Monthly Spooky | Halloween Countdown: Ghost Stories & Midnight Spook Shows

Tiny bats, ghosts in the school, a 300-year-old vampire grave unearthed, a cat burglar at large, and spook shows taking the nation by storm. Get comfortable. Turn off the lights. It's Monthly Spooky. Monthly Spooky. Hello my spookies and welcome back because as you know it is that time of the month. It's time for Monthly Spooky. I'm of course your host Henrique Couto here with my good buddy and co-host Michelle. Michelle, how are you? I don't know. I don't know. I try not to hit you with like the big questions right off the bat. I apologize. I should have given you time to prepare.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry about that. It's okay. We are right on the cusp of spooky season beginning. No? Oh, no. We totally are. There was just a thing on my screen and I was trying to click it away. I feel like you're just sitting there like, uh? Uh, but we are, we're on the cusp of Halloween. Halloween is going to be here and then, or well, October is going to be here in a minute, moment in moments. And we have a cool opportunity because we'll have a show right before Halloween as well. And I have something very special planned that I don't want to spoil.

I don't want anyone to know about it in advance, but especially not Michelle. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. It's one of those. Sorry, pal. But today, I don't know how things are in Killadelphia, but here in sunny Dayton, Ohio, it's actually not sunny. It is 62 degrees outside. Oh, wow. I mean, that's how it is going to be here tomorrow. It actually feels quite a bit like fall. Like I went out to do my cold plunge, which... I, when it's not even vaguely warm outside, boy, it hits different. I, I, I, I didn't quite think it would matter.

I mean, like, I didn't think it would matter like when it's 78 degrees versus 60 because the water's the same temperature. But no, I was like, wow, I was really struggling to survive that plunge. Yeah. But it's been an eventful, uh, month prior. Um, I turned 40. And that was very exciting. Although, from what I understand, it would have happened whether I did anything or not. You don't know that. That's fair. You'll never know. Yeah, damn right. I immediately, a week later, found out that I need progressive lenses in my glasses. So that was, you know, right in the nick of time.

Yeah. To keep my ego in check. So I'm grateful for that. Well, you gotta like... You got to like work for that midlife crisis. It's got to be like. Yeah, really? Yeah. I got a new car for the first time in 12 years and my first time getting a new, entirely new car. That's been really cool. I still haven't used the park itself function. Good. But I use all the weird sensors to park instead. Gross. So I can like see a bird's eye view of the car as I'm pulling in and stuff. Yeah, it upsets you, and that's good.

That's what we want. We want you to be mad about it. But that's been really cool, getting to drive around in it and kind of get to know the car. I took it on a drive and used the feature that assists your driving, and it is really good, if I'm honest. Great, great. Well, the trick is, Chell, I figured it out. It took a few drives. The trick is just pretend you're still driving and you won't, like, just drive. And you'll realize that it's just doing work. Like, you're just doing less. But you're still, like, watching the road.

If you see a curve, you're still kind of moving your arms. It's just since it's moving too, you're not really doing as much. Why would that be good? Why would I want to do less things? Because then you could relax a little bit. I'm already relaxing when I'm driving. No, you're not. Yes, I am. Then why has it been so long since you've driven out to date in Ohio? It's not even that far. Because I don't have any money or time. Ah, see, so you had to pull the time because you knew I'd be like, I'll send you money.

I know, yeah. Please be my friend. Please. But it really, I did notice it really reduces fatigue. Like just the driving related fatigue. I know you want to be fatigued. But you're already fatigued. What's your point? You want more? Yeah. I want to feel like I did some work. God damn it. Okay. Okay. Jeez. Well, it's been cool. Also, I drove through a torrential downpour, and I was shocked that it actually functioned very well during it. I was not expecting it to, and I wasn't like... I had my hands firmly on the wheel, paying attention, because I was like, this is probably going to fail, and I'll need to stay, and then I'll turn it off.

And it didn't. I drove the whole way like that. It was really... keeping me in the lane and keeping me my distance from the other cars. Uh, the amount I told it to, it did a really good job. So I was actually pretty, pretty stoked. I can't wait to go on a really long drive with that, that setup, especially like at night or, or during the day when there's just no other cars, it's really easy to just sit there and just kind of drive and you're barely doing anything. I don't know. It's a, it's a brand new Prius.

So, but the new Prius looks so sporty that I can make the joke. Like this is my, my, uh, midlife crisis car and then be like but it's a prius so actually i don't think that counts it counts per se does it yeah okay good good because i was worried i was like i don't have to get another car it was already big enough pain buying a car so you know that's but that's what i've been up to and of course preparing for the spooky season which is always a big to do for me and uh, for the show this year, weekly spooky is going to be delivering so many interesting bonus shows because as you know, now we're publishing seven days a week.

So that means we're going to be publishing multiple days a week, more than once. Wow. That's going to be, cause we're not going to preempt, you know, this week in horror history or Thursday thrills or terrifying and true. We're not going to preempt anything. So you'll get what you're, what you would normally expect, but then you'll get sometimes a bonus show that may be, um, We're going to have David DeNoyer back on to talk about Halloween movie picks. We're going to have a folklorist named Cass Minter on to talk about some of her favorite deep dive folklore stuff.

That's cool. And that one's really cool because she's written books on folklore. So having like a full blown folklorist, not like I'm a folklorist because I research on the internet and talk about it on TikTok, which I should probably bring that up too. Um, But I'll get to that in a second. But yeah, so we have an immense amount of cool stuff coming to Weekly Spooky. So I really, you know, be subscribed if somehow you're not already. But in October, I can't say when yet because I don't know, but we're working on a Weekly Spooky app for your phone.

Oh. Now, I remember there was an era when every podcast had this app, which was just kind of a turnkey app. that someplace made. And it basically just was subscribing to them. Basically, this is going to go beyond that because it's going to be, it's a free app, but what it'll do is if you're a big fan of weekly spooky, if you're a regular listener and you want a more personalized experience, This app will allow you to not only subscribe to the podcast and get the episodes as they release, but you'll be able to do things like set push notifications for specific shows on Weekly Spooky, like Terrifying and True.

That's cool. This Week in Horror History. Yeah. You'll be able to set that. You'll also be able to see customized episodes. Setups, like, you'll be able to subscribe to push notifications for ghost stories or werewolf stories or vampire stories. Oh, wow. Or specific authors. Wow. We're still developing a lot of it. So I believe all of those promises will come true, though, because it's been going very smoothly. Is it going to be, like, super, super, like, niche? So, like, you could set it for, like... You know, like I didn't come up with anything like the protagonist is a woman under 25, stuff like that.

We'll see. You never know. And it'll have curated playlists for people who just want to put something on. It'll have a sleep timer. We're working on that. It should have a sleep timer as well. So if you want to listen to a long list of them while you're going to sleep, you'll be able to make it not play all night. That's cool. Lots of cool features. I wouldn't be shocked if it's out the first week of October. It's going really well, at least on iPhone. Android actually takes longer to get published on, which I thought it would be the opposite.

So we're still developing it. I'm literally, when we're done recording this, I'm going to go test it some more and try to shibbity shank it up some. But it works great. The big challenge was having it play, but then also when you lock your phone, it keeps playing. And then when you unlock your phone, it keeps playing. And then the thing we just beat was shutting the app off entirely and turning it back on and it going back to the place you were listening. Oh, good. At least relatively. Yeah. Mean, it'll be close. So I'm really amped about it.

I came up with this idea just a few weeks ago and I was like, wouldn't it be cool to have an app that just made Weekly Spooky even more, you know, easy to navigate? And, you know, so you could do things like I want to listen to just Christmas stories or I want to listen to just Halloween stories or Thanksgiving stories. There, there'll be a lot of ways you can kind of customize your experience. And I'm really, I'm amped about it, to be honest, and also scared that this is going to lead to many more apps and games.

Cause once the genie is out of the bottle, you know, it, uh, it really is out of the bottle. I guess. Yeah. Yeah. I know your excitement is palpable and I appreciate that. Yeah. No, I just, everything sounded good and then it was games and it's like, oh. I mean, I don't, I'm not saying there'll be weekly spooky games. I'm saying like I might throw some of my free time into seeing if I could make a game just to see. Oh, okay. I mean, I just, I'm at the point right now where like every commercial that's on my TV is for gambling games and I'm like stressed.

Out about it. So you're saying I should do a gambling. Wait, why are you stressed out? You're not even gambling. They're terrible commercials and it's a lot. Um, yeah, I'm saying make a gambling game. It looks like it's really easy and it looks like they mostly use AI for things. So there you go. Just make one and take everybody's money. Well, I'll tell you, and this is not a promise that this will exist, but I've thought about doing, cause you know, like this one's a free app, but maybe doing like a pay app. That's not very expensive of like a choose your own adventure.

Spooky app. And that would take an immense amount of work on the writing side more than anything. But I have thought about like, wouldn't it be cool to do like Choose Your Own Adventure? Like maybe like a Strickfield Choose Your Own Adventure thing because Rob is such a. He has that whole world to play with and he's such a prolific writer. If anybody could write a Choose Your Own Adventure, it would be Rob. So these are all things I'm thinking about, but there are ways from anything launching. But the Weekly Spooky app, with any luck, will be out this Halloween season for our spookies to enjoy and maybe for some new people to discover on the App Store instead of in the podcast space.

So, cause it'll, it'll work just as well as Spotify or Apple podcasts, you know, maybe better in some cases. I'm not, I mean, depending on what you value, like I value certain things from a podcast player and maybe you do too. So I am pretty amped about it because it's rare that I come up with an idea that I think is like a really good one that I can actually afford to execute. Oh, I have a question. Yes. Um, like, will it stop? Like, When your notification sounds go off or when you're, you're like listening to directions so you don't miss things.

We're, we're, we're figuring that out right now. It does stop when your phone rings and when you answer a call and then when you hang up the call, it starts again. Okay. So I think, you know, bear with me because I'm still new to this. I think that that means yes, because, because I'm pretty sure that counts as the type of notification, but I, but I, but I know that we're, we're still, we're still plugging through. Okay, because I know, like, when I listen to podcasts on Spotify, it stops, you know, when I get any sort of notification or directions.

But when I listen to songs on Spotify, it doesn't stop. Oh. It's super annoying. I mean, it's weird for it to stop all the time. Like, I get it, but then I don't hear all of the lyrics that I wanted to hear, and I get sad. Yeah, I get annoyed sometimes. at it stopping. I would get annoyed at stopping music more, but I also have my, I also have my stuff set to like very seldom say anything when I'm driving and stuff. Like I have it set to, to very seldom, uh, you know, make a noise unless it's absolutely necessary.

Cause I, but I have like an Apple watch that'll buzz if there's when the turns coming up and stuff. So you kind of like get used to all of it. And I'm still, I'm still getting used to Apple car play, which is super useful, but I still don't even understand how to use all of it. That's okay. I don't think anybody does. Like the big screen and everything. Yeah. And because my odometer, my speedometer and everything is a screen, it also gives me turn by turn right next to my speed. Oh, that's pretty cool. I like that quite a bit.

So if only I had more places to go, like maybe to Chell's for our Halloween episode. That's a tease. I don't know if I'll actually have the kind of time to do that, but I really hope I do. It would be so cool to come out and actually... see Chell in person and do a show for the first time, do a weekly spooky in person. We've never, or monthly spooky. We've never done one in person. We could go to a house that's haunted and do the show there, but then how do we get power? But I still want.

To do it. I have a power bank that would let us do like a nine hour show. We could do, we could just go to a house that's vacant in Philly, just some random house and be like, let's just do the show here. Let's see if we get murdered. Yeah. And then there'll be audio of it. Yeah. Well, and, and if, if we are able to make good on that promise and I don't know for sure if I can, then I'm going to try to drag Chell to a haunt and I'll bring an audio recorder and we'll, we'll get like a little something of it.

Okay. I mean, it'll be fun. I'll just stand there and not say anything, but yeah. Yeah. Okay, you're right. Video. I'll get a video. Okay. That way you can see her being awkward. Yeah. So, but before we go to a break and check out the spooky news, and we have some whoppers this month. I'm really excited to, the opener's perfect. Our topic this month is one that I have always been deeply interested in that Chell, you might not know much about. Do you know anything about the spook show? I don't think so, but I don't know.

The spook show was kind of like the natural evolution when vaudeville was on its way out and films were on their way in. So it's a combination of like a horror movie or a short horror movie or whatever being shown and performers doing spooky stuff and magic on stage at the same time. Okay. So I got us a really great article to brush everybody up on the history of the spook show, the rise and the fall. That's going to be our topic tonight. But, That's after we have our, you know, you can't have your cake until you eat your vegetables.

And we'll be back with those vegetables right after this. And we're back getting ready for, um, I totally threw my brain off, uh, getting ready for Halloween season, I wanted to mention I am actually, I'm extra into it, Chell, because I am drinking pumpkin spice tea. Wow. Yeah. It tastes pretty good. Good. I mean, there's no sweetener in it, so it's, I'm like, that's what I'm having, I'm learning, you know? Mm-hmm. Actually, it tastes really good. So, I put two bags in there, though. That's my, that's, I'm too... I'm too ADHD. I can't just, like, enjoy it.

It has to be double steeped. Or I'm just like, I don't taste anything. I've broken all my dopamine receptors. That's pretty much me. But it's time for the spooky news. The spooky news. Chell, would you like me to help you unlock a new fear? Um, honestly? Yeah. Yeah, let's just do it. Yeah, okay, okay, cool. I gotta get at least one a day in there. Well, do you remember a few months back we did a story about a woman who actually had a bat in her hair? Yeah, yeah. This one's so much better. Is it another bat in someone's hair?

No, you wish. Okay. Unexplainedmysteries.com. The headline is, Horror in Virginia as live bat crawls into sleeping woman's mouth. Why would they do that? I don't know. That's like the. Worst place to go in a person. I mean, well, that's debatable, but probably. I think it's the worst place to go in a person. Sorry. Okay. I mean, that's just your temperament, I guess. Bats can creep people out at the best of times, so imagine waking up to find one trying to get into your mouth. This nightmarish scenario became unfortunate reality for gastroenterologist Dr. Krista Edelman of Virginia, who had been asleep in bed next to her husband at their home in Richmond at the time.

her husband should have protected her. Like that's like wedding vows are like in sickness and in health in bats, trying to crawl in your mouth and death, you know, like it's supposed to be in there. Yeah. Yeah. The first sign that something was amiss came when she began having a vivid dream in which she could sense that a little mouse had been trying to crawl into her mouth. Oh God. Yeah. Have you ever had a dream like that? Have you had any dreams where things are trying to crawl into your mouth? No. Are you sure?

No, actually I'm not. I forget most of my dreams. So maybe. You probably would remember if you woke up and it was actually happening, but otherwise it's just one of those dreams, you know? Exactly. One of those weird dreams. As she began to awaken, she realized that something really was trying to do exactly. That that's horrifying. It wasn't a mouse however it was a bat Quote, in my dream, I was reaching up to my mouth, and when I did, I grabbed something. Ultimately, I had folded the bat's wings, she recalled of the incident. So, Chell, how would it go for you?

Have you ever woken up and there was anything alive in your mouth you weren't expecting? I don't think so! That's my, I thought, I thought that would be the case. So what would you do if you woke up in the middle of the night after having a dream that, you know, a little mouse is trying to get in your mouth and you realize it's a tiny bat. I'd probably throw it outside immediately. And then I would go, I really shouldn't have thrown that outside. Cause I probably need to test it for rabies or something, or maybe it was hurt.

Well, I mean, first of all, I mean, if it had, I mean, it didn't bite you. It might've. Bit me. Okay, fine. Might've bit you. Okay, fine. Uh, but you, you, you, this is so bizarre. I'm sorry. Like when I found this, I had to double check it. Um, and I mean, I mean, I appreciate that this article is from September 11th, but the, uh, the incident I think happened in the, at the end of August. So Halloween celebration is starting earlier and earlier every year, isn't it? It really is. They're pushing it further and further back.

But, I mean, first of all, have you ever found a bat in your house? No, and I don't want to. Well, I mean, hopefully you would find a bat in your house, but not in your mouth. But you just said that you would also be worried, like, what if it was wounded, right? Mm-hmm. That's why it wanted to be inside your mouth. It wanted a warm, safe place to heal. And what do you do? You throw it into the cold, harsh world. I mean, if it was wounded, it was probably because it was trying to get in my mouth.

Oh, so you're victim blaming now. You're saying that, like, look, if that bat was hurt, it's because I did it. Because I'm the real predator in this. I don't think that's victim blaming, but yes. Yes. I'm pretty sure I am saying that I am the one to blame. Well, considering, I mean, who got hurt in this scenario? Not you. How? How were you hurt? I'm traumatized. Oh, come on. It's just a bat. And also the bat. I mean, I would be more worried that you might, like, bite down on the bat. Yeah, and then I'd hurt him.

Yeah. See, then... You're hurting the bat unintentionally, so that at least makes you not quite a villain like you're describing yourself right now. I'm so confused. By what? I don't know if I'm the bad person in this story or the good person. Well, the good person in this story would have taken the bat and put it in a comfy little container and then cared for it, raised it to become a strong, productive member of bat society. I don't think that I could make something become a member of that society. Well, like not with that attitude.

Yeah, I know. That's what I'm saying. Oh, okay. God, you know, I'm starting to feel like this is actually like an insecurity you're struggling with. I don't know. Okay. I know. I'll let that, I'll let that go. Only you add out of friendship. I won't, I won't keep harping on that. Um, It's difficult to imagine the terror of waking up to something like this, but ever the professional, Dr. Edelman and her husband acted quickly to capture the bat so it could be checked for rabies. Good. Which means it's going to get killed, so I hope you're happy.

No, it might not get killed. I'm pretty sure checking for rabies involves cutting off their head. Why? To check if they have rabies. You have to, like, take their head off? I actually really don't know how to do that, so maybe you're right. For rabies. Through post-mortem laboratory examination of its brain tissue. Fine. So what you really should do is, I was right, you chuck it outside, and then I'll just go and get a rabies shot, whatever. Or become friends. And also get a rabies shot. All right. You know, the people, there's a bat rescue in Nepo, I think.

Yeah. And you have to get a rabies shot before you work there. That makes sense. I mean, I get that. She also received precautionary shots while they awaited the results. Fortunately, it turned out that the flying mammal was not infected. So we just killed it. Yes. I want to die. But they're defending your point. Because the last line of this article is, the mental scars of the incident, however, may take some time to heal. So I guess, you know, an eye for an eye is good in this situation. Kill the bat because it made you uncomfortable.

Fine. Whatever. I mean, there has to be something kind of wrong with the bat if it was trying to get into a person's mouth. So. Why would, whoops. I'm asking Gemini so it'll do a bad job. Why would a bat want to crawl into a human mouth? Bats do not crawl into a human mouth on purpose. It is not a natural behavior or a feeding preference. Yeah, no. That's why we don't hear about it all the time. Seeking shelter. Attracted to breath. Why? Why? Warmth and carbon dioxide, which may accidentally guide a grounded or confused bat.

Yeah. Okay. And you know what? I mean, I don't know if this makes you feel better because Gemini agrees with you, which is actually kind of worse. But it does say you should be concerned about undetected bites. Yeah. I know, Gemini. I know. Well, we're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we're going to talk about an interesting discover made on Google Earth. Right after this. All right, we're back with even more spooky news. This one comes from the New York Post. Chell. Yeah. Have you ever gone exploring on Google earth?

Um, I mean, yeah. I mean, like not in the way, not like I did. I don't go to like just some random place and explore. I explore Pittsburgh, but, and, and New York, but yeah. I get exploring Pittsburgh. Cause you kind of like low key want to live there. Um, but why, why New York? Cause I looking at apartments and I just looking around. End up getting stuck places. Sometimes I get in a store and I'm like, how did I get in this store? So even on Google Earth, you get lost in New York. I don't get lost in New York for real.

Okay, fine. So you're so much better than Kevin McAllister getting lost in New York. Okay, fine. I'm an adult. He was a small child. I mean, harsh but fair. I'll give you that one. Well, this headline reads Google Earth image captures mysterious figure figures under Loch Ness's surface. Oh, yeah. We're heading to Scotland. The mysterious figures. That is weird. They look like really big. Well, that could be like kayaks or something. I don't know. I'd have to scale to really understand if it's if they're huge. I'm not sure. Could look like dolphins almost. I don't know.

It's not very big. Yeah. That would be, I mean, that would, you, you couldn't be super angry if they were like, Oh, it turns out that, uh, the Loch Ness monster is a dolphin. You'd be like, okay, that's strange. Nobody should like, why would anyone guess that? Yeah. Um, let me see if I can show this to you. I have no idea. I'm still new to everything. Um, okay. That should, it should, it should work. Um, I'm not good at the internet. Sorry. Yeah, well, we'll, we'll, we'll, I'll, you'll just take my word for it.

Like the audiences. Okay, sure. Sure. It's, it's wonderful. That thing. This is not, now I'm having a hard time with it. Uh, why is it doing this? Sorry, man. Why, why am I the worst? No, no, that's me. Okay. We're good. Sorry. I'm not editing that out because I want people to see I am just a man. Yeah. I worry too much that they think the opposite. A Google image captured a mysterious mass in Scotland's Loch Ness, sparking one tourist to conclude it's, quote, a little family of Nessies. Come on, that's not true. Ouch. Julie Fraser made the discovery of the three mysterious figures from space last week and has reported the image to the official Loch Ness Sightings Register and is awaiting confirmation.

as to whether this is now the 17th confirmed sighting of the legendary beast. Oh, to be made this year. Wow. The Inverness Courier reported, quote, I'm planning a visit to Inverness later in the year and was just playing with Google Earth when I spotted the three objects, she told the outlet. Taking a closer look and enlarging the images, they don't look like boats, and they look like, oh, and look like whales or something similar with an arc in their back, she explained. So I wasn't totally insane thinking they kind of looked like dolphins. Mm-hmm. Oh, wow.

When they zoom in all the way, it's just pixels. I mean, there's no information, though. Yeah, I mean, that's the problem, though. Google Earth only has so much resolution. You know? Oh, sure. No, it's a very, I mean, that's... And, you know, it's, it's very, very far away. Yeah. So it really could be anything. It could be some logs. Yeah. Maybe. I mean, I can't see it. They're kind of long and bright. Like my guess would be like little boats, but they're all, and they're all close to each other. So that makes me think like kayaks or, or canoes.

Cause that's very, you know, close together kind of water stuff. Frazier points to the photo depicting no V-shaped trail behind the three shapes, unlike a nearby image of a pleasure boat cutting across the lock, a detail she believes rules out a passing vessel. Well, I'll just shut up. Damn. Um, you know, boats can stop. How? I don't know enough about boats to tell you. I mean, what, you think they just hit the brakes? That's not how it works. I don't. I'm not even really sure they have brakes. They might have brakes. I think they have anchors, but I'm not sure about that either.

Big boats have anchors, for sure. Little boats also have anchors? They have to, I would assume. Yeah, everybody's got anchors. You've got an anchor? Yes. Why have I never seen it? I only take it out when I really need to be still. That should not have got me that good. Fair enough. You win this round, Chell, but there will be others. She also pointed to a 2026 timestamp embedded in the imagery, along with trees still in full leaf as signs that the footage is recent. Quote, I'm not a crank, Fraser professed. Uh-oh. Does that make you think she's a crank?

It kind of makes me think she's a crank. Yeah, because otherwise you would be like, I don't know if this is real. Yeah. Now I'm leaning crank. Yeah, me too. It's giving crank. It's giving crank. Quote, I'm not as familiar as probably local people, but it definitely looks like something significant to me, she added. The official Loch Ness Sightings Register has since reached out to Fraser and confirmed it's reviewing the image, she said. Quote, I thought a little family of Nessies was so exciting, Fraser quipped. If confirmed, her find would mark the third sighting logged digitally since January.

Wow. Yeah, I know they have cameras up everywhere. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. part of a banner year for the Legendary Beast that has already produced 14 in-person encounters and two additional webcam-based sightings, according to the official register. Wow. That's the kind of thing you'd think I'd be into. Like, I would just, like, when I'm, like, you know, enjoying a fine cigar after a long day, I'm just watching the Loch Ness live feed in the middle of the night. Or it might be the day, because I forgot about the time change. It's not that different. Okay, fine.

Do you remember when you first heard about Loch Ness, about the Loch Ness Monster? No. Really? I just figured I always knew about it. Okay, I could see that. Yeah. I just remember it capturing, I mean, of course, I'm the guy who started Weekly Spooky, so of course it captured my imagination. Yeah. Because, like, what did I do when I became an adult? I started trying to be Halloween every day. Yeah, clearly it captured my imagination. But I was just always so fascinated by the idea of Loch Ness. The idea of this little town in the middle of nowhere.

Ignore the fact that it could really use tourism dollars. That has a special monster that's supposedly been seen for a very, very long time. But nobody can really quite... nailed down, you know, how long and nobody's got any straight up proof. But then on the other side, it's, uh, they, they have the, you know, they call her Nessie and there's all this cuteness to it. I don't know. I've always liked that. I've always thought that was, I mean, Nessie is definitely for my generation. I don't think for this, for current generations was the cryptid, um, gateway drug.

You know, Loch Ness Monster. I think, I think that generations after it was a little bit, you know, we got way more into Bigfoot and now, you know, Mothman, Bigfoot, Chupacabra. Those are become like more, I think the like initial culprits for cryptid stuff. But I, I don't know. I've always loved the Loch Ness Monster. It's always made me happy. So, so why don't you watch the live feed? You know, that is the question I'll be asking myself with my therapist. Okay. No, I'm going to find out. I bet you I could stream it to my TV.

I'm sure you could, yeah. I bet you I could stream it to my stove. That can just be what's on your stove all the time. I actually kind of love that idea. That's just the right quirk that I like in my day-to-day life. I mean, I would stream the live feed of those eagles. in their nest yeah like the eagles that are yeah but but you can stream the. Loch ness yeah okay i wouldn't stream the eagles but i do like hotel california hey when we return ghosts in a classroom it sucks for the ghosts yeah right after this All right, Chell, we're heading to India.

Oh. That's it. No, this is from Times of India, and the headline reads, Ghosts in Classrooms? How Rumors Sparked Panic in Schools. Hmm. I mean, that doesn't make you curious? You're like, eh, I know enough about ghosts. I'm good. Yeah, and I know enough about schools. Well, yeah, you do. You graduated high school and college. Yeah. What a loser. Yeah. A sudden scream during an examination, reports of strange sounds from an empty classroom, and students claiming to have heard the jingle of gungroos where nobody stood. I don't know what gungroos are, do you? No. Uh-oh.

I didn't know there'd be homework. Ha! Ha! I didn't even mean to do that. I'm so naturally funny. Musical anklets made of small metallic bells strung together. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay, cool. Where nobody stood, rumors of ghosts and paranormal activity have repeatedly triggered panic in schools, with fear spreading from students to parents, and in some cases, forcing children to leave campuses. I mean, I... I would also... I would use that excuse. Yes. Oh no. They have to go home. Oh no. I gotta go home. There's ghosts, ma. Like, sorry. It's the ghosts is the problem.

Like it's, there's ghosts. Yo, this webpage is making it impossible for me to read the rest, but it's not locked. It's just like, do you want to read other stories? It's like, no, I'd like to scroll to the bottom of this one. It's like, nah. Yeah. It's really annoying. Um, In one such incident in Nainital, a student's sudden scream during an exam led to rumors that a ghost had appeared on the premises of a girls' school. Several students began crying and rushing across the campus before teachers called their parents and sent them home. Yeah, this sounds like a great scam.

Yeah. We just have to pretend that there's ghosts, guys. Yeah, we could do this. Piece of cake. Piece of crumb cake. And I love that, like, They're getting sent home. The teachers aren't going like, okay, there's a ghost, but we have to, we got to finish this lesson. I mean, honestly, this sounds pretty solid. Yeah. You know, to get out of school. Yeah. What was, what was your go-to to. Get out of school? I, I didn't do that really. You never, you never faked sick a little bit? No, actually I didn't. I mean, I got sick and didn't go to school, but I, I, I didn't fake sick.

Were you one of those kids that would be like, I could probably still go even when you were sick? No, I was not one of those kids. No. Okay. So you're not like a total punk ass, I guess. Yeah. No, I don't go to school if I'm sick. Sorry. I don't go to school at all because I'm 40. Yeah. No, that's it. I mean, I would say faking sick, I never did. like in the strongest sense of that term. I, but I think that, you know, if I woke up and I, you know, didn't feel very well, maybe because I stayed up late, you know, you know, watching television and secret or something, I might've been like, I don't feel very well, you know, I might've pulled that.

I might have pulled that once or twice. Yeah. I was too nervous as a child to pretend to be sick, but not, no. You're like, I was so nervous. I just would be sick. I'd be like, I want, like, I would imagine pretending to be sick. And then all of a sudden I'm vomiting. There you go. That's, I mean, that's a solid way to do it. I'm just saying what, I mean, how else would you get out of, get out of school? You just don't, you just live with the fact that you have to go to this place where people are like terrible.

Yeah. And you just do it. You just let it break you. Okay. Okay. That's one method I hadn't considered. I'm you've made me very sad. Thank you. You're welcome. I figured that was your goal. Usually. But when I got older and I think now it's been, I think the statute of limitations is up so I can say this. When I got a little older, I would just go to my mom every so often if I hadn't been sick in a while and just be like, can I just not today? Oh, yeah. I mean, I did that, too.

Oh. I mean. When did that start? I mean, it's not really. It would just be, like, it would be okay if I just didn't go to school today. My mom would be like, yeah, yeah. I mean, and that would happen, like, once a year or something crazy like that. Something crazy like once a year? Yeah. Once a year. Man. And you have two more years of high school than I do. So. Oh, fuck. That's not a lot of time off, in my opinion. Well. It always makes me think of that Pete and Pete episode, the sick day episode where, you know, little Pete pretends to be sick because of that.

They describe it like that stretch of time where there aren't any holidays for a really long time. And there's in spring break is still far away and stuff. So it's like sick day. It's the only way out. Um, I mean, yeah, yeah. I mean, I, yeah, I wouldn't fake a sniffle. I would not do that, but I might, I might've been a little, my stomach might've been a little upset. So I was like, I really should just stay home and watch and solve mysteries. Yeah, I mean, I get that. I mean, I didn't do that, but I totally, I don't fault you for doing that.

It sounds kind of like you do. I don't really fault you that much for doing something that was really, really against the rules and the things. I don't know. I give up. I mean, I guess it's okay to give up, but I didn't even think we were in a situation where giving up was even necessary. Now you know. And knowing is half the battle. Maybe. More than 600 students have reportedly fled government-run tribal residential schools in Maharashtra's Amradi's district after rumors of a ghost on campus triggered fear and panic among students. The incident reported at the Doma government tribal Ashramshala in Shikaldhara, Toluca.

Ha, I could say Toluca. Probably wrong, but I said it. In the Melgat region of Amvrati. Oh my gosh, this is brutal. According to reports, 608 students, including 345 girls and 263 boys. So it was mostly girls. I wonder what that says about the fairer sex. Left the residential school and returned to their homes amid growing concerns over alleged supernatural activity. The scare reportedly began after some students claimed they heard unusual sounds during the night, including sounds resembling anklets, like we mentioned, crying and laughter. What would freak you out more, Chell, unexplained crying or unexplained laughter?

I don't really know, actually. I kind of feel like neither. They're both like on the same level for me. Okay, so both would scare you. They probably wouldn't scare me that much. Are you sure? I feel like unexplained sounds can scare you quite a bit. I feel like unexplained crying would just be really sad. And if it's laughter, at least they're happy. Okay, what if they're happy because they finally got into your home? Whatever. You're like, yeah, it's a nice house. I'm glad they're happy to be here. Yeah, I fixed it up real nice so that they could see it.

Someone's got to come in my house and look around at all my weird anime stuff. Oh, I mean, that's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it. Yeah. Reports said some students fainted, trembled, screamed, cried, or laughed uncontrollably. Wow. Mass hysteria. Mass hysteria. Dogs and cats living in harmony. while others reportedly were seen behaving aggressively or appearing disoriented. As more students witnessed these incidents, fear spread rapidly across the hostel. That sounds right. The mass hysteria thing. Videos showing some of the students' episodes were also circulated on social media, further fueling the claims that the school was haunted.

That sounds about right. Yeah. Doctors in doctors instead attributed the incidents to mass anxiety and psychosomatic reactions. Such episodes can, can, can occur when intense fear or stress spreads through a closely connected group with individuals experiencing genuine physical and psychological symptoms, even when there is no underlying supernatural cause. I mean, yeah, I mean, a lot of things happen in life without any underlying supernatural cause, but yeah, but why quibble? Um, The Maharashtra Andhashrata Nirmala Samiti, or MANS, that would have been a lot easier, has also intervened in the matter. They're the anti-superstition group in India attempting to dispel the rumors and reassure students that there is no evidence that the school is haunted.

The latest reports suggest that several students who had left the institution are now willing to return following counseling and awareness efforts. Okay. It can only last for so long. Yeah. Authorities are now focusing on restoring confidence, counseling students, and preventing misinformation from further escalating the situation. For now, the, quote, haunted school claim remains unsubstantiated. What initially appeared to be a case of supernatural activity is increasingly being viewed by medical professionals as an episode involving mass anxiety and psychosomatic symptoms. Yep. I mean, do you think it was, all joking aside, I think it was probably exacerbated by people who wanted to go home.

It's possible. I'm not saying. All of them did at all. I think that they probably got really freaked out and then kind of started participating. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I could see that. Well, we're going to take a quick break. And when we get back, police are responding to a burglary. A burglary I think Michelle will either really like. or really hate right after this. You know, what's a term, a phrase that I feel is, was cool and we don't use it anymore, which, which is lame. No. Oh, cat burglar. Okay. Isn't that a cool term?

I guess. I'm sure you heard it as a kid, right? You know, cat burglar and cartoons and stuff. And not just when the cat, the burglar was literally a cat, but the whole idea of like a cat burglar being somebody who sneaks in quietly and, and dah, dah, dah. Well, this story from upi.com, the headline is police responding to burglary report, report finding Bobcat inside home. Oh, so it's literally a cat burglar. Yay. Yay. And don't worry, they check the cat for rabies, I'm sure. So you'll be happy that they kill the cat. I didn't know.

Police in Washington responded to a 911 call about a possible burglary and wound up encountering a literal cat burglar. A what? A bobcat. Have you ever seen a bobcat in person? No, not in person. Have you ever watched Bobcat Goldthwait's stand-up comedy specials? No, so I don't know anything about bobcats, except that I think that their links are related to them. I'm sure they are. Yeah. It would stand to reason. The Kirkland Police Department said in a Facebook post that a resident in the Moss Bay neighborhood called 911 recently to report loud banging in their home that they feared could be a burglar.

Quote, when officers arrived, they found the unexpected intruder perched at the top of the stairs. A bobcat, the post said. So what would you do, Chell, if this happened to you? You hear some unexpected sounds. Giggs is in the room with you, so you know it's not Giggs doing cat stuff. And then you walk out and just like on the banister is just a bobcat. Yeah, I pick up Giggs and we just leave. That's it. But you'd have to walk past the banister to get to the exit. Okay i mean i wouldn't in my house but okay so let's say it's my house where i grew up okay i have to walk then i go out the back door i guess or i guess i could just i could just stand there and stare at it and call the police very slowly.

Okay, okay. Let's lower the stakes. What if it was just a strange cat? Like a house cat, but you don't know it, you've never seen it before, and it's just there? Go over to it and put your hand out and say, hey, hey, and then see what it does. Why wouldn't you do that with a bobcat? I don't know what bobcats are like temperament-wise. I don't really want to be attacked by one, exactly. You wouldn't just grab a little yarn toy and be like, hey, pal. No, because what if it gets real into it and then it scratches my arm really, really badly?

Oh, God. Okay, well, now you're just making it sad. Okay, fine. I thought you were a cat lover, but apparently not. Fine. It's my best friend now. We're just going to hang out together. Everything's fine. What are you going to name it? I don't know. Come on. You've got to name it. I'm trying to think of something that's like not weird, but weird in a way that Bob. Yeah, exactly. Like, like not like, stop it. Like my brain is like here, just pick an anime character. No, no. That is, I am aware that that is your go-to.

How about like Petunia, the Bobcat? Petunia is not bad actually. Yeah. I like Petunia. I'll give you Petunia. Okay. Okay. No, I like Petunia. Uh, I would probably name it, like, I've always wanted to name something Agamemnon. I'd probably go with Agamemnon. Okay. I like it. I like that it's kind of hard. It's, like, really hard to read. I like that. You know, because then it can identify with me, having a name that people, like, would furrow their brow when they'd see. Hmm. Police used a drone to monitor the movements of the cat burglar inside the home from a safe distance.

They were able to use the drone to guide the feline to an unoccupied room to await personnel from Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Do you think they're going to kill it? No, I think they're just going to release it outside. This is the double standard that bats struggle with, but cats don't, even though they're one letter apart. I think if the bobcat was trying to get in someone's mouth, I think that things would be different. Touche. That is a very good point, Chell. Yeah. I'm giving you that one. Thanks. That's a solid one. No, like legit.

You got me on that. Okay. Okay. Okay. No, no, you're right. Enjoy your victory. Celebrate the way you must. Ay yi yi. Wildlife officials sedated the animal and cut its head off. No. And transported it to a wilderness area near Forbes Creek. Yay. See, so that you're like, oh, thank goodness. So I could go back to killing other things, not being killed. Yeah. I mean, it's a, it's a wild animal. So the circle of life. Yeah. Well, I always felt bad because I would, you know, if I had a rodent issue or something, I think that, you know, um, as pets, rats and mice are, are fine, but you know, wild ones are not the same thing, obviously.

And, uh, But I would not want to put out like I would feel bad trapping them. I feel bad like hurting them. But if you use a humane trap and catch them and then take them to the woods and let them go, it's like you're just saying, like, I want you to die, but not while I'm watching. I want nature to kill you because you need to be around a house to survive. But I'd rather not know about it. I just want my hands clean. Same result. I mean, I think that that's an interesting way to look at it.

I think what you're really doing is saying. Is saying, here, have a quick vacation and then come back to my house. I'll see you in a week. Oh, oh, no, no. The time that I did that, that I put him out, I drove four miles or five miles from my house. That's okay. Yeah, I really put it far away. That's okay. It just went into someone else's house. I was about to say, the number one move would be to just put it in a house of somebody you don't like. Yeah, yeah. And be like, here, they can kill you.

Oh. Police determined the Bobcat. Oh, sorry, you were going to say something? I was going to say that there was a study done, and I don't remember what, like, college or something did it recently, that determined that, like, a good 70% of house mice in the northeast U.S. are immune in some capacity to mouse poison now. That makes sense because they breed so fast. So generations go really, really, really fast. Yeah, and apparently rats just are too smart to get in traps now, too. Lucky. Well, I believe that to an extent. I guess it's over for us.

Good. Luckily, if Rat Tattooie taught me anything, it's that it'll work out as long as we all set our differences aside and enjoy home cooking. Like sit in each other's hair. Yeah. Yeah. Police determined the bobcat had most likely climbed a tree and jumped into the house through an open window. Okay, this is your fault. You had a window just open with no screen. Well, because if it had a screen, they'd be able to say we saw the screen was busted. Yeah, so we know. So it must have been no screen. So it's like, okay, yeah, that's your fault.

That is not the cat's fault. The cat was like, oh, hey, maybe I can kill some innocent people. It's open. Yeah. I don't, Hey, if the cat's not like, I'm going to get in there no matter what. It's just like, eh, if there's something to kill in there, I'll kill it. I'm like, okay, fair enough. You're, you're a predator. It's different when they like, they like really want to violate the sanctity of your, of your home. That's when I have a problem. It's like, oh, you left a window open while you were asleep. Come on.

Yeah. Yeah. Come on. I mean, full open, open enough that a bobcat can get in. That's that's pretty open really yeah. Yeah bobcats are not the tiniest cats um probably police determined the bobcat had mostly climbed in through the window they suspect it may have been pursuing the resident's cat which was later found dead inside the home no no was later found unharmed inside the home i'm sorry i do not dislike cats i just find their indifference towards cruelty amusing so so really i'm making jokes a cat would make in my opinion I. Don't find cats indifferent towards cruelty, really.

I wasn't going to go that far and say that they love cruelty. I was trying to be nice, but you kind of nailed it. Yeah, yeah. You don't have to, like, lie. Well, luckily, no cat was harmed. Good. So, we're going to take a quick break, and when we get back, we're heading to the Pentagon for some more Shocking UFO files. Oh. After this. Chell? Yeah? Are you ready to apologize to the cat lovers in the audience? Um. No. Yes? Yes? I knew if I challenged you, you would assume that you did something you don't remember that's bad.

Yeah. Yeah. It's a serious problem you have. Emotional problem. Yeah. All right. We're heading to WBTV.com for the headline, Pentagon releases another batch of UFO files, including documents from secretive government program. Oh, okay. Well, you know how these disclosures are. Every time they're mind-blowing and definitely tell you they're really... I almost said ghosts. That's how, uh, how, how invested I am. I'm sorry. Look, no hate to the alien believing people, including my buddy, Dan, who's listening to this. I'm sure. Uh, I don't, but I don't, the thing I don't like is the argument, you know, like you really, you think with the universe so vast that there's no other life.

No, that's not what I said. What I said is I don't think aliens are like in Nevada. That's what I meant. I don't know that I believe they have this insanely advanced technology and that they're just literally flying to Earth, hanging out, and then it's being kept a perfect secret. That's where I struggle. But then I'll hear things like, but did you see all the disclosures? And then the disclosures are all third-hand information being disclosed. I'm like, this isn't really... I mean, it's interesting. It's food for thought. But it's not mind-blowing for me. Yeah. Yeah.

I don't know. I also think we probably didn't experiment on aliens because if we did, I'm pretty sure the aliens would come and kill us. So unless it's game respects game, they're like, damn, you made you cured polio with Rob Rogers body. Sure. Yeah. Okay. I mean, we do the same thing. Yeah, we would do. No, we did. That's why we live like, you know, 850 of your earth years, you know, is we made those sacrifices when we had that kind of problem. But then, of course, we invented a mathematical equation that would calculate every illness.

And now we don't have to do any of it. Yeah. I like. the future. Anyway, the Pentagon released another batch of UFO files on Friday. The new disclosure includes a total of 71 files dated from 1952 to 2025. Among them are documents from a military program that studied warp drives and wormholes. Aww. Do you think the term wormhole is cute, or what is it? I was about warp drives. Oh, I mean, I love me some Star Trek. Yeah. I know you enjoy yourself some Star Trek. Mm-hmm. I can't tell you how many times I've talked to you on the phone and heard the Next Generation theme start playing.

Yeah. The Pluto channel, right? Yeah, I haven't watched that in a long time, but yeah. Oh, I'm sad. Sorry. The documents called Defense Intelligence Reference Documents were produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Application Program, according to CBS News. The Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Application Program, or AWSAP, was a secretive military operation started in 2008. This is why people don't trust the news sometimes. So it's not a secret operation. Military operation. It's a secretive military. That's very different. Secret would mean people don't know it exists. Secretive would just mean that they keep secrets, which I think every organization to some extent keeps some secrets.

I mean, I guess that's true unless it really is secret and the person just miss, you know, spoke. That's worse. That's worse. But I feel like that's more likely considering what we've read. Okay. Oh, man. Chell's got her claws out today. I'm sorry. Wow. That was kind of brutal. But fair. According to files released about the program, its objective was to, quote, understand the physics and engineering of these applications as they apply to the foreign threat out to the far term, i.e. from now through the year 2050. Now, did they pick that number out of a hat or was there like a disheveled time traveler that burst into a building yelling about 2050 and then his heart exploded?

I want to know. I mean, it. It could be both. They could have entered it into the hat because of the disheveled time traveler. Fingers crossed. Yeah. The 37 defense intelligence reference documents released during the Friday's batch discussed matters such as warp drives, wormholes, anti-gravity, negative mass propulsion, and invisibility cloaking. So it's just almost all Star Trek. Yeah. Almost all Star Trek. One of the documents included a, quote, highly technical study from 2010 that analyzed, quote, evidence of unintended injury to human observers by anomalous advanced aerospace systems. Okay. According to CBS News, the study's researchers observed three individuals who suffered from a slew of medical symptoms after an anomalous aerospace related event.

The researchers said the previously, quote, fit and active individuals suffered from hair loss as well as heat and redness on their skin. One individual also showed signs of, quote, well, oh, this is, you know what? I think you're right, Chell, about the secretive thing being wrong. Because listen to this line. One individual also showed signs of, quote, signs of radiation illness. Why wouldn't they just not, why wouldn't they just say, quote, I don't understand. I guess they were signs of signs, which is extra hard to narrow down and extra dangerous. That would make it almost assuredly from space, just the fact that it was signs of signs.

Yeah. Along with the defense intelligence reference documents, the batch included videos from military cameras capturing unexplained objects moving at fast speeds. Many of the videos appear similar to those released in previous batches, grainy footage of an unusual object moving quickly across the screen. Four of the videos were submitted by a police department in Colorado. The videos captured on cell phone cameras in October of 2023 featured unexplained red, blue, and green flashing lights. Since Congress ordered their release in 2022, the Pentagon has been working to declassify records on, quote, unidentified anomalous phenomena. UAP is not happening.

Oh, and then right next to this, and UFO sightings. Ha! UFO, baby, it's here to stay. Don't care. We're here to stay. We're the aliens called the Greys. Anyway. Are you one of those people who believes it's rhyming to rhyme a non-plural version with a plural form? Cause I, that drives me crazy. I think I, I think I, I'm going to disagree with you here. And I think that I'm okay with rhyming. Oh, okay. No, no, no. I, I disagree with you. I think. Oh, so like rhyming, like Ray with stays. I mean, it's, It's a little off.

It's that thing where it's like almost a rhyme, but not exactly. But to me, good enough. You can do it. We're actually on the same side. I think it's good enough, but I also go like, ah, it doesn't flow for me. And it's all about the flow. Yeah. This is the sixth release under the Trump administration's effort to declassify those records. Experts urge caution regarding the released files, saying the videos of unidentified anomalous phenomena can be misinterpreted or mischaracterized by people who lack an understanding of advanced military technology. There you go. Well, whose fault is that?

Is it our fault or is it the secretive organization's fault? Yeah, you have to tell us what the technology is. Otherwise, how am I supposed to know what it looks like when. I see it? Hell yeah. It's a UFO from not here. Yeah, from not here. Yeah. In 2024, the Pentagon released a report that refuted claims that the U.S. government had confirmed the existence of alien life or recovered alien technology. So there, that's what that said. Yeah. Well, we're going to take a quick break, but when we get back, we're going to look at a little...

This isn't a follow-up to our show, because I don't think we covered the original release, but a little information, more information has been discovered about a supposed... Vampire corpse. Oh. Right after this. Not a very good vampire if you end up a corpse, though. It happens. All right, Chell. We're going to head to your ancestral homeland. Well, not really, because of the New York Post. Oh, okay. The story isn't in New York, but it's from the New York Post. Okay. This is the headline reading, Vampire, in quotes, so feared she was locked in a booby-trapped grave was teenage girl who met horror movie-like fate.

Experts. I love how they cut as many words as they can, such as experts. The, quote, real-life vampire who was so feared that she was buried in a padlocked, booby-trapped grave... was actually a teenage girl whose death remains shrouded in mystery, experts said. Okay, I'm just going to say this right now. How do we know that the booby traps and padlocks were to keep her in and not other people out? Well, I mean, keeping other people out would be keeping her in. Yes, but I'm saying, like, the difference between Her being the issue and the other people being the issue.

I think it can be both on this one. That's my personal opinion. Okay. The girl, nicknamed Zozia, by researchers, was unearthed in 2022 in an eerie 400-year-old unmarked burial site in Poland, where 16th century villagers put the remains of dozens of people they believed were vampires or demons. Zosia was buried with a sickle set up across her neck in a Rube Goldberg type setup that experts believe was intended to behead her if she became reanimated and tried to emerge from the grave. Why didn't they just behead her to begin with? I don't know. Somebody was probably squeamish.

Yeah, they were like, yeah. Oh, no, I can't. I can't do that. Well, okay, no, I get it. So that suggests that there was some amount of doubt. Mm-hmm. That she was a vampire. So they were trying to do some amount of respect for her body. Okay. For her remains. Now, I don't know if, okay. So, uh, it looks like she was not murdered for being a vampire. So it's just that somebody had a hunch. Okay. Yeah. I mean, yeah, everybody was murdered. That was just, that was just Tuesday. Um, Now researchers say Zosia was actually a girl between the ages of 17 and 19 who did not die by violence or disease, but was likely blamed for a local famine or virus outbreak.

Okay, I must have misread that. So she was killed. According to a new study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science. The girl was initially thought to have been sacrificed over that fear, but new research determined there is no evidence to back up how she died before she met her horror movie fate. So, okay. Researchers had previously determined she was initially buried with a padlock fastened to her toe, which researchers said was a common practice at the time due to irrational fears from villagers that the dead could rise forever. Okay. Okay. But their belief that she was a vampire came post-mortem.

That's really interesting. That kind of makes sense. I mean, that would be the ultimate proof. I saw her, I swear. Well, she's dead. Exactly. Mm-hmm. Okay. Okay. Yeah, so next time she tries to get out and cause a famine or whatever, she won't be able to when her head will get chopped off. Got it. Yeah, but we don't want to preemptively chop her head off because we're trying to respect her remains. Yeah, we don't know for sure, but we're pretty sure. Yeah, we're sure enough. Yeah. The iron sickle came later. Research into her bones and teeth found an abnormality.

In Zozia's breast, a physical deformity that caused her great pain and may have, quote, marked her in a negative way and sparked fears that she had supernatural powers. Wow. But despite the fear she may have instilled into the hearts of her neighbors, the girl was buried in a coffin wearing a silk cap trimmed with real silver and gold threads. A sign researchers said means she likely came from a wealthy or noble family, and was not an ordinary villager or peasant. Okay. So now we get why they're respecting her. Mm-hmm, I guess. Enough, you know, respecting her enough.

Yeah. Her DNA also showed a distant connection to Scandinavia, though evidence suggests she actually grew up in the area with researchers dating her death to the mid-1600s. I mean, I don't know, sounding more and more like a vampire to me. Scandinavia. Though the modern concept of vampires came later, Eastern Europeans initially became fearful of the monsters in the 11th century, believing that, quote, some people who died would claw their way out of the grave as blood-sucking monsters that terrorized the living. according to Smithsonian Magazine. I mean, that sounds pretty close to the modern concept of vampires.

I guess other than the part that I guess they start in the grave always, as opposed to like, you know, getting bitten and becoming a vampire or whatever. It's that they're always interred and they come out. Yeah, I guess it probably depends on, because I think some vampires, you know, because they're real, sometimes they start in the grave. Like if you sucked all of the person's blood out, first then they would be dead so they'd start in the grave. Well and there are a bunch of these things with vampire uh stories too where it's like you get bitten that doesn't like necessarily mean you'll be a vampire like there's another step.

You gotta be like sired yeah you have to yeah. Yeah also the idea that like uh that it hits a really long takes a really long time to hit versus it happens instantly you know all these different things but also the idea that you could become a vampire from a curse which could have been placed on you after you were buried Or a curse that says once you die, you'll become one. Hence, you'd be buried and then become one. Sure. You know, stuff like that. By the 17th century, quote, unusual burial practices became common across Poland in response to a reported outbreak of vampires.

Science alert. Reported. Well, that doesn't sound like it was uncommon. It sounds like that would not be an unusual burial practice anymore. That'd be a common burial practice. I think we need to show a little bit more respect for their cultural choices. Yeah. I have heard a lot of those weird stories. We're going to do in November a terrifying and true all about the New England vampire scare, which is really interesting because you can like if you know where to go, you can like go to New England and like visit all these vampire graves, supposed graves that people thought were definitely vampires.

It's pretty wild. You should go there. All of them. I mean, I it might happen. I'm going to probably go to New England next year. For like a week or so. Okay. Because I found out my family's genealogy stuff, you know, and they ended up, they were all in New Bedford, Massachusetts. I looked into it, found out New Bedford is like the greatest cultural hub of Portuguese in America. Yeah. And then on top of that, I have like so many family ties, but then also they have an incredible amount of folklore. Hmm. And true crime, too, because when I was doing our last one of this month's episodes of Terrifying and True about Lizzie Borden, she was tried at the New Bedford courthouse.

Oh, OK. It didn't happen in New Bedford, but that was the closest courthouse to the town she was in. So but but so I looked into it and they have like all these crazy stories about like I guess one of the big ones is a well-known Portuguese sailor went out for a basic fishing trip and never came home. And he was like the most experienced sailor that had ever been at port there. So people still talk about like what happened to him, how he wouldn't have gotten lost and stuff. Like it doesn't make any sense.

And apparently there's like, there's like a new Bedford nautical society that like tracks all the folklore related to nautical stuff. So I'm still like brainstorming, but I think I'm going to go out there and get either a hotel room or an Airbnb, you know, and stay for a week, do a little bit of genealogy stuff, but then do like a ton of folklore stuff. They also apparently have like a weekly supernatural radio show that's really popular in New Bedford. So I'm going to try and get the guy who hosts it to talk to me too.

That'd be cool. See if I can get like the historical people and stuff like that to do little interviews so I can make like a little bit more involved, terrifying and true episodes. Yeah. So we'll see how that goes. But mostly I really just want to have some of that Portuguese sweet bread, which sounds so good right now. I'm so hungry. Sorry. No, you're not. We're going to take a quick break. And when we get back, we are heading to near your ancestral homeland. We're going to Long Island. Okay, close enough. It's close. I'm not saying it is, but it's close.

It's close. Like Spain is close to my ancestral homeland. It's not, it isn't literally, but it's close. But for a discovery that was pretty surprising right after this. All right, Chell. Let's head to Long Island. Now, as someone from Da Bronx, how do you feel about Long Island? I don't really have any feelings about Long Island, except that I want to pronounce it Long Island really bad. Long Island? Long Island. Oh, yeah. Is that a you thing? No, it's not a me thing. Who does that? Everybody? Everybody. Everybody from Da Bronx? Everybody from Long Island.

Long Island. Oh, yeah. I totally think I've heard that, actually. Long Island. Long Island. I mean, it's not like Trenton, where they just remove a T. Trenton. Or Florida, when it's Florida. It's Florida. Florida. Florida. There you go. Sounded better. No. Well, the headline reads, Crocodile found on Long Island Nature Preserve walking trail. Oh. $ 1, 000 offered for arrest in illegal dumping. Oh, that sucks. The poor crocodile. Yeah. Well, the good news is I'm guessing the crocodile is going to be okay because it's been captured. Unless they had to test it for rabies, which I know you would prefer they test it for rabies.

No, I would not. It's not a mammal. It doesn't have rabies. Just, but you can't be too safe. I guess. This is my new way of like, this is Michelle's code for kill the animal is just, you should test it for rabies. I'm going to edit out the part where you didn't know that. So, like, back before, that way people will be like, whoa, Chell, what the hell? A two-foot crocodile was found in a Long Island nature preserve this week, and the nonprofit that saved it is offering a $ 1, 000 reward for the arrest and capture of the person who illegally dumped the dangerous reptile.

It'd be weird if you arrested him without capturing him. That's what I was thinking. Yeah, that's a weird way to say that. You could say one and I would understand. Well, I mean, capture is not always arrest, but arrest is always capture. Yes. The croc was spotted on Thursday strolling along a walking trail at the Holtzville Wildlife Ecology Center, which shut down earlier this year. Oh. Town, that's, so why, but the trails are still open? I don't know what, I don't know what it means for it to be shut down. Maybe it's just the actual center is shut down.

Yeah, yeah, but the walking. Trails are still there. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Town employees still working on the property who made the shocking discovery directed the animal into a box and immediately called the nonprofit, profit, Strong Island Animal Rescue League, or Strong Island, oh wait, that's Long is where you, Strong Island. Strong Island, yeah. Strong Island. Strong Island. Frank Florida, president of the Port... Oh, sorry, Floridia. Not Florida, Floridia. I think anybody who was reading that would think it just said Florida for a second. Probably. Frank Floridia, president of the Port Jefferson-based non-profit, called the discovery of the crocodile, which is illegal in New York, quote, very concerning.

I mean, so many things are illegal in New York. That's true. I mean, like, weren't nunchucks illegal there for a while? I don't know. Now I want to know by asking Gemini, which will be wrong. In 2014, they enacted a law prohibiting the public from getting close enough to take a selfie with a tiger or big cat. Okay. Okay. All right. These aren't what I thought. These are all like silly things. I was like, I thought there were like, I thought like it was illegal. Nunchucks were illegal in New York City. Now I have to know.

I can't just let that stand. They're no longer illegal in New York as a federal court struck down the state's 45 year old ban in December 2018. Wow. Okay. Okay. They originally banned them in 74 due to fears of gang violence sparked by the popularity of Bruce Lee movies. Oh, Bruce Lee movies. Wow. I mean, they were they were really, really trying to make gang violence go away, which is funny because like they were, you know, in bed with the mafia. But like, yeah. Yeah. In 2000, attorney and martial arts teacher James M. Maloney was arrested and charged for possessing nunchucks in his home.

Oh. That's rough. Yeah. Yeah. And it ended up, it turned into a landmark Second Amendment ruling. Wow. Because he had to like fight it. Anyway, I just, I just, I wouldn't have read that. But the fact that it was being enforced is crazy. Yeah. Because a lot of silly laws, they just aren't enforced, so nobody takes them off the books. Mm-hmm. Quote, it's concerning for the animal because it doesn't have a proper habitat, the proper environment to live. When he arrived at the scene, Floridia was able to carefully pick up the creature without getting bitten.

Okay, so they don't have to check him for rabies then. Quote, I grabbed him mid-back so his tail couldn't get me and his face couldn't get me. I was able to hold him. He wasn't aggressive, he said. Oh, he was just scared. Yeah, you want me to see if you can adopt him? No, he's too big. He's only two feet. That includes tail. I don't have enough food for him. Yeah. Okay, now you're just making stuff up. It's going to become like the Big Lizard in My Backyard song by Dead Milkman, so. Well, I'm pretty sure they stay around the size of their habitat.

Oh. Okay. Well, yeah, I don't know. I mean, I could very well be wrong. Yeah. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation now has the crocodile, which has to be removed from the state. Wow, so they got to deport it. Yeah. The Suffolk County Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is trying to determine where it originated from and who left it there. Quote, obviously it's not indigenous to these waters here. Suffolk County SPCA Chief Roy Gross told Patch. So we're looking at it as abandonment, and we're investigating it. I mean, I always heard in New York you flushed the crocodiles down the toilet when you didn't want them, and that's why the sewers were full of them.

Yeah, yeah. But not now because they're illegal, so they can't be down there. Floridia said the crocodile rescue wasn't that out of the ordinary, as he's been busy with multiple unusual animal discoveries. Quote, I've been getting calls about animals being dumped all over the island, he said. Whoa. What's going on in Long Island? I don't know. Quote, the night before, I got a snake out of Farmingdale, a ball python four feet long. Before that, there was a tarantula left behind in someone's apartment in Port Jefferson Station. I had a monitor lizard that I had to get.

You name it. Okay, so yeah, apparently there is quite an issue with exotic animals being abandoned in Long Island. Yeah. So, Chell, I guess, would your official stance be check them all for rabies? No. No, they don't have rabies. They're not mammals. So only check the mammals for rabies, brutally? No. Add brutally to it, of course. Yeah, I mean, if you're going to check them for rabies, might as well be brutally. Well, we're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, police are solving a mystery in Maine. And it gets a little hairy.

Right after this. Before we jump into the news, Chell, I was at Horror Hound Weekend a week or so ago, and I didn't announce I was going to be there, but I did notice something startling. I was getting recognized from my TikTok and Instagram reels constantly. Wow. And I do mean constantly. Like, I wasn't trying to... I'm not trying to build it up. I actually just stopped counting when it was, like, 20 people because I was like, this is a lot. Then... I am at the movies with Dave and I tell Dave about it before we leave.

And he's laughing. And on our way out of the movie, I got recognized from Tik TOK by a lady and her mom. Wow. And then I was at the cigar lounge and we door dash some food and the door dasher said, Oh man, I watch your Tik TOKs. Wow. Then last night I went to the grocery store at the last minute to grab a few things, which actually is a really interesting story in and of itself. But, uh, And as I was walking out after checking out, somebody walked by and went, love your TikToks, dude.

Wow. Because my TikToks are really, you know, they're super local to the Dayton, Ohio area. So it's just been wild. Yeah. Unexpected. And a lot of them don't know I have a podcast. They only know about the TikTok because, you know, that's what they're consuming. They're consuming the content. And I learned a long time ago that the most annoying, obnoxious and ineffective thing you can do is just plug it all day long. Sure, sure, sure. Because then nobody tunes in at all. Mm-hmm. So, uh, when I meet a person in public, if there's a time to talk to them for a second, I also tell them about the podcast and give them a card for it and tell them like, if you like that stuff, you should check out, you know, even more.

Um, but it was very, very strange, but last night was a strange trip to the grocery store anyway, because literally I needed some chicken breast. I decided I wanted to cook and it was last minute and I couldn't thaw anything out. So I go to the grocery store and we, we like got in the car and everything's fine. It looked a little dark out, but like, I'd looked at the weather report earlier in the day and it said like it was might sprinkle. Walking out of the grocery store, lightning on every horizon I could see.

Wow. And then I heard tornado sirens from the town over. Oh, no. And I'm standing in a parking lot with a lot of other people. I mean, like it was just a normal like kind of Sunday thing. And I rushed home. And it started pouring rain like right after I got home. Oh, good. And then we had like a severe weather advisory for like a half an hour, 45 minutes. And there were like threats of tornadoes and flooded flood warnings and all this stuff. I had even, I wasn't like totally unplugged from the world. I had no idea there was going to be anything like that happening.

And I think most people didn't either. My mother said her and her husband were just like sitting there watching TV and all of a sudden they were like, they got the thing saying like seek shelter. Wow. So it was really sudden. We've had some really interesting weather in the Ohio Valley this year. And we have interesting weather often, but this has been a lot. But that all to say, I wouldn't be surprised if the world was just ending after everybody is recognizing me from frigging TikTok. I mean, maybe. And I apologize if anybody's trying to reach me on there.

I check it three times a week because it's my least favorite social media. So I check it and I do respond to everybody that comments on there. But it takes a while because I check it very rarely. But I have an immense amount of TikTok content scheduled and planned for October. I'm going to publish every day, twice a day. Wow. All October. And then the last week of October, I might publish like three times a day. Maybe even more. We'll see. Wow. You're like, oh, lazy. You're getting lazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You could have done it five times or whatever.

Five times. Five times. All right. Well, this headline is from Unexplained-Mysteries. Mm-hmm. And the headline is Police Solve Mystery of Bigfoot Wandering Around Town in Maine. Hmm. Yeah. What do you think it is? I think it's a cat. That would check out. Yeah. That would check out for this month's episode. Several locals called the cops after witnessing a hairy hominid walking around the community of Damariscotta. Okay, wait. Before you continue, it's probably a bear standing on its hind legs, but yeah. Okay. Yeah. While there can be little argument that the existence or otherwise of Bigfoot can be a contentious subject, there was no denying the sightings that occurred in Maine last week.

Around a half dozen people called the police to report a strange bipedal figure covered in hair walking around the local area. It was seen on Main Street as well as outside a school. Oh. I wonder if they had to close the school because kids were like just freaking out. Yeah. I like that we both said freaking out. Uh... It wasn't long before officers had apprehended the curious cryptid. As it turned out, however, the culprit was little more than a man in a Bigfoot costume. Oh, okay. Chell, would you say needs to be checked for rabies?

No, I wouldn't say that. Are you sure? I don't know. We're all very worried about this power you've gained by realizing that checking something for rabies is just killing it. I don't know why you think that this is a power. I'm very sad about. All of this. Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, so nobody will think that you mean it. Nice. Gain that sympathy. That's solid. You're good at this. You could be a dictator. According to Damar Escada police chief Eric Josephson, No charges were filed. So you could just walk around causing stuff as a Bigfoot?

Well, I mean, maybe he's just like a furry and that's just how he dresses when he goes out. It's his fursona. Yeah. Bigfoot. And there's nothing illegal about that, so. Apparently, he must not have been like trying to cause a serious hubbub because here's what the chief said on Facebook. Quote, after a lengthy, exhaustive, and completely serious investigation, members of the Damariscada Police Department have reached a conclusion. Bigfoot is not real, he wrote on Facebook. That is... That is... What's it called? Like, interaction bait. That's rage bait. Yeah, yeah. That's drama farming. Smart. On social media, saying something like that, you're going to get stuff.

Quote, we under... Quote, we understand this may be disappointing to some. That's a perfect, like, because you hear that all the time about different things. Like, it's such a, like, corporate speak thing. Yeah, yeah. Quote, frankly, there were members of our department who were secretly hoping we had finally stumbled upon something that would make national news. Sadly, no. Well, kind of. I was on this show. Hey, it was on NBC Boston originally. Um, exactly why the man was wandering around town dressed as Bigfoot remains unclear. So the only thing I really wanted to know. Yeah.

Is the only part they didn't figure out. Well, I mean, maybe he just, they tried to question him and he asked for a lawyer and that was it. They were just like, yeah. I mean, I just want to know, like, you know, what, you know, was it a good Bigfoot costume? Was it, you know, what was it? I mean, it was obviously pretty good if people didn't know it was a person in it. Aye yi yi. Well, we all learned a lot. But we're going to learn even more after the break when we talk about our topic for this month, which is the rise and fall of spook shows or midnight ghost shows.

One of my favorite topics right after this. Michelle, one of my favorite things about spooky season and Halloween from a historical perspective is that it shines a light on how much people want to be scared. Okay. How much people want to like kind of challenge themselves in that way for the fun of it. Mm-hmm. Because if you look at Halloween and Halloween's history is actually pretty short of the literal Halloween, not all of the traditions it's based on, Samhain or Samhain, all that stuff. I'm talking about like Halloween in America starting in like the 1910s or whatever.

That was like a part of a lot of cultural stuff that was going on at the time. And the reason I think it stuck around was because people's hunger for spooky fun is was so great that they were like, well, let's make a Christmas, which is also relatively new as we understand it. I mean, it's still like a few hundred years older, but let's have a Christmas, but it's spooky. And that's, I think, why Halloween stuck. Because a lot of the things that kind of led to the Halloween mindset didn't. And one of them, well, for a lot of reasons, cultural changes, stuff like that.

But one of them is the spook show or the traveling ghost show. And I've always thought these are fascinating because if you look at them and you see these old pictures of like the Orpheum Theater and a big sign that says midnight on stage spook show. You know, Orpheum Theater, den of living nightmares with Dr. Dracula. And this was a place adults went to, like people in suits. Yeah. went to see this. I mean, that's just kind of cool. I just find that fascinating because even though it's not around, the echoes of it are all around us, especially at Halloween time.

So I've just always found this stuff just awesome and fascinating. So we're going to take a deep dive into the history of the Midnight Ghost Show thanks to paleofuture.com. They have an article about And it's called The Rise and Fall of the Midnight Ghost Show. So, Chell, get ready, because you're going to learn something, even if it hurts. Oh, okay. Wow, you were so mad you kicked the table. I did, yeah. I get it. Throughout the 1930s and 40s, Americans flocked to their local movie theaters to be scared out of their wits. Sure, they loved classic movies of the time like Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Mummy.

But it was the terrifying and humorous stage shows, known generically as the Midnight Ghost Show, that really packed theaters to capacity. Midnight Ghost Shows, sometimes called spook, voodoo, or monster shows, promised a night of creepy and playful stunts. There were glowing ghosts, floating objects, psychic readings, and dozens of other illusions, all playing off the nation's interest in spiritualism between the two world wars. Interesting. I got extra fascinated by this because I read the autobiography of Doug Hobart. He was the uncle of Barry Hobart, who was Dr. Creep, my local horror host growing up, and one of my earliest mentors in television and movies.

And Doug was, before he got into film production a bit in the 70s, he was a spook show guy. He had been in vaudeville as a dancer. And he'd always loved scary stuff and like horror comics and things. So he started doing a spook show because he could do stunts. He could throw his body around. So he would be like the good guy in the show. And when the monster would like backhand him, he would throw himself super far. So the audience would be shocked because he'd fallen so far and stuff like that. He did that for years and it packed theaters all over the country, but especially in Ohio.

Cool. So, cause he was originally from Middletown. So I've just, that made me extra fascinated. The shows drew from the stage magic traditions that preceded them and would have an indelible impact on the horror TV culture that would follow. The 4D theater gimmick artists and late-night TV movie hosts of the 1950s both owe the Ghostmasters of the 30s and 40s a tremendous debt. But tragically, it would be the new technology of television that would ultimately render the thrill-packed midnight stage shows old-fashioned. TV did kill a lot of stuff like that. Yeah, I understand. You understand that that happened, or you understand why, or you understand that it was good.

What do you mean? Oh, those things. I understand why it would happen, because you have accessible media in your house, and you don't have to go out. Plus, oh, sorry, please. That's constantly happening. Every time we get a new way to just sit in our house, we're like, yeah, man. And in that era, especially... Because World War II was over. People were home. People were having kids, having families. So being able to stay home with your whole family, it wasn't just convenience. It was economics. I mean, you didn't have to pay for a ticket for each kid.

You didn't have to worry about somebody being annoyed if your toddler cries, let alone finding someone to watch your toddler. You could just stay home. And it was more exciting and less old fashioned than your parents who did it with radio. Cause your parents did it with the radio dramas and now you're doing it, but you're like, oh, but this is totally different. This is really scary. You know what I'm seeing? I'm seeing Frankenstein on my TV set. You know, I'm going to have a hamburger sandwich for lunch because you got to get enough red meat.

It's the food pyramid. So, but I just think that that, that, that when you contextualize the love of spookiness and horror and all this stuff into history, it just really gets me riled up. I get so fascinated. Yeah. Um, and I see, I see it, you know, I really do. Um, cause then, I mean, that's one of the reasons the drive-in movie was a huge hit. It was because you could take a. carload, your family, and you had a sense of separation and you didn't have to pay for each individual kid. And, you know, there were all these benefits to it.

Ironically. So it draw, it drew teenagers and families, like almost nobody in between. It was like, you either went to the drive-in because you wanted to be like alone with your number one, whoever, um, Or so you could be with your whole family. Like single people very seldom would go to the drive-ins. They would go to the movie theater, you know, or whatever. So it's just fascinating to me. Yeah. Elwynn Charles Peck was probably the first to fully develop the Midnight Ghost Show sometime around 1929, earning him the rather on-the-nose title of the father of the Midnight Ghost Show.

Peck performed under the name L. Wynn, and his show L. Wynn's Midnight Spook Party, how fun, would pave the way for countless imitators who would emerge in the following decades. Beth A. Cattleman's 2010 paper on the Golden Age of Ghost Shows, Magic, Monsters, and Movies, America's Midnight Ghost Shows, describes how Peck drew from the same effects that spiritualists and other charlatans would produce at the turn of the 20th century. I love that he said, and other charlatans. Good work. Quote, In these late performances, Peck featured many effects that were based upon the types of phenomena one might experience when attending a seance, such as the production of ghost apparitions, objects moved by unseen hands, and spooky sounds.

Peck combined these elements into a unique format that quickly became popular with the audience. A series of magic tricks and illusions loosely held together by a spooky theme culminating in a blackout sequence. Ooh. How would you feel if you went to a horror show or something or something that was supposed to be scary and there's a part where they're like, and now we're going to turn all the lights pitch black. Would you be amped or would you be like, uh? I'd be like, okay. I don't know. I'm not, not really, that wouldn't be that scared.

Sorry. We'll see. Okay. If and when I get to take you to a haunt, we'll see just how scared you get. I mean, I'm uncomfortable because there's people and I don't know what to do with my body. But, like, I don't find it scary. I find it upsetting. Okay. Okay, pal. Again, we'll see. We'll see. I mean, what would scare you the most? Like, what should I avoid taking you to see in the spook houses? Like, somebody who's just like, you probably have cancer. Oh, gosh. And here's why that would probably. Be the problem. And here's why.

And it's just a paper that shows a direct link to anime. Oh, I mean, that would be. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. Yeah. We'll take a quick break and we'll be back talking even more about the history of the spook show right after this. Let's get back to the spook show. Spook show. Jill, please react to me. Oh, I didn't know what you were doing, but. Harsh, but fair. The ghost show formula would vary between performers, but a typical evening might look something like this. 15 minutes of buildup by the host introducing himself as a kind of medium laying the groundwork for what was to come.

This was followed by about 45 minutes of conjuring, mentalism, and spiritualist illusions in low light, often with audience participation. Then, the grand finale. A three-minute blackout that would plunge the theater into total darkness while any number of ghosts, and sometimes monsters, would terrorize those in the audience. Oh. What? That's still not scary to you, huh? Nothing's scary to you. No, it's scary. It's fine. I'm very scared. You wouldn't be freaked out if the theater went totally black and then there was like a monster touching you or something? It's kind of, I'd be like, what? Oh, I'm, I don't know.

Thank you for that one. It was good. That was good. Everything about that was great. Thank you. Oh. Appreciate it. By the end. By the end of the 1930s, screening a popular scary movie would become a ghost show staple, and these would almost always be shown after the blackout. Okay. Well, movie theaters are a great place for the blackout because they already make it so no light can get in from outside. Not just the sun, but the lobby and stuff. It's all sealed up because you want it to be pitch black. So that's really clever.

One of my favorite things about spook shows is the way they did the posters. And every like they were always really fun and had like squiggly text that would, you know, make you think like, oh, this must be really spooky. But by today's standards, like, oh, this must be very vintage and weird. But it literally at the top says, don't be a sissy. Come on down to the spook party tonight. Spooks, ghosts, shivers, shudders, thrills in person on stage. Elwynn Midnight Spook Party. And it says, make up a spook party. If you come alone, you'll be afraid to walk home.

No children's tickets sold. It's too scary. And on the screen, the vampire bat with Fay Wray and Lionel Atwill. Balcony is 25 cents, lower four, floor 40 cents. Wow. Yeah. I'm frigging amped already and I can't even go. Sorry. Yeah. The lead-in was absolutely essential in order to prime the largely teenage audience for the remainder of the show. As Mark Walker explains in his 1994 book Ghostmasters, the performers, many of whom were magicians who discovered that midnight shows were immensely profitable, would have to set expectations through an intricate monologue to make sure the frights would come and land properly.

Okay. I, so, in the carny, that's called Bally. Or ballyhoo. It's when you talk to the audience to get them primed for whatever they're about to see or to get them to buy a ticket or whatever. But it's all about a talker. The term carnival barker is not a carnival term. Nobody ever used the term barker. That was an outside the carnival term. Talker. That's all they called them. They were talkers. People who were able to talk loudly to the crowd and kind of hit the points over and over and over again and keep it interesting.

they were talkers. So the Bally, which would be something that was pre pre-prepared, uh, Bally was, you know, saying, uh, the same thing again and again about the headless, you know, goat or something. So I've always loved Bally and the idea of having like this, you know, this long monologue of like tonight you will enter another world, a world most men never return from, you know, that kind of stuff is just so fun. Uh, So, according to the Ghostmasters book, through the dramatic use of patter, patter is like bally, but slightly different. Patter is where people interact, too.

Okay. Ghostmasters attempted to psychologically condition their viewers by warning them about the horrible things they were about to see or feel in the dark. Imaginations ran wild as the audience, already expecting to be frightened, heard lines such as, Don't turn around if you feel cold, clammy hands clutching you, or something crawling up your leg. I was born to do this, it's just not a thing anymore. Yeah. I mean, you get a version of this at haunted houses. Yeah. And that's why a lot of people used to call them spook houses. Cause it was kind of a similar concept.

I still call haunted houses, spook houses. If, cause to me, that's also like my shorthand. And so that, you know, I'm talking about like in a, like a place you go, not a place that thing people think is haunted. So, you know, Oh, that house on the curb, you know, on the, up at the lane, that's a haunted house versus, you know, Hey, let's go to the spook house tonight. You know, like, so naturally part of the ghost master set up relied on more cheeky members of the audience and who would often take it upon themselves to mess with their friends in the dark.

Sure. We all know that friend. I am that friend. And there are dozens in every audience. Oh, it says right there, chances are you are that friend. I would be that friend. And I did a blackout haunt at Land of Illusions in Middletown, Ohio last year, where the walls were painted black, the floor was black, the ceiling was black, and the haunt actors were dressed in all black. And then... my favorite part, they have a 20 second thing where they tell you like what you're going to do and like tell you, please try not to touch the walls too much.

Don't touch anybody and they won't touch you, you know, stuff like that. But then, but while they're doing it, you're in a room that's all white and the lights are insanely bright. That's pretty good. So when you walk in, you're like, whoa, it's kind of like, it feels like you're in a, like a, uh, operating room. Like it's so bright white. And then they shut the lights off and push you in there. And you're like, I am totally blind. My eyes are adjusted the opposite direction. Like, holy crap. It was brilliant. It was really cool.

Um, and I don't know how many haunt actors were even in there. Cause you really couldn't see anything every now and then there would be like the tiniest bit of light and all it would do is light the fog, which was everywhere. Like, like you, it was really, really cool, but it was all your imagination. Like it really was a tip. If anybody out there is thinking of going to a haunt. Um, I hate this because it's the truth. It's just human nature. If you go late at night, the haunt actors are going to be tired and you are going to get like a little bit less tired.

But it's still fun and especially fun if going late makes it more fun for you. But like, I definitely have noticed that if I go first thing, it's way more scary. Yeah. And then you can go home and go to sleep too. So it's better. Yeah. Well, not if they did their job right. You'll never go to sleep or go home. But I just want to mention that like, cause I've gone to some late and I could even see that some of the actors who were doing, they were talking and stuff. I can even see they're kind of tired.

I'm like, I get it, man. You've been doing this all night and you're good at it. So you're really going to tire yourself. While Peck got the movement started, Jack and Wyman Baker would become two of the most famous and financially successful ghost showrunners of all time. The Brothers' Asylum of Horrors show played to sold-out crowds throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Europe. Wow. Wow. This is not a mean thing, I'm saying, as a Hispanic man. If you were scaring people in Mexico, you're doing a good job. That's all I'm saying. You're doing a good job.

Just saying. I mean, I could see scaring the Europeans. That'd be easy. Like, and they give free refills. They're all scared, you know. And the public bathrooms cost nothing. Like, women are fainting. Like, that's the way they would do it. The show had its share of spooks, but it was its sense of humor that really set it apart. Here's another excerpt from Ghost Master's. Even though their advertising stressed fright and thrills, the show rapidly evolved into a comedy spoof on spiritualism. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. Knowing they could never produce real ghosts, the Bakers relied heavily on their homespun humor and Hell's a Poppin' style to evoke hearty belly laughs, making audiences forget the actual reason why they came to see the show.

They commanded court with their macabre mirth, which proved to be the right combination at the time. I love that. And by the way, next week, right here on Weekly Spooky on Monday, our first terrifying true of the Halloween season is about Houdini and his death on Halloween. Really, one of my favorite episodes I've ever done. As it turns out, being kings of the ghost shows also meant amassing some decent coin. The Asylum of Horrors would pull as much as $ 4, 000 per night at larger theaters. Wow. Over $ 60, 000 when adjusted for inflation.

No, that's right. That's got to be close. It's probably even more because this was 2019 when they wrote this. Oh, yeah. It's probably $ 1. 8 million. Yeah. So they could pull in as much as like 70, 80 grand in one night. Wow. Good for them. That's unbelievable. Yeah. The shows could be so profitable that even Howard Thurston, one of the most respected magicians of his generation, worked a midnight spook show into his schedule. Wow. And why not? If you were a magician in the 1930s and 40s and didn't have a ghost show routine in your mix, you were simply leaving a lot of money on the table.

I mean, that's dead right. Well, we're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we're going to talk about the fascinating methods of publicity the spook show people used right after this. The ghost shows were often known for their publicity stunts as much as the shows themselves. Elaborate displays of coffins and tombstones would pop up around town. Some ghostmasters would hold spooky press conferences, hamming it up for the cameras. Promoters would even hire fake protesters who would hold signs objecting to the depravity of the show. That is one of the oldest tricks in the book.

I like that. I think that works really well. Yeah. Um, it, that was, I mean, um, uh, William Castle did that a few times when he, when he did his scarier horror movies and he was the guy who did like the tingler and stuff where they had like a skeleton would float across the audience and everybody would faint and stuff. He, he did that. He had like some of his crazier movies. He'd have people who were from like fake organizations for like the sanctity of, you know, whatever, you know, would come and protest and they were just actors he hired.

That's pretty cool. It works. It works really well, except in the case of Silent Night, Deadly Night, where it actually got it pulled from theaters. Oh. Yeah, and that wasn't a fake. It was real. It would be awesome if it was the fake protest got it thrown out. That would have been epic. Yeah. Many of these stunts, including the fake protesters, would be immortalized in the 1993 film Matinee, starring John Goodman, one of my favorite movies of all time. He basically plays William Castle, and The kids who love his movies notice that they recognize one of the protesters as like a small role in one of the guy's earlier movies.

A movie that hammers home just how much B-movie producers of the 50s and 60s owed to ghost shows. I love that. So they used to call it road showing a movie when you would go with it and try to add like a little bit of Ballyhoo to the movie as the presenter or or even, you know, adding like the Tingler where they literally installed little electric zaps. On a certain amount of chairs in the theater. Wow. Not a lot. Just a little tiny zap, like static electricity zap. And during the part in the movie where they go, ladies and gentlemen, the tingler is loose in the theater.

Then some people would feel a tingle and they'd scream and it would make everybody think they felt the tingle and that the tingler was after them too. It's kind of brilliant. But- but really difficult. They would have to send like an intricate pamphlet on how to install the tingle things into their seats and stuff. It was a lot. Cause we're talking about, you know, rolling it out most of the country. Um, they did all kinds of stuff. Like they did one, uh, I forget what the screaming skull, where it was a skull. They put on a wire going across the theater and, But apparently when the movie showed enough, like teenagers would go there and be throwing things at it, trying to knock it down and stuff.

Yeah. So. Yeah. One of the, oh, this is perfect lead in. One of the crucial technological advancements that led to the rise of the American ghost shows was the invention of luminescent paint. Oh. Isn't it wild to think though that like luminescent paint, which I can't imagine you've ever thought much about it beyond like, do I need luminescent paint? Or, like, luminescent paint exists. You never thought, like, who invented this? When did this come out? I wish I thought about that. That makes me sad that you don't. Yeah, I know. But what I love is the idea, like, so we have this new thing, see?

It's called luminescent paint. And then some magician guy is like, all right, I know what we can do with this. I just love that. I just love that because, like, we didn't, you know, we grew up in a time when so many things were already invented, although an immense amount of things weren't. Yeah. Especially in technology. It's just some of those simple things. It's like, wow, some of these guys who were doing these tricks lived when there was no such thing as luminescent paint. Yeah. A thing that I would just never consider. Alexander Straubel's development of luminescent materials in the mid-1920s really paved the way for new special effects on stage that did not rely on large equipment.

Okay. Dating back to the 19th century, the Pepper's Ghost illusion was incredibly popular for creating ghosts. Are you familiar with Pepper's Ghost? I don't think so. It's where the audience doesn't realize there's a giant, I mean, giant pane of glass in front of the talent. And then they would, they would light a person angled down below the stage. And so on black, so they could stand there and by lining it up, it would look like a, like a transparent person who could pass their hand through you standing right next to you. It's, it's really fascinating because like the amount of effort to hide it, it was a magic illusion.

It was, it was really special for its time. Um, but a massive, I mean, you're talking to a gigantic sheet of glass. How are you going to transport it? How are you going to keep it from getting broken? You just have to make a new one every time. And then, and then people are gonna start to catch on. They're like, you ever notice how when that magician comes into town, Roy's a glass shop just does really well. Uh, plus the amount of light to make somebody pop on the, the thing. I mean, those lights would have been insanely big and insanely hot for that era.

So it's, it's pretty wild. Um, Oh, and it mentions here that the Pepper's Ghost method is still used convincingly today in places like Disney's Haunted Mansion. Okay. But the trick is incredibly large and cumbersome. The ability to jump from theater to theater and town to town was crucial for the ghost show acts of the 1930s. And now, with special paint, your humble hosts and their many unseen accomplices hiding in the wings could seem to have ghostly glow without spending many days and many man hours installing huge and expensive illusions. Mm-hmm. That's so cool. Let's see.

New technology birthed the Midnight Ghost Show, but in the end, it was new technology that would help to kill it. Yeah. With the rise of television in the late 1950s, the show would decline rapidly. The ghost shows would continue into the 1950s, 60s, and even 70s, even though they were decidedly less popular. Oh, yeah. I mean, because you got to remember, like, if they had that big of crowds... Why not keep doing it until the crowds are, like, just okay? Yeah. Yeah. Feel like by the 70s, I couldn't really imagine it. Yeah, I would say by then you're probably talking like touristy areas or really rural areas where, you know, it's harder to get television even because it can be.

I mean, cable TV was literally invented to solve the problem of rural people watching television. People forget that because it was originally, the concept was called farmer vision. Wow. You didn't know that? No. Isn't that wild? So these little farm communities would all kind of chip in their money to get an antenna put up, or not an antenna, a satellite that would receive the television transmissions because they were too far away to receive them on their antennas. Okay. Then they would run cables. from that satellite to their farms. And it was a way to get consistent television when you lived in the middle of nowhere.

And then of course, when you think cable TV, your first thought is not the middle of nowhere. Your first thought is not like rural. Your thought is like that became like the predominant form of television until the internet came and slapped it around. But yeah, so I mean, you never know like where things are going to develop, where they're going to end up. It's very, very interesting to learn about this stuff. And that's why I'm nerding out so much instead of just reading the damn piece. Let's see. Those Ghostmasters that soldiered on found that the Baby Boomers were increasingly harder to scare.

Well, they'd seen two World Wars by that point, so that doesn't help. A supposed spirit wrapping its knuckles on a table or ghost mask dabbed in luminous paint no longer did the trick. To stay relevant, they needed to evolve into a more macabre genre that emphasized monsters, blood, botched surgeries, guillotines, and bodily mutilation. Yeah. Themes that shock rockers of the 1970s like Alice Cooper would borrow liberally from. That is true, too. He basically did a spook show in his touring act. Oh. There was a whole thing where he had his head chopped off by a guillotine on stage.

Oh. And literally, the illusion was designed by the Amazing Randy, one of the most famous magicians to ever live. And the guy who cut his head off on stage every night was the Amazing Randy in the cloak and everything. Oh, cool. It's my dad... Uh, one of my earliest memories of being with my dad, he had a bootleg of it. Somebody had like filmed it with a camcorder and he was watching it. And it was really like shocking though. It looked like his head got cut off. Cool. And it kind of, you know, he did, but it didn't, but it didn't.

Like you, like, I guess the better way to put it is it kind of looked like a fake head, but you could not pinpoint when they swapped him. That was what made it really shocking was that you just, you saw him throw him into the stocks and all of a sudden his head's cut off. You're like, wait, what? It looked like it was him. So. Stuff like that's so cool. But I remember hearing that the spook shows in the 70s got really salacious, like super, which makes sense because horror films were also getting really salacious at the time.

So I guess it is the boomers fault. Yeah. Yeah. The Ghostmasters upped the ante with more sex appeal, often in the form of scantily clad female assistants, and more violence, often in the form of those assistants being brutally dismembered, tortured, or attacked by wild beasts and creatures risen from the dead. And there was a whole era of macabre magic tricks. There was this whole idea like the Mad Magician, where it's like they would do the tricks, but they would be real. And the funny thing is. So if they did a woman getting sawed in half, but then reveal a woman looking to actually be murdered and sawed in half, then you're actually doing a harder magic trick to show that you failed to do a magic trick.

I love that. To me, that is delicious. It's not just food for thought. It's like, that is everything I love about humankind and storytelling. The idea that you would have to come up with a harder, infinitely more intricate illusion to make people think that you failed to do a relatively simple illusion that everybody had seen before. I love that. It makes me, it makes my soul sing. My little spooky pumpkin soul sing. We're going to take a quick break. And when we get back, we'll talk more about the interesting turns that the spook show took in its death rattle after this.

The ghost shows would continue. Oh, I already read that. I ruined this return, didn't I? That's okay. Will you take responsibility for it? Yeah. Okay, go ahead. Please. That was my fault. I was distracting somehow. Oh, I feel so much better already. Thank you for that. To stay relevant, I did it again. I accidentally scrolled up. That's okay. It was your fault. Those that were successful in the format's twilight years also knew how to use broadcast technologies to their advantage. A stage magician by the name of Philip Morris, I'm guessing no relation to the other Philip Morris, took on the role of Ghost Master in 1953.

Do you need to get that? Sorry. No, I don't need to get that. I let it go until the second one. And also the face you made. A time when many were getting out of the business. Morris performed under the name Dr. Evil. Clever one, I like that. And bought up enormous blocks of radio time to advertise his darker, edgier show. Hmm. Morris would also make the transition to television, appearing on a weekly horror show every Friday night. The ghost show, in some form, would live on if primarily significantly less interactive on television. Hmm. The golden age of ghost shows existed at a unique time in American entertainment history.

Radio was exploding as a popular medium, but television hadn't yet taken root. Spiritualism and its tricks were intriguing, but belief in the supernatural world was a bit past its prime. Movies were popular, but they hadn't yet installed the wide screens that would do away with the stage. That's a really good point I hadn't considered. A lot of movie theaters were converted... theaters for stage um until they went widescreen then they had to remodel most of the theaters because when the screens were square you could just basically repurpose it okay well because if it had to be wider you had to like redo everything basically and the funny thing is because this all feeds together the reason they made movie screens wider was to compete with television huh Which is extra funny because now televisions are wide.

Yeah, but they weren't. Yeah. Yeah. So, so, so they were like, we don't want to be like television. So we'll make our screen wide. So you get more when you're at the theater and then TVs were like, we got to make our TVs wide. So we're more like the theater. Like, it's really funny how that works. Um, but for real. So when you shoot on celluloid film, like back in the old days, the image was square. It making the image widescreen, like you've seen in, you know, hundreds of hundreds of movies is, is actually harder.

You have to, like, do things to make it wide, whether it's using specialized lenses or using specialized cropping methods after the fact. You have to do that in order for it to be wide. Because it's actually just square. I kind of would just like it to be square. And also, I want the TVs to be pretty square again. I miss them. Really? I think so. I like it wide. Although, now my thing, and this is stupid, but I get annoyed by, is I'll watch a TV show. You know, TV show and streaming. And it will be even wider than the TV.

It'll have black bars on the top and bottom. It's like 235 aspect ratio, super wide technoscope. And all I can think is, this is a TV show. Like, it's never, it's not ever meant for the theater. It's not like watching a movie that does that because it's meant, could you mute that or is it impossible or what did you do? It's pretty impossible. I'm sorry. It's okay. No, no, everybody's, everybody's angry. It would take me longer to figure out how to mute that. Uh, I'll take responsibility for that. I'm sorry, everybody. I have been texting Michelle, um, this whole time, but no, uh, that always just drives me crazy.

Cause if it's a movie, it's like, well, even if it never played theaters, maybe they were trying for theaters, but when it's a TV show, I'm like, why are you doing this? I get it's an, it's artistic intent. It's a sense of mise-en-scene. It's a sense of like, this is expansive and high quality and cinematic. But sometimes I'm like, why is it wider than TV when it's meant to be on the TV? Yeah. That's all. It's not like the widescreen that was called Universum, although I think Netflix gave up on it, which was just slightly wider with the idea being it would fill phones all the way.

Oh. I thought that made sense at least somewhat. You're very popular. I'm sorry. It's emails. I don't know why. Very popular. I'm getting emails like this. Stop. Stop making that sound. Boing. Oh, that was me that time. Maybe. I'm not sure anymore. But. That was a hell of a digression. And so, for a relatively brief period, the ghost show flourished. A beautifully dark mix of technology, magic, and levity. Countless entertainers who dabble in the macabre owe their existence to these ghost shows. Thus, we doff our caps to these ghost hosts, the delightful talents of yesteryear who dared to scare our parents and grandparents with a smile yay that that i love that i that was such a cool piece and i hope you guys learned a lot about the spook show because you know there's a saying that i i just deeply desperately believe which is everything that's old is new again When you look at the landscape of watching television, now it's like people are getting tired of paying, so now we're watching TV with commercials.

That is literally what the original television was. Paying for television was a much later concept. So that's now new again, and it's popular again. When it comes to things like spook shows... Haunted houses have seen a huge resurgence in the last 20 years. They become bigger than ever. They're becoming huge budget things that people are trying to pull off and social media helps to promote them and get them out there even more. People, you know, film themselves running out of a haunt, being scared and people are like, oh, I got to go to that haunt and see it too.

But then the other thing that's really fascinating is there's been a resurgence of the host. And to some extent, Weekly Spooky feeds that a little bit. But like when Joe Bob Briggs became a big deal again on Shudder or Sven Gulli's show on MeTV still being really popular, these spooky hosts and silly outfits especially are a hearken back to vaudeville in the spook show. The idea that somebody comes out and either creeps you out or makes you laugh. And then anyway, here's the scary thing, is straight out of that. So I guess that's why I got kind of emotional, because I feel like horror fiction and that stuff, that's all been around for a very, very long time.

But what I do, I feel, is much more comparable to the guy standing on the stage in the fright wig and freaking you out with the buildup, telling you about Torgo, the ape that rips men apart and eats children for, you know, lunch. And that's, I feel more like that guy. And I look more like that guy, but that's a whole other conversation for another time. So I just, I love the spook show. I love the concept of it. I love what it says about us, not only as human beings, but also to an extent as Americans, because a lot of these things were very American horror hosts, very American drive-in movies, very American.

You know, there are examples of other places having drive-ins and horror hosts, but they're like They're like, you know, Australia had like one and Britain had one. And then America, it's like every city had one, every single one. So I just think it's a really special thing. And I hope that when people tune in to my silly shows on weekly spooky or to my movie hosting show on popcorn fodder on Tubi or whatever it is, I hope they get like a little inkling of what the goofy spook show fun was, because I think I'm chasing that even though I didn't live through it.

Yeah. So, We're going to take a quick break, and when we come back, we're going to talk about some horror media I've enjoyed, say our goodbyes, and Michelle will share with us the most scary and fascinating Reddit story in the history of the internet. And I'm not overselling it. I'm actually underselling it desperately. No. Right after this. All right, my spookies. We're wrapping up this September edition of Monthly Spooky, heading right into spooky season. And I want to remind you, I have a very special surprise for you and for Chell on Halloween. Maybe we'll do a blackout episode.

We'll have to cover our screens so they don't shine light. We'll just do the show in total darkness. Wow. Yeah, which I guess is kind of the way it's experienced. Let's go like that. Oh, wow, it doesn't work. Where's my camera? Oh, there it is. But before we say goodbye, I want to mention a few bits of horror media that I enjoyed in the theater this month. The first one is Buddy, the horror film from the director of Yule Log and Yule Log 2. Oh, that's who it is? I thought I told you that. No, you didn't tell me that.

You didn't tell me that. You asked if I saw it, and I said no. And you said, oh, I thought you did, and that was it. All right, you got me. Yeah, I probably slipped up. It was excellent, and you should go see it. If you want to go see it, I'll send you a ticket. Well, now that I know that it's from the Yule Log person, maybe. I'll send you a ticket. Seriously. No, it's okay. No, no, I'll send you a ticket. We'll talk about it after the show. No, no, no. I'll send you popcorn.

I'll put it in the mail. No, no, no. But you should really, you would love it. It's very, wait, no, we did. Because I mentioned to you that it repeated itself a little bit. So I can't wait to see what he does next. We had that conversation. I thought that you didn't tell me what his other thing was. Oh, okay. That I believe happened. Yeah. Yeah. Like you were just telling me like his other thing. Oh, okay. Sorry. It's Yule Log and Yule Log 2 are the other thing. Oh. Sorry. That's why I was talking about it.

Because you loved Yule Log as much as I did, I think. If not more. Yeah. Um, but, uh, if you've seen Yule log and Yule log one, which by the way, they're not on HBO max anymore. They're like really hard to get. Oh, cause a bunch of people, my friends were like, oh man, buddy was awesome. And I'm like, oh, you haven't seen, have you seen Yule log? And they're like, no. And I was like, what is wrong with you? And they're like, I can't find it. And I was like, that's ridiculous. It should still be on HBO.

It was a frigging adult swim. It was an adult swim thing. But, uh, if you want to find it, It's under Adult Swim's Yule Log on Amazon Prime Video. You can rent it or buy it. And it's listed as a TV show with one episode in the season. But it is the correct thing. But Buddy is about basically like a Barney the Purple Dinosaur style TV show, except that it's its own alternate reality. And Buddy, the playful, goofy horse guy, unicorn guy, is actually like some kind of evil. And it's so good. very well done.

They did the thing that Yule log did where they make you oddly care about characters in very absurd situations, which then makes the stakes very high. And like I said, my only criticism was that there were a few things where it kind of repeated itself, but not heavily to where my first thought was, I wonder what this director's next movie will be like, because I guarantee he's going to want to shift away from it. Yeah. So, um, but also I guarantee you're going to see a very, uh, interesting, uh, big budget movie from the guy who made Buddy because the movie was made for $ 3 million and it's made $ 25 million at the box office already.

So it's a big hit for the company that put it out. Very much. So Buddy, awesome. One of the best horror movies I've seen of the year. And then we move from that to one of the not bad horror movies I've seen of the year, but one of the most solid horror movies of the year. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad at all. It was super fun. It knocked It checked all the boxes that I wanted, and that is the new Insidious film, which now I'm not remembering the name of. The Out of the Further was the subtitle of Insidious.

It's like the fifth or sixth Insidious movie. It was actually really fun. I liked the new characters they introduced. The world building is the best part of all the Insidious movies, kind of because it all comes together. And I really enjoyed it. It had a Nightmare on Elm Street vibe that definitely hit with me very well. So I really enjoyed Insidious out of the further or out of the further. And then the other thing I saw, which this is not a big thing, was just the new Mystery Science Theater 3000 Riff Trax experiments, which is basically the Riff Trax guys who are the MST3K guys from the later seasons.

Mm-hmm. They got the rights to do their own little MST3K where they built the sets again and reunited the whole cast. And that was the era I watched it on TV. Mm-hmm. And when they did the intro, they shot new intros. They built the sets again. They did all this stuff. I actually got a tear in my eye watching them do the intro again, because like they're all still here and they're all still really funny. And their sense of humor is still clicking with me very well. It just made me super happy. So that was awesome.

And there are two more episodes that have not been released yet of the MST three K riff tracks experiment. So, uh, those are what I saw in the theater. They were awesome. Chell, hit me with your best Reddit spook. So, I don't know what the hell's going on, but I don't really find, I'm not finding anything on Glitch in the Matrix that's even, like, relatively, like, interesting. I was looking through a, uh, the, you know, the paranormal subreddit, and someone just posted, like, what's a really scary thing that happened to you? So, oh, no, actually, I won't do that.

There was one on Glitch in the Matrix that I'll do that basically is just paranormal. Yeah. And not that good. So there's this dude who lives in France, I think. And he's kind of dating this girl who lives like four hours away in France. I didn't know that was possible. I mean, you have to really be fully apart in France to be that far away. Unless maybe he means through public transit four hours away. No. No, he meant through on the highways. So maybe she lives in not France. Yeah. It sounds like not France to me.

And it's the European Union. So maybe just in a different country. Yeah. She's probably in Italy or something. Yeah, so he's driven to her house one time to just hang out with her, and he took the highway, and he's going to go back. He wants to go back again, and he's going to take the country roads out because he just feels like it. it. But that takes an extra hour and a half. Yeah. I don't really know about this. This is weird. So he's going to see this woman. And he's driving on the country roads.

At like 10pm for some reason. He's supposed to get there around 11. I don't know why this is happening like this. He's driving and he's like on this like, you know, he's driving like back roads. He said there were cereal fields. So I think it's like wheat fields or something because someone asked him and he was like, I don't know, like oats and things. So he's driving and he just hears a lot of screaming. Very intense. Sounds like a woman screaming. To the point where after a couple of minutes he pulls over because he's afraid something has happened to someone.

And I believe if I'm... I read something else and now I'm getting confused. But I believe if I'm correct, he pulls over and as soon as he does, the screaming stops. But he's like. Yeah, so he gets out of his car. And he's like, is anybody here? Like, does anyone need help? Like, and no one's responding. So he goes... to his trunk to get out some water to just have a drink because the cup holders in France are really small and his bottle is too big, apparently. Apparently, yeah. So it's in his trunk. No, because someone asked.

Oh, okay. Drinks a little bit of water, puts it back down and turns around and this woman is emerging from the wheat fields and she's like wearing white, I believe, and she's really muddy. And she just stares at him and he's like, um, like, do you need help? Like, are you okay? Like what's going on? And she just stares and he's like, do you like want some water or something? Oh, he's still holding his bottle of water. And she just stares at him and he's like, uh, I don't know. So he just goes to put his bottle of water down in the trunk, turns around and she's gone.

And that's the whole thing. It was scary. That is, that does sound scary. I mean, there are questions, but a lot of those questions are, I won't even say really hurt his case because we just don't know France. Yeah. Yeah. You know, like I feel like France would be hard to drive four hours in and still be in France. Yeah. I mean, it might not have been. I just remember that he was in France. The other thing is like when he stopped and he saw her, he got a little bit worried because You know, there have been cases, not in the middle of the country, but like of someone making it look like somebody is in trouble and then the person getting mugged or something.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's actually I've heard that only in Europe. Yeah. Of like the desperate woman. And then when you come out to help her, these guys come out and just like mug the hell out of you. Yeah. I don't know why they just don't come and mug the hell out of you. Why? Why? Why? You got to play a game. Just come over and mug the person. Because that's how you get them. You can't just mug them. They'll be like, ah, don't mug me. And you're like, damn it. You're not supposed to say don't.

Now I can't mug you. You know I'm not allowed now. Thanks a lot. Yeah. No, but that's a good one. That's a really creepy one. Good. Yeah, no, you delivered, Chell. Good, because I spent a lot of time looking for anything. Well, I appreciate it and maybe we appreciate it, but probably not. Um, but thank you all so much for joining us for another edition of monthly spooky. We really do appreciate it. Make sure to email us at weekly spooky at gmail.com. If you want to make a comment or, you know, uh, pick apart Michelle's life choices, performance, her opinion on checking every living thing for rabies.

No! We do appreciate it. And don't forget that October is the biggest month in Weekly Spooky, second only to December, where we'll have tons of bonus shows and all kinds of exciting Halloween-y things for you to enjoy to make sure that you... Do not miss out on that spooky feeling that you have loved since you were a child, which is what I chase every single day here at Weekly Spooky. So make sure you're subscribed on your favorite podcast app. And who knows, maybe at some point in October, you can subscribe on the Weekly Spooky app if you're feeling froggy.

But now, I don't know why I said froggy. It's not even a pun. We didn't talk about frogs at all today. No. But until next month, we'll be back on the last Monday of October to share some more spooky fun. Until then, Chell has the last word. Um, but like, I don't want things to die. Because they get rabies and then we have to cut off their heads and that sounds bad. Thank you.