Episode 146: Your Urban Legends XXVI - Cat Werewolves? Wolf-Cats? WERECATS!
/We run the gambit of hauntings this episode - haunted pennies, haunted frat houses, haunted bathrooms, and far too many haunted AirBnBs for us to stay at in the future. Julia and Eric argue the merits of Scooby Doo and Ghostwriter. Amanda rethinks her recent move.
This week, Amanda recommends
Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about war, shootings, child death/ghosts, and mention of home invasion.
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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.
Amanda: And this is episode 146, Your Urban Legends 26.
Julia: We're getting real close to that XXX.
Amanda: Oh, you'll hear all about it, all about our plans for Your Urban Legends, Episode XXX.
Julia: It's very exciting.
Amanda: Also known as 30, but also the sexy one.
Julia: The sexy one.
Amanda: Don't worry about it. I'm not going to call them sexy, Julia, because I respect them as people, but do you know who just give me goosebumps?
Julia: Is that our new patrons?
Amanda: Our newest patrons Kel, Emily, Ella, Nicole, and Danielle who joined the likes of the goosebump-causing supporting producer-level patrons Philip, Eeyore, Jessica, Josie, Marissa, Megan, Mercedes, Neil, Phil Fresh, Samantha, Sammy, and Skyla, and our legend-level producers Audra, Jack Marie, Cody, Mark, Mr. Folk, Sandra and Sarah.
Julia: I love all those people. They give me goosebumps like the R.L. Stine books.
Amanda: They sure do. They sure do. That reminds me, Julia, could you tell us what was causing, not the goosebumps, but the beer sweats during this episode?
Julia: So I picked this beer because I got a sneak peek at one of Eric's stories for this episode, and oh my god. It was very, very good. I know you love an imperial stout, Amanda.
Amanda: I do.
Julia: This one is called Penny, and it's from 18th Street Brewery in Indiana. It's in Gary, Indiana.
Amanda: Hey.
Julia: Like The Music Man.
Amanda: So cool.
Julia: Yes. It was delicious.
Amanda: I love that.
Julia: Really nice, and malty, and a little bit of sweet tanginess to it. The good stuff.
Amanda: I love that. Julia, your description actually reminds me a lot of my recommendation for this week, and you in particular I think would eat this shit up. Are you ready?
Julia: Yes. I'm ready for it.
Amanda: It is a book called Cork Dork, and it is all about a tech reporter's journey to understand why wine isn't bullshit.
Julia: Oh, okay.
Amanda: She basically becomes a sommelier in a year, and goes through the Master Sommelier certification exam. She tastes with tasting groups with sommeliers from Per Se, and Eleven Madison Park, and all of these-
Julia: The fancy places.
Amanda: ... so fancy New York restaurants, and writes about it from a perspective of, "I don't know. I just drink Two-Buck Chuck and whatever," to working at a wine bar full-time, recommending wines to people. It's more about taste, and experience, and being in the moment, and a profession even than wine, but it did also inspire me to buy a bunch of wine.
Julia: Wow. That sounds incredible. You're going to have to give me some of her recommendations before I read the book.
Amanda: Oh, I sure will. That's Cork Dork by Bianca Bosker, available in your local library or independent bookstore.
Julia: Thank you, Amanda. Speaking of things that we really love, and you telling me things that you really love, people should take our new survey for this year.
Amanda: Yes. We are still running the Multitude survey. If you're listening to this after 2019, no worries. No need to do it. But for those of us in 2019 now, please go to multitude.productions/survey to give us your opinion. It takes about 10 minutes. It has a lot of emoji, has a cute photo at the end. We ask about your plants and your pets. We ask your opinion on all things creepy and cool to do a Spirits about new live shows, new merch, things that we want to do in this upcoming year, and you have a real chance to influence the future of Multitude to help us make the content you want to see in the world.
Julia: Yeah. Tell us what you love and we'll make more of it.
Amanda: We also spent the morning planning out our Boston live show. Oh baby, you got no idea what's coming, folks. It's going to be amazing.
Julia: October 10th. It is going to be real fun. Even if you're in the New York area and you came to our Bell House show, come to this one. It's going to be a whole new experience, and the stuff that I am prepping for the Spirits segment is going to be out of this world.
Amanda: I absolutely can't wait. As with all things, it started as a pun and then became a real thing, so we are incredibly excited. If you're anywhere near Boston, or want an excuse to visit relatives, or friends or folks just starting school in the Boston area, take it. Come to our show. Have a nice weekend.
Julia: Yeah. It's going to be a lot of fun.
Amanda: You can get tickets now at multitude.productions/live. Well, thanks to everybody who has bought tickets and who has taken the survey. Without further ado, enjoy Spirits Podcast episode 146, Your Urban Legends Number 26. Julia, we were recently united at your wedding and it was beautiful. How did the day go from your perspective?
Eric: Well, Julia and Jake where united.
Amanda: Oh, that's true. Julia and Jake were united in holy matrimony and me, Eric and Julia were united in limoncello and dancing.
Julia: That's true.
Amanda: Which was lovely.
Julia: It was. It was wonderful. It's probably the best wedding I've had.
Amanda: I think so too, and I must say that your venue was a beautiful maritime museum on Long Island with an old ship, I don't know, building wet dock, and some old ships and stuff. Nary a haunted vibe in sight.
Julia: No. I picked the least haunted venue I could find.
Amanda: Were the other ones haunted-feeling?
Julia: Maybe.
Amanda: Oh. Even those giant reception halls where you'll have your 12th grade dance or your very rich cousin's wedding, those often do feel haunted.
Julia: Vaguely haunted, yeah.
Eric: This was my second wedding at a maritime museum.
Julia: I want to hear about the first one, please.
Eric: The first one was in the Maine Maritime Museum.
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: Like the best one, or the state?
Eric: The state. The state of Maine. This is the main. This is where all the people go.
Julia: I mean that would be pretty persuasive like, "We're the main aquarium," and I'm like, "Fair enough. I will go to you."
Eric: Now yours was not technically in this maritime museum, which there are two of in Long Island, which we got very worried about when we were calling up the car to go to.
Julia: Is there a second one? Now I'm going to double-check.
Eric: There is. There is another one that was 35 minutes Northwest of us-
Julia: Oh, no.
Eric: ... instead of directly South.
Amanda: Sounds like it-
Julia: Let's find out.
Eric: It was lovely. It was a lovely, lovely place. There was a dock to go by, and just really, really beautiful stuff.
Julia: Thank you. I had a nice time.
Amanda: I did wish though that at dusk, as we were all taking beautiful selfies with our partners and friends at the waterside, that we did see a haunted figure in a long white nightgown.
Julia: Sure. I mean don't you want every wedding blessed by a woman in white?
Amanda: I do. That was on my mind when I selected my first letter for this Urban Legends episode, because it talks about Gettysburg ghosts and the Civil War.
Julia: Ah, good Civil War ghost. Everyone loves a Civil War ghost.
Eric: I don't like a Civil War ghost.
Julia: Well, you know what, Eric? No, I'm kidding.
Eric: I'm anti-Civil War ghost.
Julia: Be that way.
Eric: I've said it before. I'll say it again. More ghosts from other time periods.
Amanda: Well-
Eric: I'm not anti. Okay, I want to clarify before the Civil War ghosts cancel me on Twitter. I want to be very clear. I love a Civil War ghost. I want more stories about other generation's ghosts.
Julia: Okay. You just want diversity in the ghost story.
Eric: But I'm happy to hear this story. I'm excited to hear this story.
Amanda: Please hold, but I am looking up the phrase "millennial ghost" in our inbox.
Eric: Speaking of ghosts, Ghostwriter is back. Ghostwriter, the PBS show in which a comma that became a ghost, he got erased. That's not true.
Julia: I was like, "Oh, I have questions."
Eric: He often took the shape of punctuation.
Julia: Ah, of course.
Eric: He helped a bunch of kids, I think including Julia Stiles, maybe. She's an actress, right? Is that a person?
Julia: Yeah, but she's old. How old is this show?
Eric: Yeah. This show was back when I was a child, and which is about the same time you were a child.
Julia: I know, so why? I'm so confused.
Eric: But anyways, Apple TV+ is bringing it back. Ghostwriter coming sometime in the future. Very excited to see this during the new iPhone announcement. Really very excited about the iPhones. Amazed they did not spend more time talking about the rebooted Ghostwriter show.
Julia: Priorities.
Amanda: I have an update here of a millennial ghost anecdote, before I get into my Civil War ghost. We're going to go reverse chronological here.
Eric: Great.
Julia: Okay, do it.
Amanda: Because we're postmodern, and millennials. This comes from Bridge Green, the audio gremlin. Bridge writes, "My university used to have off-campus frat houses before I started here. I don't know why, but eventually they disallowed that and all frats were moved to on-campus locations." I guess why. I guess why.
Julia: I can probably guess why.
Amanda: I bet it's illegal and immoral behavior. "Okay, so the house we're renting is this really nice two story house, lovingly called the ant house from its frat days, also because of the occasional ant/roach problem. Never good. But the frat that had the building before basically destroyed the place, which is why the rent is so cheap right now. Some of my roommate's friends rented it before us, and they had a few issues but attributed it to the house just being old AF.
"My roommates and I have a different theory. Since we moved in almost a year ago, we've noticed some weird shit happening around the house. Stuff falls off tables while our cats are nowhere nearby. Snacks will move around, and none of us remember touching them. Our friends that come over on Thursdays swear they don't touch anything. We'll find fresh cat treats around the house, which come from a screw top thick plastic container that the cats cannot get in. Most recently, our chores whiteboard on our fridge was erased. Then a day later, a dabbing stick figure was drawn on it. None of us drew it, and the lines were way too clean for it to be any of us, since we're more of a needlepoint art crowd. Again, it wasn't any of our friends, so we've decided that the only explanation is that a millennial ghost lives in our home. They seem pretty chill though, so we don't mind."
Julia: Here's the thing. I think one of your roommates is lying, or one of your friends is lying.
Amanda: Yeah. That sounds most likely, but I love the idea that a millennial ghost's only agenda will be to further the spread of their favorite memes.
Julia: Yeah. Yeah, I feel that. I feel like we just need that serotonin rush, even as ghosts.
Eric: I like some real edgy Twitter ghosts.
Amanda: Like Dril.
Eric: Yeah. Dril might be a ghost. There's no evidence Dril isn't a ghost.
Julia: It's quite possible, honestly.
Amanda: That's true.
Julia: So let's transition from your millennial ghost, and we can compare and contrast with your Gettysburg ghost.
Amanda: Yes, great idea. This email comes from Leanne. "Hey, Spirits friends. I've been binging your podcast since a friend recommended it to me a few weeks ago, and I'm almost caught up. Please say hi to Lauren if you read this on the podcast." Hi, Lauren.
Julia: Hi, Lauren.
Eric: Hello, Lauren.
Amanda: Oh, Eric with the cold.
Eric: Well, I'm dealing with the aftermath of a cold/cough/ear congestion situation. So if I sound more sultry than usual at any point during this episode, it's not on purpose. It's because my voice and head is bad right now.
Julia: You should have saved it for episode 30, the sexy one.
Amanda: That's true. Yeah. All right.
Julia: I'm so excited for the sexy urban legends.
Amanda: First, we've got to do very spooky, then sexy. It's going to be great. I can't wait.
Eric: Why are we doing sexy at 30?
Amanda: XXX baby.
Julia: Because it's XXX.
Eric: Oh, right. Of course. I'm sorry. I forgot how we titled these.
Amanda: Everybody, if you have sexy ghosts, please, I can't believe I'm saying this, please write to us using the subject line "XXX," and then whatever it is that you want to say. Okay.
Julia: All right, good.
Eric: Can we buy spiritspodcasts.xxx for this exact reason? It just auto plays that episode.
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: Yes. You have up to $30.
Eric: Okay.
Julia: Is .xxx an actual thing?
Eric: Oh, yeah.
Julia: All right, I'm excited for it.
Amanda: Hold on. Please pause. We're figuring out if this is available or not. I love that this-
Eric: You start. I'll update in a second.
Amanda: I really don't want to immerse myself in the world of Gettysburg, Eric, and then be pulled back out by a .xxx domain.
Eric: Okay.
Julia: I don't know.
Eric: I have $30, or we each have $30? Because it is $90.
Amanda: I think that's-
Julia: Is it worth the investment?
Eric: For spiritspodcast.xxx?
Amanda: I think it's too much for a gag.
Eric: I think I agree. If I haven't bought bob.vilas yet, then-
Amanda: Buy it, Eric. Buy it.
Eric: I have to edit that out, because I don't want someone to buy it.
Julia: Hello, Spirits listeners. If you want us to buy spiritspodcast.xxx, please remember to pledge to our Patreon.
Amanda: Actually, that reminds me. Eric, could you please make a Patreon goal that is 15 patrons more than we currently have to buy that domain?
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Thank you.
Julia: All right, cool.
Amanda: Before we buy our castle, we will buy a .xxx domain.
Julia: Fantastic. Thank you.
Amanda: Okay, back to Leanne and Lauren. So Leanne writes, "When I was in college, I got in touch with my aunt, who I'd never been close to growing up. In 2013," first of all, I thought everybody, "Aunt's a ghost. Aunt's a ghost." Aunt is not a ghost.
Julia: Yeah, aunt's a ghost.
Amanda: Sorry. Sorry, not a ghost. "In 2013, I got to accompany her on a trip to Gettysburg, since she is a school librarian and attending a conference on teaching about the Civil War."
Julia: I'm glad you got to make better relationships with your cool librarian aunt.
Amanda: Yes. If you have a librarian aunt, they should be your best friend. But on a serious note, the project of figuring out your own relationship to your grown family when you are becoming a grown person is challenging, and I love that there is an upside here. "So this trip also happened around the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, so there was a lot going on in the town. On this trip, I also learned that my aunt has always been sensitive to spirits and the paranormal. If you'd like, I can ask her permission to share some of her stories."
Julia: Oh, yes please.
Amanda: Leanne-
Eric: Of course.
Amanda: ... pause the episode, drop everything. Please go interview your librarian aunt and let us know everything.
Julia: And record it on your phone, maybe. I don't know.
Amanda: Yeah. Send it over. We'll air it. "This story, however, involves me directly. We were on a ghost tour in Gettysburg that started and ended at the Farnsworth House Inn, specifically the-"
Eric: That is a haunted-sounding place.
Amanda: Oh, yeah. "Specifically, the tour started in the attic, from where it is believed the shot was fired that killed the only civilian who died during the Battle of Gettysburg, Jennie Wade."
Julia: Oh, Jenny, no.
Amanda: "The tour group was larger than usual, so the small bench in the attic was filling up fast. I chose to sit on the floor so that the others could have space on the bench, and checked behind me to make sure I wasn't blocking anyone. Partway through the guide's stories, a cool breeze rushed by me, and the small door into the attic swung shut. The guide stated that this was a common occurrence, and was easy enough to see if something like that could happen by chance or be staged. However, toward the end of the guide's stories, I noticed that my aunt was staring intently at the empty corner behind me."
Julia: Nope. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.
Amanda: "After the tour walked around town and to a small cemetery, I asked her on the way back what she'd been staring at. 'Oh,' she said, 'I was looking at the guy behind you.' At first, I laughed. No one had been behind me. I checked before I sat down to make sure I wasn't blocking anyone, and I was against the wall so no one could have snuck past. But she insisted, telling me, 'Yeah, there was a guy in the corner in period clothes. I assumed he was one of the tour guides on break, but he had a mischievous look on his face like he was going to try to scare you, so I kept an eye on him to say, "Not my niece."'"
Julia: Oh, damn.
Amanda: "Thoroughly shaken by this, and after repeatedly asking whether she was kidding, I insisted that she describe the guy to the inn's staff. One of them immediately said, 'That sounds like Terrance.'"
Julia: That sounds like Terrance. I love when that's the reaction of staff. It's like, "Ah, man, that's just Alfred." That's Terrence. It's fine.
Amanda: "I was shaken, but thought that would be the end of my creepy encounter, until she added, 'We think he's the one who fired the shot that killed Jenny.'"
Eric: Oh, so he's a murder ghost.
Amanda: So he's a mischievous murder ghost, not just a mischievous ghost. "I'm lucky my aunt was looking out for me on that trip, and glad that nothing seemed to follow me home afterward. I hope you enjoyed the story, Leanne. PS, I recently moved to Columbus, Ohio and I appreciate Eric's Ohio stories. Lauren, the conspirator I mentioned earlier and I are planning to visit the Spaghetti Warehouse here on Friday the 13th," which is the day we're recording this.
Julia: Yes.
Eric: Oh, it's too late. We can't warn them.
Julia: We can't warn them.
Eric: The food is so bad. It's so bad.
Amanda: I did email her and said, "Have so much fun. Please send us tweets/instas with you and your meals." Well, Leanne, thank you for your Civil War ghost story. I thought it was a very good compliment to our dabbing millennial ghost. If kids these days, if the worst they're doing is dabbing, and Civil War ghosts killed civilians under the guise of war, then I think we're doing pretty good.
Julia: Yeah, I think I'd rather take some millennial ghosts at this point. So this story comes from Kelly, and Kelly writes, "Hello. I work for a company that cleans hospitals and medical offices in Idaho, and figured I would share my spooky encounters. I don't believe in ghosts or supernatural stuff for the most part, but the buildings I clean are objectively haunted. Also, I work the graveyard shift, so this happens late at night."
Amanda: I love when conspirators are like, "Listen, lots of shit could be haunted, but some stuff is objectively haunted."
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: I so appreciate that distinction.
Julia: It's like "I don't believe in ghosts, but deffo haunted."
Eric: But yeah.
Amanda: That's it. Yeah.
Julia: "The first encounter is a building that has medical offices, then public single stall restrooms outside of the offices. I checked the men's bathroom at the beginning of my shift, but the door was locked so I decided to clean at the end. Near the end of my shift, I go to clean and it is still locked. I have to call my supervisor to come over and unlock the door. But before I called, I knocked and got no response. When my supervisor arrives, he says that there was a man in the restroom and that he would come back later to clean it. I knew whoever was in there had to have been in there almost my entire shift. But since it was downtown, it wasn't uncommon for homeless people to be looking for somewhere to stay, so I figured they would leave or they would be removed that night. I didn't think about it until I saw my supervisor the next day. He said he went over to clean the bathroom, and when he knocked on the door he heard someone say, 'Go away.' But when he unlocked the door anyway, it was a completely empty bathroom."
Amanda: Whoa.
Julia: No. Bad, bad.
Amanda: This is both a mechanical mystery, like how was the door locked from the inside, and also where did the voice come from? Come on.
Julia: Yeah. No, it's creepy. I don't like it. I don't like it one bit.
Eric: It could be just a haunted toilet.
Julia: We have seen evidence of that before.
Eric: We have? I don't remember this.
Julia: The Japanese urban legends episode that I did back in the day had a story about getting murdered in a public restroom.
Eric: Could be that.
Julia: And also Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter series.
Eric: Yeah, but that's not real.
Julia: Oh, I'm so sorry.
Eric: And this is obviously-
Julia: This is real life. Fair.
Eric: This is real life.
Julia: "There is one more story. The second one is at a pediatric rehab building. From day one, I could hear doors opening and closing, only to find nothing had been moved. After a week of random noises, as I was vacuuming, I heard a woman's voice. I work alone, so I turned off the vacuum and called out, definitely on the verge of tears, but heard no answer. A minute later there was a voice coming from the back of the building in a woman's voice saying, 'Come play with me.'"
Amanda: No, don't do that.
Eric: Mm-mm (negative).
Julia: "One of the toys had been turned on in the back. I cried a little, packed up the vacuum and left. The toy-"
Eric: Why would a toy say that?
Julia: Because it was a-
Eric: Why would a toy say that?
Julia: Come play with me?
Eric: Because a toy is meant to be played with, so it's weird that the voice recording of the toy would say, "Do the thing I'm supposed to be used for." It should say something else, like a line from the show it's from. It shouldn't say, "Come play with me."
Julia: Come play with me.
Amanda: Imagine how disruptive that is for parents. What if the toy just goes off while you're trying to have the kid do dinner, or bath time, or brush their teeth or something?
Julia: Apparently, the toy would go off a few more nights randomly before they moved it to a different building.
Eric: A different building. Just a whole different building.
Julia: Just a different building entirely.
Amanda: Between this and all the Furbies that we dealt with in the late '90s and early aughts, I thought that technology-
Eric: The Furby wars of 1999.
Amanda: I mean there were lots of Furby hauntings, Eric. You can't deny it.
Julia: There were.
Amanda: But I'm saying I thought that toys were getting better, but it just occurs to me I spent about two hours yesterday trying to pair my record player with my Bluetooth speaker, a modified TV. I was like, "Man, Bluetooth is so good when it works. But when it doesn't, you have absolutely no recourse and you're just haunted forever by flashing LED lights." What if Bluetooth is the worst technology? What if Bluetooth is more haunted? What if as more toys are controlled by phones, and more connected devices make your home AI-style smart home, Disney Channel Original Movie, what if Bluetooth is how we all die?
Julia: See, I think we've had this conversation on the show before too, because children's toys are inherently creepy, and the more technology grows with children's toys, the creepier they become because a doll doesn't necessarily have to make noise. One of those windup jack-in-the-box only makes noise when you touch it. That's how the mechanics of it work, but an electronic thing could just go off whenever.
Amanda: Oh, no. A doll moving with no noise is so much worse. Oh, boy.
Julia: Fair. Fair enough.
Amanda: I think I have to drown these memories away. Does anyone want a refill?
Julia: Yeah, sounds good.
Eric: I haven't done my story yet.
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: No. Sorry.
Eric: Guys, wait. Wait. Guys, we don't need a refill yet.
Julia: We're back from the kitchen. Hold on.
Eric: I've got a story called Ghost Pennies.
Amanda: Oh.
Julia: Okay. All right.
Eric: I like this one. I like this one a lot. This story comes to us from Lacey. She writes, "My friend Madeline introduced me to you guys a few months ago, specifically by bringing the Hometown Urban Legends episodes on a road trip, and I've been hooked ever since."
Amanda: Madeline, good work.
Julia: I love people sharing Spirits episodes, but I particularly like people sharing Hometown Urban Legends episodes.
Amanda: Yeah, we're all just sitting down hanging out together. I love it.
Julia: Yo, what's up? Grab a drink, hang out.
Eric: "I got particularly excited listening to your latest Urban Legend episode about summer camps, because it mentioned a story about the summer camp I went to-"
Amanda: What?
Julia: Yes.
Eric: ... "in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, and it made me want to send in a creepy story of my own."
Julia: Beautiful.
Eric: "When I was about 12 or 13, my family and I took a summer vacation to the Outer Banks."
Amanda: The most haunted age.
Eric: That's the most haunted age?
Amanda: There it is. Yeah, 12 about to turn 13. Most haunted age.
Julia: Okay. Nine. I would say nine is the most haunted age.
Amanda: It's a real toss-up. The specter of puberty. You're just peak creepy child age.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: "It was my parents, my sister, my brother, his girlfriend at the time and myself who went. Before we checked into our rental house, we decided to stop at Hardee's for some lunch." This is a vacation that I have 100%.
Julia: Please tell us about it.
Eric: "While we were eating, my brother's girlfriend looked startled, and asked if any of us had thrown a penny at her. Pretty confused, we all said, 'No,' and she held up a penny, saying it had flown at her out of nowhere. We looked around. We were the only people in the dining area of the restaurant at the time. We brushed this off, each figuring that someone was lying and pulling a lame prank. But then throughout the rest of our trip, pennies would just appear in very peculiar places." That's never good, because it's not even a good coin, so you can't even use it for anything.
Julia: It's arguably the worst coin.
Eric: That's the worst part.
Amanda: Reminding you of government waste.
Eric: It's true. Pennies cost 2 cents to make. It's the worst. "We woke up in the morning, and every nightlight in the hallway had a penny resting on top of it."
Julia: What the fuck?
Eric: "I opened a jar of hand-exfoliating scrub, and there was a penny inside of it."
Julia: What?
Amanda: No.
Eric: "We found pennies packed in the cooler at the beach. More than just the pennies, we all got the sense that the rental house we were staying in was pretty haunted." Yeah, what could've tipped you off?
Amanda: This is genuinely upsetting.
Eric: On top of that. Great, there's more.
Amanda: More pennies on top of the pennies.
Eric: Oh, on top of there. On top of there. Same point. My point stands. "On top of there being just a negative energy throughout the whole house, which even my brother commented on, who is not one to buy into the supernatural, in the middle of the night we would hear footsteps pacing the hallways, and discover the next morning none of us had left our rooms the night before. Needless to say, by the time the trip was coming to end, my sister, my brother, his girlfriend and I were all eager to get the hell out of Dodge.
"My sister and I started sleeping in the same room the second night of the trip, even though we had our own rooms, but we were both too scared to sleep alone. So on the last night, we were drifting off to sleep when we heard the footsteps. We both lay silent, hoping they would just go away. But each time we thought they were gone, we would hear them start up again. It wasn't long after the footsteps started that we heard what sounded like a little girl laughing." Hey, hey, hey. Face it. Talk to your parents. Find out where this house was so we can never go there, unless it's to burn it down.
Julia: Counterpoint. What if we went there?
Eric: No. Are we going to burn it down?
Julia: We have to stay there, and then we can burn it down.
Eric: Then not a counterpoint that I am willing to listen to.
Julia: We can't burn down an Airbnb.
Eric: I've been to the Outer Banks, and now I'm scared to go back because I might end up in this terrible place.
Julia: I want to go real bad. Real bad. Remember when we stayed in a real haunted place in Cleveland?
Amanda: It sure was.
Eric: That was a spooky place. There is the important difference between a spooky place and a haunted place. A spooky place might be haunted. A haunted place is haunted.
Julia: I really appreciate the specifications.
Amanda: You know, Eric, that's a good point. That's a good point.
Eric: Until you have had a haunting, the worst a place could be is spooky. Anyways, so they heard this little girl laughing. "We started to freak out, and decided we should take our chances and raced down the hallway to my brother's room for safety."
Julia: No.
Eric: Now this is a bad idea because he is staying in a room presumably with his girlfriend, so this is just risking other things on top of just the ghost.
Amanda: I know.
Julia: I feel like if everyone's creeped out enough, they wouldn't be getting it on.
Eric: True. I don't know.
Amanda: Yeah, but if they were, and we interrupted them, and the camera saw them, then they would have to die.
Julia: That's true. Amanda's got a point.
Eric: Exactly. If there's one thing we know from horror movies, no one gets horny during a terrible haunting event.
Julia: Well, no, the horniness usually preempts the haunting event.
Eric: That's fair. That's fair. Sorry to talk about horny and your brother. Maybe not the best-
Amanda: Sorry, sorry.
Julia: Sorry, Lacey. Sorry.
Amanda: I don't mean to offend, but this is some horror movie decision-making. That's why my mind went there.
Eric: "We counted down from three, whipped the door open and ran for our lives. Once we made it to his room, we asked if him and his girlfriend had heard the same thing as us, which they then confirmed. The four of us huddled together on the bed, and didn't sleep until we heard our parents wake up, and insisted that we had to leave immediately. Although my parents didn't fully buy into the whole this rental house is insanely haunted idea, they could tell that we were pretty darn spooked and agreed to pack up and leave right then and there. For a while after getting home, I would still find pennies in my things, but eventually stopped." Great. Great. "Nothing beyond that followed us home," as far as you know.
Julia: Jesus.
Eric: "Anyway, I know it was less of an urban legend and more of just a creepy story, but I hope you enjoy." Oh, we enjoy it.
Julia: Yes, I prefer the creepy stuff to the urban legends sometimes. Not to be the your brother was probably fucking with you, but I assume someone was lying. Again, this is the theme of today's episode is someone was lying to you.
Eric: Why? Here's why. Why would the parents have them leave presumably early?
Julia: I don't know. I think if your children cause enough of a fuss, you're just like "Whatever. We were supposed to leave Sunday, but we're going to leave Saturday instead."
Eric: Maybe. Maybe.
Amanda: I don't know. In my family, it was like-
Julia: Maybe they got a really good deal.
Amanda: In my family, it was like, "We are going to get our money's worth of whatever it is that we've committed to." As the brother, wouldn't you want to maximize the taunting of your younger sibling by making it last as long as possible?
Julia: I mean, yeah, maybe, but also the fact that the pennies kept showing up I think is a sign that the brother-
Amanda: Pennies is extremely funny. You had to premeditate that level of penny pranking.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: You had to go to a bank and be like, "Hi, I hope you have more than a hundred pennies on hand because I'm going to need them."
Julia: I need $10 worth of pennies.
Eric: I mean this is presumably earlier on in time, when pennies were much more readily available. People weren't just throwing them away like they do today.
Julia: That's fair.
Amanda: I suppose. It's just-
Eric: Is that what people do with pennies? I haven't held a penny in probably seven months.
Julia: I think I have a couple of pennies in my bag.
Amanda: I throw them away.
Julia: Just in the trash?
Amanda: Yeah, just in the trash.
Julia: Damn. All right.
Amanda: I mean I try to put whatever loose change I have into tip jars whenever they're available, but if I just have an penny, and I'm not about to leave it in a restaurant check, or put it into a tip jar without any other cash money, so sometimes I just throw it out.
Eric: That's how you decrease inflation. That's how you deflate. You remove money from the market.
Julia: That's how that works.
Amanda: Yikes.
Eric: That's science. Do you want to learn about more science? Let's go get a refill and talk science over there.
Julia: Okay. Let's keep the deflation to the kitchen.
Amanda: Julia, I'm a challenging person to dress.
Julia: That's not true. You're gorgeous in everything you wear.
Amanda: Well, thank you. When I find things to wear, because I'm extremely tall. My legs are even taller than the rest of me, and I'm plus size, so I can't always walk into a store and find items that I think are cute, much less affordable. But I have Stitch Fix in my corner, and I just got a box filled with the most beautiful fall items. There was an orange sweater. There was a plaid shirt. There were leggings with little leather details. I was like, "Oh, baby. I'm going to be wearing nothing else this fall."
Julia: I love a good legging. Sometimes they're really hard to find.
Amanda: Yeah, and I actually just realized that the sweater I wear in the office every day, a cute little cardigan, it's very nice dark heathery gray goes with everything I wear-
Julia: Is it a Stitch Fix?
Amanda: It's from Stitch Fix too.
Julia: Of course it is.
Amanda: It's a year and a half old, but every time I put it on I'm like, "Dang, these sleeves are long enough. That is such a luxury." It's absolutely wonderful. You too can get a box of clothes picked out just for you from the personal stylists at Stitch Fix. They send you a box full of clothes that they think you're going to love after you complete a style profile and take a couple of yes or no quizzes as to the things that you like. There's even no subscription required, so you can get stuff monthly or quarterly, but you don't have to. You can just get something whenever you want. There is a $20 styling fee, but that is automatically deducted from anything you keep from the box. So if you end up keeping anything at all, free shipping both ways, both getting to you and returning.
Julia: Yeah, so you can discover some new styles, and find some really unique pieces like Amanda's cool, cool leggings by going to stitchfix.com/spirits. You can get 25% off when you keep everything in your box.
Amanda: Exactly. If they hit the nail on the head and you keep everything in your box, you get 25% off by going to stitchfix.com/spirits.
Julia: Stitchfix.com/spirits.
Amanda: Thanks, Stitch Fix.
Julia: Amanda, 20-fight-teen rages on.
Amanda: It sure does. You're almost in Q4 of 20-fight-teen.
Julia: I know, right? We're getting there.
Amanda: The closing move. Is that a thing in wrestling?
Julia: Sure. Okay. The finishing move.
Amanda: The finisher.
Julia: Yeah, that's it.
Amanda: I was so close.
Julia: I would not be where I'm at today if it wasn't Care/of. Care/of is a subscription service that delivers vitamins and supplements customized for your specific health needs. You just take a short quiz, you answer some questions about your diet, and your lifestyle, and your fitness and health goals, and then Care/of puts together a personalized plan just for you. It helps you get into a healthy routine. It gives you the support you need. You can either tell them you're looking for energy, you're looking for better sleep, you're looking to maintain your stress, which are all things I need help with taking care of. The online quiz that you take is really, really easy. It only takes five minutes, and you find out your personal scientifically-backed vitamin and supplement recommendations. Then you can pick which ones you like, which is really, really cool. I like being able to customize it beyond what they suggest.
Amanda: Exactly.
Julia: Care/of is really trying to make a difference. So they have their protein powders, which I absolutely love, and they're available in packets for on the go, and they have tubs as well. The nice part is all of their packets now are made of compostable plant-based films so you don't have to recycle them. They just drift away into nothingness, which is very important to me.
Amanda: Unlike most of our waste, they are biodegradable, which is dope.
Julia: Plus, they have vegan and vegetarian options for their supplements, which is really, really cool. They're just thinking just about all of my health.
Amanda: Giving you those options.
Julia: Yeah, so all you have to do to get onto that Care/of train-
Amanda: 20-fight-teen rocking on.
Julia: 20-fight-teen. To get 25% off your first Care/of order, you can go to takecareof.com and enter the promo code "Spirits."
Amanda: That's takecareof.com, promo code, "Spirits," for 25% off your first order.
Julia: Thanks, Care/of.
Amanda: Finally, Julia, we are sponsored by DoorDash, who I rely on whenever I am sick to bring me my favorite sick meal, which is miso soup, rice and a cucumber avocado roll. For whatever reason, that is the food that I feel like I can .... I don't know. It's inoffensive. It helps nourish me, but doesn't make me nauseous if I'm sick, as I have been for the last week, which is a real bummer. But I don't have to get out of my PJs and my sick bed. I can just throw on a robe and get my meal delivered by DoorDash. They connect me to my favorite restaurants in New York city, in my city, but they are in lots of places. They have over 340,000 restaurants in 3,300 cities, which is pretty amazing.
Julia: That's probably covering your city, not going to lie.
Amanda: Exactly. They're available in all 50 States and Canada, so that includes my sister out in Honolulu. That's pretty amazing.
Julia: Pretty sweet. I wonder what she's ordering. We'll have to ask her. Bailey, what are you ordering?
Amanda: Maybe it's some Hawaiian-specific specialties, like you know how chain restaurants will sometimes have regional items?
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: That's amazing. Chain restaurants like Wendy's, and Chipotle and The Cheesecake Factory, my favorite, are all on DoorDash.
Julia: Not going to lie, I did DoorDash Chipotle delivery last night.
Amanda: It's awesome. Well, I hope that on your first order from DoorDash, you used the promo code "Spirits," which will get you $5 off your first order of $15 or more.
Julia: Yep. That's $5 off your first order when you download the DoorDash app from the app store and enter the promo code, "Spirits."
Amanda: That's $5 off with the promo code, "Spirits," from DoorDash.
Eric: We can buy spiritspodcastsxxx.com.
Julia: No.
Eric: Or spiritspodcastafterdark.com. That was only $13.
Julia: I like afterdark.com.
Amanda: I like after dark an awful lot.
Julia: Can we just get spiritsafterdark.com, or is that more money?
Amanda: Oh, I bet that's taken. That's very good, though.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Well, while we're in this tangent-
Julia: Hold on. Hold on, Eric's finding out.
Eric: It is available.
Julia: How much is it?
Amanda: For how much?
Eric: $13.
Julia: Do it.
Amanda: Do it. Buy it right now, sir.
Julia: Buy it right now.
Eric: Okay.
Amanda: While we're in this tangent corner, I do want to point out that having a haunted podcast does mean that your parents text you articles often. My mom sent me this morning an article about the fact that there is a full moon tonight on Friday the 13th, and my dad just texted me a headline, "Human corpses keep moving for over a year after death, scientist says," and then the caption, kind of creepy.
Julia: I will also say it is the anniversary, as we're recording this, of Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island.
Eric: I don't know what that is. What is that?
Julia: It's the best Scooby-Doo movie ever. There's-
Eric: I don't know if I've seen a Scooby-Doo movie, except for the one in which they go with ... Did the Jetsons and Scooby-Doo end up wrestling Big Show in space?
Julia: Probably. That sounds like something I-
Eric: I watched one of those on a plane completely muted.
Amanda: That sounds like a fever dream.
Eric: It was the one where John Cena shows up. It sounds like a fever dream, but I did watch the whole thing.
Julia: Here's the description from Wikipedia. It says, "Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island is a 1998 direct-to-video animated comedy horror film based on Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo. In the film, Shaggy, Scooby, Fred, Velma, and Daphne-"
Eric: Based on it. What does that mean?
Julia: ... "reunite after a year-long hiatus from Mystery, Inc. to investigate a bayou island said to be haunted by the ghost of the pirate Morgan Moonstar." Then it says, "Zombie Island contains a darker tone than most of the Scooby-Doo productions."
Amanda: You bet.
Eric: Wait. This is one of the animated ones, or is this the live action one?
Julia: No, it's an animated one.
Eric: Okay.
Julia: It also-
Eric: I've seen the show, but I don't know if I've seen any of the animated movies.
Julia: It also contains Civil War ghosts-
Eric: Of course.
Julia: .... and evil cat werewolves. Cat wolves? Werecats. That's what I was thinking.
Amanda: I think we may have to watch this for a myth movie night.
Julia: I'm going to change right ... No. Okay. I'm putting it on the list for the schedule.
Amanda: I sure want to listen to it/watch it.
Julia: Okay. Guess what we get to watch this week, Amanda.
Amanda: Yay.
Julia: The next myth movie night is Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island now.
Amanda: Can't wait. Haunted fall.
Julia: So this comes from Danielle. She writes, "I recently found your show and absolutely love it. Here's a fun one for you. I haven't found anything online that tells me it's a story told outside of my PhD program. So I'm in a PhD program, and we have a story that we tell new students when they start pulling really long hours to work on their thesis proposals. So a lot of biological science experiments are really finicky, because the protocols we use are what works for most things most of the time. For every new thing we study, we have to tailor the protocol. Then in biology, there's also natural variants between individuals, so sometimes things just straight up don't work. Sometimes, of course, outside events sabotage an otherwise successful experiment. Because we're people, we've come up with fun explanations for them. In our program, we blame the ghost of the failed Nobel Laureates."
Amanda: Also, I told Eric that we have to watch Zombie Island this weekend, and he has texted me a stream of all caps comments about how excited he is. You better not be joking with me. Can I come? Is it happening? I'll wear an ascot. Please, I'm a Velma.
Julia: "So it is said that these are the ghosts of scientists who were working on life-changing studies, but before they were able to publish their findings, they were scooped, meaning someone else published them first. The people who scooped them get the Nobel prize. Bitter about their defeat, these scientists never left academia, and their ghosts still hunt the lab, sabotaging experiments and disrupting the lives of hardworking students.
"Once, I was working in the lab around 1:00 AM, and a door to the back room of our lab slammed shut. I was the only person in the building. Another time, I was using a shared confocal microscope," hope that's a right thing, "After hours, which was apparently half-price, the rental fee, and the fire alarm went off. I left the scope running unattended and closed the door before I left to go outside. When it finally turned back off, I went back to the scope room, but just as I arrived, the alarm went off again. I turned around to leave, reached the staircase, and it shut off. Three more times this happened before I gave up, turned off the scope, cleaned up and left. The alarm didn't go off that time.
"A third time, I was the only person in my lab there that day, and it was about 5:00 PM, so the department staff had left. I needed to go move my car before coming back to the lab. Free parking during business hours, far away, but the last free shuttle to the area leaves at 5:30, so I had to catch the shuttle then move my car before coming back in." God, colleges are the worst sometimes. "Just as I was about to leave for the 5:00 PM shuttle, an alarm sounded in my lab that I had never heard before, and I've worked here for five years. I looked and looked, but I couldn't find the source. Finally, I went to go get someone who might know about alarms on the floor not related to equipment.
"Of course, the department staff had just left, but I was able to find one semi-retired professor who had been coordinating with the staff, the department, and some construction people renovating our floor. We looked and looked and couldn't find anything. We moved something that has no ability to make noise and the alarm turned off. I nearly missed the shuttle back to my car."
Amanda: Can I just say being semi-retired is my absolute dream profession?
Julia: Yeah, same.
Amanda: You have an office with a bunch of books in it, and you get to come and go as you please, be like, "Oh yes, no, that's Amanda. She wants whatever," and now I just chill.
Julia: That's the dream, honestly. "So those are my personal haunts that I've decided to attribute to the ghosts of failed Nobel Laureates. I hope you enjoyed the story. If you're wondering about the type of science I do, we study how the development of organs influences their ability to regenerate using fruit flies as our model system, because their regenerative mechanisms are very similar to ours." I didn't know that. That's really interesting.
Eric: That's why sometimes you'll go in your kitchen and you'll just see seven people in there.
Julia: You're like, "Oh, man. It's just a whole fruit fly family, but now they're huge." Okay, so she finishes, "So because we study them during development, we had a lot of these late nights. Ghost stories in the lab are a pretty common pastime," and then she goes, "Thanks, Danielle."
Amanda: That's amazing.
Julia: It's very, very good.
Amanda: Spirits scientists, I want to hear what you work on. That's awesome.
Julia: Hell yeah, especially if it's spooky.
Amanda: Yeah. Well, I have a story that ties together horror movie decision-making and Airbnbs.
Julia: Oh, so yeah. Okay.
Eric: Okay.
Julia: Bringing it back to the penny ghost. I see what's up.
Amanda: Yes. So this is from Danielle, not the same one.
Julia: Oh, a different Danielle.
Amanda: Well, this Danielle titles her email, "The residents of the 1896 house, past and present."
Julia: Uh-oh.
Amanda: Also, Danielle sent us some quality pet photos, so A+.
Julia: Hold on. I'm opening that email right now.
Amanda: "Hey, all. So I'm new to the podcast, but adore the Hometown Urban Legends episodes. To be honest, I started listening to see if anybody has had experiences similar to the ones I had while living in the Black Hills of South Dakota for the internship of my dreams at a Spanish Mustang conservancy."
Julia: Oh no, there's so many pictures of horses in here.
Amanda: There are so many horses, Julia. It's wonderful.
Julia: They're so pretty.
Amanda: Not just dogs, but also horses. I'm crying. It's so good. "So on the property of the conservancy, there are two houses. One is the former Buffalo Gap mayor's mansion, and is a fairly typical two story, plus a basement and attic house built sometime around 1890. Its most recent resident was an elderly man whose wife died there a few years ago, and he passed as well.
"I wish I could say they were the only residents to have died there, but we all know that's not true. I don't have any sources though, so we'll maintain hope. Anyway, now we're renovating the house into an Airbnb. Nothing much happens there, just lights turning on and off on their own, especially in the middle of the night, doors that had been deadbolted and/or barricaded with stuff slamming open, the house going from 80 degrees to about 68 degrees within 10 minutes, and incessant knocking on the trap door that separates the upper floor and attic."
Julia: No, no, no, no, no, no, no. All those things before that were fine. It's the knocking on the trap door. I cannot. I cannot abide it. I need to leave.
Eric: You got to go.
Julia: I got to go.
Eric: You got to go.
Amanda: Danielle is being way too chill about this situation. Also, we have to go.
Eric: You have to go. We have to go. Everybody got to go.
Julia: Please send us a listing, because we'll fucking go. That's the problem.
Amanda: We will go, Danielle, and also I genuinely need these pet photos. I have this beautiful meadow open next to this email because it's a journey. So Danielle is making some good choices because she continues, "We don't go over there alone anymore, after my best friend was bonked on the head twice while working alone in the house."
Julia: Uh-oh.
Amanda: Terrifying.
Julia: Don't like it.
Amanda: "The other house in the conservancy was the Buffalo Gap schoolhouse. It was built from 1892 to 1896, and was the school there until about 1920. The upstairs was for the high school-age children, and the downstairs for the youngins. There are two known deaths at the schoolhouse. One was a girl who drowned in the pond on the property, and the other was a boy who fell from the fire escape that's upstairs. The little girl was the one who inspired me to write this, because I've had more encounters with her than with the boy."
Julia: Oh, boy.
Amanda: "She is lonely, so she makes herself known and gains attention by opening doors just as you're reaching the door handle, turning on lights as you enter rooms, and turning on the oven."
Julia: I don't like the door handle thing. I don't like that at all.
Amanda: I see it as an invitation, but I think it's an invitation to death, so I don't want to do it.
Julia: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Amanda: "She also wanders around the downstairs, specifically our office, which used to be the primary classroom for the youngins, every night from about 10:00 PM to 5:00 AM, and can be seen sitting on the landing between the levels pretty much anytime of day."
Julia: That's past your bedtime, small child, and I don't appreciate it.
Amanda: It sure is.
Julia: Haunt me during small child hours, please.
Amanda: "Sometimes, if our dogs are sleeping in the corridor outside the office, they'll wake up and chase her. The only negative encounter I've had with her was when she threw a laundry basket roughly four feet across the laundry room because I was doing homework in the room next to it, and hadn't acknowledged her when she turned on the laundry room light."
Julia: How dare you?
Amanda: I guess even ghost children have temper tantrums.
Julia: That's true. I don't trust a ghost child as much as I trust a small child.
Amanda: Which is not a lot already. "The young boy ghost is a lot more shy, and he's only been seen once in the history of my host family owning the house, so I can't tell you much about him. I can tell you about the spirits that live here, though. According to our good friend who evaluated the house when they moved in, the property is a major hotspot for a type of Lakota spiritual trickster. The spirits particularly love the water tower that's on the property, as well as the bell tower in the house. They cause a lot more trouble than the ghosts, unfortunately.
"They particularly love to spook the horses, causing them to scatter unpredictably when they're all gathered around the water tank when there's absolutely nothing else perceptible around. While hiking on the hill leading up to the water tower, one will notice an enormous amount of white sage, and an abnormal absence of insects. The bell tower in the house can rarely be accessed because every time we put a ladder there, its condition deteriorates to the point of being dangerous within a week of its placement."
Julia: What? How?
Amanda: I'm guessing the metal rusts, or the wood warps or something.
Julia: Weird.
Amanda: "The spirits have been known to rearrange books in the middle of the night inside the rooms while people are sleeping in them."
Julia: Don't like that.
Amanda: That there is a hecking nope.
Julia: Nope. Don't like that.
Amanda: "Oh, yeah. Did I mention their all-time favorite activity when we upset them is poking us in our sleep until we wake up to find absolutely nothing there with us in the room, because that's always enjoyable?"
Julia: Mm-mm (negative). Don't like that.
Eric: Doesn't sound enjoyable.
Amanda: "Anyway, those are some of my most notable experiences from the 1896 house. I have dozens of specific instances more if you're interested, and I've emailed you pictures of our dogs and horses as a palate cleanser."
Julia: Okay. Danielle, please send us the listing for the Airbnb, so we can potentially rent it.
Amanda: I would rent it during the daytime, record an episode, do a little walkthrough.
Julia: Nope. We got to stay there. We got to stay.
Amanda: No.
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: I don't like it.
Julia: I've never been to South Dakota anyway, so I am excited to check it out.
Amanda: That's true. I hear it's beautiful. Well, Danielle, we're glad you're well. Thank you very much for the animal photos, and maybe a little more nervous about these hauntings, because so far you seem a little bit accustomed to them in a way that makes me worried for you.
Julia: Mm-mm (negative). Mm-mm (negative).
Amanda: Eric, do you have a final story for us this week?
Eric: I sure do, and it goes a little something like this.
Amanda: Hit it.
Julia: Oh, boy.
Eric: Ghost that checked on my baby.
Amanda: Oh.
Julia: Say that again?
Eric: Ghost that checked on my baby.
Julia: That checked on the baby?
Eric: Checked on my baby.
Julia: Oh, checked on my baby.
Eric: But their baby, so the baby is a completely fine retitling of it.
Julia: Thank you.
Eric: This comes from Amber. She writes, "Hello. I've been a longtime listener, and decided tonight I'd share my ghost story. My husband and I bought a beautiful 100 year-old bungalow before we were married. It was the bee's knees. Stained glass windows, hardwood floors. She was a beauty."
Julia: The past tense is bothering me. Continue.
Eric: The what is?
Julia: The past tense of the story.
Amanda: I know, I know, I know. This is terrifying.
Eric: This is a safe for Eric, read at the end of email-
Julia: All right.
Eric: ... end of episode email.
Julia: It doesn't mean it's not creepy.
Eric: I'm sure about it.
Julia: It just means that it's not sad.
Eric: "The only downside was that the house was set up almost like a circle, meaning one bedroom had a door to the next, and that room had a door to the kitchen."
Amanda: Don't like that.
Eric: "Each door though was a beautiful set of French doors. Pretty, but not great for privacy."
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: "Before our son was born, I went into major home renovation mode. We had walls repainted, floors sanded and redone, and staircase to the basement replaced. We brought our baby into a spruced up little home, and everything was fine for a month or two, until I moved him into his room."
Amanda: No.
Julia: Uh-oh.
Eric: "I could basically see into his room, so I had no anxiety about doing so."
Julia: I do, though, now.
Eric: "A few nights in, I heard my son making noise, so I open my eyes and started to get up to see a dark shadow pass across the glass doors."
Julia: Mm-mm (negative). Mm-mm (negative).
Eric: "I do what anyone would do. I screamed, woke up my husband and the baby, and turned on every light in the house. After much coaxing, my husband settled me down and tried to convince me it was just my sleep-deprived brain. I kind of believed that, but it happened three more times."
Amanda: No.
Eric: "I never got bad vibes or a feeling from the shadow, but I also didn't like it. I finally said, 'Hello, this is our house now. I'm glad you are checking on my son, but you're scaring me. Could you please stop?'"
Amanda: Very diplomatic.
Julia: Very good.
Eric: Being direct with ghosts, that's the way to do it. "I also saged the shit out of the whole house. I never saw the shadow person again. I think the spirit coming to visit could've been caused by all the renovations, or that our old basement was made of limestone. I've read limestone captures energy easier than other materials."
Amanda: Oh, it's very porous.
Julia: Yeah, I've read that before too. Yeah.
Eric: "Or it could've just been an old resident checking out the newest one." That makes it sound like a living person that has broken into your house, but let's assume that's not it.
Amanda: Just hanging out. I mean I like this idea though-
Eric: Either way-
Amanda: ... that every property has a ghost version of itself where all the previous inhabitants get to chill, and have a nice afterlife and compare notes.
Julia: Do you like that, as someone who just moved into a new apartment? Do you like that?
Amanda: No, I don't. I take it back.
Julia: All right. Thank you.
Eric: That's their story. They say, "Either way, super scary. Cheers, Amber."
Julia: Tight. Yeah. No, creepy, Amber. You did the correct thing, which is what I-
Amanda: You handled it well, Amber.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Good job, especially for a new parent. I imagine your brain is a million places, and that was a good way to do it.
Julia: It's a scary experience. I feel it.
Amanda: Every week, somehow we learn more about haunted houses, what to do, what not to do. Spooky versus haunted is a very useful distinction, and I'm glad to know it.
Julia: Also, which ones we should visit definitely in the next upcoming year.
Amanda: Now I'm thinking about the fact that every Airbnb has a potential to be haunted.
Julia: Yeah. Any place has the potential to be haunted when you think about it.
Amanda: I know, but Julia, I hadn't thought about it and now I am.
Julia: Whoops, too bad.
Amanda: All right. Well, as Eric works on exorcizing these cold hauntings from his sinuses, remember listeners-
Julia: Stay creepy.
Amanda: ... stay cool.