of Urban Legends?” And, B, this Your Urban Legends, Second Chances is where we get to revisit letters that have come in in the past and see what the person is up to now. There's follow up. What's been going on? Is there a second more creepier haunting that happened later that they emailed us about? That's what we're doing in Second Chances.
Julia: I am so stoked. I love the idea of revisiting the past during the beginning of January. What a – what a great concept. And I'm so, so excited that we're gonna be doing a month of Urban Legends. That is so much fun. And I know it's one of our listener’s favorite segments.
Amanda: Absolutely. And, also, Julia among my favorite segments, that's what I call people sometimes, our, our new patrons; Madtown Charity, Anne, Alex, Amy, Cate, Alison, Wayne, and Elizabeth, as well as our supporting producer level patrons; Uhleeseeuh, Allison, Debra, Hannah, Jen, Jessica, Keegan, Kneazlekins, Liz, Megan Linger, Phil Fresh, Polly, Sarah, Skyla, and SamneyTodd.
Julia: We are so grateful to be ringing in the new year with you. And we hope that we can spend the rest of the year with you as well.
Amanda: And thanks as always to our enduring supporting a whole nother year legend level patrons; Audra, Drew, Frances, Jack Marie, Ki, Lada, Mark, Morgan, Necrofancy, Renegade, and Bea Me Up Scotty.
Julia: If Father Time and the Baby New Year came together and created a whole perfect person and a whole perfect year --
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: -- it would be all those legends.
Amanda: Ah, they're amazing.
Julia: Amanda, speaking of the new year, is there something new and exciting you've been watching, listening to, reading lately?
Amanda: Yes, I got to do one of my favorite things this weekend, which is watch or consume an adaptation of a thing I already love. And I know that's very high stakes like when your favorite book becomes a movie or something.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: But I appreciate it as, like, a different look at the theme, or the characters, or the spirit that I loved so much. So, I was so excited when, Jules, my favorite historical, romance series ever, Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series was adapted into a Netflix show.
Julia: I just watched the first two episodes with my friend, Jordan, the other night over FaceTime and, oh, my god, so good. I am – oh, god, incredible.
Amanda: It is. It's produced by Shondaland. And that sort of like – I don't know. Something about Shondaland shows have, like, a slightly heightened reality. Like, everything's a little bit more intense. It's very artistic. Like, even the lighting, I think, is, like, highly saturated a lot of the time. And this is just so well done. There's some really interesting departures from the original books. But, overall, I think they really get at the spirit of those novels so well. So, my recommendation this week is either to watch the Bridgerton Series on Netflix if that is something you enjoy. Or, if you prefer reading or want to pick up a historical romance for the first time or listen to the audiobook, the books are fantastic. There are like 15 of them or something. There's seven in the original series and then a bunch of follow ups and, like, a sister series about like a different family that's related.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: So, if you want to just kind of inhabit a fictional universe and read a novel that kind of never ends, this is for you.
Julia: To pitch it for you, if you haven't seen anything about it yet, it's like if Gossip Girl took place in Pride and Prejudice times.
Amanda: Yes. Yeah, that's it.
Julia: It's very good.
Amanda: It's – that's it. It's very good. And, finally, this week, we just want to let you know that, if you, like me, kind of feel the urge to start new projects at the beginning of the year and you just want some guidance or some inspiration or to read more about how internet projects come together, Multitude has dozens of free articles, resources, and templates to help you with your creative endeavors. Just go to multitude.productions, click on the Resources tab, and you can read our articles, watch recordings of panels that we've given at paid conferences. So, you, without paying anything, can enjoy those panels too. Get our, our accounting templates. I love my accounting template. Please tell me if you like it. Everything you might need is right there for you to enjoy.
Julia: We also have the podcaster’s starter kit, which I think is the perfect, like, gift to yourself for 2021 if you're planning on starting a podcast this year. And it's $35. And it's got hours and hours and hours of content and, like, actionable things that you can do to make your show better. It's – it's great. Amanda and Eric Silver spent so much time putting it together and it is so impressive.
Amanda: Thank you. All the info that you might possibly need is in the free articles. But, if you want somebody putting together like, “Here are some lesson plans. Here are some workshops. Here's what you actually need to know and don't need to know. And, like, this is all you got to do to start a podcast and kind of walk you through that,” that is what we made the starter kit for.
Julia: It's great.
Amanda: Well, Julia, I don't think I've looked forward to a month of Spirits more than I am now. I cannot wait for this. These letters are buck wild. We are having so much fun recording these episodes. So, as our gift to you, everybody, we hope you enjoy this month of urban legends extravaganza spectacular starting with Your Urban Legends, Second Chances.
Intro Music
Amanda: Hello, contestants, it's me Jeff Probst, best reality TV show host in the world.
Julia: Ooh.
Amanda: And we are here with some of our favorite contestants from previous seasons of Hometown Urban Legends for Urban Legends, Second Chances.
Julia: Does the winner get a million dollars? Because I don't think we can promise that on the show.
Amanda: The winner gets a million symbolic dollars because all money's made up.
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: Oh.
Amanda: So, we can just say here's a gift. And there's no gold standard anymore. And here we are.
Eric: Yeah. So, a million symbolic dollars and a million dollars are kind of the same thing. But --
Julia: If you subscribe to capitalism, yes.
Eric: So, let's – let's explain what second chances are here in this case. These are listeners that have written before. We may or may not have read their emails before. And, now, we are giving updates because they have sent in a second email with those updates. I don't know if you guys – I – some of mine have the original email included. So, I'll read a bit of that and we'll be able to do an, an update. Some of them might just be updates without any real context. So, it's very exciting. We're just going to be updating you guys on a bunch of the different things that people have written in before and see how – see how our listeners’ lives have changed. I've got an email from 2018. So, I'm sure we've got some old ones --
Julia: Ooh.
Eric: -- in here because --
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: -- you got to dig through the archives sometimes.
Julia: Spicy.
Amanda: Absolutely. I have a 2018 as well. Well, it's a – it's a new year. We got some second chances for getting to know these stories, and live in these worlds, and, and hear from these conspirators. So, who would like to kick us off?
Julia: So, mine is actually from Allie who you might remember was the one that sent in the haunted Build-A-Bear story and also --
Eric: Hmm.
Julia: -- about how her cat freaked out because of something in their basement.
Amanda: I do remember the haunted Build-A-Bear.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: This also was the one that we had a really passionate debate about Reese's products --
Eric: Hmm.
Julia: -- if you'll recall. Allie would like to know that she's Team Classic Reese's cups all the way --
Amanda: Smart.
Julia: -- and agrees with me. So --
Amanda: Smart.
Julia: That's not why I picked this one, but I’m not saying.
Eric: Okay. Okay.
Julia: I like to be right. Anyway. So, Allie writes, “I wish I had something to say about Bob, the bear builder. But he's been pretty quiet as of late. But I do have an update on Kuroko, the clairvoyant kitty. Quick summary, when I bought Kuroko home as a baby, she would go down into the basement and meow at something no one could figure out. I salted the hell out of my basement – literally, I hope – and hoped for the best. Honestly, it has just become part of my routine. Get up, make breakfast, follow Kuroko to the basement to make sure there weren't any demons in my washing machine, you know, as one does. I didn't think much of it. As Kuroko got older, however, she picked up another spooky habit.” Dun, dun, dun. Ooh.
Eric: Ooh.
Julia: My family is full of notorious packrats, myself included. So, we never got rid of a lot of stuff. Smokey's old food bowl, I imagine that's her old cat, was still tucked away near the laundry room where we had stashed it. I had bought Kuroko a new one when I got her because giving my new kitten a hand me down food bowl from my dead cat seemed just a tad morbid even for me.
Amanda: Fair.
Julia: But I just couldn't bring myself to throw it away. Yeah, I know. I get sentimental over a food bowl. It's very sweet. I get it. I understand.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: My mom still has our dog’s old collar. So, I get it. Anyway, I started noticing Kuroko leaving stuff by the food bowl. Her favorite thing to play with was bottle caps and a lot of those were suddenly being left around there. I didn't really think much of it. Of course, my cat would be a hoarder just like the rest of us. She put her bottle caps there, her little stuffed fishy toy. I even watched her steal a ball of yarn about the size of her head and stash it down there. Then, one day, as I was bringing down a load of laundry, I saw something neon orange sitting by the bowl. Smokey's favorite toy it was those balls that would float in the pool. And they just been littered around the house because, like I said in the previous story, Smokey was really good at hiding things. Kuroko had found one of them. And I had never seen her really play with them. She had taken one of them though and put them by Smokey’s bowl just like a little offering.
Amanda: Cute.
Julia: It wouldn't surprise me at all if Smokey had decided to stick around. We had rescued him when he was just six weeks old. He had been found abandoned underneath a car during a thunderstorm. And the poor little guy was traumatized his whole life. We were the first people to make him feel safe. Not only that, but, at the risk of sounding cliché, him and I had a bond. When I saw him at the pet store, the employee said that nobody really wanted him because he had six toes on each paw, which is very cute. And, also, there's a word for that that I'm forgetting. It's like polydactyl or something like that where they had the extra toes. Like, Ernest Hemingway's house in Key West was famous for being overrun with all these, like, six-fingered cats. It's very cute. Anyway.
Eric: Oh, gosh.
Julia: Pirates used to consider those kind of cats to be lucky, but I guess the tradition didn't stick around. I am the literal personification of the Island of Misfit Toys. So, of course, I adopted him. They had actually found him on my birthday, June 6th. I'm sure there's some sort of symbolism for all the sixes, but we'll shelve that for now. So, we celebrate our birthdays together. He wasn't too thrilled about me trying to put a party hat on him though. Kuroko was in the same boat when I adopted her. People are superstitious and they didn't want to adopt a black cat. I'll never know for sure, but I'm choosing to believe that Smokey stuck around and, even though he scared her at first, Kuroko tried to make him feel better with his favorite toy. And I think it worked because, lately, I've been woken up by what I think is Kuroko jumping on my bed. But, of course, nothing is there when I look. Stay safe guys, Allie.
Amanda: Allie, what a sweet update. Thank you.
Julia: It is very cute. I love little cat offerings to the ghost cat. It is adorable.
Eric: That makes me think of like, “Is there a hierarchy of, like, pet ghosts?”
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: Hmm.
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: Hmm.
Julia: Like, like, there's an alpha pet ghost in the house, you know, I guess.
Eric: Or more like – I guess like other, other human ghosts. Not a hierarchy, I guess.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: But other human ghosts and then, like, pet ghosts, and then, like, tree ghosts.
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: Trees are alive. People forget that.
Julia: Now, now, we're – we're kind of creating like a – like a scientific identification system for ghosts here?
Eric: Yeah. Yes.
Julia: Okay. Cool. Cool. Cool. I like it.
Eric: That's where this whole thing has been happening, obviously.
Julia: Obviously, that is just the, the tipping point of our podcast.
Amanda: I was thinking, before we started recording, if I had any, like, personal spooky experiences that I could bring to the fore in terms of, like, updating, you know, you on, on our lives and not really. But I am sometimes startled in my own home by, like, a sudden movement out the corner of my eye, which is almost always a plant dropping a leaf. So, that's just where I'm at.
Eric: Oooh. Yes.
Julia: That's how you can tell you don't have pets, Amanda, and probably didn't grow up with pets.
Amanda: No.
Julia: That the fastest moving thing besides your partner is a, a leaf falling from your plant.
Amanda: Yes, this is true.
Eric: This comes to us from Katherine. And they have a, a spooky her hometown urban legend update. And they've included the original one in. I don't think we read the original. So, I'll read that and then I'll read the update as well. So, the original came in 2017 and this came in 2018. So, we've got --
Julia: That’s so – that’s so long ago.
Eric: So, maybe even more has, has come since then.
Amanda: Fabulous.
Eric: But this, this story is about the Ridgeview ghost and the Ridgeview girl.
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: So, these are all summer camp legends from Camp Talahi. And, so, here, here, here they go. There are two cabins at Talahi. Over the summer, the boys stay at Lakeview while us girls stay at Ridgeview. This legend is particularly interesting because I know three real people with three real accounts of this girl. Spoiler, I'm one of them. So, this little girl at the girl's cabin has several backstories. Some say she was a young camper who drowned. Some say she was a young camper who died when the previous Ridgeview building burned down. There was never a building that burned down as far as any sources I could find.
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: And some say she died long before Talahi even existed. Anyway, she died, but she won't leave the cabin. All in all, the Ridgeview girl, who I call Iris, is perfectly harmless. She's left footprints. And, sometimes, people see her full body as an apparition, but she never hurts anyone. In fact, the encounters I've had with her, she seems either lonely or like a prankster. A close friend of mine hates that I have a name for her. I would agree if I have ever felt a little threatened by her.
Julia: Okay. So, I have a question.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Where did Iris come from? I'm just saying, like, you're – you're being haunted by a ghost and you're like, “Hmm. Okay. Well, I can't find out anything about this ghost. I don't know what their name is. So, Iris.
Eric: Yeah, why not?
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Maybe Iris grew around there.
Julia: It's such a – it's like such a distinct name, I feel like. I feel like, usually, when people are naming their, their house ghosts, it's like George.
Amanda: I'm into it.
Eric: I don't know. I don't know. I, I like a nice fancy name for the – for the ghost.
Julia: It does feel fancy. It is a fancy name, Iris.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: It feels appropriately Victorian to me.
Eric: Yes.
Julia: Hmm. Okay.
Amanda: I feel like hippie.
Julia: Hippie is what I think of when I think of Iris for some reason.
Amanda: Yeah. Hippie is like – is like the coming back around of those names.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: I feel that naming after flowers is a very, like, archaic tradition, but, also, therefore, like hip and new. So, whenever I hear like Rose, Myrtle, like, whatever those names are, you know, that are – that are vaguely floral or botanical, they always seem to me like either a really hip toddler or someone's grandma.
Julia: Love a good hip toddler.
Amanda: You really want a name that can age with you.
Julia: The little Carhartt jackets.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: So, here are her encounters with, with Iris. Two staff members named Bobby and Slatz were cleaning Ridgeview before the campers arrive for the week.
Julia: Whoa! Hold on. We need to talk Slatz real quick.
Amanda: Wait. Let’s come back. You knew it, Eric. I saw it in your face.
Eric: I don’t if Slatz – I don't know if Slatz is a nickname or someone's last name. It is spelled with a Z. So, that seems like particularly like a real name because of that, but, also, it could just be the 90s where people like Z at the end of it.
Amanda: I love it.
Julia: I think it’s probably a last name, but still Bobby and Slatz.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: I'm super into it.
Eric: Bobby and Slatz. Slatz was sweeping and mopping the main area while Bobby was working to clean the bathrooms. He was in the staff bathroom when he heard the shower turn on in one of the camper’s bathroom.
Julia: All right. Hold on. Slatz feels like the name of a 90s villain in a movie like Hocus Pocus.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Okay. Cool.
Amanda: Yeah. I'm gonna say that it sounds like a – like a [Inaudible 16:02 - C-tier] network's procedural. Like, their answer to Rizzoli and Isles, Bobby and Slatz.
Eric: Wow. I mean --
Julia: It’s a good one.
Eric: -- I'm in. I’m sold.
Amanda: I’d watch it. I’d watch it. Don't tell me you wouldn't.
Eric: Confused, Slatz went to check to find the room empty, lights on, shower running. Now, the pipes in Ridgeview are all older than my mother. So, the real evidence comes from what Bobby noticed on his way out. There were little footprints made of water leading from the shower to the door.
Julia: Uh-oh.
Eric: Bobby called Slatz, who had very big feet, and asked him if he had been down in the bathroom. Slatz said no.
Julia: The more I learn about Slatz, the more I love him.
Amanda: I know.
Eric: What he didn't tell Bobby at the time, however, was that he had seen footprints in the places he had just mopped, the tiny little footprints of a barefoot child.
Julia: Whoa. Slatz, come on.
Amanda: Slatz, you got to lead that information.
Eric: There’s story one and here's – here's a few more before we get to the update.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: Next, my friend, Char, saw Iris terrifyingly in the middle of the night. She was sleeping in Ridgeview as a counselor for the junior campers. Campers aged second grade to fifth grade that only stay for a weekend. Shar woke up in the middle of the night because she felt there was something sitting on her bed. When she opened her eyes, someone was leaning over her face. Somehow, in her infinite fear, Shar only asked what the child was standing over her wanted. The child simply said, “Oh, I didn't mean to wake you up” and, straight up, vanished into thin air.
Julia: What?
Amanda: It talked back?
Eric: Shar managed to fall back asleep and told people the next morning.
Julia: What?
Eric: I ain’t falling asleep.
Amanda: Whoa.
Eric: No way. No way.
Julia: How?
Amanda: No way.
Eric: Not a chance. And, finally, Katherine's first experience with the ghost. My friends and I were in the craft cabin. The cabin was right next to Ridgeview. And the craft cabin had no sink. So, for water, you – we needed to go over to Ridgeview. The first time we need water, I went alone with one of my friends. When we got to the cabin, we were confused to find the lights in the sleeping area still on. We thought nothing of it, turn the lights off, and got our water. When went back to the main area, the lights we adjust turned off we're back on.
Julia: Uh-oh.
Eric: Fairly spooked, we left. On our way out, my friend snapped a picture and, to this day, claim she saw a figure in the light of the flash.
Julia: Uh-uh.
Eric: A little later, we needed some water and, so, me and my friend went back to get more.
Julia: Go to a different cabin.
Eric: I mean there's probably only so many cabins. You can only go in so many cabins. And you want to go to the closest one.
Julia: Or go to the one that's not haunted. I don’t know.
Amanda: Or don’t use water.
Eric: I mean it sounds like a lot of places in this place are haunted.
Amanda: Shower with a wet nap and drink like Hi-Cs. Isn't that what you're at camp to do?
Eric: We brought with us another friend, Nico. Everyone's got a good name.
Amanda: Everyone’s got a good name.
Julia: It’s a good name. Shar, Nico, killing it. Slatz.
Amanda: Listen, guys, I just – I, I don't know what the update is. But, as my imagination is running wild with this scenario, I just want to put out there the gang gets back together at summer camp. We're all in our 40s. We've, you know, had some life experiences. Slatz is still a groundskeeper. And we all come back together to solve a mystery. Julia, you look very pensive.
Julia: Amanda, you're basically suggesting a Stephen King's IT sequel. And I don’t like it.
Amanda: Yeah, it's a real – it’s a real horror movie setup.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: But just think about it. It'd be very entertaining.
Julia: “Remember that ghost that we all experienced as children. Let's go back to camp --
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: -- and experience the ghosting,” says Amanda.
Amanda: Yeah. Okay. I see what you mean.
Eric: Well, Nico falls right into this – one of these tropes because Nico is weirdly in touch with creepy things.
Julia: There we go.
Eric: Nico is a – is a female, apparently.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: Which, typically, I – maybe it's – it might be short for Nicole and they're calling her Nico.
Julia: Sure.
Eric: Mhmm.
Amanda: Shar, Nico, I love these names.
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: She swore that she heard of voice whispering the whole time we were there. The lights were back off except in the staff bathroom where they were on now. We got the water as fast as we could and ran out of the cabinet. Finally, we had to go back to wash our brushes. And there were lots of people worth his time. And, besides some more light shenanigans, nothing really happened. Nico told me it was because there were so many of us. Now, every time I walk into Ridgeview, I make sure to say hello to Iris. I don't know if that's actually her name, but she's had plenty of opportunities to correct me. So --
Julia: Well, the ghost isn't really talking. They were only whispering to, to Nico.
Eric: Mhmm.
Julia: And it probably wasn't very specific whispers --
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: -- or comprehensible whispers.
Amanda: Can I – can I just have, have a little thought here for a second?
Julia: Go for it.
Amanda: Why can't ghosts help us with their whispers? Why is it always creepy or incomprehensible shit? Why can't they whisper to me, during the PSAT, the answers to the Math section?
Eric: Hmm.
Julia: Well, one because whispering is inherently creepy.
Amanda: Yes, it is.
Julia: I stand by this. This is why I don't like ASMR.
Eric: The PSAT.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Not even the SAT. Just the practice one.
Amanda: No.
Eric: Oh, Amanda, doesn't want – Amanda, doesn’t want to cheat.
Amanda: I took the PSAT several times because it was really fun for me, but I think --
Julia: Amanda:
Amanda: -- in a different person in a different scenario or like me taking my, like, stockbroker exam and trying to remember how to calculate interest on, like, depreciating bonds or whatever, I would have really appreciated a nice ghost who just wanted to be helpful and studied the subject matter and wants to just give me a helpful little whisper.
Eric: Fair enough. Fair enough.
Julia: I feel like – this is my – this is my answer to your question. I feel like ghosts have different priorities.
Amanda: Probably so.
Julia: It's like, yeah, maybe there is a ghost of a stockbroker, you know, haunting your exam, but he's probably like, “Tell my wife I love her.” Not the answer is 3 percent.
Amanda: Yeah. Yeah, I get it. I get it. I think, if I were a ghost, I would want to be helpful in that way, though. Probably, I would creep people out with my whispering because it's whispering though.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: And it would be self-defeating.
Julia: Fair.
Amanda: Back to the update.
Eric: It's been two or three years since my first encounter with, with the Ridgeview girl. Stories told about her have gotten scarce. And I wondered if that was because we were old enough or that they weren't scary or what. But, honestly, it made me a little sad. Her story was the only story at camp I was sure of and the only story that I, in any way, had ever connected to. Anyways, this is my last year at camp because I'm an adult now. We have, like, young listeners.
Julia: Yes. Yes, we do.
Eric: And it always throws me off.
Amanda: My letters from a 13-year-old.
Julia: Oh, boy.
Amanda: I know.
Julia: Oh, geez.
Eric: This person probably could drink alcohol at this point legally seeing this was from a two – a few years old.
Julia: Maybe.
Amanda: At least for Julia and me, Julia, if we had had our current 27 and 28-year-old selves when we were 13, we would have turned out so much more. I feel like all of my inherent, you know, creepy cool endeavors would have been, like, really kicked up several notches.
Julia: Oh, we'd be up to 11. We'd --
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: We'd probably own pet crows.
Amanda: I would definitely have, like, a pomegranate tattoo somewhere. Yeah.
Julia: Don't make fun of me. I'm gonna get one of those actually.
Amanda: No, I want one. I was saying to, to the artists you found for me who has since done both of my arms like, “God, pomegranates are just made for, like, symbolism and beautiful tattooing.”
Eric: We're – we’re going to – we're gonna mold the youth --
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: -- into better versions of us --
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: Exactly.
Eric: -- earlier and sooner.
Amanda: We, we have intersectional feminism. We are trans inclusive queers. We love – we love taking down capitalism. Like, what's not to love?
Eric: The arc of the show has been a while, people.
Julia: Like, hey, let's get drunk and talk about Hades and Persephone. And, now, we're like, “Capitalism, no.”
Amanda: The first three minutes of this episode were anti-capitalist.
Eric: Pretty good. Pretty good. Pretty good this time. So, anyways, this was their last year at Camp as I said. And they’ve decided that they weren't going to beat around the bush with the ghost girl anymore.
Julia: Okay. Okay.
Eric: So, when I was sent again to get water from Ridgeview alone, I paid attention to the lights. They were all on. And we were all seasoned campers. So, I am certain we did not make this mistake.
Julia: I really like the idea of this person's like, “I'm not gonna beat around the bush with this ghost girl anymore.” It feels like the same energy as people who are like it's the last day of high school and I'm going to tell that girl that I love her.
Eric: But with just finding a girl.
Julia: But with a ghost. Yeah.
Eric: I love it. I was also certain that that meant that the ghost girl was here. I said out loud, “Hey, Iris, I'm just coming to wash my hands.” There was no response. So, I shrugged and went to the bathrooms. On my way out of the cabin, I heard someone say, “Kath” and the door slammed behind me. The door slam wasn't anything unusual, but I know I was in there alone. So, the voice was something unexpected. It didn't sound like a person's voice either. It sounded like a voice in my head. Like, the voice when you're just thinking. Except, it definitely wasn't my voice.
Julia: Oh, no.
Eric: Before I could think to go back in, a friend called me away. And, when we went back there that night, all the lights were off. That would have been all, but I got the opportunity to go back to camp Tahali just for a weekend. I stayed up till 1:00 AM with some friends before heading back to sleep in Ridgeview. When I laid down, I immediately felt weird. In my head, I said, “Iris, please go away. We can play some other time, but, now, I need to sleep.” And, for the first time, she responded.
Julia: I also liked that the ghost knows her name.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: It's like, “Oh, yes, I remember you.”
Eric: “Holly,” said that weird not mine voice. I don't know why, but I knew it was her finally correcting me. “Sorry to have used the wrong name all these years, but I really do need to sleep. I have a wedding to go to tomorrow,” I responded in my head.
Julia: Ooh.
Eric: She giggled. I honestly had a lot of questions now that there was an actual conversation, but I was so tired. Even as I fall – fell asleep, I'm sure Holly stayed by my side. I can almost convince myself she's by my side right now.
Amanda: Still a botanical name. I'm telling you. They're really on the right track. If in doubt, guess a botanical name for a ghost.
Eric: There --
Julia: It’s a good – it’s a good vibe.
Eric: There you go. New – the – our first big advice for the – for the new year for 2021, if you're gonna guess a ghost name, guess a botanical name.
Amanda: 20 – 2020 was the year of stay ignorant. I think that was 2020.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Time has lost on meaning.
Eric: Probably. It was a long year, who knows.
Amanda: Yeah. Or, like, phase, phase one of urban legends was stay ignorant. Phase two, when in doubt, guess a botanical name.
Julia: There you go.
Amanda: If anyone out there is trying to name a kid, or a pet, or a house, go botanical.
Eric: Anyway, those are her favorite stories from camp. There are more. There's actually an abandoned prison very close to the property. So, if you want more, let me know. We would happily take more now that we finally got to the first round of updates on this email chain. Please send in another and we will not wait for the – for the next round up second chances – third chances even. So, we'll just – we'll just – if you have – if you have an update, sent, send it our way.
Amanda: Oh, bless. I love that. I know, when I was searching the word update in the inbox, lots of emails and with I'll keep you updated or I can send updates if you want them. The answers always yes, folks. I thought we'd been on a journey. Are you guys ready for a refill?
Julia: Hell yeah. Let's do it.
Eric: Yeah.
Midroll Music
Amanda: Julia, I'm not a person who has ever really looked forward to showers. They are not, like, an exciting or, like, relaxing time for me necessarily. It’s just kind of like, “Oh, yeah, I got to do this before I, like, go to work or whatever.”
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: But I found myself, over the long weekend of the, you know, New Year's Day into the weekend and now back to work, I took showers voluntarily on my days off when I did not have to. And I actually look forward to them because I had a new Function of Beauty shampoo to try out.
Julia: Wooh!
Amanda: And I was like, “Damn, I cannot wait to try this out, and be enveloped in a gentle cloud of scent, and have my very short hair that somehow still gets greasy from time to time treated with the Function of Beauty plan.
Julia: Well, your hair looks great. I can see through the webcam and it looks fantastic.
Amanda: Thank you so much. Function of Beauty, as you may know everybody, is the world leader in customizable beauty offering precise formulations for your hair’s specific needs. The deal is that you take a quick but very thorough quiz online to tell them about your hair type and your hair goals. And they also let you choose your color and your fragrance. Or you can go either fragrance or dye free if that's something that you're looking out for. Plus, subscribers, so, someone who gets the products, you know, every so often like on a regular schedule, get access to more exclusive colors, which is amazing because they have so many good ones already and scents. Then their team determines the perfect blend of ingredients, bottles your formula, and delivers it to you along with fun seasonal stickers, which I put on my new notebook --
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: -- and all the instructions you need.
Julia: So, never buy off the shelf just to be disappointed ever again. Go to functionofbeauty.com/spirits to take your quiz and save 20 percent off your first order. That applies to their full range of customized hair, skin, and body products. Go to functionofbeauty.com/spirits to let them know you heard about it on our show and to get 20 percent off your order. functionofbeauty.com/spirits. Amanda, I am coming up on the second year of living in my current apartment. And I am starting to realize that it gets real cold in my office --
Amanda: Ooh.
Julia: -- which I wasn't expecting because, when we moved in, it was pretty warm. And, at the same time, I realized I don't have a lot of warm comfy clothes to be wearing when I work from home. And, so, luckily, I got an email from Stitch Fix being like, “Hey, your new box is coming. Do you need anything?” And I'm like, “Yes, Stitch Fix. In fact, I do.” And I just requested as many comfy sweaters and, like, joggers and sweatpants as I possibly could function with. And I am so looking forward to when my Stitch Fix box arrives. And, if you haven't heard our Stitch Fix ads before on the show, Stitch Fix offers clothing hand-selected by expert stylists for your unique style, size, and budget. It's a completely different and, like, super fun way of finding clothes that you will love to wear. Every piece is chosen for your fit and your life. And it is the super easy solution to finding what makes you look and feel your best. You can try pieces on at home before you buy them. You only keep what you love and then you return what you don't. And Stitch Fix has free shipping, easy returns, and exchanges and a prepaid return envelope is included. So, I don't have to wait in line at the post office. I can just drop it off and then go.
Amanda: It's amazing. And they're $20 styling fee is automatically credited toward any pieces you keep from your box. No hidden fees. They're really straightforward, which we love. So, get started today at stitchfix.com/spirits to get 25 percent off when you keep everything in your fix. That's stitchfix.com/spirits for 25 percent off when you keep everything in your fix, stitchfix.com/spirits. And, finally, we are sponsored this week by BetterHelp. And I love the fact that they are back for another year and that they are sponsoring so many episodes of the show because this is a message that I want everybody to start this year with. It’s you deserve to get help for your mental health. You deserve support on the things that you are going through and a person who is trained to listen to you and help you and only you. I get my better help through BetterHelp. They assess your needs and match you with your own licensed professional therapist. That was a mistake, but I’m keeping it because it’s cute. I do my therapy through BetterHelp. And you can start communicating in under 48 hours. It's neither a crisis line nor a self-help, but a professional counseling done securely online. The service is available worldwide. So, if you live outside the US and you don't usually get the chance to take advantage of our sponsors, this could be a really good one for you to try. You can log into your account anytime and send a message to your counselor. So, it's not like you're just waiting for your next appointment to come and hoping you remember all the things that happened in the last week or two weeks. You get to send messages and correspond with them if that makes you less anxious to start out with when you're starting therapy. They're also more affordable than traditional offline counseling. And financial aid is available, which I think is awesome. So, listen, BetterHelp and I both want you to start living a happier life today. Go to betterhelp.com/spirits to join the over 1 million people who've taken charge of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional. At betterhelp.com/spirits, you'll get 10 percent off your first month. That is BetterHelp, betterH-E-L-P.com/spirits for 10 percent off your first month. And, now, let's get back to the show. Well everybody what are we drinking in this very special Second Chances Your Urban Legends Part 1 of 4 for the Month Bonanza.
Eric: Well, I – we're doing – we're doing a bit of an early morning recording on this one. So, I am drinking some Baileys with my coffee.
Julia: Ooh.
Amanda: Hell yeah. I love that.
Julia: I am also drinking a hot beverage with alcohol in it. Mine is this incredible tea that we got when we were in Portland two years ago, I guess, now.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Hmm. Yes.
Julia: It's called Smith Teamakers and they have this great herbal blend called Big Hibiscus. And, when you brew that and add a little bit of gin to it and squeeze a lime, extremely good.
Amanda: Delicious. And I am rounding out with some PG tips, which is my British tea of note or of choice with a little bit of whiskey in it of course.
Julia: Hmm. Good choice.
Eric: Nice.
Julia: Good choices all around, y’all.
Amanda: All right. Well, we have an update from Martika on an email we didn't read on the show. So, I'll start with the older one. So, this came in, in August of last year, 2020, from Martika and the subject, Living with a Ghost.
Julia: Ooh.
Amanda: Hey, guys, this isn't really an urban legend or a myth but more something I experienced firsthand. I just listened to one of the Urban Legend episodes and thought I would share this with you, guys. Probably about six months ago, I was up in bed late struggling to get to sleep. I had the heavy feeling that I was being watched and felt like there was something else in the room with me. I didn't think much of it as I've been feeling like this since me and my family moved into this house. Martika, darling, that means probably they’re – they’re – you need to pay more attention to it.
Julia: It might be a ghost.
Amanda: But, when I rolled over on my other side, I saw the face of a woman watching me with her chin resting on the edge of my bed.
Julia: Hey, not great. Not great.
Amanda: We get a lot of feeling like people are watching you or, like, sitting down on the bed as you're in bed anecdotes and stories. Those are creepy to me. But the idea of somebody just resting their chin on the edge of your bed just being like, “I'm here” is terrifying to me.
Julia: No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Amanda: I laid there is too scared and surprised to move for another few seconds before she smiled at me and then started to fade away. I remained in bed for another minute or so until I was sure she was gone before leaving my room to go talk to my mom. I don't think she believed me until she saw how much this had freaked me out. I ended up going back to bed with my old nightlight on and haven't been able to sleep without it since. To avoid humiliation, I would like to add that I'm only 13 and have been raised not to believe in ghosts and other paranormal beings. Anyway, I've also seen the shadow of a man by my wardrobe. So, this may have been just my imagination as I had just woken up when I saw it. I'm pretty sure there is something living in my room because, sometimes, when I'm cuddling with my dog in bed, usually, listening to the Spirits Podcast, she has had her eyes locked on one corner of my room in particular. This may not seem strange, but, when we are patting her and calling her name, she'll look at us. But, when I was calling her name and cuddling her in those moments, she refused to look at me and kept her eyes locked on that something. This has happening several times and never in any other room, just mine. My older brothers also admitted to me that, in every house we've ever lived in, he has had an interaction with a ghost.
Julia: Um, that is something that someone should have been telling you way sooner.
Amanda: My mom has also told me that she has seen the ghost of a small child in the house in Roxby Downs, South Australia where she used to live.
Julia: Oh, my god, this family is haunted.
Amanda: So, that was the end of the first email. And, Martika, I'm really glad you wrote back because I, I was very concerned. So, here is the update, which came in September. So, just a few weeks after the first one. Hey, guys, I was listening to the Hometown Urban Legends episode where you talked a little bit about the invisible friend that climb in the attic or something which somehow reminded me of my situation. I have talked to my Nana and she has shown me some pictures of her sister who died at 41 years old and they look almost exactly identical. The photos of her when she was younger. So, it makes sense they looked a little different. And, as not to give away too much family information. I'll call her Aunt Marge. Anyway, I've often seen her all around the place not just in my room or even my house. I've seen her around my school a few times as well.
Julia: What?
Amanda: Multiple location ghost, never a good sign.
Julia: No, that means you're haunted. Not the place. You.
Amanda: I know this is not just in my head either because, after I saw her in the school kitchen during cooking class, I saw her behind the counter. But, when I looked up, she disappeared. I just shrugged it off and went back to chopping onions. Before one of my friends – let's call her Samantha – came up to me and asked if I saw that strange young woman standing behind the counter. Obviously, I was a little freaked out. But then I talked to her about seeing Aunt Marge that night. And she told me she too had been feeling and seeing ghosts, spirits, and guardian angels since she was a little girl. I've also been feeling the presence of someone or something throughout the house. And, when I got home from school this afternoon, I heard footsteps coming down the driveway. After I got inside, I went through the hallway into my room and heard footsteps behind me. But I knew it wasn't my dog because they sounded distinctly human. I turned around and no one was there. Then, at that moment, there was a loud bang on the roof. When I went to the bathroom, the door to my brother's room creaked open again, which only happens when I'm home alone. The dog hasn't shown any signs of intruder. So, not sure what's going on. Thank you so much for giving me something to listen to while I'm bored. Stay creepy and cool.
Julia: Oh, there's so much happening here.
Amanda: There's so much happening.
Julia: I – on a positive note, I like the – you know the thing where it's like queer people find queer people --
Amanda: Yes.
Julia: -- even before they know they're queer? I like this as, like, you know, paranormal sensitive people find other paranormal sensitive people. And that's extremely cute and a little – a little scary but very good. And I'm just going to ignore the rest of the things that happened there because, no, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.
Amanda: I, I really loved that moment. Like, they are those moments where the creepiness factor expands or when, like, the scope of the problem is wider than you thought it was originally. And just like the changing of context or the violating of things that had been taught to you as like inherent rules just feels so transgressive and scary and, like, upping the ante. And seeing this – A, there's a photograph of this ghost, that’s scary. B, seeing them in the cafeteria at school is just like next level, not to mention the friend validating that. I just – wow.
Eric: I, I have a thing.
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: Are cafeterias of schools just kind of haunted?
Amanda: They're very creepy.
Julia: I feel like liminal space.
Eric: Yes, they're very much a liminal space. But, like, I feel like sometimes you, like, see some – because, like, ours, our high school is quite large. So, like, it was a pretty big cafeteria. So, like, I think we had to serve, like – I don't know – 1,700 kids over, like, four periods. So, like, 400 people in there at a time usually. And I feel like sometimes you just see something in the distance that always looked a bit off. Yeah, I, I, I’m now really thinking about how spooky high school cafeterias can be.
Julia: Are you suggesting that there was, like, a dimensional rift in your high school cafeteria maybe?
Eric: Mine in particular?
Julia: Yes.
Eric: No, I'm just saying they're weird places. So, the idea of seeing another weird thing in a, a cafeteria tracks for me.
Julia: They're also just like places of chaos, right?
Amanda: They are. I was just thinking that it's like a place where the rules are, are temporary or suspended particularly when – like, in our high school, after freshman year, you could go off campus for lunch. There's people like coming and going. There's like clubs, like, hanging posters and all kinds of stuff. People will do, like, speeches or fundraising or whatever. So, it really is a place where, like, all the different, you know, ages and classes and, like, academic tracks mix. And I think that is a real recipe for chaos. Additionally, I think it's creepy because it's industrial. You know, like, the, those kitchens are all stainless steel like bulk cooking – like, my grandmother, my dad's mom, was a lunch lady. And he said she would sometimes bring home like five gallon cans of, like, fruit salad, you know. Like, fruit salad and syrup. And, so, just the, the size of things, I feel, is all – particularly for a kid, it just feels like you're in a different place with, like, all the proportions of things that you know are just thrown off.
Julia: Yeah, that's – that's fair. Everything seems larger than you've ever experienced before. And that's valid.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: So, I have one and then the follow up to another one. And they were sent, like, two months apart. So, I'm really excited to kind of dig into these. And these come from Shan, who the – the first one that she wrote was Creepy Ghost Girl Won't Let Me Fucking Wee.
Amanda: I love it.
Eric: Oh, boy. That's something.
Julia: So, she writes, “Hello, friends, from sunny Zimbabwe. My name is Shan and I've been creeping on your cool podcast for the last two years now. I recently started listening to the Hometown Urban Legends episodes on Spotify while cooking and cleaning because nothing suits scrubbing dishes and bathroom floors better than spooky kids and shadow man.”
Amanda: Couldn't agree more.
Julia: Speaking of dead children, yikes, I have a spooky paranormal experience I want to share with you involving a mischievous little girl and a haunted restaurant with a name that's a little too on the nose. So, this story happened when I was around 13 or 14 and has given me a deeply ingrained anxiety about going into unfamiliar bathrooms alone. My dad had taken me and his girlfriend at the time out for a late-ish lunch at a place I'd never been to before. A pub and a restaurant named The Spooky House. All I can recall about the place apart from its name, unsettling architecture, and the horrifying bathroom incident was that they served a pretty dang good rack of ribs. I remember the outing wasn't planned. And we decided to pop out just after they picked me up from school around 2:30 – 3:00 o'clock in the afternoon. So, being a weekday and after the lunch rush, the place was pretty quiet. This will be relevant later. The restaurant was, as the Americans might say, a homely mom and pop type place run by a sweet older couple who did their own catering and situated in a slightly renovated suburban house. There was something inherently weird about sitting at a restaurant table that was once someone's living room.
Amanda: Yes.
Julia: Sidebar, there is a restaurant near where my parents live that is very similar to this where it looks like – it's a Chinese restaurant, but it looks like they just converted someone's 17th house into a restaurant. And it is buck wild. I love it.
Amanda: It's extremely good and fun. We – I, I've been there only while I’ve already drunk four more drinks. And I had an extremely positive impression of the place when we left.
Julia: They make incredible Mai Tais. And there is wood paneling everywhere.
Amanda: Yeah, it's amazing.
Julia: Needing the bathroom while we were waiting for our food, I politely asked the waiter where I could find the ladies room. He directed me to a staircase. And, on the top landing, there were a couple of fully furnished bedrooms? And, at the end of the hall, My Porcelain Graceland. That's a very cute name for a bathroom. The entire upstairs floor was eerie. Due to the narrow and enclosed staircase, all of the downstairs hubbub was softly muffled. And the quiet emanating from the bedrooms made me feel like I'd stepped into someone's private home uninvited. Shaking off the weird feeling, I went off to the loo to do my business. As I sat down, I noticed the bathroom was quite big. I couldn't touch the sink or the door when seated. And it made me feel a little vulnerable for some reason. Like, what if someone accidentally tried opening the door? There was no key in the lock or bolt on the door. So, I'd have a bit of trouble trying to block it with my limbs come an unfortunate intrusion. With that in mind, I found myself with a little bit of performance anxiety.
Amanda: Fair.
Julia: While trying to calm down and think liquid thoughts, I nearly shot right off the bowl when I heard the small hesitant tapping on the door. “Someone's in here,” which I ran in a drama lady voice for some reason, I called with a huff. Bad enough that I couldn't go since I've creeped myself out. Now, I had to contend with a queue. The knocking sounded again and, this time, I noticed that it was coming from about a third ways up the door. Perfect kid height. “I am in here,” I called again, a voice a little more shaky with nerves, shivering on the toilet seat. No answer, but I heard a soft giggle. Immediately, I switched from nervous to downright irritable. “Damn kid,” I thought angrily, still trying to relieve myself to no avail. It was like my bladder had suddenly decided to stop working despite the obvious capacity. The giggles sounded again and the knocking increased in speed and intensity. This little brat was really messing with me now. In a huff, I gave up on my fruitless endeavor and stood up, washed my hands, and angrily stumped to the door. The knocks were still playfully and insistently sounding as I grabbed the handle ready to throw the door open and teach this brat some manners. With the strength of an infuriated teen, I threw my weight into it as I yanked on the handle, not caring if I whacked the brat on the other side with the swinging door. For goodness sakes, I – the landing was completely empty.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Just like that, no knocking, no scampering footsteps, no soft child-like giggles as I peered around in disbelief. Only the musty carpeted quiet of the completely empty upstairs landing. Silence. Dead silence.
Amanda: But did Shan get to pee?
Julia: I must have stood there for nearly a minute in quiet shock as waves of undulating horror poured over me. I didn't understand what had just happened. And, now, I wasn't so sure I needed to pee anymore. It was only after I'd crept back to the table in silence, finished my meal, and sat down in the backseat of my dad's Land Cruiser when I dared ask the question that had been sitting in the back of my throat. As we trundled off home, I quietly let out, “Dad, why do they call it the spooky house?” My dad and his girlfriend chuckled good naturedly and had a little light hearted laugh as they explained the so-called reason behind the name. As mouth-to-mouth gossip went, the house was bought by the previous owners who warned the restaurant couple that there were a couple of spirits hanging about; most prominently, a little girl who had met a mysterious and tragic end. The story of the haunted house apparently became a bit of a selling point for the restaurant tours. And they decided to honor it with the new name. Supposedly, the little spirit was well known among the staff for causing a whole bunch of mischief. Pots and pans would suddenly be thrown off of walls. Cabinets would open and close of their own volition. And, famously, one time all of the fresh produce had been removed from its boxes and strewn all over the floor in the middle of the night. The poor head chef had been beside himself with the mess.
Amanda: Oh, my.
Julia: Apparently, the hauntings had escalated to such a degree that the old couple found that they could not keep casual cleaners and other kitchen staff for more than a couple of weeks and kept having to find new hires after staff would refuse to pitch back up to work on the basis that the spirit was so volatile they couldn't be guaranteed that they wouldn't come to any physical injury.
Eric: Wooh.
Julia: Yeah, I, that's – that's a big deal. I want to be protected when I go to my work.
Eric: That is a big deal.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: I could tell my dad and most of the patrons, who visited, didn't really believe these tall tales. It was still a well-loved restaurant in our small community and was quite popular for live music nights and family dinners. However, I still remember taking note of all of the people at the other tables the day of my experience and how not one of the few families had had any small children with them at all. So, then, who was knocking on the bathroom door? And why couldn't they just fucking let me wee in peace? Needless to say, I haven't been back since. But, but she does also write that I'm not entirely sure if Spooky House is still operational. But, if COVID ever gives me the chance to investigate, I'll be ready to brave it for those delicious ribs. But I have an update.
Amanda: Ooh, I forgot this is an update email.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: This is an update email. This is a, a secondary story from Shan, which I loved so much that I was like, “Oh, well, we have to do it in the update.”
Amanda: Hell yeah.
Julia: You'll never guess who was screaming in the middle of the forest. Spoiler alert, it wasn't me.
Eric: Oh, boy.
Julia: Sure. It's Shan here writing in with another creepy story from my homeland of Zimbabwe. My life force has been sustained recently by Spirits as I count down the days to Christmas leave. As I stood doing the dishes and listening to one of the most recent Hometown Urban Legends episodes regarding a [Inaudible 48:02 – fey doggo] and ghostly cow pens. You remember that one, Amanda?
Amanda: I do.
Julia: I was viscerally reminded of a creepy experience I had many years ago that I had all but forgotten. It was autumn this side of the hemisphere in 2011. The days were definitely shortening and, whilst it was really nice out up until the late afternoons, temperatures would drop really fast come nightfall. My three best friends and I were celebrating a long weekend in Nyanga staying at a campsite at the base of one of the mountains alongside Diep River. I loved that place. One of my friend's parents had shares of a cozy couple of cabins at least 20 kilometers out of the town center. And they’ve taken us out there to spend a couple of days of hiking, birdwatching, fishing, and tubing down the river’s gentle rapids in the blown up inner tubes of an old tractor tire. That sounds fun. We were 16 and thought we were on top of the world. Good setup here. Being a fit bunch comprising of the school's rowing captain, myself, two track athletes, and a girl with two brothers, we considered ourselves above average in terms of muscle power, endurance, and tenacity. One afternoon, four of us girls decided to take one of the most challenging hiking trails that lead up to the campsite. The day was amazing. The forest was full of critter life. The trees surrounding us grew so tall we couldn’t see the tops. The rocky granite outcrop speaking of a millennium of history in there bouncing formations. Side note, Google Zimbabwe balancing rocks to see what I mean. You won't be disappointed. All with the comforting gurgle of the Diep River at our side, a comfort to know that, as long as we could find it again, we could follow it downstream to home. That is a good plan. Good job. Don't get lost in the woods.
Amanda: I want to go to these woods.
Julia: After much giggling and 16-year-old banter, including throwing fallen tree leaf mulch at each other and challenging one another to climb a tree the fastest, we reached the summit of a small hill/mountain after a long hike and sat down to enjoy the sun touching the horizon. Do you see where I'm going with this? Because that was the problem that we, in our pubescent hubris, had not taken into account. The sun was setting. We were on top of a mountain and the sun was setting. We've been walking for hours in the direction opposite to bed, warmth, and safety and the sun was setting.
Amanda: Mhmm. Mhmm.
Eric: Wooh.
Julia: Ho boy. I, being the wet blanket mother hen of the group, predictively, was the one who started to freak out first. We were for idiot teenage girls on top of a mountain in deep rural Nyanga where cell phone towers were unheard of in the rapidly encroaching darkness. We’d miscalculated the time of the sun going down now that it was approaching winter. And, as you guessed it, we all started to panic a bit. Understandable. Fortunately, we managed to scrounge up one brain cell between the four of us and take the shortcut back to camp by following the river downstream. This would cut short the path we've taken up considerably, but we'd be walking the last stretch in darkness for sure waiting to be chewed out by my friend's mom down at the bottom. With much courage, we grabbed hands in a chain to avoid slipping. And I was the holder of the single phone, a Blackberry Torch, ironically, and led us with what little light we had down the path to salvation. Oh, boy. Shan, this is so good.
Amanda: I'm glad there was a plan. I'm so nervous for them.
Julia: The forest that had been our playground now loomed over our heads deeply unsettling. The thing about forests is that the leaf mulch and tree trunks make sound seem weird. The strange dampening and reverberating effects can disorient you immensely. Things can sound closer or farther away than they actually are. The only constant was the rushing river at our side guiding us home. The blackness of the forest engulfing us was terrifying. We heard strange rustlings and large animal footsteps much bigger than the birds and the lizards we had seen while the light was up. The nocturnals were coming out to play. And we weren't so sure we wanted to be around when they did. Being Zimbabwe, slap bang in the middle of Southern Africa, we have a lot of crazy wildlife. Many big cats hang out around these mountains. And, though, I know they'd be more scared or put off by four trembling idiots scurrying home, I can safely say that we were all rather allergic to large teeth and claws on the best of days. So, suffice to say, we were kind of on edge. It’d been what felt like hours that we've been following the river and the sky had turned inky black. The four of us trudge silently, sweaty hands gripping sweaty hands. In the front, I paused when I heard what sounded like human-ish steps leisurely following behind us. The steps stopped as soon as we did. Nervously, without a word, I started to quicken the pace. The footsteps resumed, but now sounded like they were at our side. But we couldn't see anything through the dense tree trunks. One of us whimpered. It may have been me. And we halted again trying to see if the steps would move ahead and leave us alone. To our horror, they stopped just ahead of us, though it was hard to tell due to the dampening effects of the trees and the floor. Then, from the opposite bank of the river, I heard something that made my stomach drop. My hands turned to ice. And my fight or flight or freeze instincts activate rendering me frozen. The blood curdling, guttural scream of a small child.
Eric: Whoa.
Amanda: Oh, no. The worst kind of scream, arguably.
Julia: The worst part was that it sounded like a child but not quite. Almost like something pretending to be a child imitating the haunting cries of a young one in pain.
Amanda: Uh-umm. Uh-umm. Uh-umm. Uh-umm.
Eric: Uh-umm. Uh-umm. No thanks.
Julia: And then it got worse. From far --
Amanda: No.
Eric: Then it got worse.
Amanda: No.
Julia: From further down the river bank on our side this time, came a returning scream. It sounded like someone was getting their foot chopped off saw style. Again, the cries echoed across the valley to one another. Awful, high pitch, childlike cries of pain as if a number of tortured souls were crying up from Tartarus begging to be set free from their endless torment. To this day, I've never heard such a horrifying, haunting sound. It made me want to pull my hair out, to put my head in my knees and sob. We stood frozen, all four of us, thinking that this was possibly where we met our end. And how would anyone ever explain this to our poor parents when or if they found our dismembered corpses? The footsteps returned in the woods just ahead. And, this time, the scream sounded right in front of us. Loud, unrelenting, less than five meters away. I wanted to die. This was it. This – I was so frozen in fear that there was no way I could make it out alive. Now, with a light on the torch, we saw the awful creature that could make such a horrendous, tortured human-like calls. A cow. Now, I'm an animal lover at heart. I have many cats and an old dog with his own spooky tales to tell for another email. But, then and there, I thought I was going to go to jail for bovine assault. Never in my life have I wanted to physically punch an animal for scaring the absolute shit out of me. The stupid thing stood in front of us blinking its big dopey eyes in anticipation. Across the bank, the other cows screamed out their hellos. And we finally got our blood flowing again. And we're able to push past the hauntingly, eerie choir and make it the last couple 100 meters home.
Amanda: Good god.
Julia: After a terrifying berating from our campsite parents, I managed to resist the urge for cardiac recitation and ask, “What the hell was the deal with those spooky mountain cows? Why are they screaming? Why do they sound like that?” My mom had grown up on a dairy farm. So, I was a good 110 percent sure that cows were not supposed to scream the way that that herd did. As it turns out, due to the steep wooded and mountainous land that the rural cattle roam about on, the cows had developed rather differently than those found on the flat grazing farmland. They were naturally smaller than your usual farm cow adapting to the way that could – adapting the way to more easily maneuver through dense forest trees. Their haunting shrill cries developed as a means to better communicate through all the natural noise dampening forest. The high pitched screams travel better through the trees than the traditional moos. So, the herd can communicate even through the forest.
Amanda: Jesus.
Julia: As to why they were following us along the path, pretty much all the cows of that side belong to local farmers and are accustomed to free range herding. They just thought we were their friends.
Amanda: Aww.
Julia: Anyways, I hope that if you ever find yourself deep in the Zimbabwean forests of Nyanga and hear terrifying screams late at night, let's just hope it's a friendly herd of forest cows.
Amanda: Incredible. What a journey.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: And Shan finishes with, “Stay creepy. Stay Moo.”
Amanda: Shan, you can write us as many times as you wish. That was so wonderful.
Julia: I do want to read all of your emails, Shan. Please send them.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Incredible.
Eric: It was great.
Amanda: I still want to visit Zimbabwe. Maybe not that particular forest or, if so --
Julia: That’s fair.
Amanda: -- I will just say to myself, “It's a cow. It's a cow. It's a cow. It's a cow.”
Julia: It's incredible. I, I love that story so much. And Shan is a great storyteller. And I'm sorry scary things keep happening to her.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Well, I feel like we have reconnected with conspirators. We reconnected with some, some creepy tales. We have some wonderful creepy, cool, funny, suspenseful energy to take us through the rest of this month of hometowns. It's great. Second chances.
Julia: I love it. I love it so much.
Eric: So, yeah, we're super excited for this month of Urban Legends. We've got three more episodes through January. And I think you're gonna be excited to see what we come up with for the – for the – for the themes of all of them.
Julia: If you're not scared by a month of urban legends, I don’t know what to tell you.
Amanda: Who needs just October for scary stuff? We're gonna start the year off right. And that's with adrenaline, and catharsis hopefully, and reminding you that, if you hear a scream in the woods, it probably was just a cow or, at least, you can tell yourself that.
Julia: And reminding you to stay creepy.
Amanda: Stay cool.
Theme Music
Amanda: Thanks again to our sponsors. At functionofbeauty.com/spirits, you will save 20 percent off your first order. At stitchfix.com/spirits, you'll get 25 percent off when you keep your whole fix. And, at betterhelp.com/spirits, you'll get 10 percent off your first month of counseling.
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 forum to send us your urban legends at spiritspodcast.com.
Amanda: Join our member community on Patreon, patreon.com/spiritspodcast, for all kinds of behind-the-scenes stuff. Just $1 gets you access to audio extras with so much more available too; recipe cards, director’s commentaries, exclusive merch, and real physical gifts.
Julia: We are a founding member of Multitude, a collective of independent audio professionals. If you'd like Spirits, you will love the other shows that live on our website at multitude.productions.
Amanda: And, above all else, if you liked what you heard today, please share us with your friends. That is the very best way to help us keep on growing.
Julia: Thank you so much for listening. Till next time.
Transcriptionist: Rachelle Rose Bacharo
Editor: Krizia Casil