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Generation In-Between: A Xennial Podcast
Xennial co-hosts Dani and Katie talk about their analog childhoods, digital adulthoods and everything in between. If you love 1980's and 1990's pop culture content, this is the podcast for you!
Generation In-Between: A Xennial Podcast
Spooky Season Stories: A Collection of Original, Published and Listener Tales
This episode is all about the different types of scary stories out there -- from psychological twists, to moral lessons aligned in manifestation, to real-life things that have scared us and our listeners -- you'll want to listen with a friend or your womp stick.
Join us for all of our Spooky Season episodes, including Xennial movie rewatches, and head over to YouTube to see our costumes!
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Hello, hello, listeners. Welcome to a very special spooky season edition of Generation in Between a Xennial Podcast. I'm Katie. And I'm Danny and welcome, welcome. Welcome to say what we do here. Yeah, sure, sure.
SPEAKER_01:Let's say what we said. You said hello, hello. And I laughed at her and I just said welcome, welcome. See? So I don't know what's going on. Yes. So yes, here we are, Generation in Between a Xennial podcast, where we revisit, remember, and sometimes relearn all kinds of things from being 80s kids and 90s teens, except today is a little different. Yeah. And we're here in costume because we're gonna be in costume every recording day of October. Yes. So describe yours first. So I am Daphne from Scooby-Doo. Yes. I'm trying to just do uh one of our my greatest hits from our family costumes that we do every year. Good. We did Scooby-Doo years ago, and I was Daphne, Troy was Fred, Caden was Shaggy, and then Coop was Scooby. That's adorable. And then and then we had some some friends of ours join us, and um she had her and her husband had two boys as well, and none of them wanted to do matching costumes. So she was like, Can I dress as Velma and go with you guys? Like match matching you, because they're like Transformer and like a GI Joe. I was like, hell yeah. So she dressed as Velma.
SPEAKER_00:So she was with you guys that day.
SPEAKER_01:She was honorarily with you that Halloween. We let people join us. Amelia joined us last year. That's right, she did. So we let people join in our costume fun on Halloween. So especially now that our numbers have dwindled down to three.
SPEAKER_00:I know, you need a fourth. So, and Katie, what are you wearing? I am a little bit on theme with the podcast because I am an 80s aerobics instructor. This was in the 80s, too. Scooby-doo. True, true, true. We both are. Look at us go. We did it. We did it. Um, I'm gonna stand up. Did we just hide?
SPEAKER_01:Wait, why are you standing up? So you can they could get a crotch shot of your Leotard? Yes, I wanted to show my Leotard. That's gone on socials. We're gonna get banned on TikTok. You guys have violation on TikTok for talking about kissing.
SPEAKER_00:I think they didn't say why. Well, what else would it be? Because it was like what 15 seconds? I said if you're a good kisser, you'll get far in life.
SPEAKER_01:Hello? What is that? Is it true?
SPEAKER_00:That's it. And it said it violated. So my question is does TikTok, I think I think there's a yes to both of these, but does TikTok have like bots that look for things you're saying or doing to flag them? Probably. Or did someone complain?
SPEAKER_01:I'm sure no. Who the fuck it? Nobody's watching us. Nobody complained. It's the bot.
SPEAKER_00:I'd feel better if someone complained, okay?
SPEAKER_01:Another reason why I hate robots and I hate AI.
SPEAKER_00:See? And I guess AI because like there's nothing wrong with what we're saying. I I texted Danny and I said, imagine getting in trouble and you're just wearing like a maleficent costume and a bellhop talking about Dan Aykroyd. Kissing. Kissing. And then like the socials are like, uh-uh. No, you don't.
SPEAKER_01:It's fine, but anyway.
SPEAKER_00:Did you appeal it? Where's it stand? We're still banned, not banned.
SPEAKER_01:Said it would take some time, but I said, uh-uh, there's nothing wrong with this. Some a human needs to watch it and be like, oh, it's just middle-aged ladies. Yeah. They're fine. They're fine. They're totally harmless.
SPEAKER_00:Like, you know, the trash that's out there on the TikTok. I think that's what gets me. Yeah. That like something like that gets flagged, but then like some of the stuff that apparently doesn't get flagged.
SPEAKER_01:Like the hate nonsense out there. Come on.
SPEAKER_00:It's pretty crazy. Well, anyway. Hopefully, and it was just that video. So don't worry, guys. We're still on the TikTok if you're not following us yet. Well, we have like five people that follow us. Yes, but it doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_01:I we don't care. I never, the only time I ever go on the TikTok is to post our things. Yeah. That's it. I don't ever go in on there a little bit more. I just, I just I'm inching in.
SPEAKER_00:I can't do it. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:I can't. I can't do Snapchat. I just, there's things I just can't. And AI, I can't. We were supposed to use AI today. I didn't do it. I did. And I thought about it.
SPEAKER_00:You used the AI later. And I was like, man, there's probably gonna be some listeners who rake me over the coals. Um, once we tell you what we're doing, we didn't like steal content or plagiarize, nothing like that. But I know people have really strong feelings, and I think rightfully so, over the environment in AI. Yeah. At like the energy sources it uses and that sort of thing. So to just for fun be like, I'm just gonna use it for this episode just for fun. I was like, yeah, probably shouldn't have done that. I did do it, so I will present what I did. I didn't. But I'm feeling remorse. I'm feeling remorseful. Well, well, and I think I will say I briefly I did two in AI. I did one. Did you? Yeah. I was like, okay, write it again. Just to have two, and just to see what they would be differing. And I think the one I wrote is way better.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you know why? Because you're a human being. Yeah. See, I this my main reason for not liking AI is because I well, there's two. I think it make it making us lazy, lazier. And second, I think it kills creativity. And I don't just mean with creating things, I mean with ways to research, ways to find out information. It just it's starting to eliminate parts of our thinking process. And I see creatives use it all the time, and I can always tell. Yeah, I do think it's pretty obvious.
SPEAKER_00:I can't like the way that it lays out in the headings and the um emojis. Because devil's advocate, humans are always finding ways to be more lazy and efficient. Facts. Well, there's a difference between lazy and efficient, I think. But AI is efficiency.
SPEAKER_01:I disagree.
SPEAKER_00:If you're regurgitating information that's already there, if you're creating something from scratch, that's different. Okay. But I don't, I don't know. Like, I think if it's if you're talking about like doing a Google search for information or asking the same thing to AI, to me, that seems about the same. But if you're like write an essay for me, that's different. Does it make sense?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, but even with a Google search, I think it can you're relying too much on that first blob of AI shit that comes along. Yeah, that's true. So I don't know. I disagree because I think that the reason why creating things is good as humans or even horrible, right, is because there's feeling and there's personality in it. AI does not have that. Oh, I agree with codes. And and here's my thing, I I I think of with AI. We as humans, we are trying to make things more efficient and use our time more efficiently. But I think of things like washing machines and dishwashers. Right. That makes sense. Let's have machines do that work so we can have real life or have more time to create. So we're not spending mundane tasks, sure, let's have efficiency. But I just, and it's it sucks because I'm seeing it more and more right now. And I didn't even think about the environmental component until I heard somebody talking about it on an NPR podcast. And I was like, oh shit, well, that's now I really hate it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you don't think about that. We just think about, and I mean, that's such a human thing to do, right? Just to consume, consume, consume because it's there. Yeah, and not because, yeah. But listeners, we haven't even told you what we're doing. Oh shit. Okay. They're like, why are they going on and on about AI? So we decided, we actually talked about it because I re-listened to our episodes. We talked about it in our Dawson's Creek episode. We did. So if you didn't listen to that, you didn't even hear us talk about this, but we were like, you know, we should write our own Twilight Zone episode. Yeah, we should write our own scary story. We should, whatever. So that's what we decided to do for this week. I was going to do haunted buildings or something. I don't know what I was gonna do. And we were like, meh. So I wrote um a scary story and you wrote a scary story. Well, I don't, I will add this disclaimer. I don't know how scary mine actually is. Mine turned into sort of Twilight Zony, where it's more like in your head, and also you'll see. Okay. And then and then additionally, Danny didn't do this, but I went on Chat GPT and I will read you the prompt that I gave it when we get there. Okay. But basically, it wrote two scary stories for me set in the 1980s. Okay. So we're gonna read those today. And we asked listeners on social to share some real life scary stories. And we have a couple, and if you have more, if you're like hearing this for the first time or you missed it because it was just in our stories, spooky season is not over. Yeah. So send us yours. We will talk about them on a future episode if it's okay with you.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and we'll talk about Hannah, our listener in England, send us some stories before we even ask for them. So we'll share some of hers too. We gotta remember that. Yeah. Um, okay, so confession. I did not write anything. Well, okay, wait, rewind. I brought scary stories, don't worry. They're just not mine. Okay. Okay. Here's what happened, everyone. I sat down. Okay, first of all, this is kind of an unfair challenge because Katie is a writer. Like, that's what like I that's fair. I like to write sometimes, but when I get assigned something to write, I got nothing. Yeah. And I sat down and I started to write this story, which was funny, and then I go back and look at it, but I couldn't get anywhere with it. And it was so stupid. I reread it and I was like, oh shit, no, this I there's this is going nowhere. And so I just stopped and I was panicking last night because I was like, oh God, I still don't. I tried to think of something. So Troy was like, so of course, Troy and Cooper were like giving me ideas, and I was like, no, that's already been done. Like, that's a Twilight Zone episode. Yeah. Cooper gave me something about phones. I was like, that was on Black Mirror. Like, that's the hard part is trying to think of something original.
SPEAKER_02:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01:Well, so then Troy was like, Well, what if Cooper writes a story? I was like, Yeah, do that. And I'll say, Cooper wrote this. He couldn't do it either. So I was like, all right. Well, let me go back to my scary stories books that we read aloud last Halloween. Yes. And I'll pick a couple that I didn't read and I'll read those. I love that. That's what I did, full stop. And then I refused to do AI. But I brought I brought stories that's not mine.
SPEAKER_00:It was fun when you read those last year. In fact, when I was writing mine, I was like, oh, remember like when Danny read those stories to us last year? Yeah, that was so fun.
SPEAKER_01:If you're new here and you didn't hear our scary stories episode last Halloween, go listen to it. Because I read some of the classics. Um, Alvin Schwartz, right? That's his name. It's on the book. It's in my bag. That's why I didn't take my stuff out yet.
SPEAKER_00:She said, I have a big reveal in my bag. And I was like, oh my God, that I didn't do my assignment. I love it. I love it though. I love it. Okay. So should I go ahead and read mine first then? Uh sure. Or and then we'll go to scary stories and then we'll go to listener stories. Yeah. Or do we go ahead and do mine, listeners, then scary stories based on time. Whatever you want to do. Let's do that. Okay. So first we're going to do the one that I wrote. I am. Well, I printed it out and I left it at home. Wow. I don't think I could read a whole story off my head.
SPEAKER_01:It's gigantic. That is not gigantic. See, no. They can't see that.
SPEAKER_00:They can see how big it is.
SPEAKER_01:Everybody, the font is not like the font I used to do.
SPEAKER_00:The font is not fonting. Okay. So I don't know how scary it actually is. And I will admit there were a couple times that I wanted to take it like further, like scarier, and I didn't because you got scared. I got scared. You scared yourself. And because you'll see a lot of me in this story. And so I was like, well, I don't want that to happen to me.
SPEAKER_01:So to be fair, it's hard to write scary stuff. It is. Well, my sister told me, she said, you should do something on like people who use a Ouija board, and then shit goes wrong.
SPEAKER_00:And I was like, no, I'm not talking about no Ouija board. No, guys, if we haven't established it yet, uh, nothing Ouija board ever for us. And we got that confirmed.
SPEAKER_01:Did we say that last week?
SPEAKER_00:What? That Hannah told us. Yeah. Don't use that Ouija board. And we'll tell Hannah's stories. But yes. Yeah, okay. She told us not to. Okay. So we didn't. So here's the one I wrote. All right. And then we'll read the ones that AI. I can't wait. Okay. The title of mine is Manifesting Destiny. Of course it is. Just just you wait. Just you wait, okay? This is Katie's life story just made scary.
SPEAKER_02:All right, I'm ready.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. I'm gonna try not to laugh because it is so mean. Is it okay? No. Oh, all right. It's funny how much I just was like, well, it's just right about myself and if something went wrong, here we go. Michelle was a good woman of intention. Every night before she went to bed, she laid out her clothes for her 5 a.m. workout, knowing the chances of actually completing that workout increased when she didn't have to fumble in the dark for her sports bra and running shoes. She programmed her coffee maker the night before too, to click on at the exact moment her home workout would end. At the end of those early hour workouts, with that hot mug of coffee in hand, Michelle sat in her quiet home, still in sweaty clothes, but nestled under a soft throw blanket in the corner of her couch and pulled out a tattered notepad and colorful pens. This is just your life so far. That's why I didn't want anything bad to happen to her. This isn't sterile.
SPEAKER_01:I'm like, Katie, you literally do this.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:No, this is.
SPEAKER_01:But they say right when you know.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, it's Michelle.
SPEAKER_01:This is Michelle's story. Here we go. You know that's my metal name.
SPEAKER_00:No, I did. I guess I did know that. The reason I used it here is because when I was little, I decided that was going to be my name, and I made my family call me that for like a week. What? I was at like eight or nine. That is his story. And then I was like, wait, call me Shelley. And they were all like, no, we're not doing that. Okay. Oh, I love that. So she's under, she's nestled under the blanket. This was her journaling time. Oh, see? It was the time to start her day to set her intentions for what lay ahead, both in the immediate hours that followed and the weeks, years, and life that followed that. She journaled about everything, really. Setting goals, speaking about this is going somewhere, I promise.
SPEAKER_01:If y'all ever wanted a peek into Katie's warnings, here it is. Here it is.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. It is hard to write about stuff you don't know. You're right. Okay. I know. Seriously. Michelle talked about her dreams and where she went to go next and wrote out gratitude statements that surrounded her current life. It didn't matter if the goals seemed outlandish or impossible even. Anything was fair game in the pages of her journal. She had a habit of writing out a litany of aspirational statements at the end of her journaling sessions. These included writing out statements about her future self. You know, things like, I am wealthy beyond my wildest dreams, and I own a summer home in Paris. Things like that. On this particular morning in October, Michelle had a few extra minutes to herself before the day started. It was a federal holiday. Indigenous People's Day is Monday. Just that's what made me think of it. So her kids didn't need to get up for work. She herself Oh. I need an editor. Let's just let's just try that again. Her kids didn't need to wake up for school. Off to the coal mines. Marching over. Okay. Okay. She herself had pushed some of her meetings to later in the day to be able to enjoy a slower morning. So she went off schedule just a bit and decided to spend a few extra minutes in her journal rereading and focusing on her intentions. She ran her finger over some of them, realizing how many she had written down this morning. It looked more like a word association exercise than actual organized goals. She didn't want to cast shade on her hopes and dreams, but she felt the urge to edit them a little. She knew realistically that all of those aspirations couldn't live together at once. Some of the goals were even at odds with each other, like the aspiration to spend Christmases in London, but also participate in her local Christmas musical every year. Okay, we're just gonna keep going. If we aren't friends yet, we're gonna be friends by the end of this. You're gonna know me. Yeah, that's true. Michelle started started to feel overwhelmed by her own thoughts as they lay in front of her in all their sparkly magic. So she grabbed her favorite purple pen and turned to the page of her notebook to a blank lined one. She numbered the page one, two, three, and then closed her eyes and took another sip of coffee. Michelle focused on her top three goals, the three things out of the dozens she'd written down that she wanted the absolute most in life. And she started to set her pen to paper. Number one, I want more time for my creative projects. Number two, I want my kids to be independent and happy. Number three, I want to be independently wealthy. Literally all three of the goals that Katie has. Yes. Well, maybe not number three, but yeah. That one's that one's fictionalized. Well sort of. She looked at the page and felt satisfied. Wealth, family, fame. It was truly an encapsulation of everything she desired in life. Michelle knew that if she could have those things, those three things, she would finally be happy. Little did she know that within the year, all three would come true, but in ways she couldn't have predicted. Dun dun dun. The layoff. Uh-oh. On a relatively cool floor. Katie. This is like chapter two. I can't. Chapter two.
SPEAKER_01:Guys, seriously, this is like Katie's life. She's like, yeah, write an original story. And here's my life.
SPEAKER_00:Do you do? Yes. That's why I couldn't have her like get slashed or anything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I get it. On a relatively cool Florida day in December. So now we're in December.
SPEAKER_01:It's in Florida too. You didn't say that in the beginning.
SPEAKER_00:And Michelle opened her work-issued laptop and tried to log in. Her screen kept showing an error when she tried to type her password. Ugh, it must be time to reset it, she thought. But as soon as she was looking for the button that would help her reset it, her personal cell phone started to ring. It was her boss. Maybe the entire company was having tech issues. It didn't take her boss, a woman just a few older years older than her, to get long to get to the point. You're being let go, the boss said. We're taking the job a different direction. But go, Michelle couldn't believe her ears. As her now ex-boss rattled on about next steps for sending in her laptop, turning another prop company property, Michelle tried to find her words. Finally she stammered, but why? Her boss sighed. Because you're distracted, it doesn't seem like your head is in the job. And you've mentioned your other creative projects. Maybe you should spend your time on those.
SPEAKER_01:Y'all know what happened to Katie a few months ago, right?
SPEAKER_00:You do know. All right. No, you talked about it on here. I did, yeah. But if they're new. Oh, yeah, true. If they're just becoming my friends, right?
SPEAKER_01:Well, if you need an update on Katie's life the past six months, it's a here in this story. Here it is. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Busy Bees. Chapter 3.
SPEAKER_01:This is so fun.
SPEAKER_00:Once relieved of her work duties, Michelle tried to shake off the shock by reinvesting in other parts of her life. At least while she scrambled to find another job or replace her income. It was almost Christmas, and she was receiving out of office replies from everywhere she emailed. So she decided to focus on what was right in front of her. Her kids. She had some time now to do some of the things that her kids always wanted her to do. Maybe even some travel if she could figure out a way to afford it. She star now, listen, she only has three kids. Oh okay, so all right you took two alone. Five would have taken way too long. She started with her teenage daughter, who had just turned fifteen. Michelle got excited at the idea of the two of them doing something fun together, but when she approached her daughter, she was met with a list of all the things said daughter already had planned. I've got a full schedule, Mom, but I'll loop back with you if there's an opening. Michelle nodded. Right. Teenagers tended to have their own lives, didn't they? Well, on to the next. She had a son who was not quite a teenager yet. She came up with a plan to hang out with him, and it seemed like the plan was coming to fruition when, the very next morning, as Michelle journaled nice and early, her son appeared in the living room too. Michelle patted the seat next to her on the couch, inviting him to sit with her. It's okay, Mom, I want to read by myself, he said, holding up the gr holding up the graphic novel tucked under his arm. He crossed in front of Michelle and exited the living room, opting instead to read alone at the dining room table. Michelle remembered all the times he begged her for a bedtime story, and tired from her duties from the day, she picked up the shortest book available. She felt a pang pang, that's a weird word. She felt a pang of wistfulness as she sat with his decision to read alone. Oh well, that's why you have more than one or two, right? Oh my Michelle knew her littlest daughter, just age seven, would want to spend time with her. She was always pleading with her mom to play dolls or complete a craft or make cookies. Michelle decided that just as soon as her daughter was up, she'd ask her which thing she wanted to do first. But Michelle was disappointed when she was met with the same fate as her older two. I am busy finding my own play for my dolls. Okay, this is this is Tegan. Literally Tegan. Her bright little angel exclaimed, It's a secret show. Uh-huh. Only I can know.
SPEAKER_01:That is so Tegan.
SPEAKER_00:No worries, Michelle thought, more time for those creative projects she had pushed aside for all those years, right? But as she sat looking at a blank computer screen, she wondered how creative she actually was. Where were all the ideas? Where was the motivation she had had when her days were filled to the brim with child rearing and a nine to five job? She had so many brilliant ideas then. Where were they now? This is where it gets a little kooky, the accident. Okay. So remember, everything started with her journal in October. Okay, we all remember this, okay? Like I can follow it. It was just pretty minutes ago, Katie. We're good. We're with you. That was summer. On December 31st, Michelle sat looking at a blank page of her journal. Normally she'd spend most of the day filling the pages of a new notebook with colorful reflections on the year, even brighter entries about the future. But today she felt empty. Her kids were all off with friends, watching the ball drop in Times Square in their own age-appropriate ways. I don't know why I said that.
SPEAKER_01:Censoring yourself.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. No underage drinking here. They were not drinking alcohol, none of them. When she mentioned her kids scattering for the evening to another mom, that woman responded with, Wow, a night to yourself, how will you spend it? And Michelle really, by the way, she's not married, I guess. Oh I got this far and I was like, Well, I haven't mentioned the husband yet, but I think, see, that's what'll fictionalize it. Here we go. The one thing. The one thing. I wonder how Brant would feel about it. I don't know. I'll have to. He'd be like, of course she did that. He'd be like, well, I'll just sit over here in the corner. Just sit here. Um Michelle realized she would likely spend it alone New Year's Eve with her notebook and pens. She wasn't much of a drinker, so she poured herself a glass of leftover eggnog instead, minus the rum.
unknown:I can't.
SPEAKER_00:They say it's all in the details, right? When that didn't exactly hit the spot, she got in her car and decided to drive to get some ice cream. She could start her healthy eating resolution January first. It was starting to get dark with just the slightest pink lighting up the Florida sky. It was that pink that caught her eye just to the right as she drove parallel to the Atlantic Ocean. She thought about what a year it had been. Really, what a quarter of a year it had been, and she sighed. The next sound she heard was a metal of was of metal and steel crunching. The next sound after that was the beeping of a hospital monitor, her neighbor and kids standing alongside her bed. There was an accident, her neighbor stammered. Michelle looked at her children's faces full of relief that she was awake but stained with tears. She was so happy to see them there. It would be weeks before Michelle could breathe and eat on her own. Her friends and neighbors her friends and neighbors helped out with the kids at home, always praising how independently they were taking care of each other and themselves. Michelle just wanted to be home with them. By Valentine's Day, she was home, though the use of her lower body was no longer possible. She had to relearn life one task at a time. And though her children had every intention of making her life easier, Michelle insisted they keep living their own lives without interruption. It was early March when two detectives showed up on her doorstep, letting her know they were investigating the New Year's Eve's accident. It had been labeled as a hit and run, with Michelle not knowing who had hit her or why they had left. Of course everyone suspected drunk driving, but there had not been proof. The detectives informed her that they indeed figured out who had hit her that night and had spent the past three months building a case against him. They told her the name of the culprit. You're gonna laugh. And Michelle realized it was a well-known billionaire. Sorry. Who must have been vacationing near the ocean at the time of the accident? They'd prefer we not press charges and that you settle this out of court, the detective said. But we know you'll do the right thing. We'd recommend getting a good lawyer. Michelle lawyered up, and after months of behind the scenes negotiating, she was awarded fifty million dollars. Whoa. She and her kids would never need to work another day in their lives. She opened her journal the next morning to write about the settlement and realized the same federal holiday had rolled around. She flipped back to that date from a year prior and reread her three main entries. All had come true. Instead of using her color-coded pens to encourage herself, Michelle grabbed a black marker and filled the blank page with these words. Be careful what you wish for. Ooh, that's good.
SPEAKER_01:That's good. All right. Boom. That's good with all my teasing aside. That was good. Good story. Yeah. And that just proves why you shouldn't journal. So thank you, me.
SPEAKER_00:Danny's like, so moral of the story.
SPEAKER_01:Don't journal. Don't journal. Okay. Katie always tries to give me a journal, and I don't. I just can't ever do it.
SPEAKER_00:And see, now I'm gonna be like, remember that story you wrote? Remember that cautionary tale about writing down stuff? And it came true, but not the way you wanted. Okay, so the funny thing is the story I started to write was more of like a horror comedy.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. And it was the diary of a stay-at-home mom vampire. Oh, I bet that was skipping. Right sounds great. Yeah. And I actually used you in the beginning of the story saying, okay, I'm gonna start journaling now. My friend Katie's always gifting me these cute journals and like telling me to do it. And who knew it would just take me getting undead to start doing it? Who knew I had to do it? I just couldn't get, I couldn't, I couldn't get it going. That's a fun concept. It is, it's a fun concept. Like I said, I'm good with ideas. It's just maybe I'll go back to it another day when I don't have to do it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I no, totally. And then it'll and look, I have since I graduated from college, so that was 2025. So I've had 20 years of writing on deadline.
SPEAKER_01:That's crazy.
SPEAKER_00:20 years of like and and most of that was short short form stuff, like articles or blog posts or whatever. Just recently I finished my book, turned it in, everybody. Yay! And and those were long. It's held in the title of your book. My title of my book is Legacy List. And the title of your short story was Manifesting Destiny. I have I have a theme. I have a brand, guys. I like brands. I like it. All right, shall we go on to Chat GPT? The first one I didn't love. Because you'll see why. It just sounds like every story we've ever talked about. I love it anyway. A good point. And they are you reading both of them? Um, I'll read the first one. We'll decide if you want me to read the second one. It's not as long as mine. They're short. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:We don't need to give a don't want this one.
SPEAKER_00:All right.
SPEAKER_01:These bangs are driving me nuts on this wig.
SPEAKER_00:All right, we're gonna do this one called the static line.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my gosh, another October. Well, obviously scary stuff happens. It was October 1987, remember? I told, oh wait, I didn't read you what I asked Chat GPT. Yeah, what did you say? Exactly what I asked it was. Oh my gosh, this is oh no, that's Michelle. Get out of here, Michelle. Sure it's chat GPT. Write a scary story that takes place in the 1980s that takes five minutes to read out loud. That's what I asked her. Okay. So here we go. The static channel. It was October 1987, and 15-year-old Jenny Hollis had the house to herself for the weekend. Her parents were off at some insurance convention in Daytona, and she had big plans pizza, MTV, and talking on the phone until sunrise. Jenny's best friend Stacey had lent her a new cassette, a homemade mixtape called Midnight Meltdown. It was full of metal bands. Jenny's parents hated it.
SPEAKER_01:This was a story on Tales from the Dark Side, I think. Really? I don't know. Maybe. If it's something on a tape, it's definitely been done and I've watched it on something. Okay. Keep going. We'll we'll find out.
SPEAKER_00:The label is written in black marker and decorated with doodles of skulls and lightning bolts. Around nine o'clock, she popped the tape into her bright red Sony boombox and hit play. The first song was Livin' on a Prayer. She turned it up so loud that the walls vibrated. Then the tape stopped. There was no click, no rewind sound, just silence. Jenny frowned and hit play again. The speakers hissed with faint static, that snowy kind of noise that sounded like wind on an empty highway. Then a voice came through, a man's voice, whispering, Jenny, I like your room. She froze. The hair on her arm stood up. She hit stop, then rewind, and played it again. Jenny, I like your room. The whisper was slow, almost playful. She stared at the tape deck. Maybe Stacy's brother had messed with it. He was always recording prank messages over her music. Jenny hit eject and examined the cassette. The tape inside looked fine, no obvious splices. She shrugged it off, popped it back in, and hit fast forward until the next song started. By ten thirty, she'd mostly forgotten about it. She was dancing around in her socked feet, hairbrush in hand. When the phone rang, she grabbed the beige wall phone in the kitchen. Hello Nothing but static. Hello Then under the hiss a whisper. Jenny, turn around. Her heart dropped. She spun around, staring at the empty kitchen doorway. Stacy, if that's you, it's not funny, she snapped. The line went dead. Jenny slammed the receiver down, her hands were shaking, but she told herself there had to be a logical explanation. Maybe a cross phone line? That happens sometimes, right? She went back to the living room, but the music had stopped again. The tape deck clicked. Then the whisper returned, louder this time. I said turn around. Jenny's breath caught. She turned slowly toward the hallway mirror. Behind her reflection, just for a second, she saw someone else. A man in a dark coat. His face was pale, stretched too long, like a TV image that hadn't tuned right. Jenny screamed and stumbled back. The mirror cracked down the middle. Oh wow. The phone started ringing again, over and over and over. She ran to it, grabbed it, and shouted, What do you want? The whisper came again, now close enough she could feel the breath through the line. You shouldn't have played it. Then came the sound of footsteps, not through the phone, behind her. The living room TV flickered on by itself, blinding white static filling the screen. On the floor, the boombox began to spin the cassette backward. The whispering grew faster, higher, like a thousand voices talking at once. Jenny dropped the phone. She backed toward the door, but the knob wouldn't turn. The chain lock rattles as though something was pulling from the other side. Jenny, the whisper's right behind her now. She turned. The man from the mirror stood there, tall, featureless, and flickering like he was made of TV static. His voice was no longer whispering. It was screaming through every speaker in the house. Now you're part of the recording. The lights exploded, the screen went black, and the only thing left was the hiss of the tape. Two days later, Jenny's parents returned home to find the house dark and empty. The only sign of their daughter was the mixtape still in the boombox. It played one clear voice through the static, Jenny's voice repeating over and over. Don't play it again. Please, don't play it again.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, that just combined several stories together. Yeah. Like Bloody Mary Mirror.
unknown:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01:Uh When a Stranger Calls. Yes. That one. It also there is one about there's an Urban Legend about screams being recorded on a remember, it was in the movie.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it was in the movie. In Urban Legends. Uh-huh. Yeah. So, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, that's a good story, but it it just combines shit we've already heard. Right. Which is what AI is. See? It's not creating it. No OG ideas.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So that just confirmed what we said. It did. And parts of it didn't make sense. Yeah. Parts of it were a little off. Like it said something about the screen. Like the tape deck had a screen. Yeah. I'm confused. Yeah, I don't know. All right. Okay. So we should talk about our listener stuff real quick. Well, we're going to read Scary Sorry. No, we've done a lot of readings. So let's. Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Let's chat. So I'll start with a short one, which was my daughter. Oh, yeah. So that I can bring this up. Her name's London. She does she want you to say her name? Maybe not. I could always take that out. I don't think she'll care. I don't think she'll care. Um, and anyway, she went to Halloween horror nights Saturday. Fun! We still we gotta get this shit going. We do, we do. We'll talk about it.
SPEAKER_01:Once I have my rehearsal schedule and we'll figure it out.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, which should be soon.
SPEAKER_01:Sunday.
SPEAKER_00:Sunday, Sunday.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:So she went Saturday night, but even before that, she's kind of been like in spooky season recently, just like she went and saw the new conjuring with her friends. She decorated her room. Her room's like cute spooky, but she like decorates just her, like, you know, she has her own decoration. She does it for Christmas too. And anyway, she did all that and she went and saw the conjuring. So it's just kind of on her mind. She'd been talking about it to me. And then they went to Halloween Horror Nights, with I think has something themed to that. Or if not, it's just scary. It's Halloween Horror Nights. So she went to stay at her friend's house overnight. And because the parents were driving them back at like two in the morning. So she stayed there. So in the morning, she texts me and says, Can you come get me? I fell down the stairs last night. So long story short, at like 2 a.m. when they got back, she went to walk down the stairs and just fell. Feels like something pushed her, but who knows? It was two in the morning. She was freaked out from from Halloween horror nights. Fell down like 10 steps, but fell backward. So she hit like her lower back.
SPEAKER_01:I did that when I was pregnant.
SPEAKER_00:Oh God.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So it hurts. She spent a couple very sore days. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So she when I said we put on our socials, tell us your scary story. She's like, I feel like the conjuring pushed me down the stairs. Scary. Who knows? I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:I mean people out there that believe in the spooky stuff. They might say, You mess with some spirits. You mess with something.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, they came with you.
SPEAKER_01:Or that leaves you open to things happening. Right.
SPEAKER_00:Maybe. Hopefully, as her parent, I would say, hopefully not. And it was just a little trip and fall. And she's gonna be okay. It's creepy.
SPEAKER_01:All right. So should we start with Hannah's? Yeah. So Hannah is our listener over in Jelly Old England. And she sent me when she saw we had a Ouija board episode, she sent me this big voice text, and she's like, oh my God, when I saw it, she's like, I was thinking, no, Danny, you can't mess with that because she is someone who regularly, I would say regularly, sees a medium. And she said, everybody that's kind of into that says, don't mess with those. You have to be with somebody trained to do it. So she confirmed that from a professional. Okay. But she said she does see a medium regularly, uh, because well, I'm trying to think of how to sum this up. She sent us a couple stories. The first thing was how she even like got into that was she had a friend who was a hairdresser and she was hosting an event at her salon with a medium there. So people would buy tickets and they had drinks and like cocktails, and the medium, you know, if you've ever watched something like that on TV or something, where they're in the room and they just take, you know, what she said was the medium said she just gets pulled to people and she doesn't she didn't go in with any plan. Like it's just whoever she gets pulled to and talks to them or whatever. And so Hannah was like, her friend asked her to come and help with tickets and cocktails and stuff just to be there working. And she's like, But hey, if you want to come in and like sit in the back when she starts her thing, go ahead. So she did, and she was like, Oh yeah, whatever, sure. So she went in and she was kind of like, I'm not into this. And she like the night went on and went to all these people, and she said all of a sudden that she came to the back. She was like pulled to Hannah. And Hannah was like, Oh no, I'm not, like, I'm not here for this. Like, I'm just working. And she's like, No, like I just um something keeps telling me your name. Like, do you know someone with Elizabeth? Like something about Elizabeth and in London, and like and she's like, No, like I don't know what she's talking about. I I I might be getting the names and location wrong. Yeah, something like that though, yeah. Well, then whatever. So, and then some other stuff was chatted about, and none of it meant anything to Hannah. She saw her parents like the following week, and they were talking about it. She was like, Yeah, you know what's weird is like they kept saying like Elizabeth in London, and they were like, Oh my gosh. And she was like, because they said something to her about her middle name, like her family, and every she's the only person in her family with a different middle name. Right. Right?
SPEAKER_00:I remember her saying that, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And they said, No, we named you, or we were going to name you after Elizabeth, who's your great grandma. Is that right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, like another family number.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, who lived in London.
SPEAKER_00:Weird. Now, maybe getting the details of this mixed up, but that was the the basically the medium told her something she didn't think was relevant, and her parents confirmed it was relevant.
SPEAKER_01:Right, which is totally crazy, and there's no way that medium could have prepared ahead of time because Hannah didn't wasn't even a ticket person. She wasn't even like a name on the roster of people that are gonna be there. So she does see her, um, she does virtual stuff. She was like, Oh yeah, she does virtual, so if y'all ever want to have her, I was like, nah, I don't know. Um, but um they do she's like, it's not like she doesn't tell you things to do, but she does say like something's gonna happen or blah blah blah. And she said it's always been correct. Wow. Because her and her friend both um do that. And one day she said something that happened to her was um well, now I'm forgetting, but the feather member on her motorcycle?
SPEAKER_00:I forget what that was. Shoot, yeah. I listened to it like last week, but something about yeah, um, something about a warning.
SPEAKER_01:Um it was a super windy day. I mean, she was in England, so like and she has motorcycle a motorcycle, and she went out to get on the motorcycle, and there was just a fet a single feather on the seat of it, and she's like, it was super weird because it was like crazy windy, but the feather was just sitting there, and I think she had had a warning to like not go on the bike that day or something, like the medium told her that or something, I don't know. And she was like, Okay, I'm just gonna take this as a sign that maybe I shouldn't ride this bike today.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, wow, that's wild. And and I'll be honest, I've never spoken to um a medium or a person who who feels that they can warn you or give you predictions or speak to the dead. And I I think different people can do different things, right? Like not every yeah, not every person who has future telling abilities also can communicate with the dead, correct, etc. Like it does vary. People's gifts vary, but like I've never spoken to someone, and it's not that I wouldn't. I mean, I mean, I think for a while in my life I wouldn't. Maybe I would now.
SPEAKER_01:I think if I did, it would have to be somebody I knew outside of that context. Like we have we have a few friends that um I mean, and some of them talk about it and some of them don't, but uh we do have a few friends in our circles that I don't know if they would say they were mediums or if they just have like a some kind of you know second sight. Yeah, and I know I mean I have lots of friends who do tarot cards, which is not necessarily the same thing, but that's what I mean. There's like it's it's I think it's easy to lump it all together.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and it's not, it's not all the same thing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Speaking of that, yeah, Amanda sent us a bunch of stories this morning. So why don't you summarize some of the ones and y'all sounds good? If y'all have been with us since the beginning, Amanda has been on our show. Yep. She uh came on our Princess Diana episode because she played Diana when we did the show here two years ago.
SPEAKER_00:I was just thinking that was a really long time ago. Almost two years ago. Because it was in the spring. It was in the spring. Yes, almost. Um, okay, so Amanda has this really adorable Chihuahua named Rosie, who's like, and she has more dogs than two. She's got two, but Rosie is one. And so her and her boyfriend were st who's also been on our show. Yeah. I'd say he was on one of our Power Rangers episodes. Yes, he was. And so they were staying in a house that kind of had a little bit of lore behind it, like an older home. And um, supposedly a medium who'd been in the home had said there was a certain area of it that was haunted, like a certain spot. And then, like she even mentioned, like outside, there was a bomb shelter bunker from I don't know, the 50s. Probably the 50s. Yeah. And so it was just kind of an interesting energy around this property. So she said there were these two steps that went, I guess, from maybe like a bedroom to a living room or something like that. Not a whole staircase, but just like two steps. And her chihuahua stopped going down the steps, like wanted to be picked up instead of taking the steps. And she couldn't figure out why. And then she was watching her at from a distance or something, and the dog attempted to do the steps and like basically got knocked down or tripped or something. And so Amanda was saying she believes like the spirits were like messing with her dog. That's what I'm saying. And she pointed out, and I think that this is true, animals in general, but dogs seem to sense those things before people. And so the dog kind of kind of felt that. She had another one about the dog too.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they were at her and her dog were at a that's what it was. They were on a at a battlefield somewhere where a really horrible battle took place, and I don't remember where this was, but she set up a camera to take a picture, and it was just her and her dog that were there. Alexa was not there. So she set it up like ready to take a picture, and she said, right after she had it set up, there was this humongous gust of wind out of nowhere. Wow. And she was like, Okay, maybe I don't need that picture. Again, wind. Like, and she was like, Okay, just kidding. I'm not gonna take that picture.
SPEAKER_00:I think it's time to go.
SPEAKER_01:So she didn't take the picture, and then she used to work at a haunted one like a historical haunted hotel called here in Florida called Casa Something. Casadega, maybe Casadega, I think that might be it. Yeah. And she said, her and her co-workers, it's like one of the most haunted places in Florida, she said. They um used to hear footsteps and stuff all the time. Or they used to think each other was knocking on each other's office door, and it ended up not being them. It was they don't know where it was coming from. And then one one day her coworker came to our office and was like, Was that you knocking? And she was like, No. And then they heard footsteps and there's nobody there.
SPEAKER_00:And they were both like standing there where the footsteps would like walk by or whatever, and they both heard it and there was nothing there. Wow. I know, and that's that like residual energy stuff, too. I think that sometimes, like, again, we don't we don't know, we don't know the answers. Like, is it a is it something there or is it a residual energy from something else that's just being held in the place? Ghosts remember my PSA. Don't forget, she's not open. I don't want to talk to you. Wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01:You were dressed as Daphne, so she was just their cute eye candy to go on.
SPEAKER_00:She wasn't trying to catch ghosts. I mean, those were never ghosts, it was always some old man in a mask. That's true, but you don't want an old man in a mask talking to you either. This is a costume. This ain't my reality. That's true. I'm not about to teach an aerobics class after this. See, I could try. It it wouldn't go very well, guys.
SPEAKER_01:Look, I tried to look, it's hard to teach in that kind of stuff. I can't imagine classes. I can't imagine you gotta wear what's comfortable. My earrings kind of come off. It hurts.
SPEAKER_00:The only thing I kind of like is the sweatband. The sweatband actually comes in clouds. Start doing that like just when I come to your classes.
SPEAKER_01:I use so sweaty. I used to wear those when I taught because they're the they're the best ones. They're actually functional. Yeah, yeah. I like it. They don't have to be cute. No, but again, I have a small head, and so sometimes they'd pop off. That's why I use the pine net ties. Okay, that's smart. You're like, again, everyone. I have a narrow head. It's weird. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. All right, time to hear. So you want to read scary stories? Yeah, let's read some scary stories.
SPEAKER_01:I alright. I picked one from each. There's three scary stories books by Alvin Schwartz. Okay. I picked one from each. Got it. Two are short, one's a little longer. One of them involves your um singing abilities. Mine? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, and not fucking mine.
SPEAKER_00:Do I have to sing that Hearst song? No.
SPEAKER_01:I'm sorry, what'd you say?
SPEAKER_00:Was that from these books? That what song? Hearst song.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Spell the words you're saying. Hearst, isn't it? Spell it. What if I spell it wrong?
SPEAKER_01:I watch the page. H E R S T. Is that not how you spell it? First of all, it was a Hearse song. Hearse? Like a funeral driver. That doesn't have a T in it. Okay, never mind.
SPEAKER_00:I thought it had a T.
unknown:Oh.
SPEAKER_00:Maybe I'm thinking of the newspaper publishers. That's what I was like. I think yours, you're it's just Hearse?
SPEAKER_01:It's just a Hearse. H-E-A-R-S-E, a Hearse. Really?
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:I was really strong on that. I was like, I was like really enunciating.
SPEAKER_01:I always thought that's what I was thinking. I mean, you think of newsies. Oh yeah. Pulits are in Hearse. You're just so embedded in your writing uh everything that your everything goes to publishing.
SPEAKER_00:Maybe. I don't think so. I think I just did not know that. That's really funny. I'm I guess I've never typed the word hearse like in anything. Well, not even my scary story.
SPEAKER_01:Look at what we teach you on this podcast. Hearse. Do I have to sing the hearse song? No, but it is a different one. And you have to sight read a little, but it's easy. I can do that. Yeah, I know. That's why I'm not doing it.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Hold on. You're making me do it. Let's start with that. All right, let's do it.
SPEAKER_01:Because I have a scary, a funny, and then the song.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so a scary, a funny, and the song. Got it. Let's do it.
SPEAKER_01:So you brought all three books. That's so fun. I did, yeah. Alvin Schwartz. So, ooh, these bangs are annoying. Okay. Um, we're gonna the song is, I think. I love the artwork. Y'all have to go back. Okay. So good. The song you have to sing, it's gross. Um, it's called Old Woman, All Skin and Bone. And I picked this one because we are aging women. So true. So it shows you right here on the right-hand side the notes. Okay. And you just repeat that for all the lyrics. I used to get on my piano when I was a kid and play these out so I could sing it.
SPEAKER_00:Well, you know the tune, maybe. No, I don't. I haven't done this since I was a kid. Oh my god. And that's high. It is high. They impressively started it. Yeah, that's that's my break. I ain't doing that. So my for and we have a lot of performers who listen. I'm looking at like the it starts on a G, and so I'm thinking so, and then it goes to a C. Right. So it's so do. But it's got an F sharp. Which has to have our starting note, and then we got it. Ready? I'm not saying it. You go. And there was an old woman skin and bone who lived near the graveyard all alone. Nope, I went down. Ooh. Okay, just read it. I'm not gonna keep singing it. I'm failing.
SPEAKER_01:I'm failing. No, you did great. That was great. Now y'all see why I didn't sing it because that is high AF and I like to do that. Um, all right. So there was an old woman all skin and bone who lived near the graveyard all alone. Ooh. She thought she'd go to church one day to hear the parson preach and pray. I'll I'll skip the ooze. And when she came to the church house style, she thought she'd stop and rest a while. When she came up to the door, she thought she'd stop and rest some more. But when she turned and looked around, she saw a corpse upon the ground. From its nose down to its chin, the worms crawled out and the worms crawled in. The woman to the preacher said, Shall I look like that when I am dead? The preacher to the woman said, You'll look like that when you are dead. And then it says, Now scream. I love it. Now scream. Okay, well, that was a fun one. Just that was fun. That's spooky. I have another funny one. Okay, and then I'll go to the scary one. And um this one, if you've ever read these books, you'll remember this one. This is called The Ghost with the Bloody Fingers. Okay. A businessman arrived at a hotel late one night and asked for a room. The room clerk told him the hotel was all filled up. There's only one empty room, he said, but we don't rent that one because it is haunted. I'll take it, said the businessman. I don't believe in ghosts. The man went up to the room. He unpacked his things and he went to bed. As soon as he did, a ghost came out of the closet. Its fingers were bleeding, and it was moaning Bloody fingers, bloody fingers. When the man saw the ghost, he grabbed his things and ran. The next night, a woman arrived very late. Again, all the rooms were taken except the haunted room. I'll sleep there, she said. I'm not afraid of ghosts. And as soon as she got into bed, the ghost came out of the closet. Its fingers were still bleeding, and it was still moaning Bloody fingers, bloody fingers. And the woman took one look and ran. A week later another guest arrived very late. He also took the haunted room. After he unpacked he got out his guitar and he began to play. Soon the ghost appeared. As before, its fingers were bleeding and it was moaning Bloody fingers, bloody fingers. The man paid no attention. He just kept strumming his guitar. But the ghost kept moaning and its fingers kept bleeding. Finally, the guitar player looked up and said, Cool it, man. Just get yourself a band-aid.
SPEAKER_00:I feel like that's like a parenting thing, right? Like shut the fuck up. I'm trying to work here. Trying to play my damn guitar. Oh my god. Okay. I'm trying to side read a song about a hearse. Come on.
unknown:Come on, guys.
SPEAKER_00:Look, I do not grow up in spooky culture. The very quite opposite. Well, that's not spooky. That's just, you know, I was gonna say, I'm learning all this as an adult, but also I've been an adult for a really long time.
SPEAKER_01:Also, but but we established you don't know a lot of dead people, so why would you be familiar with that?
SPEAKER_00:I don't, I don't know many. Only historical ones, apparently.
SPEAKER_01:All right. Okay, so then this one is uh it's sort of funny and sort of scary. Okay. This is from this is from the sequel to Scary Stories. That what y'all just heard was from the OG Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. So this is the second book. Yes, and all these stories are made to be read aloud. They're made to be like campfire tales. Some of them have like jump scares in them, some of them are songs, so they're all made to be enjoyed communally. Okay, this one is called Cemetery Soup. On her way home from the market, the woman took a shortcut through the cemetery. There, sticking up out of the ground, she saw a big bone. She picked it up and looked it over carefully. This will make a very good soup bone, she said. I think I'll take it home. It's perfect weather for hot soup. Oh, we know Katie loves some soup. I do love some soup. But I think if you saw a bone sticking out the ground, you probably wouldn't grab it anyway. No, probably not. When she got home, the first thing she did was start the soup. Into the big soup pot went water, carrots, green beans, corn, barley, onions, potatoes, and a snitch of beef, some salt and pepper, and the bone. She brought it all to a boil, then down to a simmer. Yum, she said, sniffing it and tasting it. I can hardly wait till supper. Suddenly she heard a small voice. Please give me back my bone. The woman paid no attention. Soon she heard the voice again. May I have my bone back, please? The woman was reading the newspaper and again she didn't take any notice. In a little while the voice spoke up once more. It was beginning to sound angry. Give me back my bone. The woman kept on reading the paper. Some people are too impatient, she muttered.
SPEAKER_00:Whoa, down here my stomach. I wonder if the mic picked that up. I bet it did.
SPEAKER_01:I was hungry, apparently.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Once more the voice spoke. Now it sounded very angry. It was so loud that the whole house shook. I want my bone back. The woman reached into the pot, grabbed the bone, and threw it out the window. In a voice just as loud, she shouted, Take it. There was eerie silence. Then the woman heard footsteps scurrying away from the house down the road toward the cemetery. And she got up and served herself some soup.
SPEAKER_00:So she still ate the soup? Yeah. Oh. That's where I would. I don't know though. I do be loving some soup. I do too. If I already went through all that, I would probably still eat it.
SPEAKER_01:Literally. And now they asked for the bone back. They didn't say I'm gonna hurt you. They just wanted it back.
SPEAKER_00:But why was it sticking out the ground? Right. Like if it was I could see if she had dug up something in the cemetery to get a bone for her soup, but it was just there for the taking.
SPEAKER_01:There's a lot of stories like this too about like ghosts coming back for body parts. Because there's another story in one of these books about a liver. Oh wow. It's kind of gross. Um, this woman's married to this jerk of a man, and um they run out of she eats all the liver before he gets home, like the cow liver that she made for dinner. And then she, I don't remember if I think he was a funeral director. I might be getting this all wrong. And she remembered that there was like a dead body, so she gets the liver from the dead body. Oh, damn, and cooks it up for him, and so then the ghost comes back and is in the in the middle of the night and is like, who has my liver? And she's like, He ate it, and then the ghost kills him. Dang.
SPEAKER_00:Savage kids' books, kids' books.
SPEAKER_01:What are you gonna do? Children's tales. Okay, so this is from Scary Stories three. And what I like about um a lot of these stories is in the back, and we went over this when we read these before. He tells where he got these stories from. Yeah, because they're usually like a spin on tale. He spent a lot of years researching folklore and urban legends, and so he tells you where these came from. Cool. So this one is actually based on several story published real life articles. Okay. Okay. And it's this the scary one, yeah. Okay, and it's long and it's kind of about what we were already talking about with like spirits and moving things and stuff. Okay. So I think it goes good. So this is called The Trouble. Settle in, kitties. I'm like the crypt keeper. Yeah. Okay. The events in this story took place in 1958 in a small white house in a suburb of New York City. The names of the people involved have been changed. Monday, February 3rd, Tom Lombardo and his sister Nancy had just come home from school. Tom was going on 13, Nancy was 14. They were talking to their mother in the living room when they heard a loud pop in the kitchen. It sounded like a cork had been pulled from a bottle of champagne. But it was nothing like that. The cap on a bottle of starch had somehow come unscrewed and the bottle had tipped over and spilled. Then bottles all over the house began popping. Nail polish removers, shampoo, bleach, rubbing alcohol, even a bottle of holy water. Now why they have that, but I guess if you're Catholic, they have that in their house. Probably. Each had a screw cap that took two or three full turns to open, but each one had opened by itself without any human help, then had fallen over and spilled. What is going on here? Miss Lombardo asked. Nobody knew. But the popping soon stopped and everything went back to normal. It was just one of those crazy things they decided and put it out of their minds. That would not be out of my mind if everything in my house opened at the same time, just saying. Thursday, February 6th, just after Tom and Nancy got home from school, six more bottles popped their caps. The next day, about the same time, another six did. Sunday, February ninth, at eleven o'clock that morning, Tom was in the bathroom brushing his teeth. His father was standing in the doorway talking to him. All of a sudden, a bottle of medicine began moving across the vanity by itself and fell in the sink. At the same time, a bottle of shampoo moved to the edge of the vanity and crashed the floor. They watched, spellbound. I'd better call the police, mister Lombarda said. That afternoon a patrolman interviewed the family as bottles popped in the bathroom. The police assigned a detective named Joseph Briggs to the case. Detective Briggs was a practical man. When something moved, he believed a human or animal had moved it, or it moved because of vibration or the wind or some other natural cause. He did not believe in ghosts. When the when the Lombardos said they had nothing to do with what was going on, he thought at least one of them was lying. He wanted to examine the house. Then he wanted to talk to some experts and find out what they thought. Tuesday, February 11th, the bottle of holy water that had opened a week before opened a second time and spilled. Two days later, it spilled again. That's a lot of holy water. I would feel like you'd be out by now. Right. Saturday, February 15th, Tom, Nancy, and a relative were watching TV in the living room where a small porcelain statue rose up from the table. Whoa. It flew three feet through the air, then fell to the rug. Monday, February seventeenth, a priest blessed Lombardo's house to protect it against whatever was causing the trouble. Thursday, February twentieth, while Tom was doing his homework at one end of the dining room table, a sugar bowl at the other end flew into the hall and crashed. Detective Briggs saw it happen. Later, a bottle of ink on the table flew into a wall and broke, spattering in all directions. Then another porcelain statue took off. It traveled twelve feet and smashed into a desk. Friday, February twenty first, to get some peace, the Lombardos went to a relative's house for the weekend. While they were gone, everything at home was normal. Well, how did they know if they weren't there? That's weird. I guess nothing happened. They didn't see anything. It looked the same when they got back. Okay. Sunday, February twenty-third. When the Lombardos returned, another sugar bowl took off. It flew into a wall and smashed the smithereens. Later, a heavy bureau in Tom's room toppled over, but no one was in the room when it happened. Monday, February twenty fourth. By now, Detective Briggs had talked to an engineer, a chemist, a physicist, and others. I left others. Some thought the vibrations in the house were causing the trouble. These could come from underground water, they said, or from high frequency radio waves, or from sonic booms caused by airplanes. Others said the electrical system was the cause, or downdrafts coming through the chimney. The popping of bottles was blamed on chemicals the bottles contained. Tests showed there were no vibrations in the house. There was nothing wrong with the electrical system, and there were no chemicals in the bottles that would make them pop. Then what was causing the trouble? None of the experts knew, but every day the Lombardos received dozens of letters and phone calls from people who thought they did know. Many believed the house was haunted. They thought a poltergeist was on the loose. Look at that picture. The noisy ghost that is blamed when things move around on their own. No one has proved that poltergeist exists, but people everywhere have told stories about them for hundreds of years. And what they have told was not too different from what was happening to the Lombardos. Detective Briggs did not, of course, believe in poltergeist. He had begun to believe that Tom Lombardo might be to blame. Whenever something happened, Tom was usually in the room or nearby. When he accused Tom of causing the trouble, the boy denied it. I don't know what's going on, he said. All I know is that it scares me. People said Detective Briggs was a tough cop who would turn in his mother if she did something wrong. But he believed Tom, only now he didn't know what to think. Tuesday, february twenty fifth, a newspaper reporter came to the house to interview the family. Afterward he sat in a living room by himself hoping something would happen he could describe in his story. Tom's room was just across the hall from where the reporter sat. The boy had gone to bed, but he had left his door open. Suddenly, a globe of the world flew out of the dark room and smashed in wall. The reporter dashed into the bedroom and turned on the light. Tom was sitting in bed blinking as if he had just been awakened from a sound sleep. What was that? he asked. Wednesday, february twenty sixth. In the morning, a small plastic statue of the Virgin Mary rose up from a dresser in mister and misses Lombarder's bedroom and flew into a mirror. That night while Tom was doing his homework, a ten pound record player took off from a table, flew fifteen feet, then crashed to the floor. These people have lost a lot of shit, I'm just saying. They're gonna have to refurnish their homework. Friday, February twenty eighth, two scientists arrived from Duke University in North Carolina. They were parapsychologists who studied experiences like those the Lombardos were having. They spent several days talking to the family and examining the house trying to understand what was going on and what was causing it. One night a bottle of bleach popped its top, but that was all that happened during their visit. They didn't tell the Lombardos about a theory they had that a poltergeist actually might be involved in such cases. According to this idea, poltergeist were not ghosts. They were normal teenagers. They had become so troubled by a problem that their emotions built up into a kind of vibration. Since it was taking place in their unconscious minds, they didn't even know it was happening. But the vibration somehow left their bodies and moved whatever it struck. It happened again and again until the problem had been solved. Scientists had given this strange power a name. They called it psychokinesis, the ability to move objects with mental power or mind over matter. No one knew if this really could happen or how to prove it, yet most reports of poltergeist did involve families with teenage children. And there were two teenagers in the Lombardo family. Monday, March 3rd, the parapsychologist said they would prepare a report on what they learned. The day after they left, the trouble returned with a vengeance. Tuesday, March 4th, in the afternoon, a bowl of flowers flew off the dining room table and smashed into a cupboard. Then a bottle of bleach jumped they have so much bleach in this house. I guess they're just replacing it. I guess so. Jumped out of a cardboard box and popped its top. Then a bookcase filled with encyclopedias fell over and wedged itself between a radiator and a wall. Then a flashlight bulb on a table rose up and hit a wall twelve feet away. Finally, four knocks were heard coming from the kitchen when nobody was in that room. Wednesday, March 5th, while Miss Lombardo was making breakfast, she heard a loud crash in the living room. The coffee table turned over by itself, but that was the end of it. After a month of chaos, everything returned to normal. In August, the two parapsychologists gave the report. They decided the Lombardos had not made up the story, nor had they imagined it. Their trouble had been real, but what had caused it? They said no pranks or tricks were involved, nor was any magic. As the police had done, they also ruled out vibrations from underground water and other physical causes. The only explanation they could not rule out was the possibility that possibility that a teenage poltergeist had been at work moving objects with mental power. They did not have enough evidence to prove it, but it was the only answer they had. If it was a poltergeist, they thought it was Tom. If they were right, if a normal boy like Tom had become a poltergeist, this also might happen to other teenagers. It might happen to you. So that was an interesting spin on things I've never heard about.
SPEAKER_00:So they're saying poltergeist isn't a separate ghost. It lives within human. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:For that living humans. But it only happens in your subconscious.
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_01:So you're not purposely like it's not like a breaking starter or whatever. Anything like that. Interesting. Interesting. So here's a follow-up. You want to have a thought. Oh, yeah. Let me where you get the story from. So when no cause could be found for the strange events in this story, many people wondered if a noisy mischief-making ghost called a poltergeist was responsible. Stories of poltergeist hauntings have been common in our folklore for centuries. It was said that these poltergeist caused objects to fly and furniture to dance, pulled sheets and blankets from beds, made rapping and groaning sounds another mischief. At a ranch in Cisco, Texas in 1881, something or someone threw rocks, opened locked doors without a key, squeezed raw eggs through cracks in a ceiling, and mewed like a cat. Everything and everyone was checked, just as they were in The Trouble, which is what we just read. Some of what happened could have been caused by a prankster, but there were no explanations for much of it, except a poltergeist had been at work. See Lawson and Porter, and that's that's just his resources in the back. Got it. Um parapsychologists, such as the two in our story, are concerned with mental powers humans may have that are not yet understood. Psychokinesis and extrasensory perception, are ex which is ESP, are examples of these powers. So parapsychologists have to do with humans, with powers, not ghosts. Um the trouble is based on news reports in the New York Times, Life magazine, and other publications for stories and of poltergeist and information on poltergeist research, see blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And he has all these resources in the back. Wow. So I just thought that was interesting because it's scary, but not in the way you think.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Right, because you think automatically there's a ghost or something. But then someone's saying, no, no, it could have to do with the living person. I think that's interesting too, that there's people who study powers that human have humans have that we don't quite understand or understand at all. And because we're always evolving, I also wonder like if there are people that have those powers, those paranormal powers, are they the higher evolved version of us? We're just not all like that yet. I wonder that sometimes. I think I am higher evolved because I was born without wisdom teeth. That's it. That's the one that's I mean, that's the whole reason. Just kidding.
SPEAKER_01:I don't have I don't have any um ESP or psychokinesis that I know of.
SPEAKER_00:That you know of. That I know of. But I also think you're not open to it.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that's true.
SPEAKER_00:Like you've got to be.
SPEAKER_01:That's true. They happened in their subconscious. That's true. You know, the teenagers didn't know, they were terrified, but it was they think them that was making it happen. Right.
SPEAKER_00:Wow. That's wild. That was a good one. Those were fun. Those were fun to revisit, especially since literally just this morning I was thinking about that. And I didn't know you were gonna bring those. Isn't that funny? Well, it's because I didn't do my homework. That's okay. Your story was good. I I feel like um if you want to hear more adventures of Michelle, aka just what I do in a day. That should be your next book. Let me know. Um, yeah, maybe.
SPEAKER_01:Except hopefully you're not gonna get into a horrible car accident. Jeez.
SPEAKER_00:I know. Well, I at some point I was like, something bad has to happen in this story for my moral to get across. It, you know, and I was trying to build it from like the mundane, like your kids not wanting to spend time with you, which we can all relate to, losing a job, which some most some people are not liking your job, most people can relate to, to like something that like really nobody can. Right. So, anyway, well, that was fun. Well, thank you, listeners. I know we're watching a movie next week. Blair Witch Frack. Yay! And I'm doing research for that because uh well, you'll see why. Okay. Sounds good. I can't wait. It's gonna be good. You've seen it, right? I've seen it, yeah. Okay, okay, but I never watched it.
SPEAKER_01:We re-watched it last year because Troy had never seen it. Wow. And for those of y'all that don't know and you'll learn next week, when this movie came out, everybody thought it was real. Right. And we'll go into more of that. And I was one and the promotional text. And they had a fake documentary they put out that came out before the movie, and the actors went in hiding. You can find the fake documentary on YouTube. Okay, what you need to watch it. I will look for it. And I remember watching that with my sister, and I'll talk more about this, and we were so fucking scared, and we still went to the movie. It worked, it got it. But the the coolest thing about that movie, you could never do that now. It was so of its time because of social media and the internet. You could never do that. That was when the internet was just getting going, right? And they made up a fake website, all this stuff. You could never get away with this now.
SPEAKER_00:I think that's what's so cool about it. It is because they were able to fool so many people, but like you said, it was a moment in time. Oh, yeah. Because they were using the technology that would later make it impossible to do something like this. Yeah. But at the time that they were using it, it helped their cause and helped them pull it off. Yeah. Which again is was a moment in time. It was it's so good. Uh I'm excited. Even when you know what's gonna happen. Right. The ending. Okay. So look, if you're listening to this in advance, watch before before we come on. And um, you'll be you'll be ready. You'll be right there with us. Blair Witch Project. Blair Witch Project. Okay, well, thanks everyone for being here for our special spooky edition of Spooky Season. And if you have any fun stories to share with us, share on social or give a call to us if you know it. We want to hear them all. Yeah, we want to hear them all. And uh leave us a review wherever you're listening and tune in to Dawson's Creek. Oh, yeah, yes, and we will see you next time here on Generation in Between. Bye.
