Episode 260: Your Urban Legends LVII - The Mold Finds a Way
/We’re delivering your urban legends; hot, fresh, and straight from a creepy basement. Or perhaps you’d like a creepy attic door that refuses to close. It’s a real buffet of creepiness, served up for you.
Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of dead animals, medical horror, human remains, insects, swarms, drug use, earthquakes, and mental health struggles.
Housekeeping
- MERCH! Get the Mothman Crewneck at spiritspodcast.com/merch!
- Recommendation: This week, Amanda recommends Dogs on the Trail and Blair Braverman’s Twitter account.
- Books: Check out our previous book recommendations, guests’ books, and more at spiritspodcast.com/books
- Call to Action: Check out Multitude’s newest member show, Queer Movie Podcast! This is a queer movie watch party hosted by Rowan Ellis and Jazza John. Join them as they research and rate their way through the queer film canon, one genre at a time. Search for Queer Movie Podcast in your podcast app to subscribe today!
Sponsors
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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 phoning it in for both of us for this post-holiday week. There's a little peek behind the scenes here at Spirits. We record the intros to our episodes about a week in advance, that way everybody can, you know, take time off if they need to, and still get the episode out on time. So, we are hello, hi, from the past recording this episode and we will catch you up on all of our new patrons and thank our Producer-level patrons and all of that when we return next week. But in the meantime, this episode drops during Hanukkah. So, first of all, Happy Hanukkah to everybody who celebrates out there.
And secondly, I have a very timely recommendation for you, which is the Twitter feed of Blair Braverman, who you may know as being one of the just, like, purest sweetest Twitter feeds on the internet of her adorable dogs that she has with her husband Quince Mountain. They are Jewish. They are sled dog raisers and mushers and they run races with their dogs and they just co-wrote a book that is absolutely gorgeous called Dogs on the Trail. And you can order that now, you can get a signed copy. Some of them come with postcards, it's absolutely beautiful. And trust me, there's years’ worth of content for you to go back and enjoy. Tag yourself. I think my favorite dog is Flame but that recommendation and more are in our episode description to both celebrate Hanukkah with some excellent Jewish dog content and, of course, to buy that wonderful book for you, a dog, a gift, a loved one, you know, anybody that will enjoy it.
There is also more to enjoy from Multitude. We have a new member show. That's right. Sounding the alarm. Eric, please play some kind of just some kind of little -- little sprinkle -- a little twinkle -- a little firework here. Whatever you got at hand because we have a new member show. This doesn't happen every day. In fact, it happens a couple times a year usually if that. And this year, today 2021, I'm so excited. We have Queer Movie Podcast joining the collective. This is a podcast hosted by Rowan Ellis, who you may know from YouTube and Jazza John, also of YouTube fame. And they are basically researching and rating their way through the Queer Film canon one genre at a time. That's everything from romcoms, to slashers, to arthouse cinema, to black and white classics. It's a celebration of all things LGBTQ+ on the silver screen. It is so exciting for us to have them as part of the collective. And trust me, if you like Spirits, you're going to love Queer Movie Podcast. Their first episode of the new iteration of the show came out last week on US thanksgiving, and they're going to be coming out every two weeks from here on in. Every other Thursday. So, search in your podcast player for Queer Movie Podcast and subscribe today.
All right folks, that's all for us. We hope you're having a good week -- a good Wednesday. And we will see you very soon, but until then enjoy Spirits Podcast Episode: 260 Your Urban Legends LVII.
ERIC: I have just to... just to get us off eating well right at the start of this episode; a lovely amuse-bouche, that is also a follow up email so, like, everything we could possibly want. So, are you all ready?
JULIA: I'm ready for it.
AMANDA: My favorite way to start a meal.
JULIA: With an amuse-bouche. I just like saying amuse-bouche.
ERIC: Amuse-bouche!
AMANDA: It amuses the bouche even as you say it.
ERIC: This comes to us from Moya. A different one than our... our lovely --
JULIA: Not our Moiya.
ERIC: -- advice giving Moiya. Spelled differently, and it's just titled: "Pickle Man."
AMANDA: Oh!
ERIC: Yes, yes, this will hearken back to Urban Legends 54 from a few weeks or months ago, which we discussed the Pickled Man.
JULIA: Mhmm.
ERIC: So, I'll just... I'll just jump right into it. "I love the podcast and hearing you all talk about creepy and cool stories, and learning so much about mythology from around the world. I am writing in because I just listened to Urban Legends episode 54 with the Pickle Man," which was read by Amanda, "and I also have a Pickle Man story." Now, Pickle Man, I have the... I have the transcript up on spiritspodcast.com and it's... it's pretty much a fake legend that someone's grandmother came up with. And the Pickle Man just got up to all things and that... that is pretty much the Pickle Man. Go listen to that episode if you want more details. "I don't remember much because this happened when I was 5 years old, maybe younger. My grandma loves to remind me of the time I was visiting my grandparents’ house and I started talking in my sleep (so I guess maybe I was also a creepy kid)."
JULIA: Of course.
ERIC: In the dead of night, I started shouting: "The pickle is gonna get me!
AMANDA: Oh no!
ERIC: The pickle is gonna get me! I have no idea why I was so concerned about a pickle coming to get me, but the Urban Legends episode reminded me of this incident, and I thought you all might enjoy it as well.
JULIA: I love that not only did someone's fake folklore, basically, emerged into your brain as a 5-year-old. I just can't comprehend why it's pickles. What's wrong with the pickles? Why do these little kids don't like pickles? Why?
ERIC: Truly no idea. I love that it is just, like, just yelling a pickle is gonna get you. Like, what could be funnier to your grandparent than hearing their grandchild is yelling that a pickle is gonna get them.
JULIA: I feel like it's funny but at the same time like, how distressed is that child?
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: As they're shouting it out. Like, if it's, like, kind of funny like, "No! The Pickle Man! The Pickle Man!" over it's like, "The Pickle Man!" that's a difference. Big difference.
AMANDA: I mean, there are some anthropomorphic pickle marketing creations, right? Like Mr. Peanut but pickle.
JULIA: But pickle. Yeah.
AMANDA: And pickles are kind of distressingly, like worm or snake-shaped if you think about it. Like, I could see a kid sort of conflating those two things, like, if they're scared of snakes and then it might kind of represent something in their brains. I don't know man. I actually have an... I know that I took over all of last month's Urban Legend but I have something that does have to do with pickling. It is also a follow up and it's also to do with a listener job, so I wonder if I could step in here and... and cut into this dance and perhaps start us off with this email from Emma titled: "Cellar filled with animals in jars."
JULIA: Ooh, fun! Love it.
AMANDA: "I just finished listening to "the spookiest story you have ever told" and I thought it was so good! It made me want to tell you about my own work stories. It is not nearly as spooky as the mushroom farm, but I think it will be right up your alley."
ERIC: I just want to say excellent branding by us designating that as the spookiest story you have ever told".
JULIA: Truly.
ERIC: So, now when people reference it's like oh, that is it, that's not an opinion. We now have it set in stone. This one is the actual spookiest.
JULIA: And now, it's up to our listeners to try to beat it. Try to --
AMANDA: That's true.
JULIA: -- usurp the throne.
AMANDA: Quite true. "As a little bit of background, I am working part time at the local natural history museum while doing my masters in biology." That's awesome.
JULIA: Also, honestly, the dream. That's what I wanted to do when I was right out of high school. It's like, "I just want to work at a, like, cool museum where they have stuff."
ERIC: As long as there is cool stuff, I'm in.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: Yeah. We just did on Head Heart Gut; best kind of museum. And at the end of the day, we were all like, "All museums are good man."
JULIA: That's true!
AMANDA: That's at the end of the day. There was a winner, but also, they're all good.
JULIA: We all win when there's museums and public history.
AMANDA: So, so true. Well, Emma says, "I am not in the museum proper, but rather working with the collections behind the scenes. The work I am doing, tbh not very exciting. I mainly register the information about the collection into our database, and so I mostly sit in an office in front of a computer. I mainly work with small invertebrates. I actually started listening to your podcast right when I got this job about two years ago. Since I work with a boring excel sheet, listening to podcasts is a good way to make my work more enjoyable. But sometimes I have to go down into the wet collections, either to get unregistered items or to refill alcohol in the already registered objects. The wet collection is basically animals in jars filled with 85% ethanol. The wet collection is in the cellar, and it is just as creepy as you might imagine.
JULIA: Just with the name Wet Collection.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: It does really evoke that imagery.
AMANDA: I opened this email figuring it's probably going to be a winner, but when I got to the phrase "Wet Collection" I said, "Uh-huh, nope, this one's going in the show."
JULIA: There it is.
AMANDA: The building is quite old, probably from the 1700s. As it's been renovated several times, it isn't very noticeable unless you go down into the basement, just how old it is. And believe it or not, it was actually a brewery in the beginning, and so the cellar is large and has a domed roof.
JULIA: It's so cool.
AMANDA: It also doubles as a bunker since it's at least 10-meters below ground and dug into the bedrock.
JULIA: Yes!
AMANDA: This is truly hitting every aspect of the Spirits bingo card.
JULIA: Mhmm. Mhmm.
AMANDA: There are two ways to get into the cellar. The way I take is a set of stone stairs spiralling down to a locked fire-door.
JULIA: Classic.
AMANDA: If you decide to go down there after hours or during the weekends an alarm will go off and security will escort you out.
JULIA: That's someone who has spoken from experience.
AMANDA: Yeah. Emma, you're also correctly guessing that I'm already trying to, like, calculate what state your... your place might be in because I desperately want to visit.
JULIA: Well, if they're doing it in Celsius, I'm assuming maybe they're British?
AMANDA: It's probably... it's probably not in the US.
JULIA: Yeah, especially if they're like, "The building was built in the 1700s." And like, we weren't doing that back then. Not really.
AMANDA: Yeah. The other way to get down there is used only for the collection material. It's an extremely old elevator that has a tendency to get stuck. My boss told me never to take it unless I have my phone with me and have seen that it works that day already, but I tend to use it only for the material and not myself for this reason.
JULIA: Smart.
ERIC: This brings up a lot of questions.
JULIA: Okay.
ERIC: Well, I guess it brings up one question. You have to confirm that the elevator is already working, which means someone has to [9:14] in the coal mine this elevator every day.
AMANDA: That's correct.
JULIA: No, because she was saying, like, she sometimes only sends down the collections and not herself., so if she sends it down and then it's not there when she gets downstairs herself then that means it is broken.
AMANDA: Oh, I didn't even picture that. I thought Emma meant that she only takes it when she has to, like, take something down but Julia, just putting the stuff in there is... is totally smart because then --
ERIC: Yeah.
AMANDA: -- if it's stuck, okay, you know, like, someone can figure it out later.
JULIA: You can call a guy to fix it and it's not you that's stuck in the elevator. Also, she said "elevator" so I'm taking it back. Probably not British.
AMANDA: Who can say? Well, we'll ask Emma for some more details if she's comfortable sharing because I --
JULIA: Great.
AMANDA: -- desperately want to visit this place.
JULIA: Yeah, me too.
AMANDA: My boss also told me to always bring my phone down to the cellar every single time I go and never to stay there past office hours. Since if I for some reason do get stuck if the door jams or something else, nobody would hear my screams for help that far down.
JULIA: Well, if it's past hours could she not use the fire-door to emergency exit, allow people to know that she's down there, maybe?
AMANDA: Well Julia, the phone reception is really bad down there but in some places, you can get reception. And there is an emergency exit but I've thankfully never had to use it. It's a small chute with a ladder going up and looks like a manhole.
JULIA: Oh, fuck yes.
AMANDA: The opening apparently is somewhere on the street, but I don't know if anyone's used it in the last 50 years.
JULIA: Apparently? They paved over that! Someone paved over it. It doesn't work.
AMANDA: Yep. So, what does this cellar look like you might be wondering? When you get down, the automatic lights flicker on, and you see a large, bricked and domed corridor. I'm getting real [10:46] vibes.
JULIA: Mhmm.
AMANDA: On one side are several heavy doors leading into large rooms filled with shelves. The shelves are of course filled with jars that are in turn filled with preserved animal specimens. There are three rooms in total. One has mostly fish, with marine invertebrates as well, such as giant squid. And then there's a Latin name. Not going to try it.
ERIC: Squidius Maximus.
AMANDA: In what looks like a large freezer box. It's Architeuthis dux.
JULIA: Sure.
ERIC: I -- that was my favorite character in the Artemis Fowl books.
AMANDA: The second room has mainly small mammals and reptiles with some birds as well. And in the back are some whale fetuses.
JULIA: Ooh.
AMANDA: The third might not seem as quite as exciting. It contains mainly freshwater invertebrates. Here there are usually smaller jars inside of the larger ones. Some of the material down there is from the age of Linneus, around the 1800s.The older jars are not filled with ethanol, but with formaldehyde. The walls of the cellar are mainly dry, with some damp spots that might have black mold, or sometimes even stalactites that has started growing.
JULIA: Hold on, in a building?
AMANDA: In a building.
JULIA: Wow.
AMANDA: Because I mean, it's like, it's in the bedrock, right? It's basically a cave.
JULIA: Right. It is stone.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: That's wild, though, that -- they have serious water problems if stalactites are forming. That's bad.
AMANDA: Yeah, I'm gonna ask Emma for some photos. If we're able to share any, they'll be on the Instagram. I don't want to also get her in trouble at work, but like, damn, I want to know about this place.
JULIA: Yes, please.
AMANDA: While working with the freshwater invertebrate collection, I found some jars were infested with mold, which I found weird since we preserve the animals with at least 85% ethanol -- and it prevents mold from growing. I didn't think anything could grow in that environment, but apparently the mold found a way. I have not experienced a lot of creepy stuff while down in the cellar, I must say. I'm unusually comfortable with dark and creepy places. I'll even listen to Urban Legends episodes down there.
JULIA: Damn it!
AMANDA: If it weren't for the mold, and the damp, I'll be completely comfortable working down there all day. But I will tell you a few jump-scary things I have experienced.
JULIA: Please.
ERIC: All right, here we go.
AMANDA: Once when I came down, there was a crate filled with old human skulls in it right next to the door. I don't know why they were there.
JULIA: Someone put those there!
ERIC: Both metaphorically and physically, don't want to unpack that.
AMANDA: I don't know why they were put there, but I looked closer and saw they were replicas probably from the actual museum.
JULIA: Okay.
ERIC: I'm... I'm good. I'm good then.
AMANDA: They were partially wrapped in old newspapers, some of which I looked were from the Second World War. A week or so later, the crate of skulls was gone.
JULIA: What the fuck? Who took it? I know they're not real skulls, so it's not as concerning.
AMANDA: Right.
JULIA: But who was... who was just, like, hanging out with a crate of skulls from --
AMANDA: I don't know.
JULIA: -- World War Two just around.
AMANDA: I don’t know. Maybe it showed up in somebody else's museum jobs basement.
JULIA: Maybe. Maybe.
AMANDA: Another time I was down in the freshwater invertebrate room filling jars with ethanol when I got spooked by an older gentleman coming in through a door I had never noticed before at the back of the room.
JULIA: No!
ERIC: This was going to be something I was going to talk about. I feel like this is actually Prohibition Era level tunnel that they are using to smuggle spooky, spooky things in and out of --
JULIA: That's possible.
ERIC: -- because it's got those vibes.
JULIA: That's possible.
AMANDA: It has a real liminal space vibe. Like, maybe all Earth's doors actually open up into the basement of this museum. Have we thought about it?
JULIA: That's... I mean, they have tried to trace all the Earth's doors and a lot of them are in Europe. I don't know.
AMANDA: Well, if this is in Central Europe, maybe so.
JULIA: This could be. Could be. It could be like France or something. We don't know.
AMANDA: Well, this gentleman was equally as spooked as I was not realizing I was down there. He'd come from the neighboring room, but I don't think I ever saw him again. TBH, he was probably an emeritus that was back to take a look at his collected material. He looked to be flesh and blood, so probably not a ghost, but I never saw him again.
JULIA: So, there was a door, like a side door that connected the two rooms as opposed to having to go out into the hallway.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: And then go into the next room. Okay, right.
AMANDA: And if he was, like, a previous employee or collector or do -- or donor like that, that's Emma's guess. But she didn't -- she never saw him again.
ERIC: It was a donor.
AMANDA: Oh, no.
JULIA: I think the important question for Emma there is: "Have you seen that door since?"
AMANDA: Yeah, that's... that's a real... that's a really good question.
ERIC: That's key.
AMANDA: The final scare I've gotten down there is when I've been in the room for long periods of time, like, between 2 and 4 hours, and the automatic lights turned off.
JULIA: Classic.
AMANDA: I keep the door to the corridor open so there is a smaller chance of me getting stuck down there, because I don't want the door to get jammed shut and close me in with the ethanol fumes. Very smart. Sometimes I would get spooked by the automatic lights turning back on in the corridor. Most of the time I would think nothing of it, but sometimes I do look out into the corridor to see if anybody had come down. And I've almost never seen another person. So, what turns the lights on? I couldn't really say. I hope you enjoyed my tales from the crypt! Best wishes from Future Creepy Ghost: Emma.
JULIA: I feel like it's probably, like, mice or rats. Let's be honest here because this... this is... this is not, like, a sterile facility really. We're having stalactites in the corner. There's --
AMANDA: I know!
JULIA: -- dripping happening. There's mold happening. It's probably, like, rats.
AMANDA: Maybe. But like, what would they -- they're not gonna eat anything. Like, it's just jars of ethanol, you know?
ERIC: But they could, like, just be hanging out there.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: I think so.
ERIC: A little... a little rat party.
JULIA: Little rat party.
AMANDA: Well, gotta say, I have a million questions, enjoyed the hell out of that. It's a Spirits job. It's a follow up. It's a creepy urban legend. Couldn't enjoy it more.
JULIA: Love that for us. Truly. I would love to go next. Would you guys like more of a folklore-y one or would you guys like the spooky-spooky one?
ERIC: Now, is the folklore-y one about Hugh Laurie.
JULIA: No, it's not.
ERIC: Okay, then the other one.
JULIA: The other one? The spooky-spooky one?
ERIC: Yeah.
JULIA: All right.
AMANDA: Julia, we're in the sub-basement with the stalactites. Like, I gotta have it.
JULIA: Might as well stay there. Well, I have an email from Hannah titled: "Little girl, ladybugs, and attics."
ERIC: Okay. Not, like, inherently spooky because of the ladybugs part but the other things I'm... I'm concerned with.
AMANDA: I will say ladybugs will often land on my arms thinking that my tattoos are real flowers which is adorable. It does make me feel like a fae and is kind of spooky, so I'm in the right mindset. I'm... I'm ready to hear this one.
JULIA: Also, it's supposed to be good luck. Ladybug --
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: -- landing on you. It's supposed to be good luck.
AMANDA: It is fairly frequent, such that I'll look down and be like, "Ah yes, a ladybug." Like, I -- it's -- just makes me feel like I'm covered in sugar syrup or something. I... I don't know.
JULIA: I love it for you and a true testament to how good your tattoo artist is. So, Hannah writes, "Hello Spirits! My name is Hannah and I have been an active listener since 2019 and I have always wanted to write in but I have so many creepy-cool stories it’s hard to pin down which one to tell. I figured I would just tell the story of the time when I was being haunted by a little girl. To start, as an adult now I identify as a Spiritual empath and my friend who is a medium says I need to get into light work but that’s a whole new project. So, when I was younger, like 7 or 8 years old. My mother got married to my stepdad and they bought their first house. I was so thrilled because this meant the constant moving every two to three years would stop and we could create a home that was all ours. The house was set up really strangely. There was only one room on the main floor of the house and the attic was converted into two bedrooms. The room downstairs was definitely the smallest so I chose one of the rooms upstairs. My 7-year-old brain thought that this was the best because there was a little door that when you crawled through it opened up to a normal height but very narrow room.
ERIC: Okay. Okay.
AMANDA: Okay, okay.
JULIA: I thought it was so cool. My stepdad even attempted to put my bed in there to create a little bed dome -- which is very funny -- but not even a twin-sized bed would fit in it. I ended up keeping my out-of-season clothes and other old toys in there.
AMANDA: So, if we could call the sack for a minute. Let's, like, pull off the main road into this little cul-de-sac closet corner. Schneider, you have just completed an adorable home project turning an extraordinarily shallow closet into, instead, like, built-in bookshelf basically.
ERIC: Yes.
AMANDA: The fuck would you do with an extremely long narrow closet?
ERIC: I don't know. I mean, like, narrow... So, it's narrower than a twin bed. So... so quite narrow. I don't know what you would do with that. I mean, I feel like even, like, close storage would be tricky because you could only really put, like, a shelf on one wall because you're really.
AMANDA: Yeah.
ERIC: And I mean, I would just put boxes I'm never going to need towards the back and slowly fill it up with boxes that are more and more urgently possibly needed.
JULIA: I just had a brain blast of a story that I have to share with you guys.
ERIC: Brain blast! I saw you have it and it was intense.
JULIA: This story reminds me of this thing. And so, I'm just gonna, very quickly tell it. My husband and I are currently looking for homes. And so, we've been going and visiting a lot of empty homes and we went to one recently where it was very spacious. There was a lot of space upstairs but, like, the whole front half of the house was basically, like, crawl space. Including a closet that wasn't a closet off of the bathroom. And I stepped into this closet. I was like, "Oh, this seems kind of deep," and I stepped, like, two steps into it and it, like, opened up into this big area. I was like, "Huh," and there was a dresser there in that area and, like, a bunch of matches on the floor. And I was like.
AMANDA: No.
JULIA: Huh. And there was this little tin box sitting on the dresser. It was, like, kind of rusted over. I was like, "Huh", and so naturally.
AMANDA: Julia, don't open the fairy box. Julia, you do this for a living.
JULIA: Naturally, I opened the box.
ERIC: See, Amanda's taking a different thing and much like Amanda and me, this is where both of our minds, Amanda would go to fairy box and I would go to you have clearly entered a 90s era LucasArts adventure game.
AMANDA: You gotta click on it.
ERIC: I'm with you. I think you need to pick up the item because the... the thing that will let you unlock the door to the secrets is inside of that tip.
JULIA: Would you like to guess what was actually inside of the box?
ERIC: The skeleton of a gecko?
JULIA: I'm not gonna say that that's right, but sure. Amanda?
AMANDA: Nickels.
JULIA: It wasn't nickels. It was edible gummies.
ERIC: Ooh.
JULIA: And I was like, I'm not gonna take this because they are just open edible gummies that I found inside of a house, but you guys left these here. This is probably where they kept their stash and I opened it up I'm like.
AMANDA: Sure.
JULIA: Okay, and then close it back up again then went locked their bathroom.
ERIC: There we go.
AMANDA: Wow.
JULIA: Probably not weed edibles in this closet though from Hannah's story. So, I started getting creeped out by the door when it would, you know, open by itself. And it was an old house, so it was already pretty hard to get open. Like, the door would be jammed if you really want to open it but then it would open by itself.
ERIC: Mhmm. Mhmm.
AMANDA: Hmm.
JULIA: I moved my bed in front of the door because I was reorganizing my room and thought it was a good idea. When I came home from school the next day, my room was put back to how I had had it before and the door was open. I asked my mom if she had moved my bed back and she said, "No."
AMANDA: What?
JULIA: So, creeped out by the door, I said "FUUUUCK THAT!" as a 7-year-old, you know, classically. So, I thought more logically, let's put my dresser in front of the door. I thought there was no way that it could move my dresser but oh boy, was I wrong. I was awoken that night by the sound of the door opening. A sound that I had been woken up to many times before that. I ignored it; forcing my eyes to stay shut when I felt something fly by my nose.
AMANDA: What? A bat?
JULIA: I got so cold. Like a cold where it feels like a bunch of tiny pins were all over your body. So, I opened my eyes so that I could find another blanket. The problem was I was not cold. I was covered in ladybugs.
ERIC: Oh, no.
JULIA: Hundreds of ladybugs flew around me and were crawling on me. I screamed and I shut my eyes again and waited for my parents to come in. They rushed into my room to see what was wrong and the ladybugs were gone. I swear there had been a hundred ladybugs in my room and my mom said that it was just a bad dream.
ERIC: Dream bugs.
JULIA: So when I woke up, I shut the little door and I pushed my dresser back against the wall. And my stepfather said "We'll pick up caulk and put it in the cracks in the windows to make sure there are no bugs getting in," like trying to comfort me. I also asked him if we could get a hook eye lock for the little door and he agreed which, you know, makes sense. Put a... put a lock on that, maybe it'll stop opening.
AMANDA: Sure.
JULIA: Logic. That night I heard the TV turn on downstairs and I assumed it was my parents so I went downstairs to ask them to turn it down but they were asleep in their bed. I turned off the TV and then heard the water in the bathroom go off. Both the sink and the shower water had turned on, so I turned them off. And when I exited the bathroom, there was a little girl in a white gown and hair that was straight black sitting at my kitchen table.
AMANDA: Mhmm.
JULIA: Safe to say, I was scared shitless. Especially the fact that I don't remember any details for a face. I ran up to my room and locked my door and hid under my blanket until my mom came to get me for school the next morning. I didn't tell anyone because I knew that they didn't believe me about the ladybugs, so I just never left my room at night. And it says here in parentheses: "(I know Julia is probably saying YOUR ROOM IS NOT ANY BETTER. I know but I was like 8)" which, like, your room was not any better.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: It's not the safe zone. The ladybugs in the door are there. Anyways, for about a year, I got used to never leaving my room at night and I did eventually tell my mom. I think she laughed it off as me being a creepy kid. I finally got some sort of relief when we moved a couple years later. However, about two years ago, I found out the reason why we moved. Apparently, one of my mom's piano students had asked who the little girl was because someone peeked in the piano room and it didn't look like me. She continued to say that there was a man and a little girl.
AMANDA: Wow, for once the family fucking moves. Thank you.
JULIA: Now, even though I don't think I experienced anything with the man, my mom was freaked out, so my parents sold the house and we moved a couple months later. Thanks for reading my story, stay creepy, stay cool, Hannah.
AMANDA: Hey, good job Hannah's Mom.
JULIA: Good job Hannah's mom. Should have believed Hannah in the first place.
AMANDA: Wow.
JULIA: I like that it's like, I'm not gonna believe my flesh and blood. My child. But when a child that is here in my home to play piano says something immediately gonna assume that it's gotta be true.
AMANDA: Damn.
JULIA: Damn, damn, damn. Oh god! Just the idea of, like, hundreds of ladybugs on your skin; terrible hate that.
AMANDA: Yeah. Good... good pick though, Julia.
JULIA: Thank you! To get the taste of ladybug, I guess, out of my mouth I think we're gonna go ahead and grab a refill?
ERIC: I mean, maybe just a fresh pour all together.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: I don't want a refill of that.
AMANDA: We are sponsored this week by Milk Bar. And if like me, you are trying to sort of, like, contribute less to consumerism in the world, maybe you're trying to rely on experiences, or just, you know, edibles for the holidays; for your holiday gifts this year. Trust me, no one will be mad if you order them a big treat from Milk Bar as a holiday gift. This is of course, the bakery chain started by Christina Tosi who you may know from Netflix or just, like, The Food Press over the last 15 years. And they make wonderful gifts that you can send to just about anybody. They have a birthday cake that is absolutely gorgeous. They really pioneered a lot of baking trends that you'll see now. Including the thing where, like, the sides of the cake are kind of, like, not frosted. They call it nude. Their birthday cake is like that. They have a Compost Cookie which I absolutely love. They have Milk Bar Pie which has a toasted oat crust and a very gooey delicious filling and you do not want to sleep on the Pumpkin Milk Bar Pie and Apple Cider Donut Cake; absolutely delicious. They have fast -- even overnight -- nationwide delivery here in the US, and they are very, very well packaged so that you can make sure that your treats are going to arrive well. We got a cake from them and it wasn't my birthday but gosh it felt like it. It was so delicious. Right now, Milk Bar has a special limited time offer. You can get $10 off any order of $50 or more when you go to milkbarstore.com/spirits. You'll get 10 bucks off an order of $50 or more by going to milkbarstore.com/spirits. milkbarstore.com/spirits. Speaking of the holidays, I know that I always want to make sure that I am showing up stylishly but queerly to all of the festivities that I go to. And it is absolutely crucial for me and I know that whenever I wear my Wildfang apparel, I am going to show up feeling and looking really good. I have one pair of essential overalls from them. And this past weekend, I went ahead and bought myself two more pairs and two more colors because I love them that much. Wildfang is clothing that is very queer. It has suits, it has tailored shirts, it has jumpsuits, and accessories, and full, like, floral floor to ceiling suiting. Like, it is absolutely gorgeous. And they are made for people of all genders, all body types. Specifically, for those of us with boobs, it can be really hard to find suiting that is fitting your body well that doesn't have, like, a... like a boob gap or, like, the button poles where your bra is, or is just meant to fit your body specifically. And Wildfang is the closest I've ever found to stuff that I feel absolutely amazing and 100% of the time. And very kindly, they're actually offering us a discount code as well, so you can get $20 off a purchase of $100 or more by using the code spirits20 at wildfang.com. If you want to support small businesses, queer on businesses and other folks this holiday season, this is a great one to look at. So again, go to wildfang.com and you can use the code spirits20 for $20 off a purchase of $100 or more. Thank you Wildfang. Truly honored to be working with you. And finally, we are sponsored by Skillshare. This is an online learning community that's offering our listeners a free-trial of a premium membership. If you find creating fun, if you want to pick up new hobbies just for yourself or if like me, you are trying to hand-make some more gifts this year. I used to do origami as a kid. It was one of my favorite hobbies and I would make, like, these big spiky balls and swans and all kinds of stuff. And this year, I'm making a bunch of my siblings origami for their new apartments and homes. And I was brushing up on my skills using a Skillshare class by Kunal Kadam titled: "How to make Flowers with Origami." One year, my grandma and I decorated a Christmas tree entirely with origami and it is lovely, it is meditative. It kind of is a thing you can do with your hands while you watch TV or listen to a podcast. Wink wink. So, if you want to get into a hobby like me, or brush up on a craft or just watch beautiful videos and let them inspire you, you gotta check out Skillshare. Go to skillshare.com/spirits where our listeners get a one-month free-trial of premium membership. That's one month free at skillshare.com/spirits. And now, let's get back to the show. Guys, as always, we are highlighting craft beers and ciders and... and distillers and... and stuff that we are drinking in our hometowns, and I have a fresh batch of one of my favorite whiskies ever. This is Black Fly whiskey from Keene, New York. We get it once a year at a farmers’ market in [29:54], I forget the exact town in the Adirondacks. And Black Fly is incredible. They have a maple whiskey that normally I don't go for a flavored whiskey but we got a one regular and one maple and I typically will mix them. I'll do a half and a half over, like, a classy, I got those big ice cubes now, those big square ones. And that is all I need to... to stay toasty on a nice winter's day.
JULIA: That sounds incredible. I have been more into Pumpkin Beers this year, I feel like than I usually am, because usually I'm not a huge pumpkin, pumpkin spice flavor person. But Blue Point Brewery usually has the Mother Pumpkin Beer which I really like. I find it very enjoyable. But this year, they've been doing this, like, Imperial Series where they're doing a bunch of, like, boozier versions of beers that they already do. So, Jake and I have been picking up, like, four packs of the Big Mother Pumpkin which is a basically like an imperial spiced pumpkin ale and it is, like, 9%. And it is so good. It's got like... kind of, like, a graham crackery base there and then it's got all those, like, roasted subtle autumn spices. I love it so much.
AMANDA: Okay, but if you could please pick me up a four pack and Pay Pal me, I would love some of that.
JULIA: Absolutely! They also, in case you're interested, have these Bourbon Barrel Aged Big Mother Pumpkins which are smaller cans but also 14% or something like that. So, if you want those you just let me know.
AMANDA: Yeah, that sounds great.
JULIA: Yes, I will pick you up some next time we're out there.
ERIC: I recently tried pumpkin again for the first time in a few years.
JULIA: Yay!
ERIC: And you know what, stuff still slaps. Like, it was, like, one of the first big pumpkin beers and then, like, everyone made them. But like, you know what, it's so good. It's so good.
JULIA: I remember the first autumn that we spent at the Herald, Amanda.
AMANDA: Yeah!
JULIA: That was the one that bartender Matt always recommended. He's like the pumpking. It's, like, impossible to get but everyone loves it. I'm like, so every time I see it I'm like, "I gotta get some pumpking."
AMANDA: The first time I visited Schneider and friends in Cleveland, we went on a little pumpkin finding mission and got it, and it was delicious.
ERIC: It used to be hard to find. I completely forgot that it used to be hard to find. Now it's --
AMANDA: Yeah!
ERIC: -- like so... such a staple.
JULIA: They finally ramped up production so now everyone can get it.
AMANDA: Mhmm.
ERIC: My recommendation is going to be the polar opposite of... of Julia's, almost. Because I'm saying, "You know what? It's Christmas beer time everybody."
JULIA: Oh yeah?
ERIC: I think it is. Once it gets frosty, I think that there is some excellent overlap time for Christmas beer and Pumpkin beer and Oktoberfest beer. I think now is that time and I recently have had a few different samplings. Shiner, down in Texas makes a really good one that's probably available anywhere. And it's got, like, peaches in it. So, it's like a very different --
JULIA: Huh.
ERIC: -- Christmas beer. It's a lighter --
AMANDA: Wow.
ERIC: -- Fruitier Christmas beer. And then, I mean, wrapping Cleveland, I think you can get this in a lot of places. You can get the Great Lakes Christmas sale, which is, like, one of the original big Christmas sales. So, that's in a lot of places. So yeah, try some Christmas sales. They're... they're good and they are not all the same anymore like they used to be back in the day.
JULIA: Yeah, there's a lot more variety and I think people are taking more risks with their beer which I really appreciate.
AMANDA: I'm gonna go ahead and say it. I know it's... I know it's bold me. Shiner makes great beer.
JULIA: They do! They genuinely do. Like, there's a reason why they are, like, a national chain now, so to speak.
AMANDA: Good shit.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: Before we get into our next story, I also want to briefly recommend a video game I've been playing. I've been playing the video game Inscryption. It's got a Y in place of the first I. You can buy it on Steam and I think other places on PC. I don't think it's anywhere else currently. It is a spooky card game where you're in a cabin playing against a mysterious figure. The card game is really easy to learn and has some very interesting sacrificing mechanics that are kind of spooky. And then, you can get up from the table you're playing the card game at and solve spooky puzzles around the room. And let me just say, this game, you immediately are going to be like, "Something... something's happening here."
JULIA: Keep going on.
ERIC: Just... when you start the game up, you cannot hit “New game.” You have to select “Continue.”
AMANDA: Oh!
ERIC: So, that in itself is a spooky beginning. I will just say, this game, it took me about 12 hours to finish. And I don't think a game has ever made me say, "What the fuck is going on?" more times in this game than any other game. And I was never, like, confused. I never was frustrated.
AMANDA: Yeah.
ERIC: But it's just like, I thought I knew and now I don't know. And I'm excited to know again at some point down the line.
AMANDA: That's a really, really helpful way to describe it because I would feel like I was missing something and I hate that feeling. But when you're saying like, oh no, no, no, it just kind of drops you in, maybe you rest and, like, you figure it out. Like, that's -- then I'm along for the ride, then I know what to expect.
ERIC: Yeah, it's very good. The art is phenomenal. It's, like, cool. Lo-Fi 3d. I love it.
AMANDA: Oh, hell yeah. I'm gonna download this on Steam tonight.
JULIA: That looks dope. This looks so cool. I'm just looking at it now.
AMANDA: I know! It looks amazing.
ERIC: But getting back to our spooky stories, I have one from Anne Eilis titled: Chicago Suburbs - Whistle Demons, Haunted Leg Hair, and Shadow Birds.
JULIA: I need to know haunted leg hair. I gotta hear about this.
ERIC: So, Anne Ellis writes, "Hello a creepy coolies!" which I do like, very nice.
JULIA: I do like creepy coolies.
ERIC: "I would like to say two things: first, my name is pronounced Anna-Lease and I AM A DISASTER-BI."
JULIA: Yay!
AMANDA: Yay!
ERIC: Big announcement up front, pronunciation.
JULIA: Our favorite people.
ERIC: Exactly the way the type of person we're reading the story from.
AMANDA: Incredible. These are my pronouns, this is my queer archetype, this is how you say my name. What more do I need to know? Like, thank you.
ERIC: For you, I need sex, location. "There are so many things I would like to write to you about, including my ghostly drama, but today I'm going to stick just to where I work. I'm a nanny in the Chicago-land area, unfortunately. I am doing it so I could support myself through school and once I graduate, I am getting out of this place.
AMANDA: That sounds very spooky.
JULIA: Do it. Yeah.
ERIC: "The eldest child I nanny constantly whistles indoors." Oh my god, we had a co-worker at my last job that we -- an intern, actually -- that whistled and no one knew how to be like, "You got to stop whistling," and we just all put up with it. And then we fired them. It was terrible.
AMANDA: What?
JULIA: Eric, why would you do that?
AMANDA: That's the most Midwestern thing I've ever heard.
JULIA: So, my grandma always whistles because someone in her youth told her that whistling means that you're happy, so she whistles all the time.
AMANDA: Oh, no.
JULIA: To let us know that she's happy.
AMANDA: Oh, shit.
JULIA: But also, I know that in certain cultures, like, whistling is either, like, a way of bringing around the devil, or a way of, like, releasing your soul, so they encourage you not to do that.
ERIC: Great.
AMANDA: I mean, I've only really encountered whistling with, like, my mom who is a professional lifeguard at work where there are, like, specific whistles and if people are whistling on the beach, she'll look at them and be like, "The fuck are you doing? I have to whistle in order to get people's attention to save your life," or horror movie trailers and so I heard someone whistling down the hallway at work the other day and it's like an S-shaped hallway so you can't see the end when you're at my end of it, and I'm just like, "Fucking stop. Like, this is very creepy. I'm sorry." This is an... this is an anti-whistle take that I'm airing right now but, like, I stand by it.
JULIA: Yeah, I like a whistle personally. I like to whistle sometimes. Not all the time and not when I'm around people.
AMANDA: I'm just jealous I can't. I'm just jealous I can't.
JULIA: You, like, physically can't whistle?
AMANDA: No. I haven't, also, put the time into learning but no.
ERIC: Yeah. I... I can't either, and I... I've tried and I've given up. Most people don't need to whistle at any actual circumstances, so I don't feel like I'm... I'm losing anything without having the skill.
JULIA: Fine.
AMANDA: In the early pandemic hobby bingo card, learning to whistle Oh, should have been one of the squares. I didn't see any listicles about people who learned to or, like, personal essays in the New York Times about learning to whistle during the pandemic but I'm sure people did. I respect that.
ERIC: Back to an Anne Eilis' story.
JULIA: Anyways, I'm not gonna learn how to whistle. Fuck you, guys. Back to the story.
ERIC: I think we've spent enough time talking about whistling here.
JULIA: Speak for yourself.
ERIC: So, the eldest child that she nannies is whistling indoors. I did not know that was the only sentence I asked of this story before I immediately took it off road. "I did not know there were superstitions related to whistling indoors until I saw a TikTok about it. The whistling would annoy the absolute ever-fuck out of me, but now I know that it can actually summon demons.
JULIA: That's what I said!
ERIC: My experiences in this McMansion make so much more sense now. There are nights when I have to sleep over because one of the kids has a late ass practice every Thursday. And one of these Thursday nights, I was terrified of falling asleep. Tossing and turning. Tossing and turning. Then I felt the bed shake. A shaking bed. My bed shook. Something was shaking my bed.
JULIA: Uh-oh.
ERIC: Absolutely terrified, I turned on some Love Island UK which just.
AMANDA: Yup. Yup. Yup.
ERIC: Like, let's... let's immediately not investigate. I love this. Love Island, here we go.
AMANDA: Again, we... we all know that I'm... I'm not teaming near it, but I do love the absolute total opposite of a haunting is Love Island UK, so great selection.
JULIA: Checks out.
ERIC: I was eventually able to fall back asleep. Did I look around with my phone flashlight? Yes. Did I leave my phone flashlight on for the rest of the night? Also, yes. I don't care, Eric. I'm scared of the dark. I am 24. Yes, we exist. Look, the dark is scary. I'm making no judgments about being scared of the dark. I'm just saying if it's dark, and something might be out there you don't got to look at it. You don't got to look, but the dark is scary.
JULIA: Yes, the dark is scary.
AMANDA: Yeah.
ERIC: We're scared of the dark because evolutionarily, it was beneficial to be worried about what you can't see.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: It's perfectly logical why people are scared of the dark.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: Our little animal brains, they know what's best.
AMANDA: That's what I try to say to my anxiety. I'm like, "Thanks. Thanks for looking out for me. Thanks for thinking about that. Let's just... let's... let's pull that back quite a bit. Let's... let's work on that.
JULIA: Yeah. You're like typically I no longer have to think about, you know, predators that are going to eat me so --
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: -- just calm down a little bit.
AMANDA: Like an overeager intern, I'm like, "Great instinct. Great effort. Let's pull that back about 45%."
JULIA: Can you coach my anxiety too Amanda? That would be nice.
AMANDA: I know, we can coach each other anxiety.
JULIA: Cool.
ERIC: This occurrence just sucks major buttcrack because my partner slept over at my place and said he felt the shaking too.
JULIA: Oh no.
ERIC: And then he said there might be something trying to get after me.
AMANDA: No! Why would you say that?
JULIA: Hold on. My first instinct; if my bed started shaking is not some demon is trying to get me. Mine would be; first logical assumption: maybe someone's washer dryer in my building is kind --
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: -- of going off the rails and shaking things. Fine. Worst case scenario in my mind immediately would be; earthquake. Sure. Right? Like, I know it's Chicago and they don't get a lot of earthquakes. It's not like this is California, but my instinct would be "Oh, my bed is shaking. Probably something's going on, not demonic forces. Certainly not demonic forces." Am I alone in this?
AMANDA: No. I mean, living in the city, you know, I have lived in buildings that were over the subway and you feel the subway at theaters or restaurants, like that's just a thing. And particularly on this coast; it's not an earthquake, probably. I would not go the demon route. I do think this prompts a really interesting relationship advice question which is if you think that might be something demonic, do you say that to your partner? When do you say it and when do you just kind of, like, think the suspicion?
ERIC: You don't want to wait too long. Like.
AMANDA: You don't want to wait too long.
ERIC: You don't want to wait until you do have visual evidence because once you... once you can identify there is literally a demon here.
AMANDA: Yeah.
ERIC: You've... you've waited far too long. So, you've got to find the middle ground between the first moment and oh no, the demon is here with us.
JULIA: I think this harkens back to the fact that I watched all the paranormal activities in October.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: And 90% of those films is, like there's a demon here and usually it is the man not believing the woman that there is in fact a demon there.
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: And it goes on and on until, like, she's fully possessed. He's like, "Oh, I believe you now," now I'm dead. I do think though, there is a middle ground where it's like, "Oh, you say that there's a demon? I'm going to immediately assume that you're correct." And then there's also like, "I'm not going to believe you until I literally see this demon right in front of me." So yeah.
AMANDA: Yeah. I... I think it's definitely a matter of timing between the first thought which is: "Hmm, could be demonic" and "Oh yes, honey. For months I have been secretly worrying that there's a demon coming after you."
JULIA: I have to also be, like, if that was the first time he experienced the bed shaking, again. my initial thought would never be demon And I cer -- even if it was, I certainly wouldn't say that out loud to my partner.
AMANDA: Yeah. Though, maybe you have, like, a -- quite a trusting relationship where you talk about demons and, like, I'm glad that he felt safe to say that but also maybe don't... don't open with that.
JULIA: Yes.
AMANDA: Don't... don't go there right away.
JULIA: I feel like I would have follow-up questions before I was like, "Definitely a demon."
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: I'd be like, "So, have you been experiencing, like, scratches on your arms and legs? Have you been waking up in the 3-hour every morning?" Like, that kind of thing.
ERIC: Back to Anne Eilis and... and her… her boyfriend who's just immediately going demon.
JULIA: Demon.
ERIC: So, back to the story. The boyfriend has suggested something is trying to get after. Is this The Conjuring? Has an evil whistle demon attached itself to me? I had been extremely depressed this last month, so it was a fair statement. And I had not been putting out good vibes for quite some time. I'm working on correcting this with my therapist and psychiatrist. I'm trying hard to take care of myself, but I just can't keep it up. Even if you have mental health care, it's a lot of work.
JULIA: Mmh.
ERIC: You got to try though, otherwise you won't be able to pay the bills. The next weird thing that happened to me in this McMansion was fine. I was chilling on the couch and noticed my leg hair was twisting around.
AMANDA: What?
ERIC: This is the spooky leg hair.
AMANDA: Oh no.
ERIC: Twisty twirly squirrely whirly. I was like, lmfao, what the fuck?
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: It literally looked and felt like something was twisting my leg hair. It was not a goosebump situation. It was about 90 degrees outside and the AC was set to 77, so not a temperature thing. There could be some nerve brain science that would explain it, but I would still like to believe my leg hair is haunted.
JULIA: If someone is twisting your leg hair, that would not be a root problem. That is a outside force.
AMANDA: Or like the most buckwild air currents.
ERIC: Yeah.
AMANDA: Ever.
ERIC: Real wild air.
JULIA: Like very tiny little, like, dust devil twisters?
AMANDA: Yeah.
ERIC: Yeah. I bet that's it. Little tiny.
JULIA: Yeah, clearly that's it. That's the most logical assumption here.
ERIC: Well, it has happened a lot inside in the Chicago-land area.
JULIA: While the AC is on. Sure. Sure.
AMANDA: I don't even know what to make of that. And I kind of don't want to dwell on it.
JULIA: You're like, "Move on, move on. Please move on."
ERIC: This next story is just, and then she's written four question marks. So, who knows what we're about to get on this one? I was not in the McMansion this time. I was in the middle school carpool lane to pick up a kid.
JULIA: Oh, boy.
ERIC: The road to the school runs between the high school and the middle school. While I was waiting, I saw a shadow moving around. It was the dark space underneath the bleachers flailing around like a bird's wing, but also a pinwheel. Very spooky kind of shadow movement going on right there. The high school did not have school that day in observance of Indigenous People’s Day. No practices. No. Nothing. It was very creepy and cool, and I'm pretty sure I was the only person in the carpool line that saw the strange shadow.
JULIA: But did you check with the other carpool? Open your window up, "Did everyone see that shadow?"
ERIC: This email was long and I am not sorry. I love the podcast. I think you're all so smart, creepy, and cool. Oxford commas them out. Now, we're gonna get into some hot take here. So, just let's... just let's get through them. Oxford commas are appropriate and grammatically correct. The AP Stylebook can suck my ass. Then again, grammar is fake. Love y'all so much, Anne Eilis.
JULIA: I'm a big Oxford comma fan, so we're fine there.
AMANDA: I endorse it all. Yeah, my brain loves to get confused when there's not one, so I'm... I'm all for the clarity.
ERIC: Thank you for all of your... all of your different stories in this email. Anne.
JULIA: I want us to take a second here.
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: And I would like us to kind of, if this was a horror movie, give me the summary of what is happening here. From, like, a full perspective rather than just Anne Eilis' perspective. Would you like me to start?
ERIC: Yeah, you seem to have something ready.
JULIA: So, to me, it seems like this McMansion, perhaps haunted, or child somehow did, like, a Ouija board thing or some whistling or something that then summoned a demonic presence that latched itself on to this child. Now, what Anne Eilis is experiencing most likely is, like, either this spirit trying to get in with her instead because like, "I've attached myself to a 7-year-old. I can't do anything in the body of a 7- year-old. Let me attach myself to a 24-year-old. Much easier."
ERIC: That makes sense. Yeah. I mean... I mean, maybe... I mean, it's Chicago-land. It -- the whole dang town could be kind of spooky. I feel like there could be, like a bigger thing happening.
AMANDA: Yeah, I want to put out there that maybe there is some kind of house spirit that isn't into the kind of, like, boojee class situation that they've been trapped within. And they're like, "The fuck am I doing in a McMansion?" So, they are reaching out to a compatriot and being like, "Hey, you're not rich. Help/I'm also here." And so, maybe it's more of a knowing glance exchanged between servers at a restaurant where there's that one table that's just like, you know, their dicks and you're just like, "Mhmm." All of us are gonna acknowledge that this is happening and not say anything and just look at each other in the break room and be like, "Yeah." I think that's the vibe I'm getting.
JULIA: Okay. All right. Cool. Into that.
AMANDA: So, not cursed more like, "Yep, we're all struggling under capitalism together."
JULIA: I just like that your assumption is “Proletariat ghost.”
AMANDA: Yeah, exactly.
ERIC: I like it. I may think it makes a lot of sense.
JULIA: Okay. Cool. Cool. Cool.
AMANDA: Well guys, we've learned so much about our listeners' jobs in this installment which is always my very favorite kind of thing to do. So, I mean, pretty great Urban Legend I would say.
JULIA: Pretty good, pretty good.
ERIC: All in all, very exciting stuff. Very spooky stuff.
JULIA: And very spooky.
ERIC: Very spooky stuff for... for... for this December episode.
JULIA: Listen, if we can't be spooky in the darkest of months, then why be spooky at all?
AMANDA: Totally. I mean, I am also going to remember just to, like, constantly bring my cellphone with me because I can get trapped at any time at work. So... so, invest in some leggings with pockets. And remember everybody.
JULIA: Stay creepy.
AMANDA: Stay cool. Spirits was created by Amanda McLoughlin, Julia Schifini, and Eric Schneider with music by Kevin MacLeod and visual design by Alison 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 in your urban legends, and your advice from folklore questions at spiritspodcast.com.
AMANDA: Join our member community on Patreon, patreon.com/spiritspodcast for all kinds of behind-the-scenes goodies. Just $1 gets you access to audio extras with so much more like recipe cards with alcoholic and non-alcoholic for every single episode, director's commentaries, real physical gifts, and more.
JULIA: We are a founding member of Multitude, an independent podcast collective, and production studio. If you like Spirits, you will love the other shows that live on our website at multitude.productions.
AMANDA: Above all else, if you liked what you heard today, please text one friend about us. That's the very best way to help keep us growing.
JULIA: Thanks for listening to Spirits. We'll see you next week.
AMANDA: Bye