Episode 284: Your Urban Legends LXIII - Handwritten Hometowns!
/You know we live in a digital age when we’re VERY excited to be reading a handwritten urban legend. We discuss whether hot breath or cold breath on your ear is better (because…ghosts) and discuss whether or not ghosts can or even SHOULD breathe.
Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of spiders, death, dangerous working conditions, child death, drowning, dismemberment, car accidents, and surgery.
Housekeeping
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- Recommendation: This week, Amanda recommends This is Good for You.
- Books: Check out our previous book recommendations, guests’ books, and more at spiritspodcast.com/books
- Call to Action: Check out the Queer Movie Podcast - 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!
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Transcript
AMANDA: Welcome to Spirits Podcast, a boozy dive into mythology, legends, and folklore. Every week we pour a drink and learn about a new story from around the world. I'm Amanda.
JULIA: And I'm Julia.
ERIC: And I'm Eric.
AMANDA: And this is Episode 284: Your Urban Legends.
JULIA: [hums] Dun dun dun
ERIC: Folks, here's what just happened to me, I was out walking the boys, lovely second or third really nice day that we're probably going to have for the remainder of summertime season and I was like, I'm gonna get the mail. Put in the mailbox myself, by the way.
AMANDA: Oh, look at this homeowner right here.
ERIC: I went in there and I grabbed the mail and you know what's on the mail? A spider. Ahh!
JULIA: Ooh!
AMANDA: Oh!
ERIC: I mean, just- just a little– a little fright before our urban legends episode for me.
JULIA: A little friend.
ERIC: Then I was like, "How do I get out?" because I was holding a leash with one hand I'm holding the letter with the spider on it in another I was like, "What do I do about this situation?" I finally was able to fling it away. But I mean, I almost died pretty much.
JULIA: He was just saying hi.
AMANDA: You're- you're so brave.
JULIA: Just little spider friend.
ERIC: It was a it was like a Yellow Spider, too. Like a spider that I typically don't see around here which is what made it all the more scary.
JULIA: He's just a friend. He just a bright friend.
AMANDA: That would definitely surprise me, especially a spider that is not black. I definitely see being surprised. But I mean, Eric gets a it's a nice little like jolt to your- jolt to your day. A little like caffeine in the veins. A little fight or flight to really just like get the synapses open.
ERIC: Yeah, yeah. I mean, the thing that was concerning is it's a closed mailbox.
AMANDA: True.
ERIC: So he got it somehow. Maybe he came with the mail.
AMANDA: I mean-
ERIC: Maybe someone delivered a spider to me as a threat
AMANDA: It's possible.
JULIA: Very possible.
AMANDA: Or a little- a little present, because the spiders will make sure there's no like mosquitoes or nasty flies in your house.
JULIA: That's true.
ERIC: Yeah, I mean, I'd go about it a different way but I appreciate the thought from the spider.
JULIA: I stand by it, spiders are friends.
AMANDA: Whenever I see spiders in my house I go, "Thank you, pal." because the only thing I detest, is mosquitoes.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: We have a spider that every spring shows up at our back door called Joe.
AMANDA: Aww!
ERIC: And we have to move him because he makes a big web and Kelsey can't get through the door to take the dogs out.
JULIA: You would think Joe would have learned by now.
AMANDA: Right?
ERIC: I mean we kind of call all breed of whatever this spider is Joe so it could be a different guy. But they're- they're all Joe.
JULIA: You would think that they've like created some sort of like living memory. Like even if it's not the same spider every time.
AMANDA: Yeah. Inherited like folklore. Maybe, Eric again, maybe you're the cryptid.
ERIC: Maybe.
AMANDA: Maybe your dogs are the cryptids. And they're like, Ah yes, every day at dusk.
ERIC: We've only been here for one– one Fall season or one Spring season so far. So maybe after a couple more years, they'll just move to a different window or something.
JULIA: They'll learn.
AMANDA: That's true. But guys, speaking of mail, I recently received my own little fright in the mailbox, by which I mean delight. And it's a hand written urban legend!
JULIA: Whoa!
ERIC: Coming through!
AMANDA: They did it! This is from Sadie Rai who wrote us a lovely letter, a couple of necklaces, and I'll show this up to the camera. There is in the corner of this letter a recommendation corner.
ERIC: Excellent!
JULIA: Adorable.
AMANDA: Adorable. This is for Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow and Sadie writes really fun twist on the chosen one trope. Possibly gay, cute little goth girl. A lot of fun.
JULIA: Love it.
AMANDA: Would you like to hear the urban legend that Sadie's snail mailed to us?
JULIA: Obviously.
ERIC: Of course.
AMANDA: Fabulous. So this one is titled Secret Tunnel! Minors (with an O like not at the age of maturity) vs Miners (of Billy Elliot fame) And Giving a Bathroom Ghost the Finger.
JULIA: Oh!
AMANDA: Sadie writes, "Hello perfectly peculiar podcast people. So the universe told me to send this story in. I'm a relatively new listener, I started listening after a friend recommended it to me last December, and I have been marathoning it ever since. I've written the story out a while ago it was hesitating just send it in. Then I heard Hometown Urban Legend Episode 16 and a story came in from Hibbing Minnesota. I am from CHISOLM. CHISOLM. I don't know how to pronounce the na,e. CHISOLM, Minnesota. Chisholm. I'm trying to say the Minnesota accent. I have it. Okay. The next town over is the point. So when I heard a story from Hibbing that small town rival recenter of my brain exploded particularly when in the same story, Eric made a Field of Dreams reference, which is what CHISOLM is known for."
ERIC: Oh!
AMANDA: "(Doc Moonlight Graham is from CHISOLM-" And I'm so sorry. I'm submitting to the way I'm pronouncing this. Guys. This word is in this paragraph like 20 times.
JULIA: Oh, no.
AMANDA: "--they kind of go to that town in the movie, or at least a very nice doing looking town that they call Chisholm.) I took it as a sign that it was time to send it in. Context: as the Hibbing listener said we are in the middle of Iron Country. So our whole community was built on Iron mining. If you know anything about mining at all, you probably know it's dangerous as fuck particularly 100 years ago before companies had to take accountability for their massive worker death toll. So the early history of my town basically consists of cave-ins, mines flooding, worker suffocating, and people blowing themselves up with dynamite. As time passed and the miners began to unionize, the mining companies finally figured out that if half their workers were dead and the other half refuse to work that jobs that can make them dead things would stop being awesome for the mining companies. As a result, the companies began to negotiate with a large group of mostly immigrant workers after pesky things like safety standards and livable wages were taking care of minors demanded that companies 'build their children a castle to go to school in'"
JULIA: Excellent.
ERIC: A castle?
AMANDA: Well, "As a result, our public schools are fucking epic. We've gotten to massive stone buildings with marble floors, sweeping mahogany banisters for every staircase, a giant theater with old school Hollywood seeming satin chairs, full orchestra pit, a hand carved proscenium arch. In short, our schools are impressive. (We only had two chandeliers in ours, but you know what? Hibbing, six chandeliers is overkill)
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: Unions get shit done.
JULIA: Unions get shit done. I also, in my mind, want to pretend like yes, the unions get shit done. But at the same time, I really liked the idea of like, we went to the house of one of these rich guys, and we just took it now our kids-
AMANDA: Right.
JULIA: -go to school there.
ERIC: Also good.
AMANDA: I know. Really good. "The high school was the more impressive of the two buildings. But right across the courtyard with the middle school, it was three and a half levels if you count the basement and was connected to the high school by a tunnel running under the ground, (presumably so students could travel from one building to the other in the winter without going outside and -20 degrees Fahrenheit weather)" Yes.
JULIA: I don't care what the tunnels were made for, they're still creepy.
AMANDA: We could probably have a whole spin-off podcast about urban legends surrounding schools with tunnels. I think it's just a good practice not to build tunnels in your schools.
JULIA: Yeah, don't do it.
AMANDA: I'm just gonna go out there and say it.
JULIA: I know it's cold up there. I get it. But, no.
AMANDA: Be like Minnesota, makes sky bridges.
ERIC: Oh, but the sky bridges. There's a whole the whole thing about skybridge as being evil as well. So-
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Here's a question. Okay. So for anybody who grew up in a warm place, and you have those outdoor sort of like breezeways. You know, we're like covered pathways that connect your school buildings. As kids in New York. It was so exotic for me to see, you know, stories set in Australia or California or Florida and the idea that people would have like multi building school campuses that they could just kind of walk into the buildings or your breezeway is haunted. Does this extend to non enclosed spaces? Or are we only talking about hauntings in tunnels and sky bridges.
JULIA: Here's the problem, Amanda, when they're enclosed, they keep the ghosts in
AMANDA: That's true. That's true. A breezeway got lots of healthy movement for like germs and also Spirits. Worth looking into. Sadie Ray continues. "However, in spite of the fact that the tunnel existed, students weren't allowed to use it. Now, it wasn't unusual for high schoolers to need to go to the middle school and vice versa because the cafeteria was in the middle school while the pool and bandroom were in the high school. So students were going back and forth multiple times a day. And because we lived in a post-Columbine world, the doors for each building were only unlocked at specific times. The time that high schoolers got kicked out of the cafeteria was about 10 minutes before the high school doors opened. And often middle schoolers would have to trudge across the courtyard after swimming classes. (Admittedly not that bad in September or May, but any other month of the year, it was fresh hell walking 50 yards with wet hair in Northern Minnesota.)"
ERIC: I'm extremely worried that this is going to end with a like Matt leaves for Math class at 12:50 PM and Susan leaves from science lab. Both are trying to get to the bandroom by 1-- like, who is, I'm worried, I'm worried about that math word problem, and I am not prepared.
AMANDA: It's a real fear. Sadie Rai continues, "This begs the question, why couldn't we use the tunnel? It was right there. Wouldn't that be the easier and safer option? Well, the logical answer is probably like asbestos or some shit, but this is Hometown Urban Legends, not Hometown Logical Answers. So clearly, the tunnels were haunted by vengeful miners."
ERIC: I do like one episode of Hometown Logical Answers.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: Where we just solve a bunch of the problems for real this time.
AMANDA: I would find that very delightful. So if anybody has would be urban legends that have a logical answer, go ahead and email us spiritspodcast.com/contact and make your subject line, Hometown Logical Answers.
ERIC: It would be an excellent episode for a potential maybe month of hometowns that we do a second time, maybe?
JULIA: I don't know.
AMANDA: I don't know if you guys like enjoyed that when we did that last January. But-
JULIA: I don't know, I think they might have been into it.
AMANDA: You might have been kind of into it and maybe we should do it at like a spoopier your time, who can say?
ERIC: Yeah, maybe one of our hosts is like having a big life event in October. And we need to like get a bunch of episodes recorded in preparation for that. Maybe, maybe maybe we would do it then.
JULIA: Who can say?
ERIC: Hard to say
JULIA: Who can say?
AMANDA: "Clearly the tunnels were haunted by vengeful miners. And don't you know the amount of fourth graders who broke into the tunnel when no one was around. (No, totally, they swear)
ERIC: Fourth?
JULIA: Yeah, hold on? They're middle schoolers or fourth graders? No!
AMANDA: Too young, right?
JULIA: Too young!
ERIC: I'm just impressed they're breaking did to the place.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: I'm less concerned that they're in middle school. I'm more concerned that they're the ones breaking in. Like you told me 10th graders, of course,
AMANDA: But I mean, okay, so let's see, because this is the story now, right? "There is never really consensus as to what the tunnel itself looks like. Sometimes it looks like just a basement. According to these fourth graders, sometimes it looks like mineshaft. Sometimes it's as legit as an Indiana Jones cave, but one thing is agreed upon in all of these stories, the tunnel was haunted by the vengeful ghosts of dead miners. They would chase kids with shovels and pickaxes like the Headless Horseman chasing a Ichabod Crane. Luckily, the ghost can't ever seem to follow the kid out of the tunnel and are even so kind as to lock the door back up afterwards. There'll be no proof the next day (very thoughtful)"
JULIA: This is what I was saying. Tunnels keep ghosts trapped.
AMANDA: "The tunnel was obviously a big source of stories, but the creepiest aspect of the middle school was the girls' locker room in the gym."
JULIA: Uh-oh
AMANDA: "Now as a young closeted lesbian going through puberty in the mid-2000s-"
JULIA: Oh, you poor thing.
AMANDA: "I found locker rooms terrifying for a variety of reasons. But in this case, I wasn't the only one everyone and I mean, EVERYONE hated that locker room for as nice as the rest of the school was that locker room was like a dungeon. Everything was a dingy and grayish brown. Half the sinks didn't work and most of the lockers were dented shut. It seemed like only half of the lights were ever on at a time just in case all of that wasn't Stephen King enough for you, the back of the locker room was a big metal door that was locked, bolted shut and had steel bars welded across it.
ERIC: That feels right.
JULIA: Why?
ERIC: I feel like every like high school has a door like that in like the gym area.
AMANDA: Yeah, I think it was like a safe at the back of our Administrative Office. But that's like normal. "It always felt eerie by that door just looking at it me the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Teachers straight up refuse to talk about it, and you would get in trouble for even asking. Apparently, it was an old swimming pool that has since been cemented over because it's not needed anymore. And logically, again, there's nothing too weird about this pools are expensive. So having a separate pool for the middle school and the high school was just across the street isn't overly necessary even though you know, it would be nice in the wintertime. But that didn't make the question if it was just closed off because it was expensive. Why the overkill? I kept cementing the pool in that's a safety thing, but why well the door shut and refuse to talk about it?"
JULIA: Maybe they didn't actually cement it in and so it's just like a big hole in the ground. And now everyone's like, well, we can't let the children in there and it'll be too expensive to fill that with cement. So let's just well out the door shot.
AMANDA: Jim has some steel beams.
ERIC: I know I'm always bringing it up but this is also kind of similarly a plot point in the hit Netflix German show, Dark. So once again, it's good to check it.
JULIA: Watch Dark.
ERIC: Not you, Amanda. I know you're not going to. But the public, it's a good show. It's very good.
AMANDA: I need to watch it like I watched Our Flag Means Death on a plane with Julia one earbud in watching you watch it, which feels like that would be a lot better.
JULIA: The best way to watch anything in my mind.
AMANDA: Yeah. So before Dark came out, these students came up with an explanation of their own. Okay. "In lieu of a logical explanation the students came up with our own story, which is after swimming one day back in the 60s, a girl got shoved into a locker by one of her bullies and left there. Unfortunately, it was the day before summer vacation so by the time they found her it was too late. As a revenge, she started drowning children until the principal had no choice but to close the pool."
JULIA: Oh no.
ERIC: Very good.
AMANDA: What a good kid urban legend.
ERIC: An extremely bad logical answer to this one.
JULIA: Extremely not. Yeah, as we all know, when summer vacation starts no one goes to the school for three months.
ERIC: And if a child goes missing at school, they wouldn't check the school.
AMANDA: "Terrorized and yet satisfied with this explanation we came up with, most of us made the logical choice to avoid the locker room at all costs. Unfortunately, this was the only bathroom in the basement so if you had to pee during lunch or gym and couldn't hold it, then you had to go in there murder ghost or no murder ghost. I don't know how much he actually believed in the ghost until the thing with Angel happened. When I was in fourth grade, my friend Angel had to use the locker room bathroom. She went in alone, which is mistake number one. Always bring a friend to the bathroom with you."
JULIA: True.
AMANDA: "A few minutes later, we heard a scream. Angel ran out sobbing cradling one hand with her other hand, blood dripping down her arm. According to her, she was leaving the stall when she felt someone shoved her hard from behind. She tried to stop herself from falling by grabbing the door of the stall with the door slammed shut on her hand and severed her finger completely off."
ERIC: WHAT?! That almost happened to my friend, Tim, when he worked on a boat.
AMANDA: I mean, on a boat. It's like okay, those doors have to keep water out.
ERIC: Oh, yeah. Yeah, exactly.
AMANDA: A children's bathroom stall? Damn!
ERIC: Too much.
AMANDA: She does not have the capability of severing any part.
ERIC: No.
AMANDA: "You'll all be happy to know that doctors were able to reattach her finger and she was fine."
JULIA: Excellent.
ERIC: That's amazing, by the way. Anytime anyone's like-
AMANDA: Right, right?
ERIC: "Oh yeah, we can reattach a finger." Sure. Amazing. Great. Great job.
AMANDA: Here it is in a Ziploc baggie of ice, no problems. Damn. So the doctors were able to reattach it. "But Angel never went in that locker room." Fair enough.
JULIA: Yeah, I don't blame Angel.
AMANDA: And Sadie finishes by saying, "I hope you enjoyed the stories. I'll definitely write again because I love collecting stories. I have a butt-ton of them, including but not limited to the haunted ass resort I was raised in." We gotta learn about that one. Yes.
ERIC: That's becoming too common.
AMANDA: I know.
JULIA: Why is everyone raised in haunted hotels?
ERIC: It's becoming too often that people were raised at a haunted hotel.
AMANDA: I love it. I mean, everyone who's raised in a haunted hotel show up for us. "Tales from the bog that my mom was raised in." Please tell me more. "The time I drunkenly tried to Weegee and the ghost started our garage on fire." And the time I convinced a bunch of preschoolers that a dragon almost blew our town up. Stay creepy. Stay cool."
JULIA: Wild.
AMANDA: Wild.
ERIC: Very good.
AMANDA: "P.S. I'm sure the Hibbing listeners are perfectly nice person and it's not their fault having sucks." And then P.S. P.S. There is here a slightly streaky meme from Avatar: The Last Airbender or Korra? I can't tell that says, "Secret tunnel"
JULIA: Secret tunnel!
AMANDA: Thank you, Sadie. and if you want to send us handwritten urban legends, please do. Our address is at spiritspodcast.com.
JULIA: Alright. How about we talked about some creepy talking dolls?
AMANDA: Yay!
ERIC: Talking dolls?
JULIA: Talking dolls.
ERIC: Oh, I'm in. I'm in.
JULIA: So this is from Felix and he writes, "My name is Felix, and I’m a 27-year-old guy from Sweden. I have wanted to send in one of my spooky stories for YEARS, but I’ve never been able to decide which stories to share with you, because there are so many! Seriously, I grew up in a very spooky family. Like, horror movies, books about paranormal phenomena and actual séances were a big part of my life growing up. And my stepmother is a professional medium + healer. So I have quite a few stories to tell, as you can imagine. But I’m only going to focus on one (for now)! So, when I was a little kid, I desperately wanted an Amazing Ally doll (not to encourage stereotypes here, because all kids should get to play with whatever toys they want, but yes, I am very, very gay). If you don’t know (or don’t remember), the Amazing Ally doll was this big doll with long, blonde hair and blue eyes that blinked and a mouth that moved when she talked."
ERIC: Amazing.
JULIA: Amazing, Ally. She's amazing. "Every time you turned her on, she would say something along the lines of “Hi, my name is Ally! I’m going to be your best friend!” and then she would go on to list the different activities you could do with her, like have tea parties and create stories. Anyway, when I was about eight or nine, I got an Amazing Ally doll for Christmas, and I was over the moon!! There is a photo of me from that Christmas, sitting between my two older sisters, dressed in my brand new white and silver striped pyjamas, holding the doll and grinning maniacally with glowing red eyes (because of the camera flash. I’m not a demon)."
ERIC: What a perfect picture.
AMANDA: What an era. What an era
JULIA: "I wish I could have sent you the photo, but it’s probably somewhere in an old family photo album in my parents’ attic or something. I was, truly, over the moon, but when it was time for bed that night, I felt a bit creeped out by the doll, so I put her back in her box and leaned the box against the foot of my bed. As I was trying to fall asleep, I kept getting these images in my head of her crawling out of her box and staring at me in my sleep. This wasn’t unusual for me, because ever since I saw the film Poltergeist as a six-year-old, I spent the rest of my childhood thinking that my toys would come alive at night and try to kill me. Anyway, a few years went by, and I eventually stopped playing with the doll. When I was about twelve, me and my siblings switched around our rooms a bit, and I took over my older brother’s bedroom, where he had apparently been experiencing a bunch of creepy shit (like his television turning on and off at night, and voices calling his name and waking him up). I wasn’t that worried, though. I was just happy to have my own room!" Did you guys ever share rooms with your siblings?
AMANDA: Yeah.
ERIC: I did not.
JULIA: Amanda, what was the experience of like getting your own room like, once you got it for yourself?
AMANDA: So Connor and I shared a room until the twins were born and my parents like expanded the house. So I was very excited because we like walked on the sort of studs of the house as it was being like putting an addition on. And my dad was like, "Look, Amanda, like you can kind of choose, you know, one of these two rooms." because I was the oldest. And so one of them was on the front of the house and one of it right next door was in the back of the house. And he described the backyard to me as overlooking the backyard. And I was like, "Oh fuck yeah, man." And I pictured like a glass bottom boat. I thought for certain this room would be sticking out over the back of the house. I was five years old, over the backyard. And when my parents walked me up and they were like, tada, look under the sheet rocks and this will be your room. I was like, "What?" I was [19:47]
JULIA: Brian, I demanded a glass floor in my room. What is this?
ERIC: I love that.
AMANDA: I know. Ot was a little bit lonely at first and they were also new babies at the same time. So like lot lots was happening, but it was definitely you know maybe feel very grown up, but I did miss sleeping with Connor you know, just over the bookshelf.
JULIA: Aww. Well, apparently Felix was very excited about having his own room as well.
AMANDA: That's fucking awesome, dude. Yeah, it's very, very big girl steps. Think of new bed.
JULIA: Yeah. "Even though I hadn’t played with my Amazing Ally doll in ages, I still had her in her box under my bed, and the box came with me and was placed under my bed in my new room. One night, not long after I had switched rooms, I was just about to fall asleep when I heard it loud and clear: “Hi, my name is Ally! I’m going to be your best friend!” The doll went through the whole, long greeting that she said every time you turned her on. I could even distinctly hear the mechanical sound of her mouth moving. I remember my eyes flying open and just laying there in the dark, waiting for her to stop speaking. I don’t know how, but I was eventually able to fall asleep. I pulled out the box from under the bed the next day, and cut away all of the tape so that I could open it (I had taped the box shut a couple years earlier, when I was sure that I was no longer going to play with her). I took the doll out and found, to my horror, that the battery wasn’t even inserted in the slot in her back."
ERIC: It's always the case, the battery's never there.
JULIA: "Needless to say, that doll did not spend another night in my room. I shoved her back in her box, taped the box shut again, and put her away in the attic like I should have done a long time ago! I did have several other spooky experiences in that room, but nothing as terrifying as the thing with the doll. I really hope you enjoyed this! And I will (hopefully) return with some more stories in the future! Stay spooky! - Felix"
AMANDA: Thanks, Felix.
ERIC: Very good. Well, when we get back from our refill, I have a little story that's kind of a follow-up to an email.
JULIA: Ooh!
AMANDA: My favorite!
AMANDA: Julia, it's the refill!
JULIA: Oh, hey! What do you got there in your hand, Amanda, is that a cocktail?
AMANDA: Sure is. I got a curly straw, just for fun.
JULIA: Oh, I love a curly straw. I like the ones that like pretend to be glasses and then you put in your mouth and you sip your cocktail.
AMANDA: Oh my god. So cute. Welcome most specially to the curly straws of our hearts, Izzy and Caitlin, welcome to the show. Thank you specifically for becoming our newest patrons. You are the lifeblood, the stuff that lets us keep making this podcast as a career and we super appreciate it.
JULIA: You're the mixers for cocktails otherwise they wouldn't be cocktails.
AMANDA: Oh, and you know who's the herbal garnish that really just makes a drink for me?
JULIA: Is that our supporting producer-level patrons?
AMANDA: Yes! Uhleeseeuh, Anne, Froody Chick, Hannah, Jack Marie, Jane, Jaybaybay, Jessica Kinser, Jessica Stewart, Kneazlekins, Lily, Little Vomit Spiders Running Around, Megan Moon, Phil Fresh, Captain Jonathan MAL-uh-kye Cosmos, Sarah, Scott, and Zazi. And of course, Julia, we have our legend level patrons. The premium garnish, if you will. The like, tiny cheeseburger on top of your bloody mary Arianna, Audra, Bex, Clara, Iron Havoc, Morgan, Mother of Vikings, Sarah, & Bea Me Up Scotty.
JULIA: I would pay $20 for their cocktails.
AMANDA: Me too. And if you would like your name read out if you would like to support this independent podcast that hopefully you really enjoy. Go to patreon.com/spiritspodcast
JULIA: Now Amanda, people really enjoyed this independent podcast but what have you been enjoying? What have you been listening to watching/reading lately?
AMANDA: So Julia, you know very well, that when you make podcasts, it kind of changes the way you consume podcasts because you listen to them. And you're like, oh, you know, what are the choices that they're making? Who is this person? What microphone are they using? You really have a sort of insider industry sense of what it is. And I recently had the weird experience of I was sick and not able to engineer for an episode of This is Good For You, which is a podcast that Multitude makes in partnership with Nichole Perkins. And so I got to for the first time listen to the podcast as a podcast without being there as it was made and it was so good. It was an episode with one of my very favorite people on the internet, Grace Bonney talking all about bird watching and why bird watching is good for you. And Nichole, famously hates birds. And so doing an episode all about bird watching, Nichole's mind was kind of changed. And it just reminded me that this is a great show and I love it. And she just put on Episode Two weeks ago all about the anniversary of the show where producer Eric Silver interviewed her about making this podcast and what that's been like for over a year. So it's a really good podcast and you should listen to it. It's called This is Good For You.
JULIA: Heck yeah. I love that. One of the ways that I also consume podcasts nowadays is by editing podcasts. And one of the shows that I want to tell you about for Multitude this week is Queer Movie Podcast, which I edit. Whooo!
AMANDA: It's so good. You do such a good job.
JULIA: Thank you. Well, you know what listening to Rowan and Jazza, the hosts is so delightful and so enjoyable that it makes my job easy. Basically, it is a queer movie watch party. They research and rate their way through the queer film canon one genre at a time anything from rom coms to slashers black and white classics. It is a celebration of all things gay on the silver screen and new episodes are every other Thursday. So Check them out there the Queer Movie Podcast.
AMANDA: And finally before we get to our sponsors for the week, we also want to let you know about an exciting merch drop. So our Spirits tarot cards have been reprinted. They are back at it. They are back on the website. They are available for pre-order. So if you want a reprint it's the Major Arcana. They are beautiful they sold out so quickly last time, so we were very excited to be able to bring them back. So grab your pre-order now and you'll get an email when they ship go to spiritspodcast.com/merch where you can also see the first of our monthly stickers. Zoe Polando Ryder, our fabulous merch contact, who designed to the Tarot deck has made some adorable versions of cryptids and we are going to be releasing them as stickers one at a time. We're just like a cryptid you have to kind of cite them and they're gone. So the first one is Mothman. I mean, what else could it be? It's adorable Mothman and you got to check him out spiritspodcast.com/merch.
JULIA: Amanda, I know that you were one of millions of people who became very interested in baking bread over the last couple of years.
AMANDA: It's true, Julia. But I have limited myself to quick breads. I am not yet advanced enough of a baker to do yeast breads, certainly sourdoughs to take care of another thing. A starter is tough.
JULIA: Yeah, no sourdough starter really really intimidates me. And while I love the bread I can get from my supermarket and stuff, I wanted better bread and I didn't want to be responsible for having to make that bread. And I was so glad when Wildgrain appeared on my doorstep one day like magic and Wildgrain is the first bake from frozen box for artisanal bread. But they don't just have bread, they also have rolls pastries, handmade pasta. It is so so good. I had their blueberry biscuits the other day and it made my morning so much better. I was like, oh, I want to start every morning with these warm, delicious buttery blueberry biscuits I super do. And here's how it works. You sign up you choose which type of box you want to receive and how often and then they deliver for free a box of breads, pastas, and pastries with easy to follow instructions. Really, it's super easy. Every item bakes from frozen in 25 minutes or less. So if you get up in the morning and you're like oh, I don't want her to go through the rigmarole of making a full breakfast. It's very easy. Basically you set it and forget it but not really because you have delicious pastries. If you're traveling or if your freezer is already stocked not a problem. It's super easy to reschedule skip or cancel at any time. And if I have made you hungry already, which I hope I have for a limited time, you can get $30 off the first box plus free croissants and every box and let me tell you the croissants are extremely, extremely good. So buttery, so flaky.
AMANDA: They're my favorite food. I love them.
JULIA: So you can get those when you go to wildgrain.com/spirits to start your subscription. You heard me, free croissants in every box and $30 off your first box when you go to wildgrain.com/spirits. That's wildgrain.com/spirits Or you can use the promo code Spirits at checkout.
AMANDA: We are also sponsored this week Julia by BetterHelp and every month better help because this another kind of aspect of mental health or of life that we can talk about and focus on and sort of remind you about and this month that is all about burnout. For me that often manifests as a lack of excitement or energy about the thing that I'm doing and feeling like every new thing that's on my plate even if it's exciting is sort of another like thing for me to deal with that I would rather not have and that sucks and one of the things that I do to deal with that like yes, of course I you know, I try to take care of myself I try to you know have all my physical needs taken care of I try to make sure I get good sleep all of that. Therapy is a huge part of how I care for myself and a sort of accountability process where like I have this you know hour every week where I meet with my therapist whose name is also Amanda and I have to be honest with her about kind of what's going on with me and even if it's something that I don't want to take seriously or I want to brush off because it's on my calendar because that time is there. It really works for me to be able to tell someone who's outside of my life and just there to listen and to help me about what I'm dealing with.
JULIA: And this podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp and BetterHelp is a 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. It is much more affordable than in-person therapy and you can be matched with a therapist in under 48 hours and Spirits listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com/spirits That's better h e l p.com/spirits.
AMANDA: Julia, I was recently away for a few days you were a huge help in helping me take a vacation which was very nice and I want to thank you very much for it.
JULIA: Aww!
AMANDA: And when I got home, I check on my plants you know I like brought home the laundry I did. I you know had my glass of crisp New York City tap water and then I expressed my Blueland all-purpose cleaner on my island and just cleaned it because I missed the smell and I miss doing it and I love the Blueland product so much and they're foaming hands soap that I use and they're like powdery dish detergent god it's so good and I am very happy to talk about it today.
JULIA: Yeah, Blueland is super simple. You just buy the bottle of cleaner once you refill it forever No more plastic waste the only thing you need to discard is your outdated idea that eco-friendly products have to be more expensive and less effective.
AMANDA: Eyy! yeah they're beautiful glass bottles and then the way that you refill it is they send you a lovely like wrapped in paper tablet that you put back in your reusable bottle add water shake it up and there's a cleaning product.
JULIA: It is so so easy. So try Blueland today you'll love it and the planet will thank you right now you can get 20% off your first order when you go to Blueland.com/spirits That's 20% off your first order of any blue land products at Blueland.com/spirits Blueland.com/spirits
AMANDA: And now let's get back to the show.
AMANDA: Alright, everybody Spring has sprung it is nice and warm outside where we live and the summer beers are on the shelf. So what have you been drinking recently?
JULIA: So since I moved I have been frequenting the Bluepoint Brewpub here in Long Island and they just put out a beer that is a like joint collaboration with The Donut Project.
AMANDA: Oh damn.
JULIA: And it is like a incredible lemon kettle sour beer and I am obsessed with it. It's so delicious.
AMANDA: Sounds so good. I love The Donut Project.
JULIA: They make some great stuff.
ERIC: I don't know about The Donut Project. What is- what is The Donut Project.? Is it like a donut place around there? I assume?
AMANDA: Yeah. Yeah.
JULIA: Yeah. It's like a local donut place. Yeah.
ERIC: I pieced all the clues together.
AMANDA: It is so amazing. Eric's been going there for years and has a black hat with like a red donut with a bite taken out of it and it's the hat that I think he gets the most compliments on.
JULIA: Because it's a great hat.
AMANDA: Great hat.
ERIC: Me and Amanda have shared many a bottle of Bulleit Whiskey.
AMANDA: True.
ERIC: They now make this is a recommendation for our listeners and for Amanda some pre-made stuff. So you can just get Bulleit Manhattan's or Bulleit old fashions they just they're already made. They're already in the bottle. Good to bring to a friend's house for a cookout. Don't have to worry about all those ingredients.
AMANDA: Love it.
ERIC: I tried the old-fashioned one. Pretty good. Pretty good for a cocktail in a bottle, I'd say.
AMANDA: And we just had a friend visit recently from Charlottesville, Virginia, and brought with her some seasonal bold rock cider, which is among my favorite ciders ever. This is the BlackBerry flavor, which I probably recommended on the show before but it is so springy and delicious. And I highly recommend it.
ERIC: That sounds delicious.
AMANDA: Yeah, it's so so good. So, Eric, you mentioned that you have a quasi follow up which I love and has its own tag in our inbox by the way of where we get our urban legends into. We love it so much. So why don't you tell us all about it.
ERIC: So this story, surprisingly, I didn't realize what Julia's pick was for her email. This story is also from Felix
AMANDA: Oh!
ERIC: But it also is kind of a follow-up to previous stories we've told so we've got a kind of double follow up a follow-up to the email Julia just read and a follow-up to a concept we've discussed many times on the show. So this is just kind of a double Felix episode so.
AMANDA: Hell yeah.
ERIC: So Felix starts their email with, "I recently wrote in to tell you about my scary childhood experience with my Amazing Ally doll"
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: "but after listening to your latest urban legends episode I just HAD to get in touch again."
AMANDA: Like seven minutes ago, Felix, that's how recently you wrote in.
ERIC: "In the episode, you talk about how one of the worst things a ghost can do is blow in your ear, and I am here to tell you that ghosts have been blowing in my ears for pretty much my entire life!"
JULIA: No.
AMANDA: Damn Felix.
ERIC: "I can’t remember exactly when it started, but for as long as I can remember, I’ve sometimes randomly felt as if someone is blowing in my ear. For many years, this would happen at least once or twice a week. It would feel exactly as if a real person was standing right next to me and blowing right into my ear. I would literally feel their breath against my skin. I never really understood it, and I never told anyone about it."
AMANDA: Damn.
ERIC: "When I was thirteen, my parents invited a professional medium to our home for a group séance, which I was allowed to attend." What cool parents, by the way.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: Wow.
JULIA: That's [35:20].
ERIC: "We were quite a large group, and we sat on chairs in a circle around the medium. I never expected her to turn to me because my stepmother had told me before the séance that mediums usually didn’t share a lot of information with someone as young as me. But she did turn to me, and the first words out of her mouth were “you’ve been feeling like someone is blowing in your ear.”"
JULIA: What the fuck?
AMANDA: Wow, that's pretty specific.
ERIC: That's a swish, right?
AMANDA: Yeah
ERIC: That's a 3-point swish with that call?
JULIA: Nailed it.
AMANDA: Yeah, it is.
ERIC: "My mind was BLOWN. She told me that the blowing in my ear is just the spirits’ way of making me aware of their presence or, in some cases, their way of trying to get my attention because they have a certain message for me."
JULIA: I'm just saying, there's better ways of getting someone's attention or letting them know that you're there other than breathing weirdly into their ear.
ERIC: I was just gonna say, is there? Then I realized I have the one that I think said like this would probably be the worst thing so like.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: I'm all over the place with my opinions on this situation. I'm gonna say like, like a lot of the other things go smooth is quite scary. This is just creepy.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: So, I don't know. You think got a real creepy way of a ghost encounter to you are very, aahh! very scary one.
JULIA: Like knock on a wall. You know, that's not as creepy.
ERIC: That's true. That's true, then you'll think your house is falling apart. And that's no good. Who knows?
JULIA: Fair, fair.
ERIC: "As the years went on, I developed the ability to sense when the blowing in my ear was just a friendly “hello” or something more important, or even something less friendly that needed to be removed."
JULIA: I want to know like, what the difference was? Was it like the intensity of the blowing? Or is it the rhythm of it? What's happening there?
ERIC: The rhythm of it. That, I don't like. I don't like. I feel like maybe like the warmth, like the cooler, a cooler breeze would be like a sign of something bad you know, warm is kind of a comforting thing.
JULIA: Okay.
ERIC: I don't know
AMANDA: WHAT? You're telling me someone reading humidly into your ear is better than a chilly draft? No way.
ERIC: I mean, I don't know. I'm spitballing here. I haven't had either of these happened to me. I don't know if I'd prefer one or the other.
AMANDA: Okay. Ask Kelsey to blow coolly in your ear and then to like breathe hotly in your ear ones definitely worse.
ERIC: Okay.
JULIA: Terrible.
AMANDA: It's your homework, Eric.
ERIC: I'll get directly on it as soon as this call ends. "My stepmom (who is now working as a professional medium) taught me how to cleanse myself and my living space." Sounds like she just told you to pick up those toys in your room, am I right? Badum-tss.
JULIA: Oh, moms.
AMANDA: Pretty good grift though if you need to make your kids clean their room.
JULIA: Yeah, the auras in here are off, you really shouldn't put away that laundry.
ERIC: Exactly, exactly.
AMANDA: Ghosts love a messy place.
JULIA: Mm-hmm. That's true. They thrive in chaos.
ERIC: "So, when I moved away to a very haunted school at the age of eighteen, I was able to keep myself safe and protected in my dorm room for the three years I spent there."
JULIA: Felix, stop.
ERIC: Probably Ohio University as we've established the hauntedest university and all of the states.
JULIA: Oh, he said he was from Sweden. So probably not Ohio.
ERIC: You don't know, we got ex-pats, some people come to Ohio for some reason. Most people leave but some people come here. "I had so many spooky experiences at that school, but I’m just going to share one of them (for now), as it feels relevant to the topic: One night, as I was lying in bed in my dorm room, I suddenly felt someone (or something) blow in my ear with more force than I’d ever felt before. Imagine someone putting their mouth only inches away from your ear and taking a huge breath and then blowing into your ear as hard as they possibly could. That's exactly what this felt like."
JULIA: I would prefer not to.
AMANDA: They can hurt you.
JULIA: My eardrum.
ERIC: "And it went on for about 30 seconds or so"
AMANDA: What?!
JULIA: What the fuck?
ERIC: "There was a little pause in the middle as if whoever (or whatever) it was had to stop to inhale before continuing."
JULIA: It's a ghost though it doesn't it doesn't have to.
AMANDA: Thats– that's tough. That's tough guys.
ERIC: Yeah. "I was lying on my side, leaning on my elbow and reading a book, and I immediately got an image in my head of someone/something lying behind me in my bed, leaning their head over my shoulder. I was too terrified to try to cleanse my room, though, seeing as it was in the middle of the night, and no one else was awake." which is usually what I do my best cleaning, honestly, especially when I lived alone. I would do almost all of likely they post the midnight.
JULIA: Interesting.
AMANDA: Really?
ERIC: Now I don't do that because I don't think Kelsey would appreciate me taking care of all of that in the middle of the night but I always would just like not vacuum obviously can't vacuum in an apartment at midnight.
AMANDA: No.
ERIC: But all of my tidy I was always in the mode to do it late at night on like Friday or Saturday nights when I was just alone in my apartment
JULIA: Fascinating.
AMANDA: That's fair enough. I was picturing like deep cleaning but I think putting stuff away before you go to bed is- make total sense.
ERIC: Yeah, I think the most like in terms of that stuff. I would probably like do the dishes maybe late at night but like mostly it was just kind of like the general taking care of the laundry that kind of stuff late at night.
AMANDA: Gotcha. Gotcha.
ERIC: So back to the story, not to my laundry situation five or six years ago. "So, I waited until morning came. The daylight and the sounds of my friends moving about outside my room made me feel safe enough to deal with whatever had scared me during the night. I would usually sit on my bed when I cleansed my room, but this time I chose to stand in the middle of the room instead."
JULIA: What? Because whatever it was was on the bed.
AMANDA: Yeah.
ERIC: "My cleansing ritual basically consisted of me closing my eyes and visualizing my room in my mind, and removing any dark energies and/or spirits, and finally filling every inch of the room with light. As soon as I got started, I immediately saw it lying right there in my bed. The best way I can describe it is that it looked like the red-faced demon from Insidious, only it was all black."
JULIA: Have you guys seen that movie?
ERIC: I have not.
AMANDA: No.
JULIA: Insidious is very creepy. Very fucked up.
ERIC: I think it's in the trailer. So I think I have seen it in the trailer, but I don't think I've seen the movie so I know what it looks like, I think.
AMANDA: I haven't. Don't need to.
JULIA: Yeah, no, it's creepy. I just- I just saw it again. I was like It's also referred to as the lipstick face demon which I hate.
ERIC: No good. That's a bad-
AMANDA: No good.
ERIC: I mean, that's a great name, but it's a– it's a bad name as well.
JULIA: It's bad. It's bad.
ERIC: "I don’t believe it was actually a demon, though. I think it only chose that appearance to scare me. I do believe in demons, but I think it’s extremely rare to come across one (and I hope I never do!) Anyway, it took a lot of energy, but I did manage to get rid of it. I have so many more stories to tell-" As we are aware, apparently.
AMANDA: Yup
ERIC: The surprise double header from Felix. "-but this is already long enough, so I think this is enough for now. Thank you so much for reading! Hope you enjoyed it! Stay spooky. - Felix"
JULIA: Oh, Felix. We did. We did.
AMANDA: So spooky, Felix. Thank you.
JULIA: So we were talking earlier about people living in haunted hotels and stuff like that. But I do have one called, "The Hotel and the Little Boy".
AMANDA: Ooh!
ERIC: Okay. Okay.
JULIA: This is from Elliot. And he writes, "Hello! I've been listening to the podcast for a long time and love the urban legends and the takes on Greek mythology." Elliot's also an archeologist. And we asked about the different types of Archeology.
AMANDA: Yeah
JULIA: Before in a previous episode. so, he writes, "Historic archaeology focuses on a) periods and regions with written histories associated with them, and b) the intersections between history and the physical archeological evidence. Other fields of archaeology include: biological archaeology/anthropology (depending on where you are), osteo-archaeology and paleopathology–
AMANDA: Bones, bones, bones.
JULIA: –(which falls under bio arch but focuses on skeletal evidence of disease, trauma, and diet, amongst other things)."
AMANDA: Damn.
JULIA: "Prehistoric archaeology, space archaeology (the archaeology of humans! in space!), and anthropology (which tends to focus on living cultures and the sociocultural aspects of archaeology)."
AMANDA: Fascinating. Thank you, Elliot.
JULIA: Thank you, Elliot.
ERIC: That's very helpful.
JULIA: I can't believe that Space Archaeology is a thing now. That's wild. I love that.
AMANDA: So cool.
JULIA: Now, Elliot gets into the meat of the story, which is. "Now, this isn't a story about my hometown, but it is my family's favorite ghost story because it happened to my dad. When my siblings were little, before I was born, my family went to Yosemite National Park and stayed at this old hotel. My sibling must have been about two years old at the time, my sister around six, and they were particularly attached to their baby blanket. One night, my dad woke up -he's a very light sleeper - and saw a pale light in the room my siblings were sleeping in. He got up, but when he went to check on my siblings, the light was gone, but now he saw the same light coming from the hallway. He went back to bed, thinking it must just be from the hallway lights." No big deal. "The next day, they woke up to find that my sibling's blanket had disappeared. My parents checked everywhere, even asked housekeeping to check if it had gotten mixed up in the laundry. Nothing. My sibling was distraught, but there was nothing left to do. That night, my dad woke up to see the light in my siblings' room again. He got up and this time, when the light had once again moved to the hallway, he decided to follow it." Which hmm.. is an interesting choice. Certainly.
AMANDA: Well if you have a kid throwing a tantrum because their blanket is gone. I have sympathy for this one,
JULIA: I guess, I guess. So, "He followed it all the way down the hall, down the stairs, down to the lobby of the hotel. There, he found a little boy, crying and holding my sibling's blanket. But when he went to comfort the little boy, the boy disappeared. The next morning, my dad went down to the hotel concierge and asked if there were ghost stories about the hotel. The concierge looked at him oddly, and said, "Only one about a little boy."
AMANDA: He takes blankets. What?
JULIA: "Apparently, decades ago, the son of one of the hotel maids had gone missing during a snowstorm. The young boy had never been found. Once, there was a car accident near the hotel. One of the drivers had died, but the other had survived, and when asked what happened, she said she had swerved to miss the little boy. Anyway, that's my story, I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for all your hardwork with the podcast, it's so much fun to listen to and always makes me smile. Stay creepy, stay cool! Best, Elliot"
AMANDA: Right on.
ERIC: Very good. Very Good
JULIA: Little boy, you gotta- you can't steal from other people. It's not fair.
AMANDA: I also have a follow-up email that I would love to finish this episode on.
JULIA: Ooh!
ERIC: Alright.
AMANDA: We love follow-up. Thank you everybody. This is from Deanne who titled her email, "Why you should know where your bones come from - Urban Legends LII follow-up"
JULIA: You should know where your bones come from.
ERIC: Yeah, yeah, I know where my bones come from.
AMANDA: Deanne writes, "Hi Spirits Three! I wanted to follow-up about your Urban Legends LII discussion about bone grafts. In late January I had to get a tooth removed and a bone graft put in with no word what type of bone graft I was getting."
JULIA: It's a cadaver!
AMANDA: "When I was talking to my pastor about it she mentioned a friend of hers had the choice between cadaver or animal bone. I was like huh I did not have a choice. Cut to a month later I was pretty much recovered and not thinking about until I was filling out a survey for a blood donation. No I was in a small European country in the early 90s and other very specific questions like that. Then came the question. Have you had a bone graft in the last six months? At that point I knew I was not going to be donating blood that day." [46:58] "So I got referred to a staff member who asked what kind of bone graft I got, since I did not know she could not use her nice flow chart for how long I needed to wait before donating blood. I still have not made time to call the dentist and ask. So not sure what the bone is made of. Deanne"
JULIA: I feel like there had to have been some paperwork where they disclosed that information. Maybe, maybe not, like verbally disclosed, but.
AMANDA: I don't know. I can't say maybe your insurance company knows maybe but like I totally understand how you just don't want to learn that if you want to be a- you know if I'm donating blood, I gotta know Oh, that's tough.
JULIA: I mean, I also just want to know in general if I've got a little bit of cow bone in me or a little bit of dead person in me.
AMANDA: Yeah.
ERIC: That's the exact reason they don't tell you.
JULIA: Yeah, but I want to know.
ERIC: Because what are you gonna do with that information now that you have it that might that could go bad.
JULIA: Nothing, but I just want to know. There's some bullshit [48:21] stuff here.
AMANDA: It's a medical miracle either way.
ERIC: Yeah.
AMANDA: And we're glad you're well and that you know someone's bone is helping you chew.
JULIA: Or something.
AMANDA: Or something
ERIC: Probably not some- something not bad scary Probably not something. Probably like a well-established safe animal bone to use.
AMANDA: If you think about teeth for too long on its own that can get pretty creepy. Just like just bones in your head. That let you rip things.
JULIA: Yup.
AMANDA: It's a lot. From spiders to teeth. I feel like we really have this whole episode bookended pretty perfectly.
JULIA: Yeah. Yeah.
ERIC: I think so.
JULIA: Hitting all of the fears. Only thing we're missing is clowns.
AMANDA: We have dolls. Close enough.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: Dolls and clowns are at the same category [49:05]
JULIA: Terrible. Terrible.
AMANDA: It's true. Well, we want to hear from you. Archaeologists, librarians, miners, people who grew up in spooky Taurus towns, hotels, and resorts.
JULIA: If you grew up in a haunted resort or hotel because your parents were trying to flip it, I specifically want to hear about that.
AMANDA: We do.
ERIC: Regardless of the reason they didn't have to have you tried to flip it. We don't we want we don't want [49:28] here.
JULIA: I don't know. Apparently, there's enough
AMANDA: If you have been thinking about writing it with an urban legend. Hey, it's me talking to you. Now is the time. spiritspodcast.com
JULIA: Amanda just turned her chair around is like facing another way like a cool person. Hey, I'm here to tell you about ghosts and also drugs.
AMANDA: I am wearing overalls but not a backward baseball hat. I'll have to work on that for next time.
JULIA: Yeah, yeah.
ERIC: You'll have to work on that.
AMANDA: Don't think too hard about your teeth and remember-
JULIA: Stay creepy.
AMANDA: Stay cool.
[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 $1 gets you access to audio extras with so much more. Like recipe cards with alcoholic and nonalcoholic for every single episode, directors 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!
Transcriptionist: KM