January 19, 2025 • 26 mins
What if hauntings are not remnants of the past, but rather messages from the future? Inspired by Cody Crowley's intriguing theory and Ken Webster's fascinating book "The Vertical Plane," we explore the idea that ghostly encounters might be time-altered communications between the living. We journey into Webster's eerie 16th-century messages, pondering connections to films like "Interstellar," and then segue into the mystical realm of tulpas. These imaginative entities, stemming from Tibetan Buddhism, have captured the modern paranormal community. We'll uncover stories of accidental tulpa creation and tales of tulpamancers who celebrate their creations' autonomy.
Our exploration doesn't stop there; we travel back to the late 1800s to the chilling tale of the Hilderbrand sisters and the witch hunt hysteria that gripped their community. We analyze how baseless accusations against neighbor Nancy Evans highlight society's reliance on unconventional methods when faced with fear. Through the use of a scale and a Bible, we see the lengths taken to avoid violence. We also embrace the timeless allure of cats, celebrating their historical ties to feminine power and divine goddesses like Bastet. Join us as we weave through these captivating stories, connecting the enigmatic with the historical, and reflecting on how past beliefs echo into the present.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everyone, welcome back, and it's your host,
melissa at Strange, strangeBeyond Insane.
Happy New Year.
It's 2025 and I have a lot moreideas and so much more content
to talk about.
We will be having a lot moreguests this year.
I already have a few lined upLater tonight.
(00:21):
Carissa, one of our co-hosts.
She will be over tonight andshe says she has a fun episode
to talk about, so I'm excitedfor that.
All right, so today's episodestarts with this lady that I
follow on TikTok.
Her name is Cody Crowley andshe is a well-known author.
She's very entertaining towatch.
(00:42):
I love her content.
Her book that came out in 2024is called here Lies a Vengeful
Bitch.
I have not read it yet.
I want to.
That is on my to-do list, likea million other things, right?
So she was talking about thistheory that hauntings could
simply just be two living peoplecommunicating through space and
(01:03):
time, and she referenced thisbook called the Vertical Plane
by Ken Webster.
All right, so let's just kindof go over an overview of this
book, the Vertical Plane.
Okay, so for a period of twoyears, ken Webster found himself
in the extraordinary positionof corresponding directly with
an individual who had lived onsite of his own cottage for four
(01:26):
centuries earlier.
The correspondence began withmessages left on his home
computer on the kitchen tableand ended with communications
scrubbed directly onto paper.
Fully prepared for some form ofelaborate hoax, webster found
to his concentration that thelanguage of the messages
(01:48):
precisely came within the 16thcentury English usage.
Okay, and another.
Let's just do some bulletinpoints.
Okay.
So the Vertical Plane is asupernatural detective novel.
This book is about Webster'sexperience of corresponding with
someone who lived on the siteof his cottage.
We already said that fourcenturies earlier.
(02:09):
The messages started as notesleft on his computer and
eventually became written onpaper.
And this book generally isabout a fault in time and a
relationship across fourcenturies.
Yeah, that you know.
This account, this relationship, meditated across 400 years,
(02:31):
talks about his experiences andwhat his theories are, and I
think that's the type of book toleave open for everyone to kind
of think for themselves.
But I find that veryinteresting because we always
think of hauntings with dead,you know, deceased.
Again, I will always pinpointthis kind of in the same
(02:53):
grouping as the movie withMatthew McConaughey Interstellar
.
Okay, so, going along with this,I want to talk about tulpas.
Okay, so, going along with this, I want to talk about tulpas.
So a tulpa is an imaginarycompanion created through
intense concentration andspiritual practice.
The word tulpa comes fromSanskrit, which means to build.
(03:15):
All right, so how tulpas arecreated?
Tulpamancers, or hosts, believethat they can create tulpas by
training their minds to hostmultiple hosts.
Tulpamancers use techniquesfrom various guides to create
their tulpas.
Tulpamancers believe thattulpas are sentient and
(03:37):
independent beings that sharetheir minds and their brains.
Okay, so what are these like?
They are often described asinvisible people who live in the
mind.
Tulpamancers and their tulpascommunicate through inner speech
, imagistic impressions andsometimes audible voices.
Tulpamancers celebrate theirtulpa's birth, which is when
(04:01):
they first feel the tulpa'sautonomy.
All right, so where do theycome from?
The idea of Tulpas originatedin Tibetan Buddhism, where they
are mental creations that canbecome semi-autonomous.
The idea of Tulpas became partof a modern paranormal lore
after John Keel mentioned themin his 1975 book, the Mothman
(04:27):
Prophecies.
So very interesting how thatcame about, right?
So we have talked a lot on hereabout a Mothman prophecy that
we actually experienced justover a year ago.
Okay, I, you know, I'm justlearning about this.
Really, um, I've never, evenlike, heard or seen this term,
(04:49):
so I did look this up on reddit,because you guys know I love
reddit, all right, so, um, letme pull up some interesting ones
, okay.
So this person says need adviceon creating a tulpa hi.
I would like advice from anyonewho has created a tulpa before.
(05:10):
I don't know how much info Ishould give, but I do not want
them to be human.
My aim is to create a female,feminine entity and I want to do
my absolute best to put purelypositive energy into this so
that it is not only better forme and others, but for the tulpa
themselves when, if they exist,I would really appreciate
(05:32):
advice on how to make one.
All right.
So I'm just reading throughthese skimming Um, all right,
this is an interesting one.
Paranoid Tulpa creating, hi.
Okay, so I have some severeparanoia usually when I expose
myself, accidentally orintentionally, to things that
(05:55):
are scary and unsettling, suchas horror-related media.
A few nights ago, I waslistening to music on YouTube
when my video abruptly ended andthen switched over to a
different one with anuncomfortable looking character
on it, and it appeared like aclose-up to the screen, not
specifying, since I'm tooembarrassed.
(06:15):
It scared the hell out of me,since I didn't really expect it,
but I tried to ignore it whileI continued messing around on my
phone.
It kept happening, but I alwaystried not to think about it
Since I knew it would get me.
I have an ESSA emotionalsupport stuffed animal that I
(06:41):
always keep with me at home tokeep me calm and to calm me down
and prevent me from gettingparanoid like this, but it's
been bothering me a lot.
I've heard of some people whomake tulpas unintentionally, but
I don't know if it's possibleto make one out of like fear.
I guess I know tulpas are alifelong commitment, but I'm
kind of horrified in a way,since I think having a tulpa of
(07:03):
a character I'm scared ofwouldn't do much good.
Wow, okay, um, interesting, uh,let's see accidental tulpas.
I've had an imaginary worldwhere I have four siblings,
protectors of sorts, for a goodwhile.
(07:23):
Now I have a clear image ofthem and sometimes I feel like I
I'm sorry, I'm actually talkingto them.
I don't think they're all theway tulpas, but could they kind
of be underdeveloped?
Accidental tulpas question mark.
If so, can I use them to createactual tulpas, probably
(07:44):
focusing one at a time for awhile?
Hmm, so my thoughts on theorigins of self.
So I've always held afascination with the human mind.
I just think it's sointeresting as something that
(08:04):
we've not really understood.
But we just sort of have acollection of facts.
We've not had much progress interms of finding programming or
source code.
Buddhists think that thethought area of our minds is
weightless and has no substance.
But Buddhists have one problem,and it's that they don't
approach the mind with a machine.
(08:27):
What I mean by this is thatwhile Buddhists might have an
incredibly rich history ofprogramming their minds with
rituals, sounds, signs and somany other things, they do not
approach Okay, hold on onesecond.
They do not approach with amedical student's understanding
(08:49):
or the scientific process.
But when you step into thatcircle of academics, they have
the most theories on how ourminds work.
There's theories on howpersonalities work, which is
mostly based on observedpatterns of behavior.
In the neurological we can seethat personalities tend to match
(09:09):
in our brain scans, or at leastthat's what I heard last time.
I digged into that science, butit's been a minute.
But for me personally and thisis probably going to sound
unscientific think about thebrain power of something like a
bug.
In comparison to the humanbrain, it's a million times
bigger and probably mostdefinitely more complex.
(09:31):
Yet bugs have personalities,and some could be said for any
animal.
Okay, what if it's not part andthat it has been traumatized?
What if parts are more likelittle animals that form in
regards to their environment,that we have such big brains and
(09:52):
that we have many differentkinds of animals running through
us?
Being self-aware is to find andhandle and self-manage these
animals.
What if our brains just stop atour brains?
That's why we can have allkinds of touch and sensory
experiences in this practice.
It's because our intelligencesand thoughts can actually travel
(10:13):
throughout our bodies.
I like that.
So this person ends it with soI'm just halfway through a beer
and was just giving this all abunch of thought.
I just wanted to share thesethoughts with you and maybe hear
something back.
I figured it would help and notto be a bunch of advice and
(10:34):
have a good debate.
And then he says how do you allfigure?
Imagination ties into this?
Um, so this is very interestingand you guys listening, if you
know anything about this oryou've had these experiences,
please come on and tell us aboutit because again, or even write
to us, because, watching thesevideos a few days ago.
(10:58):
I was very interested in this.
I'm like, wow, I didn't.
Again, I didn't.
I had never heard this termbefore.
So this is a topic that Iwanted to talk about because I'm
very interested in it, and thisis about the witchcraft
hysteria in Ohio in 1897.
Okay, so Ohio had witch trialsin the 1800s, including one in
(11:22):
Bethel, ohio, in 1805.
The Bethel trial was modeledafter the Salem witch trials of
the 17th century.
The trial was held near theintersection of State Routes 125
and 232.
The Justice of Peace used alarge scale to weigh the Bible
against Nancy Evans, who wasaccused of witchcraft.
(11:44):
The Justice of the Peace arguedthat the Bible would outweigh
any demonic spirit.
The crowd cheered when theBible was heavier.
The accused woman most likelyhad epilepsy.
And then again, the witchcrafthysteria in the 17th century.
The Salem witch trials were aperiod of mass hysteria that was
(12:07):
influenced by several factors,including a smallpox epidemic,
the threat of attack from NativeAmericans, tensions with the
neighboring seaport of SalemTown, an influx of refugees from
King William's War.
So this is very interesting andI guess I never paid attention
(12:28):
to the whole Ohio witchcrafthysteria, that whole Ohio
witchcraft hysteria.
We did mention a coupleepisodes ago about the
witchcraft hysteria, the trialsin Mackinac, which now you can't
find anything on it.
It's really weird because Iremember getting videos a few
years ago, people sending themto me because everyone knew that
(12:50):
I was going to go to Salem soonand they were like hey, mel,
did you see this?
Like there's more actualevidence of witchcraft and you
know the witchcraft trials inMackinac Island than there is in
Salem.
And again, I cannot find them.
So I'm so surprised.
I didn't hear about thiscraziness in Ohio but it is very
(13:14):
interesting.
So I kind of want to dive intothis article that explains this
witch trial in Ohio.
So it reads Bethel, ohio hadits own witch trial with a
happy-ish ending.
When you hear the phrase witchtrial you might think about the
(13:35):
hysteria that overtook 17thcentury Salem, massachusetts,
not as widely known in asouthwest Ohio witch trial in
the early 19th century, and itended very differently.
The town of Bethel wasseemingly quiet place for the
first seven years of itsfounding, but in 1805 the
excitement started.
Cindy Johnson, with the ClermontCounty Historical Society, says
(13:59):
the story is told In an 1880history book.
The older Hilderbrand daughters, young women grown, began
behaving more peculiarly, givingevidence that they were
Possessed of some evil spirits,she explains.
(14:20):
The book says on the approachof the night they would scream,
at times become perfectlyfrantic from fright of some
hideous objects that only theycould see, and maintain such a
spell over them that theyunfitted for their duties.
That they unfitted for theirduties.
Johnson says that the familytried an exorcism, performing a
(14:42):
ritual designed to scare an evilspirit out of the girls' bodies
and into a nearby sack, at theconclusion of which the witch
would have been forced to takerefugee in the bag.
Johnson says.
Then you quickly close the bag,tie it shut tightly, you lay it
on the porch of the house witha sharp axe, cut it into a
thousand pieces.
(15:03):
Johnson says that that did notwork.
The demonic influence remained,she says.
The young women then pointed toa neighbor, nancy Evans, and
accused her of being a witch.
Other community members startedgetting nervous.
If Nancy Evans was a witch shecould cast spells on anyone.
They went to the local justiceof the piece and demanded action
(15:25):
.
Johnson says that Ohiolegislators hadn't passed any
laws about witches or witchcraft, so the justice had to get
creative.
He had an idea.
First he had a large, crudescale constructed.
With Nancy Evans agreeing.
He gathered the Hilderbrandsand other concerned townspeople
(15:45):
around the scale.
He held it in one hand a mightyimpressive Bible and he started
his speech.
She says the justice of thepeace, whose name has been lost
in the sands of time, argued theworld.
I'm sorry, the word of Godwould outweigh any demonic
spirit.
So I will place this holy Bibleon one side of the scale and
(16:07):
seat Miss Evans on the other.
If the Bible is heavier, wewill know to drive her from our
midst forever and the crowdcheer so.
Unsurprisingly, evans washeavier and neighbors' fears
were alleviated.
Johnson says she has a lot ofrespect for that unnamed Bethel
(16:28):
justice.
He devised a way of bringingpeace to his town without having
to burn anybody at the stake.
She says the episode was notall that unusual.
According to Erica Gasser, she'san associate professor of the
history at the University ofCincinnati and says that trials
of one sort or another continuedlong after the infamous Salem
(16:49):
witch trials.
Even today.
She says we still have the termwitch hunt, witch trials.
Even today.
She says we still have the termwitch hunt People.
When they say that now theytend to mean trumped up charges
that are baseless and that aresimply done as a kind of cynical
cover for what people actuallywant to do, which is to just
(17:10):
persecute people.
Gasser says it's important toremember actual witch trials
were conducted by people whowere sincere, and human thought
process have not changed sincethen.
Well, I did not know that thatterm is still being used.
That's crazy.
But anyways, this goes on toread.
(17:32):
It's difficult for us to notsee this as an entirely
irrational thing, she says, butit's important to understand
that for them to find it fit inan existing mentality that was
logical, based on science andbelieved in by some of the most
important minds of the day.
She says it's also easy tothink a witch hunt is
(17:56):
perpetrated by the powerful ontothe powerless, which is very,
very, very important to say that, again, that's cult-like
behavior, right, and that'sespecially because we know that
sometimes marginalized peoplewere considered suspicious, and
that's all certainly true.
The thing for us to remember isthat a lot of pressure for
(18:18):
prosecution came from neighborsand regular people who wanted
the law to get involved to stopthe person who they thought was
harming them.
So the lesson is really we allis really we are all potential
accusers.
I had to reread that.
So that's a lesson, so you canspread hate by just having
(18:40):
hysteria, and your cult-likebehaviors can also affect the
people around you and peoplecould be accused wrongfully,
right?
Cindy Johnson says soon afterthe Bethel trial ended, nancy
Evans and her family left andmoved to Brown County.
If I was that lady, I wouldhave fucking moved too.
(19:00):
Right, the Hilderbrands tookoff too, but it's not recorded
where they went.
She says, since the trial andthe departures of everyone
involved, bethel has not had awitch problem.
Well, that's good?
I mean, I would hope not, butit's weird Again when I read
that I had to reread that againthat the term witch hunt is
still used there.
So I think that this is superappropriate after talking about
(19:26):
witch hunts and all that.
I did see this too a few daysago and I absolutely loved it,
and I really didn't understandit until I started reading and I
was like, oh my god, that makesso much sense, right?
So it's saying this article isabout cats having feminine
energy and, on AI Overview, itsays cats are widely considered
(19:49):
to have feminine energy, oftenassociated with traits like
grace, independence, mystery andnurturing, which are commonly
linked to femininity and humanculture.
This association isparticularly strong in
historical contexts where catswere worshipped as goddesses,
like Bastet and ancient Egypt.
(20:10):
All right, so throughouthistory, cats have been linked
to women and feminine qualities,in many cultures even being
referred to as she, despitetheir gender.
Their sleek movements, soft furand ability to groom themselves
contribute to the perception offeline grace and elegance,
(20:32):
often seen as a feminine.
So there is some mythologicalconnections.
So in ancient Egypt, the goddessBastet, depicted as a cat,
represented protection,fertility and feminine power.
So very interesting.
And again, I was a grown-assadult when I got my first cats
(20:54):
and I cannot imagine not havingcats now.
Right, and I do have two blackcats, and there is a lot to be
said about black cats.
Okay, so in ancient Egypt,black cats were sacred and
considered to be divine,bringing good luck, protection
and blessings.
They were associated with thegoddess, again, bastet, who was
(21:15):
the protector of homes andfertility.
Bastet.
Bastet was a goddess ofprotection, pleasure and good
health.
She was depicted with the headof a cat and the body of a woman
, and black cats are known tobring divine energy.
The ancient Egyptians believedthat cats held this kind of
(21:36):
energy and there is punishmentfor harming cats in the ancient
times.
So killing a cat, especially ablack cat, was a serious crime
and could be punishable by death.
Mummification Cats weresometimes mummified and placed
in the tombs of their humancompanions.
And black cats hold a specialplace in the art world.
(21:59):
So there are many art artifactsfrom ancient Egypt that honor
cats, including paintings andstatues.
So again, this is veryinteresting how much meaning and
history are behind cats andjust even black cats, right?
(22:19):
So this explains the wholehysteria you know between black
cats and you know witchcraft.
So, given the belief inmedieval Europe that the devil
and witches were capable oftaking the form of black cats,
so this makes sense that thesuperstition surrounding
crossing their paths developed,that it was bad luck which, if
(22:43):
you know anything and you'vedone any kind of reading, you
know that this was againhysteria, and I call that
cult-like behavior, makingpeople believe around you that
somebody is evil or no good oris a witch because they have a
black cat or because they wereseen by a black cat or own a
(23:04):
Ouija board or have a crystalball or use tarot cards.
The witch hysteria will alwaysfascinate me and I'm always
learning more and more about itas I delve into these
conversations, even just withlike everyday people and friends
, even family, and the more thatyou read on it and the more
articles that you pull up, it'sjust, it's actually comical in a
(23:28):
way.
I mean it's terribly sad thatyou know humans suffered and
were burnt and beaten and even,you know, stoned to death
because a group of peoplethought that they were a witch,
right.
But it's comical that peoplewere and are so still so
ignorant and that they don'thave the right information on
(23:51):
why people practice these.
You know different spiritualbeliefs and again, I'm glad that
I own two black cats.
My elder cat he was found by meaccidentally.
He was trying to eat a frozenpiece of chocolate in the middle
of a main street and of courseI pulled over to help him.
(24:13):
Next thing, I know he ends upin my truck and he has brought
me so much good luck.
And he was not said to stayalive, basically, when I brought
him home after a vet visit andhe has been alive all these
years and he's the sweetestlittle thing.
And then my kitten, which is nolonger a kitten, but he is very
small and his name is a Boo BooBinks, of course, after Hocus
(24:36):
Pocus.
And he is very small and hisname is a boo-boo binks, of
course, after hocus pocus, andhe is very human-like, um, he
can take his paw and strum theguitars in our house.
He, when he wants my attention,he goes and finds anything of
mine my hair ties, makeup,anything, um, chip clips and he
will go and hide them and he'llmake sure that I know that he
got a hold of this stuff andgoes and hides it.
(24:57):
He's extremely intelligent.
He's very scared of people buthe loves my husband and I and he
loves the dogs.
He actually thinks he's a dog.
He loves dog treats.
He is very charismatic, has avery bright personality and I
can never see myself now withoutcats.
(25:19):
So I'm glad that I got over thefear of cats because I you know
you get told all these horrorstories and you know that they
scratch, it can bite.
My cats do not do that.
I've been around a lot offriends and families' cats and I
love cats.
So again, it's alwaysinteresting talking about the
(25:42):
hysteria and the ancient historyon all these subjects.
Right?
Thank you guys for tuning in.
If you want to get a hold of us, you know you can email us at
GhostSisters2124 at gmail.
You can email us at ghostsisters 21, 24 at Gmail.
Again, that is ghost sisters 21, 24 at Gmail.
We are on Facebook, twitter, x,tiktok, youtube, and I'm sure
(26:05):
the platforms will keep growingas the future goes on.
All right, you guys stay tuned.
We'll be chatting soon.
Hey everyone, welcome back, and it's your host,
melissa at Strange, strangeBeyond Insane.
Happy New Year.
It's 2025 and I have a lot moreideas and so much more content
to talk about.
We will be having a lot moreguests this year.
I already have a few lined upLater tonight.
(00:21):
Carissa, one of our co-hosts.
She will be over tonight andshe says she has a fun episode
to talk about, so I'm excitedfor that.
All right, so today's episodestarts with this lady that I
follow on TikTok.
Her name is Cody Crowley andshe is a well-known author.
She's very entertaining towatch.
(00:42):
I love her content.
Her book that came out in 2024is called here Lies a Vengeful
Bitch.
I have not read it yet.
I want to.
That is on my to-do list, likea million other things, right?
So she was talking about thistheory that hauntings could
simply just be two living peoplecommunicating through space and
(01:03):
time, and she referenced thisbook called the Vertical Plane
by Ken Webster.
All right, so let's just kindof go over an overview of this
book, the Vertical Plane.
Okay, so for a period of twoyears, ken Webster found himself
in the extraordinary positionof corresponding directly with
an individual who had lived onsite of his own cottage for four
(01:26):
centuries earlier.
The correspondence began withmessages left on his home
computer on the kitchen tableand ended with communications
scrubbed directly onto paper.
Fully prepared for some form ofelaborate hoax, webster found
to his concentration that thelanguage of the messages
(01:48):
precisely came within the 16thcentury English usage.
Okay, and another.
Let's just do some bulletinpoints.
Okay.
So the Vertical Plane is asupernatural detective novel.
This book is about Webster'sexperience of corresponding with
someone who lived on the siteof his cottage.
We already said that fourcenturies earlier.
(02:09):
The messages started as notesleft on his computer and
eventually became written onpaper.
And this book generally isabout a fault in time and a
relationship across fourcenturies.
Yeah, that you know.
This account, this relationship, meditated across 400 years,
(02:31):
talks about his experiences andwhat his theories are, and I
think that's the type of book toleave open for everyone to kind
of think for themselves.
But I find that veryinteresting because we always
think of hauntings with dead,you know, deceased.
Again, I will always pinpointthis kind of in the same
(02:53):
grouping as the movie withMatthew McConaughey Interstellar
.
Okay, so, going along with this,I want to talk about tulpas.
Okay, so, going along with this, I want to talk about tulpas.
So a tulpa is an imaginarycompanion created through
intense concentration andspiritual practice.
The word tulpa comes fromSanskrit, which means to build.
(03:15):
All right, so how tulpas arecreated?
Tulpamancers, or hosts, believethat they can create tulpas by
training their minds to hostmultiple hosts.
Tulpamancers use techniquesfrom various guides to create
their tulpas.
Tulpamancers believe thattulpas are sentient and
(03:37):
independent beings that sharetheir minds and their brains.
Okay, so what are these like?
They are often described asinvisible people who live in the
mind.
Tulpamancers and their tulpascommunicate through inner speech
, imagistic impressions andsometimes audible voices.
Tulpamancers celebrate theirtulpa's birth, which is when
(04:01):
they first feel the tulpa'sautonomy.
All right, so where do theycome from?
The idea of Tulpas originatedin Tibetan Buddhism, where they
are mental creations that canbecome semi-autonomous.
The idea of Tulpas became partof a modern paranormal lore
after John Keel mentioned themin his 1975 book, the Mothman
(04:27):
Prophecies.
So very interesting how thatcame about, right?
So we have talked a lot on hereabout a Mothman prophecy that
we actually experienced justover a year ago.
Okay, I, you know, I'm justlearning about this.
Really, um, I've never, evenlike, heard or seen this term,
(04:49):
so I did look this up on reddit,because you guys know I love
reddit, all right, so, um, letme pull up some interesting ones
, okay.
So this person says need adviceon creating a tulpa hi.
I would like advice from anyonewho has created a tulpa before.
(05:10):
I don't know how much info Ishould give, but I do not want
them to be human.
My aim is to create a female,feminine entity and I want to do
my absolute best to put purelypositive energy into this so
that it is not only better forme and others, but for the tulpa
themselves when, if they exist,I would really appreciate
(05:32):
advice on how to make one.
All right.
So I'm just reading throughthese skimming Um, all right,
this is an interesting one.
Paranoid Tulpa creating, hi.
Okay, so I have some severeparanoia usually when I expose
myself, accidentally orintentionally, to things that
(05:55):
are scary and unsettling, suchas horror-related media.
A few nights ago, I waslistening to music on YouTube
when my video abruptly ended andthen switched over to a
different one with anuncomfortable looking character
on it, and it appeared like aclose-up to the screen, not
specifying, since I'm tooembarrassed.
(06:15):
It scared the hell out of me,since I didn't really expect it,
but I tried to ignore it whileI continued messing around on my
phone.
It kept happening, but I alwaystried not to think about it
Since I knew it would get me.
I have an ESSA emotionalsupport stuffed animal that I
(06:41):
always keep with me at home tokeep me calm and to calm me down
and prevent me from gettingparanoid like this, but it's
been bothering me a lot.
I've heard of some people whomake tulpas unintentionally, but
I don't know if it's possibleto make one out of like fear.
I guess I know tulpas are alifelong commitment, but I'm
kind of horrified in a way,since I think having a tulpa of
(07:03):
a character I'm scared ofwouldn't do much good.
Wow, okay, um, interesting, uh,let's see accidental tulpas.
I've had an imaginary worldwhere I have four siblings,
protectors of sorts, for a goodwhile.
(07:23):
Now I have a clear image ofthem and sometimes I feel like I
I'm sorry, I'm actually talkingto them.
I don't think they're all theway tulpas, but could they kind
of be underdeveloped?
Accidental tulpas question mark.
If so, can I use them to createactual tulpas, probably
(07:44):
focusing one at a time for awhile?
Hmm, so my thoughts on theorigins of self.
So I've always held afascination with the human mind.
I just think it's sointeresting as something that
(08:04):
we've not really understood.
But we just sort of have acollection of facts.
We've not had much progress interms of finding programming or
source code.
Buddhists think that thethought area of our minds is
weightless and has no substance.
But Buddhists have one problem,and it's that they don't
approach the mind with a machine.
(08:27):
What I mean by this is thatwhile Buddhists might have an
incredibly rich history ofprogramming their minds with
rituals, sounds, signs and somany other things, they do not
approach Okay, hold on onesecond.
They do not approach with amedical student's understanding
(08:49):
or the scientific process.
But when you step into thatcircle of academics, they have
the most theories on how ourminds work.
There's theories on howpersonalities work, which is
mostly based on observedpatterns of behavior.
In the neurological we can seethat personalities tend to match
(09:09):
in our brain scans, or at leastthat's what I heard last time.
I digged into that science, butit's been a minute.
But for me personally and thisis probably going to sound
unscientific think about thebrain power of something like a
bug.
In comparison to the humanbrain, it's a million times
bigger and probably mostdefinitely more complex.
(09:31):
Yet bugs have personalities,and some could be said for any
animal.
Okay, what if it's not part andthat it has been traumatized?
What if parts are more likelittle animals that form in
regards to their environment,that we have such big brains and
(09:52):
that we have many differentkinds of animals running through
us?
Being self-aware is to find andhandle and self-manage these
animals.
What if our brains just stop atour brains?
That's why we can have allkinds of touch and sensory
experiences in this practice.
It's because our intelligencesand thoughts can actually travel
(10:13):
throughout our bodies.
I like that.
So this person ends it with soI'm just halfway through a beer
and was just giving this all abunch of thought.
I just wanted to share thesethoughts with you and maybe hear
something back.
I figured it would help and notto be a bunch of advice and
(10:34):
have a good debate.
And then he says how do you allfigure?
Imagination ties into this?
Um, so this is very interestingand you guys listening, if you
know anything about this oryou've had these experiences,
please come on and tell us aboutit because again, or even write
to us, because, watching thesevideos a few days ago.
(10:58):
I was very interested in this.
I'm like, wow, I didn't.
Again, I didn't.
I had never heard this termbefore.
So this is a topic that Iwanted to talk about because I'm
very interested in it, and thisis about the witchcraft
hysteria in Ohio in 1897.
Okay, so Ohio had witch trialsin the 1800s, including one in
(11:22):
Bethel, ohio, in 1805.
The Bethel trial was modeledafter the Salem witch trials of
the 17th century.
The trial was held near theintersection of State Routes 125
and 232.
The Justice of Peace used alarge scale to weigh the Bible
against Nancy Evans, who wasaccused of witchcraft.
(11:44):
The Justice of the Peace arguedthat the Bible would outweigh
any demonic spirit.
The crowd cheered when theBible was heavier.
The accused woman most likelyhad epilepsy.
And then again, the witchcrafthysteria in the 17th century.
The Salem witch trials were aperiod of mass hysteria that was
(12:07):
influenced by several factors,including a smallpox epidemic,
the threat of attack from NativeAmericans, tensions with the
neighboring seaport of SalemTown, an influx of refugees from
King William's War.
So this is very interesting andI guess I never paid attention
(12:28):
to the whole Ohio witchcrafthysteria, that whole Ohio
witchcraft hysteria.
We did mention a coupleepisodes ago about the
witchcraft hysteria, the trialsin Mackinac, which now you can't
find anything on it.
It's really weird because Iremember getting videos a few
years ago, people sending themto me because everyone knew that
(12:50):
I was going to go to Salem soonand they were like hey, mel,
did you see this?
Like there's more actualevidence of witchcraft and you
know the witchcraft trials inMackinac Island than there is in
Salem.
And again, I cannot find them.
So I'm so surprised.
I didn't hear about thiscraziness in Ohio but it is very
(13:14):
interesting.
So I kind of want to dive intothis article that explains this
witch trial in Ohio.
So it reads Bethel, ohio hadits own witch trial with a
happy-ish ending.
When you hear the phrase witchtrial you might think about the
(13:35):
hysteria that overtook 17thcentury Salem, massachusetts,
not as widely known in asouthwest Ohio witch trial in
the early 19th century, and itended very differently.
The town of Bethel wasseemingly quiet place for the
first seven years of itsfounding, but in 1805 the
excitement started.
Cindy Johnson, with the ClermontCounty Historical Society, says
(13:59):
the story is told In an 1880history book.
The older Hilderbrand daughters, young women grown, began
behaving more peculiarly, givingevidence that they were
Possessed of some evil spirits,she explains.
(14:20):
The book says on the approachof the night they would scream,
at times become perfectlyfrantic from fright of some
hideous objects that only theycould see, and maintain such a
spell over them that theyunfitted for their duties.
That they unfitted for theirduties.
Johnson says that the familytried an exorcism, performing a
(14:42):
ritual designed to scare an evilspirit out of the girls' bodies
and into a nearby sack, at theconclusion of which the witch
would have been forced to takerefugee in the bag.
Johnson says.
Then you quickly close the bag,tie it shut tightly, you lay it
on the porch of the house witha sharp axe, cut it into a
thousand pieces.
(15:03):
Johnson says that that did notwork.
The demonic influence remained,she says.
The young women then pointed toa neighbor, nancy Evans, and
accused her of being a witch.
Other community members startedgetting nervous.
If Nancy Evans was a witch shecould cast spells on anyone.
They went to the local justiceof the piece and demanded action
(15:25):
.
Johnson says that Ohiolegislators hadn't passed any
laws about witches or witchcraft, so the justice had to get
creative.
He had an idea.
First he had a large, crudescale constructed.
With Nancy Evans agreeing.
He gathered the Hilderbrandsand other concerned townspeople
(15:45):
around the scale.
He held it in one hand a mightyimpressive Bible and he started
his speech.
She says the justice of thepeace, whose name has been lost
in the sands of time, argued theworld.
I'm sorry, the word of Godwould outweigh any demonic
spirit.
So I will place this holy Bibleon one side of the scale and
(16:07):
seat Miss Evans on the other.
If the Bible is heavier, wewill know to drive her from our
midst forever and the crowdcheer so.
Unsurprisingly, evans washeavier and neighbors' fears
were alleviated.
Johnson says she has a lot ofrespect for that unnamed Bethel
(16:28):
justice.
He devised a way of bringingpeace to his town without having
to burn anybody at the stake.
She says the episode was notall that unusual.
According to Erica Gasser, she'san associate professor of the
history at the University ofCincinnati and says that trials
of one sort or another continuedlong after the infamous Salem
(16:49):
witch trials.
Even today.
She says we still have the termwitch hunt, witch trials.
Even today.
She says we still have the termwitch hunt People.
When they say that now theytend to mean trumped up charges
that are baseless and that aresimply done as a kind of cynical
cover for what people actuallywant to do, which is to just
(17:10):
persecute people.
Gasser says it's important toremember actual witch trials
were conducted by people whowere sincere, and human thought
process have not changed sincethen.
Well, I did not know that thatterm is still being used.
That's crazy.
But anyways, this goes on toread.
(17:32):
It's difficult for us to notsee this as an entirely
irrational thing, she says, butit's important to understand
that for them to find it fit inan existing mentality that was
logical, based on science andbelieved in by some of the most
important minds of the day.
She says it's also easy tothink a witch hunt is
(17:56):
perpetrated by the powerful ontothe powerless, which is very,
very, very important to say that, again, that's cult-like
behavior, right, and that'sespecially because we know that
sometimes marginalized peoplewere considered suspicious, and
that's all certainly true.
The thing for us to remember isthat a lot of pressure for
(18:18):
prosecution came from neighborsand regular people who wanted
the law to get involved to stopthe person who they thought was
harming them.
So the lesson is really we allis really we are all potential
accusers.
I had to reread that.
So that's a lesson, so you canspread hate by just having
(18:40):
hysteria, and your cult-likebehaviors can also affect the
people around you and peoplecould be accused wrongfully,
right?
Cindy Johnson says soon afterthe Bethel trial ended, nancy
Evans and her family left andmoved to Brown County.
If I was that lady, I wouldhave fucking moved too.
(19:00):
Right, the Hilderbrands tookoff too, but it's not recorded
where they went.
She says, since the trial andthe departures of everyone
involved, bethel has not had awitch problem.
Well, that's good?
I mean, I would hope not, butit's weird Again when I read
that I had to reread that againthat the term witch hunt is
still used there.
So I think that this is superappropriate after talking about
(19:26):
witch hunts and all that.
I did see this too a few daysago and I absolutely loved it,
and I really didn't understandit until I started reading and I
was like, oh my god, that makesso much sense, right?
So it's saying this article isabout cats having feminine
energy and, on AI Overview, itsays cats are widely considered
(19:49):
to have feminine energy, oftenassociated with traits like
grace, independence, mystery andnurturing, which are commonly
linked to femininity and humanculture.
This association isparticularly strong in
historical contexts where catswere worshipped as goddesses,
like Bastet and ancient Egypt.
(20:10):
All right, so throughouthistory, cats have been linked
to women and feminine qualities,in many cultures even being
referred to as she, despitetheir gender.
Their sleek movements, soft furand ability to groom themselves
contribute to the perception offeline grace and elegance,
(20:32):
often seen as a feminine.
So there is some mythologicalconnections.
So in ancient Egypt, the goddessBastet, depicted as a cat,
represented protection,fertility and feminine power.
So very interesting.
And again, I was a grown-assadult when I got my first cats
(20:54):
and I cannot imagine not havingcats now.
Right, and I do have two blackcats, and there is a lot to be
said about black cats.
Okay, so in ancient Egypt,black cats were sacred and
considered to be divine,bringing good luck, protection
and blessings.
They were associated with thegoddess, again, bastet, who was
(21:15):
the protector of homes andfertility.
Bastet.
Bastet was a goddess ofprotection, pleasure and good
health.
She was depicted with the headof a cat and the body of a woman
, and black cats are known tobring divine energy.
The ancient Egyptians believedthat cats held this kind of
(21:36):
energy and there is punishmentfor harming cats in the ancient
times.
So killing a cat, especially ablack cat, was a serious crime
and could be punishable by death.
Mummification Cats weresometimes mummified and placed
in the tombs of their humancompanions.
And black cats hold a specialplace in the art world.
(21:59):
So there are many art artifactsfrom ancient Egypt that honor
cats, including paintings andstatues.
So again, this is veryinteresting how much meaning and
history are behind cats andjust even black cats, right?
(22:19):
So this explains the wholehysteria you know between black
cats and you know witchcraft.
So, given the belief inmedieval Europe that the devil
and witches were capable oftaking the form of black cats,
so this makes sense that thesuperstition surrounding
crossing their paths developed,that it was bad luck which, if
(22:43):
you know anything and you'vedone any kind of reading, you
know that this was againhysteria, and I call that
cult-like behavior, makingpeople believe around you that
somebody is evil or no good oris a witch because they have a
black cat or because they wereseen by a black cat or own a
(23:04):
Ouija board or have a crystalball or use tarot cards.
The witch hysteria will alwaysfascinate me and I'm always
learning more and more about itas I delve into these
conversations, even just withlike everyday people and friends
, even family, and the more thatyou read on it and the more
articles that you pull up, it'sjust, it's actually comical in a
(23:28):
way.
I mean it's terribly sad thatyou know humans suffered and
were burnt and beaten and even,you know, stoned to death
because a group of peoplethought that they were a witch,
right.
But it's comical that peoplewere and are so still so
ignorant and that they don'thave the right information on
(23:51):
why people practice these.
You know different spiritualbeliefs and again, I'm glad that
I own two black cats.
My elder cat he was found by meaccidentally.
He was trying to eat a frozenpiece of chocolate in the middle
of a main street and of courseI pulled over to help him.
(24:13):
Next thing, I know he ends upin my truck and he has brought
me so much good luck.
And he was not said to stayalive, basically, when I brought
him home after a vet visit andhe has been alive all these
years and he's the sweetestlittle thing.
And then my kitten, which is nolonger a kitten, but he is very
small and his name is a Boo BooBinks, of course, after Hocus
(24:36):
Pocus.
And he is very small and hisname is a boo-boo binks, of
course, after hocus pocus, andhe is very human-like, um, he
can take his paw and strum theguitars in our house.
He, when he wants my attention,he goes and finds anything of
mine my hair ties, makeup,anything, um, chip clips and he
will go and hide them and he'llmake sure that I know that he
got a hold of this stuff andgoes and hides it.
(24:57):
He's extremely intelligent.
He's very scared of people buthe loves my husband and I and he
loves the dogs.
He actually thinks he's a dog.
He loves dog treats.
He is very charismatic, has avery bright personality and I
can never see myself now withoutcats.
(25:19):
So I'm glad that I got over thefear of cats because I you know
you get told all these horrorstories and you know that they
scratch, it can bite.
My cats do not do that.
I've been around a lot offriends and families' cats and I
love cats.
So again, it's alwaysinteresting talking about the
(25:42):
hysteria and the ancient historyon all these subjects.
Right?
Thank you guys for tuning in.
If you want to get a hold of us, you know you can email us at
GhostSisters2124 at gmail.
You can email us at ghostsisters 21, 24 at Gmail.
Again, that is ghost sisters 21, 24 at Gmail.
We are on Facebook, twitter, x,tiktok, youtube, and I'm sure
(26:05):
the platforms will keep growingas the future goes on.
All right, you guys stay tuned.
We'll be chatting soon.
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