Episode 244: Your Urban Legends LIII - The Ghost is Capitalism
/There’s something very special about this episode. We answer questions like “why can’t capitalism be a ghost?”, “are ghosts part of your college orientation?” and “have you ever tried to carbon date a ghost?”. And of course, a ghost train.
Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of capitalism, abusive job situations, child death, sex, sexual assault/flashers, sexually transmitted diseases, and animal death.
Housekeeping
- Recommendation: This week, Julia recommends Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty.
- Books: Check out our previous book recommendations, guests’ books, and more at spiritspodcast.com/books
- Call to Action: Check out Exolore: Helping you imagine other worlds, but with facts and science! Every other week, astrophysicist/folklorist Moiya McTier explores fictional worlds by building them with a panel of expert guests, interviewing professional worldbuilders, or reviewing the merits of worlds that have already been built.
Sponsors
- Brooklinen delivers luxury bed sheets, pillows, comforters, & blankets straight to your door. Go to Brooklinen.com right now and use promo code “spirits” to get $25 off when you spend $100 or more, PLUS free shipping.
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Find Us Online
If you like Spirits, help us grow by spreading the word! Follow us @SpiritsPodcast on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Goodreads. You can support us on Patreon (http://patreon.com/spiritspodcast) to unlock bonus Your Urban Legends episodes, director’s commentaries, custom recipe cards, and so much more. We also have lists of our book recommendations and previous guests’ books at http://spiritspodcast.com/books.
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 244: Your Urban Legends Number LIII.
JULIA: There's something really special about this urban legend. I'm not going to spoil what it was just yet, but I think that everyone's going to be pleased with it.
AMANDA: I think so too. And you know what else really pleases me, Julia?
JULIA: Our new patrons?
AMANDA: Our new patron Kate M. Thank you so much for pledging some of your hard-earned human dollars each month to supporting a podcast that presumably you enjoy, that makes us really happy. And thank you to our supporting-producer level patrons; Uhleeseeuh, Allison, Bryan, Debra, Hannah, Jack Marie, Jane, Jessica Kinser, Jessica Stewart, Justin, Keegan, Kneazlekins, Megan Linger, Megan Moon, Phil Fresh, Captain Jonathan MAL-uh-kye Cosmos, Sarah, Scott, and Zazi.
JULIA: Oh, Amanda. I would read haunted house stories with these people all day every day. I just would.
AMANDA: So true. And of course, there are our legend-level patrons, who I think have all become urban legends in their hometowns in a, in a fun and cool and not creepy way.
JULIA: Honestly, the dream for everyone who listens to the show, I feel like.
AMANDA: Absolutely and none are more fitting of that dream than; Audra, Clara, Drew, Jaybaybay, Ki, Lada, Lexus, Morgan, Morgan H., Mother of Vikings, Necroroyalty, & Bea Me Up Scotty.
JULIA: What wonderful, wonderful ghouls and goblins.
AMANDA: Speaking of my favorite ghoul and goblin. Julia, what have you been reading, watching or listening to this week?
JULIA: So, I completely tore through a book that my cousin recommended me, shout out Chris. It is the Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty. It is a murder mystery, but it takes place on a ship that is traveling to a new planet. And the people who wake up at the beginning of the book are the clones of the bodies that are currently dead in the ship.
AMANDA: Whoa.
JULIA: And they don't know how they got there, and the last 25 years have been erased from their memories.
AMANDA: Oh, that sounds like incredible world building.
JULIA: It's very, very good. It's so good.
AMANDA: In fact, what a perfect recommendation Julia, because the Multitude show that we have to recommend to you all this week is Exolore, your home before facts-based fictional world building. This is a show by our own Dr. Moiya McTier of the Advice From Folklore series that so many of you know and love. If you've ever wondered what life would be like on a planet different from our own or how writers like Mur Lafferty create your favorite fictional world, wonder no more, because Exolore is the place for you.
JULIA: Yeah, Moiya is, in case you don't know, an astrophysicist and a folklorist. And she does an incredible job interviewing these professional world builders or reviewing the merits of ones that have already been built. And you'll learn, you'll laugh, and you'll gain a real appreciation for how special our planet is, which is what I love about the show. And you can subscribe today by listening to Exolore in your podcast app or going to exolorepod.com.
AMANDA: That is all we have for you this week. So, folks let's get right into it. Enjoy Spirits Podcast Episode 244: Your Urban Legends Number LII.
AMANDA: You know guys, I um, I have to confess I'm having a bit of a spooky moment right now. I, I feel a presence, I, I feel like I smell some smells that I am not used to. Like, a, a botanical perfume that I'm not used to smelling.
JULIA: I was going to say I hope I don't smell.
ERIC: Maybe some kind of hair product.
JULIA: Who can say?
AMANDA: Ah, I hear Julia's voice at the room with me. Not even through my headphone, through the other ear.
JULIA: Whoa.
AMANDA: Oh my god.
JULIA: It's me.
AMANDA: We're recording together.
JULIA: It's me!
AMANDA: Yay!
JULIA: Now we just have to get Eric in the room and-
ERIC: The Spirits team is more together than it has been since-
JULIA: March 2020.
ERIC: -March.
AMANDA: Even before that, because we were on tour.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: For much of February.
JULIA: No, I think our last recording, I have a picture of our last recording, it was to Join The Party recording.
AMANDA: Ohh.
JULIA: And it was very sad because it's just like me with my sleeves rolled up because it was very hot in the room.
AMANDA: Cute.
ERIC: It's pretty wild that we were all around together on March 1st, 2020.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: Moments before the world changed to-.
AMANDA: Yeah-
JULIA: Really.
AMANDA: It was.
JULIA: Truly.
AMANDA: It is changing all the time, as time moves ever forward, and often persists after death to remind us about what was.
JULIA: Sure.
ERIC: Okay.
JULIA: Sounds right.
ERIC: Okay.
JULIA: Sounds good.
AMANDA: Who has urban legends?
JULIA: I have an urban legend. So, I would love to start out with an email titled; How my fiance ended up getting the text; workplace is haunted.
ERIC: Oh. Oh, no.
AMANDA: Love this.
ERIC: Return to the office from hell.
AMANDA: I feel like your, your co-worker is texting you because you're very good or very bad. Like there's a problem where they need you immediately, or maybe there's like a new, a shift is available and you're like, hell yeah, dude. Or you become friends and you text outside of work. But this one, I believe falls in very bad category.
JULIA: Yes. Its-
ERIC: Mmh-hmm.
JULIA: I'm very curious to see how this goes. So, this is from Sam, and Sam writes; Hello, lovely Spirits team. I recently found myself without a podcast to listen to and then I remembered, Hey, I'm one of your patrons, might as well start again. And then, I found out my workplace is haunted.
ERIC: Wow.
JULIA: Like right after.
AMANDA: I mean, we're sorry. You're welcome.
JULIA: You're sorry. You're welcome is, yeah, that's about right. So, they continue, my order of business after figuring that out was to finish my work, text my fiance, who had the very appropriate reaction of, Oh, hell yes. I love her. And then write to you because you deserve to know. And we do deserve to know. Thank you, Sam.
ERIC: Of course, we do. Yeah.
JULIA: The place I work at is a large box filled with offices that small businesses can rent to have an official address, sounds sketchy already. The company I am the only employee for is one of said small businesses. I tried to find when the box was built, the box being the office which is very cool.
ERIC: The box.
JULIA: But I couldn't. Just trust me that it is a fairly new building since it is a box.
ERIC: I worked in the hypercube. Am I good?
JULIA: Am I good? No, you're not good. You're in the hypercube.
AMANDA: Yeah, it's, it's pretty amazing that architecture has gone from dwelling place to boxes of glass.
JULIA: Box of glass! This beautiful day of haunting started with the lights flickering, as hauntings do. All other electronics worked just fine. Well, the email was logged out and I could only do like 50% of what I was supposed to do but the computer works just fine. It was just the lights. So, I decided to pay absolutely no mind and then the cold spot started. My lovely little office room has no windows that can be opened, nor does it have an AC so the suddenly chilly winds I started feeling were certainly strange. They also focused on my hand I'm worrying about, which I'm engaged, Mr. Ghost, please no. I also ignored this but, like, a bit less. A few small things happened after that, like, the lights turning on, which I had them off because clearly they weren't cooperating. And the lack of tics and stimming which I, I'm neurodivergent I have both autism and ADHD and this never happens. And the footsteps right outside the door when there was very much no one else on the floor with me.
AMANDA: I'm, I'm a little concerned about the lack of ventilation in this office.
JULIA: Yeah, there should be like a window or something.
AMANDA: Yeah, a vent.
JULIA: Some sort of vent. And then, two very big things happened after that. First, I saw a business ghost, in capital letters. Then, I got a strong overwhelming sense of do not move. I did pick this email because it contains the phrase business ghost with a capital B and capital G.
ERIC: Business ghost, Got to-, got to love a business ghost.
AMANDA: I am enraptured. I also feel like this is kind of the opposite feeling of, like, when your boss appears when you weren't expecting it and then suddenly you're like, hands twitch to, like, cover archive of our own with a spreadsheet, or to look suddenly very busy. I feel like the boss kind of makes you spring into action but the idea of freezingly your boss appears. I mean fair enough.
JULIA: Like a deer in the headlights.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: That felt really personal to you and your life Amanda? The archive of our own coverage of the spreadsheet?
AMANDA: Did I create a skin on archive of our own to put archive of our own into Times New Roman, in a very small font with high contrast to make it appear like I was reading a boring government report? Yeah. Yeah, I did.
JULIA: Fascinating.
AMANDA: It works for years people.
JULIA: Truly fascinating. I love you so much. So, first, the business ghost. My water had run out so I decided to go to the small kitchen across the hall from my office. I saw something in the corner of my vision but ignored it as I was thirsty and there could theoretically have been other people working. This theory did not hold up, as I walked out of the kitchen and saw a businessman walking around in a full suit talking on the phone.
AMANDA: Suspicious.
JULIA: Why did it not hold up? Well, I could not hear any sound at all. And also, that dude was transparent. I wisely walked back to my office door and closed it.
AMANDA: Oh my.
JULIA: Not even a minute later. The strong sense of “Do not walk out of this room under any circumstances” overtook me conveniently right at the end of my shift, which is just like is the ghost capitalism? The problem might be that the ghost is capitalism.
ERIC: The ghost can't be capitalism.
JULIA: Why? Explain.
ERIC: Capitalism isn't dead yet.
JULIA: It's the Poltergeist of, of capitalism then.
ERIC: There we go.
JULIA: Just being like, this business ghost wants poor Sam to work overtime. And Sam doesn't have to work overtime because they're not required to do that. So, Sam continues, I wasn't about to fuck around and find out since I usually have a pretty good sense for these things and decided to lay on the floor and read fanfiction until the feeling passed.
AMANDA: What did I say?
JULIA: Yeah, you're right. That's fair. I got out of the building perfectly safe. That's good. I'm glad. Sam We're glad you're okay. The fact that I had just seen a haunting did not catch up with me until I was home because I was a bit busy trying to avoid every single pedestrian I saw. I can safely say now that everything is settled but what the fuck?
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: So, I texted my fiance about it then I emailed you because you deserve to hear about the business ghost. Thank you. I wanted to hear about the business ghost.
AMANDA: That's a perfect order of priorities where you get yourself out of the situation. You, you know, tell the person that needs to know and then you tell Spirits.
JULIA: Correct. Correct. This is not the first haunting I've been a part of and I sent you a story back from when I was five and became someone's creepy kid story in the Haunted Mansion close to my summer cottage, but it was most definitely the first in a modern building. Pretty sure that the newest building I've seen a ghost in was from 1950, also known as my old house where I had a ghost roommate. Sam, you're just living the life huh? Just living the life. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story. Yes, I do blame the sighting I had as a kid for making me see and sense ghosts, if you're wondering. I hope you're having an amazing day and I can't wait to use my studies as an excuse to listen to your podcast. I study folklore at Uni. Oh, hell yeah.
AMANDA: Hell yeah.
JULIA: Much love, Sam. Your local creepy kid in a haunted office building.
AMANDA: Very good.
JULIA: Vey good, Sam. Very good.
ERIC: Office buildings, I feel like, are definitely haunted places. Like, no one, no one, like, dies in them usually. But like, there's something about them that is quite haunting.
JULIA: It's because you spend so much time there, like, not being conscious, I feel like.
ERIC: Oh yeah.
JULIA: You know, not feeling strong feelings unless your office place is a really bad office place. Which a lot of them are.
AMANDA: Yeah, it's, not to get too real but it is kind of a living death to spend all day, you know, needing to do something that you at best, feel okay about, and at worst, actively hate in order to be able to, like, participate in society.
ERIC: Yeah, I, I recently learned about this thing called passive income and I tweeted about it. And what I realized was the last, like, year or so of my last job that I really hated. I wasn't being lazy. I was creating passive income by barely doing anything and spending a lot of time on Twitter.
JULIA: That checks out.
ERIC: And I was still passively getting paid but I wasn't actually working. Now that's, that's productivity 101 kids.
JULIA: There it is. There it is. So, if you hate your job, just get passive income.
ERIC: Yeah, just, just, just don't work very hard. Work as much as they're paying you.
JULIA: That's true.
ERIC: If you know they're not going to pay you anymore, because I, I tapped out at some point. I was like, I don't think they're going to ever really give me anything notable. So, I'm just going to cruise this until other things work out.
JULIA: And then they did for you.
ERIC: They did.
AMANDA: Do you want to hear about someone who is training for a job that they really, really like?
JULIA: Yes, obviously.
ERIC: Yeah.
AMANDA: This is from Kay who titles her email; Women's College Ghosts from an Almost Librarian.
JULIA: Amanda was sitting across from me and said, Did you see the librarian email? I said, No. Why? She's like, it's mine now.
AMANDA: Here we go. Here we go. Know that we love librarians so much that when a librarian email comes in, usually Julia's like, "haha", but this time it was me.
JULIA: That's true.
AMANDA: So, Kay, writes, I have some stories about my Alma Mater that I think you'll like. I went to a small women's college on the East Coast, very rural and very haunted. The founder inherited the land and put it in her will that it should become a Women's College in honor of her daughter, Daisy, who died as a teenager and never got to have a formal education. There's a cemetery on campus where Daisy is buried along with other family members. Hate this already.
JULIA: Not a fan.
AMANDA: Daisy is the first and most well known of the ghosts. First year students are told about her as part of orientation and she's known for playfully messing with students, especially the first years.
JULIA: Now, do you think that's a formalized part of the orientation? Or do you think that it's, like, everyone kind of just adds it into the curriculum because they know, like, people got to get a kick out of these ghosts.
AMANDA: It seems like a thing where someone did it to you when you were a freshman and so you do it to other freshmen-
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: -as like a student leading tours.
ERIC: I want to know about how she's the first ghost. Is she the first ghost that became a ghost? Or like, is she like, first chair of ghosts? Do you think this is the ghost that ever was after what sees first.
JULIA: I feel like she's the chronological ghost. Like, if we're, if we're carbon dating our ghosts, she is the oldest.
ERIC: Right. That doesn't work for obvious reasons.
JULIA: You don't know. Do you ever tried to carbon date a ghost?
ERIC: I don't think they have any carbon.
JULIA: Who can say.
AMANDA: Everything's carbon, ultimately.
ERIC: Everything natural but we're talking about the supernatural.
JULIA: Are ghost organic? Apparently not.
ERIC: They have super-carbon, because it's supernatural.
AMANDA: Listen man, whenever you touch something, there is still an infinitesimal small distance between your cell and the cell that you are trying to touch and nothing ever actually physically touches. So.
ERIC: Yeah. That's why I've never walked through a door. That's a good joke about that thing where you could only move halfway closer to a door.
JULIA: Yeah,
AMANDA: There you go.
ERIC: [14:24]
AMANDA: Don't worry. If you have that knowledge, just sit there warmly in the feeling that you know a thing that we don't and then go on with your day. All right, back to Daisy. If you go to the cemetery and the gate is open, that means Daisy's out on campus and you shouldn't close the gate or she won't be able to get back in and will therefore keep messing with you for locking her out of your graveyard.
JULIA: That's like, yeah, that's like when you pull pranks on your roommates in college and you lock about the room because you're going to have sex. Daisy's just doing that.
AMANDA: Oh no. Or someone forgot to close the gate and then later someone was, like, the fuck Janey. And Janey was like, it's for Daisy, you know? Well, there's a whole event in the fall in fact called Ghost Stories where stories are read mostly about Daisy.
JULIA: I would go to a college where there's a college event just called ghost stories every year.
AMANDA: Yeah, I mean, maybe, maybe it is part of the formal curriculum because, you know, they seem to be really leaning hard into Daisy here.
JULIA: Super into it.
AMANDA: But my encounter with her was my first year when I went to knock on a friend's door after fall break to see if she was back on campus. I knocked a couple times and the door was locked. So, I turned around to go back in my building, but as I turned around, I heard the sound of knocking back. The rooms on either side of my friend's room were vacant and locked, and my friend later confirmed she wasn't on campus when this happened, so there is no way it could have been her. Anyway, Daisy is beloved by all on campus, but there are some more sinister ghosts plus shadow figures that I and multiple others have seen on unsanctioned night hikes.
JULIA: That's unsanctioned night hikes.
AMANDA: There's a chapel on the quad that is a) unconsecrated and b) very creepy, especially at night.
JULIA: Is it technically a chapel if it's unconsecrated? I don't know what the process of consecrating versus unconsecrated is. So, fair enough.
AMANDA: I also feel like the phrase is deconsecrated. So, unconsecrated feels like a real satanic panic situation, which is like it is like a cross but upside down.
JULIA: Unconsecrated I feel like is pre-consecration
AMANDA: Right.
JULIA: And then deconsecration-
AMANDA: Is post?
JULIA: Post. Yes.
AMANDA: Interesting. Right back, the first creepy thing I heard about was right before a concert I was doing with my acapella group in the chapel. Guys, acapella in a deconsecrated chapel, I mean.
JULIA: It only works if you're doing, like, weird satanic church music.
ERIC: Weird satanic church music? What does-?
JULIA: Come on, you know what I'm talking about. Like, when you're in a horror movie about demons and stuff and you hear like, [harmonizes].
ERIC: You mean like a horror movie zombie?
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: No, but it's like a chorus singing it.
ERIC: Okay, okay, okay.
AMANDA: Like, just the climax of an opera.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: Gotcha. I feel like acapella doesn't work too much of that genre. So. But I get it, I get it. I'm with you kinda.
JULIA: It's like Dante's Inferno, but an opera. You know what I'm saying?
AMANDA: I know what you're saying.
ERIC: But via acapella.
JULIA: There's also this buck-wild band or performance group that Jake showed me that was like a heavy metal band, but they also did operatic background music. So, they would be like, hardcore mashing, and then it would switch to like, again, that demonic opera music.
AMANDA: I love that so much.
JULIA: I'll find out what the name of it is and I'll put it in the show notes but yeah.
AMANDA: Okay, so, in this chapel, we were setting up a few hours in advance and one of my friends went to the [17:37] area by the front door to grab something. Among the best, I think, specific words out there. She ran into a man who she'd never seen before and asked if he was looking for someone because it's unusual to see unattended men on the campus of a women's college.
JULIA: True.
AMANDA: Sometimes people from the nearby small town will come to walk around campus, so it wasn't that that weird. But then he replied that; No, he wasn't looking for anyone. He just lived upstairs.
ERIC: Uh-oh.
JULIA: Upstairs of the unconsecrated chapel?
AMANDA: There is an upstairs to the chapel but obviously no one lives there. He exchanged a few more pleasantries with my friend and didn't provide any more details about what the hell he meant by I live upstairs. And then when she came back into the main room, he just kind of disappeared.
JULIA: Yeah, ghosts will do that.
AMANDA: The scariest thing that anyone I know has ever experienced in the chapel happened late at night during finals week. Exams are self-scheduled and a lot of people will just be studying in academic buildings at night, the night before the exam period starts. During this particular finals period, there'd been reports of a strange pants-less man running around campus-
JULIA: Uh-oh.
AMANDA: -watching random students. Campus safety hadn't been able to find him or figure out who he was. Cut to the night of reading day right before exams. A friend was studying in an academic building late at night and texted some of us in the dorms that she had heard someone running down the hall of the building she was in. And another student claimed to have seen that it was the man with no pants. My best friend, my sister and I decided that even though it was unsettling, we'd go and get our friend and escort her to her room so she wouldn't have to walk alone at night. Armed with a tennis racket and a costume flail, we went to pick up the friend and did a quick scan of the building to see if we could find the guy. After that, I got creeped out and went back to my dorm with my sister, leaving the studying friend and my best friend to continue their hunt. They ended up in the chapel. My best friend came back an hour later and told me the harrowing time that they had had after I went home. Apparently, as soon as they went inside, they heard a door closing somewhere else in the building and had a distinct feeling that they were being led through the building by something or someone just out of reach.
JULIA: Nope, nope.
AMANDA: They walked through the basement and felt like-. Okay, whoa. Why are you in the basement of the chapel?
JULIA: No, don't go in any room that you shouldn't be in in the chapel, especially when you think there is a pants-less man running around.
AMANDA: They walked through the basement and felt like she was being watched through the big glass windows of the offices down there. Even though no one was down there.
JULIA: Well, at least there's big windows in the basement. Like, it's not just a dark basement.
AMANDA: They went back up the back staircase which takes you through a supply room full of random stuff and up to the third and fourth floors, which are basically just short hallways with a few locked doors each. I didn't know at the time that these floors existed by the way, they're kind of tucked away and not obvious from outside the building. Keep in mind that they only had a phone flashlight and a tennis racket. They got to the third floor and went down the hallway where they could hear a doorknob of one of the rooms rattling and shaking. The friend who had been studying before going on this adventure who is rattled by basically nothing looked at my best friend with wide eyes. My friend reached for the doorknob and as she touched it, the rattling stopped abruptly. And the presence that they both felt throughout the building disappeared like it was just waiting for her to touch it. The door was locked as were all the other doors in the hall, they hightailed it out of there and came back to tell the story. I slept at night with all the lights on. Covered my entire body with my comforter in the fetal position. I wasn't there for the chapel period of the night, but it's still one of the most horrifying stories I've ever heard. It took me weeks before I could even go back there. The best theory I have is that there's some kind of entity, with a capital E, in the chapel because it's the creepiest church I've ever been in
JULIA: Fair. I'm concerned now that maybe the doorknob that they touched and then it stopped and then the presence disappeared entirely is like, cursed out. And now you're cursed because you touched it.
AMANDA: It follows.
JULIA: It follows.
ERIC: It follows.
JULIA: It also kind of feels, like, it follows a little with the, the pants-less man.
AMANDA: Yeah, and it does. And then Kay finishes her email by saying; Finally, for all four years of college I worked at the library and Amanda I'm in library school and will soon be a librarian.
JULIA: Yay.
AMANDA: The library is haunted by the ghost of the woman who's named For and there's a spooky portrait of her in one of the older original rooms.
JULIA: Of course.
AMANDA: The eyes of the portrait will follow you around as you walk around the room and library employees are taught to say goodnight to her before closing the building for the night, or she'll follow you home to your room and mess with your stuff
JULIA: Like actors in haunted theaters.
AMANDA: While shelving, I experienced many instances of seeing someone moving out of the corner of my eye then turning to find no one there. It's the spookiest and best library I've ever worked in.
JULIA: Nice.
AMANDA: Oh, I love that Kay,
JULIA: I'm very happy that you're just starting your librarian career because now you can work in even creepier and perhaps more, more haunted libraries. Like, that-
AMANDA: Totally
JULIA: -would be nice.
AMANDA: Ugh, love it so much. Why don't we go grab a refill?
JULIA: Sounds good.
AMANDA: Let's do it. There is really nothing more luxurious than having those little bits of just luxury, fancy, better than it has to be, in your daily life. Whether it's a nice soap, it's a lovely shoe, it's a handbag that you saved up for or a backpack that, like, fits you perfectly. And my favorite thing to do every single day is get back into bed at night because of my Brooklinen, buttery-soft. Brooklinen, of course, was started to make beautiful high-quality home essentials that don't cost an arm and a leg and it is very successful at it. They did that in fact. They work directly with manufacturers to make luxury available without luxury-level markups. So, you get their amazing array of products whether that's those buttery-soft and breathable sheets, plush and absorbent towels, cozy robes, comfy lounge wear. I am wearing a Brooklinen and lounge t-shirt right now as I generally am. So good.
JULIA: So, you, like Amanda can give yourself the comfort refresh you deserve and get it for less at Brooklinen. So, go to brooklinen.com and use promo code Spirits to get $20 off with a minimum purchase of $100 that's b r o o k l i n e n .com and use promo code Spirits for $20 off with a minimum purchase of $100. That's brooklinen.com promo code Spirits. Amanda, speaking of little things of luxury that we can experience every single day, I have the most comfortable, most cute, like seriously just adorable and works with everything shoes. And I got those shoes, Amanda, from Rothy's. No one has time for uncomfortable shoes and Rothy's understands this and you can start the summer off on the right foot with comfortable best-sellers. Like their flat, their loafers, and their sneakers from Rothy's. With sandals and an array of colors to shoes made for exploring their newest styles have you covered. Plus their spacious washable bags that they now have are perfect for summer getaways. I bring mine to the beach. I love it. It fits everything I need for the beach.
AMANDA: And Rothy's newly launched men's shoes are intentionally designed with an artisanal level of detail and created with nearly zero waste. Rothy's men's shoes are durable, washable, and better for the planet. Plus rigorous testing during R&D results in a perfect fit, wash after wash. Editor Eric just got a pair of loafers that he absolutely loves. They are stylish, we picked up the color together.
JULIA: It was great.
AMANDA: It was super fun and he really loves them for walking his sweet pups or going out to eat. Whatever he's doing.
JULIA: Yeah. So, step up your summer wardrobe with washable, sustainable, stylish shoes, and bags from Rothy's. Head to rothys.com/spirits to find your new warm-weather favorites today. That's r o t h y s .com/spirits.
AMANDA: I am going away soon, Julia which I am so excited about and one thing I know before I leave is that I want to make sure to clean out my fridge. So, when I come home everything is clean and not stinky. I make sure that I wash my sheets. I just like, I make the house nice for me to return to but I know that when I get home, the last thing I'm going to want to do late in the evening on, you know, a Sunday night when I get back is cook for myself. So, that is always when I know I'll be opening up my Doordash app and ordering something delicious from a local business near me. Doordash of course, connects you to restaurants you love right now and right to your door. You can even get grocery essentials like drinks, snacks, and other household items delivered in under an hour. And ordering is very easy. Just open the app, choose what you want from where you want, and the items will be left safely outside your door with contactless delivery drop-off setting. And of course, they've over 300,000 partners in the US, Puerto Rico, Canada, and Australia. So, you can support your neighborhood Go-to's or choose from national chains.
JULIA: And for a limited time, our listeners get 25% off and zero delivery fees on their first order of $15 or more when you download the Doordash App and enter the code creepycool. That's 25% off up to $10 value and zero delivery fees on your first order when you download that Doordash app in the app store and enter the code creepycool. Don't forget that's the code creepycool, all one word for 25% off your first order with Doordash. Subject to change, terms apply.
AMANDA: Now let's get back to the show.
ERIC: Well, we are back, and speaking of college days, here's what I have been drinking lately. It's from Saucy Brew Works over here in Cleveland, Ohio, and it's called white light. And we've been talking a lot about the, these very crushable beers lately.
JULIA: Mmh-hmm.
AMANDA: Mmh-hmm.
ERIC: Me and Amanda in particular. And this one I think might be, I know I said last time the one from Great Lakes very good. This one might beat it out for a couple of reasons. One, once again, completely unique flavor for light beer, this is a lemon-peach beer.
JULIA: Ooh.
AMANDA: Ooh.
ERIC: Unbelievable. Unbelievable tasting. Also, it's like 3%. So, like, it is a drink all day and barely get a buzz type of beer.
AMANDA: Love it.
ERIC: So, just, just some real quality stuff. And also, like, weirdly has like, weirdly in a good way though, has like a hint of like vanilla almost. And I don't know if that, that's like the lemon and peach just combining into this, like, interesting flavor profile. But it's very good, it's very light and it's been ,it's been great to, to try out this summer.
JULIA: Like a little peach pie. That sounds nice.
AMANDA: I got peaches for my CSA. I'm gonna make like a peach crumble later this week. The person handing out the produce was like; They'll be best in four days. And I was like, Okay produce witch. I will absolutely set my, set my wristwatch for four days from now.
JULIA: That is true witchcraft. Like, being able to, like, feel an avocado or feel a peach and be like, it will be perfect in two days. Like, Ooh.
AMANDA: Julia, do you remember that, like, kindly old man on the Today's show, who would tell you all about, like, how to select good melons and stuff. This is not a memory problem. This was definitely a thing where on local news, they would have I think from the Today's show specifically. They would have, like, a nice old grocer who was there and like taught you how to select produce.
JULIA: I was gonna say no and then you mentioned the melons, and then I know exactly what you're talking about.
AMANDA: Yeah, he's like holding a cantaloupe and like, would sniff it and you're like; Oh, yeah. I'll look into it.
JULIA: Yeah. He would be like; if you sniff it at the hole.
AMANDA: Yeah. All right. Well, if anybody else had a local news specialists who taught you life skills-
ERIC: Nope.
AMANDA: I would love to see YouTube videos of that please. Please send them at Spirits podcast.
JULIA: So, I have in my fridge right now. And this is, I'm telling this story, mostly because I want to brag about it, but also it's what I've been drinking lately. I have a 12 pack of the, like, Jaws 1975 Narragansett beers.
AMANDA: Whoa, what's the can like?
JULIA:: It's really cool. It's like kind of like a yellow-checkered and like red stripe situation. Amanda just Googled it and you can see that it's Quint from Jaws holding the can. And the reason I have this 12 pack of beer is not because I'm like super into Narragansett. It's because I came in first place in a Jaws trivia.
AMANDA: Oh, hell yeah, dude.
JULIA: I was very, very proud of myself.
AMANDA: What a good prize.
JULIA: Yeah, it was that and they gave us like a Narragansett like pool float and t-shirts. And now I have a sign, that is a picture of Quint from Jaws that says "Honor the man. Crush the can.
AMANDA: Oh my god.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: Very nice.
JULIA: It's, it's very cool. I'm very happy with that and so I've just been crushing those Narragansetts to honor the man and crush the can.
AMANDA: I love that.
ERIC: I've, I've been to where they filmed Jaws, and people love jumping off that bridge.
AMANDA: Yeah.
ERIC: They all do it together. It's, it's a big, it's a big event.
JULIA: It's Martha's Vineyard.
ERIC: It sure is.
JULIA: Like, if you've ever been in Martha's Vineyard, go on that Jaws tour.
ERIC: I biked over the bridge while people were jumping off of it.
JULIA: Very cool.
ERIC: Which felt like, kind of like a personal attack honestly.
AMANDA: Yeah, yeah.
ERIC: Got to get away.
AMANDA: And after this, our first in-person recording for a year and change, Julia and I are going to go to Talea, Woman-Owned Brewery here in Brooklyn, New York. And I am obviously a read the menu in advance type person.
JULIA: Of course.
AMANDA: And I determined that my first beer is going to be a Paloma Pale Ale.
ERIC: Ooh.
AMANDA: Which is inspired by mezcal palomas, smoky-pink citrus summer campfire vibes, and it's brewed with smoked-malt grapefruit, lime and hibiscus.
JULIA: Wow, that sounds good.
AMANDA: Guys, this beer is so good. I can't wait.
JULIA: I'm also looking at the menu right now. I think I'm going to do the hubba-hubba splash which is a Sour Ale spritzy spicy and with a hint of salt and brewed with habanero, tamarind, mango and salt.
AMANDA: Mmh-hmm.
JULIA: That sounds up my alley.
AMANDA: Delish. Well, we still have a few urban legends that we get to revel in before we can go have our afternoon beers. Eric, what did you bring to the party today?
ERIC: Here's what I brought. I brought some furniture.
AMANDA: Ooh.
JULIA: Oh?
ERIC: Because this is a story called; My Ex Gifted Me a Ghost.
JULIA: Uh-oh. Is that the worst thing an ex can gift you? There are definitely worse things-
AMANDA: No, no no.
ERIC: -but I think they're up there.
AMANDA: Yeah, I think like-
ERIC: Yeah, chlamydia.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: No, I, I think like a, like-
JULIA: That's what I was thinking.
AMANDA: -issues. Like personal issues or like beliefs about yourself that take, like, several decades to unpack like that would kind of be the worst?
JULIA: Yeah, yeah, that's true.
ERIC: That's all, that's also a ghost in a, in a sense.
JULIA: Is that a gift, though?
AMANDA: I mean, they did, they did give it to you before they go and, but I mean, Eric, you're right, that, that is a ghost, that is a ghost of sorts. Why don't we call therapy exorcism? I mean, that would be great. Be like, Hey, why don't you understand and make peace with your ghost and then understand how to, you know, manage it and live with it and maybe use it to your advantage or let it go?
JULIA: What if we put more ghosts through therapy and then we wouldn't have to do the violent exorcism.
AMANDA: So true. So true.
ERIC: Well, this comes to us from Alexis, and she writes; Hey, Spirits. My name is Alexis, and I have been listening to your podcast for about a year and love the urban legends episodes, which made me realize that I have a creepy story of my own. When I was 16, my boyfriend at the time gifted me an old dresser that he had refinished for my birthday. I see. I see Julia's thought process. We'll get to that in a second. I put the dresser in the quarter of my room and used it as a place to do my hair and makeup. Julia?
JULIA: So, I am a person who enjoys garbage-picking furniture, right?
ERIC: Yeah.
JULIA: And I like the idea of someone gifting me furniture but I'm also almost 30.
AMANDA: Yeah.
ERIC: Yeah.
JULIA: Now as a 16-year-old, I don't think I would have been like; Ooh, a dresser, thank you boyfriend.
AMANDA: See, I'm not sure I could see it being a very thoughtful and nice gift of every day. You're like, Oh, my dresser. I hate it. Blahblahblah, but very particular. Like I'm a person who cares a lot about my house and my furniture, a lot of opinions about that kind of stuff. I, I like selecting it. So, to me, it's kind of like if someone gives you a monogrammed, like, bag or something? You're like; Well, I'm gonna have this until I die now because I can never give it away and whether or not I like it, it's mine now. And that's how it would feel I think to receive furniture.
JULIA: Amanda, I did give you a monogrammed bag. A cooler bag for your, your [32:30].
AMANDA: I use it every weekend. It's great. You know me.
JULIA: Just make it sure.
AMANDA: No, you know me. Also, Julia, even if I didn't like it, I would keep it until I die.
JULIA: Okay, I know. I know that much. I just wanted to not have you keep it for obligation.
AMANDA: No, it's perfect. I use it all the time.
ERIC: I just like the idea of like, Ah, this is where my mind went. Is that like, obviously like, some people are very handy and stuff but like just the idea of like a teenager, like, gifting furniture is just like, very, very interesting gifting choice undeniably. But yes, I think it was probably like she was saying like, I can use something and they found it. Somehow it all worked out.
JULIA: That's also a really difficult gift to get rid of, you know?
AMANDA: Yeah, yeah.
JULIA: Like, after the breakup, well, now I have this piece of furniture that is always going to remind me of this person. And it's not cheap to get rid of and get a new one.
ERIC: I mean, luckily they're 16. So, hopefully, like, their parents can handle replacing a dresser if need be.
JULIA: Well, yeah, but I can just picture my parents being like, it's a perfectly good dresser, you'll get over it.
AMANDA: I don't want to come down too harsh on this, on this boyfriend though. I, I think it's a very cool and handy thing. He might just be kind of like 10 years ahead of himself-
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: -in terms of thoughtful gifts to give someone when you've been dating for like, I don't know, at least two years.
JULIA: You know what, you say that and now I can picture Jake giving me a dresser at 16.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: So like, you're not wrong.
ERIC: Yeah, I mean, that makes total sense. Shortly after I put it in my room, my dog would randomly wake up from sleeping on my bed and start growling with the hair on her back standing up staring at that specific corner of the room. I would try to calm her down, but nothing would stop her when she got into those fits. And again, every time this happened, she would be staring at the corner with the dresser. I had my dog for seven years at that point. She had never acted like that before, but it was becoming a recurring thing in my bedroom. Specifically, when I was home alone. Other weird things would happen. I once was sitting on my bed and saw my hairbrush fall or as I believe was pushed off the dresser with little possibility of it just accidentally falling due to poor placement. Especially since I had not touched it all day. It's not the only time I've noticed things on my desk either moved from a different place on the dresser or on the floor. But it was the first time I had witnessed something moving seemingly on its own.
JULIA: I'm going to take a wild stab and say boyfriend garbage-picked, boyfriend finished it but didn't clean out the interior. There's a raccoon in there.
AMANDA: Oh, Julia.
ERIC: Oh, a raccoon. You think there's a secret raccoon in the dresser.
AMANDA: I mean, or more horrifyingly, bugs.
JULIA: Yeah, something that would upset the dog. Like, the smell of a raccoon.
ERIC: Yeah.
JULIA: Or like scratching or something like that. And then like the raccoon is getting comfortable in their, shakes the thing and now the, the hairbrush falls off.
AMANDA: Or at first the baby raccoon, you don't notice.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: Because they're living just like behind a drawer or something. Raccoon grows, as does the problem.
ERIC: Look, I never want to just dismiss out of hand one of the ideas. But a raccoon living in a dresser for multiple weeks and no one knows is like. Look-
JULIA: Play with me.
AMANDA: Play with me.
ERIC: -I will accept a lot of supernatural stuff on the show that I find very implausible. I refuse to accept the natural solution that the raccoon was living in this poor girl's dresser.
JULIA: Fine. It's a raccoon ghost. Are you happy now?
ERIC: I'm pleased. I'm very-, I can believe that. I believe that more than I can believe in a living flesh and blood raccoon.
AMANDA: We believe termites. We believe a full human-sized spirit. Anything in between. Don't at me.
ERIC: Exactly. But probably, the freakiest thing that happened was one early morning when I was asleep in my bed. I heard a voice clearly whisper into my right ear to wake up about 30 seconds before my alarm for work went off.
JULIA: Talking raccoon.
ERIC: It felt so real that first I thought it may be my mom. So, I was pretty terrified once I opened my eyes to see that my room was pitch dark and no one had been in my room or was even awake yet. The whisper felt real. Like, someone leaned over the side of my bed to talk to me. This was thankfully the only time that ghosts ever talked to me. I think it could tell that I did not enjoy it. Overall, I don't think that this was a mean ghost. Perhaps just a little bit clumsy and I never felt like there were any experiences that were malevolent, and I just like to imagine the ghost was a nice old man or woman trying to hang out with me. I did end up getting rid of the dresser right before I moved and have not had any issues since. Safe to say I think my ex ended up being more of a problem than the actual ghost. He gifted me that lived in my room for two years. Although, I got off pretty easy as far as haunting goes. I hope that it will be my last. Needless to say, I no longer enjoy thrifting furniture and I think I will stick to IKEA. I hope you enjoyed my story about my birthday ghost and thank you for reading. Stay creepy.
JULIA: Love it.
AMANDA: I love it.
JULIA: I don't think I would give any of you a ghost for your birthdays knowingly, at least. Mostly because your house is already haunted Eric and Amanda I just wouldn't do that to you because I know other Eric scares a little easily.
AMANDA: I would for you. I think you and Jake would both find it very entertaining
JULIA: As long as it's the good ghosts.
AMANDA: Yeah, yeah.
JULIA: I mean, Jake could be like, All right. Well, I have another story that I actually picked specifically for Amanda because I saw that title and I was like, damn Amanda is going to really like this. And it is ghost trains, spooky stations, and random Swedish context. Probably Eric, safe? Question mark.
AMANDA: Oh, fuck yeah, dude.
ERIC: Oh, probably.
JULIA: So, this comes from Heven, and Heven writes; Hello Amanda, Julia, and Eric. My name is Heven and I am a 20 year old listener from Stockholm, Sweden. I've been listening to you guys for years and really enjoy your work. Thank you. We enjoy your emails. Since my family is Ethiopian orthodox but I was born in atheist as Sweden, I fell somewhere in the middle of the ghost belief spectrum. I am a skeptic when it comes to ghosts and spirits but I still get freaked out by dark hallways after listening to or watching spooky things, LOL. Anyways, I have a kind of creepy, kind of cool story to share with you from here. It's about a ghost train that roams in the subway stations of the northern part of Stockholm.
AMANDA: Oh, fuck yeah, dude.
JULIA: I picked this one specifically because it reminded me of the other, like liminal space train story that we had and I was-
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: -like, Oh boy, trains. The Swedish subway station is kind of well organized and easy to use, since it's only divided into three lines. The red line, the green line, and the blue line in which this urban legend takes place, in the blue line. Usually it takes about one to two minutes to travel between stations with the trains but on the blue line towards Akalla there are two stations called Kista and Hallonbergen where the distance is a little longer, about three to four minutes. Now, if you look through the windows at some point during those three to four minutes, you will notice an empty skeleton of a subway station. I'm glad it's of a subway station at the end.
AMANDA: My favorites.
JULIA: I live only one station from Kista which is why I noticed this quite a lot on my way to and from school. At some point during middle school, my friend explained to me why it existed. I love a good middle school friend telling me an urban legend.
AMANDA: This is everything, this is in of a structure, this is trains, this is liminal spaces. Heven, I love you.
JULIA: Apparently, it is an old abandoned station called Kymlinge. It is basically an unfinished station that was supposed to be there when the subway tracks were first built in the 1970s. They were planning on building office buildings in residential areas close by but it all got cancelled and they turned it into a protected land instead.
AMANDA: Wow.
JULIA: It has the platforms, walls, ceilings, and the designated space for escalators but nothing more than that.
AMANDA: I guys have to go to Sweden. I'm sorry. As soon as it's safe to travel, I mean, I'm just, I'm out of here.
JULIA: Cool. Other than being creepy, empty, and a waste of funds, this station just happened to be haunted by a ghost train called the Silverpilen or the Silver Arrow translated to English. The subways in Stockholm run more or less 24/5 during weekdays, and on weekends they stop running between 1 AM and 4 AM. It is said that if you stand at the station of Kista or Hallonbergen during these hours when it is empty, you might come across an old silver train that passes through at a very high speed, which is weird since one, most trains in Stockholm are painted blue and two, they travel slowly when passing through stations since most of the trains are not protected and it's very easy for passengers to access from the platforms.
AMANDA: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
JULIA: Some say that the Silver Arrow might stop to pick up passengers every now and then. And if you're not cautious and happen to enter it, you might be up for a hell of a creepy time. Once in the train car you will start to notice few people are also travelling with it, they might seem very pale and quiet, which honestly isn't a big deal in introverted Stockholm during the dark winter months. So, you probably won't give it much thought. But instead of proceeding to the next station, like the trains normally do. It will stop in Kymlinge. You will see all of the passengers slowly and silently walking out of the train and onto the station where they will walk away and disappear. Now, if you find yourself in this station, you're more or less fucked since you're stuck on a haunted train that shouldn't exist in a haunted abandoned subway station out in the middle of nowhere. The people who get on the Silver Arrow are said to disappear for weeks, months, or even forever in some stories. The saying goes; Only the dead get off in Kymlinge and then Ooh, scary noises. Now, like most urban legends, this is probably not true. I spent the first 15 years of my life traveling that route and never saw anything. If you search Kymlinge or Silverpilen on Wikipedia, you get to know that the station just wasn't built since it's in the middle of greenery, and they didn't want to disturb the nature, and the train is only a trial unit and one of the first trains produced and is used to run as a backup during rush hour.
AMANDA: Oh.
JULIA: So, no ghost trains or haunted stations here. Still kind of cool though. Anyways, love you guys.
AMANDA: Oh my god, Heven I enjoyed the fuck out of that, and I especially love that it sort of like doesn't break above ground. But I do love also the image of like deer and squirrels and chipmunks like hanging out and making the station their own.
JULIA: I think it's particularly scary that they say that they sometimes use the Silver Arrow as, like, a backup during rush hour.
AMANDA: Yeah. That's just enough for an urban legend.
JULIA: Yeah, like you're seeing it active every once in a while, that would be like, Oh, you got to feed that urban legend. It's, it's happening now.
AMANDA: I love this. If anybody has fan-art illustrations, artistic adaptations of this myth, I am obsessed with it and I would love to see it.
ERIC: I think that's, that's a really key thing for something that's an urban legend is like the occasional-
AMANDA: Just enough.
ERIC: -sighting. Like, that's kind of obvious, something like Bigfoot or whatnot. But like, I do love that kind of thing, where it's like, Oh, yeah, I know someone who saw it.
AMANDA: Yeah.
ERIC: But like you barely have ever heard of a first-hand account of seeing it. I think that really kind of mythologized it really nicely.
AMANDA: Yeah, I think that's the thing human brains are best at, is like coming up with backstory, pattern, and significance for a thing that is true and does exist. And it's just the, the context and the meaning of it that we are so good at adding.
ERIC: It's like when you know, there's like some NPCs in your life, some regular occurring NPCs.
AMANDA: Yeah.
ERIC: Like, there's one guy that I think I have seen at every concert I've ever been to in Cleveland. And I just kind of assumed he must be like a music reporter or something.
AMANDA: Yeah.
ERIC: But like, every concert I bet you I've seen this guy at like 100%-
AMANDA: Concert ghost.
ERIC: -of the time nearly. And like there's also those other people you're like, I see that person a lot but I have never interacted with them, and I have no reason I will ever interact with them. It's I, a kind of like, those kind of like, people that are like off there kind of doing their thing and you're the exact same thing for them. Maybe.
AMANDA: Yeah, I love that so much. Well, I had another story picked out but I'm gonna save that for our Patreon only bonus episode because I just want to ride this feeling off to the next station.
JULIA: Just ride it down. Ride it downtown. All the way downtown.
ERIC: All the way downtown.
AMANDA: Thank you, Heven. Thank you, Eric. Thank you, infrastructure.
ERIC: Thank you, infrastructure.
AMANDA: That's all I got.
JULIA: Thanks, infrastructure.
ERIC: We'd be nothing without you.
JULIA: Yeah, infrastructure's always remembering to stay creepy.
AMANDA: Stay cool.
Transcriptionist: JM Sarong
Editor: Krizia Casil