Episode 315: Your Urban Legends - Bringing Real Linda Energy
/The Orangey Guy is back, aren’t you excited?? Plus we discuss the best ways to give back to a haunted historic site, secrets revealed at funerals, and exes that live in haunted lighthouses.
Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of family member death, illness, amputation, burns, and drug use.
Housekeeping
- Recommendation: This week, Eric recommends 1899 on Netflix.
- 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!
Sponsors
- BetterHelp is a secure online counseling service. Get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/spirits
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- Storyworth is an online service that helps you and your loved ones preserve precious memories and stories for years to come. Go to storyworth.com/spirits and save $10 on your first purchase.
Find Us Online
If you like Spirits, help us grow by spreading the word! Follow us @SpiritsPodcast on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Goodreads. You can support us on Patreon (http://patreon.com/spiritspodcast) to unlock bonus Your Urban Legends episodes, director’s commentaries, custom recipe cards, and so much more. We also have lists of our book recommendations and previous guests’ books at http://spiritspodcast.com/books.
Transcript
[Spirits Theme]
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 316. Guys, it's our last one of 2022. We made it!
JULIA: Oh, we did it. The year is over. Thank goodness.
AMANDA: Congrats. Well, that being said, there is another bonus Urban Legends coming out in just a few days for Patrons on New Year's Eve. So you can finish your year with Spirit and style. But y'all I'm really excited. We have some exciting stuff planned in 2023 We're going to have some great new episodes, we're going to have guests on hometowns from time to time. Shocking thought, I'm excited for that. See how people react to the important questions like orange ghosts, Cheeto or no and plumbing, and team ignorant or team engaged. So I'm looking forward to it.
ERIC: We can find out so many different senses, people don't want to experience ghosts via.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: I can't wait.
JULIA: I bet we have some friends who are just like yeah, man, I just want, and I was like, I want to taste a ghost. I bet we have friends who want to taste a ghost.
AMANDA: I bet we have some weird freaky friends who do indeed want to taste a ghost. But guys, do you want to get right into it? Because I saw this email come through during the spookiest month of October and thought yeah, I'm reading this next time.
JULIA: Oh gosh, hit us with it.
ERIC: We got it.
AMANDA: This is from Marissa, she/her and it is titled Haunted Hallway and Hotspring PLUS Premonitions of Love.
JULIA: Ooh.
AMANDA: “Dearest Amanda, Julia, and Eric, love the podcast and I regularly tell spooky friends to listen to. I've wanted to write in my own stories for a while, but I could never decide what order to tell them in or where to start. So here we are. I don't just dive right in.” Good strategy. Marissa.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: Alright. “One haunted hallway. I live with my husband Clyde and also our dog and two cats in the house that my husband and I purchased just a few years ago. We weren't able to have the wedding we planned on for April 2020, for obvious reasons.”
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: Ooh.
AMANDA: Yeah. “But we instead put that wedding money toward a down payment on the 1940s craftsman-style home that we love.”
JULIA: I'm so jealous, craftsman style is my favorite.
AMANDA: What a dream. “Of course, I have listened to all of the haunted house stories that fellow conspirators have shared, so I was nervous. (Excited???) to find out if our new home came with any existing occupants. While I have not met any ghostly apparitions or heard anything go bump in the night. I'm pretty sure one of my cats Lilith may have.” Oooh. Julia, what's the—what's the vibe on Mimi Cat Lilith, do you think?
JULIA: Oh, I feel like you're inviting that cat to be a little bit of a chaos demon. And—
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: —that's fine. You know, some cats just have to live their truth.
AMANDA: That's a choice. And you know what, I respect it because I don't have to sleep with Lilith, you know, needing things for me in the middle of the night.
JULIA: Also if Lilith isn't like a pure black cat. I don't know what you're doing.
AMANDA: That's true. We would love photos of Lilith, uh Marissa if you feel like it.
ERIC: We haven't been getting pictures of pets lately. We had a big run of them like a few years ago. And then they—they have ceased to appear. I see no—I see no paper clips next to our email subjects in the inbox.
AMANDA: You're right.
ERIC: Because no one's sending us pictures of their cats and dogs—
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: —and cats and birds, and other animals.
AMANDA: Yeah, we got pigs once. I don't think we've gotten any lizards. But I sure want to. Conspirators, let 2023 be the year of sending us photos of your pets, or frankly just pets you've seen out in the world—
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: —with your urban legends, thank you.
JULIA: You saw a cow? Send us a picture of it.
AMANDA: Yeah.
ERIC: My sister has a couple lizards. So I actually do get lizard pictures of it often.
JULIA: Oh lucky.
AMANDA: People have been great about tagging us in photos of where they are when listening to Spirits, particularly when it's like the woods at night or a misty field. And listen, if you pass some goats or horses or something on your walk, let us know.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: Alright back to Marissa. “My husband works nights, and usually gets home around 2:15 am. Leaving me with our pets in the house alone until he returns. Several nights around midnight, Lilith will get up from lounging on the couch or bed and run enthusiastically up and down the hallway. Sounds like normal cat behavior, right? Well, that's also what I thought until she started to sit in the corner of the hallway and meow/yell at the wall for about 10 minutes at a time. When she started doing this, I would get up and go check if there was a bug she was chasing or something else to explain the yelling. But so far, I have not been able to find any explanation. Following your advice to be polite to potential Spirits. I've addressed the unknown object of my cat's attention. One night, I waited for Lilith to do her normal hallway running and subsequent corner yelling. When I heard her loud meows, I went into the hallway and told the spirit, I was fine if they wanted to hang out and play with my cat. But to please be polite and ask her not to be so loud if anyone was trying to sleep. Lilith has since had fewer quote conversations with her spirit friend, but I'll definitely update you if there any new developments.”
JULIA: Incredible. Logic answer, you probably have like a mouse or something living in your wall that you just can't hear the scratching of, and the cat can. I do like however that the—that if it is a spirit or a ghost, they were like, alright, we have to whisper to the cat. If the cat and I are gonna have a conversation.
AMANDA: Yeah, like cat, we're on thin ice. I want to keep playing with you. You want to keep playing with me.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: Let's keep it down.
JULIA: Yeah. That's adorable and very, very sweet.
AMANDA: This is story number two.
JULIA: I forgot that there was multiple stories to this one. Yes. Excellent.
AMANDA: Oh, yeah. This one is titled Haunted Hotspring and folks um, giving you in Slack a link, that has been included with this email.
JULIA: Ooh. Ooh.
ERIC: Oohh.
JULIA: Oooh.
ERIC: Yes.
JULIA: Yes.
AMANDA: “When I was a preteen, my grandma's longtime best friend Linda.” Grandmas always have a best friend named Linda, don't they?
JULIA: I feel like so many old ladies were named Linda. It was just a good old lady named back then.
AMANDA: I know, again thinking about millennial ghosts by the time we get there, all our friends are gonna be named like Becky and Amanda.
ERIC: Yeah, yeah.
JULIA: Ashley. There's gonna be a lot of ghosts named Ashley.
AMANDA: Oh my god. Yeah, so many grandma Ashley.
ERIC: And like there's gonna be so many, that like just one initial for the last name is not going to be helpful. Like it is an elementary school, and there's like seven Ashley in your grade.
JULIA: Yeah, now they're all named like Olivia.
AMANDA: “When I was pre-teen, my grandma's longtime best friend Linda needed help clearing furniture and sentimental family belongings out of an old resort property called White Sulphur Springs Ranch, that her family owned in a small town of Cleo in Northern California. A few hours drive from where we lived.” What a dream to be called to help clear out like a heirloom family property, amazing.
JULIA: Yeah. And like probably get to take pieces if you want them. Oh my God.
AMANDA: You know it, Julia.
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: “My grandparents and parents took our trucks and trailers up to help and brought me along. At the peak of its popularity with a literal Olympic-sized hot spring pool. White Sulphur Spring Ranch hosted many fancy and famous people, including Marilyn Monroe.”
JULIA: Oooh.
ERIC: Oooh.
AMANDA: “At the time of our visit, however, it had been in need of updating and repairs for several years. Following a death in the family, they were preparing to sell the property. There was a lot to do so we all stayed the night after loading up the important items that the family wanted to keep and plan to drive back home the next morning.” Julia, you don't approve of this plan?
JULIA: No, no, just make the trip.
AMANDA: Make the trip. Yes. Sleep in shifts, have somebody—
JULIA: Definitely haunted.
AMANDA: Exactly. Not good. Also, I feel once you've emptied the spot out, isn't it going to be much more echoey. And I feel like I personally would just be so jumpy.
JULIA: Yeah. And I mean, it's in need of repair, so probably like it's not in good shape. It's probably not honestly safe for people to be sleeping in there. But what do I know, I just married a building inspector.
AMANDA: Julia, you are so well qualified to pass judgment on these people's houses. “My mom, stepdad, and I all stayed in one room that had an attached bathroom. My mom and stepdad slept in the bed, and I slept on a large lounge-style couch thing that like everything else there looked quite vintage”
JULIA: Cool.
AMANDA: “In the middle of the night, I woke up and had to use the bathroom. When I sat up I could see through the doorway to the bathroom. And to my surprise, there was a woman I didn't know standing between me and the bathroom door.”
JULIA: Oh God.
ERIC: That's a bad place to see a ghost too.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: Like I gotta get in there. It's 3 am, I gotta go. And now there's a ghost in my way. Mmm-mm. Mmm-mm.
AMANDA: Yeah. Sometimes on a road trip when we like pull into a rest stop. And there's like a bunch of kids, or like a lovely, you know, old lady standing between me in the bathroom. In my head, It's like I'm in Mario Kart and have to, like desperately surpass the others while not being a dick or knocking anybody over. This feels like that.
JULIA: Yeah, yeah.
AMANDA: “The lady was wearing a long older style dress that was all one color. I think like blue. She seemed to fit right in with the decor and vibe of the whole hotel. But she wasn't doing or saying anything, just standing there with a sweet expression on her face. As we looked at each other. I remember thinking like, what the heck, what's this random lady doing here? And why am I not afraid of her? I'd heard ghosts stories before of course, but they were always scary stories with malevolent beings. This lady was the opposite of scary. The only feelings I was getting from her were calming and very natural like she belonged there. And I was the one intruding on her space. Now even though I didn't feel any threat from her, I keenly felt the inherent threat of a full bladder. I didn't speak out loud to her because I didn't want to wake my mom and stepdad up, who were still asleep in the bed only a few feet away from me. I did, however, think in her direction. Sorry, I really have to go to the bathroom, can I please walk by you? And got up to start walking. Still smiling, she gracefully moved aside when I approached her."
JULIA: Polite.
AMANDA: “I walked past her to the bathroom, and close the door, and do my business before returning to my makeshift couch/ bed. When I came back to the bedroom, the lady was gone.”
JULIA: Okay.
AMANDA: “I remember being disappointed. I didn't get to see her again and regretting not asking her who she was. When we were having breakfast the next morning, I asked Linda if there were any stories of ghosts at the hotel. To my surprise and delight, Linda said "YES".”
ERIC: That's exactly how Linda would have said it.
AMANDA: Thank you. Thank you.
ERIC: Like you nailed it. You really nailed Linda.
AMANDA: I'm doing a lot of character work here for Linda. Yeah. “She pointed to another area of the room and directed me to look through a whole stack of guest logs and journals, her previous guests had recorded the events of their stays. Apparently, I am not the only person to meet the lady in blue, as well as other resident ghosts. There were a handful of these journals chronicling decades of encounters. I was so relieved, nobody thought I had lost my mind. And in the journals, I found confirmation that I hadn't dreamed up the encounter.”
JULIA: That's incredible. Oh my goodness.
AMANDA: “BREAKING NEWS!!!! I just got off the phone with my grandma. I called her while writing you to make sure I had the name of the hotel correct. And she told me two things that you NEED TO KNOW.”
JULIA: Oh my gosh.
ERIC: Bring me a lot of Linda energy to our—to our writer.
AMANDA: Thank you. I really appreciate you calling your grandma to fact-check. Marissa, you are doing the best and I appreciate it.
ERIC: We stan a fact-checking fan.
AMANDA: Yes. “First, she told me she didn't remember my ghost encounter story, but she did know of the journals. She thinks that journals were donated to a local library or museum and promised to ask Linda about where they went the next time she sees her.”
JULIA: Oh, that's cool.
AMANDA: Alright, Marissa, it's been eight weeks since you wrote in. We're gonna expect an update. Got it. “I will try to track these journals down and report back. Second, she told me she too met a ghost, only a few years prior to my story.”
JULIA: Oh snap.
AMANDA: “Apparently, she and my grandma stayed at a documented haunted hotel in small town, in Oregon. But she couldn't remember the name of the town. The hotel had at one point in a brothel, and many people reported meeting the ghosts of the ladies that worked there, including the lady in the frilly red dress that my grandma saw walking down the hallway of the second story from one room to another.”
JULIA: Nice.
AMANDA: “Thank you for sparking the opportunity to share these stories with my grandma. She also wants to listen to your show now, so I'll be downloading some episodes for her the next time I visit.”
JULIA: Yeaaaah.
ERIC: Nice. Nice.
AMANDA: Yeaaaah. Marissa's grandma, if you're listening, you gotta get in touch. You can email us spiritspodcast@gmail.com.
JULIA: Alright, so Amanda, you sent me the website for this White Sulphur Springs Ranch, right?
AMANDA: Yes, I did.
JULIA: What I'd like to point out to everyone is, in order to like fund and like fundraise for this historic site, because it is a historic site. We can buy a brick, we can buy a brick and inscribe it.
ERIC: I was looking at all these proud sponsors like High Sierra Gas.
JULIA: Oooh.
ERIC: Joy Engineering, Gumba's Family Pizza Restaurant.
JULIA: I did see that one. That was very cool.
ERIC: That's what I thought you were gonna talk about. The brick is much more exciting.
AMANDA: Julia, how much is the brick?
JULIA: I don't know. I'll find out. But it is tax deductible. And we can have it inscribed with whatever we want to say on it.
ERIC: Finally.
AMANDA: I mean, if it's less than a couple 100 bucks, I think we have to buy a brick.
JULIA: Ooh. Okay. So it is for one, four by eight brick, a $100 for one, eight by eight brick, $200.
AMANDA: Yes. Let's get a brick.
JULIA: Do you think we can just put the like Spirits logo, on a four-by-eight brick and then have it there?
AMANDA: It's a really good question. I think we'll probably have to be constricted to writing. So new plan. Patrons, we'll put a poll up on Patreon. We'll have a few options of messages we could put on the brick. It could be a stay creepy, stay cool. It could be a like be [13:02] little ghosts. It could be uh—we have to think about it. But we will make the poll for patrons. If you want to vote, become a patron. And we'll have the poll closed in the first few days of January. So we can decide what to put on this brick and donate to the White Sulphur Spring Ranch.
JULIA: Heck yeah, I love it.
ERIC: I do think it's important to point out that the program, where you buy a brick is called brick by brick. Like—like by purchasing a brick. Quiet good.
AMANDA: Incredible.
JULIA: They also do have some custom artwork that they can put on for you. Which is—
AMANDA: YEESSSS!
JULIA: —Extremely good. There's a star, a sun, a heart, a bear.
ERIC: I think whatever we do, we pick the United States Army logo.
JULIA: Naturally, naturally.
AMANDA: We'll get in touch. We'll see if— if the larger size brick can accommodate our logo because I think that'll be tight as hell.
JULIA: Yeah. Yeah.
AMANDA: Alright, great. I'm gonna save the Premonitions of Love story for the Urban Legends Episode, coming out in a few days' time. So thank you, Marissa. You've truly opened up a world of possibility for us and we will talk to you soon.
JULIA: Well, Amanda, I—your saving that but I have boop boop boop boop boop boo boo boo. An update from—
AMANDA: YESSS!
JULIA: —a previous email, from our last episode.
AMANDA: Is it my birthday? No, it's simply the last [14:15] episode of the year, and we wanted to make it special.
JULIA: This is from as you might remember, Eva, and her sister Cara. And this is update more on the orangey guy.
AMANDA: Yes!
JULIA: As you'll recall, the orangey guy was Eva's sister, Cara's imaginary friend/imaginary enemy.
ERIC: Hell yeah.
JULIA: “Hi, Amanda, Julia, and Eric. I'm writing in with addition/corrections to my story because apparently my family and my sister have notes.” So this section is from Cara. “Despite what Eva said, the orangey guy was never an imaginary friend but more of a reoccurring character in my dreams, as well as an unsettling presence throughout my childhood. Whenever I was alone, I felt like he was behind me, watching me. I remember often at dinner, I sat with my back turned against a wall, and one night especially I had this overwhelming feeling that he was there. In my dreams, however, he was very friendly in an odd way though. I had dreams of doing everyday things. But with the help of the orangey guy, I didn't want his help. And I wanted him to leave me alone. But in my dreams, I couldn't say anything about it. He had helped me put away my laundry, which is weird because of the (obsession with the laundry room??)”
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: “Or there was another time that I had a dream about going to a play place with a daycare and he was there to check us in. Other times my dreams would involve him trying to steal me away, there would be a loud banging, like Eva's sleep paralysis, footsteps, and then he would show up to take me away, but he never succeeded because I would wake up just in time. Also, he didn't really have a look, he was more like a soft orange silhouette. When he did have a look quote, unquote, “he looked kind of like a Ken doll”. Just a normal guy blending it with society, but shiny, and chiseled (and orange).” [16:05] funny. It's a very funny image. “He would start talking to me and then my heart would sink because once he started talking to me, I knew it was him like his presence was hostile and eerie.” Eva continues “that was from Cara, I let her steal my laptop away so that you could hear her authentic voice and opinion on the situation. Apparently, she remembers everything about him, so don't hesitate to ask us questions, she will likely have an answer. Anyways, thanks for sharing our story. Stay creepy. Stay cool. Eva and Cara” do we have any following questions about the orangey guy, because I know we were imagining him as gritty, but now chiseled—
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: —orange Ken doll is instead the image that we should have in our heads here.
AMANDA: I mean, that's even creepier. It's like a model got Cheeto blasted. Which I think is pretty fabulous.
JULIA: Oh.
AMANDA: Who's the like big orange man we—in little tiny shorts, with like a short, short haircut from pop culture?
ERIC: Hold on. Okay, okay. Who's the big orange man, being with little tiny shorts?
AMANDA: Little tiny blue shorts.
ERIC: Blue shorts.
AMANDA: And like a—like a—a ear-length bowl cut. He's blond.
ERIC: Is he a wrestler? Could you give us a location he might be seen in?
AMANDA: There are action figures of him, so I think he might have been a cartoon character.
ERIC: Stretch Armstrong?
JULIA: He-Man?
AMANDA and JULIA: He-Man.
ERIC: He-Man Okay.
JULIA: Okay. The action figure got me there Amanda. Thank you for that.
AMANDA: Yeah, yeah.
ERIC: Yes, action figure was helpful.
AMANDA: Yeah, that's—that's what I'm picturing.
ERIC: Okay. Yeah. Did they say how big it was? Was it the size of an action figure? Or was it like a child size, like dress up Cinderella type size, plastic figurine?
JULIA: No, I think she just said like he was—he looked like a Ken doll and that he was just a normal guy blending in with society, but also shiny and chiseled.
ERIC: Okay.
JULIA: So full-size man.
ERIC: Full-size plastic man.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: Doctor Who, season one, episode one.
JULIA: Yes.
ERIC: Of the reboot.
AMANDA: I'm thriving on this. I was in Philadelphia a few weeks ago, and saw a lot of gritty merch IRL. And we just yelled the word gritty whenever I saw it, and then all of Philadelphia would go, woo.
JULIA: The entire city in one go, woo.
AMANDA: Yeah. I'm even more committed to my gritty fanon. And I'm just gonna say listen, if you and your siblings want to play out some arguments and pleasant drama on our podcast, we are entirely here for it, so long as it comes with the story. So I'm just a huge fan of this whole situation. And I wanted to continue.
JULIA: I also want to point out the way that Cara mentioned that in her dreams when he was trying to steal her away. There will be the banging, much like Eva's sleep paralysis, footsteps. I'm so curious if Eva was like, hearing the percussions, or like reverberations of Cara's dreams where the orangey man was trying to steal her away. I'm so curious if these like two things are connected.
AMANDA: Well, guys, let's head on into the kitchen for a quick refill, and then come back for more urban legends.
JULIA: Let's do it.
[theme]
JULIA: Hey, this is Julia. And welcome to the refill. I have been thinking a lot about the things that I like about winter. Because I'll be honest with you, I don't like the short days. I don't like the cold all that much. But I do love being cozy. And so I'm trying to bring that coziness into all aspects of my life, as it gets colder and colder here in the East Coast of North America. I want to welcome everyone who's listening to get cozy and settle in with me for this refill, including our newest patrons Payton, GioGrun, Steph, Ingrid, Kathyrn, Kailyn, Amber, and Katie welcome, there's blankets and a warm drink that you can settle in and enjoy by the fire. Also already by the fire, and by fire I mean our Patreon or our supporting producer-level patrons, Uhleeseeuh, Anne, Brittany, Cicuta Maculata, Daisy, Froody Chick, Hannah, Jack Marie, Jane, Jessica Stewart, Kneazlekins, Lily, Megan Moon, Nathan, Phil Fresh, Rikoelike, Captain Jonathan MAL-uh-kye Cosmos, Sarah, Scott, Spooky Lore, and Zazi. And of course, our legend-level patrons who are the Hestia to our cozy warm fireplace, Arianna, Audra, Bex, Chibi Yokai, Clara, Ginger Spurs Boi, Morgan, Sarah, Schmitty, & Bea Me Up Scotty. And you too can join in on the warmth that is our Patreon by going to patreon.com/spiritspodcast. Our monthly Patreon, yes, we switch to monthly in case you haven't been listening to our mid-rolls, means that you can sign up, it is super easy. Your tier is what you pay each month. It's simple. It's awesome. And if you want more Urban Legends episodes each month, all patrons now have access to our monthly bonus episodes, plus dozens that we've posted over the years. You can enjoy new benefits like our Tarot drawings, bonus video advice, podcast, and even more chances to connect with us. And if you want to get a whole year of Patreon support at a discount, you can sign up now for an annual plan. All that and more at patreon.com/spiritspodcast. One of the things I really liked about winter is I go to the movies a lot more often during the winter because you know, I'll be honest, the weekends can kind of be a little bit drizzly here, a little bit on the colder side. So going to the movies and snuggling up and watching something for like an hour and a half, two hours maybe more, is a really nice way to spend time. And I recently did that and watch to The Menu, which if you are a foodie, and also you'd like dark horror comedy stuff. It was so delightful and funny and just on the mark. I really, really enjoyed it. Check it out. It's The Menu. Also, if you love movies, you should be checking out the Queer Movie Podcast here on the Multitude collective. The Queer Movie Podcast is a queer movie watch party hosted by Rowan Ellis and Jazza John, and also I edit it, so I think it's pretty good. You can join them as they research and rate their way through the queer movie canon one genre at a time. From rom-coms to slashers, contemporary art house cinema, to black and white classics. Queer Movie Podcast is a celebration of all things gay on the silver screen. They have new episodes every other Thursday. Check them out wherever you get your podcasts. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. The thing is, life can be hard. I think you know that. I think I know that. And it would be so much easier if I could simply ask for help if there was a guidebook like a video game on how to defeat the bosses in my life, and by bosses, I mean anxiety, depression, and ADHD. 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ERIC: Hello, welcome back everyone. As you might have heard in the mid-roll, I have a recommendation this week.
JULIA: Ooohh.
AMANDA: [27:58]
ERIC: Now, I don't know what that means. I don't understand foreign languages, which ties in perfectly to my recommendation.
AMANDA: Whoah.
ERIC: Which is the show 1899 from the creators of Dark. Now, I know Amanda, too spooky for dark or—
AMANDA: Too spooky.
ERIC: —or reversed. But in 1899, way less creepy. Definitely got creepy vibes at times. But it's not creepy, is about a bunch of people. I think over the course of the show, eight different languages are spoken.
JULIA: Whoah.
ERIC: So be sure—unless you need to—watch it in the original languages with subtitles because it doesn't make a lot of sense when everyone's speaking English. It was like, I don't understand what you're saying in English back to another person speaking English. It's really good. I bring it up on Spirits because it's got a lot of really interesting stuff going on about who the characters are, why they're on the boat they're at, why there's other weird stuff going on, to the point where maybe I've just been Spirits build. But I definitely at one point thought and I won't say if this theory came to fruition or not. I was convinced it was an allegory for the Greek pantheon.
JULIA: Oh, interesting.
ERIC: They find an abandoned boat called the Prometheus. The boat they're on is a different spelling of Cerberus. And there's some like dad-father issues maybe someone bringing someone down underneath like Hades asked stuff, like definitely felt like it could be going that way, does it? I won't say. It's a really good show. Dark was a perfectly constructed time travel show. So wherever this goes in the later seasons, I have full faith that these people know what they're doing. So, so check out 1899 on Netflix today.
JULIA: That sounds awesome. A friend of Jake's at work was like yeah, I watched it. It was very sad. I was like oh, I don't know if I want to watch sad.
ERIC: I wouldn't describe it as very sad. There's definitely drama and unfortunate things happen, but I wouldn't describe it as like, a sad show.
JULIA: Is it like nautical horror, because I do quite like nautical horror.
ERIC: It's like abandoned ghost ship horror—
JULIA: Okay.
ERIC: But not like scary, more suspenseful than horror I would say. More like abandoned spooky boat with creaks and cracks, but it's not like jump scary or like anything even close to what Dark does. And Dark was also not like the scariest show. It just has a lot of scary moments in the first couple episodes of Dark.
AMANDA: Yeah, it's—it's a lot of dread. I could definitely see myself like committing to watching it and just kind of—I was like live texting my sister who loved it and was just like delighting in my horror the whole time.
ERIC: Yeah.
AMANDA: Which was a great way to experience it. Eric, my relationship with the show is that a few people talked to me about it. And it took a few days for me to realize this was not 1883, The Yellowstone prequel about the Frontier Era West.
ERIC: Oh, no, it's not that for sure.
AMANDA: Yeah.
ERIC: In a lot of different ways.
AMANDA: Alright. What have you been drinking as you've been enjoying the show?
ERIC: Oh, you know, Christmas ale. It's that time, Christmas bells dingaling. I don't remember the words of the song all of a sudden.
JULIA: Those are the words.
ERIC: It's some words in some Christmas songs. But yeah, I mean, every so often, I grabbed a six-pack of different Christmas ales. Shiner is one of the best ones. It's got like apricot in it.
AMANDA: It's really good.
ERIC: So if you're looking for something that isn't as like, hit you over the face with the spice, try Shiners Christmas ale.
JULIA: Eric, I've actually been drinking what you recommended to me a few months ago, which is the Southern Tier Creme Brulee Nitro Stout.
AMANDA: I saw Julia drink this.
JULIA: On top of, usually I would get the pumpkin, but shout-out to my local brewery. Bluepoint Brewery. They had a pallet sale where I bought about 24 big mother pumpkins for $25.
AMANDA: What?!
ERIC: Whoa, that was literally seems illegal.
JULIA: It was a quick sale. Yeah. So I did that, and so now we are slowly making our way through those because they're Jake's favorite pumpkin beer. And I've been topping them off with the Nitro Stout like you recommended. And it does taste exactly like a pumpkin pie.
AMANDA: Oh, hell yeah dude. I have been really enjoying the Winter Blend of Downeast Cider. It is incredibly crushable, it's so delicious. I've really been enjoying cider this year, for whatever reason. And the winter blend, it just has like a light spice that I find really, really delicious.
JULIA: I'll just check that out. Because I know you—you know Ciders Amanda, and I appreciate that.
AMANDA: Alright, who's got an email for us?
ERIC: I have one called My uncle astral projected to a funeral.
AMANDA: It's good. Eric, that's promising, I like it.
ERIC: Yeah, I figure let's read an email that is like maybe aspirational for me. [32:29]
AMANDA: Sure.
ERIC: Maybe one day I could astral project to a funeral.
AMANDA: Right.
ERIC: This comes to us from Elizabeth and she writes, "Hey, hi, Hello. I have a plausible explanation story that still creeps me out. I think I buried this in my subconscious until your logical answers episode. So I will now get to share it with everyone."
JULIA: Ooohh.
AMANDA: Yay.
ERIC: “Growing up, we would go three to four times a year to visit my grandfather's family in West Virginia. It's a pretty large families. So lots of aunts, uncles, cousins, and kids of all ages. One uncle was a favorite of every child. He was technically my great-grandmother's brother, making him my grandfather's uncle, but we all called him Uncle Osborne.” That always happens with aunts and uncles or it's like you're technically a great first removed thing, but we'll just call it, you know for the sake of.
AMANDA: Too complicated.
ERIC: Yeah, exactly.
AMANDA: Yeah. My cousin's kids call me aunt because it's— it's too much to get into.
ERIC: Yeah. “Uncle Osborne was very distinctive in the family as he was born with six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot.”
JULIA: Cool as hell.
ERIC: So that is, what 24 digits right there?
JULIA: There you go.
AMANDA: Wow.
JULIA: Could count higher than any kid, as a kid.
ERIC: He could. “Also he contracted polio as a kid and lost the use of his legs below his knees.” What life was like before the polio vaccine. Get vaccinated everybody.
AMANDA: Seriously.
JULIA: This person has a wildlife, good on him.
ERIC: Yeah. “So here he was walking through life on his knees, the same height as every 5 to 10-year-old kid with an amazing sense of humor. He was a big personality and well-loved by everybody. He was also super close to his sister, my great-grandmother. So our families were all very close. As life happens. My great-grandmother passed away when I was in my early 20s. It'd been a few years since I went and visited that side of the family. So it was a bitter—so it was bittersweet seeing everyone again. I was looking forward to catching Uncle Osborne up on my life. But I was told he wouldn't make it to the funeral as he was in the hospital with an illness. He was also in his 80s at the time. The night of the viewing my very large extended family was standing around the funeral hall. And as I'm chatting with a cousin, I see Uncle Osborne walk through the door, walk upright and stand at the back of the room. The man who chased turkeys on his knees, up mountains was standing upright on his feet at the back of the room. I immediately elbowed my older cousin to make sure I wasn't seeing things, he saw him too.”
AMANDA: Oh.
ERIC: We both went to our respective parents to confirm that Uncle Osborne was still in the hospital, and he didn't make some miraculous recovery. Everyone confirmed that he was still 45 minutes or more away in his hospital.
JULIA: Secret twin. Secret twin. Secret twin.
AMANDA: I was gonna say, there is nothing that elderly relatives loved more than hiding a secret twin. And are you sure that wasn't the case?
JULIA: And then revealing it at a funeral.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: That's where all the secrets come out at funerals.
AMANDA: Listen, guys, if I—would have a funeral one day, play out all your interpersonal drama there. I'm dead. I don't need it. It's—it's an excellent setting for you to like unveil some long-kept secret. I would love that.
JULIA: That's how you honor me in death, revealing kept secrets.
AMANDA: Yeah. And doing rituals to impress a date on my grave.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: All the things to—to— download this episode, set a reminder for 70 years. Let's be hopeful.
AMANDA: That's good.
ERIC: And then listen to this episode, and make sure you do whatever Amanda has told you to do.
AMANDA: Yes. Preserve your phone.
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: This is for our Gen Z listeners. Because, you know, us millennial listeners will probably be a little too old to do any of this.
AMANDA: Yeah.
ERIC: “So who was this man at the back of the funeral home? Over the next few days, I brought it up to various family members. Some saw him there and some didn't. People suggested that it could have been a long distant cousin who looked a lot like him. I like to think he didn't want to miss out on family gatherings, for the loss of his sister. I projected him across the astral plane to be with us that night. He sadly did pass a short time later, and I didn't get to visit him before the end. So I'd like to think that it was his way of seeing us all one last time. He would love the saying, Stay creepy, Stay cool. Lots of love Elizabeth”
AMANDA: Aww.
JULIA: Aww. Well, sending him a big stay creepy, stay cool from beyond the grave.
AMANDA: I'm sorry for your loss Elizabeth, and I'm so glad you have such wonderful stories to remember him by.
JULIA: Amanda send them it was better, cut mine.
ERIC: Noted.
AMANDA: Well, my next email comes from Ginger, she/her, and it's titled Ghosts of Loma Mar, which is just—I know it's just Spanish but it sounds really resonant and I like the—I like the idea of being Ghosts of Loma Mar in California. Ginger writes, “Hey, y'all, I have listened to the pod for ages, and recently started marathoning the back catalog. I love it. And I kept on listening to the Hometown Urban Legends. Feeling sad, I didn't have anything to contribute, or at least I couldn't think of anything. But then as I flipped my Marie Callender's chicken pot pie onto my plate while listening to the podcast, of course, I actually burned my hands on the oozing gravy because I suddenly remembered the ghost of my old dining hall.”
JULIA: What a good description.
AMANDA: That—that is why I like this email. I'm sorry that you burned your hands, but good, good choice of dinner, that sounds delicious.
JULIA: Extremely evocative.
ERIC: Yeah.
AMANDA: My first job after college was at an outdoor school called exploring new horizons in the coastal mountains of San Mateo County, California. It's this weird zone between three major cities that's pretty untouched and inhabited mostly by organic farmers, old hippies, and young idealistic hippies, all living together in the redwoods and teaching about nature.
JULIA: Adorable.
AMANDA: Guess which category I fall into.
JULIA: The new one.
AMANDA: So the land I lived on was in Loma Mar, which is a quote town of about 160 to 170 people. (If you ever read the Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe, you may know the La Honda, California. Loma Mar is the next town over, these hills are full of freaky history.) Every Monday kids would arrive on a school bus and all week we go for walks in nature, learn all the pretty science things, then head back to their hometowns on Friday. There were two quote “villages” of cabins, a boy's village, and a girl's village. And in between them atop a big hill was" all caps or capitalized like sentence case. “The Old Dining Hall”
JULIA: Nice.
AMANDA: “My first year living there, I'd heard stories about the building being haunted. I don't live close to the veil and don't experience things of the supernatural order really ever. But it's fun to entertain these types of stories. What's also fun, is that I'd heard the building was haunted by a benevolent spirit, specifically the old cook. And there would be times on walking past the old dining hall, you'd smell the unmistakable scent of maple syrup. And the weird thing is, it was almost never in the same spot. Sometimes when I was on call after letting our high school volunteers have some time off at night, I would walk up to the old dining hall between 11:30 at midnight. For some reason, that's where our emergency phone was” and then in parentheses, “(why?? WHY??). And I spent a couple of minutes writing the important info on a whiteboard. This is a very remote place with no cell service and barely any WiFi in our office. So a landline was necessary for context.”
JULIA: I was going to say, I think if I was going to pick the occupation of a ghost to haunt an area, cook or chef would be like one of my number one picks because of the cool ghost smells.
ERIC: Hmm. Hmm.
AMANDA: Yeah.
JULIA: Like I want to like walk past a cafeteria and I'm like, ooh, I smell marinara. And I know no one's making marinara.
ERIC: Do you want that? Because then there's no marinara.
JULIA: Listen—
ERIC: I—I mean, I'm—mostly I'm asking for Jake because I imagined Jake smells some marinara, and there is no marinara. He's just gonna be sad for a little bit.
JULIA: Eric, I live in a place where when the wind blows the right way, my whole yard smells like bread. So I can't get the bread. It's in a factory that's like blocks away. And it's not like I could just go buy fresh bread from them. So I love that. But also I understand the pain of it. And so yes, I want to smell marinara, even if I can't eat the marinara.
ERIC: Gotcha. Okay. Yeah, yeah.
JULIA: That's fair.
AMANDA: And Julia, I feel like you're good at turning like inspirations and food cravings into things that you actually do make. So I think if anything, it would just sort of inspire your meals for that week.
JULIA: That's true and fair. Thank you. It's a very kind thing to say.
AMANDA: It's true. It's true. “I don't know why. But every time I had to go up to the cafeteria, I always felt like I had to get out of there as quickly as possible. As the years went on, the building's dilapidated state became hard to ignore, so they decided it was time to renovate and restore it. It is now a gorgeous building with a big beautiful deck overlooking canyon. And curiously, all the smells of maple syrup are gone. Not long after the repairs finished, I was chatting with the camp cook who also lived on site. We talked a lot because I was responsible for passing along dietary needs of the campers each week. And one day I walked into the kitchen and I overheard her talking to her staff about quote, her ghost was knocking stuff off the shelves again last night.”
JULIA: God dang.
AMANDA: “I guess this was a common occurrence that it started shortly after, you guessed it the Old Dining Hall, now titled by the way, the Legacy Lodge, had been finished. Is it the same spirit of the cook trying to find a new place to belong. Vacating its old kitchen to reside with a fellow chef? I don't know. But I like to think that it is”
JULIA: I really liked the idea that it moved because it was like well, this isn't a kitchen anymore. What am I supposed to do with this.
AMANDA: Call to the Legacy Lodge, that's silly.
ERIC: I'm just trying to cook pans, but these are just shelves.
AMANDA: Right. Again like ghosts are patterns, and where the stove was Eric, I think that's brilliant. Like if it's a shelf now, you're trying to move stuff around, change a burner, it's gonna disrupt everything.
ERIC: Brilliant, might be a little bit much. I appreciate the call. I don't know that it was brilliant.
AMANDA: Listen the spirit of Linda is still inhabiting me. I'm just having a really good time on this episode.
JULIA: Linda is so positive. We love it.
ERIC: Thank you. I'm taking the compliment, obviously might be a little much.
AMANDA: Yeah, Linda complements the part of your outfit that you're most excited about whenever you see her.
JULIA: Damn. That's—that's awesome. I love that for Linda. Also, all I can think about now are panda pancakes. Panda pancakes.
ERIC: Panda pancakes. You know what I know our last apartment whenever you cooked on the opposite like angle of the house, in the front stairwell which was on the opposite wall of our kitchen in our last apartment. The smell of whatever we cooked would seep in there. It's very weird because you'd like cook pancakes. And then you take the dogs out. And you would smell pancakes as you reentered the stairwell, but like not in the living room. Like it only—it somehow moved telepathically. That's not right, from the kitchen to the stairwell but missed all of those zones in between there. Like it never made any sense. It was like it was—
JULIA: It so odd.
ERIC: —we— it was a phantom smell. But we knew where it came from.
JULIA: Where it's coming from?
AMANDA: Yeah, yeah.
ERIC: Just how it got there.
JULIA: Interesting.
AMANDA: Yeah, that really reminds me of the first few years at the Multitude studio, where the building is an old pencil factory. And there are like huge, like three-foot wide beams making up the ceilings and like structural support of the building. It's very beautiful. But it also means that—we cannot guess how sound transports from one room to another.
JULIA: [43:25]
AMANDA: Like inside the studio, there is noise not from our neighbors on either side. Not from people across the hall, not from people above, not from people below, but by people around the corner and two offices down, because of just the way sound transmits through wood versus metal, like it is bananas.
JULIA: That's wild.
AMANDA: Alright, let's finish up with Ginger. “There are many other stories about the hauntings of Loma Mar, passed around as new people come to live and work on the land. As I mentioned before, creepy stuff doesn't really happen to me. But I lived there for five years, so it was kind of inevitable something would happen. Nothing too scary, things like lights behaving weirdly, trash cans falling over spontaneously, and walkie-talkies making strange sounds. But for three of those years, I dated a man who does live very close to the veil.” I'd love this expression, by the way, I kno— It makes total sense. I don't know why it's striking me as like particularly delightful today, but—
JULIA: No, it's a good one.
AMANDA: Very good. “He lived and worked in another very creepy place.” Any guesses?
JULIA: An old morgue.
AMANDA: Julia, not bad. Not far.
ERIC: A cemetery.
AMANDA: Okay, too ominous, too creepy.
JULIA: Hmm.
ERIC: Hmm.
JULIA: A haunted bar.
AMANDA: Getting there. Old was right. Let's think about a beacon. Let's think about—
ERIC: Lighthouse.
JULIA: Lighthouse. Lighthouse. Lighthouse.
AMANDA: That's right.
ERIC: The dream job.
AMANDA: He lived and worked in an old lighthouse.
JULIA: Incredible.
AMANDA: “That place was super scary and haunted as shit.”
JULIA: Ooh, boy.
AMANDA: “He saw and felt things all the time. And there was a building that I straight up refuse to enter when I went to his place. His place being, just to remind you an old lighthouse with a hot tub on the cliff. Super Rad. Missed those days.”
JULIA: That's so cool. My aunt married a lighthouse keeper.
AMANDA: Which aunt?
JULIA: Maria.
AMANDA: Whoa.
ERIC: That makes sense. It's a nautical name. Maria.
AMANDA: It is. It sounds like it belongs in a sea shanty, right?
JULIA: Yeah.
ERIC: Exactly yeah. Also like Marina.
JULIA: Yeah, Maria, Marina. Yeah.
AMANDA: Important update from Ginger kind of burying the lead here. “I sent him your podcast and I really hope he writes in with his stories of the lighthouse”
JULIA: Please.
ERIC: Yes.
AMANDA: “He'd often get off work late and drive 20 minutes up the windy road into the redwoods to stay over with me. And many nights he'd crawl into bed saying things like, I just saw something weird, to which I'd respond, tell me in the morning.”
JULIA: Yeah. Don't tell me right now, I'm about to go to sleep.
AMANDA: “Now as people responsible for the safety and well-being of children. The staff at Exploring New Horizons didn't really talk about the fact that there were haunting stories at Loma Mar. And yet many kids would talk about sightings of ghosts in the trees or even in their cabins on their own. One parent wrote in telling us her daughter saw a ghost in her cabin two nights IN A ROW.”
ERIC: Whoa.
AMANDA: “And it was just staring at her, not doing anything else. As a naturalist. I'm inclined to comfort people about the creepy noises they hear in the dark. There's so much wildlife out there. We had owls, foxes, bobcats, mountain lions, and coyotes. Coyotes, by the way, are particularly creepy.”
JULIA: Yeah, those all make weird noises, I get you.
AMANDA: Yeah, and Ginger adds “common names for coyotes, by the way, are Song Dog or my creepy favorite, Whisper Dog because they do make truly bananas sounds and their cubs do it a lot, where it sounds like children whispering nonsense.”
JULIA: Oh no, I hate and love that.
AMANDA: She says “I tried to find recordings of it. But it is really hard to find. But I promise you, I've heard it and it is very, very unsettling. What's worse, I once saw coyote pups behind the cabin, which I knew to be full of kids. And I hope the kids were asleep because otherwise, they will have nightmares for the rest of their lives.” And then finally, Ginger signs off by we haven't seen this before. Signs off, not with a stay creepy, stay cool, but with a compelling question. Okay.
ERIC: Oh boy.
AMANDA: Ginger signs off by saying “but, how can you use nature to explain away a ghostly apparition staring at you in your bed two nights in a row…?”
JULIA: I don't know a ton about nature. My instinct is psychedelic mushrooms. Always an option.
ERIC: That would do it.
AMANDA: Julia, I was thinking about mushrooms too. Is there a mushroom that smells a maple syrup or a mold? Because that was my only thought regarding the old dining hall, that maybe there was like a fungus that we did not want in the walls that somehow smelled a mushroom.
JULIA: You know what Amanda there is, there's one that's called the Candy Cap.
AMANDA: Oh.
JULIA: And it typically kind of smells like maple syrup, but really only when it's dried.
AMANDA: Oh.
JULIA: So I don't know how likely it is that you're smelling it in the woods. But like, it's always a possibility. It's pretty good. There you go. Yeah.
AMANDA: Well, thank you, ginger.
JULIA: Well, Amanda with the idea of explaining ghosts away with nature. Next time you're in the woods, and you smell maple syrup. Remember, stay creepy.
AMANDA: Stay cool.
[theme]
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: Kristianne
Editor: KM