Monthly Spooky | Spontaneous Combustion, Haunted Funeral Homes, and Killer Squirrels - Weekly Spooky: Scary Horror Stories — Ghosts, Monsters & Urban Legends

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Swarms of bees are terrorizing New York City citizens who
believes in ghosts and why the creepier sign to running
a mortuary and of course bursting into flames for no reason.
Get comfortable, turn off the lights.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
It's Monthly Spooky.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Well, hello, my spookies, it is indeed that time of
the month. It's it's time for a little monthly spooky.
I'm of course you're a host, Enrique Kuto here with
my good buddy and co host here on Monthly Spooky, Michelle, Michelle,

(00:53):
how are you?

Speaker 2 (00:54):
I don't know, I'm whatever.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
That's fair. I should have asked it easier question. I'm sorry, Yeah,
you al started this? Yeah I opened too intense.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah yeah, ask me like a math problem.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Well, well tell I see I I want to ask
a math problem. But immediately I know that I won't
know the answer to the questions. So it's not like fair,
you know, just.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, because I could just say something.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Yeah, you just say a number that that sounds right,
and I would be right, or I would be like yay.
It's like, uh, what was There was a comedian who
used to do a joke that said my friend was
my friend is an idiot? Savant idiot. So you could
take a jar of toothpicks and throw him on the floor,
and he could tell you exactly how many are down
on the ground, and he's always wrong. That's how That's

(01:53):
how I feel most of my life.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, me too. No, no, I don't think I'm right.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
No, no, fair, fair enough. So but we're back yet again,
and I think, according to my count, we've done thirty
seven episodes of Monthly Spooky. That sounds like a lot, it,
does it?

Speaker 2 (02:16):
No, not really.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Oh. Sometimes I like to look at like the aggregate
number of minutes I've podcasted and imagine, like a NonStop marathon,
like how many days could somebody be subjected to just
listening to me speak? And then how much money would
the federal government's intelligence agency pay me to use that

(02:39):
as a torture method.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, I wish.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
I'm always looking for a new ways to monetize content,
you know, I'm just I'm very savvy like that.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
So, but it is. We're heading into August, we're heading
into the latter half of the summer, and it has
been a very hot summer. I don't know if you noticed.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
I mean, there was there was that time when we
had that really really intense heat wave, but then since
then it's been pretty pretty normal ish here. We really
haven't been We've been in the eighties until today.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
So we had we had the same, like a heat
wave that was just freaking brutal, But we've been hanging
in the mid in the low nineties for several days
in a row, so it's just been it's yeah, it's
just been stewy outside. I don't know another word for it.
So it's been it's been really warm. My electric bill

(03:41):
was the scariest part of my whole month wow, running
at ac My my electric bill was really high after
that that month, with the heat wave and everything.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
I wish I knew what you meant by really high.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
Uh it was like two hundred and twenty dollars.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
That's really high.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yeah, So on top of us having a heat wave,
are what do you call it? The cost of electricity?
Like the contract ended and now it's gone up slightly
as well.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Oh yeah I have to you know, I have mine
ending in August. I have to switch again.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah. I already re upped that, but I need to
re up my natural gas. I felt like I'm not
in a hurry since I've got a while before I'll
be using much of it at all. All I use
it on is heating my water right now, So it's
pretty consistent, Bill. But yeah, so on top of all that,
it's that, and we do have a second building now
running AC right, although that second building is small and

(04:41):
we generally keep it at like seventy eight degrees or
seventy nine degrees. It's not like super chilly in there.
But I like to keep my house pretty cool. Really.
One of the reasons the AC runs so high is
this podcast fault. I know, because my office gets way
warmer than the rest of the house, and then when
I have to close the door and put up the
sound dampening, it gets so warm in here that I

(05:03):
end up needing to keep the house as a whole
pretty damn cold to get this room to stay like
below seventy five or seventy six. That's why my favorite
time of year to podcast is the winter, because then
it's the opposite. I turn the heat way down because
the one room I'm in is nice and toasty. Yeah,
it's pretty nice. It honestly feels like a hack. When

(05:25):
I'm the only person home. It's like I'll be like,
I'm just gonna turn the dial the sixty two. Also,
there's no dial, this is not the past, but I'll
like put it to sixty two because the office will
be like sixty six or sixty seven if I've been
podcasting for hours in here. So it's the smallest room
in the house is my studio office space, so it's

(05:46):
always stayed really warm anyway. Yeah, but then there's also like,
you know, computers and and me. I just generate a
lot of heat.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
People really do though, in general. Yeah scary.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
Oh yeah, no, we really really do.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
So yeah, I've I've seen like like when I've worked
event spaces that are really large, you'll come in and
be like, oh my god, I'm freezing death. I'm like, oh,
we're just getting ready for when the four hundred people
come in, and then sure enough, Yeah, the temperature balances
once four hundred people are standing in there.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
Gross.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
What we're just generators?

Speaker 2 (06:26):
Gross? Gross?

Speaker 1 (06:29):
I mean you're generating heat right now. I know.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
Gross.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
I'm sorry. I'm sorry that there's nothing you can do
about it. Well, speaking of heat, this month's topic is
going to be spontaneous human combustion.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
No, I'm scared of that you are, Yeah, what is
there to be afraid of? I don't know, going on
fire spontaneously?

Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, yeah, I mean that part does sound awful. I mean,
have you seen the photos, like the terrifying photos of
like just feet.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
No, I don't look at that stuff.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
No, that's good. You're smart.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah, I guess you could just like stop, drop and roll.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
It's except it's supposedly coming from inside you, not outside.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
You just pat it out.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
Well, if it makes you feel any better. Most people
are skeptical of its existence.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah, I do know that.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yeah, But but there's a whole thing and I will
get into it more when we dive in deep. But
there's a whole thing about how human fat, all fat
liquifies when it gets really hot, renders, and once it renders,
it becomes insanely flammable.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
Uh huh.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
So we're basically just giant walking candles with anxiety.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
Yeah, I mean some of us will burn longer than others.
I would burn substantially longer than you. But you know,
nobody's perfect.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
It's not that big of a deal though, because you're
gonna die of smoke inhalation before you burn to death.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
That's true. It just leaves a really bizarre scene because
it could potentially burn hot enough to burn your bones
to ash.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
That's not great.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
Possibly, well, it's better than at the cemetery, the or
the crematoriums where they just burn you for like forty
five minutes and then grind you up. They're like, ah,
it's good enough, just grind up the rest, meal it out.
So we're gonna talk about that. But before we talk
about the the hot and balmy the topic, we'll have

(08:37):
some spooky news, including an update on the death Cap
mushroom situation. Unfortunately, there's we don't have everything really. Yeah,
we'll get into all of that right after this. Now,

(09:01):
as we return, I think it's about time we do
not only our usual coverage of the news, but for
the second time ever on the program, a news update.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
Yeah, so I guess it's time. Do you want to
you want to take the honors? I usually always get
to do it. You want to do it?

Speaker 2 (09:22):
I thought you really liked to do it.

Speaker 1 (09:24):
I mean, I enjoy it, but but that's part of friendship,
is I like to share things I enjoy.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
Oh, do you want me to do it?

Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yeah? Do it?

Speaker 2 (09:34):
We're going to do that thing with you do the
news stuff, and it's kind of spooky sometime.

Speaker 1 (09:43):
All right, next time I'll write you some cards. Uh,
it's it's time for the spooky news. The spooky news.
So this is an update about the Aaron Patterson court
hearing about death cap mushrooms. This was published on July seventh,

(10:04):
so after our last episode published and last time we
were on the show, so two times before we covered
a ton about this. Then we covered the court trial,
but unfortunately they hadn't reached a verdict yet because they'd
only had five days to figure out how obviously that
this woman murdered people with mushrooms. But this is from NPR.

(10:29):
I figure we could go through this and it'll give
us a little bit of a refresher and then let
us know how things went in the court hearing. Of course,
the headline spoils most of that. The headline is an
Australian woman is found guilty of murdering her in laws
by toxic mushrooms. I don't know how I would have

(10:50):
felt if it had turned out that, if they had
been like, she's not guilty. Yeah, there's so many ridiculous
elements to this I think when this is all done,
I'm gonna do like a super long, terrifying and true
and like run down all of the ridiculous stuff.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
You should. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
After nearly two years and a nine week trial, wow,
nine weeks, wow, a jury found Aaron Patterson guilty in
the murder and attempted murder of her estranged husband's elderly relatives,
three of whom died after eating her home cooked meal
containing poisonous mushrooms. Yeah, and she didn't really get sick

(11:35):
at all. She went to lostpo was like, my stomach
feels off, and then I was like, anyway, I'm gonna
go home. Everybody else is dying. The fifty year old
mother of two is facing life in prison and will
be sentenced later. That's the thing. Hopefully, hopefully she'll be
sentenced by next month. I don't know why it's taking

(11:55):
so long, so but hopefully.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
Oh. I don't know how that works. And you only
have a sentencing trial when it's when it's possible that
they're going to kill you. And also that's in America,
so I have no idea.

Speaker 1 (12:09):
Oh no, uh yeah, they do it different. I know
she could be facing life and you can like in America,
you can appeal a sentence, you know so, And I'm
sure you can there too. But yeah, it's just it's
just this has taken so long. I want the resolution.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah, yeah, me too.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
In July of twenty twenty three, I shouldn't be complaining.
We're getting so much content out of this, but still,
Patterson hosted four guests, her husband's parents, aunt, and uncle,
for lunch at her home in the small town of
Leon Gotha. I can never say. I don't know how
I say Leon Gotha. It's Leon and then Gava, Leon Gava, Yeah,

(12:55):
about eighty five miles from Melbourne. It is undisputed that
she served them individual portions of homemade beef wellington. That
alone is questionable because usually you don't make individual portions
of beef wellington. She claimed she couldn't find steaks big
enough or something a steak dish wrapped in pastry, usually

(13:18):
with a paste of finely chopped mushrooms, and as Patterson
herself testified during the trial, that paste contained death cap mushrooms,
which are among the most poisonous in the world. All
four guests were hospitalized with gastro intestinal symptoms the following day,
and three of them died the following week from altered

(13:40):
liver function and multiple organ failure due to Amita mushroom poisoning.
The sole survivor recovered after weeks and intensive care and
went on to testify at Patterson's trial in Victoria State
Supreme Court. Wow, that had to go all the way
to the State Supreme Court too. I like how they
mentioned that like four guests, well, five people supposedly ate

(14:02):
the food. M see why I can't believe that it
took like a nine week trial. Yeah, supposedly five people
ate the food, and magically the one, the person who
cooked it, had zero ailment at all.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
She could have said something like, well, I was I've
been training to to, like, you know, do that thing
where I'm not.

Speaker 1 (14:29):
It can't build an immunity, yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
To them for a really tolerance. Yeah, so I ate
it and I was basically okay. But it's weird that
that's what I was doing.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
But you know, the trial, which lasted far longer than
it's expected six weeks. I think six weeks is a
long time. Yeah, featured over fifty witnesses.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (14:55):
Eight days of Patterson's testimony, So eight days of jail,
just her wow and a series of twist and turns.
The main question facing the jury did no shit? Did
Patterson knowingly put deathcap mushrooms in the dish with the
intention of killing her guests? That was the main I
thought the main question would be, like, is a beef

(15:17):
Wellington an appropriate meal for a lunch? That's what the
jury's deliberating about.

Speaker 2 (15:23):
Like a backup part of it that they also rolled on.
That's why it took so long.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
Prosecutors argued that she did so on purpose, citing financial
tensions between her and her estranged husband, but stopping short
of offering a motive. Patterson, who pleaded not guilty to
three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder,
denied that poisonings were deliberate. Throughout the trial, Patterson's lawyers
argued that some foraged mushrooms made it into the dish

(15:53):
by accident, and said she later covered up her actions,
including lying to investigators about things like four jing for mushrooms,
owning a food dehydrator, and becoming ill herself after the
meal out of fear after her guest's deaths.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
Yeah, that's yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
The fact that she never got ill. That should negate
everything like that should make it way worse that she admits,
like I must have I had foraged mushrooms. I had
lied about it. It's like, but why did you never
get ill? Why did you not eat any of it?

Speaker 2 (16:26):
Maybe she did, but she only got the parts of
the mushroom that were okay, like she was it was
just magic.

Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, yeah, but the luck of the puree.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah yeah yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
In the days before the jury members entered sequestered deliberations,
Justice Christopher Beale warned that Patterson's lies did not inherently
prove her guilt. Okay, I mean, I mean she was
literally misleading an investigation.

Speaker 2 (16:57):
And also fuck in like she she's like, oh, I
forged mushrooms and maybe it just made it in there.
It's like, yo, so you were just so you who
knows about mushrooms, were just keeping death cab mushrooms in
your cabinet, Like.

Speaker 1 (17:12):
No, you wow, you got you got real jersey in
that one. Sorry, no, no, no, it's good, you're just
getting passionate. I guess no, you're right though, Well, she's
claiming that she just had foraged mushrooms, that some of
them must have been death caps.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
But she'd no, because she's a mushroom forger like it. No, yeah, no, yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
I know, I'm with you. I agree her argument is
the problem. Yeah. The judge was quoted as saying, even
if you think that the alleged incriminating conduct she admits
engaging and makes her look guilty, that does not necessarily
mean that she is guilty, he said, But the jury
was convinced of her guilt. Yeah, so, man, like, I

(17:56):
don't want to run through the whole thing again because
we covered it pretty at length last time. Yeah, but
definitely if you didn't listen last month, check it out.
We've talked at length about this, but we will bring
up again well next monthly spooky hopefully when she's been sentenced.
Will we'll put a cap on all of this. Very nice,

(18:22):
Thank you. Well, when we get back, we're going to
talk about something happening on our side of the ocean,
as apparently a kind of plague is hitting New York
City right now, right after this, all right, so we're

(18:50):
heading to your ancestral homeland.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yeah except no, not.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
Yeah, well not exactly, but of New York City. This
articles from the New York Post, and I hadn't heard
about this at all. I don't know if ed you
heard about this the stories from June, Why are there bees?
Bee swarms buzzing through New York City and what to
do if you see one?

Speaker 2 (19:13):
I have not heard about this.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
No. Well, first of all, the article starts with bee
warned boom. Hordes of bees have been flocking to planters,
trash bins, and even bicycles around Midtown Manhattan this season,
according to multiple social media posts and videos capturing the

(19:37):
quote biblical swarms. I hadn't heard about this at all.
And they're showing there's pictures of like city bikes covered
in bees.

Speaker 2 (19:47):
Oh wow, that's a lot of bees.

Speaker 1 (19:50):
That's a lot of bees. Yeah, look at that, all
those bees.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
They look so happy. Actually they're probably not happy if
they're swarming.

Speaker 1 (19:58):
Oh actually, probably not happy if they have to pay
the kind of rent that's in New York City. Oh yeah,
they're like, ah, hell that was my desktop background. Enjoy
so uh quote It's a fascinating and terrifying experience, said

(20:21):
Nick Rosack, head bee keeper at the nonprofit Bee University
New York City and Staten Island chapter president of the
New York be Club. Imagine how exciting for a moment.
Imagine how exciting that would be. Sorry to be the
head beat keeper and of of the and of the

(20:45):
Staten Island Chapter and Staten Island Chapter president of the
New York BE Club like and like, imagine exciting. This
situation is really exciting. Yeah, Like you spend most of
your life, I assume alone, if you're that interested in bees,
and then all of a sudden, like the New York
Post calls you goes, uh, hey there are bees swarming
all over New York. You're like, oh, yes, my opinion,

(21:10):
it's valuable. Like I just I just imagine, Like if
I were the Staten Island Chapter president of the New
York BE Club, I'd be like at the grocery store
and somebody like, excuse me, where is the detergent? And
then when I turned and they saw like I had
like New York BE Club on my shirt, they'd be like, oh,
never mind, it's like walk away. Nobody wants to hear

(21:33):
my opinion. Finally, I don't mean any mean to Nick Brozak.
He look, I've known some people who study bugs, and
they usually have a pretty good sense of humor about
how weird it is to be really into insects. So
I hope if I know, Nick listens to the show,
so I hope he doesn't take it personal. I just
think it's it just sounds funny to think, like there's

(21:55):
a there's a Staten Island chapter of the New York
be Club, that there is a New York Bee Club.
So then for New York City to be like attacked
by swarms of bees, it's like they finally arrived. Like
part of me thinks like they'd get the call and
then like they would look around the room and then
like a little keypad would come out of their desk
and they'd be like be pressing buttons and like a

(22:16):
door would open with all these like weapons and be
suits and stuff. They like, this is why we were
founded in seventeen fourteen. They knew this day would come.
It's just funny that there's a bee club. Now. This
makes me wonder if is there a Dayton, Ohio b Club.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
I'm sure there is, because there's because beekeeping is a profession.

Speaker 1 (22:34):
I don't so we don't have a bee club, but
we have the Greater Dayton bee Keepers Okay, so yeah,
which are a part of the Ohio State Beekeepers Association,
so pretty much the same thing, except better, right, probably.
I actually don't know, I know, I mean, I know

(22:56):
I'm allergic to bees, but I don't know if we
have like great bees here. I know I've had Ohio
honey and it's pretty good.

Speaker 2 (23:02):
Okay, I like bees. They're outside.

Speaker 1 (23:07):
What about when they get inside?

Speaker 2 (23:08):
Though they don't really get inside. The wasps get inside,
and that's scary.

Speaker 1 (23:14):
Yeah. Yeah, I'm very very allergic to wasps. I have
cans of wasp killer basically under every sink in my house.
I'm sorry because if if I see a wasp, it's
me or them, I know, because they're so aggressive. When
I see a bee, I just I'm fine. I just

(23:36):
I just like mine my own business and and they're
fine with it. But if I see a wasp, I'm like,
I need to kill this wasp and I need to
find the nest and kill the nest right now. Like
they are a danger to me. Yeah, and I will
treat them as such. I'm going to join I'm going
to start the Ohio Wasp Club infiltrate it.

Speaker 2 (24:00):
Did you know that there's an they make an they
make like a thing that you can take from wasp
venom to get yourself less allergic.

Speaker 1 (24:11):
To wasps, like anti venom not I.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
Mean anti venom, I believe is like something you would
give afterwards. This is like this is like the this
is like kind of like allergy shots.

Speaker 1 (24:24):
I'm curious, now there are there are allergy shots. It's
called venom immunotherapy.

Speaker 2 (24:30):
Yeah, that's it.

Speaker 3 (24:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (24:32):
There are people who just go around and they take
down the wasps and then they freeze them and then
they bring them to this place in somewhere on the
East coast. I can't Oregon. That's not the East coast
at all.

Speaker 1 (24:44):
I was wondering after you mentioned that. I was like, hey,
I never thought about, like why isn't that a more
popular option for people with allergies? Like why was it
never brought up to me. That's because it takes three
to five years to have the effects of immunotherapy from it.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
Okay, I mean, I know that's a long time, but
you'd still get it.

Speaker 1 (25:05):
That's a really long time to commit to something.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
To commit to something that would help you significantly.

Speaker 1 (25:13):
I mean, if we're gonna follow the statistics, I should
just stop eating red meat and go for a jog
every day.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
Okay, I mean, if that's what you want. I was
just gonna. I was just trying to make you not
get killed by wasps things.

Speaker 1 (25:25):
But whatever, Well, my secret weapon is I kill them first.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
Yeah, it's all good until you're just like outside and
you step down and you get you get stung by
a wasp.

Speaker 1 (25:37):
I wear shoes.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
I also wear shoes, but one of them went in
my sandal.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
I wear shoes. I don't wear sandals. And well when
when I wear crocs, it's okay because wasps are very
snobby and they've often said they would never be caught
dead wearing crocs, So I have no problem there. Okay, fine,
this this escalated quickly. Quote. You're standing there and there's
twenty or thirty thousand bees in a tornado flying through

(26:07):
midtown Manhattan. It's definitely going to make people pay attention.
More than two hundred species of bees, called gothams trees,
light poles, and buildings home, according to the city's Health Department,
and much like their human counterparts, summer serves as a
peak time for them to find a new home and

(26:28):
food sources, resulting in swarms. Wow, there's a video. I
don't think you'd be able to see it very well
from there. But it's like, just they're swarmingly crazy. Yeah,
I care all over the bus and stuff. Yeah, it's
kind of had to see him because they're so small. Yeah,
a colony of thousands of bees may form a swarm
when it is time to leave their hive and form

(26:49):
a new one, according to the city website, adding that
bee swarms may land on a quote stationary object in
the process. Okay, but Rozac asserts the bees aren't setting
up a new home on bicycles or traffic lights, and
worker bees are just quote hanging out and waiting for
further instructions, while scout bees are actively looking for more

(27:12):
hospitable spots for a permanent hive. I don't know if
I believe what Big Bee is telling us about this
right now. I think this is a scheme to get
us to buy more immunotherapy and be stuff.

Speaker 2 (27:28):
I mean, considering no one brought that up.

Speaker 1 (27:30):
At all yet. The article's not over. Oh fine, yeah,
but we're gonna take a quick break and then we're
gonna get to the bottom of this obvious conspiracy theory
right after this all right, now, we're back talking about

(27:52):
the swarms of bees in New York. I still can't
believe I didn't hear.

Speaker 2 (27:54):
About this because I don't think this was really a
big deal. Like, it doesn't sound like a big deal.
It sounds like there was like three people on TikTok
who saw some bees, and then New York Post was like,
I don't know, let's just do a story about the
bees because that's like them.

Speaker 1 (28:11):
That's like them. And as we've learned, almost all news
is based on a TikTok going, not even going that
viral bit like the TikTok which now has seven hundred
and fifty thousand views. It's like that's not even that many. Yeah,
I mean for TikTok. Yeah. Dramatic videos of Midtown swarms
this season were first reported last month near West thirty

(28:32):
eighth Street and seventh Avenue, while others have since been
spotted near Radio City Music Hall on sixth Avenue. While
Nick while Nick wholefly, hmm, I don't know if I
trust somebody with a name like that. Certified master beekeeper
and New York Bee Club Administration director told The Post

(28:53):
that swarming behavior is quote very regular for bees. He
noted that midtown swarming is to see due to a
lack of greenery. I just want to say, this reminds
me of years ago we read that news story saying that, like,
sharks won't bite your feet, so just go in the
ocean with your feet, And it felt very obvious that

(29:13):
the sharks had written that article.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:17):
All I'm saying is this man has a vested interest
in bees.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
Yeah, but he would have.

Speaker 1 (29:25):
I know, I don't know. He's here to protect us
for sure.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:30):
Lies. A surge in Manhattan's corporate rooftop bee hives also
led to a density density and bees that's quote a
little higher than what Midtown can handle. He added, The
swarming maybe a little more than they would be regularly,
But it's not a wild thing that we're seeing. See now,
they're telling us to deny our lying eyes. I'm becoming

(29:53):
Alex Jones on this. The bees are here and they're
going to take our lives. They're going to take the
men and women in children we love.

Speaker 2 (30:02):
Yay.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
I haven't done an Alex Jones voice in a while,
and I can still I can still nail it. Yeah
that felt good.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
Good.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
I won't bow down to the bees, and I ask
you don't either, all Right, he's becoming like Halcog in
the Morn. Actually, honestly, he always sounded kind of like
Haulcog and rest in peace all right. Rosack added that
responsible I feel like it should be like. Rozak added
that whole fly doesn't know what he's talking about and
barely even attends me. That would be amazing if it
just became them fighting. Rozak added that responsible beekeepers prevent

(30:35):
regular swarms by quote tricking bees to stay put, but
it's unclear whether the recent Manhattan swarms are the result
of an inexperienced beekeeper or Faral hives.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
Yay, Faral Hives.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
That should be the name of your next album, Faral Hives.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
Okay, it sounds like it's probably about a skin condition.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
But that's the best part. Yeah, it's up to the
interpretation of the audience.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
I mean, it's just going to be a picture of
red skin.

Speaker 1 (31:06):
But then printed in black and white.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
Yes, so it's just gray.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
Quote. As an urban beekeeper, it's part of our responsibility
to actually prevent swarming, he said, So it's their fault.
I knew it. I mean, yes, quote, it's healthy for
the bee to do that, but in an urban setting,
we try our best to prevent it. Now they're giving
us advice on what to do if you see a

(31:37):
bee swarm. New Yorker is witnessing a beet swarm on
city property, you're urged to call nine one one, according
to the Health Department. So everything we just read. But
then but then it's like, the Health Department said, call
nine one one.

Speaker 2 (31:54):
Don't they have other things they gotta do? I guess not.

Speaker 1 (31:58):
No, they don't. They don't do that anymore. The city
retains a quote be cop to handle swarms, hope I said,
who in turn keeps a short list of other beekeepers
for backup. Just say the guy just shows up knocking
on a beehive and the bees are like, do you
have a warrant? That's how their voices have to sound.

(32:22):
The NYPD's Bite Sized Beekeeping Unit responded to dozens of
swarm and hive removal requests in the Burrows between twenty
nineteen and twenty twenty four. Hobbyist beatkeepers will also oftentimes
catch wind and flock to the scene at no cost
for the chance to haul a swarm away. Hopely says, yeah,
you can make money off of a beehive or you're

(32:44):
just weird and you like bees.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
Well maybe you're a beekeeper and you're gonna make money.

Speaker 1 (32:51):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what I said. I said making
money off them is great. It would be if you
were like, I just want to keep bees for the
sake of it. That's what I'm like.

Speaker 3 (32:58):
Uh no, so you might want to keep them, ah hope,
I said.

Speaker 1 (33:07):
Some will hould them away for free, while other beekeepers
and pest control companies will charge a fee. Quote. Most
of the swarms that you're seeing on social media are
getting picked up by local beekeepers, Hopefly explained. It really
depends on who's available and how much of a nuisance
the swarm is. So, see, I'm getting mixed signals because
you were like see, so it's nothing and then it's
like call nine one one when you see one.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
M So maybe it's call nine one one so we
can come get the bees.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
So we have them now, because will because they're dangerous?

Speaker 2 (33:36):
Yeah, because they're dangerous.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
She made air quotes. Rosack asserts that bees swarms are
not dangerous and the bees are quote extremely docile see
when they're in a swarm, because they're not protecting babies,
food or shelter.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
We don't even know what kind of bees they are.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
Right, I mean, I don't think they're killer bees.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
But are they like are they like honey bees, or
are they like bumblebees or something?

Speaker 1 (34:07):
Carpenter bees.

Speaker 2 (34:08):
Carpenter bees don't swarm because they're solitary.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
That's sad. I know, makes me feel sad.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
It makes me feel seen.

Speaker 1 (34:24):
Quote it looks terrifying. But you could literally just stand
in the middle, he said, unless, of course, you're allergic.
That doesn't make it sound safe at all.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
Why doesn't sound safe?

Speaker 1 (34:38):
You can stand in the middle. But by saying unless
you're allergic means because you will get stung some then.

Speaker 2 (34:44):
Well, I think it's more like it's possible. So you
wouldn't want to do that if you're allergic, because you know,
at the one percent chance they sting, you'll die.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
Quote. The average person could just take out their phone
and take some photos, don't interact with them, don't in
their way, and just let them land somewhere and then
call a beekeeper to come and respond. He said, this
all sounds like this is actually dangerous to me.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
I like it.

Speaker 1 (35:10):
Quote, you want to practice a little bit of caution
because they are stinging insects. Hoefly added, but they're generally
not going to bother you much if you're not bothering them,
So now we're blaming the victim. I see. Bees tend
to act on their natural instinct to swarm around May
to July and take about two weeks to prepare to

(35:31):
flee their existing hive. Once bees start to swarm, they
could be in and around a stationary object for between
a few hours to as long as several days. Usually
they're yeah, usually they're not there for more than a week,
Hope I said. However, there is the odd swarm that
decides to set up shop right where they're sitting. The
New York Bee Club formed OH formed last year on

(35:54):
Staten Island and in Queens with a Brooklyn chapter on
the Horizon, seeks to educate beekeepers and give them sources
to help hives thrive, including workshops on how to prevent swarming.
So it's not dangerous, but like, don't go anywhere near
it if you're allergic. It's not dangerous, but call nine
one one if you see one. And it's not dangerous.
But we're opening more chapters to deal with it because

(36:15):
it's happening so much.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
It's not to deal with it. It's because they like
bees and they're beekeepers. It's not like they're it's not
like it's an emergency or response team yet. And we
just heard that New York only has a little response
team for bees, like just a little unit. So they're
not making more units of the response things.

Speaker 1 (36:40):
I mean, in the nineteen forty forties there was a
little unit called the Federal Bureau of Investigation, just a
tiny part of the Department of Justice. And now look
at them. They had the X files.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
It's true.

Speaker 1 (36:54):
Quote, especially in urt what we're gonna say, I'm sorry,
I don't know. Especially in urban areas, the goal is
always to keep your bees in the box. Hopefly said.
The bees sometimes have made up their mind and no
matter what you do, they're going to swarm and kill you.
But the more I added to kill you. But the
more responsible you are as a bee keeper, the better
your ability to keep the bees from swarming and killing you. Okay,

(37:17):
so I added both of those killing yous. Oh man,
there's comments I'm like nervous about it.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
Wow, what can they say?

Speaker 1 (37:32):
Do not call pest control? As stated, this is Sally
z bees are not pests and are in fact endangered.
And then Mike commented and said, if they sting me,
they're endangered. Well they die if they sting you, So
that helps. A person named wake ups that I would
like to see the bees put up in hotels me too.

(37:53):
All right, well that was quite the article. Uh, we're
gonna take a quick break, and then we're gonna talk
about a news story that has been all over social
media involving the death of a paranormal investigator and how
it might be related to a possessed doll. Right after this,

(38:18):
we're back and we're gonna talk a little bit about
a haunted doll that's pretty famous due to films and
books and things like that, known as Annabelle. I'm a guess.
I'm gonna guess tell you haven't seen the annabel movies. No,
two animal movies. Have you seen any of those? Like

(38:42):
the movies featuring the the you know, fake warrens, I mean,
not the real warrens that are fake, but the pretend warrens.

Speaker 2 (38:49):
I think I saw one, but I don't know which
one it was because.

Speaker 1 (38:52):
They conjuring I believe is there.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
Yeah, Yeah, that's the one.

Speaker 1 (38:57):
Those are fun movies. I actually kind of want to
revisit them.

Speaker 2 (39:00):
Do what I thought? It was fine?

Speaker 1 (39:02):
I think harsh. Sorry, Oh no, it's okay. I mean,
but I'm sure a lot of people have heard that
a paranormal investigator named Dan Rivera has passed away recently
while in Pennsylvania, your state, and a lot of people
feel like it's pretty weird. But some new news has

(39:22):
come out. This is from people dot com. The headline
is Annabel doll in hotel room where he died. Oh,
I'm sorry. Paramoral investigator did not have possessed annabel Doll
in hotel room where he died, says the coroner. It
was cut off. There was an ad. Come, I'm not
even joking. The ad was covering the first half. So no,

(39:45):
the allegedly possessed Annabelle Doll was not in the hotel
room where paranormal investigator Dan Rivera died earlier this week,
according to a Pennsylvania corner in a Friday July eighteenth.
In a Friday July eighteenth message to People, Francis Dutrow,
the Adams County Coroner, confirmed that the doll was not
present when he arrived at the scene on Sunday, July thirteenth.

(40:07):
That sounds scarier.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
I know that step, Yeah, it fled the scene.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
When authorities were notified of Rivera's death, Dutrow went on
to note that the doll had not been in the
hotel room at all. Rivera, a lead investigator for the
Connecticut based New England Society for Psychic Research, was in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania,
last weekend with Annabella as part of the Devils on
the Run tour when he died at age fifty four,

(40:37):
young to be passing away and they haven't released a
cause of death yet. The Pennsylvania State Police share a
report on Wednesday, July sixteenth detailing what happened. Quote members
from PSP Gettysburg responded to a hotel in Straban Township
Straban Township, Adams County for a report of a deceased man.

(40:59):
Official said the descendant was discovered in his hotel room
by workers. Nothing unusual or suspicious was observed at the scene,
the agency added. His cause of death is pending. Dutrou
earlier told people that Rivera had been with colleagues on
Sunday morning, but said he was feeling sick and was
going back to his room. It's unclear what Rivera may

(41:21):
have been ill with, and further information is pending his autopsy,
which are autopsy results which are expected in about eight
to ten weeks. Wow, it seems I feel like in
movies they do it in like six minutes. But you know,
I guess that it could be possible to movie lied.

Speaker 2 (41:39):
I didn't know. I just assume they're like really backed
up with cases. So it's like eventually from.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
All the people dying of bees things.

Speaker 2 (41:45):
Yeah, yeah, just a different state, no one' oh okay.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
According to the New England Society for Psychic Research his website,
Annabelle's origin goes back to nineteen sixty eight, when a
student nurse was gifted the doll and brought it to
the home where she lived with her roommate. Quote. Almost immediately,
the roommates noticed strange occurrences with the doll, and they
were introduced to a medium who told them the doll

(42:12):
was inhabited by the spirit of a young girl named
annabel The organization wrote the two roommates tried to accept
the doll's spirit and please it, only to have it
reciprocate maliciousness and violent intent. Oh no, how do you
please a doll? I mean, like like it likes Burger King,

(42:33):
so you like go to BK for it? Or what
is this?

Speaker 2 (42:38):
I mean, I think poorly is what happened.

Speaker 1 (42:43):
I guess the problem is that we don't know how.

Speaker 2 (42:45):
Exactly, or especially them, they didn't know how.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
The Society added that its founders paranormal investigators Ed and
Lorraine Warren, were called in and determined that Annabel was
quote demonically possessed. Dunt dunt dum. Yeah, I do wonder.
I'm not a fan of Ed and Lorraine Warren. They
were frauds.

Speaker 2 (43:10):
You've already said that.

Speaker 1 (43:12):
I'm saying it again. It's worth it's worth repeating a
good idea. But I and I'm gonna do a really big,
terrifying and true where I go through like all of
the claims against them. I'm like really looking forward to it. Yeah,
but I wonder if they have they I would be
curious if they've ever investigated anything and said it wasn't
something supernatural, because they they I mean, if you dig

(43:34):
deep into their history, they claim that they encountered were
wolves and vampires, like not just ghosts and demons and stuff.
So yeah, Lucky. The story of Annabel and the Warrens
led to the development of the horror film franchise The Conjuring.
In a statement later shared with people on Tuesday, July fifteenth,

(43:55):
the New England Society for Psychic Research, which first confirmed
the death on social media, made tribute to Rivera. Quote
Dan was not only a vital part of our team
for over a decade, but also a deeply compassionate, loyal
and dedicated friend, they wrote. His integrity, creativity, and generosity
defined him. Dan's passion for the paranormal was rooted in

(44:15):
a genuine interest, a desire to educate, help and connect
with others, whether through social media, conventions or investigations with
local families, seeking understanding and peace. That's a pretty nice sentiment.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
Yeah, I feel bad. I wish we knew what happened
to him.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
Yeah, really quote. We understand that Dan's work inspired fascination
and curiosity for many, but above all, he was a father,
devoted husband and loyal friend, someone who meant the world
to those closest to him, the statement added. According to
a Facebook post by Ryan Buell, the host of A
and E's Paranormal State, Rivera was also an Army veteran

(44:56):
and is survived by his wife and children.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
Did they just say Paranormal State? Does that exist anymore?

Speaker 1 (45:06):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (45:08):
I haven't seen Paranormal State in like fifteen years.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
I'm sorry. What are you mad at me? I feel
like did I do something?

Speaker 2 (45:17):
No, I'm mad because I really liked that show. One
time they thought people thought that there was a ghost
in their house, and they really almost died of carbon
monoxide poisoning. Oh, they saved their lives.

Speaker 1 (45:31):
I'm glad me too. Okay, I'll check if Paranormal State
is still on the air, and then we got to
take a break.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
No, it's okay, you don't have to look.

Speaker 1 (45:41):
Well, it's too late now you already hurt my feelings.
Uh No, it was canceled in twenty eleven.

Speaker 2 (45:47):
See, it's weird to say that he's the host of
it if it's like not been a show for over
ten years.

Speaker 1 (45:53):
Well, it's not like they removed him from it afterwards. Yeah, well,
we'll take a break and we'll be back with a
story about well, who's more likely to believe in ghosts
in the United States of America after this? All right,

(46:20):
So this article I found very interesting cell. It's from
Newsweek and it's the headline, is the Americans more likely
to believe in ghosts? Yeah? There are five demographics in
the US which are more likely to believe in ghosts

(46:40):
than others, according to research group. To recent research from Gallup, Okay,
so do you have any guesses on I.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
Don't really want a stereotype, So now you can just
tell me it's polling.

Speaker 1 (46:55):
That's all it is, is stereotyping. That's the best part
of it. But you can get away with it when it's.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
A pole, I guess.

Speaker 1 (47:04):
Paranormal belief, whether it's ghosts or spiritual healing, has long
been a societal and cultural fascination, from paranormal Investigator TV
shows to fictionalized horror movies and franchises. Gallup's pole found
that Americans are mostly skeptical about paranormal phenomenon, but certain
demographics are more likely to believe than others. Do you

(47:29):
want to guess?

Speaker 2 (47:31):
Why?

Speaker 1 (47:31):
Don't? Oh?

Speaker 2 (47:32):
But I was going to say you could guess, but
I think you're looking at it.

Speaker 1 (47:35):
I am, yeah, I can't take can.

Speaker 2 (47:37):
I mean, I know what the top one is, but
I don't really want to say it.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
Oh, now you have to because you just set it
up like that. Oh no, oh, come on.

Speaker 2 (47:48):
I think it's probably white women.

Speaker 1 (47:53):
Well so they didn't make it racial like you did.
That's nice, at least not in this initial part of
the piece. But uh, women forty percent, so they are
the most likely demographic to have paranormal beliefs.

Speaker 2 (48:13):
Yeah, yeah, I will believe it.

Speaker 1 (48:17):
Followed by people who infrequently attend religious service also forty percent.

Speaker 2 (48:25):
That's weird.

Speaker 1 (48:26):
Yeah, I would agree, College non graduates thirty eight percent, okay,
political moderates thirty seven percent. Wow, and then finally liberals

(48:47):
thirty five percent.

Speaker 2 (48:49):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (48:51):
These groups are all more likely to be open to
belief than men twenty eight percent, conservatives twenty eight percent,
college graduates twenty eight percent, and weekly church goers twenty
two percent.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (49:06):
You know what's weird, though, is this mentions that Americans
are mostly skeptical. But it really is the most literal
definition of the word for mostly, because right here it
says overall, forty eight percent of American adults believe in
psychic or spiritual healing, while thirty nine percent express a

(49:26):
belief in ghosts. It's a lot of people, Yeah, it is.
I used to always joke that when I would watch
movies and stuff, and you have all the skeptics saying, like,
but there are no such thing as ghosts, I'm like,
I almost never meet anybody who says there's no such
thing as ghosts. Like most people I know at least
have some like mild belief in ghosts. And some of
that's because I'm around women, apparently. But like Peter Dandel,

(49:53):
an American folklorist and professor in English at Penn State,
told Newsweek via email quote, there are men any psychological
reasons people hold paranormal beliefs, such as gaining a sense
of control over situations in which they are vulnerable, populating
a world with magic and meaning, connecting with the past
or future, and reinforcing community among others who also believe.

(50:16):
There are also cognitive explanations that map onto this as
a separate layer of analysis, including mistrust of institutional authority
and deficiencies in properly evaluating popular media such as TV
shows or websites.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
That's a lot of mean things to say about women.

Speaker 1 (50:34):
Yeah, did you just basically say girls go to Jupiter
to get more stupider, Because that's like what.

Speaker 2 (50:40):
I heard I mean it didn't rhyme, but.

Speaker 1 (50:45):
It wasn't as eloquently put yeah as the nursery rhyme.
The Gallup poll also identified eight paranormal phenomenon which are
listed below. Psychic or spiritual healing or the power of
the human mind to heal the body. Ghosts or that
or that spirits of dead people can come back in
certain places and situations. Telepathy or communication between minds without

(51:10):
using the traditional five senses that people can hear from
or communicate mentally with someone who has died. Clairvoyance or
the power of the mind to know the past and
predict the future. Astrology or the position of the stars
and planets can affect people's lives. That's probably what did
women in on the total balance of like them, being
forty percent overall women like their astrology.

Speaker 2 (51:36):
What I don't know.

Speaker 1 (51:39):
I mean, you know, I know you don't believe in astrology.
I do not believe, but I know a lot of
people who like astrology, or as I call it sky racism,
reincarnation that is the rebirth of the soul in a
new body after death. And then I love this last one.
The last one is just witches. There's no further explanation

(52:01):
either like all the other ones have like the secondary thing,
just as witches.

Speaker 2 (52:06):
And that could open a lot of people up to
be like, well, I mean, I guess there's witches. I
don't know that they do anything, but I guess it's
years ago.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
The Onion used to do these articles where they would
do lists that would be like hyper detailed, like comedy lists.
And one of the things they kept doing this owhere
it would just be killer bees and no explanation of
why it was in there or anything. It would just
say killer bees. And I used to always laugh at that.
They also used to put TV's Alan Alda in like
slideshows of like but it would be stuff like you know,

(52:38):
best sandwiches to eat when you're depressed, and it would
be like turkey Tam and then it was like TV
legend Alan Alda and just the same photo of him
every time. I used to read, because I you know,
I hated my boss so at my old job, I
used to read The Onion all the time online and
we used to like look forward to every time there
was a slide show, be like, come on, Alan Alda.

(53:00):
We were always hoping for Alan all that to pop up.
The Gallupole then asked Americans about their about their belief
in each of these individual news week get Your Stuff
together about their belief in each of these individual phenomena.
The percentage of people who responded to the gallup Pole

(53:20):
that they believed in those seven identified phenomena for each
category in chronological order are forty eight percent to psychics,
thirty nine percent to ghosts, twenty nine percent to telepathy,
twenty seven percent to people being able to communicate with
the dead, twenty seven percent to clairvoyance, twenty six percent

(53:40):
to astrology. Oh, in surprise, astrology so low, twenty five
percent to reincarnation, wait or twenty five percent to astrology,
twenty four percent to reincarnation, and twenty four percent to
witches hell, let's just witches. I can't get over that.
The percentage of people who responded to the gallup Pole
that they were not sure about the seven identified phenomena

(54:01):
for each category and chronologic orders as it follows nineteen
percent psychics, nineteen percent, ghosts, twenty one percent, telepathy twenty
two percent, people can hear and communicate with the dead
twenty three percent, clairvoyance, nineteen percent astrology twenty five percent reincarnation,
and fifteen percent witches. Yay, oh boy. The percentage of

(54:21):
people respond to the Gallopole that they do not believe
in the seven identified phenomena for each category is in
chronic is as follows. Thirty two percent psychics, so thirty
two percent of people just don't believe in psychics at all,
forty two percent ghosts, twenty eight percent telepathy, forty nine
percent that people can hear from or communicate with the dead,
fifty percent claiavoyance, fifty five percent astrology. Wow, astrology is

(54:46):
actually really unpopular. Yeah, fifty percent reincarnation and sixty percent witches.

Speaker 2 (54:55):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (54:55):
Well, so that's the most people disbelieve and is witches
out of all of that.

Speaker 2 (55:02):
Yeah. Wow.

Speaker 1 (55:04):
Maybe it's because they didn't define it very well.

Speaker 2 (55:06):
Yeah, just like okay, sure witches.

Speaker 1 (55:10):
Well, we'll dive into more of their findings right after this, Okay.
So when it comes to this poll, the findings were
based on a gallop Pole which was conducted from May
one to May eighteenth of this year. Speaking about the

(55:34):
demographic differences in paranormal belief, Dandel said, quote, people of
traditional religious backgrounds, regular church attendants have a buttress against
popular paranormal beliefs such as telepathy and astrology, perhaps because
they perceive those to be counter to their religion. That
makes sense they either believe it is false or else
the work of different spiritual forces such as demons. College

(55:59):
graduates we also have a buttress against paranormal beliefs from
a greater exposure to courses in critical thinking, science, world history,
and religion, as well as cultural analysis. So in this
limited context, it seems that some demographics without railguards can
be more susceptible to paranormal beliefs. Dandel added, Oh, man,

(56:21):
let's see Peter Dandel. We were just talking. I don't
know whether they're reintroducing him at this point in the article.
But Peter Dandel, an American focalist and professor in English
at Penn State, told Newsweek quote, women and men do
not believe in the same paranormal phenomena. Equally, women are
somewhat more inclined towards phenomena with a social aspect of

(56:41):
connecting with other people, such as psychic abilities or astrological readings,
while men are somewhat more attracted to beliefs with a
strongly physical component, such as Bigfoot and aliens. That is true.
I did a Bigfoot documentary and I did a TV
series about Bigfoot. Men are into Bigfoot and aliens very much.

(57:07):
There may also be a cult, be cultural scripts that
encourage men to assert themselves with markers of rationality. I
like that. So it's society's fault men are more rational.
That's a safe, safe argument because it would be kind
of rude to just say women aren't rational, which I
don't believe is as a whole at all.

Speaker 2 (57:25):
That is literally what this article is saying, though, I
mean overall, really what it's saying.

Speaker 1 (57:31):
Yeah, I mean, would you like to counterpoint them?

Speaker 2 (57:35):
No, I would like them not to say that. I
would not like. I would like them not to go like, hey,
I'm a guy and I don't believe in these things.
So obviously people who don't believe who do believe in
them have there's something going on there, but they're less rational.

Speaker 1 (57:52):
I mean maybe depends.

Speaker 2 (57:54):
You know, there's an anime about this, but I'll tell
you that afterwards.

Speaker 1 (57:59):
Oh gosh, that's fair, fair enough. It makes me think
of that Simpsons episode where Marge Simpson was like, well,
that's true, but he didn't have to say it like
that quote. The Gallipole reads, in part quote, most Americans
approach paranormal phenomena with caution. However, women, those who attend
churches less frequently, and adults without a college degree are

(58:22):
more likely than their counterparts to be open to believing
in at least a few paranormal phenomena. Meanwhile, religious attendance
is the most associated with skepticism. That's while that religious
attendance is more associated with skepticism than college education.

Speaker 2 (58:40):
I mean that makes sense to me though, right because
we were just talking about it being counter to teachings,
so and they have another belief that's filling in that spot.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
So I just think that that's just I think that
actually that's the most interesting element of the finding, rather
than just picking on women.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
I think that none of it's very interesting because it's not.
I just don't. I mean, I think it's interesting, like categorically,
like how much people believe in witch things and witches.

Speaker 1 (59:11):
But besides that, we'll want me to look at the
comments section. I'm kidding, it's empty, but this is one
last thing worth mentioning. Gallup took similar surveys in nineteen
ninety four two thousand and one and twenty twenty five.
This poll stated that Americans belief in the paranormal phenomena

(59:32):
remains largely unchanged.

Speaker 2 (59:35):
That's interesting.

Speaker 1 (59:36):
That is really interesting. You think it would change and
shift in major ways, especially since nineteen ninety four, but
it hasn't.

Speaker 2 (59:44):
So that's good.

Speaker 1 (59:45):
I would assume that, you know, the post Terminator two
world is just better in general, So there you have it.

Speaker 2 (59:52):
But yeah, there's there's an anime that starts off with
like a dondan on where where's the two main characters.
One of them believes in aliens and doesn't believe in ghosts,
and the other one believes in ghosts and doesn't believe
in aliens. So like they they do like a challenge,
Like one of them is like, Okay, you don't believe

(01:00:13):
in ghosts, go in the little really scary tunnel and
I'm going to show you there's ghosts, and the other
person's like, okay, go in this building that like normally,
like there's ufoes a fly overhead, and it turns out
everything's real.

Speaker 1 (01:00:23):
So yeah, I used to That just made me think
of there was a script I was working on when
I was first getting started and making movies, and it
was it was called well it was it was a
sequel to Marty Jenkins in The Vampire Bitches, which was
my first feature, and it was called Marty Jenkins and
the Wolfband from Outer Space. And the reason I thought

(01:00:44):
it was so funny for so many years was because
the concept was that an alien, like a cheesy like alien,
just lands on Earth that says like I'm going to
inspect and understand the human condition and blah blah blah,
and then all of a sudden, like a bush starts shaking.
He's like, what is that over there? So the idea
is that an alien gets bit by a werewolf and
becomes the wolf Man from outer Space. And I just

(01:01:06):
thought that was the I mean, especially at nineteen years old,
I just thought that was the funniest thing. Yeah, the
Wolfman from outer Space. But speaking of animals, this article
is from Huffington Post. North Dakota's fourth largest city overrun
by ground squirrels. Really, yes, I mean, why would I lie?

Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
I'm not sure?

Speaker 1 (01:01:35):
Ouch? Okay, thanks, it's.

Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
A ground squirrel like a chipmunk.

Speaker 1 (01:01:41):
Uh. I don't think so? Oh maybe it is? Well, well,
I guess we could learn together okay, the Richardson's ground
squirrel weighs less than Oh no, yeah, the Richardson's ground
squirrel weighs less than a pound and is about a
foot long and is native to the northern plains. The
little creature also is a ferocious tunneler, and it's exasperating

(01:02:05):
the people of Minote, North Dakota, where it's burrowing everywhere
from vacant lots to the middle of town and growing
more plentiful over the past two decades. Now, North Dakota's
fourth largest city, is fighting back. But even the pest
control guy leading the charge. This is how it's written.
Even the pest control guy leading the charge acknowledges that

(01:02:27):
it will be difficult to turn the tide against the rodent.
Joshua Herman said fighting the squirrels is akin to quote,
one guy standing against a massive storm.

Speaker 2 (01:02:38):
Wow, he really thinks a lot of himself.

Speaker 1 (01:02:40):
Yeah, this guy, I like this guy. I'm with. The
bee guy is not so much.

Speaker 2 (01:02:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:02:47):
If I'm trapping but my neighbor isn't, well, then we're
really not going to get anywhere with it. Long term.
Hermann said, ground squirrels have been an issue in Minote,
a city of nearly fifty thousand people for at least
twenty years, but the problem has dramatically worsened in the
last few said Minote Street Department Superintendent Kevin Brayton. It's
unclear how many of the squirrels live in a Note,

(01:03:09):
but it's likely it likely nears or even exceeds the
city's population.

Speaker 2 (01:03:14):
That makes sense.

Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
Quote, gosh, there's got to be tens of thousands of
them in the area. Hermann said, wow, gosh. We're gonna
take a quick break and then we'll see how Minote
Note is handling this. Right after this break, let's find

(01:03:41):
out more about how North Dakota's handling this scourge. Officials
in the city a green spot along the winding Cirous River,
surrounded by farmland and grassy prairie. No, they can't get
rid of the squirrels, but hope to simply get the
rodent numbers down. Quote. I don't see the population ever
going to zero. Brighton said, I mean, it's almost impossible

(01:04:03):
by the numbers that we have. I think that they
have a lobbying organization. By how their politician is talking
about it, hmmm, I see you are. The problem is
our mayor is owned by by big small squirrel. Yeah,
wake up, people.

Speaker 2 (01:04:22):
I mean they may be paying taxes we don't know,
I mean, or.

Speaker 1 (01:04:26):
Just direct bribes. Put another way, minote won't be able
to rid itself of the squirrels because the animals have
lived on the prairie for centuries. Outside of town, predators
like coyotes, badgers, owls, and even snakes love to dine
on the squirrels. But in residential neighborhoods and even downtown,
where few of their predators live, the rodents can roam

(01:04:47):
pretty freely. So the answer is to buy a bunch
of snakes.

Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
Yeah, and loose and owls and things.

Speaker 1 (01:04:54):
They don't want to buy any owls. They're pretty expensive.

Speaker 2 (01:04:56):
Oh why don't you just go find the owls and
tell them.

Speaker 1 (01:05:01):
To because time is valuable too.

Speaker 3 (01:05:03):
Okay, fine, yay, we'll get snakes to eat them, but
then we'll we'll have all these snakes to deal with.

Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
That's okay. Then we'll get a bunch of gorillas who
thrive on snake meat. But then we'll have a ton
of gorillas around the winter should kill most of them, Okay,
I guess so, Greg gulliksen An outreach biologists with the
North Dakota Game and Fish Department adds that the squirrels
now have fewer grassland areas available to them, and like

(01:05:35):
the mode spots they find in town. Female squirrels typically
give birth to litters of about six babies a year,
so it's easy to see how their numbers can quickly soar. Yeah,
we need to come up with a thing like they're
doing what they're trying to do with mosquitos, where we
make them, where we like genetically affect them to become impotent,

(01:06:00):
kill them all. Yeah, I know you're right. The mosquitoes
can all die, but not these guys.

Speaker 2 (01:06:08):
No, they live there.

Speaker 1 (01:06:09):
Herman said. He kills thirty five hundred to five thousand
of them a year. What that's a lot, primarily by
putting snares and carbon monoxide into the holes and using
an air rifle.

Speaker 2 (01:06:24):
Oh my god.

Speaker 1 (01:06:26):
Quote. I've had calls downtown, calls in the mall, along
the highways, here at the airport, really every part of
the city. I've done trapping four ground squirrels here in
the note, Herman said as he checked his traps along
an apartment building and shoveled dirt over holes. Herman says
they damaged driveways, sidewalks and lawns, create tripping hazards with
their holes, and can harbor disease from fleas. What you

(01:06:52):
love fleas, don't you?

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
No, I don't like fleas. I just think that all
animals can get fleas, But I don't really think that
that's something that we can We should be pointing out, you.

Speaker 1 (01:07:01):
Know, well, the problem is these animals are overly abundant,
so that means the fleas would be closer to us
to make us sick and our pets too. Along an
apartment building, the squirrel had dug under a concrete slab
and against the foundation. Nearby an a vacant lot. The
rodents popped in and out of the holes. Ground squirrels

(01:07:21):
near pashone grandson's grandson's ground level apartment dig holes near
her door and eat her plants. One squirrel even got
around her baby gate at the door and into her
daughter's clothes in her bedroom. That's so weird quote. It
was a little scary. You don't know what disease they carry.
They're dirty. I have a young daughter. I didn't know

(01:07:42):
if it was going to bite her. Grandson said see
this does sound like a bit of a scourge, I.

Speaker 2 (01:07:48):
Don't know, calling them like dirty and all that stuff.
They're like little little animals, like squirrels and like chipmunks.
They're not going to attack you. They're scared of you.
They just want to play in your clothes.

Speaker 1 (01:08:02):
Right like just like the bees. North of town, Minote
Air Force Base, which houses bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles,
has fought the ground squirrels for years.

Speaker 2 (01:08:15):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:08:16):
Earlier this month, the base said it had trapped more
than eight hundred dak rats, a base name for the rodents.
So they have their own slur for the rodents.

Speaker 2 (01:08:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:08:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:08:26):
Base officials declined to comment on the squirrels. No comment.
Jared Edwards, facilities director from Minote Public Schools, which has
three schools on the base, said residential areas of the
base and runways are overrun by ground squirrels. He called
it quote a continuous battle for them, with them for
the last seventy five years since the base has been there.

Speaker 2 (01:08:50):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:08:51):
Quote. I'm not going to exaggerate thereby the millions out there, Edwards.

Speaker 2 (01:08:56):
Said, I'm mean to get it nice flat area.

Speaker 1 (01:09:04):
Running around in town. Three school properties have large populations
of ground squirrels. He said last year the school system
began using snares, and for years before that had used poison. Quote.
It's something you have to keep up with. It's mother nature,
Edwards said, adding that they've probably been in the area
since homesteaders came through. Still, not everyone sees the squirrels

(01:09:27):
as a pest. Some find the critters cute and fuzzy,
like serial killers. Now Herman said people have sabotaged, stolen,
or thrown out his traps m hm. They occasionally confront
him when he shoots at the ground squirrel squirrels with
an air rifle, scolding him for hunting the wildlife. He said,

(01:09:48):
you want to defend your actions?

Speaker 2 (01:09:51):
No, I know what I did.

Speaker 1 (01:09:53):
Quote. They get that cute association and they are, you know, adorable,
but they're a vermin and a pest and dangerous when
they are allowed to prolificate or proliferate. Sorry, Herman said,
I don't, so, I mean you have you want to defend.
You want to defend this. You're you want to defend

(01:10:15):
these dacrats.

Speaker 2 (01:10:17):
No, we don't. We don't call them slurs.

Speaker 1 (01:10:20):
Oh sorry, sorry, geez.

Speaker 2 (01:10:23):
Now I'm really on their side. They're not calling us slurs.

Speaker 4 (01:10:27):
If you don't know what they're saying, that's correct, Okay, okay, okay, fine,
it does sound like an insane number of squirrels though. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I'm just saying, maybe we should touch upon our nuclear capabilities.

Speaker 2 (01:10:47):
Just take down the whole town.

Speaker 1 (01:10:49):
Well, if it'll get rid of the squirrels, right, it.

Speaker 2 (01:10:52):
Might not because they're runner around.

Speaker 1 (01:10:54):
A lot, and we'll have to talk to the to
the squirrel Keepers Association. Okay, I I feel for them.
I hate having to get rid of pests, but sometimes
you can't avoid the necessity of it.

Speaker 2 (01:11:14):
Yeah yeah, I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:11:17):
I have not killed the groundhog. That is like ruining
my life, even though I really should so, but I'm
too much of a wimp. I won't do it. So
I just twist my ankle all the time when I'm
mowing my lawn.

Speaker 2 (01:11:31):
I'm sorry, No, you're not a little bit sorry.

Speaker 1 (01:11:37):
Well, we're gonna take a quick break and talk about
how in the United Kingdom there's an odd warning going
out to parents right after this. All right, we're back
and this article the headline made me uncomfortab okay, so

(01:12:02):
I'm excited to read it with you because it just
gave me like this, feeling like a horror movie. This is,
of course from mirror dot co dot UK.

Speaker 2 (01:12:11):
It's the first one today.

Speaker 1 (01:12:13):
Yeah, we've leaned off them a little bit. HU, don't worry,
they'll they'll be back. They always come back. But this
headline warning for UK parents with kids having nightmares to
quote act differently what I know. Children often do quirky things,

(01:12:36):
especially when they're little. But does your child's behavior ever
seem strange or even unsettling to you? If this sounds familiar,
one of the explanations could be that your youngster has
gifts that are out of the.

Speaker 2 (01:12:49):
Ordinary, or maybe they're just weird.

Speaker 1 (01:12:54):
Were you a gifted child? No, damn must be nice. No,
it was not nice not being gifted. Yeah, I mean,
like you weren't labeled as gifted.

Speaker 2 (01:13:07):
Yes, I wasn't labeled as gifted. I was at remedial
classes really talked about this.

Speaker 1 (01:13:14):
Yeah, I probably forgot it because it doesn't make any
sense to me because you're you're smart.

Speaker 2 (01:13:19):
I like it was like specifically for reading and stuff.
I just can't read.

Speaker 1 (01:13:27):
I'm pretty sure you can read.

Speaker 2 (01:13:29):
I mean, I guess I can read now, but I
couldn't read for a really long time or well, so
oh okay, yeah I was not. I was not a
gifted kid at all.

Speaker 1 (01:13:42):
I was in some gifted classes, I know, and I
dropped out of school. So there you go. Yeah, win,
you win. I was explaining to a friend who was
homeschooled the other day how gifted things work, because she
was like, oh, yeah, you know, like a is it
hard for gifted kids. I was like, eh, most of them, know,

(01:14:02):
because a lot of people end up leaving the gifted
programs at some point. Like I remember when like a
ton of us were in there in like third grade,
and by like seventh or eighth grade, most of us
were not in the gifted programs anymore. Like we just
got stupid. I guess, you know, we were just dumb.
They were just like, oh, on second thought, you're a handworker. Yeah, okay, anyway.

(01:14:29):
Quote Psychic children are deep thinkers, and people often comment
that they are in their own little world, alleges Cassandra
easan author of the Psychic Power of Children and a
person who'd never heard of imagination. Oh I added the
last part, but yeah. Quote suffering from nightmares is another

(01:14:50):
telltale sign. This is about to piss me off, telltale
sign they're picking up on energies around them. Some children
also see or hear spirits and may not want to
sleep in a particular room or visit a certain place.
This really pisses me off, because if a kid is
having night terrors, severe nightmares, sleep paralysis, stuff, hearing it

(01:15:16):
might be real is not the thing to.

Speaker 2 (01:15:19):
Tell them, No, no it's not.

Speaker 1 (01:15:22):
I'm like, I'm sorry. That really makes me mad. I
had a friend years ago who she would get that
feeling of like weight on your chest while she was sleeping,
and her mother was like kind of cuckoo b and anas,
and she told her like, that's a spirit like sitting
on your chest, Like, don't let it do that to you,
like you could die, And she was terrified for like

(01:15:43):
her entire childhood. Instead of just saying like, that's an
experience some people have when they sleep, you're fine, you know.
I what you don't when a child has a horrible nightmare,
you don't sit down with them and go, well, it
might be real. M h No, No, you tell them

(01:16:04):
it wasn't real because it was a friggin nightmare.

Speaker 2 (01:16:07):
I mean, there is a small percentage of people who
this is gonna destroy because nobody believes them. But for
the most part, anything that you have in your dreams
is not real. It's your dreams, your brain. Your brain's
doing stuff. Yeah, and you should just sit down with
your kid and say, hey, this is just how brains work.
We don't know why. It's kind of scary that we

(01:16:30):
don't understand it, but it's not not gonna get you.

Speaker 1 (01:16:33):
It is wild how little we understand about dreams.

Speaker 2 (01:16:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:16:37):
Over the years, Cassandra, a psychic and self described witch
from the Isle of Wight, which means most people don't
believe in her. Yeah, a self described witch and me
described reckless idiot just for legal purposes, so it's understand
like I described her as a reckless idiot, has been
contacted via her website and social media by hundreds of

(01:16:58):
parents worried about their child unusual abilities. This also makes
me mad because parents are some of the most desperate
people to do right by their children and to take
any chance or listen to any advice if it means
they could do a better job at being a parent.

Speaker 2 (01:17:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:17:17):
So I feel like I feel like parents are on
par with people who've lost a loved one and get
desperate to like to believe they're somewhere else, or to
figure out how to move on or whatever. Okay, yeah,
you know, and it's not their fault, like their their
intentions are good. You know, if you lose someone you love,
or if you're a parent who's worried you're not a
good enough parent, that's because you want to do well

(01:17:38):
by those you love. Yeah, but that desperation can be
easily taken advantage of by people like this woman. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:17:47):
Yeah, quote.

Speaker 1 (01:17:48):
I've had parents whose children say they see an elderly
man or woman in their bedroom who chats to them
like an imaginary friend. They're later pointed out this grandparent
in a photo album, and sometimes they even have named them. Yeah, sure, sure,
you show them a picture? Is this him? Yes? It's
a child, They're they're suggestible.

Speaker 2 (01:18:10):
Yeah, I mean i'd have to see what happened to know,
you know, sure, Like did they name the person the
same name as their elderly relative without knowing them, or.

Speaker 1 (01:18:22):
Or because this is all self reported, did they go
was his name Charlie? And it was because they're freaking
leading the kid? Sorry, I get annoyed enough when people
are ripping people off and lying and all this crap.
But I get really mad when you're a taking advantage
of people who are desperate and be harming children potentially.

Speaker 2 (01:18:41):
Yeah, yeah, you seem to not like that. I don't
know what you're dealing.

Speaker 1 (01:18:46):
Well, and I get that people will be like, what's
the harm there is? There is a potential harm.

Speaker 2 (01:18:51):
No, no, I mean they're just kids.

Speaker 1 (01:18:55):
But by But it's not just about that. When you
encourage someone to believe a fake worldview, you open the
possibility that they'll be taken advantage by even more dangerous actors.
You run the risk of them believing in faith healers
and not getting treated for illnesses. There's all kinds of
possibilities when you don't teach people, especially children, any critical thinking,

(01:19:17):
or when you teach people that critical thinking is harmful
because it told them to not believe in this stuff.
And I know that those are extreme cases, but yes,
but like people do die because they believe in hocum
and it leads them to believe in more hocum. And
some hocum is astrology, and some hocum is drink the

(01:19:39):
extract from a peach pit to cure your cancer. Oh well,
it'll kill you because it's literally poison. So that's where
I lose my sense of humor sometimes with things like this.
And I really as a child who suffered from sleep
paralysis my entire childhood. If somebody had told me, oh,
you're probably seeing ghosts or being abducted by aliens or something,

(01:20:01):
I would have had I would have had a horrible
life trying to sleep every night.

Speaker 2 (01:20:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:20:06):
Yeah, So now I'm angry about it, and we need
to take a break so that I could take a
sip of water and regain my fun, care free composure
because we still eventually, well, we need to try to
finish this article. Although it's making me very angry. You
know what, I don't know. I might just we I

(01:20:26):
think we're gonna end this article. This is stupid, Okay.
I thought this was going to be a little bit
more exciting, but I don't want to promote this woman's book.
It mentions her book like eight times. Wow, So love
every love you guys that listen to the show, I
think you'll understand. I got pretty angry, so I have

(01:20:46):
my reasons. But when we get back, we're going to
go back to Mirro code I UK for something that
they're good for. Which is a funeral director describing some
chilling experiences he's had at work. Right after this, all right,
we're back with another Mirror dot co dot uk story

(01:21:10):
to wrap us up for tonight. This one the headline is,
I'm a funeral director and these are the chilling experiences
I've had at work. Would you be a funeral director?

Speaker 2 (01:21:27):
Probably not, because I don't really like dead people.

Speaker 1 (01:21:31):
But that's pretty mean. What do they do to you?

Speaker 2 (01:21:34):
I don't know, there's there and they scare me. Probably not.
Also the other part of being a funeral director is
you have to like talk to people a lot, and
they're sad, like really.

Speaker 1 (01:21:46):
Sad and people.

Speaker 2 (01:21:53):
No, I don't like when other people are sad. Not
real people.

Speaker 1 (01:22:00):
Okay, it's all starting to make sense. I mean in
your way, in a way, in your way that you
make sense.

Speaker 2 (01:22:06):
Yeah, not like said real people.

Speaker 1 (01:22:09):
I know a lot of people who have thought like
I'm just going to become a mortician or I'm going
to work at a funeral home. But I actually had
a friend who owned a funeral home and he used
to tell me like that he liked the job. But like,
you have to really be built for it. He was
a very like, he was a very nice actually you know,
no joke. His name was Ulysses Grant. I'm serious, yeah,

(01:22:32):
I believe you. And he was a very like, a
very stoic, intense and very gentle, like fifty year old
black guy.

Speaker 2 (01:22:44):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:22:44):
And one day we were talking and he mentioned like,
and uh he had a I forget he was like
the way he was dressed or something. But I asked.
I was like, oh, are you a pastor because we
worked with tons of pastors on local TV. And he
was like, oh no, no, I'm a I'm a I
own a funeral home. I was like, oh, okay, So yeah,
he was actually a really cool guy, one of my

(01:23:05):
favorite people at that job. But yeah, I just remember
when I heard people say we used to call mister Grant,
and then somebody mentioned his name was Ulysses and I
was like, no, ways, so that's so slick. His parents
must have been really fun, yeah, Ulysses. If there's any propession, profession,

(01:23:26):
profession you'd expect might have come across a ghostly encounter,
it would be a funeral director, right. That hasn't strictly
been the case, According to one man in the profession. However,
Social media's Yorkshire funeral director Jacob Walsh, who is based
in Gule East Riding of Yorkshire, took to TikTok to
open up on his experiences with the paranormal at his workplace.

(01:23:48):
Quote ghosts, Have I seen them? Have I experienced them?
He asked rhetorically in a video. I felt a presence,
usually in the mortuary, which is completely understandable as it's
where people in my care are resting. Jacob admitted that
initially he put his chilling experiences down to the fact
he works late into the day, which by which point

(01:24:11):
he's tired. But over time, more and more things have happened,
prompting him to have a rethink. Does working late into
the day mean working late at night?

Speaker 2 (01:24:24):
I'm thinking yes, I mean no, but yes, because it
sounds like that's what that means.

Speaker 1 (01:24:32):
Because at first of I heard late into the day,
I'm like, that's not working late if it's still a day. Yeah,
I'm looking it up. I need to know working late
in the day is in British slang can be expressed
in various ways. Oh no, it doesn't. It doesn't seem
to understand what that Okay, So late in the day,

(01:24:56):
according to Mariam Webster, means after the expected or proper time,
So just means working later than normal.

Speaker 2 (01:25:07):
Okay, I don't know. Maybe he only works until like four,
but it's just too much because he gets stuck too much. Well,
maybe he gets up, maybe he starts work. Maybe he's
like a twelve hour day and he starts work at
four am. Oh and so by the afternoon he's just
kind of done.

Speaker 1 (01:25:24):
I like how that's the thing that made us most serious.
Works late into the day. Quote. I have definitely felt
people tapping me on the back, he confessed. Now did
he mean when no one was there? Because that just
isn't that a confession? Yeah? Or just strange things that
I can't put my finger on. But as I have
always said, don't worry about the dead. It's the living

(01:25:46):
that will hurt you. I mean, I I mean now,
I'm like, I'm like, oh, should I go find him
and beat him up? I'm a living.

Speaker 2 (01:25:57):
I mean, he knows you're going to hurt him, so
why would you Why do you need to prove him right?
Why not prove him wrong and not hurt him, like.

Speaker 1 (01:26:05):
You say, by killing yourself and then hurting him way
to do it. Yeah, but why would a spirit tap
him on the shoulder. Jacob explained his belief quote, I
think it must mean it's a reassurance that I'm doing
right by them, and that's all that matters. We always
talk to the people in my care. We wish them

(01:26:26):
good morning, and every night I say good night to them.
A little weird, I don't. That's not why I tap
people on shoulders, not to let them know they're doing
a good job. It's to get their attention exactly. Yeah,
you know, and you guys, you guys can't see Michelle,
she was like miming the violence, and then I go

(01:26:47):
and say it, making me sound like the crazy one. Yeah.
He added that even when he's quote doing personal care
such as shaving deceased gentleman, he tells them what he's
doing out of respect. Jacob summarized, quote, So if they
are watching over us, that's fine. We just don't know
what's in the afterlife, and I'm not here to tell

(01:27:08):
you what I think there is or isn't writing. In response,
another funeral director revealed quote, I have heard footsteps in
our mortuary early hours of the morning, and a second
shared quote having worked alone in different branches of our
funeral homes. I have definitely heard walking upstairs when I'm
on my own. Never been scared though. Wow, he's that's

(01:27:29):
a chad, Like what an absolute chad?

Speaker 2 (01:27:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:27:32):
A third person detailed their experience, quote, my dad passed
last Saturday, and I've come to my mom's house as
she needed me and my sister. I could feel my
dad's presence. This is my first experience with it. He
died suddenly, so it's a shock. And a fourth TikTok
user recalled, quote, my mom blew a light bulb in
the funeral parlor, and when the funeral director got up

(01:27:53):
to change it, it came back on and she said,
that's strange. But I said, my mom was a medium
and has sent me message. What oh, I think they
forgot to mention his mother was dead, I guess, because
that's how she would blow out a light bulb in
the funeral parlor.

Speaker 2 (01:28:10):
But didn't she also say words.

Speaker 1 (01:28:13):
Oh no, that was a different user. Oh okay, yeah,
that was before my mum's house thing. This is no.
This is a fourth TikToker who said my mum blew
a light bulb in the funeral parlor, and when the
funeral director got up to change it, it came back
on and she said that strange. Oh you just assumed
the funeral director can't be a woman. Huh, No, you
are the problem. Cell. It's not Dallappole that hates women.

(01:28:35):
I think it's you.

Speaker 2 (01:28:37):
No, I don't even think that that ghosts aren't real.
Probably I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:28:43):
Okay, all right. Many others praised Jacob for showing such
dignity in his profession, one of whom said, quote, you
are an amazing man with so much empathy. That's why
they say thank you by tapping you. I'm gonna start
tapping people to thank them for things and see if
it works.

Speaker 2 (01:29:00):
Maybe you should morse code what you need?

Speaker 1 (01:29:04):
Yeah to tap, tap, tap to tap, tap to to that, tap,
tap to tap. It's pretty much morse code. Right, what
are you? What are you tapping on your shoulder right now? Oh?
Oh god, that's not a good thing to hear.

Speaker 2 (01:29:17):
Yeah, that's why I'm gonna tap on people's shoulders.

Speaker 1 (01:29:22):
Well, since we've had our little chilling experience in mortuaryism,
I'm gonna say that like it's a word. When we
get back, we're going to talk about something a bit hotter,
a bit more human, as we learn about spontaneous human combustion.
After this, Michelle, Yes, do you remember when you first

(01:29:51):
heard about spontaneous human combustion? No, well, what do you
know about it? You go on, that's that's all you
that's all you know about it.

Speaker 2 (01:30:07):
What else am I supposed to know about it?

Speaker 1 (01:30:09):
I don't know. I just thought maybe you had, like
some all I've What I've really learned from doing the
show is how much of my life I've wasted on
like really stupid, like like weird folklore and urban legends.
Because I'll be like, Michelle, what do you know about
you know, uh, the Sasquatch? You like, Ay, he's got
a big foot, And I'm like, oh, because I know

(01:30:33):
a lot about him.

Speaker 2 (01:30:34):
I mean, I don't know anything. And then that's what's
going on.

Speaker 1 (01:30:40):
I don't think that's true. Whatever. Okay, So well, since
you are a novice to spontaneous human combustion and I've
watched a few documentaries about it throughout my wasted life
learning about these things, I figured we go to the
ultimate source of all information that is totally infallible, Wikipedia

(01:31:05):
and we dig in on spontaneous human combustion a bit,
learn something, or die trying in a fire. So Spontaneous
human combustion is the pseudoscientific concept of spontaneous combustion of
a living or recently deceased human body without an apparent
external source of ignition on the body. In addition to

(01:31:26):
reported cases, descriptions of the alleged phenomena appear in literature,
and both types have been observed to share common characteristics
in terms of circumstances and remains of the victim. Scientific
investigations have attempted to analyze reported instances of spontaneous human
combustion and have resulted in hypotheses regarding potential causes and mechanisms,

(01:31:49):
including victim behavior and habit, alcohol consumption, and proximity to
potential sources of ignition, as well as the behavior of
fires that consume melted fats. I mentioned that before, which
by melted fats was my name when I was a
jazz player.

Speaker 2 (01:32:07):
That's pretty cool, thank you. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:32:10):
Natural explanations, as well as unverified natural phenomena, have been
proposed to explain reports of spontaneous human combustion. The current
scientific consensus is that purported cases involve overlooked external sources
of ignition. Yeah, geez okay. Spontaneous human combustion refers to

(01:32:32):
the death from a fire originating without an apparent external
source of ignition. Obviously. This idea and the term spontaneous
human combustion were both first proposed in seventeen forty six
by Paul Rowley, a fellow of the Royal Society, in
an article published in the Philosophical Transactions concerning the mysterious
death of Countess Cornelia Zengheri Bondi Hmmm. Writing in the

(01:32:57):
British Medical Journal in nineteen thirty eight, Gavin Thurston describes
the phenomena as having quote apparently attracted the attention not
only of the medical profession but of the non medical
professionals one hundred years ago, referring to a fictional account
published in eighteen thirty four in the Frederick Marriatt Cycle

(01:33:18):
in this In his nineteen ninety five book A Blaze
That's a great title, it has an exclamation point good
A Blaze. Larry E. Arnold, the director of Paras Science International,
wrote that there had been about two hundred cited reports
of spontaneous human combustion worldwide, over a period of around
three hundred years.

Speaker 2 (01:33:40):
Okay, that's less than one a year, So.

Speaker 1 (01:33:43):
That make you feel a little bit better, more like
you're safe. No, okay, all right, well this might help.
Here are some characteristics of people who suffer from spontaneous
human combustion. So the topic received coverage in the British
Medical Journal in nineteen thirty eight. An article by La

(01:34:04):
Perry cited an eighteen twenty three published book Medical Jurisprudence,
which stated that commonalities among recorded cases of spontaneous human
combustion included the following. Number One victims are chronic alcoholics.

Speaker 2 (01:34:20):
Oh oh, I see what happens.

Speaker 1 (01:34:24):
That's probably not you. Number two there man, They are
usually elderly females. Really yeah wow yeah. Number three the
body has not burned spontaneously, but some lighted substance has
come into contact with it. Uh huh, so okay. Number

(01:34:51):
four the hands and feet usually fall off. That I've
seen the photos where it's just hands and feet are
all that's left in a big smoldering spot.

Speaker 2 (01:35:00):
I wonder why that is.

Speaker 1 (01:35:02):
I assume that there's very little fat in the part
of the body.

Speaker 2 (01:35:05):
So it just falls off because everything else burns around it.

Speaker 1 (01:35:09):
That's my gas. Number five, the fire has caused very
little damage to combustible things in contact with the body.
That's one thing is it tends to be very like isolated,
localized a good word for it. And number six, the
combustion of the body has left a residue of greasy

(01:35:29):
and fetid ashes and a very offensive odor.

Speaker 2 (01:35:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:35:35):
That's I gotta be honest. I gotta be honest. You
gotta hope, right because, like, imagine if it was like
and the weirdest part of spontaneous human combustion just smells terrific.

Speaker 2 (01:35:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:35:48):
That's how you know you're in trouble, because you get
you get a report, like there's a fire in a building,
and the moment you open the door, it smells wonderful
and you're like, oh fuck, somebody has been spontaneously human combusted.

Speaker 2 (01:35:58):
And instead of like ashes, it's just flower.

Speaker 1 (01:36:00):
Pedals, beautiful flower pedals. Yeah, next to the hands and feet.

Speaker 2 (01:36:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:36:09):
An extensive two and a half year research project involving
thirty historical cases of alleged spontaneous human combustion from seventeen
twenty five to nineteen eighty two was conducted by Science
investigator Joe Nickel one of my favorite guys. I've read
his books. They're really good. He was, for over thirty
years the only full time paranormal investigator in the world.

Speaker 2 (01:36:32):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:36:32):
Dana Scully was loosely based on him in X Files.
Oh Cool, and forensic analyst John F. Fisher I don't
know him. Their lengthy two part report was published in
nineteen eighty four in the Journal of the International Association
of Arson Investigators and incorporated into their nineteen eighty eight
book Secrets of the Supernatural, which is a really good book.

(01:36:56):
Nickel has written frequently on the subject, appeared to television documentaries,
conducted additional research, and lectured at the New York State
Academy of Fire Science at montor Falls, New York as
a guest instructure astructor. The Nickel and Fisher investigation, which
looked at cases in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century,
showed that the burned cadavers were close to plausible sources

(01:37:19):
of ignition i e. Candles, lamps, fireplaces, and so on,
so such sources were often omitted from published accounts of
these incidents, presumably to deepen the aura of mystery. Surrounding
an apparently spontaneous death.

Speaker 2 (01:37:34):
Right, that makes sense. I mean it's not smart not
to leave out details.

Speaker 1 (01:37:39):
Stock. No.

Speaker 2 (01:37:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:37:42):
The investigators also found that there was a correlation between
alleged spontaneous human combustion deaths and the victims intoxication or
other forms of incapacitation, which could conceivably have caused them
to be careless and unable to respond properly to an accident. Yeah.
This is one thing I've always found interesting because I've
heard people say, like, oh, the alcohol might have made

(01:38:04):
them burn, maybe, but more likely, being super duper drunk
made them unable to react properly to being on fire.

Speaker 2 (01:38:12):
Yeah, and also made them more likely to stand near
things that were going to light them on fire.

Speaker 1 (01:38:19):
Oh, because the alcohol would catch on fire.

Speaker 2 (01:38:22):
Oh no, no, no, because they're drunk, so they're not
paying attention. Oh, standing near a candle or something, or
knocking something.

Speaker 1 (01:38:28):
I got you.

Speaker 2 (01:38:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:38:31):
So let's see where was I Where the destruction of
the body was not particularly extensive, A primary source of
combustible fuel could plausibly have been the victim's clothing or
a covering such as a blanket or comforter. However, where
the destruction was extensive. Additional fuel sources were involved, such
as chair stuffing, floor coverings, the flooring itself, and the like.

(01:38:55):
The investigators described how such materials helped to retain melted fat,
which could cause more of the body to be burned
and destroyed, yielding still more liquefied fat in a cyclic
process known as the wick effect or the candle effect.
I like how bothered you looked when I said the
wick effect.

Speaker 2 (01:39:15):
Yeah, but I like that both of them are basically
the wick and the candle effect, or like, that's almost
exactly the same thing. Oh yeah, I mean, like it's
the same. It's like, yeah, it's the same.

Speaker 1 (01:39:27):
It's basically a candle. It's just you.

Speaker 2 (01:39:29):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:39:31):
Well, we're going to take a quick break and we'll
dive further into some fiery explanations right after this, we're
back looking further into the investigation of spontaneous human combustion. Michelle,
how you doing temperature wise? You're feeling a little warm now?

Speaker 2 (01:39:54):
No, it's okay in here.

Speaker 1 (01:39:55):
Okay, good. According to the Nickel and Fisher investigation, near
objects often remained undamaged because fire tends to burn upwards,
but burns laterally with some difficulty. The fires in question
are relatively small, achieving considerable destruction via the Wick effect,
and nearby objects may not be close enough to catch
fire themselves, much as one can closely approach a modest

(01:40:19):
campfire without burning. As with other mysteries, Nicol and Fisher
cautioned against a single, simplistic explanation for all unusual burning deaths,
but rather urged investigating on an individual basis. Neurologist Stephen Novella,
I've met Stephen Novella. Yeah, he was at the George

(01:40:40):
rob concert that you came and saw me at. Oh, yeah,
he was there has said that skepticism about spontaneous human
combustion is now bleeding over into popular skepticism about spontaneous
combustion in general. There are people who there are theories that, like,
some things just explode to fire, not just people.

Speaker 2 (01:41:03):
Yeah. So like rags that have stuff on it that
you clean your oh yeah, paints.

Speaker 1 (01:41:12):
From, Oh, like acetone.

Speaker 2 (01:41:16):
I don't know if it's acidon. I don't think it.

Speaker 1 (01:41:18):
I don't know. I'm not a doctor.

Speaker 2 (01:41:20):
Mineral spirit oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:41:23):
Mineral spirits. In a two thousand and two study, A GM.
Christensen of the University of Tennessee cremated both healthy and
osteoporotic samples of human bone and compared the resulting color
changes in fragmentation. The study found that osteoporotic bone samples
quote consistently displayed more discoloration and a greater degree of

(01:41:44):
fragmentation than healthy ones. The same study found that when
human tissue is burned, the resulting flame produces a small
amount of heat, indicating that the fire is unlikely to
spread from burning tissue.

Speaker 3 (01:41:56):
Hm.

Speaker 1 (01:41:59):
Okay, so we're kind of we're kind of. It sounds
like people are just being set on fire, which is worrisome,
whether it's by other people or by themselves. I remember
I read about one woman who they believe that someone
had poured a whole bottle of her perfume on her
delight or on fire so that she would die in

(01:42:21):
her sleep. Hyah, isn't that just a delight? So Benjamin Radford,
science writer and deputy editor of the science magazine Skeptical Inquirer,
cast doubt on the plausibility of spontaneous human combustion. And
remember that that that's referring to no external flame source. Yeah,

(01:42:42):
if spontaneous human combustion is a real phenomenon, not the
result of an elderly or infirm person being too close
to a flame source. Why doesn't it happen more often?
There are eight billion people in the world as of
today twenty four, twenty four, and yet we don't see
reports of people bursting into flame while walking down the street,
attending football games, or sipping coffee at a local Starbucks.

Speaker 2 (01:43:06):
It's probably true, unless they're just hiding it from us.

Speaker 1 (01:43:09):
They could be hiding it. Yeah, So here are some
natural explanations suggested for spontaneous human combustion. Almost all postulated
cases of spontaneous human combustion involve people with low mobility
due to advanced age or obesity, along with poor health.
Victims show a high likelihood of having died in their
sleep or having been unable to move once they had

(01:43:30):
caught fire. Smoking is often seen as the source of fire.
Natural causes such as heart attacks may lead to the
victim dying, subsequently dropping the cigarette, which, after a period
of smoldering, can ignite the victim's clothes. Okay, that would
make sense too, because smoking has decreased a lot and
people and the people who do smoke much less smoke

(01:43:52):
in their homes and way less smoke in bed because
it used to be a thing to smoke in bed,
which is wild to imagine. Yeah, just smoking a cigarette
and bed. So uh. And then of course there was
the wick effect we just talked about. We pretty much
went through that whole thing. Scalding can cause burn like injuries,

(01:44:15):
sometimes leading to death without setting fire to clothing, although
not applicable in cases where the body is charred and burnt.
This has been suggested as a cause and at least
one claimed spontaneous human combustion like event. Okay. Brian J.
Ford Is suggested that ketosis, possibly caused by alcoholism or

(01:44:35):
low carb dieting, produces acetone, which is highly flammable and
could therefore lead to a parent spontaneous combustion. That's pretty
far fetched. Yeah, if you have you ever tasted something
like acetone coming out of your mouth. No, So when
you go through ketosis when you're losing weight, you know,

(01:44:57):
quickly sometimes you get like a weird taste in your
mouth that's kind of acetone and it's just basic. It's
like acetone and it's basically just it's your system processing
fat can cause that. But that it would have to
be pretty intense for that to be flammable. Spontaneous human

(01:45:19):
combustion can be confused with self immolation as a form
of suicide. In the West, simple self immolation accounts for
one percent of suicides, while Radford claims in developing countries
the figure can be as high as forty percent. Geese, Yeah,

(01:45:39):
sometimes there are reasonable explanations for the deaths, but proponents
ignore official autopsies and contradictory evidence in favor of anecdotal
accounts and personal testimonies. And another one is inhaling slash.
Digesting phosphorus in different forms may lead to the formation
of phosphine, which can auto ignite. I don't know a

(01:46:00):
lot about phosphorus or why you would eat it or
inhale it. I guess you could inhale it because it's
a dust. I guess what you want me to look up? Phosphorus?
Do you need to understand?

Speaker 2 (01:46:13):
No, it's okay.

Speaker 1 (01:46:18):
I mean it's an element that can be highly flammable.
I didn't know a ton about it either, I just
had to look it up quick. But here are some
alternative hypotheses. Larry E. Arnold in his nineteen ninety five
book A Blaze proposes a pseudoscientific new sub atomic particle,
which he called pyrotron. You like that, Yes, it's a

(01:46:44):
pretty good name, pyrotron. Arnold also wrote that the flammability
of a human body could be increased by certain circumstances,
like increased alcohol in the blood. It would have to
be a lot of alcohol, because like when you're really drunk,
your blood is less than one percent alcohol, Like it's
like what point three or point two percent? Point wait?

(01:47:06):
What is well? I need to find out what is
the legal limit of point oh eight? So less than
one percent blood alcohol makes you or less way less
than one percent makes you legally drunk. So you would
have to be drinking an amount that could like literally

(01:47:28):
kill you. Yeah, so yeah, that one's a little weird.
He further proposed that extreme stress could be the trigger
that starts many combustions. Wow, this process may use no
external oxygen to spread throughout the body, since it may
not be an oxidation reduction reaction. However, no reaction mechanism

(01:47:50):
has been proposed. Researcher Joe Nichol has criticized arnolds hypothesis
as based on selective evidence and argument from ignorance. Bamn.
Joe Nichols always got those, so he's ready to slam
down on y'all. In his nineteen seventy to six book
Fire from Heaven, UK, writer Michael Harrison suggests spontaneous human
combustion is connected to poltergeist activity. Okay, this is my

(01:48:15):
favorite is when it'll be like, how do we explain
something ridiculous, We'll go with something else ridiculous, like, you know,
how do we explain you know, how do we explain
people suddenly catching on fire? What if unicorns are lighting
them on fire? That's what the argument sounds like to
me when you say, like, we'll bring a poltergeist into this,

(01:48:37):
because he argues, quote the force which activates the poltergeist
originates in and is supplied by a human being. Within
the concluding summary, Harrison writes, fatal or non fatal spontaneous
human commustion belongs to the extensive range of poltergeist phenomena.
But poltergeist are literally able to move things around. Why
don't they just like grab a candle and light you

(01:48:59):
on fire. They could just do.

Speaker 2 (01:49:01):
That because it's easier to I don't know, maybe that's
what's happening answer.

Speaker 1 (01:49:07):
Me, damn it.

Speaker 2 (01:49:09):
It could still be what's happening, though the poldergeist comes
and it just throws a candle.

Speaker 1 (01:49:13):
On you, okay. John Abrahamson suggested that ball lightning this
is just like like this. There should be one that's
just unicorns, do it, that ball lightning could account for
spontaneous human combustion. Quote this is circumstantial only, but the
charring of human limbs seen in a number of ball

(01:49:35):
lightning cases are very suggestive that this mechanism may also
have occurred where people have had limbs combusted. I'm pretty
sure ball lightning is like, basically not real.

Speaker 2 (01:49:47):
Ball lightning is real, Oh.

Speaker 1 (01:49:49):
Is a rare and unexplained phenomenon described as luminescent spherical objects.
I wonder I don't know if it's proven real or not, though.

Speaker 2 (01:50:00):
I'm pretty sure it's real. It's just really really rare.

Speaker 1 (01:50:06):
Okay, I'll give you this. There's a lot of hypothesis
about it, Yeah, over fifteen major hypothesis of what's causing it.
So we're gonna take a quick break and then we're
gonna go through some famous examples of spontaneous human combustion
before we wrap things up. Right after this all right.

(01:50:30):
Before we wrap up our conversation about spontaneous human combustion,
we want to talk about some famous examples that have
been investigated as as such. And I won't show you
the pictures of the random hands and feet Michelle, Okay, thanks,
it's very upsetting.

Speaker 2 (01:50:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:50:50):
So the first one is on the second of July
nineteen fifty one, Mary Reeser, a sixty seven year old woman,
was found burned to death in her house in Saint Petersburg, Florida,
after her land noted that the house's doorknob was unusually warm.

Speaker 2 (01:51:04):
Hmmm.

Speaker 1 (01:51:05):
The landlady notified the police, and upon entering the home,
they found Reeser's remains completely burned into ash, with only
one leg remaining. She The chair she was sitting in
was also destroyed. Reeser had been taking sleeping pills and
had also been a smoker. Despite its proliferation in popular culture,

(01:51:26):
the contemporary FBI investigation ruled out the possibility of spontaneous
human combustion. A common theory was that she was smoking
a cigarette after taking sleeping pills and then fell asleep
while still holding the burning cigarette, which could have ignited
her gown, ultimately leading to her death, Her daughter in
law stated quote the cigarette dropped to her lap. Her

(01:51:47):
fat was the fuel that kept her burning. The floor
was cement and the chair was by itself. There was
nothing around her to burn. M I will say about
the photograph, she must have lived in a like It
appears she was sitting like in her bathroom, the burned
up chair in the remains. You can see a toilet
in the sink. Oh, she may have lived in like

(01:52:10):
a really small, like depressing place.

Speaker 2 (01:52:13):
Yeah, I was gonna say, and also definitely didn't have
like a smoke detector.

Speaker 1 (01:52:17):
No.

Speaker 2 (01:52:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:52:19):
Margaret Hogan, a eighty nine year old widow who lived
alone in a house on Prussia Street in Dublin, Ireland,
was found burned almost to the point of complete destruction
on the twenty eighth of March nineteen seventy. Plastic flowers
on a table in the center of the room had
been reduced to liquid, and a television with a melted
screen sat twelve feet from the armchair in which the

(01:52:40):
ashen remains were found. Otherwise, the surroundings were almost untouched.
I mean that's a lot that was affected. Yeah, her
two feet and both legs from below the knees were undamaged.
A small coal fire had been burning in the grate
when a neighbor left the house the previous day. However,

(01:53:00):
no connection between this fire and that in which missus
Hogan died could be found. An inquest held on the
third of April nineteen seventy recorded death by burning, with
the cause of the fire listed as unknown. On the
twenty fourth of November nineteen seventy nine, during Thanksgiving weekend,
Beatrice Oakskoski, a fifty one year old woman, was found

(01:53:23):
charred to death in her home in the village of Bolingbrook, Illinois,
in the United States. No info there, that's it, that's it.
Henry Thomas, a seventy three year old man, was found
burned to death in the living room of his council
house on the Rossau estate in How do you say,
ebb W?

Speaker 2 (01:53:43):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:53:44):
Yeah, I'm sorry, it's EBBW Valet, South Wales. I have
no idea how you would say, how do you say
that BBBW? I gotta know, yeah, maybe nope, I can't.
I can't find it and I want to keep looking.
But sorry, that one through me. In nineteen eighty most
of his body was incinerated, leaving only his skull and

(01:54:07):
part of each leg below the knee. The feet and
legs were still clothed in socks and trousers. Half of
the chair which he had been sitting in, was also destroyed.
Police forensic officers decided that the incineration of Thomas was
due to the Wick effect. Ooh, this one's recent. In

(01:54:28):
December of twenty ten, the death of Michael Faherty, a
seventy six year old man in County Galway, Ireland. A
lot of Ireland. Maybe it is alcohol related, but ump bump,
as quote spontaneous combustion by the coroner. The doctor Syrian
McLoughlin made his statement at the inquiry into the death, quote,

(01:54:49):
this fire was thoroughly investigated and I'm left with the
conclusion that this fits into the category of spontaneous human
combustion for which there is no adequate explanation. The Skeptic
magazine described to possible spontaneous human combustion the eighteen ninety
nine case of two children from the same family who

(01:55:09):
were burned to death in different places at the same time.
The evidence showed that although the coincidence seemed strange, the
children both loved to play with fire and had been
whipped for this behavior in the past. Looking at all
the evidence, the coroner and jury ruled that these were
both accidental deaths. I do wonder some of these deaths,

(01:55:33):
especially ironically enough, the ones who were like in Ireland
and stuff like that, maybe some of it was to
save face. Yeah, you know, because it's like, we don't
want people to know that they got pissed, they got
like pissed drunk and just like burn themselves alive, because
that is, you know, it's not the most honorable way
to go out unfortunately.

Speaker 2 (01:55:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:55:54):
So, but that is spontaneous human combustion. I love that.
Wikipedia's like see also loading animal. Yay, So there you go.
But uh, the other day, I was looking up an actor.
I forget his name off the top of my head,
but I was looking up an actor because I was
curious he was playing a a character and I think

(01:56:17):
he was playing like a I don't know, but I
was curious if he was like Puerto Rican or Mexican
or whatever. I was just curious where he was from originally,
and he's Puerto Rican. But then it said under under
like the info about him being for Puerto Rico. It
said see also list of Puerto Ricans, and I was
like what, and I clicked on it and it was
just a list of famous people that were Puerto Rican.
But nowhere in any of the page did it say

(01:56:39):
like famous Puerto Ricans or famous actors for Puerto Rico.
Just said list of Puerto Ricans. Wow, and then just
a long list of mostly like famous Puerto Ricans, but
never once to say anything other than the list of
Puerto Ricans. Not quite as good as witches, though, But
it's not bad. It's not bad at all. So but
now whenever he pops up in a movie, now I'll go, oh, man,

(01:57:01):
I remember him from the list of Puerto Ricans. So anyway,
with that all being said, we're gonna take a quick
break and we're gonna wrap things up on this month's
Spooky right after this, Well, my Spookies, we've pretty much

(01:57:24):
exacerbated everything in this episode. I mean, we had spontaneous
human combustion, we had an autumount of misogyny coming from Michelle. Hey,
we had.

Speaker 2 (01:57:34):
What it was not me, It was the article.

Speaker 1 (01:57:38):
Uh huh, right, of course it was, of course it was.
We had me getting very upset about a psychic. We
found out I found out that I did not understand
ball lightning. So it's been a pretty fortuitous episode of
Monthly Spooky. Other than we didn't get the damn if

(01:57:58):
we could just get the death cat mushroom sentence, I
want to know how it all ends. Yeah, even though
it's pretty obvious, probably I don't know. I don't actually
know Australia, so I don't know how likely any sentence
would be. But that all being said, before we wrap
things up, man, my voice is going before we wrap

(01:58:19):
things up. I wanted to mention I did see two
brand new horror movies in the theater this last month.
So I saw twenty eight Years Later, which is the
twenty eight year later sequel to twenty eight Days Later,
and it was pretty fun. I enjoyed it. I thought
it did a lot of really cool world building. Apparently

(01:58:40):
the day they released it, they announced that they had
already shot a sequel that would come out in January.
Oh so there was a teaser at the end for
another movie, which makes sense because it exists. It's actually
twenty eight years later the Bone Temple.

Speaker 2 (01:58:57):
Oh okay, so it's in the same period of time.

Speaker 1 (01:59:00):
Yeah. So, yeah, I was hoping for twenty eight decades
later and it just be like futuristic cars. Did have
you seen twenty eight days later?

Speaker 2 (01:59:07):
I actually have? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:59:08):
Really? Yeah, So in twenty eight years later, all of
the United Kingdom is just a no a no man's land,
like they're separate from the rest of the world. The
people who managed to survive there just kind of do
their own thing. But it's like NATO ships go around
to make sure no one can escape and potentially take

(01:59:30):
the virus because it's so powerful, right, Okay, so literally
it's just in England. It like ends up not spreading
to the whole world. It just like ravishes England, Okay.
And there's some really interesting stuff about, like like small
island communities off the coast and how they like survive
by going on the mainland and learning how to fight
the rage virus people and stuff. You'd probably really like it. Actually,

(01:59:53):
do you remember liking twenty eight days later?

Speaker 2 (01:59:56):
I think?

Speaker 1 (01:59:56):
So, Yeah, it's a good movie.

Speaker 2 (01:59:58):
Was there a twenty eight weeks there?

Speaker 1 (02:00:00):
Was? It was? Okay? Okay, that was one where twenty
eight weeks later they deem it safe to come back
to London and it doesn't go so good. Yeah, no,
but no, I enjoyed it. The other film I saw,
which is kind of a sign of the times because
it's also a sequel to an older movie, was I
Know What You Did last summer, the new sequel remake thing.

(02:00:25):
It wasn't bad, but it walked the line between fan
service and trying to do something new to risk free,
Like they should have either really went into being In
my opinion, they should have went all in on just
being fan service, like, remember how much you liked that movie.
We're doing that again. We're doing this, Remember how much
you liked it. They should have. Instead, they would like,
do it a little bit, then they pull back, but

(02:00:47):
then they do the same thing with when they try
something new. They would do some of it, but they
wouldn't go so far as to really change what the
movie was. So I thought it was fine, Like it
was a fun time in the theater. I got a
real kick out of it. I had a good time
watching it. But you know, it's not something I'm gonna
be like, Man, I can't wait to watch that when
it comes, you know, out on home video. I'm good.
I watched it once. It was fun. Okay, So uh,

(02:01:10):
but before we get out of here, do you have
anything eerie to share from rered it? I put the
roll of my tongue in the D instead of the R.

Speaker 2 (02:01:18):
That was, ok it was weird. I have like one
thing I will try to explain in a way that
makes sense, okay, but basically it's from the Glitchen the
matrix so reddit and so there's this person and I
don't know what their gender is, but the OP has

(02:01:38):
like a second cousin and let me pop back in
here and his wife no, yeah, and they're and that
second cousin is like married and they have two kids,
right okay, hate Like they both have both daughters of
h names, and they've seen each other before, like the

(02:02:01):
the op's kids have kid has hung out, his daughter
has hung out with the two girls, the two you
know people in the family and all that stuff. And recently,
actually this was a while ago, but the OP has
noticed that like when whoever you know, his extended family
posts on Facebook a lot, and they're never posting about

(02:02:23):
the one girl. They always post about the other one,
like oh, you know, we went to Disney and stuff
like that. And so finally he like he like called
or like was talking to them and he's like, what's
going on with the other one?

Speaker 5 (02:02:35):
And they were like, we only have fun, kid, what
are you talking about? So he's like, I'm we're like
camped with them, and his daughter remembers her too, So
it's not just one person, right, having a mental breakdown,
but it's just them, and they were like looking through

(02:02:56):
their pictures like trying to find evidence this person exists.

Speaker 2 (02:02:59):
Can't find anything, like pictures that they should have been
taking with both the girls only have the one daughter
in it. Now they have no idea what's going on,
and no one else remembers, including his son.

Speaker 1 (02:03:13):
That's I That's the kind of that actually like makes
me really uncomfortable because that would freak me out so deeply. Yeah,
just be like, no, there was only one of us
this whole time, Like how would you because how would
you explain that?

Speaker 2 (02:03:25):
I I don't know, especially because if it if the
the poster had said like I'm the only one that
remembers it, I would just be like, cool, you have
a brain cancer.

Speaker 1 (02:03:35):
Sorry, yeah, of course.

Speaker 2 (02:03:36):
But if someone else does, and it's it's to me,
it's good that both his kids don't remember, because if
if they both remembered. I would think, okay, power of
suggestion or something, right, but for just the daughter to
be like, no, like we hung because she used to
hang out with them, And yeah, that's weird.

Speaker 1 (02:03:52):
It's an upset, extremely weird and upsetting. Yeah. Yeah, well,
thank you. That one's that's a good one, because, I mean,
other than conspiracy gaslighting, I can't think of anything else.

Speaker 2 (02:04:06):
Yeah, that's the only thing I could think of too.
I mean, but the problem is that all their pictures
are different now, so like, how would you how would
you execute that photoshop? I mean, I guess since since
everything's digital, you technically could. Yeah, it would just be
super I mean, but considering the reason they would do

(02:04:27):
this is because they murdered their child probably, like I guess.

Speaker 1 (02:04:31):
Well, and their child was a CIA asset to begin with,
right right. Yeah, so no, that's a good one. Yeah. Thanks.
Oh before we go, did I tell you I was
in I spent some time in Cincinnati a few weeks ago,
and I was walking to a movie theater with a
friend and I noticed that there was a restaurant called,
like I think it was called the Gaslight Bar and Grill. Yeah,

(02:04:55):
and I pointed that out to her and said, oh, yeah,
we're in the gaslight district, like that's what it's called here,
and I was like, oh, man, I wish I could.
I want to work there so that when people come
in for the first time, I can say, hey, so
cool to have you back, and they can be like,
I haven't been here before. I'm like, yeah you have.
This is your favorite place to eat? Yeah, gaslight, barn, krill,

(02:05:18):
the full experience or like.

Speaker 2 (02:05:21):
And they come in and they're like, oh, how long
have you been there? You can be like, oh, we
just oh, we've been here like one hundred years, and
they'd be like that's funny because I thought there was
another No, it's all like I don't know what you're
talking about. You've always been here.

Speaker 1 (02:05:35):
I mean maybe if you rode your horse and buggy
up to the original place. I don't know what was
here then. But yeah, anyway, the usual I would would
that would be my favorite thing, would just be making
gaslight jokes about everything you want your usual burger and fries.
I'm a vegetarian. You sound crazy right now. Everyone's gonna

(02:05:59):
think you're nuts. But on that note, thank you guys
so much for joining us for another episode of Monthly Spooky.
I really do appreciate it. If you enjoy what we're
doing here at the show and you want to support us,
there are a few ways to do it, one of
which is go to your favorite podcasting app like Spotify
or Apple Podcasts leave us a five star rating. If
you haven't already, you can also go to Weeklyspooky dot

(02:06:21):
com slash join and for as little as one dollar
a month, get two bonus shows every single month and
support the show in a very very direct way. We're
heading into six years of Weekly Spooky this October, and
I'm really looking forward to just celebrating with even more
scary stories and such. So for myself, for my producer
Dan Wilder, my executive producers Rob Fields and Babbletopia dot com,

(02:06:46):
as well as our composer Ray Mattis, I'm gonna let
Michelle have the final words, like, these aren't dangerous? Then
why do we have to call nine online? Answer the question?

Speaker 2 (02:07:06):
I don't know

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