Episode 268: Your Urban Legends LIX - Creepiest Floating Body Part?
/If you were wandering through the forest, what would be the creepiest floating body part to spot? We discuss. Amanda loves a dog with an opinion. Eric wants to slide down the chute. Julia hates the air.
Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of hunting, animal death, death, medical experimentation, illness, injury, and curses.
Housekeeping
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- Recommendation: This week, Julia recommends Encanto.
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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 a new story from around the world. I'm Amanda.
JULIA: And I'm Julia.
ERIC: And I'm Eric.
JULIA: And this is Episode 268: Your Hometown Urban Legends. Gang, what do we got today?
AMANDA: Ohh, we got some good ones.
ERIC: We've got all kinds of stuff.
AMANDA: Oh, yeah?
ERIC: I think so. I think, I think so. I think I've got a, a woman in white. I've heard tales of a follow up possibly later, later on in the episode.
AMANDA: There might be yes, indeed.
ERIC: And a whole bunch of other exciting stuff.
JULIA: I have a guardian angel that becomes a demon. So really, this episode's got everything you could possibly wish for sure. Eric, why don't you start us off with your woman in white them?
ERIC: Yeah, I would love to, this comes to us from Carolyn and she titles the email, Indian, Indian run hollows woman in white.
JULIA: Okay, we love a woman in white.
ERIC: Love white, but not after Labor Day.
JULIA: Ghosts are always in fashion.
ERIC: I mean, it's the beginning of the year, so plenty of time to be wearing white. You can be a woman away for quite a few months now.
AMANDA: Yeah. Is that when it rolls over? Like when, it's it's Memorial Day to Labor Day?
ERIC: Yeah.
AMANDA: It's supposed to be, right? But like yeah, winter whites are adorable.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: I'm wearing white right now.
JULIA: So am I.
AMANDA: It's true.
ERIC: Whoa. So Carolyn writes, "It's your girl Carolyn. Hello, Eric. Julia and Amanda."
JULIA: Hello.
ERIC: "I started to write this while listening to Episode 99 and Episode 100. I've been listening to your podcast since the beginning of October. And at one point I was pleasantly surprised to hear you tell the Tale of Gore Orphanage. I live in Vermillion, Ohio. So that story is local."
AMANDA: Mmm.
JULIA: Ooh.
ERIC: "In light of the upcoming and current holidays", which have now since passed. But this was written to us in the beginning of December. "I don't have any Christmas ghost stories that I can reliably tell you about. So I will tell you a story about Indian run hollow, somewhere around Christmas time. I hold a deep love for the woods and the land has immense, mostly undiscovered history. Here's a little bit of backstory. This place is located in Southeast Ohio, a couple miles from the Ohio River. I'm unaware of the current name of the woods surrounding Little Hocking and Hocking Port. But an old Civil War map names at Indian Ron Hollow. My maternal grandfather owned property for about 22 years up until this year. My father, grandfather and I will go hunting to help fill our freezers and help keep the burgeoning deer population at bay. This story does not belong to me, but my father. A few years back around this time I was filling a cooler of deer meat. My grandpa was inside the cabin, two-story, two-room house, dozing off. My dad wanted to make sure that his deer had not died painfully so he brought along our dog, Aida, to sniff her out. She had already tracked down mine and proved to be a voracious protector in scaring off and a possum. So it's the middle of the night. It's pitch black, cold, and on top of that it had snowed in the morning. Dad was up on the hill behind our house looking for the deer with Aida furiously sniffing about. His only light source, a flashlight. It was a new moon I believe, there had been no sign of the deer not even a trail of blood. Midnight hit and still no sign, the hair on Aida's back was rising. An ominous growl was emitting from her. As dad turned to what she was facing, he saw a woman. She had long dark hair and was dressed in a long white gown. She was also holding the hands of two small children also in white. My father and the woman stared at each other for what seemed like hours before she slowly turned around and started walking away dissipating into white mist."
JULIA: Don't follow.
AMANDA: Uh-uhh.
ERIC: "At the same time, Aida stopped barking and growling, turning to look up at my dad calmly like she hadn't gone wild. He had come back to camp, white as a ghost as he relayed this tale. The woman's dress has been immaculate especially as it was deep in the woods and there was really no way they could be out there that clean. Aside from the camp, a neighbor a mile down the road and across the street. The nearest neighbor was miles away. She also hadn't reacted at all to Aida barking so much. Was it a Ghost? Dad swore up and down that it was, my grandfather said something about an albino stag wandering the hills."
JULIA: The real grandpa response.
ERIC: Yeah.
AMANDA: It really is, yeah.
ERIC: "This isn't the only paranormal experience we've had there, but it is the first full body apparition. Over the years I've had enough ghostly experiences to face them with a healthy skepticism and be ready to debunk. However the area feels too peaceful for there to be hauntings. I have plenty more ghost stories from my own home. I grew up in Akron", which you will remember where is where we went to spaghetti get in at this spaghetti warehouse?
AMANDA: I Sure do.
ERIC: "I also have stories from my father and grandfather inventing their own urban legends in the hollow classic. I'd be more than happy to share them in separate emails." Which we would love to hear. "Thank you so much for reading and considering this email, it's was a pleasure writing it. I'll be in contact again sometime soon."
AMANDA: What if this is the grandpa who invented bloody bones?
ERIC: Hmm.
JULIA: Hmm.
AMANDA: What if this is another grandchild? Could be.
ERIC: Good old bloody bones.
AMANDA: And then you get the wonderful experience of not realizing that one of your cousin's also loves the podcast you love.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: Yeah.
AMANDA: I mean, lady in white, much less creepy than bloody bones.
JULIA: It is [5:04]--
AMANDA: Distinctly so. I'm always creeped out by a dog with an opinion.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: A dog, with an opinion.
AMANDA: Yeah.
ERIC: What opinions have you experienced dog sharing with you so far, Amanda? Code call you up sometimes?
AMANDA: No, as you know, I'm incredibly allergic to animals. So my only real opinions are you know, I'll try to say hello to Code on FaceTime and, and he'll look puzzled. Like there's two voices but one belly, like why is this happening? So I mean, listen, the dogs instincts, I trust. And my own senses can deceive me, but a dog growling and barking at something I'm just going to trust. Like I just, I take that seriously.
ERIC: Yeah.
JULIA: Yeah, that's fair. Hmm. I liked the part where they're like, this was the first full body apparition like technically it's three bodies because it was a lady amd two children--
ERIC: Bunch of just floating heads previously.
JULIA: Yeah, yeah. Or just like you know, lights in the woods that kind of thing.
AMANDA: Okay, if you were to see a floating body part--
ERIC: Yeah.
AMANDA: --what would the creepiest one be?
ERIC: I almost immediately went to fetus.
AMANDA: Of course.
JULIA: I also immediately thought fetus.
ERIC: But that was like, would that be creepy? Or just like ehh--
JULIA: Fucking weird.
ERIC: --I wish I didn't see that floated around.
AMANDA: Wasn't I've seen enough, sex toys, to be like this is the thing that I'm aware of. Like I've seen you know on drag race silicone boobs. Like that that wouldn't make me upset. Maybe like a disembodied torso, I think I've kind of worst case scenario.
ERIC: Just a torso.
AMANDA: I don't know. I feel like a limb or a head like my brain can contextualize but the the the trunk might be quite scary.
ERIC: Trunk bad. Baby, just one arm. One arm just like--
JULIA: Flapping around.
ERIC: --flapping around like it like a bird. Just kind of like flag there, that would be bad. Also, just like I don't know if this is totally a body part. But like just like a ponytail.
JULIA: Ohh.
ERIC: Just like a floating, well that's like hair. So I don't know if that's--
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: I don't know if that counts. But like a floating ponytail, like something have first off someone had a ponytail. And secondly, now, they don't and it's just floated out here in the woods.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: I'm with you where I think it has to be a whim.
ERIC: Yeah.
JULIA: Either an arm or like a hopping leg would also be extremely creepy. My issue with torso is I feel like if I just saw a torso, my mind wouldn't be able to comprehend exactly what it is on its own.
AMANDA: Right.
ERIC: But, yeah, it doesn't have a good enough silhouette to be creepy.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: It's just kind of like a shape.
JULIA: Mmm.
AMANDA: I was thinking to like the idea of like a disembodied hand or maybe just a finger. That too sort of implies like, where's the rest? Where's--
ERIC: Yeah.
AMANDA: --the rest, buddy?
ERIC: Yeah.
AMANDA: Like I think that's what a ponytail gets out as well. It's like, where's the rest?
ERIC: Yeah, what's out there? You know, the best thing to see just floating out just like a butt, right?
AMANDA: That be very funny.
ERIC: You just see a flirty, buddy. Like, great!
JULIA: Nice.
AMANDA: I would laugh and laugh, yeah.
JULIA: I'm all about that.
ERIC: All about that floating butt.
JULIA: All about that floating butt.
AMANDA: Well, talking about disembodied body parts. It's kind of a tenuous connection. But I do have something all about drawing. And I feel like we just conjured in our minds, the body parts. What happens though, if we draw something that maybe conjure something in real life? So this comes from Lourdes and it's titled: The time I drew a guardian angel and possibly some into demon.
JULIA: Oh-ow.
ERIC: Wow.
AMANDA: And she writes, "Hey, Julia, Amanda and Eric. First one to say that I love the podcast. It's my standard thing I listened to when I walked my dog on Saturdays." We love hearing how we're a part of your routine. So thank you for telling us.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: "I wanted to share a story from my childhood. I grew up in Puerto Rico in a very Catholic family. We're talking Sunday school every week and getting gifted rosaries and holy water of Catholic. I was also an extreme and goody two shoes due to the fear that if I were to misbehave I would literally be smited down on the spot and sent straight to the fiery pits of hell. Shadow Catholic guilt and lords because it's different, Julian says, in my now more fucked up messed up organized religion brain this is like truthfully represented as a fear of disappointing people."
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: [8:37] and I don't like it.
ERIC: Yes.
AMANDA: "As a kid one of my favorite aspects of the religion and culture I grew up in was the idea of a guardian angel. What could be better than a little homeboy trying to help your day be better? I was also really into medieval fantasy at that point and loved drawing. So some random night, 12-year old me decided to draw what I thought my guardian angel might look like. I was pretty sure my angel look like a guy, could this be please rescue me I'm helpless mentality. A lot of us girls are grown up being taught. And that he had some really complex blue green eyes. He roars some kind of Romanesque gladiator armor and had a big shield and sword. And of course, a little halo nestled in his curly hair."
JULIA: Obviously.
AMANDA: This is so sweet. I love it. It's so relatable. I just--delicious, okay. "When I finished my drawing, which I was sitting on my bed while I did that. I felt a little weird about it, but I figured maybe it was me being hard on my art as usual. I decided that what I should do was carefully placed a drawing under my pillow. So my angel could guard my dreams.
JULIA: Mmmm.
AMANDA: "That night, I woke up in the middle of the night from a pretty scary nightmare. The kind where you don't remember the details, but your heart is just racing and you're terrified. I opened my eyes to see pitch black because I told myself I was too old for a nightlight and try to calm myself down. But the darkness around me felt menacing somehow. Eventually I managed to get myself back to sleep. This repeated over and over, night after night. When I turned on my lamp after waking up and on a whim pulled out the drawing of the angel. When I looked at the art, I felt some really menacing energy from it. Definitely not the secure--
ERIC: Oooh.
AMANDA: --feelings. I thought that looking at a personification of a guardian angel should be giving. What I really wanted to do was burn the drawing, but I was 12 and didn't have access to fire."
ERIC: You got to be a more enterprising 12-year old.
AMANDA: Yeah, find that later in the kitchen, find the matches.
JULIA: No, don't do that, bad idea.
ERIC: --do that. Do not do that.
AMANDA: "Don't do that. Don't do that. So instead, I went over to my desk, where I happen to have a vial of holy water. And I poured a little bit, have to save it for the big days."
JULIA: Mmm.
AMANDA: "On to the picture, and then carefully fold to the picture and put it in the bottom of my trash can. The next day, I tossed my trash out as soon as I got home from school, and after that the nightmares subsided. I started sleeping better, but it definitely took some time to feel comfortable again. After a few months, I told a friend's mom about the experience and they said it was quite possible that the drawing of a holy entity was treated as a challenge by the devil. So he sent a demon to torment me."
JULIA: Check out, make sense.
ERIC: I was really hoping the picture was gonna catch fire when you pour the holy water on it.
JULIA: I thought it was gonna sizzle, I was with you there.
AMANDA: I also hoped but I thought that that was as a fellow you know, raised Catholic. I thought that was a wonderful way to be like, listen, I'm going to give it some extra protection, not going to rip it because that might be unholy gonna just fold it put some holy water on there for good measure. Take out my own trash, because I'm 12 and do chores. And you know, I thought you handled that quite well.
JULIA: Yeah, yeah.
ERIC: Very professional handling of of of the situation.
JULIA: Better than some adults who write in on the show to be quite honest.
ERIC: Yeah.
AMANDA: Indeed. And I I wonder too, if either of you had kind of baggage or expectations around holy water? Which is to say that when I some denominations of Christianity, drink holy water, you can like--
ERIC: Woah.
AMANDA: --[11:42] sick. And exactly, I had the exact same reaction where I was like, uh-huh what? Because in Catholicism, you use it to, you know, anoint yourself but at least in in my growing up, we didn't like consume it or or even take it out of the house unless you needed it. Like bring the somebody who was sick, you know, to like use. And so when I saw friends who were Orthodox Christian, drink it, I was like, huh-what?. And and then realize then that the exorcist had really creeped into my brain even though I'd never seen it just because I was like growing up in America.
JULIA: Fair enough.
ERIC: I don't think most evangelicals use holy water in any, in any fashion. So I have no thoughts baggage about about holy water as a as a concept really.
AMANDA: It's a real Catholic thing there huh?
ERIC: It really is. It's it's definitely like the old school Christianity's, are the ones that have the holy water.
AMANDA: Yeah, that checks up.
JULIA: I have the same baggage as you Amanda. We went to the same church you know what's up and we're headed memory for me. So shout out Yvonne who was like, my, yep, you you can drink it. It is technically water.
AMANDA: Speaking of water, I'm a little parched. So why don't we go into the kitchen for a quick refill?
JULIA: Sounds good. Let's go.
ERIC: I like it.
JULIA: Hey, this is Julia and welcome to the refill. Everyone else is playing party games in the other room but I decided I want to spend a little time with you here in the kitchen. Just the two of us so we could catch up. How are you doing?
AMANDA: Good. How are things?
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Again, it allows us to do this as our job and there's nothing better than that. Honestly. Now, normally this is the part of the refill where Amanda would ask me what my favorite thing that I'm watching, listening to reading lately is? And I gotta tell you, I really loved Encanto. I know like you know, Disney has its faults, but man, that movie made me cry for 70% of it, and woof! Very good. Loved it so much. So if you have the ability to watch that, check it out. It was very, very lovely and sad and wonderful, which are my three favorite things. Speaking of my favorite things, shows on Multitude are my favorite things and I know I'm biased because I am a part of Multitude. But if you like this show, I want you to give Horse a chance. Horse is a podcast about ridiculous stories, internet drama, and some of the biggest and baddest personalities out there today, all from the world of Basketball. Now, I don't know much about Basketball because I never really watched. I used to play a game with the bartender at my favorite bar where he would list a city and then I would try to guess what the name of the Basketball team for that city was. And I was not very good at that game. But since I started listening to Horse I've learned so so much more. Hosts Adam Mamawala and Mike Schubert, want the world to know how unbelievable the history and culture of Basketball is. They're here to fight gatekeeping and prove that it's entertaining for everyone to follow from super fans, to folks who've never cared about sports before. So new episodes released every other Monday, you can just search Horse in your podcast app or check out horsehoops.com and Horse because basketball is more than what happens on the court. In this episode, is sponsored by BetterHelp online therapy. We talk about BetterHelp a lot on the show and this month we are discussing some of the stigmas around mental health. People tend to wait until things are unbearable to go to therapy. But you shouldn't have to do that. Therapy is a tool to utilize before things get worse and it can help you avoid those lows. I know that when it comes to me and therapy, being able to message my counselor and be like, hey, I had a bad day, when is the next time we can talk about? It really does kind of help set my mental health a little bit more at ease knowing that I have something to look forward to in terms of talking about it with my BetterHelp counselor. And BetterHelp is customized online therapy that offers video phone and even live chat sessions with your therapist. So you don't have to see anyone on camera if you don't want to. And it's much more affordable than in person therapy and you can be matched with a therapist in under 48-hours. So you can give it a try and see why over 2 million people have used BetterHelp online therapy. This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp and Spirits listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com/spirits. 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ERIC: So I in the new year have become a white guy who talks about Coke Zero on podcasts.
JULIA: Oh no!
ERIC: I feel like that is a brand of guy, guy that's into Coke Zero. So I am in factoring gig a a Coke Zero and a little bit of whiskey in there as my--
JULIA: Nice [20:48]
ERIC: --drink for the week. Just like a classic, classic whiskey and coke and I'm going to try to limit the amount I talk about Coke Zero on podcast. You guys do get that impression that like there there is a particular type of guy that just like Coke Zero and they're just always talking about on podcast?
JULIA: You know what I don't listen to enough podcast hosted by white guys.
ERIC: Hmm.
JULIA: No, I don't.
AMANDA: I was just gonna say, I listened to almost no no white men podcasts so--
ERIC: I try, I try not to to do it too much but I listened to a few video game podcasts and unfortunately a lot of them--
AMANDA: Hard to avoid.
ERIC: --have have a few white guys out there. I do listen to some they have some quite diverse people on there. But uh, you know, there's always gonna be a couple of white guys floating around at that's [21:28].
AMANDA: Hard to avoid in video games press, yeah.
JULIA: I'm surprised we're not talking about like Mountain Dew thing.
ERIC: I feel like Mountain Dew is like the joke drink now. Like they're talking about if you like if you need some gamer fuel, but I think--
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: --I think that people actually drink is Coke Zero.
JULIA: So I'm not a soda person at all. I feel like if I could readily get Baja Blast slushies all the time.
ERIC: Yeah.
JULIA: I would. Like if I just had like a machine in my house that just dispersed Baja Blast slushies.
ERIC: Yeah.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: That's what I would drink. But I have no other desire for any other Mountain Dew product.
AMANDA: What I really love I'm, I'm also not a soda drinker, but I love Arnold Palmer's like half-iced tea, half-lemonades. The cans of Arnold Palmer's are just on parallels. I make my version at home sometimes. I'll buy like a big bottle of it sometimes. I'll I'll buy like lemonade and then make iced tea or whatever. But there is nothing like a crisp cold can of Arnold Palmer such that I said to Erica today, honey, may we please have these at her wedding? And he was like, I mean, yeah, I guess. I want crisp cold Polly's in a big you know, barrel of ice for our guests. Like I want it.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: But I am drinking today a Cellar Beer by Plan Bee Farm Brewery, which is a lager and they have like this house beer. The barn beer is their normal variety. And they'll have different versions for different fruits or peppers or herbs or whatever. They have barrel aged versions. It's like the thing that they kind of iterate on a lot. And so this is a kind that was like aged in barrels in their cellar and it is so crisp. It is like a little bit smoky, but not too much. It's not very hoppy. It's not too sweet. It's not too boozy. It's just a delicious dark beer that I'm drinking out of their ceramic mug--
ERIC: Oooh.
AMANDA: --that I bought one of to bring home and there's just nothing like it.
JULIA: That sounds incredible.
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: I'm still on my Winter Warmer kick right now. So I have been buying myself the four packs of the Gingerbread Cookie Pie from Greenport Harbor Brewing Company. And let me tell you, they're so good. Like you would think for a Winter Warmer you want to kind of like a not ice cold beer, but their perfect ice cold. It's like licking gingerbread frosting. It's incredible, it's great.
AMANDA: {laughing)
ERIC: Yeah.
JULIA: So I hinted out the fact that we had a follow up email and this is from Zoey, who you might remember as the gluten free cheese, its dream person.
AMANDA: Yes.
ERIC: Yes.
JULIA: So Zoey was the one who sent in the dream that her ex boyfriend had and now she has sent in a new story, which is I am being haunted by shopping carts. My school probably has ghosts and the conspiracy of Spirits lore.
AMANDA: Ohh.
ERIC: Wow.
AMANDA: Tell me more.
JULIA: So Zoey says, "Hello, I was so thrilled to hear your commentary on my ex's dreams told. In the urban legends episode that I had sent in more spooky things, none of which relate to cheese, it's gluten free or otherwise. So I went to college at the University of Wisconsin Madison and study Geography, Cartography and Environmental Studies. All of which are housed in the incredibly haunted, Science Hall. One of the oldest buildings on campus. This building first of all looks like a haunted mansion. And while the sunlight streaming through stained glass is beautiful during the day, the echoing hallways and nonsensical layout are not so nice at night. The sign on the outside of the building includes a period at the end of Science Hall because the building has caught fire three times and been repaired. But I guess next time they're going to cut their losses and give up so this is the final Science Hall TM."
ERIC: Nice nice. Do you think the Science Halls haunted because has no skeptics and they go so like we're really gonna are really going to fuck with these guys.
JULIA: That's a great point. That could be.
ERIC: I feel like theater people are just accepting of any supernatural things. Like haunting them is easy, because they're like, oh yeah, it's a it's a ghost but like the Science people are like there's surely an explanation for this.
JULIA: "But we've had several Science people, whether they're grad students or PhD or professors who have written in and being like, yeah, my lab super haunted. So I don't know how I feel about that."
ERIC: That's true.
JULIA: "So Science Hall used to be an Anatomy building, and supposedly the cadaver labs were on the fourth floor. So the smell wouldn't rise, I guess? And bodies were sent down a chute to the first floor where lessons were completed. Later, Science Hall became the home of Geology and Geography and the cadaver labs left. In the 60s and 70s I think it was a thing to take a date to Science Hall after hours and slide down the chutes. Because that seems like a totally safe and sanitary and sexy thing to do."
AMANDA: Oh my god, how do we feel about that?
ERIC: I like it. It sounds like a good time.
AMANDA: I hate it, not because it's morbid, because it's gross!
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: Oh I mean, there were sanitized I'm sure by the time that it changed over.
JULIA: I feel like it's disrespectful to Science, not not to the date but to Science.
AMANDA: Yeah.
ERIC: Yeah.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: Oh God. "So I personally never saw the chutes. But the fourth floor is very creepy and the fifth floor is worse. See, Science Hall's fifth floor is essentially one locked room at the top of the central tower and the staircase from the fourth to the fifth floor is covered in signatures and stories from Geography graduates. The earliest dated signature is from a Landscape Architecture student in the 1890s."
ERIC: Wow.
JULIA: "Some are sweet some are silly, some are sad, but the effect of a sending into a whirlwind of history scrawled in pen, pencil, and chalk never fails to make me shiver. The scariest thing to me to happen in this building. Aside from some final exams was the time I stayed to that, was the time that I stayed too late and almost didn't make it out. I was working on a map of Africa and lost track of time in the Geo-computing lab while painstakingly adjusting labels. Before I knew it. I was completely alone. And as the computers reset at 11:30 I needed to save my work and pack up. The last person in for the night was supposed to turn off all the lights in the lab and make sure that the door locked behind them too. The lab was on the mezzanine floor between the third and fourth floor with twisty turny hallways and lots of dark corners. I darted out into the hallway to throw on the light before I turned off the light in the lab and locked the door. And then repeated this process down the narrow stairs until I reached the normal third floor hallway where I couldn't turn the lights on. Which was long and dark and the tile echoed with every movement. Where a bunch of 3D maps were hanging on the walls making everything seem ominous. The central staircase wraps around the world's weirdest elevator, which I sure shit I'm not going to enter and I was torn between whistling to feel less alone and being silenced to avoid attracting attention. I descend it as fast as I could with the sense that something was behind me increasing with every stair. I practically sprinted down the last set of stairs the massive building feeling tinier and tinier and slammed into the front wooden door like a cartoon character hitting a wall, it was locked. To this day, I do not understand why it was also locked on my side of the door but I was not thinking rationally. My phone was dying and I felt like crying. I couldn't stay here all night. I knew of another door from the basement that might be open and there were professors offices down there that might be occupied yet and had keys. But the idea of going into that oppressive basement with its low ceiling and buckwild maze of hallways made my stomach turn. I finally remembered a service door on the landing of the stairs to the basement and prayed that it would be open. Using the last of my phone's battery, I slunk along the wall of the stairs and shoved the door. I nearly cried with joy when it gave way and I ran outside into the crisp night. I never stayed late again always being sure someone else was still in the lab when I left. I continued going to class in that building for many more months. But that was the only time I felt unwanted. It was as if Science Hall knew I wasn't supposed to be there still and wanted me out."
AMANDA: Damn.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: Wow.
JULIA: "Less spooky but more comical. I'm also being haunted at my current apartment building by shopping carts. There are just a bunch of random carts in my building constantly that I've never seen anyone else use. But they change locations often including being directly outside my door. sometimes. Every time I've needed one for anything though, I can't find them. Not a single one of the entire three-storey building. Where did they come from? Where did they go? Something something something, Catenaccio."
ERIC: Perfect.
JULIA: "Lastly, because this email is too damn long. I have a theory about Julia Shadow Man. After recently re-listening to the Mothman episode because I fucking love Mothman. I wonder if the man with the hat and the dog is really injured cold, and he's warning us about something. Not clear how the dog fits in maybe he just wanted a pet to keep in company. But this is my conspiracy nevertheless, thank you so much for making an incredible show. I recommend this to all my friends and look forward to listening to new episodes each week. Have a spooky New Year."
AMANDA: Adorable.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: I think I've started to notice a trend.
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: Okay.
ERIC: In the last, I want to say three urban legends, including this one, starting with the spooky story you ever told. I feel like we've had a story where there's been a weird elevator, right? Because there was that museum, would they went down and there was an elevator to get down there. And I feel like--
JULIA: Right.
ERIC: --it was probably an elevator. They're just generally underground in that spooky story.
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
ERIC: And this one's also got a spooky elevator. So what what do we think's going on there? Because it seems like a lot of people have been writing in lately about like, I mean, is it just like you're descending and there is something inherently spooky about that.
JULIA: It's like an airplane in which you're putting your life in the hands of a machine that might malfunction.
ERIC: Yeah.
JULIA: And like I understand why a lot of people have a fear of elevators. I personally don't, but I understand like--
ERIC: Yeah.
JULIA: --being an enclosed space that is also typically you know, on cables taking you up multiple stories, usually bad.
ERIC: Yeah.
AMANDA: Yeah, I agree. It's the like immediate moral peril plus the existential terror.
JULIA: Yeah, I think it's just elevators, man. They're just kind of creepy--
ERIC: Just elevators. They're creepy.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: I have a pleasant story that we can, we can close that on here.
ERIC: Excellent.
AMANDA: This comes from Casey and it's titled: Gentle Ghost, also a camp song. She writes, "Hey, I'm excited to be writing to you all again. You read my last urban legend about the Screaming in the Woods on one of the episodes."
JULIA: Yehey.
AMANDA: "And I was really excited about it. So always screaming in the woods, huh?
JULIA: I know. Tell me something screaming in there.
AMANDA: "Here are the other two stories I wanted to share with you. The first one is about my new home. We moved in about five months ago as of early November, so it's been a little longer now and I quickly found out it was haunted. Our home is a triplex built in 1900 in Northeast Minneapolis."
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: "It is old and beautiful and I'm sure has many great stories to share. But also many ghosts, apparently." I'm also very jealous. Minneapolis has such beautiful homes.
JULIA: Uh-hmm.
AMANDA: "In about the first week, I came home from work to no boyfriend or dogs. We have two big girls, who always meet you at the door. The logical assumption is of course that they're out on a walk. I began setting my stuff down and could hear our roommate they them downstairs laughing. It kind of sounded like they were on the phone or something. As I was by the front of the house I could clearly see outside down the street. My boyfriend with our two dogs, and our roommate."
JULIA: Mmm.
ERIC: Mmm.
AMANDA: "All in to walk together. I ran outside as I was very freaked out and asked if my roommates partner was over. And No they weren't over either. We went back to investigate and found nothing. Things subsided for a while but I will say I never felt an uneasy feeling. Whoever was occupying our home wasn't malevolent. She sounded young and maybe mischievous, but not with any kind of ill intent. I think she proved me right when a few weeks later I encountered her once more. I was sitting at my vanity getting ready for the day and I felt a pinpointed blowing of cold air on the side of my face."
JULIA: Oh hell no dog.
AMANDA: Oh, Julia, I rarely see you shake your head so vociferously during an urban legends recording.
JULIA: Uh-uhm, don't like that.
AMANDA: "It seemed like a fluke to happen one so I proceeded with my makeup."
JULIA: Oh, God.
AMANDA: "Then it happened again. I looked to the side and saw nothing, no fan, no dogs, no boyfriend, no roommate. No one was there. There was no explanation for the cold sensation happening to my cheek. I spoke to the emptiness, hello, thank you for welcoming me in your home. It's quite lovely."
ERIC: What?!
JULIA: Good politeness. Politeness works against ghosts. We know this.
AMANDA: I love this. I love this. Ghosts want you to be polite.
ERIC: I love wait, that's what, I thought the ghost said that back.
JULIA: Oh no, that would be bad.
ERIC: Okay, okay. I thought the girls had responded and kind. I was like, oh my God. Yeah. Hello.
JULIA: Hello. Welcome to my home.
ERIC: Yeah.
AMANDA: That would have been very funny. But no, this is Casey being like polite and proactive and I'm sorry.
ERIC: [34:08]
JULIA: I'm also just saying Minnesota ghosts would be the most polite ghosts.
ERIC: Yeah, for sure.
AMANDA: I love it. Okay. Casey continues, "Nothing happened. So I went on with my day. I didn't feel scared but I also didn't necessarily feel alone. Then it happened once more, the third time just as cold and pinpointed on my cheek as the first two times. I waited, nothing happened. And I later spoke to my roommates partner as they have much more experience with the supernatural. And they informed me that the chilling sensation I experienced was likely the ghost just touching me, not blowing on me. But they said the gentle feminine presence was likely caressing my cheek. It's been a while since any interaction with her house ghosts, but I still feel like she is present even when I'm alone." I'm I'm in to this, I think is a pretty good outcome for everybody involved.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: Yeah.
JULIA: I was thinking about the first story. If it's like a triplex, do you think that means in it, it's like an attached home?
AMANDA: That is the context where I hear that word use.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: So I would have to guess, yeah.
ERIC: In our city we have triplexes where it's three floors, three floors one house.
JULIA: Okay.
ERIC: Different people
AMANDA: Yeah. Or like maybe like a semi-attached, you know--
ERIC: Yeah.
AMANDA: --row house type thing.
JULIA: Plex makes me think that it might be attached usually we say like three story home, I guess. But, if it isn't attached to home, I thought maybe you were hearing your neighbor's through the walls or something like that, but the blowing or the caressing?
AMANDA: Uhmm.
ERIC: No good, no good.
JULIA: No, no good.
AMANDA: That's something very specific.
JULIA: I've kind of one more if you guys want to just keep it real creepy towards the end here.
ERIC: I mean--
AMANDA: [35:34]
ERIC: --new year.
JULIA: Yeah. So this is titled: Just a couple of ignorant Americans curse by check vampires.
AMANDA: Yes.
ERIC: Excellent. Naturally.
JULIA: And this is from Cool Cal and she writes, "My best friend and I lived in Prague Czech Republic for a semester during undergrad. This friend is the one who recommended that I listened to Spirits podcast."
AMANDA: Yehey!
JULIA: Yeah, good friend. "Prague is a beautiful city filled with many supernatural stories. But our experience with the curse happened outside of the city, in a school-sponsored trip to Cesky Krumlov. The town is a popular tourist spot and luckily we had a knowledgeable Czech guide to tell all of us students about the history of the area. This guy had mentioned some cool stuff around the town for our free time in the afternoon and evening. And on her list was a hiking trail up a nearby hill. My friend and I decided to take the trail over half a mile through overgrown fields and get the best view of the town below for our trip photos. We arrived at the top of the hill at golden hour and didn't see another soul the whole walk." That's bad, that's bad, as a hiker--
AMANDA: Uh-hmm.
JULIA: --you want to see other people. "Alone atop the hill was a single building, an old church. The name of the church has a few translations, but the best that I could find in my research was the chapel on the hill of Our Lady Dolores and the Holy Cross." It's a long name. "The church doors were chained shut so we couldn't get a very good look inside. After lots of pictures at sunset, we followed the trail back into town for dinner and rest. The next day I was overcome with illness, sick to my stomach and unable to accompany my friend on any of the day's activities. All signs pointed to food poisoning even though I had eaten the same meal at the same food stalls as other students on the trip and no one else had gotten sick. My friend did head out on the tours and while being guided through an old mine, her foot slipped on the rocky path and she sprained her ankle so severely it eventually needed surgery. Back in our schools tour bus and down for the count while the rest of the students went on without us. Together we asked the local guide for information about Cesky Krumlov history to pass the time. At one point we mentioned enjoying the view of the sunset from the church on the hill the previous evening and her demeanor changed completely. She said that she would, she said she should have warned us about taking the trail so close to night time. According to her the church on the hill is besides one of the town's old grave sites. During a recent restoration project for the church, residents of Cesky Krumlov rediscovered something unique about the site. A few bodies contained within were buried unusually--
AMANDA: Mmm.
JULIA: --each weighed down with heavy stones and the stones--
AMANDA: Mmm.
JULIA: --lodged in their mouth."
AMANDA: No, no, no thank you.
JULIA: "One body was even decapitated before burial. These were the graves of vampires. Centuries ago, villagers would take corpses suspected of actually being vampires and bury them away from the city atop the hill. The church supposedly houses a piece of the cross that Jesus was nailed to and villagers hoped that this holy relic would suppress the evil of any vampires buried nearby. The guide told us that the vampires have never risen from their burial place thanks to the holy power, but their presence can still be felt in town at night. Usually this presence manifests as a curse of nightmares for the town's residents below the hill, but the closer you are to their resting place at night, the more dangerous their curse can be. Maybe the guy just told a spooky story to comfort us ailing students. But it also could be possible that two ignorant Americans accidentally spent nightfall in a vampire grave site and were struck by the Czech vampires curse. At least are good photos that lasted the pain." And that was from Cool Cal.
AMANDA: What's that luck?
JULIA: Oh, Cool Cal. I enjoyed that.
ERIC: You ever, you ever see a piece of that cross? My my friends church had a piece of the cross, apparently.
JULIA: Yeah, yeah. So like, I feel like a church in order to like become a church and be recognized by the church in general has to have some holy relics. So I've seen full saints skeletons because I've been to Rome and they just do that there.
ERIC: There's like this is just the old guy.
JULIA: It's just an old guy.
AMANDA: Well, relics bring tourism. They bring pilgrimages, which brings money and so lots and lots and lots of pieces of the same body are lots and lots of different places. I've seen some very cool relic carries which are like ornate things that are supposed to hold relics aka pieces of saints in the Cloisters Museum in, in New York, and they're creepy as fuck and I love them.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: Yeah.
JULIA: Oh yeah.
ERIC: I mean, I think nothing better than like something, I mean this is probably just a very small splinter. But like what better to keep a vampire away than a piece of wood? You could you could poke them with.
JULIA: Yeah, and--
AMANDA: That's true.
JULIA: --also it's a cross.
ERIC: Yeah.
JULIA: It's double duty.
AMANDA: Double duty. Well, that was a lovely creepy cool myth to end the episode on I would say.
ERIC: Yeah.
JULIA: I would agree. I hope that none of our listeners are going into the New Year cursed by vampires.
ERIC: Definitely not. That would be bad. Bad news.
AMANDA: That'd be bad, that'd be bad. But if you do come across vampire graves like Sophie Peck, I would love to see them, yeah.
ERIC: Uh-hmm, uh-hmm.
JULIA: So this is Sunset fix, please.
AMANDA: Well, everybody enjoy the end of your January and remember, stay creepy, stay cool.
[Transition Music]
[Outro]
AMANDA: 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 form 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 a $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. Bye
Transcribed by: Vernon Bryann Casil
Edited by: Krizia Marrie Casil